TLBSV 04

Chapter 4

“Under no circumstances are you to raise your head.”

The palace attendant reminded the young girl over and over again.

It was advice Baeksa had heard before. She already knew that when appearing before the Emperor, she was not allowed to lift her head until given permission.

When the child nodded nervously, the attendant watched her for a moment before announcing through the closed doors,

“Your Majesty, we have brought the Princess as ordered.”

“Let her enter.”

A cold voice drifted from within.

The merciless tone made Baeksa flinch.

She had heard that voice countless times, yet every time she did, cold sweat broke out across her body and her hands trembled.

As the doors opened, the child carefully stepped inside, staring only at the tips of her shoes until she stopped before the throne.

Then she lowered her head deeply before the enormous imperial throne and quietly waited for the Emperor to speak.

After a while, the Emperor finally opened his mouth.

“So you’ve come. This is the first time I’ve seen your face. There has never been any reason to before.”

“G-Greetings… Your Majesty…”

That was all.

The Emperor never told her to raise her head.

One moment passed.

Then another.

Still nothing.

Feeling his razor-sharp gaze fixed upon her, the child squeezed her eyes shut.

‘Maybe this is better.’

If he had told her to look up, she wouldn’t have known what kind of expression to wear.

So perhaps this was for the best.

Slowly opening her eyes again, Baeksa looked at the floor and remembered the first time she had stood in this very place.

The day she awakened her Ability and was dragged before him.

That day, the Emperor had given her what seemed to be a choice that would decide her fate.

Only much later, after she had become useless, did she realize she had never truly been given a choice at all.

Even so…

At least in name, there had been one.

‘But not this time…’

She hadn’t awakened her Ability.

She hadn’t shown any usefulness whatsoever.

So, just as Songra had said…

Just as the rumors throughout the palace claimed…

She would be cast out.

Gulp.

Baeksa swallowed hard.

The little girl fidgeted with her sweat-soaked hands as she waited for her father’s judgment.

Even now…

Even now…

Some small part of her still secretly hoped that, at the very last moment…

Her father might speak to her kindly.

But—

“What a worthless creature. How could a snake beastfolk ever be born into the imperial family of Haeseo…?”

The heartless Emperor had never once lived up to Baeksa’s hopes.

His dry words stung her heart.

As though speaking only for himself to hear, the Emperor smiled faintly while looking down at her.

“Your future has been decided.”

Why…

Why was there no way to stop hope from blooming, even when she knew it was futile?

Even when she already knew what awaited her?

“You will go to the Southern Lands of the Suzaku Clan.”

Perhaps it was because, even counting both her previous life and her current one, Baeksa still wasn’t old enough to be called an adult.

Maybe, if she had lived longer…

She would have stopped clinging to impossible hopes.

Maybe words like these wouldn’t hurt anymore.

But Baeksa knew…

There would never be a “when I grow older.”

Because she would die in the Southern Lands.

Before she could grow.

Before she could learn.

Before she could know anything more.

“Whether you live or die there is your own affair.”

Hearing those words, Baeksa quietly clenched her fists.

‘It was true.’

It was true that he had intended to abandon her from the very beginning.

It was true that if only one more week had passed, just as Songra had said…

She would have been thrown away.

Every word had been true.

Baeksa was happy…

Yet she wasn’t.

No…

Perhaps she was simply sad.

She had achieved exactly what she had planned—to be expelled from the palace.

So why did it hurt?

The child blinked her stinging eyes and bit her lip tightly.

After a long moment…

Baeksa slowly lifted her head and looked directly at the Emperor.

Her sudden movement startled everyone present.

Even the Emperor himself.

Looking up at him, Baeksa realized…

His expression hurt even more than she had imagined.

This was the second time she had been cast aside by her father’s hand.

But suffering the same sorrow twice did not make it any less painful.

Even so…

The little girl tried not to cry.

She forced herself to smile.

“Yes… Your Majesty.”

But she couldn’t stop the tears.

A single tear rolled down her pale cheek and hung from the tip of her chin.

Instead of wiping it away, Baeksa’s tiny lips trembled as she continued,

“Thank you… for raising me all this time.”

In the silence, the child slowly…

Very slowly…

Lowered her head one last time.

“Please… take care of yourself.”

Those final words…

Were not meant for the Emperor.

‘Please recover soon.’

They were meant for the owner of the hand she had held until the day she was cast out.

The Emperor raised an eyebrow.

His narrowed black eyes settled on the child standing below him.

Long hair that had clearly never been properly cared for.

A frail little body, much smaller than children her age.

A child only seven years old.

Even so…

A child that age would certainly know what the Southern Lands were.

Every beastfolk in Haeseo grew up hearing stories about the cursed land in the south.

So she knew she was being sent there to die.

She also knew that the only reason he was sending her there was because heaven forbade dragons from killing their own children.

And yet…

“Thank you… for raising me all this time.”

“Please… take care of yourself.”

Could a seven-year-old truly say such things?

Shouldn’t a child her age cry and beg not to be abandoned?

Shouldn’t she plead desperately not to be exiled?

If Yeoryun or Songra had heard such news…

They would have clung to his legs and cried until they collapsed from exhaustion.

But this child had done nothing of the sort.

She hadn’t cried.

She hadn’t begged.

She hadn’t trembled while asking him to reconsider.

Instead…

She had raised her head and looked directly into her father’s eyes.

Then, as though she had been waiting for this moment from the very beginning…

She smiled softly through her tears…

And offered her final farewell.

Behind her unruly bangs, her pitch-black eyes held neither hope nor expectation.

They were clear…

Empty of emotion.

For a brief instant, they even reminded him of his own.

But…

What did it matter?

She was a child who would soon be cast out.

Since that decision had already been made, the fact that she had acted a little differently meant nothing.

The fact that today was the first time he had truly noticed the color of her eyes…

Didn’t matter either.

Nor did the fact that today happened to be her birthday.

She was simply leaving on the same day she had once arrived.

The Emperor gave a slight wave of his hand.

As though she had been waiting for it, the little girl quietly stepped back and departed.

Her small legs trembled as she walked…

Yet she never once looked back.

A tiny drop of tears remained where she had stood.

Soon it dried away without leaving a trace.

Watching indifferently, the Emperor addressed the court scribe kneeling nearby.

“Record that the Princess was expelled from the palace today.”

Then, as if only just remembering something, he added,

“To avoid confusing her with the other princesses, write that Princess Baeksa was the one who was expelled.”

The scribe slowly moved his brush.

He recorded that the little girl who had stood there only moments before had left the imperial palace.

That single, short sentence became the only proof that the girl had ever existed within the imperial family.

From that moment onward, everything proceeded swiftly.

A carriage had already been prepared.

The palace attendants assigned to see her off had gathered in front of the palace’s narrow gates.

Whenever a member of the imperial family left the palace, it was customary for everyone who had served them to come and bid them farewell.

But only three attendants had ever been assigned to Baeksa.

So only those three stood quietly beside the carriage that would take her away.

As Baeksa approached, she suddenly stopped.

Among them stood a familiar attendant.

The only person in the entire palace who had ever shown her even a little kindness.

‘She’ll have a better life without me.’

In truth, Baeksa’s residence had been little more than a place of exile.

Palace attendants were judged by the masters they served.

If this attendant were assigned to someone else…

She would surely live and work under much better conditions.

Thinking that made Baeksa feel just a little less sad.

With a nervous expression, she climbed into the carriage.

The guards assigned to escort her to the Southern Lands took their places on either side.

Not long afterward…

The carriage slowly began to move.