Yet one thing after another contradicted the notion. As the last remaining blood descendant of the East Sea Azure Dragon King, Gwang possessed brilliant blue scales that gleamed like water. Besides, So Ok had seen his true form—that body far too enormous to belong to the imugi she remembered. He was nothing like the poor, pitiful little snake who had been abandoned because his white coloring was considered an ill omen.

That’s right. They couldn’t possibly be the same.

Putting aside her faint suspicions, So Ok surrendered herself to Gwang’s touch.

“Ah, mmm…”

Amid the pleasure, her doubts melted away in an instant, like snow beneath the sun.

The next morning, So Ok opened her eyes, exhausted enough to feel as though her body were melting. She immediately realized that something was wrong.

“Your Highness?”

After their passionate lovemaking, Gwang had fallen asleep with So Ok clasped tightly in his arms, but now he was no longer beside her. She did not know why, but a dreadful premonition made her chest tremble. Her heart quivered with fear.

There was a commotion outside as well. Far more ladies-in-waiting than usual were hurrying about.

And it was not only the ladies-in-waiting. Even the courtiers So Ok had seen in the throne hall on her first day at the Dragon Palace had gathered together amid the confusion. They bustled about, unable to conceal their faint anticipation and joy—or the anxiety they were struggling to suppress.

[Quickly, bring the purest deep-sea water…!]

[Would it not be better to kindle the Fire Essence within Anrong Pavilion?]

Bewildered, So Ok stopped someone passing by and asked, “What is happening?”

The lady-in-waiting, despite being in a hurry, recognized So Ok immediately.

[Lady So Ok, you are awake! I shall bring you a meal at once.]

“No, it’s all right. I don’t need anything.”

[But when His Highness left for Anrong Pavilion, he repeatedly instructed us to take meticulous care of you and ensure that you did not miss a single meal while he underwent his shedding.]

So Ok’s face turned deathly pale.

“What… did you say?”

His shedding?

“Surely… His Highness hasn’t begun his shedding?”

[He has!]

Thud!

The shock made So Ok feel as though her heart had dropped to the floor. The lady-in-waiting’s chatter beside her seemed to come from far away. Her ears rang, and pain numbed her chest.

[Everyone is deeply concerned because this is his final shedding… But I am certain he will be well. Have you not devotedly given His Highness the power of the Moon Spirit Herb all this time? Soon he will cast off his imugi skin, ascend with a Dragon Pearl in his grasp, and take his place upon the Dragon Palace’s jade throne!]

They were looking at So Ok with gratitude.

[It is all thanks to you, Lady So Ok!]

But So Ok alone knew the truth. Gwang did not know it, but she did.

Her claim that she had been giving him the Moon Spirit Herb’s power over the past several months was an outrageous lie!

She had merely spouted flattering falsehoods because she wanted to live.

Because of that, Gwang had gone off to undergo his shedding without making any proper preparations whatsoever.

And, and… he might ultimately die within his shed skin, just like his six elder brothers. If that happened, then last night would have been the final time they were together. It felt as though a stone had become lodged deep inside her chest—a cruel stone that crushed her heart and made her entire body ache.

The ladies-in-waiting guided the dazed So Ok back to the bedchamber. Following Gwang’s instructions, they laid out a table laden with the rare flowers, exotic plants, and colorful fruits from the mortal world that So Ok enjoyed.

[Please, eat.]

[We promised His Highness that we would fatten you up so that he could undergo his shedding without worry!]

So Ok had deceived Gwang because she wanted to live. Yet Gwang, unaware that he stood on the brink of death, had been worrying about something as trivial as whether she ate.

Why…? Why…?

Just then, another lady-in-waiting came running to bring So Ok news.

Guests from the Moon Palace had arrived on jade clouds in the courtyard before the Dragon Palace throne hall. So Ok ran there as fast as her legs would carry her and hurried to the very front to greet them.

As lovely and exquisite as a statue carved from ivory, Chang’e smiled gently and called to her.

“So Ok. I have come to take you home. You have endured a great deal.”

“Lady Chang’e!”

Even in human form, So Ok was small and slender, and she fit perfectly into the arms of the tall Chang’e.

“Fortunately, you look well. Though I did expect as much.”

As if to make a mockery of Chang’e’s words, tears immediately spilled from So Ok’s enormous eyes, and she began to sob.

“What am I going to do, Lady Chang’e? I…! I’ve done something terrible…!”

Choked by tears and sobs, So Ok’s confession failed to form into coherent words. Her already scarlet eyes were turning even redder. Chang’e looked troubled, then used her magic to undo So Ok’s transformation.

Pop!

With a soft sound, So Ok returned to her rabbit form.

“Squeeeak! Squeak, squeak! Squeeeak!”

Mournful cries poured from the rabbit’s mouth, as ceaselessly as the tears still streaming from her red eyes.

Leaving the bewildered Dragon Palace courtiers and Moon Palace attendants behind, Chang’e swept So Ok into both arms and carried her inside. The gentle smile on her lips did not fade in the slightest.

Holding So Ok, Chang’e entered the cassia grove near Gwang’s sleeping palace. Wrapped in Chang’e’s sleeve, So Ok continued squeaking and crying, yet she could not help wondering.

