TLBVBF 03

“Say anything like ‘there is no hope of recovery,’ and you’d better be prepared for the consequences.”

The young emperor smiled faintly, his lips curling with something almost cruel. As if tickling the woman’s waist, the jeweled anklets on her feet chimed softly.

Glass beads collided with one another, producing a clear clatter. Yet even at that sound, the person behind the bead curtain did not move.

The court physician, who had finished taking the patient’s pulse from her thin wrist, bowed his head with a heavy expression.

“…Your Majesty, it may be better to seek another way. Perhaps we should request help from the beastfolk of the south…”

At the mention of “beastfolk of the south,” the emperor’s brow twitched.

There was only one group of beastfolk living in the southern lands.

Everyone in Haeseo Kingdom knew how deeply the current emperor despised them.

Realizing he had displeased the emperor, the physician shut his eyes tightly.

“Request help from the beastfolk of the south… That is a good idea.”

The emperor rose abruptly and stepped right up to the physician, looking down at him with a cold gaze.

“So those weaklings who can’t even heal their own bodies would happily come running to treat someone else?”

“…My apologies, Your Majesty.”

“Enough.”

The emperor turned away. Just as the physician exhaled in relief, the emperor spoke again, as if in passing:

“How is that child?”

A palace attendant standing nearby quickly answered.

“She remains the same as before.”

“As expected. And the preparations?”

“Nearly complete. We will be able to depart soon.”

“I see.”

The emperor’s gaze turned razor-sharp as he looked at the attendant.

“When everything is ready, remove her from the imperial palace.”

His dragon-like eyes—eyes that could destroy anything they wished—flashed dangerously.

“It seems her presence in the palace is preventing her from waking.”

Unfavorable things must be removed.

He would eliminate everything unnecessary and leave only what was good, so that she could awaken.

With that, the emperor immediately turned and left.

A moment later, a harsh wind swept through the room, snuffing out the candlelight.

The hanging bead curtain swayed faintly.

Some time later

“Is it true?”

“So I’m telling you it is! They say preparations are almost complete already.”

“No way… even so, to be that cold-hearted… He is still the one with dragon’s blood, isn’t he?”

“Do you think he’ll be soft? He didn’t even give her a name!”

“But if she’s sent there… doesn’t that mean she’ll die?”

“They’re sending her to die. A dragon can’t directly kill its own child—doing so would bring divine punishment.”

The palace maids whispered in lowered voices, glancing around nervously as they spoke.

They had no choice. If anyone overheard this conversation, they could be dragged away and executed immediately.

Fortunately for them, only one listener had heard.

‘So it’s almost done.’

It was Baeksa, in the form of a white snake.

She was hiding behind the bushes.

She knew she would be scolded for leaving her quarters, but she couldn’t help it.

It seemed to be common knowledge that she would soon be leaving the palace—but no one had told her directly.

Replaying the maids’ words in her mind, Baeksa thought sadly.

‘A dragon is punished if it kills its own child…’

That was true. Dragons could not directly kill their offspring.

Not only that—dragons could not kill each other either, because they were beastfolk blessed with divine power.

It was a limitation placed upon a powerful race.

But Baeksa could not understand it.

Was abandoning someone to die not the same as killing them?

‘Then that punishment… is really strange.’

Just as she was about to return to her quarters, her head drooping—

“Hey, look at me! Look over here!”

A familiar voice rang out in the distance.

It was her half-sister, Yeoryun—another imperial princess, beloved by the emperor for possessing a pure white dragon orb.

At the sound of her voice, the maids scattered quickly, ending their conversation.

Baeksa, afraid of being seen, pressed herself flat under the bushes instead of returning.

Soon, through the dense foliage, she saw Yeoryun in beautiful clothes, running excitedly.

Above her head floated a small, glowing orb.

A dragon orb.

‘A dragon orb…’

It was something every dragonkin was supposed to have.

Something Baeksa, the white snake, did not possess.

Those who had a dragon orb could use divine blessings, call rain from a clear sky, or summon wind to move ships.

It was practically the foundation of godlike power.

As the white orb shimmered, rain suddenly began to fall from a cloudless sky, forming a perfect circle of wet ground around the girl. Yeoryun had activated her ability.

The attendants panicked at her rain-soaked clothes, but Yeoryun only laughed without care.

The white dragon orb glistened like a pearl beneath the clear sky.

Watching it, Baeksa felt a sting of envy.

‘I thought I wouldn’t be jealous anymore.’

She had promised herself not to desire what she could not have.

That she would not feel envy even when seeing things like that.

But the heart was not something she could control. It crept in before she could stop it.

Especially since Yeoryun’s dragon orb was more precious than any of the other royals’.

A pure white orb.

In Haeseo Kingdom, white was considered a lucky and auspicious color. It was also the reason Baeksa had been allowed to remain in the palace at all.

…And the same reason she had been cast out once her body turned black.

In this kingdom, it was only natural that Yeoryun, with her white dragon orb, was adored.

Those who saw her even said she might become the legendary “White Dragon.”

If that happened, Haeseo Kingdom would enjoy endless glory and prosperity.

Moreover, Yeoryun was closely tied to the legend that “dragons are born from the lowest places,” since her mother had been a slave.

The beastfolk praised her, saying she would surely become a magnificent dragon one day.

Once, Baeksa had envied her deeply.

A White Dragon from legend—just imagining it made her seem extraordinary.

But—

‘Not anymore.’

It had nothing to do with her anymore. She would soon be cast out of the palace.

So she would not be sad. She would not be jealous.

Ignoring the aching in her chest, Baeksa turned back toward her quarters.

Her small snake body slithered away, looking smaller and more pitiful than ever.

A few days later

Two palace attendants entered Baeksa’s room without a word and took her hands.

They bathed her roughly in a large wooden tub, then dressed her in the cleanest clothes they could find.

Her wishes did not matter. They did not even look her in the eye properly.

They washed and dressed her as if it were simply their duty.

Baeksa quietly let them, watching their faces.

They were unfamiliar.

The ones who usually brought her food and helped her bathe were different people.

‘And there are two of them.’

There were three attendants assigned to her care, but they worked in shifts and never came together.

So Baeksa understood instinctively, even without hearing a word.

‘Today.’

The day the emperor had spoken of.

The day she had been waiting for.

‘So it was true.’

They really were going to throw her away.

After changing her clothes, one of the attendants turned to her.

“Please follow us.”

She began walking before Baeksa could respond. Baeksa hurried after her in small steps, holding up her skirt so it wouldn’t get dirty.

Outside, Baeksa saw the place she had lived in until now.

A shabby, worn-out residence. An untended courtyard overgrown with weeds.

Long corridors that echoed with every step, and a dried-up pond.

It was a lonely place—but still, it had been her home until now.

But this was the end.

‘Goodbye.’

After today, she would never return.

And she would no longer be able to miss it.

Baeksa offered a final farewell to the place she had lived, then followed the hurried attendant forward without being waited for.