Episode 12
Yerin looked at Ga-eun with a puzzled expression.
“Why are you just standing there looking so dazed?”
“Oh, no, it’s nothing, Lady Ga-eun.”
Ga-eun’s face turned bright red.
Are you crazy, Ji Ga-eun?
Losing your mind in front of that annoying girl!
“Please follow me. I will guide you to the waiting room.”
Ga-eun turned around, pretending to be calm.
“Well then, excuse me.”
Yerin bowed to Dowol and followed behind him with small steps.
Meanwhile, Dowol couldn’t help but notice Yerin’s fragile appearance.
“Madam.”
Yerin was already weaker than her peers.
She must be very tired from the long carriage journey, I hope she’s okay.
She should go inside and rest….
At that moment, Dowol couldn’t hide his worried expression.
One of the elders asked Dowol a question.
“Will you go back to your quarters, Your Highness?”
“Yes, I should. There must be a lot of things piled up during my absence.”
“But don’t you need a day off….”
“It’s fine.”
Even though he answered like that, Dowol didn’t know that his gaze would be separated from Yerin’s fading figure.
* * *
The waiting room given to Yerin was a traditional and elegant room used by the mistress of the North Ice Palace for generations.
She silently looked up at the well-decorated building.
“Come to think of it, a lot of effort was put into building this room.”
It was the place where the future female protagonist, who would be connected to Dowol, would live.
There were times when she felt proud while looking at the waiting room that exuded the freshness of a newly built building.
But now, the room had been soaked in time, and it no longer had the same feeling as it did back then.
As she looked at it, various emotions flooded her.
“I never knew that I would become the lady of the North Ice Palace and return to this waiting room.”
And that too, three hundred years later.
“Well, then, should I take a bath first?”
Perhaps it was because of the long journey, her whole body felt sweaty.
Moreover, the damp clothes made her feel heavy, so she wanted to change into something lighter as soon as possible.
Yerin turned to Ga-eun.
“Thank you for guiding me to the quarters, Ga-eun. You can step back now….”
“What are you talking about?”
But Ga-eun opened her eyes wide and looked straight at Yerin.
“You should study about the North Sea Castle and the North Ice Palace until the Crown Prince returns.”
“…Huh?”
No, what’s with the sudden talk?
Yerin looked at Ga-eun with a puzzled face.
Ga-eun’s neck had suddenly become tense.
“You’ve been staying in the Four Heavenly Palaces all this time, how much do you think you know about the North Sea Castle?”
“What?”
“Honestly, isn’t that obvious? If you came to the Ice Palace, you should accumulate knowledge about the palace.”
Ga-eun shrugged her shoulders.
On her face, a sense of victory had suddenly filled up.
“Don’t tell me you’re pretending to be the lady of the Ice Palace without knowing anything about the North Sea Castle?”
…Huh.
Yerin blinked her eyes absentmindedly.
Is this it? A test?
Well, it seems like I know what she’s up to.
Under the pretense of teaching her about the North Ice Palace, Ga-eun was trying to break Yerin’s spirit.
And it made sense, the North Sea Castle was far away from the Central Plains.
People from the Central Plains had no interest whatsoever in the North Ice Palace.
It was natural for Ga-eun to assume that Yerin knew nothing about the palace.
“Oh, by the way, it’s better if you don’t mention anything about the Four Heavenly Gates.”
“The Four Heavenly Gates?”
“Yes, the Four Heavenly Gates! The people of the palace treat them like enemies…!”
“…Ha.”
At that moment, a sound of air escaping Yerin’s lips could be heard.
Ga-eun widened her eyes.
“Are you laughing at me, Lady?”
“No, it’s just… Ahaha!”
Yerin couldn’t hold it in and burst into loud laughter, clutching her stomach.
Well, it’s true that it’s laughable.
Honestly, the current situation was ridiculous.
“It’s not like I’m trying to pick a fight with a worm, what’s all this about?”
Yerin wiped away the tears that had gathered in the corners of her eyes and looked at Ga-eun with a smile.
No matter how you look at it, little one.
I am the founder of the North Ice Palace.
After all, there’s a saying that even a small puppy can be scary….
“Well, that’s what education is about.”
At the same time, Yerin’s lips curled up in a smirk.
It was a clear sneer.
“Let’s see what you’ve got.”
* * *
Dang Yerin.
From what I heard, she was a lady released from the Four Heavenly Palaces.
“Hmph, just a girl like her.”
It was true that Ga-eun looked down on Yerin a little bit.
