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Chapter 1
Cold, barren ground.
A small snake, abandoned there all alone, blinked its eyes.
Cold…
The young snake knew very well where she had been abandoned.
The southern lands of Haeseoguk.
The cursed Southern Territory, where black rain fell every day and no one who stepped inside could ever return alive.
And among those lands, the place where she now lay was the most heavily contaminated of all.
Though she had been left alone in such a dreadful place, she felt no resentment.
Because being abandoned was entirely her own fault.
The little snake, Baeksa, struggled to raise her head and look down at her body.
Her originally snow-white scales had been stained black.
A pitch-black body that did not suit the name Baeksa (White Snake) in the slightest.
That grotesque appearance was the very reason she had been discarded here.
“It’s useless now.”
“Take that thing and throw it into the Southern Territory.”
Because she could no longer be used in any way.
Her body had not always looked this hideous.
There had once been a time when Baeksa’s scales were as pure and white as her name suggested.
But everything changed in the year she turned seven, when she awakened the innate power possessed by beastfolk—their “special ability.”
The little snake exhaled a faint breath and stared at the black snowflakes drifting through the air as she recalled that day.
The very moment she had first awakened her ability.
Baeksa was a snake born under a dragon-kin father who ruled as the Emperor of Haeseoguk.
She possessed neither the beautiful horns nor the radiant dragon pearl that her dragon beastfolk siblings had.
Furthermore, she had failed to awaken the “special ability” that all beastfolk normally wielded as naturally as breathing from birth.
Because of that, some whispered that it was due to her mother’s lowly origins.
However, the existence of Baeksa’s mother had been completely concealed, so nothing was known about her, nor could anything be learned.
Under such circumstances, there was only one thing Baeksa understood.
That she had been born a snake—the source of ill omen.
And that a white snake was not a welcome existence within the imperial family.
“A snake? How could a snake be born in the imperial family…?”
“Is it truly His Majesty’s bloodline?”
Since it was the natural order for dragon beastfolk to give birth to dragons, no one could believe the birth of the little snake.
Thus, the imperial family of Haeseoguk regarded Baeksa as a tremendous disgrace.
A blemish that had suddenly appeared in the life of an emperor who was not allowed to show any flaws.
And so, the Emperor never gave Baeksa a name.
In the imperial family of Haeseoguk, it was customary for the Emperor himself to name his children.
While all of her siblings received dragon names the moment they were born, Baeksa remained nameless even at the age of seven.
“That thing.”
“The white snake.”
“Little snake.”
“The worthless one.”
Those were the words people used to call her.
Even so, the child was content.
She believed that merely being allowed to live, despite being little more than the imperial family’s disgrace, was an act of immense mercy.
Then, in the year she turned seven—
“Her Highness has awakened her ability!”
“But… that ability…”
Contrary to everyone’s belief that she would never awaken one, the child finally manifested her power.
However, what she obtained was not the dragon clan’s ability of “Blessing.”
“No! My power! My blessing! This lunatic thing has devoured it!”
“I-I didn’t mean to…”
“Help me! Nursemaid! Aaaah! Help me!”
The ability she awakened was Absorption.
After enduring constant bullying from Prince Songra, she accidentally devoured his ability, causing her own to manifest.
Baeksa’s power was a greedy and terrifying ability that consumed anything and everything.
After awakening her ability in such a manner, the bewildered child was dragged by soldiers before the Emperor.
The young girl knelt before her father, trembling like a criminal.
Instinctively, she understood that her ability was not one anyone would welcome.
Sure enough, the Emperor looked at her and smiled coldly.
It was not the face of a father pleased that his daughter had awakened her power.
“I had been planning to throw you into the southern lands soon.”
The child flinched.
What kind of place were the southern lands?
The territory now ruled by the Vermilion Bird clan that had been exiled from Haeseoguk, and a land cursed by the ancient Divine Dragon.
No one who entered that place ever returned alive.
And he had planned to abandon her there.
Tears welled up in the child’s large eyes.
Seeing this, the Emperor spoke as though he had been waiting for that reaction.
“However, I have changed my mind. If you work for me from now on, I will postpone that decision.”
“What will you do? Will you be exiled south and die? Or will you remain in the imperial family and work for your father?”
