Episode 77
* * *
At that moment.
Doyul was staring out the window with his chin resting on his hand.
“I, I feel embarrassed.”
Yerin’s words kept echoing in his ears.
Doyul tightened his lips and asked, “Is it because I’m embarrassed?”
Even the sight of Yerin’s innocent eyes and cherry-red lips as she looked up at him.
Continued to flash before his eyes…
“I’m going crazy.”
Doyul sighed deeply, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips.
His heart was in turmoil.
Understandably so.
“My wife keeps feeling like a woman.”
From the first time they met, he thought she was very pretty.
But back then, it was more like a younger sister than a romantic interest.
However, the current Yerin felt like a mature woman…
“Ugh….”
Doyul let out a long sigh, not knowing how many times he had done so.
Whenever he was close to Yerin, he felt like he would only show foolishness, so he tried to keep his distance for now.
But the problem was…
“I miss my wife.”
The moment Yerin was not in sight, he longed to see her.
In the end, Doyul got up from his seat without getting any work done.
“This won’t do.”
After all, it was already late at night.
He couldn’t continue to stay locked up in his office like this…
Doyul tried to convince himself desperately as he headed towards the bedroom.
But…
“My lady?”
“….”
Once inside the room, it was silent.
Seeing no sign of her presence, Yerin probably went somewhere.
Instead…
– Have you come?
Scrunch.
The perennial ice bear, curled up in a ball, opened its eyes and greeted Doyul.
Doyul narrowed his eyes.
“Where is my wife?”
– Well, she said she was going to meet someone called the Muguwon master.
“Muguwon master?”
Doyul paused for a moment.
Today, Yerin celebrated her coming-of-age ceremony at the Haesim Palace.
And the history involving the Haesim Palace…
‘Father.’
Doyul grimaced and turned around.
At the same time, a crooked question from the perennial ice bear behind him.
– Where is the princess going?
“To find my wife.”
– Oh, I see.
The fluffy-tailed perennial ice bear curled up its entire body with its soft tail.
Then quickly started to doze off.
‘Are spirits usually this lazy?’
Doyul shook his head and slipped out of the room.
****
Yerin took brisk steps.
In the distance, Haesim Palace came into view.
In the darkness, Haesim Palace bathed in moonlight, silently and somberly.
It seemed oddly lonely, the serene scenery.
“…It happened in Haesim Palace, of all places.”
Why did the Blood Sect attack Haesim Palace?
Yerin just couldn’t understand.
Haesim Palace wasn’t a place where they could gain anything by attacking.
Yet, the Blood Sect attacked this place and left without any apparent gains.
“Was there really no gain at all?”
Yerin couldn’t shake her doubts.
“If they were willing to risk killing the former palace lord to infiltrate Haesim Palace, there must have been a clear purpose.”
Despite her complex emotions, her steps were resolute.
Yerin entered Haesim Palace just like that.
The place she visited earlier was a shrine where counterfeit money was collected, but her current destination was a bit different.
“I haven’t been to the place in Haesim Palace that I haven’t seen yet…”
The underground chamber where the bodies of the former palace lords were kept.
Without hesitation, Yerin descended underground.
* * *
Step by step…
The eerie sound of Yerin’s footsteps echoed clearly in the creepy chamber.
The stagnant scent of dust unique to spaces that haven’t been opened for a long time lingered in the air.
“Hmm.”
In the dimly lit underground, Yerin, standing in the middle of the chamber, raised the lantern she held a bit higher to survey the surroundings.
Stone coffins were arranged in a row.
Each of those stone coffins held a former palace lord in eternal sleep.
Squinting her eyes, Yerin, holding the lantern, looked around to take in the scene.
Her destination was the coffin placed at the very end.
The stone coffin of the last Snow Orchid, Sajo Baek Seolryeon.
“… .”
Yerin looked down at the stone coffin containing the body of her past self with an expressionless face.
“Come to think of it, there’s a saying that souls and bodies are attracted to each other.”
Seeing no emotion, it seemed that this saying was probably false.
Yerin let out a dry laugh and turned away.
No, to be precise, she tried to turn away.
“What’s this?”
A strong sense of discomfort brushed against her back.
Yerin suddenly turned her head.
A hand infused with her inner power easily opened the lid of the stone coffin.
And then…
“…This can’t be.”
Yerin froze in place.
The corpse lay inside.
Over time, due to the cold weather characteristic of the northern seas, the body had become like a mirage.
It seemed to resemble the recorded appearance of the Snow Orchid in history, but the differences were noticeable.
