Chapter 7: . the white dragon of the concubine (2)

Whoosh—!

Under the sky shrouded in dark clouds, heavy rain began to lash down upon the earth.

And so, amidst the pouring raindrops… in a corner of the imperial harem, where a corpse lay, awaiting disposal without even a proper funeral.

“……”

Seoryeong, a woman with long, snow-white hair, silently gazed at the straw mat laid before her.

“Shamaness. At least an umbrella…”

Seeing Seoryeong standing quietly in the intensely pouring rain, so heavy it stung the skin without an umbrella, her guard—Jina, who had recently entered the imperial harem—offered the umbrella she was holding.

“…I just want to clear my head for a bit.”

Seoryeong, with an expressionless face… stood quietly, seemingly unbothered even by the rain-soaked hair clinging to her forehead and eyes. She simply stood, quietly… as if mourning someone.

“Why did it turn out like this?”

“I’m not entirely sure. But I overheard the eunuchs of the imperial harem talking, and they mentioned suicide.”

“……”

“It seems the cause is being attributed to bullying among the palace maids. The imperial physician will also be arriving soon to conduct an autopsy, so you should go inside now.”

Had she cleverly found out the circumstances again in that short time? Even though Seoryeong hadn’t asked for an answer, Jina’s voice delivered the best possible response.

“She was a bright child.”

“……”

“She reminded me of my younger sister back home.”

“Shamaness.”

“I know. I know she’s not my sister.”

Seoryeong spoke in a monotone, almost a murmur.

“It’s cruel. To think someone died merely because she was an unrelated palace maid, and now she’s abandoned so forlornly in such a cold place.”

“It’s not your fault.”

Perhaps Seoryeong’s appearance seemed precarious. Jina, thinking it couldn’t go on, placed a hand on Seoryeong’s shoulder and tried to pull her, intending to suggest they return to her quarters.

“……!”

Contrary to what Jina expected—a somber expression—what was etched on Seoryeong’s face as she turned was a chilling hint of fury.

“Jina.”

“…Yes, Shamaness.”

Jina, momentarily overwhelmed by the flashing golden eyes in the dark shadows, bowed her head towards Seoryeong, who had called her name in a cold voice she had never heard before.

“Pets sometimes act on their own whims, regardless of their owner’s wishes.”

“What’s that suddenly… surely not.”

“Wouldn’t a pet shamaness be roughly similar?”

Under the thunderous, flashing sky, Jina had to shake her head, her face pale at the sight of Seoryeong looking at her with an eerie smile.

“…You mustn’t.”

It was an absurd notion.

If Seoryeong were to act recklessly in the imperial harem and be expelled by the Emperor, the repercussions could even reach Cheongsin.

“Besides, we don’t even know the exact cause of that palace maid’s death, do we?”

Jina judged that Seoryeong must have lost her reason, thinking that they couldn’t cause trouble without any evidence, especially to honor the spirit of a dead palace maid… It was at that moment that Jina tried to stop her.

“It was poisoning.”

“……?”

“A typical drowning victim always has injuries somewhere on their body. Dying from suffocation isn’t something that ends so quickly.”

Whether it was from clutching their own neck, or scratching at the moat to get out of the water, they wouldn’t die in an intact state, except for one exception.

“I just glanced at it earlier, but… on the underside of her tongue, there’s a faint purplish stain. She was either paralyzed by poison… or already dead when she was thrown into the water.”

Seoryeong said she could guess what kind of poison it was, but unfortunately, she didn’t possess enough extensive medical knowledge to be certain, as she swept back the cold, wet hair clinging to her head.

“…How on earth do you know such things?”

“Didn’t I tell you? I used to be an herbalist before I became a shamaness. I had a master who taught me pharmacology and medicine back then.”

She learned about the uses of the herbs she commonly gathered and the characteristics of poisonous plants to be wary of, from an old pharmacist in Seoryeong’s hometown.

“No matter how lowly one’s status, you shouldn’t treat a human life carelessly.”

The Emperor’s pet shamaness declared amidst the pouring rain.

“I need to make them understand. If they killed someone, they must bear the responsibility.”

If everyone refused to see her as human, then she would simply bark back in kind.

****

The next day.

“By the way, do you have some ingenious plan?”

Jina gazed at Seoryeong, who, contrary to their conversation the previous day, was sprawled languidly on the pavilion railing as usual, making Jina wonder if yesterday’s appearance had been an illusion.

“They’ll come if we wait.”

“What… do you mean?”

“The feeder.”

“If you’re hungry, I can…”

“…That’s not it, you know?”

