TVBC 04

Chapter 4

“You must never raise your head.”

The court lady reminded the young girl several times.

It was something she had heard before. Baeksa also knew that when meeting the Emperor, she must not raise her head until she was given permission.

The child nodded nervously. After watching her for a moment, the court lady spoke toward the closed door.

“Your Majesty, as ordered, I have brought Her Highness the Princess.”

“Let her enter.”

A cold voice came from behind the closed door. At that heartless voice, Baeksa flinched.

She had heard that voice many times, but every time she heard it, cold sweat still ran down her body and her hands trembled.

When the door opened, the child carefully walked forward while looking only at her toes and stopped.

Then, with her head lowered deeply before the huge throne, she waited for the Emperor to speak.

Before long, the Emperor opened his mouth and spoke in a dry voice.

“You have come. This is the first time I have seen your face. I have never had any reason to see you until now.”

“H-Hello, Your Majesty the Emperor…”

But that was all. The Emperor did not tell her to raise her head.

Even after one quarter of an hour, and then another, nothing changed.

The child could feel the sharp gaze, like an arrow honed to a point, piercing into her. She tightly closed her eyes.

‘It’s better this way.’

If he told her to raise her head, she would not have known what expression to make.

So it was better this way. Baeksa slowly opened her eyes and looked at her toes as she remembered the first time she had come here.

The time when she had been brought here after awakening her ability.

That day, the Emperor had given Baeksa the choice to decide her own fate.

Later, after she became useless, she realized that she had not really had a choice even then.

Still, in name, she had clearly been given a choice.

‘But this time, I won’t have one…’

She had not awakened her ability, nor had she shown any usefulness.

So, just as Songra had said, and just as the rumors inside the palace said, she would be thrown out.

Gulp.

Baeksa swallowed.

The little girl fidgeted with her small, sweaty palms as she waited for her father to speak.

Of course, even now, even now…

A small hope still remained in her heart.

Perhaps, at the very last moment, her father might call her gently.

But the heartless Emperor had never fulfilled Baeksa’s hopes even once.

“How did a useless thing like you even come to be born as a snake beastman in the Imperial Family of this Haeseo Kingdom…”

His dry words made Baeksa’s heart sting.

The Emperor deliberately muttered those words and then smiled as he looked down at Baeksa.

“Your future has been decided.”

Why was there no way to stop the hope that kept blooming, even though she knew it was useless and already knew what would happen?

“Go to Nanto, the southern land of the Vermilion Bird.”

Perhaps it was because Baeksa was still so young that even if her age before death and her current age were added together, she still would not be old enough to become an adult.

Maybe, if she grew older, she would stop having such foolish hopes.

Maybe she would no longer feel hurt by words like these.

But Baeksa knew that she would never have the chance to simply ‘grow a little older.’

Because she would die when she went to Nanto.

Without having the chance to grow more, learn more, or understand more.

“Go there and live or die. It’s up to you.”

Hearing the Emperor’s words clearly enter her ears, Baeksa gently clenched both hands.

‘It was true.’

What Songra had said was true.

The Emperor had originally intended to take her there and abandon her.

If she had stayed for just one more week, she would have been abandoned.

Everything was true.

Baeksa was happy about it, but she was not happy.

No, perhaps she was sad.

Why was she sad when she could be thrown out just as she had wanted?

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

Then, after a moment, Baeksa slowly raised her head and looked at the Emperor.

Everyone present froze in surprise at the child’s sudden action.

The Emperor was no exception.

As she looked up at him, the child thought that the Emperor’s expression hurt her heart more than she had imagined.

This was the second time she had been thrown away by her father.

But experiencing the same sadness twice did not make it hurt any less.

Even so, the girl tried not to cry and forced herself to smile.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

But she could not stop the tears that flowed like water from a broken spring.

A single tear rolled down her white cheek and gathered at the tip of her chin.

Instead of wiping it away, Baeksa continued speaking with her small lips trembling.

“Thank you for raising me until now.”

In the silence, the child slowly, very slowly, lowered her head and gave her final greeting.

“Please, stay healthy.”

Those final words were not a greeting to the Emperor.

‘Please get well.’

They were a greeting to the owner of the hand she had held onto until the moment she was thrown away.

The Emperor raised an eyebrow at the child’s attitude.

His black eyes, narrowed slightly, were fixed on the child standing at his feet.

Long hair that had not been properly cared for.

A small and frail body, smaller than other children her age.

A young child who was barely seven years old.

Just because she was a child did not mean she did not know what Nanto was.

The beastmen of this Haeseo Kingdom grew up hearing stories about the cursed land in the south from a young age.

So she would know that she would die if she went there.

She would also know that she was being sent there because of the heavenly law that prevented dragons from killing their own children.

And yet.

‘Thank you for raising me until now.’

‘Please, stay healthy.’

Could a seven-year-old say such things?

Wouldn’t a child her age normally cry and beg, asking not to be thrown out, desperately pleading not to be exiled?

If Yeoryun or Songra had heard this news, they probably would have clung to his legs and cried until they collapsed from exhaustion.

But the child did not.

She did not cry, beg, or tremble while asking him to reconsider.

Instead, she raised her head and looked directly into her father’s face.

And as if she had been waiting for this moment from the very beginning, she gently smiled through her tear-stained face and gave him her final greeting.

There was no expectation or hope in the pitch-black eyes barely visible beneath her bangs.

Those transparent eyes, which showed no emotion, seemed somewhat similar to those of her father.

But.

‘What does it matter?’

The child would soon be thrown out.

Now that he had decided to cast her out, the fact that she had shown a slightly unusual side of herself was not important.

It was not important that today was the first time he had realized what color her eyes were.

It was not important that today was probably the child’s birthday, either.

She was simply leaving on the day she had arrived.

When the Emperor gestured, the little girl immediately stepped back and left.

Her small legs trembled slightly as she walked lightly away, but the child never once looked back.

A tiny mark of tears remained where the child had been standing.

It quickly dried and disappeared without a trace.

The Emperor watched her leave indifferently before speaking to the scribe who was kneeling nearby.

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

Then, as if he had only just remembered, he added one more thing.

“She could be confused with another princess, so write that Princess Baeksa was expelled.”

The scribe slowly moved his hand and recorded that the little girl who had been here only moments ago had left the palace.

That single short line became the only proof that the girl had ever existed in the Imperial Family.

From that moment, everything proceeded quickly.

A carriage had already been prepared, and court ladies who had come to see her off were gathered together in front of the narrow gate of the Imperial Palace.

Normally, when a member of the Imperial Family left the palace, all the servants who had attended them would come out to see them off.

However, only three people had been assigned to manage Baeksa’s residence.

So only those three court ladies stood side by side beside the carriage Baeksa would ride.

As Baeksa approached the carriage, she stopped when she saw a familiar court lady.

She was the only person in the Imperial Palace who had cared for Baeksa even a little.

‘She’ll be better off without me.’

In truth, Baeksa’s residence was no different from a place of exile.

The court ladies were also ranked according to which master they served. If they served a better master than her, they would be able to work in a much better environment.

Thinking that way made her feel a little less sad.

Baeksa climbed into the carriage with a nervous expression, and the guards who would escort her to the southern land stood on both sides of it.

Before long, the carriage slowly began to move.