Everything from appearance to physique to height.
All minutely different.
Moreover, even the long hair spread out like a fan behind the corpse.
This long hair was clear evidence.
“This corpse…”
Trembling fingertips clenched the end of the hair.
“It’s a fake.”
But then, at that moment.
A shocked voice called out to her.
“…Lady?”
Surprised, Yerin turned around.
Doyul, with wide-open eyes, was looking at her.
* * *
Doyul had visited the Muguwon as planned.
“Yes, I have talked about the story of the former palace lord.”
As Doyul expected, Muguwon nodded without resistance.
However, by the time Doyul arrived, Yerin had already left the Muguwon.
“Do you know where my wife went?”
“Well, she didn’t tell me where she was going.”
“I see.”
Doyul nodded and got up.
And so, searching for her, he arrived at Haesim Palace.
“This… what in the world?”
Doyul couldn’t believe his eyes.
Yerin had opened the stone coffin of the ancestral palace lord and was examining the corpse inside.
Just that alone was astonishing, but even more shocking was the fact that the owner of that coffin was none other than…
“The Snow Orchid!”
Sajo Baek Seolryeon.
A legendary figure who established the Northern Ice Palace.
Doyul’s voice trembled thin with anger.
“Regardless of being my wife, it’s not something that should be casually opening the tomb of the ancestor.”
“Your, Your Grace.”
“If the person present here isn’t my wife, consider it an insult to the Ice Palace.”
“I understand. I apologize for that.”
Yerin quickly apologized.
‘Well, it’s my old body that lies in the stone coffin.’
Receiving a scolding for opening the coffin might be unfair, but…
“Hoo.”
Doyul sighed heavily.
He, who had been pressing his temples, asked Yerin a question.
“But the Lady I know… she wouldn’t do something without reason.”
“…”
Yerin hesitated for a moment.
Even at this moment, Doyul was trusting her.
He asked again.
“So let’s hear the reason. Why did you open Sajo’s coffin?”
“That…,”
Faced with that question, Yerin pondered for a moment.
What should she say?
How should she explain it to calm Doyul’s anger, even if just a little?
‘No.’
Yerin shook her head internally.
Rather than making unwarranted excuses, it might be better to be honest.
At least the Doyul she knew was a reasonable person, and, above all…
‘He is trusting me.’
If that’s the case, Yerin also needs to respond to that trust.
Swallowing dry saliva, she opened her lips.
“On the day the former palace lord returned, I heard that the Blood Sect infiltrated Haesim Palace.”
The bloodbath caused by the Blood Sect.
As a result, the Northern Ice Palace lost its palace lord.
…And Doyul lost his father.
The gaze of Doyul, recalling painful memories, somewhat clouded.
“Yes, there was such an incident.”
“So I was curious.”
Yerin calmly continued.
“If they attacked the Northern Ice Palace, caused hostility towards the palace, and went to such extremes…”
“…”
“Surely they must have had reasons too, don’t you think?”
With that inquiry, Yerin subtly observed Doyul’s expression.
Doyul’s face remained stern.
However.
‘He’s listening to my words.’
Realizing that, Yerin’s voice gained strength.
“But the strange thing is that even after causing so much bloodshed, infiltrating Haesim Palace, they didn’t do anything. Instead, they quietly withdrew.”
“Well…”
Doyul exhaled a long breath.
His gaze, pressing down on his forehead, turned sharply to look at Yerin.
“Maybe it’s more bizarre that they didn’t do anything after infiltrating Haesim Palace. Is that what you’re saying?”
“Exactly.”
Yerin met Doyul’s eyes directly.
“But what if the Blood Sect did something in Haesim Palace?”
Doyul’s expression showed astonishment.
“What if the Northern Ice Palace hasn’t noticed what they’ve done so far?”
“Why are you saying this now?”
Doyul asked, shocked.
‘Because even now, you are trusting me.’
Confirming that, Yerin’s voice became firmer.
“But if the Blood Sect committed some action in Haesim Palace, and if the Northern Ice Palace hasn’t noticed their deeds until now…”
Doyul’s face was filled with disbelief.
“Why would the Blood Sect be the Blood Sect?”
“Well…”
Doyul tightly pressed his lips to ask.
The Blood Sect.
An evil religious group that idolizes blood and death, and is also known for treating human lives lighter than flies, and even using corpses for dark sorcery.
They were considered so dangerous that the martial world had designated the Blood Sect as an enemy to pursue.
“Among the secret sorceries of the Blood Sect, there’s something that requires the corpses of the deceased.”
