Camellia Permeates the Snow

 Right next door

Episode 7

Kang-yoon silently stared at the departing figure of Hee-gyeong Palace.

How could the palace have knowledge of the crown prince’s sensitive matters?
There was no need for deep thought.
Either one of the soldiers was bribed, or perhaps the assassin had the palace backing them.
‘Foolishly baring their teeth without knowing their place.’

He pondered how long he should tolerate such atrocities.
His deeply focused gaze eventually turned toward Manhae-dang.
The thought of Yeon-hwa, who was softly breathing in that deep place, made his heart feel tight.
It was like standing in a brightly lit area, peering into a dark space where he couldn’t see even an inch ahead.

He didn’t know what lay within, yet his feet were moving toward it of their own accord.

“Min yeon.”

“Command me, Your Highness.”

“It seems there are many who covet my offering. What should I do about this?”

He wasn’t expecting an answer, so Min yeon quietly waited for Kang-yoon to come to a conclusion on his own.

After a moment of contemplation, Kang-yoon uttered a brutal statement, as if a beast were growling.

“Should I show my power as they desire?”

“……”

“Or should I make them bow down beneath what they look down upon?”

His mind was already troubled by thoughts of Yeon-hwa.
He wanted to make a rational decision about her, but their provocations were only stirring his impulses further.

Should he cast her into the abyss? Or should he elevate her to the highest position, making it so no one could dare touch her?

“Do not be bewitched.”

She was a peculiar woman. That strange woman was making him strange as well.
For the first time, he felt that Hee-gyeong Palace had spoken the truth.
Turning away as if to avoid it, Kang-yoon distanced himself from Manhae-dang.

***

“Sister. Yeon-hwa!”

At the sound of someone calling, Yeon-hwa opened her eyes. After blinking a few times, she saw Song-hwa’s face, flushed with color.

“I’m hungry, sister. Let’s go home.”

Song-hwa said in a cute voice, tugging at her clothing. Beyond the small head of the child, the beautiful sunset was painting the sea.

Yeon-hwa realized she had dozed off while sitting against a tree, gazing at the ocean. A pleasant drowsiness spread throughout her body.

“Okay, let’s go. Mother and Father must be waiting.”

Yeon-hwa patted Song-hwa’s head and stood up. However, when she looked around to put her shoes back on, she couldn’t find them anywhere.

Song-hwa, with a clueless expression, continued to whine about being hungry.

‘That stray dog must have done this.’

Lately, there had been rumors of a stray dog wandering the beach, taking things from the village outskirts.

It seemed it had taken her shoes while she was asleep. Just then, she spotted Mrs. Bae, Song-hwa’s mother, passing by nearby.

“Mrs. Bae, I’m sorry, but could you take Song-hwa home? I seem to have lost my shoes and need to look for them.”

“Of course, Miss Yeon-hwa. Just leave it to me. Song-hwa, come here. Let’s go together.”

“Okay!”

Song-hwa ran over and quickly grabbed Mrs. Bae’s hand. After waving goodbye to the child, Yeon-hwa began to search for her shoes.

‘I’ll look for a bit, and if I can’t find them, I’ll just go home.’

Thinking this, she leisurely scanned her surroundings. The lost shoes weren’t that precious to her. She was just enjoying the soft feeling of the sand tickling her soles. How long had she been wandering?

“Hmm…?”

In the vast stretch of sand, something unusual caught her eye.

It was too large to be seaweed washed up from the ocean; it was the figure of someone collapsed. Curiosity overcame fear in an instant.

As she approached, she found a boy lying unconscious.

Alarmed, Yeon-hwa hurried to wake him.

“Hey, are you okay? Wake up!”

She shook and tapped his shoulder, but the boy didn’t open his tightly shut eyes.

He had scratches all over his face, and there were dark stains on his chest that looked like blood.

“Who……!”

Just as she was about to shout for help.

‘Come to think of it, I heard there were fights among pirates around here recently.’

Though he didn’t look like a pirate, given his fine clothes and youthful appearance, the village was always wary of outsiders, especially with the ongoing pirate troubles.

However, she couldn’t just leave the injured boy.

While she was pondering what to do, she noticed a small cave not far away.

Since the beach rarely saw visitors, it seemed like a good place to hide him from prying eyes.

Yeon-hwa struggled to lift the boy and managed to lay him inside the cave.

He was surprisingly heavy, and she almost dropped him midway.

Letting out a big sigh, Yeon-hwa leaned down to listen to his heartbeat.

Thankfully, it was faint but still beating.