How does Lady Chang’e know about this place?

Even So Ok herself had discovered it only a day or two ago, yet Chang’e had walked into the cassia grove as though she knew it intimately.

“Is this not an exceptionally well-tended grove? It is difficult to believe that it was grown from a single cassia branch once used as a hairpin.”

So Ok, who had buried her head in Chang’e’s sleeve, lifted it.

“Squeak?”

What do you mean, Lady Chang’e?

Naturally, Chang’e understood So Ok’s squeaking perfectly well.

“I know the one who created this grove. You know him well too.”

“Squeak, squeak?”

Who is it?

“Have the two of you not been together all this time?”

“Squeak!”

But how could Gwang have obtained a cassia tree from the Moon Palace…?

Now that she thought about it, the answer was obvious. This grove had been created close to Gwang’s residence. And according to the ladies-in-waiting, Gwang had forbidden anyone from approaching the area.

In other words, Gwang alone could come and go as he pleased. If so, perhaps he had secretly created this grove himself.

The cassia grove was arranged much like the one in the Moon Palace. It had to have been tended by someone who had visited that place. Moreover, judging by Chang’e’s words, this entire grove had been propagated from a Moon Palace cassia branch—one that someone had once worn as a hairpin.

So Ok remembered the hairpin that had adorned her hair only moments ago.

Then she remembered the hairpin she had used to bring Baek A down from the tree five hundred years ago.

Though their shapes differed slightly, both had unmistakably been made from the same Moon Palace cassia tree. It did not seem as though that could be a mere coincidence.

Why? How?

How could Gwang…?

Chang’e smiled enigmatically and asked So Ok, “Do you still not remember? The little white snake you cherished so dearly five hundred years ago. Was his name Baek A?”

“Squeak?!”

D-don’t tell me…!

“He spoke so boldly despite his tiny mouth. He swore that once he was grown, he would come and take you away, and asked me to care for you until then. Thanks to you, that child obtained the Moon Spirit Herb, survived his shedding by the narrowest margin, and finally took on the proper form of an imugi.”

So Ok’s mouth fell wide open.

“Squeeeeeak!”

But Baek A was white! His entire body was so completely white that he was abandoned as an ill omen! Gwang is an enormous imugi destined to become an azure dragon!

“Had that child not already eaten the Moon Spirit Herb? And dragons are a race that begin as snakes and transform beyond recognition with every skin they shed. When the Azure Dragon King heard that the child he had once cast aside had completed his shedding and become a blue imugi, he demanded that his son be returned. It was shameless of him, but Baek A wished to go, so I sent him back. He said that by the time you accumulated enough spiritual power to regain your reason, he would have become the Dragon King. Though I never imagined he would truly come so close to claiming the throne.”

Chang’e gently bounced the little rabbit, who had gone rigid with shock, and continued soothing her.

“From the very beginning, asking for the Moon Spirit Herb was a code meaning that he was asking for you, not the herb itself. Who could have imagined… that the moon toad would handle the matter that way while I was absent? The moon toad knew nothing about you and Baek A, after all.”

The hand stroking So Ok’s small, round head was infinitely tender.

“Still, it appears that Gwang treasured you just as he promised. Your fur has grown even softer.”

So Ok, who had been stunned stiff by this unimaginable revelation, gradually came to her senses. The young, frail Baek A had survived after all. And he had grown into Gwang, so huge and strong.

What a relief. What an immense relief.

It was joyful enough to bring tears to her eyes.

But there was still one enormous problem.

Pearl-like tears began to fall from So Ok’s red eyes.

“Squeeeeeeeak!”

Chang’e’s eyes widened when So Ok began wailing in her arms.

“So Ok?”

But So Ok gave no answer. She merely buried her head in Chang’e’s sleeve and wept until the fabric was soaked through.

With a tense expression, So Ok stared at the cauldron set up in the clearing at the heart of the cassia grove. The enormous vessel was filled with water made by melting ice crystals from the North Sea—water saturated with yin energy. The firewood beneath the cauldron had been cut from the cassia trees in the grove. When the yin flame taken from the brazier brought by the Moon Palace household was set to the branches, they blazed readily. Unlike ordinary fire, which burned hot, these flames were so cold that frost formed around them.

Yes. Lady Chang’e was right.

Without revealing the crime she had committed, So Ok had carefully questioned Chang’e so as not to arouse her suspicions. She had asked how the concentrated essence of yin energy might be extracted from a plant or an animal’s body.

This was the method she had been given.

Now all she had to do was put the thing from which she wished to extract the yin energy into that cauldron, and it would all be over.

Swallowing nervously, So Ok climbed the largest cassia tree near the clearing. Then she sat quietly upon a branch extending directly over the cauldron.

Tears threatened to spill from her eyes again.

“Baek A…”

She remembered the small white snake who had once lain limp and helpless in her hands. Now he had fine blue scales, and his body had grown immensely long and enormous—not merely his overall size, but elsewhere as well—but what good was any of that?

Baek A was about to die because she had gobbled up the Moon Spirit Herb!

Volume 1 Chapter 10

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