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Chapter 01
The sun, having completed a brief journey across the sky, was setting long and slow. Standing by the window with his hands clasped behind his back, Lord Sa had remained glued to that spot for hours.
“If this continues, he won’t even bring it up when the stars appear,” Daom quietly sighed, seated at the table.
She knew well her father’s careful and contemplative nature—and she also knew how he must be burning inside, unable to voice what he wanted to say. Daom decided that she must be the first to shoulder her father’s burden.
“Please.”
Lord Sa slowly turned his body. Daom bit her lower lip lightly, forcing a reassuring smile.
“I understand it could not be helped.”
The father and daughter, locking eyes, looked strikingly alike. It wasn’t just in their demure features or ink-black hair.
There was a noble grace in their posture, reminiscent of a single, dignified crane. Their eyes, bright and assertive, contrasted with the slight downward tilt of their eyelids.
Though they appeared gentle and refined at first glance, the strength and dignity emanating from their very being commanded respect.
“Take it.”
At last, Lord Sa placed what he had held in his hand throughout the evening on the table. It was a ring: a large piece of jade set in finely polished wood.
The deep green jade, as if capturing the essence of summer foliage, was a gem that only one person in Hodam Country was allowed to wear.
It was a ring bestowed by the White Tiger God—the founder and guardian spirit of Hodam Country—to the one appointed as his retainer. And now, it was in front of Daom.
“Just as you said.”
Lord Sa’s voice was heavy with concern. He continued, looking at Daom with a determined expression.
“It could not be helped.”
When Daom’s father had decided to put her forward as a candidate for the retainer, she had already steeled herself for this.
The Sa family, alongside the royal house, was one of the most powerful families, prioritizing the prosperity and survival of the country. Among them, Daom, born with spiritual power, would have already become a retainer if she were not a woman.
Since ancient times, Hodam Country had appointed someone born with spiritual power from a powerful family as the White Tiger God’s retainer.
The family that produced a retainer would wield power second only to the royal house. To maintain balance among powerful families, the retainer’s term was limited to ten years.
Yet, her ancestors could not have imagined that their descendant would not even survive the full ten years.
“You must enter the palace tomorrow.”
Lord Sa let out a long sigh. Daom felt every bit of her father’s anguish and guilt, leaving her speechless.
She could not know what the White Tiger God was like when Hodam Country was first founded. But the current White Tiger God, five hundred years later, was ferocious beyond measure.
Though normally referred to by the title of his domain, “Mountain Lord,” the public secretly called him the “Calamity Lord.”
“Tomorrow.”
Daom repeated her father’s words and picked up the ring. Originally, the ring belonged to the second son of the Yu family, who had recently been expelled from the palace, drained of all his spiritual power and now lying in critical condition.
The position of retainer could not remain vacant, so the royal court immediately began selecting the next candidate.
By principle, all members of powerful families with spiritual power had to be nominated as candidates.
But who would wish to send a family member to such a deathly fate? While other families hesitated, only Daom’s father submitted her name.
“What of the engagement?”
Lord Sa had not nominated his daughter out of desire for her misfortune. Daom thought that it was simply a matter of fate, and she looked at her father with anxious eyes.
Though born with spiritual power, Daom was a woman. In Hodam Country’s five hundred-year history, no woman had ever become a retainer.
So she had been engaged to the royal family instead of becoming a retainer. With her strong lineage, spiritual power, and potential to be a future queen, she was a perfect candidate for marriage to the crown prince.
“It seems His Majesty values filling the retainer position over marrying the crown princess,” she said softly, yet she knew precisely what this meant. The crown princess title was no longer hers.
Clutching the jade ring tightly, Daom stood. The decision was made, and there was no turning back. She did not want to sit in the same room with her father, amplifying their shared shock and sorrow.
“I will go out. I will return before Haeshi [9–11 PM]. Please allow me.”
Lord Sa knew where his daughter intended to go. He blinked deeply, granting silent permission.
Daom bowed respectfully and left. She rode alone toward the outskirts of the city, where the Sa estate was nestled near the surrounding mountains. A nearby grove of cedar trees hid a narrow, low waterfall.
It was under this waterfall that she often met the crown prince.
“I knew you’d come.”
Crown Prince Yunjung, her fiancé and long-time friend, gently stroked the horse Daom had ridden.
Once the horse’s heartbeat settled, he finally offered his arm to Daom.
“I knew you’d be here.”
Daom smiled, taking his arm to descend. Yunjung held the reins, ensuring her safety.
“Shall we go a little further?”
He gazed at the waterfall, and Daom quietly nodded, following him.
“I like it here,” she said.
Despite the loud roar of the water, Yunjung’s voice was clear.
“Here, I am neither the crown prince nor Yunjung. I am just a man without a name.”
His neatly pinned crimson hair ornament signified the royal house, but his face bore a gentle smile praised as beautiful as a flower.
He let go of the reins, and the horse wandered before grazing near the waterfall.
Daom exhaled softly, sitting by him. She took out the retainer ring and showed it to him.
Yunjung examined it silently before suddenly smiling.
“With a jewel this large, your finger could even fall off.”
“Losing just a finger would be the least of it,” Daom replied, stepping into the water. She removed her embroidered skirts and socks. Yunjung smiled again as he watched her.
“Perhaps it’s for the best.”
Daom looked at him, confused.
“Once you become the crown princess, you could never dream of doing this.”
Of course, a crown princess could not remove her shoes anywhere in the palace.
Yunjung had known from the beginning that Daom would be an exemplary and virtuous queen, capable of fulfilling her role perfectly. Yet he still lamented her entering the palace, knowing her free-spirited nature would be constrained by court protocol.
“Ten years, and then you need not become the crown princess.”
The king was old and ill. For years he had been pushing Yunjung to ascend the throne. His succession was inevitable.
Daom shook her head.
“No. Ten years without marriage would bring shame to the royal house.”
“No one will be able to lay blame.”
Yunjung looked at her with warmth, though his voice was now cold and firm.
“I will strengthen the royal power for ten years. Then, I will propose again.”
“Yunjung—”
“By then, wherever you remove your skirts, no one in the palace would dare speak improperly.”
Yunjung’s hand brushed Daom’s hair back, disheveled from their ride. He smiled.
“Ten years will pass quickly, Daom.”