Even the well-educated noblewomen from the Central Plains didn’t know much about the North Ice Palace, and Ga-eun had lived there her entire life.
“Well, should I break her stiff neck a little?”
Also, Ga-eun had one effective solution to crush Yerin before she even started.
That was…
“Now that she’s become a lady of the Ice Palace, she can’t not know about the North Sea Castle.”
But could a girl who had lived her whole life in the noble quarters of the Central Plains have had the opportunity to learn about the history of the North Ice Palace?
To that question, Ga-eun could confidently answer “no.”
Ga-eun grinned.
“Well then, shall we start with the history of the North Ice Palace?”
With a self-satisfied expression, Ga-eun poured out stacks of books onto the table.
They were books recording the history of the North Sea Castle and the North Ice Palace.
“Do you really think a lady like you can’t even know the history of the North Ice Palace?”
Looking at Yerin with her nose in the air, Ga-eun suddenly stiffened her shoulders.
“Hmm, the history of the North Ice Palace.”
When a person encounters a field they don’t know, they can’t help but tense up and shrink back.
But Yerin, instead of showing that kind of reaction, was facing Ga-eun with an indifferent face.
“Man, what does she believe in to be so calm?”
For a moment, Ga-eun felt uncomfortable, but soon relaxed her expression.
“Well, even if she knows, it’s just showing off.”
With that judgment, Ga-eun shrugged her shoulders.
“Yes. Today, I’ll teach you about the founder of the North Ice Palace, Lady Baek Seol-ryeon.”
And at that moment.
“Huh?”
Ga-eun blinked her eyes.
It was because a faint smile passed over Yerin’s lips.
“…No, I must have seen it wrong.”
Ga-eun spoke with a hesitant feeling.
“As the lady-in-waiting, you will eventually assist the palace lord and govern the North Sea Castle, right?”
Ga-eun pretended to be considerate of Yerin, wearing a sincere expression.
“So, it’s only natural for you to learn about the roots of the North Ice Palace. Isn’t that right?”
Lady Baek Seol-ryeon, the founder of the North Ice Palace.
Once a renowned swordsman who dominated the era as the best swordsman in the world, she was also a great ruler who established and governed the North Sea Castle.
But the people from the Central Plains were only interested in her formidable martial arts skills and had no intention of learning about her reign.
“So, it’s obvious that a girl from the Central Plains like her wouldn’t know.”
Ga-eun’s voice was mixed with malice.
“The first thing Lady Baek Seol-ryeon did when she established the North Sea Castle was to organize the capital…”
“No.”
At that moment, Yerin asserted.
Ga-eun’s face stiffened.
“…What do you mean?”
“The first thing Lady Baek Seol-ryeon did was not that.”
Yerin looked at Ga-eun with a clear gaze.
“The first thing she did was to subdue the rebellious tribes and eliminate the harmful bandits.”
“Subdue the rebellious tribes and eliminate the harmful bandits?”
“Yeah, organizing the capital is something that happened much later.”
Who does she think she is, pretending to know so much about the North Sea Castle just because she’s from the Central Plains!
An irritated Ga-eun shot back at Yerin.
“Aren’t you a bit too sure of yourself? You didn’t even confirm it with Lady Baek…”
“In that case, let’s confirm it once.”
Yerin pointed to the stack of books piled up like a mountain with a flick of her chin.
“Checking the recorded history would be more accurate than wrestling with each other, don’t you think? Isn’t that right?”
Ga-eun clenched her teeth and picked up one of the books.
And then.
“What, what is it?!”
Ga-eun widened her eyes as she skimmed through the bookshelf.
Yerin was right.
Yerin opened her mouth in a calm tone.
“Lady Baek, along with her direct disciple Hyeon Se-jin, spent several years stabilizing the entire North Sea Castle.”
“T-That’s…”
“And in doing so, they created an environment where the people could settle comfortably.”
When Yerin first arrived at the North Sea Castle, it was in a state where harmful bandits were rampant and savage tribes were running wild, making it impossible for anyone to live there.
She wielded a sword and brought order to the entire North Sea Castle, and by her side…
“Hyeon Se-jin was always there.”
He was Lady Baek’s most devoted disciple and the boy who would later inherit the North Ice Palace as her successor.
And Hyeon Se-jin was the distant ancestor of the male lead, Hyeon Do-yul.
“…”
Enough, now is not the time to dwell on memories.
Yerin bit her lip and tried to push away the overwhelming emotions.
“But more importantly, we should fix the bad habits of that insolent girl first, don’t you think?”