Seoryeong sighed at Jina, who, as if she were a simple-minded strong person, looked at her with innocent eyes, asking why she hadn’t said she was hungry.

“We should hear about the palace maid from another palace maid, shouldn’t we?”

“Ah. So that’s what it was.”

She said that since the body was discovered yesterday, there would surely be some rumors circulating among the palace maids today.

And so, Jina guarded Seoryeong’s side for a while, as she sat on the pavilion railing, gazing only at the sky.

“……”

Jina then saw a young maid approaching timidly and cautiously from afar.

The tall palace maid, with small eyes, freckles around her nose, and rough skin… the moment her gaze met Jina’s, she further hunched her already timid shoulders and approached cautiously with a frightened expression.

“Sh-Shamaness… I’ve b-brought your meal…”

She approached Seoryeong, who was still gazing at the sky, and set the table she was carrying down beside her.

“W-Well then… I’ll be going now…”

“Wait.”

“Gasp!?”

At Seoryeong’s voice, who finally turned her head to meet her gaze, the maid… collapsed as if her legs had given out.

“I have something I want to ask.”

The palace maid, looking at the golden eyes of the otherworldly Shamaness—Seoryeong, who had somehow approached her, with long, ghostly white hair and horns growing from her head—nodded obediently, even as her teeth chattered.

“Yesterday. Do you remember the palace maid who was found dead?”

“Y-Yes…? Are you referring to Hwaryeon…?”

“…Hwaryeon.”

Mulling over the maid’s name, which she had only just learned, Seoryeong quietly reached out and supported the kneeling maid by her back.

“Yes. Her. Hwaryeon. Were you close to her, by any chance?”

“Hwaryeon…”

At Seoryeong’s question, the palace maid… seemed to realize that Seoryeong had no intention of harming her, and spoke in a much calmer tone.

“…No, we’re all in the same boat. We couldn’t serve other concubine candidates, and we weren’t even properly assigned to miscellaneous palace chores. That’s why… we’re working in a place where we don’t know when we might die.”

Outwardly, most palace maids in the imperial harem hold the same status… but subtly, their ranks are divided even within that.

Mid-level or higher… that is, exclusive palace maids who attend to concubine candidates whom the Emperor has touched at least once.

And then, general palace maids, whose status is lowly, who are tasked with all sorts of arduous chores in the imperial harem, let alone being exclusive maids.

Perhaps it was due to the nature of the vast imperial harem, where only women resided. Despite being fellow palace maids, the exclusive maids treated the general maids as if they themselves were concubine candidates.

“Among the rare creatures His Imperial Majesty raises, there are dangerous ones that risk your life just by getting close to them.”

Among them… the palace maids assigned to the gardens where the Emperor’s pets resided were, in fact, disposable beings who could be abandoned or killed at any time.

“While the truly dangerous ones are handled by dedicated eunuchs, that doesn’t mean the other pets are entirely safe either.”

Therefore, within this vast imperial harem, they could only rely on each other.

‘Ah, I see. No wonder she was scared.’

Seoryeong could finally understand.

Even though she possessed an otherworldly body… when the palace maids first encountered her, who had a human form and spoke human words. She understood why they had been so terrified.

‘They said that once you know those things, the ones who can speak are the most terrifying.’

She remembered hearing this during her time studying as a shamaness in Cheongsin.

Beings that devoured people and roamed the mountains.

Monsters, mountain gods, divine beasts… among all those beings with various names, the most dangerous and terrifying were precisely those that could speak human words.

“…Hwaryeon always smiled brightly, saying that if she worked hard, even a palace maid of lowly birth like us could become an exclusive maid for high-ranking concubine candidates.”

“Yes… she would have.”

“Before she disappeared, she mentioned something. That she had caught the eye of a certain concubine candidate.”

And also… how the deceased palace maid, Hwaryeon, ended up in such a situation.

“I can’t go into detail, but she said that once this task was over, she too could become an exclusive maid for a concubine candidate… That was the last I heard from her.”

“Thank you for telling me. Lastly… do you know who that concubine candidate Hwaryeon spoke of is?”

“That’s…!”

Towards the palace maid, who looked at her with a startled expression, as if she understood the meaning of her words.

“It’s okay. Even if something happens, Jina here will protect you.”

Seoryeong pointed a hand at Jina, who sighed behind her but gave a slight nod, then asked again.

“So, will you tell me?”

“…Ryuhong. It’s Lady Ryuhong, a mid-level concubine candidate.”

It was the moment the target she had to bark at was decided.