Chapter 2: Return

The white mourning clothes, woven from coarse hemp, fluttered in the evening wind that had begun to turn dark past the twilight.

Ahnok passed Nanseok with an indifferent expression and headed toward the dilapidated thatched house where he had lived long ago.

It had been seven years.

The season of seven years ago, when Chusan’s funeral was held, was the final spring before the long winter descended upon Baekya-bu.

The large pear tree—which seemed to both guard and illuminate the isolated cottage built far from the center—bore clusters of blossoms on every branch.

The tree stretched its long branches even over the brushwood gate.

Seeing it, Ahnok finally truly felt that he had returned to seven years ago.

He had thought he would never see it again.

Baekya-bu had become a frozen wasteland, and after hearing the news that even the habitable places were all stained with blood, he hadn’t even dared to think of visiting the cottage where he was born and raised.

Approaching the tree slowly, Ahnok reached out his hand.

Blossoms were blooming even on the low-growing branches that bowed toward the ground.

‘I have returned. To the time before everything began.’

Therefore, he had to flee.

If he did not run away now, it was certain that he would be preserved once again within the cycle of pain.

He did not know for what reason he had returned to seven years ago instead of dying.

However, Ahnok did not consider this an opportunity; he regarded it as the world punishing him for trying to escape.

Grief and exhaustion were not easily washed away.

Releasing the pear tree branch, Ahnok surveyed his surroundings.

If his memory was correct, Seol Ga Hyo would arrive before this night deepened completely.

[Father is looking for you.]

Bringing the news that had shaken Ahnok’s heart seven years ago.

It was the beginning of all the tragedies.

He had to flee before hearing those words.

Ahnok hurriedly passed the brushwood gate and entered the cottage.

Entering the room Chusan used to occupy, he moved the thick winter quilts sitting atop the clothes chest down to the floor.

In a corner of the chest, there should be three small bottles containing the same deadly poison Ahnok had drunk in his previous life.

There is no perfect hiding place in the world, except for death.

He had no intention of enjoying this second life.

It was a curse, not an opportunity.

Ahnok’s hands roughly dug through the contents of the chest, searching for the medicine bottles.

However… the bottles were not there.

“Ahnok. Are you inside?”

Tragedy arrived at his doorstep.

In an instant, his vision shattered.

It was an item that was definitely supposed to be here; why was it gone?

Like someone seeing a hallucination, Ahnok thrust his arm deep into the chest and rummaged through it.

The empty, black interior of the chest felt as if it might swallow him whole, and Ahnok instinctively backed away.

The items from the chest were already scattered messily across the floor.

As if trying to grasp a final hope, Ahnok searched through the belongings he had tossed haphazardly.

“No, that can’t be…”

The words, scattered as if soaking into the air, quickly vanished like smoke.

Sitting perched on the winter quilt, Ahnok’s eyes grew dry with utter despair.

He thought he was dead, but he had opened his eyes seven years in the past.

For a coward who could only plot to run away again, the absence of poison meant there was no ultimate path to flee the clutches of fate.

“Ahnok?”

The voice from outside called out once more, urging him to come out.

Ahnok’s eyes turned toward the room door.

If he did not go out, the other person would enter.

He knew he had to step out to flee, but his body, heavy with helplessness and despair, would not move.

Footsteps tread upon the wooden floor.

This cottage had only two rooms at most.

Knowing the first room was empty, Seol Ga Hyo would undoubtedly come here.

Ahnok staggered to his feet.

‘Even then, Seol Ga Hyo did not come alone. He brought his subordinate and two palanquin bearers.’

If his memory served him, they had come on horseback.

The palanquin was brought only out of concern that Ahnok might notice something and run away.

In his previous life, it had been a futile concern.

Ahnok had never learned to ride.

Even with an extra horse, he wouldn’t have known how to use it.

In the past, he had followed them happily.

But the Ahnok of this life was different.

[It would be better to at least learn how to ride a horse. If a princess from Baekya-bu cannot even do that, it will be easy for people to find fault.]

A heavy, low voice suddenly came to mind.

It belonged to the man who used to move Ahnok easily with just a single word.

The Prince of Myeong, Yeo Jae Won.

The man who was his husband, the one who had slaughtered Baekya-bu, and the one who eventually rose to the pinnacle of power.

The cruel and cold person who never allowed Ahnok even a single shadow of comfort.

Because of that one suggestion, Ahnok had learned to ride.

It had not been easy.

Compared to those who had ridden since childhood, his clumsiness was plain, and it took a long time to tame the horse Yeo Jae Won had given him.

He had wanted to give up, but Yeo Jae Won would sense it like a ghost and ask about his progress, making it impossible to quit.

Ahnok squeezed his eyes shut.

A tiny clue had brought the man back to the forefront of his mind.

‘In this life, I will never encounter him again. Never.’

He opened his eyes just as the door opened.

“So you were here.”

The words were plain, but Seol Ga Hyo’s face was covered in absolute indifference.

In Baekya-bu, where lineage was everything, the legitimate eldest son and the illegitimate child were like light and shadow.

Seol Ga Hyo was the dignified, intellectual heir.

Ahnok was the public illegitimate child born to a priestess despite an ominous prophecy.

“…What brings you all the way here?”

His voice trembled slightly.

Ahnok wasn’t afraid of the man; he was terrified of the things that would follow.

