Chapter 8

“Child, are you all right?”

Worried, Soa approached her.

The girl jumped in surprise and raised her head.

Her lips were blue as well. It seemed she had suffered from severe indigestion.

“Shall I take you to a physician?”

The girl shook her head and backed away.

“Wh-Who are you?”

“I’m His Highness’s Jae-in. I mean you no harm, so don’t be afraid.”

“T-The Ink King…!”

The moment the Ink King’s name was mentioned, the girl’s face turned even paler.

Then, as though she had encountered a monster, she ran away as fast as she could.

“Wait…!”

She could really get into trouble if she was left like that!

Soa was worried and started after her, but soon stopped.

‘She was afraid of me.’

If she approached carelessly, things might only become worse.

“Unjo.”

【Yeah, I’ll keep an eye on her!】

They understood each other without needing many words.

Unjo spread his wings and flew into the sky.

Hyerang locked herself in her room and sobbed.

After her parents died, Hyerang had always been alone.

‘I’m scared of the Ink King…!’

That eerie mask.

His monstrous height and massive body.

The way he silently glared at her.

Hyerang’s knees went weak whenever she saw him.

Ever since she had seen him wielding his sword in the military barracks, merely hearing his name made her heart sink.

Even the Ink King’s mask sometimes appeared in her nightmares.

‘The Ink King must have killed my parents…’

Thinking of the terrifying Ink King, Hyerang tucked her chin in like a peach pit.

After her parents died in an unfortunate accident, he had taken over the household.

‘He’s the enemy of my parents…!’

Sob!

‘I’ll definitely grow up and get my revenge!’

Hyerang pressed her lips together and roughly wiped away her tears with her sleeve.

The Ink King had ordered the maidservants to torment Hyerang.

“Young Lady, didn’t I tell you to eat all the cucumbers and leave nothing behind?”

Hyerang absolutely hated cucumbers.

The peculiar smell that filled her mouth when she ate them, along with their soft, slippery texture—

“I told you this food was specially prepared by His Highness himself. You can’t throw it away!”

After being forced to eat the cucumbers, Hyerang eventually could not hold back her nausea and vomited everything she had eaten.

The maidservants became furious.

“What a waste of food!”

“She was raised so spoiled that she doesn’t even know what hunger is.”

It wasn’t that Hyerang didn’t understand that food was precious.

She simply could not eat cucumbers.

The maidservants hated her for that.

Even in the middle of winter, the room was so cold that her breath turned white.

When her clothes became old and torn, they did not mend them.

They would laugh and chat among themselves, and only when Chief Steward No came would they wash her and dress her in clean clothes to show him.

And today, they had even forced cucumbers into her mouth.

When Hyerang tried to vomit, they became angry again.

“If it weren’t for His Highness, you would have already been thrown out onto the streets! And you don’t even appreciate his kindness…!”

Hyerang fled the room in tears.

Then, as she vomited again, she thought bitterly:

‘The Ink King left me here all alone just so he could torment me!’

A wave of sorrow overwhelmed her.

But then—

“Child, are you all right?”

A woman she had never seen before suddenly appeared and asked her.

“I’m His Highness’s Jae-in. I mean you no harm, so don’t be afraid.”

O-One of the Ink King’s people!

He really did send someone to torment me again!

Hyerang immediately ran back to her room.

“Sob, sob…”

She sat by the window with her face buried in her knees and cried.

Her skirt was stained with tears and mucus.

‘I want to eat tanghulu like I used to with Mother…’

Just then, a large falcon landed on the pagoda tree outside the window.

‘What an amazing bird…!’

Hyerang’s eyes widened.

A golden sheen surrounded its black eyes, while striking black feathers shaped like buffalo horns grew beneath them.

Its long black tail feathers gleamed like silk.

“Sob… Where did you come from?”

When Hyerang asked, the falcon flew over to the windowsill and placed a single winter jasmine flower in front of her.

‘But it isn’t time for these flowers to bloom yet. Where did it get one?’

“Is this for me?”

Hyerang picked up the bright yellow flower, and her tear-filled eyes sparkled.

The falcon spread its magnificent wings and cried out as though confirming her question.

Only then did a small smile spread across Hyerang’s lips.

“Sob… Thank you. Actually, you know…”

【That’s what she said.】

Sitting on the windowsill, Unjo sighed as he wiped away sweat.

Listening to Hyerang’s complaints for a full two shi-jin—four hours—had exhausted him.

‘She must have had a lot bottled up inside.’

As a reward for his hard work, Soa gave Unjo a large piece of meat.

“The previous king’s daughter…”

Soa searched through the memories of her previous life.

