Chapter 30: The Language of Thorns

“Ah…”

Huiyeon let out a soft, defeated sigh as the sensory world around her shifted with sudden clarity. The heavy, lingering chill was gone; the air felt distinctly lighter, crisper, and utterly ordinary.

Sorang’s warning had been entirely accurate. Mount Mureung did not permit the intrusion of outsiders. To have believed, even for a fleeting moment, that the ancient forest had chosen to open its paths uniquely for her was nothing short of a foolish delusion.

“Of course,” she murmured, adjusting her footing as she scanned her new surroundings. “The sacred mountain would never reveal its secrets so easily.”

She dusted off her silken skirts, her brow dipping in confusion. “But… where on earth am I?”

According to Sorang’s description of the mountain’s defense, anyone repelled by the boundary was supposed to be looped backward, waking to find themselves precisely where they had started at the mouth of the path. Yet, Huiyeon was nowhere near the familiar garden trail. Instead, she stood in an entirely foreign, sprawling courtyard.

The architecture was distinctly grand, featuring heavy stone pillars deeply engraved with the roaring countenances of soaring tigers. It was clear she hadn’t breached the outer walls of the royal palace complex, but the sheer size of the unfamiliar estate was disorienting.

“Is anyone there? Please, come forward.”

Assuming the hidden royal guards who constantly tracked her movements had been ejected alongside her, she called out to the empty space. But her voice merely bounced off the stone walls. No one emerged from the shadows.

“Dang-un? Are you there?”

Thinking perhaps they were hesitant to breach decorum within an unknown estate, she called the head guard by his proper name. Still, the courtyard remained suffocatingly quiet. No one answered.

Had the chaotic mechanics of the barrier separated her from her escort entirely? It was highly probable; spiritual wards were notoriously complex, and Sorang’s knowledge was gathered from rumors rather than personal mastery.

Realizing she could not rely on her guards to guide her back, Huiyeon accepted that she would have to navigate her own way back to the detached palace. She scanned the horizon, hoping to spot a passing servant or a court lady to point her in the right direction, but the vast estate was entirely barren. Not even an ant seemed to stir across the pristine granite walkways.

“Trying to avoid the Grand General only to end up utterly lost… Is this my punishment?”

Smiling bitterly at her own misfortune, Huiyeon fixed her eyes on a massive, elegant pavilion standing a short distance away. If there is a structure of that size, surely someone must be residing within it.

Yet, as her quickening steps brought her closer to the sprawling complex, a strange, uneasy sensation took hold of her. An estate of this magnitude should have teemed with dozens of court ladies and attendants, yet a heavy, unnatural silence hung over the entire area. The lacquerware pillars and tiled roofs were meticulously maintained, devoid of dust, cracks, or any signs of decay. It was certainly not an abandoned ruin, making the complete absence of life all the more baffling.

“Is anyone within?”

Steeling her courage, she raised her voice, letting it echo through the wide portico. No movement came from behind the latticed screens.

After a moment of anxious hesitation, she reached out and gently pushed against the heavy wooden double doors. To her surprise, they parted with a soft creak, entirely unlocked.

Stepping into the grand foyer, her eyes swept over an interior that was impeccably clean, yet radiated a profound, chilling cold—the distinct, biting vacuum of a space that was preserved but utterly uninhabited.

“Hello? Is anyone here?”

She called out one final time, but the silence remained unbroken. The vast halls were truly, inexplicably empty.

“My goodness… what do I do now?”

Huiyeon bit her lip, a wave of anxiety washing over her. To be completely isolated in an unfamiliar quadrant of the palace without a single guide was a dangerous predicament. Yet, she refused to let despair paralyze her. If she could simply locate the main thoroughfare of this particular sector, she was bound to cross paths with a patrolling guard or a royal messenger eventually. The Hoye Kingdom’s palace was said to rival the size of an entire capital city, but logic dictated that walking long enough would inevitably bring her to inhabited grounds.

With renewed resolve, she stepped back out into the open courtyard. As she rounded the perimeter of the grand building, a sudden flash of movement caught her eye near the adjoining pavilion. A long cascade of dark hair caught the wind, fluttering beautifully before vanishing around a stone corner.

“Wait! Excuse me!”

She called out, her voice desperate, but the figure didn’t seem to hear her, disappearing entirely from view.

