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Chapter 7
A large blanket completely covered the child’s body.
She was so small that a single blanket was enough to wrap her entirely.
After bundling the child up tightly so that no cold wind could reach her, Ju Jeokseo rose from his seat.
“M-My Lord.”
Jo Yeong stared at the small, pale girl and asked in a bewildered voice.
“Are you taking her with us?”
At his question, the man’s gaze shifted to the little child.
Then, after a brief pause,
he lifted his chin and answered.
“Yes.”
“But she’s wearing clothes from the Imperial Palace…”
Jo Yeong trailed off awkwardly.
Ju Jeokseo knew exactly what he was trying to say.
Rumors were already spreading that the Emperor had nearly gone mad because his beloved concubine had yet to wake up. Taking away a girl dressed in imperial clothing…
‘It could become a future source of trouble for the Southern Lands.’
But still.
How could he possibly pretend not to see her?
‘…I want to live.’
A child desperately begging to live.
She looked no older than five years old.
Her hands and feet were frozen stiff, and her thin, emaciated limbs seemed as though they could snap at the slightest touch.
She also appeared to have been abandoned here for quite some time. If they delayed any longer, she would certainly die.
Fortunately, her tiny heart was still beating.
But even that could stop at any moment.
Besides.
‘White hair…’
Ju Jeokseo gently touched the child’s snow-white hair.
The strands slipped through his thick fingers like falling snowflakes.
And somehow, that hair reminded him of someone.
‘Brother!’
Because of that memory,
Ju Jeokseo simply could not leave this child behind.
If he had found a dead child, that would have been one thing.
But he could not knowingly leave a living child to die.
And besides.
Hadn’t he seen it the moment their eyes met?
The spark of life still burning inside those round eyes.
The tiny hand clutching tightly at his sleeve as if declaring that she was still alive.
“I know what you’re trying to say.”
“My Lord…”
“But that mad Emperor abandoned this child on my land.”
Ju Jeokseo quietly slipped the warming stone he carried into the girl’s arms.
“Which means she belongs to me now.”
“I merely picked up something that was thrown away on my territory.”
No one could claim ownership over something they had discarded.
Especially if they had thrown it away in someone else’s domain.
Even a foolish Emperor should understand such a simple truth.
The warming stone he gave her had been crafted from the feathers of a Vermilion Bird. Anyone carrying it would feel as though they were sitting beside a fire no matter where they were.
A soft reddish glow spread from the stone, illuminating the area near the child’s chest.
Watching the careful way Ju Jeokseo placed the warming stone, Jo Yeong realized his lord had already made up his mind and nodded.
“That’s true. Surely they can’t complain about something they threw away.”
Then he quickly added,
“Besides, the Emperor probably doesn’t even think she’s still alive.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Jo Yeong tossed a Vermilion Bird feather onto the snow.
In an instant, a massive flame erupted.
Whoosh!
The fire melted away every trace of where the child had been lying before quickly dying down.
“Ugh, it’s freezing. Let’s get going, My Lord. Goodness, with snow falling this hard, how cold must this little one have been?”
Fussing noisily like a flustered bird, he hurriedly prepared to leave.
“This child is lucky.”
“Indeed. Very lucky.”
But was it truly the child who was lucky?
Or was it himself?
Unable to answer that question with certainty, Ju Jeokseo simply gave a brief reply before mounting his horse with the child held securely in his arms.
Neigh!
The horse stomped its forelegs and let out a loud cry before racing back along the path they had come.
On the back of the horse, galloping as swiftly as the wind—
Rustle.
For the first time in her life, having found genuine warmth, the child stirred slightly in her sleep.
Baeksa dreamed.
“You stole it! You took it, didn’t you?!”
In the dream, Yeoryun glared at Baeksa with a vicious expression and screamed.
She was wildly shaking an empty silk pouch.
The moment Baeksa saw the pouch, she immediately understood what this dream was about.
When Baeksa was five years old,
one of Yeoryun’s treasured hair ornaments had gone missing. It had been a beautiful ornament decorated with pink gemstones.
It was true that Baeksa had thought it was pretty.
But she had never touched it.
Not once.
Yet Yeoryun had accused her simply because she had called Baeksa to her room the day before.
“That ornament was a gift from Father! Something like that isn’t meant for the likes of you!”
Baeksa’s eyes trembled helplessly in the face of Yeoryun’s fury.
“N-No.”
Shaking with fear, Baeksa frantically shook her head.
“No, Sister. I really didn’t take it.”
“Liar! You lowly thing! A mere snake dares to covet someone else’s belongings?”
Far from calming down, Yeoryun became even more enraged.
Then she transformed into her small snake form and began trampling and beating Baeksa mercilessly.
Unable even to run away, Baeksa simply curled herself up as tightly as possible.
That was the best defense a child could manage.
It had been that way then.
And it was still that way now.
There was still nothing Baeksa could do.
Even after the missing ornament was eventually found in a corner of Yeoryun’s bedchamber.
Even when her bruised body ached and tears filled her eyes.
There was nothing Baeksa could do.
She had returned to the past.
But that was all.
By now, Baeksa no longer expected anything to change.
No longer expected anything to be different.
If someone hit or trampled her, she would simply curl herself up again.
Then she would wait desperately for the ordeal to pass.
As Baeksa curled into herself and squeezed her eyes shut, Yeoryun’s voice gradually grew fainter and more distant.
At this rate, she would soon stop hearing it altogether.
And then…
Would she finally be at peace?
Just as she had once wished.
Without pain.
Without sadness.
Her body trembling, Baeksa thought quietly to herself.
And finally—
The moment Yeoryun’s voice disappeared completely—
“Ah!”
Baeksa jolted awake, her face drenched in cold sweat.
‘I-It was a dream…’
She had dreamed about Yeoryun.
Yet her entire body throbbed as though she had truly been beaten by her.
‘It hurts…’
She couldn’t tell whether it was her body that hurt or her heart.
Instinctively curling up, Baeksa suddenly realized that the place she was lying in was unfamiliar.
Her body jerked in surprise.
“W-Where is this…?”
Where am I?
Carefully, Baeksa retraced her memories.
As she did, the memories of being abandoned in the Southern Lands gradually resurfaced.
The memory of being forced at spearpoint to walk through the snow.
The memory of the carriage leaving her behind.
The memory of collapsing there all alone.
And then—
“I met someone… Ah!”
She had met people from the Vermilion Bird Clan.
She remembered those red eyes looking down at her during her final moments.
And she remembered someone pressing something warm and round into her arms.
To be honest, at the time she had thought it was all a dream.
After all, no one would have come to such a desolate place.
And certainly no one would have saved her.
But…
Baeksa gently touched the thick, warm quilt covering her.
The blanket, stuffed full of soft cotton, was so warm and comfortable that simply touching it made her feel happy.
It was different from the blankets she had used in the Imperial Palace.
There were no worn-out patches.
No dirty stains.
‘Did that person… save me?’
And then cover her with a blanket and lay her down in a warm room?
With an uncertain expression, Baeksa hugged the quilt tightly.
She wasn’t sure whether someone like her was allowed to use such a clean and warm blanket.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, she suddenly felt embarrassed for lying beneath it.
Hurriedly, the girl threw off the blanket and began getting up, intending to sit on the bare floor where no bedding had been laid.
Just then—
Click. Creak.
The door opened with the sound of wood sliding against wood, and a stranger entered the room.
The moment she saw Baeksa awake, her eyes widened.
Then she broke into a bright smile.
“Oh my, you’re awake?”