The thought of being dragged before the King, receiving a name, and being sold to Daejin for an unwanted marriage made him feel as if his breath were being cut off.

“Father is looking for you.”

Words he had heard many times in his dreams.

If only he could turn back time, he should have clearly said no.

When he first dreamed of this, he thought he should have refused; later, he realized he should have simply vanished.

“Ahnok? Why are you so dazed? It’s late, but we must leave now. He told me to bring you as soon as the funeral was over.”

Seol Ga Hyo turned back first, assuming Ahnok would follow.

Ahnok’s eyes shifted, staring at Seol Ga Hyo’s back.

Excluding the palanquin bearers, there were only two of them.

Ahnok turned and neatly folded the quilts.

He heard the subordinate let out a deflated sigh of frustration at the delay, but he did not care.

He organized the room quickly.

After placing the few items back into the chest, Ahnok stepped out.

He knew now that if he left, he could never return.

He didn’t want to leave Chusan’s room in a mess.

Stepping outside, he saw the night sky.

Around the white moon, thread-like clouds flowed leisurely.

After locking the brushwood gate, Ahnok took in the peaceful scenery of the cottage for the last time.

In a few days, this place would be abandoned.

Useful goods would be plundered; the building would rot and collapse.

Ahnok turned around at the sound of a horse snorting.

“Please get into the palanquin.”

The subordinate’s lack of politeness made his disdain for Ahnok clear.

Ahnok stared at the palanquin before looking at Seol Ga Hyo, who was already mounted.

“Hurry up.”

Ahnok paid the insincere voice no mind.

He was used to being treated like a bothersome object.

Suddenly, Ahnok turned quickly and mounted the empty saddle nearby.

His movement of hooking his foot into the stirrup and grabbing the reins was skillful.

“Ahnok, why the horse… Ahnok!”

Ahnok immediately turned the horse and began to gallop toward the mountain path to the north.

He heard Seol Ga Hyo’s urgent voice, but he only spurred the horse on.

Seol Ga Hyo had waited for him, thinking the boy was merely settling his home.

He was surprised.

He believed Ahnok had never been taught to ride.

That was why he had prepared a palanquin.

To see him jump onto a horse and flee toward the mountain…

Seol Ga Hyo cursed under his breath and gave chase.

Excluding the horse Ahnok had taken, only one remained for the pursuit.

The person chasing him would be Seol Ga Hyo.

Ahnok did not look back.

Since childhood, he had been denied the light of neighboring houses.

He was used to the darkness; his night vision was exceptionally keen.

On the other hand, Seol Ga Hyo was used to lamps as bright as day.

His eyes needed time to adjust to the pitch-black mountain path.

No matter his horsemanship, he could not speed as he wished on an unfamiliar trail.

“Ahnok, stop!”

The voice was far away.

Ahnok sensed the distance widening.

Though his shoulders trembled at the roar of the command, he did not let go of the reins.

He galloped through the woods, ignoring the branches that scratched his limbs.

He came to a stop at the edge of a sheer cliff.

It was a precarious spot above a rushing river.

Ahnok stood at the very precipice.

The spring wind was gentle, almost as if it were asking why he was there.

The river below was dizzyingly deep.

‘Even if I die now, won’t I just return to the funeral again? What if dying only sends me back to the reality of seven years later?’

His heart pounded with chilling intensity.

He had bitten his lip in tension, and the taste of blood spread in his mouth.

He knew his hesitation was simple instinct.

He had no poison to grant a painless end, and he was terrified.

He was a man who lacked both the confidence to endure fate and the courage to jump.

He was overcome with self-loathing.

He couldn’t take that single step.

With his eyes shut, Ahnok carefully moved his trembling leg forward.

“What are you doing there? Do you truly think Father’s choice is worse than death?”

The half-step was rendered meaningless.

At the thundering shout, Ahnok snapped his eyes open.

‘Father’s choice’ meant marriage with the Prince of Myeong.

The events of his previous life flashed before him.

He had chosen death once because he couldn’t endure it.

He should have been able to refute the question, but he felt like a cowardly fugitive with no way out.

His vision blurred.

He hated himself for his inability to act.

Thick teardrops soaked the dry earth.

He felt worse than an insect.

Ahnok shook his head, tears falling rapidly.

Suddenly, his body tilted.

Someone pulled him from behind.

His vision spun before focusing on Seol Ga Hyo.

Ahnok took a sharp breath and avoided the man’s gaze.

Silence followed, broken only by the wind.

“Did you truly intend to die?”

The question flowed over the cliff.

Ahnok only shed tears, unaware he was even crying.

“Are you doing this because you know why Father is looking for you?”

Seol Ga Hyo sighed in frustration.

He did not let go of Ahnok’s arm.

He didn’t want to see a death, and he knew his father would be furious.

He spoke to Ahnok as if to a child.

“The Third Prince is not a bad prospect. He hasn’t taken side chambers or concubines. Moreover, he is willing to take someone like you as his primary consort. Why would you refuse that?”

Ahnok lifted his head, his face wet.

Seol Ga Hyo’s expression was one of pure bewilderment.

The Ahnok of the previous life would have been grateful to form a family.

Yeo Jae Won had indeed remained without concubines for seven years.

But he hated it because it was Yeo Jae Won.

Because he was the person toward whom his heart would surely lean again if they met once more.