Terrified of losing her only chance at assistance, Huiyeon threw caution to the wind and began to run. But her physical endurance, long compromised by her years of confinement in the cold palace, failed to match her urgency. Furthermore, the sweeping, voluminous layers of her formal silk skirts proved to be a treacherous obstacle.

As she attempted to pivot sharply around the stone corner where the figure had vanished, her slipper caught firmly against the heavy hem of her undergarment. Her balance disintegrated instantly. Feeling her weight plunge forward, Huiyeon braced herself for a violent impact against the hard granite floor and tightly shut her eyes.

The expected agony never came.

Instead, a firm, unyielding pressure clamped securely against her midsection, halting her descent mid-air with effortless strength.

Huiyeon gasped, snapping her eyes open to find a powerful, sun-bronzed arm wrapped tightly around her waist, anchoring her against a broad chest.

“Are you unharmed?”

The deep, resonant voice brushed directly against the shell of her ear, carrying a breath of damp, enveloping warmth that sent a sudden jolt straight down her spine. It was a voice she recognized instantly.

Her eyes widened in sheer shock. Nodding instinctively, she scrambled to right herself, pushing her upper body back until her feet found purchase on the stone floor.

“I—I am unhurt.”

The sheer heat radiating from the man’s body through her clothes, combined with the intimate brush of his breath against her ear, felt overwhelmingly intense and entirely foreign.

“Please… you may release me now.”

Gently placing her palms against his chest, Huiyeon pushed herself backward, creating a hurried distance between them. The tip of her ear where his breath had lingered burned with a sudden, flush of heat.

“Thank you for your assistance, Lord Yu—Eek!”

Huiyeon turned to offer her formal gratitude, but the words died in her throat, replaced by a strangled, undignified squeak as she instantly slammed her eyes shut.

“W-What on earth… are you a exhibitionist? Why are you dressed like that?!”

The moment she had heard that smooth, level cadence, she knew without a doubt that her savior was Yu-on. The very man who had ignited a quiet spark of hope in her heart every time she visited the royal archives, only to disappoint her by his absence, was finally standing right in front of her.

But she was completely unequipped to process the joy of the reunion. Yu-on was practically half-naked.

Though she had closed her eyes within a fraction of a second, the visual imprint was already burned into her mind. The afterimage of his sculpted, bare chest and the damp silk clinging to his torso caused an uncontrollable, burning blush to spread furiously across her cheeks.

“This is my personal palace; how I choose to dress within my own walls is entirely my concern,” Yu-on countered, his tone laced with an amused, lazy drawl. “I am hardly naked. My inner tunic is merely loosened at the collar, yet you accuse me of being an exhibitionist? Your words are rather severe, Princess.”

Despite his grumbling words, the crisp, rustling sound of sliding silk echoed through the quiet courtyard as he pulled his robes together.

“The deed is done. You may open your eyes now.”

“Are… are you certain?”

“If you do not believe me, you are welcome to remain standing there with your eyes closed indefinitely.”

Huiyeon cautiously parted her eyelids.

Yu-on had indeed pulled the front of his robes closed, but the garment was bound so loosely and carelessly that it could hardly be described as proper or dignified. Recalling their first meeting in the archives, where his attire had been similarly relaxed, she realized this reckless disregard for wardrobe decorum was simply his natural state.

But his words caught her attention. The owner of this estate?

“Is this grand palace truly your residence, Lord Yu-on?”

“Why? Do you find an issue with that?”

“Yes. A great many issues, in fact.”

“Is that so? Do enlighten me, then. I am listening.”

Though she had spent her life locked away in the isolated cold palace of Taeseong, she was far from ignorant regarding the political realities of royal courts. Observing the vast, empty expanse around them, her initial suspicions about Yu-on were firmly solidified.

He was exactly like her—a member of the royal bloodline who was deemed an outcast, a dangerous or unwelcome presence stripped of influence. Why else would an estate of this magnificence be completely devoid of life?

“Where have all your attendants and court ladies gone?”

“Are attendants a necessity?” Yu-on tilted his head slightly, his voice entirely nonchalant. His expression genuinely suggested he found the concept of domestic staff utterly baffling.

“If you had proper attendants by your side, your wardrobe would not be in such a scandalous state,” Huiyeon pointed out, her voice firming as she regained her composure. “Given that you occupy an estate of this scale within the royal grounds, you are undoubtedly of royal birth. Tell me… is this sector perhaps a forbidden zone? Am I committing a crime by standing here?”

