Chapter 30: The Promise at Myodang

I was meant to die here slowly, while watching His Majesty—who would come running after hearing the news the intruders had deliberately leaked—inhale the poison as well.

They would not grant me the mercy of a swift death.

They wanted me to struggle in agony and die slowly.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The number of bird carcasses falling like rotten fruit steadily increased.

Perhaps they sensed the danger in the sudden deaths of their kind.

Branches shook violently as several birds took flight.

But they could only flutter from tree to tree.

They could not escape the garden, which had become a living hell.

I was no exception.

I was larger than the birds, so the poison affected me more slowly.

Still, my body steadily stiffened.

The breaths I barely managed through the narrow gaps in my throat and nasal passages, clogged with bloody foam, were meant to keep me alive.

At the same time, they were acts that invited death.

The poison seeped in with every breath, staining my veins like black roots spreading underground.

How long could I endure?

I could not guess.

But I knew I would not last long.

My senses dulled, reality blurred, and a sense of familiarity came over me.

It felt like the death I had experienced once before.

I had failed to stop the rebellion again.

I could not die like this.

I must not die…

Yet the life slowly faded from my eyes.

Then something appeared atop the wall surrounding the garden, within my unfocused vision.

I did not know when it had arrived.

A red light was moving there.

“Ah…”

A red heat shimmered along the wall in time with the vibrations of heavy military boots striking the ground.

The vibration and light reached the main gate, which stood taller than the wall, and then stopped.

Bang. Bang!

The locked gate rattled as it was kicked from outside.

After only a few kicks, the doors burst open, and imperial soldiers flooded in like a tide.

Armed and carrying torches, they quickly split into two lines.

Through the path they opened, a noble figure stepped forward.

In the darkness consumed by death, it looked as though a beam of white light had appeared.

For a moment, I stared blankly.

Then I nearly laughed.

My foolish, unwavering love had not changed even as I was dying.

But at least to my eyes, His Majesty—dressed in full white armor—looked exactly like that.

His hair was neatly tied half-up, and his dignified, handsome face was so refined that he seemed to have stepped out of a painting.

That beautiful figure ran toward me in complete panic.

Even while dying, I was glad that his expression was caused by me.

It was ridiculous.

I was about to die, yet I was happy like a dog wagging its tail because I had received His Majesty’s attention.

“Han-ah!”

Just as the intruders intended, His Majesty came toward me.

Quickly.

Only then did I come to my senses.

I had to stop him.

He must not inhale the poison.

I could die, but he could not.

I desperately forced my blocked throat open.

“Do not… do not come…”

A weak, airless sound escaped my tightly blocked throat.

It was pitifully faint, too small to understand.

The moment my eyes met His Majesty’s as he watched me dying and vomiting blood, I saw despair in his eyes.

At that instant, I inhaled.

Blood surged out like vomit, and I drew in a great breath.

“Do not come!”

Flutter!

The birds startled by my shout beat their wings and rose into the air.

Their frantic wingbeats shook the branches, sending leaves raining down.

His Majesty paused at the sudden commotion.

I shouted again.

“It is poison smoke! Poison has spread! The Sichuan Tang Clan’s—cough!”

I could not finish.

I covered my mouth as blood poured out again.

It surged without resistance, as though my final attempt to fight had forced every remaining ounce of strength from me.

After I shouted, His Majesty did not come closer.

He stopped where he was and covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve, though he could not hide the horror on his face.

His widened eyes finally examined the scene around him.

Birds lay dead on the ground.

Others flew briefly before suddenly dropping dead from the sky.

As though an invisible wall divided the same space, two entirely different worlds existed side by side: life and death.

The sight seemed terrifying to those standing on the side of life.

Even the soldiers behind His Majesty stepped back.

Good.

His Majesty would not die.

Neither would anyone else.

My death was unjust, but I could die with the consolation that it would end with me.

But someone came past His Majesty.

A black silhouette stood against the torchlight, sparks drifting behind it.

Even through my fading vision, that unusual build and presence were unmistakable.

I felt exhausted just looking at him.

That wretched man.

He never listened to anyone.

Everyone else was desperate to flee, yet he alone insisted on being a sharp stone that invited the hammer.

Anger rose so strongly at his stupidity that I forgot I was dying and opened my mouth.

“I told you… not to come… cough…”

This time, black blood came out.

It was obvious that I was dying from poison.

He should have been able to guess that the colorless, odorless poison was spreading through the air.

Yet the Demon did not stop.

He knew he would die if he came beside me, but his steps only became faster.

I told you not to come, you bastard.

You damned fool.

Why do you never listen?

Scoundrel. Bastard. Worse than a dog. A man with no decent part in him at all…

Every curse I knew circled inside my mouth.

But in the end, what came from my lips was a different place for him to go.

My blood-covered lips moved.

“Myodang.”

The Demon stopped.

But he had only stopped to read the shape of my lips.

When he began to move again, I forced out my voice.

“Let us… meet at Myodang.”

Do not come.

You must not die either.

Go away.

Go to Myodang.

Do not come here.

We promised to meet there, did we not?

Go there.

Do not come here.

Go somewhere else.

The frightened birds still beat their wings, moving from tree to tree before falling one by one around me.

A bird dropped into the pool of blood I had vomited.

Its wing twitched violently, then stretched out.

Soon it stopped moving.

Its stiffened body stained its white feathers dark red.

Watching death unfold before my eyes, my voice shook uncontrollably as I repeated myself to the Demon.

“Myodang…”

I did not know whether he understood what I meant.

But I did not give up.

I forced an impossible promise upon that stubborn fool so he could not insist on staying.

“I will… wait.”

I would never wait for him.

I was about to die.

Yet I spoke the obvious lie with difficulty.

“You must… come.”

The Demon was absurd.

He was not the one dying, so why did he look like that?

He had only ever treated me cruelly.

Was he regretting it now that he saw me dying?

He should have treated me better, then.

He had tormented me while I was alive, yet now he looked at me with such wet eyes that he made the dying person uncomfortable.

Like a promise that could not be kept, it would become another question without an answer.

My dim vision finally turned completely dark.

It seemed my eyes had also been poisoned, but perhaps it was better not to see.

It was easier than watching that fool stare at me with such a strange expression.

In my paralyzed body, I felt neither pain nor hope.

Death, with my thoughts sinking into silence, was more peaceful than driving a blade into my own throat.

Was it because I had confirmed that His Majesty was safe?

Or because I had not confirmed the Red Demon’s betrayal?

At least, I did not feel resentment.

I only felt as though I might cry.

No.

Perhaps I already had.

The stream running down my blood-covered cheek might have been tears.

Daaeng…

Daeng… daeng…

A bell rang in the distance.

It was the bell announcing the Hour of the Tiger.

The imperial palace began its day early, before dawn.

The bell that signaled the time when His Majesty would soon rise and the palace attendants would begin their duties spread through the palace.

Its deep resonance shook the night air.

Daaeng…

Daeng… daeng…

Daaeng…

Daeng…

Daeng…

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