‘Come to think of it, there was a rebellion in the Ink King’s Residence…’

There had been a faction that wanted to remove Seoheon and install a new king.

And the person they put forward was the blood descendant of the previous king.

Hyerang.

‘Seogon benefited greatly from that.’

Seogon had stationed his people in the Ink King’s Residence under the pretext of providing military support after the rebellion broke out.

This greatly weakened Seoheon’s faction and had a significant impact on Seogon’s succession to the imperial throne.

And above all, there was one thing that bothered Soa.

‘Could it really be true that the Ink King killed the previous king and tormented that child?’

Would someone who could wield the Seon Sword really spend his time tormenting such a small child?

It was hard to believe.

But it was not impossible, either.

‘You can never know what lies in a person’s heart.’

Just as Seogon had smiled as he abandoned her—

There was no guarantee that Seoheon was any different.

Soa bit her lip.

For some reason, she could not stop thinking about the little girl.

She knew better than anyone what it felt like to be left alone and abandoned inside a household.

She also knew that when someone was starved for affection, even cheap kindness could blind them and lead them to make the wrong choices.

Unjo looked at her with his sharp falcon eyes.

【Are you going to help her? Well, you’ve never been able to ignore someone pitiful, even in the past.】

“It’s not like that.”

Soa turned her gaze away.

The reason I’m concerned about that child is because she could become the seed of a rebellion in the future.

I only want to prevent that.

Unjo watched her carefully before opening his beak again.

【Oh, and she said she absolutely hates eating cucumbers and wants to eat tanghulu.】

“Tanghulu…”

Somehow, it was an adorable answer.

“Young Lady, it’s time to eat!”

Thud.

The maidservants placed the food on the table.

Hyerang looked at the food and suppressed the nausea rising in her stomach.

Cucumber salad, cucumber-and-egg soup, and even pancakes filled with stir-fried cucumber and beef.

There wasn’t a single dish without cucumber.

It was literally an entire cucumber feast.

“His Highness personally prepared this food after returning from the Imperial Capital. You know you have to eat everything without leaving anything behind, right?”

The maidservants folded their arms and smiled.

Tears like drops of chicken fat fell from Hyerang’s eyes as she stared despairingly at the cucumber feast.

“Look at her crying again.”

“If you leave any cucumbers behind, His Highness might eat you up just like he did your parents!”

The maidservants cackled as they frightened her.

Terrified by the mention of the Ink King, Hyerang reluctantly picked up her chopsticks.

Just then—

“Girls, the Jae-in is here!”

A maidservant who had been idling in the courtyard came rushing inside.

“The Jae-in?”

“The woman His Highness brought back from the Imperial Capital!”

“The woman who sent General Maeng to prison? Why is she here?”

The maidservants whispered among themselves before rushing outside.

Meanwhile, Hyerang, still sniffling, cautiously glanced toward where the maidservants had gone and picked up the plate of cucumber salad.

‘I have to hide it quickly before she comes!’

Hyerang picked the cucumbers out of the cucumber-and-egg soup and threw them into the brazier.

The smell of cucumber spread through the room, and the fire died down.

‘What should I do?!’

After thinking for a moment, Hyerang stuffed the cucumber salad into the inside of her sleeve.

‘I’ll go outside later and throw it into the flower bed…!’

She secretly clutched her damp sleeve and wondered what to do with the cucumbers inside the remaining pancakes.

Then—

“Why have you suddenly come here without even sending word…”

The maidservants opened the door and came back inside.

Hyerang was startled and quickly hid the arm concealing the cucumber salad behind her back.

“Since I’ll be living here from now on, I thought I should come and pay my respects to the Gunjui.”

A woman entered behind her, accompanied by an unfamiliar voice.

‘That woman…!’

Soft, snow-white skin.

Elegant, distinct eyebrows that looked as though they had been painted with a brush.

Lips as red as cherries.

There was no way Hyerang could forget such a beautiful woman.

‘She’s here! The Ink King’s lackey…!’

Hyerang’s eyes trembled when she saw her.

The lackey had come all the way here.

‘She must have come to make sure I eat all the cucumbers!’

Hyerang rolled her eyes toward the brazier.

There were still pieces of cucumber that had not completely burned.

Before they could burn away completely, the Ink King’s lackey approached.

“Hic!”

She was so nervous that a hiccup escaped her mouth.

“Mm!”

She hurriedly covered her mouth with both hands to suppress it.

Then—

Plop, plop, plop!

The cucumber salad hidden in her sleeve fell out like a waterfall.

Hyerang froze as she stared at the cucumber salad scattered across the floor.

Her mind went completely blank.

Her heart pounded violently.

“Hic!”