“I-I’ll stay. I want to work for Your Majesty.”
The child looked up at him with frightened eyes.
I’ll do anything. Any task at all.
So please, don’t exile me.
Apparently satisfied with her answer, the Emperor finally bestowed a name upon her.
Baeksa (白蛇).
Literally, “White Snake.”
It was also a measure meant to distinguish her from the dragon-kin members of the imperial family.
Even so, Baeksa was overjoyed simply to have a name.
It meant she finally had a role within this imperial family.
It meant she finally had a chance to prove her worth.
From that day onward, the Emperor would blindfold Baeksa once every day and take her somewhere.
Then he would place someone’s hand in hers and order her to absorb the energy within that person’s body.
She obeyed exactly as instructed.
She never removed the blindfold.
She never wondered who the owner of the hand was.
Because her father had told her not to ask.
Because her job was simply to do as she was told without questioning anything.
“Lady Baeksa, it is time to go to the detached palace.”
As a result, despite traveling back and forth to the detached palace, Baeksa knew absolutely nothing about the owner of that hand.
The only things she knew were that the hand was delicate, the fingers were long, and it had never moved even once while she held it.
Yet it was not a corpse.
Warmth could be felt from it.
Sometimes, a pleasant fragrance drifted from that hand as well.
It was a scent that felt strangely nostalgic, as though she had encountered it long ago.
But that must have been her imagination.
Since birth, Baeksa had lived in isolation from others.
As time passed—
After she began absorbing energy, subtle changes started appearing in Baeksa’s body.
Black spots emerged across her pure white scales.
And the more she used her ability, the larger those stain-like marks became.
Gradually, they devoured her entire body.
Even after noticing the changes, Baeksa could not neglect the “work” the Emperor assigned her.
Because that work was the only reason she had not been exiled.
Because she had to work hard without complaint.
But the moment those black spots completely covered her once-white body—
The moment she ceased being a pure white baby snake and became a pitch-black, ominous snake—
Baeksa could no longer use her ability.
She could absorb neither blessings nor curses.
Nothing at all.
It was as though her body had reached its absolute limit.
And when the Emperor learned of this—
“Dispose of her.”
Without the slightest hesitation, he ordered her to be thrown into the Southern Territory.
There was not a trace of affection in his voice for the daughter he had fathered and raised.
And so—
Here she was now.
The baby snake whose body had turned completely black shed tear after tear.
If only she had been a little more useful, would she not have been abandoned?
What kind of energy had she been absorbing all this time to make her body turn into this?
What would happen to the owner of that hand without her…?
Countless thoughts surfaced and faded away.
The little snake curled herself up even tighter.
Instinctively, Baeksa knew her death was near.
Ever since she had been abandoned here, the contaminated energy of the land had been flowing endlessly into her body regardless of her will.
Anyone who absorbed more contaminated energy than they could withstand would die.
And she had already reached her limit the moment she was abandoned.
Soon, her body would no longer endure.
If I had known it would end like this…
If she had known this would be the outcome, she would never have tried so hard to earn recognition.
The father who had given her such a pitiful and insignificant name.
Yet even that had made her happy.
She had wanted to work hard at anything and everything.
She had believed that one day he would acknowledge her and allow her to fulfill her role as a member of the imperial family.
But now she understood.
All of it had been impossible from the moment she was born a snake.
There were hearts in this world that effort alone could never change.
The little snake closed her eyes.
She no longer had the strength to run away or struggle to survive.
All Baeksa could do was wait quietly.
Wait for the end that was approaching her.
As her eyes closed and strength drained from her body—
Something small and black, like a dark pearl, appeared within her fading vision.
That is… ?
It looked exactly like a dragon pearl.
Something that should never have appeared to Baeksa.
And at the same time, something she had longed for more than anyone.
Summoning the last remnants of her strength, the little snake looked up at the round orb.
Then, in the next moment—
The orb flashed with brilliant white light and swallowed the tiny baby snake whole.
Before she could examine it or understand what it was, darkness flooded her vision.
It was the end of her short life.
After the baby snake’s heart stopped completely—
The energy of all creation, Samramansang was absorbed into the orb, and the contaminated land around it gradually began to recover its original appearance.
However, the restoration lasted only for a brief moment.
And so, no one ever witnessed it.