Her mind naturally flashed back to the cold palace of her youth—a place where execution awaited any outsider who dared to cross the threshold. She was terrified that she had inadvertently walked into a similar trap in Hoye. The last thing she wanted was to offend King Cheong-mun; she knew a day would come when she would desperately need the monarch’s political protection.

“There is no law forbidding entry,” Yu-on replied, lightly tracing his jaw as he spoke of his own exile as if it were a matter of complete indifference. “It is simply that no one in this kingdom possesses the audacity to even contemplate stepping inside.”

Though the phrasing struck her as slightly unusual, Huiyeon didn’t dwell on the mystery. She was far too relieved by the confirmation that she wasn’t trespassing on forbidden ground.

“More importantly,” Yu-on continued, his golden eyes narrowing slightly, “what brings you to this particular sector?”

“Ah! That is…”

Flustered by his sudden proximity, Huiyeon only now recalled the precarious situation that had driven her here in the first place.

“I… I have lost my way. Could you perhaps direct me back to the detached palace?”

“My, how unfortunate. How exactly did a clever princess manage to lose her bearings within these walls?”

“Well… it was…”

Huiyeon stammered, unable to offer a straight answer. She didn’t know if it was safe to confess to a member of the Hoye royal family that she had been actively trying to infiltrate the sacred barrier of Mount Mureung.

As her anxiety mounted, her teeth instinctively sank into her lower lip.

“Do not do that. You will draw blood.”

“Ah…”

Before she could process the warning, a cool, slender fingertip gently brushed against her bottom lip, coaxing it free from her teeth before pulling away. The sudden, intimate touch startled her so profoundly that her lips parted in a soft gasp.

“Whatever your reasons may be, the reality remains that you are lost,” Yu-on murmured, his eyes locking onto hers. “If you promise to compensate me with a cup of tea upon our arrival, I shall happily act as your personal guide.”

“A single cup of tea is a paltry reward,” Huiyeon replied, her face instantly brightening at the offer of assistance. “If it pleases you, I shall brew you as many cups as you desire.”

She felt a wave of gratitude toward him for not pressing her regarding her presence on the path. With Yu-on leading the way, the crushing weight of her earlier isolation vanished completely.

“Have you finished reading the text I selected for you during our last encounter?” Yu-on inquired smoothly as they walked side by side down the quiet corridor.

“Of course. A significant number of days have passed since then, after all. I have actually returned to the archives several times since our meeting to peruse other historical records.”

“The Princess seems to possess an extraordinary interest in the history of the Hoye Kingdom.”

In truth, her interest was entirely exclusive to the legends of the ancient Dragon, but Huiyeon simply offered a polite nod of agreement.

“I have found that the most compelling histories are those passed down exclusively through word of mouth,” Yu-on noted, his voice turning profound.

“Is that so?”

“Indeed. The truths committed to ink and parchment represent nothing more than a fraction of what truly transpired.”

His words struck a deep chord within her. Huiyeon had been feeling utterly stifled by her inability to find any concrete records concerning the Dragon’s current whereabouts within the royal library. While Mount Mureung remained the most logical sanctuary for such a mythical entity, her failure to bypass its barrier meant she had to consider other avenues.

‘Must I truly find a way to travel beyond the capital and search the provinces myself?’ she mused. But as things stood, she was effectively a political prisoner, forbidden from leaving the palace perimeter without a heavy escort. If only Prime Minister Hwang Mugeong wasn’t breathing down her neck…

‘Should I… find a way to utilize the Grand General’s influence?’

The thought immediately left a bitter taste in her mouth; she despised the idea of manipulating Yuchang’s unwanted affection for her own ends.

As she remained lost in her troubled thoughts, the familiar tiled roofs of the detached palace suddenly materialized through the trees. Huiyeon blinked in surprise, entirely unaware that Yu-on’s estate sat in such close proximity to her own quarters.

“Your palace… it is remarkably close to mine.”

“A person who must remain hidden from the world is invariably tucked away in the deepest shadows of the mountain,” Yu-on replied quietly.

His words carried a heavy, double meaning—a subtle acknowledgment that both he and she were entities who existed on the fringes, hidden away from the prying eyes of the court.

Huiyeon looked up at the mysterious man standing beside her, her heart swelling with an intense, burning curiosity. Who are you, Yu-on? What part do you truly play in this kingdom?

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