Meanwhile, the blood staining the boy’s clothes was spreading wider.

It seemed his injuries were severe. Carefully lifting his shirt, she found a deep diagonal wound across his left chest, so deep it made her instinctively shut her eyes.

She untied the cloth around her neck and fumbled to bandage the boy’s wound.

Then, she gathered dry twigs from around and awkwardly piled them up.

“I heard if you do this, it catches fire. Ah! Got it.”

After striking two stones together repeatedly, she finally managed to start a fire.

By then, the sunset had nearly disappeared, and the cold wind signaled the approach of night.

If she delayed any longer, her family would worry. Looking back, she saw the boy still lying motionless.

‘What if something went wrong while I’m gone?’

She felt anxious about leaving him alone. Yeon-hwa approached one last time to check his heartbeat. Just then.

“Ah!”

The boy suddenly opened his eyes, pushed her down and climbed on top of her.

With his strong grip around her neck, she struggled to breathe. His trembling fingers gripped her wrist tightly.

“Let go…!”

The boy glared at Yeon-hwa with fierce eyes, like a wild beast.

As her vision began to blur and consciousness faded, a painful voice escaped his lips.

“Why can’t you recognize me?”

“……”

“I’m right here.”

***

“……!”

Yeon-hwa jolted awake, finding herself in Manhae-dang instead of the damp cave.

Though the familiar scenery filled her vision, her breath was still quickened. She was still disoriented between reality and dream.

“Yeon-hwa! Yeon-hwa! Are you okay? Are you alright?”

Ari, who had been quietly sobbing beside her, rushed to check on her condition.

“……Ari.”

“Yes, Yeon-hwa! It’s me, Ari! Waaa…”

Seeing Ari’s tear-streaked face helped Yeon-hwa piece together the recent events. From the fall of the Yeoguk to being brought to this place as a sacrifice.

‘And then I heard that the Underworld King died without suffering.’

As she recalled this, a wave of dizziness washed over her, and she squeezed her eyes shut. Noticing this, Ari bowed her head and apologized.

“I’m so sorry, Yeon-hwa. It’s all my fault. Because I spoke carelessly.”

Ari’s sorrowful cries fell like tears onto the floor. What fault could the child have?

She had merely answered a question. Feeling pity, Yeon-hwa gently stroked Ari’s head.

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. You just answered my question.”

“Still, if I hadn’t said anything, you wouldn’t have fainted.”

“If you had lied, that would have hurt me more.”

“Really…?”

“Of course. It was a truth I needed to know eventually.”

Only then did Ari lift her tear-streaked face.

The sight reminded Yeon-hwa of Song-hwa, who also had big, watery eyes when she cried.

The image of the little girl whining about being hungry overlapped with Ari’s.

‘Come to think of it. Nahan appeared in my dream too.’

When she first met Nahan, he seemed like a severely injured beast.

He had been wary of everything and had taken days to trust Yeon-hwa, who saved and cared for him.

‘Why did I dream of that day of all times?’

Yeon-hwa cautiously brushed her neck, still feeling the vivid sensation of Nahan choking her.

One strange thing lingered in her mind: the words Nahan had spoken in her dream.

“Why can’t you recognize me? I’m right here.”

Nahan had never said such a thing. Instead, he had threatened to kill her for what she had done.

Although she had dreamt of Nahan many times, she had never dreamt of that first meeting until now, nor had she ever dreamt something that diverged from reality.

‘Could it be that I subconsciously created this dream because I missed Nahan?’

Yeon-hwa tried to push away the lingering images of the dream and comforted Ari.

“I must have startled you by suddenly fainting.”

“I was startled too when the crown prince suddenly came.”

Ari’s brown eyes trembled slightly.

“The crown prince came?”

“Yes. He brought you to your room.”

Now that she thought about it, she vaguely remembered being held by someone before losing consciousness.

‘He even breathed life into me.’

The warmth flooding into her mouth came to mind, and Yeon-hwa instinctively covered her mouth with her hand.

The problem was distinguishing where the dream ended and reality began.

The memories of seeing Nahan’s face and kissing him before losing consciousness were all tangled up with her dreams.

Yet, she couldn’t dare ask Ari about this.

‘I hope it was all just a dream’

Feeling increasingly guilty for causing trouble for Kang-yoon again, Yeon-hwa wished she could apologize to him immediately, but she didn’t know where he was, and her body felt too heavy to move. Just then, as dizziness washed over her, Ari seemed to remember something and jumped up.

“Oh! The herbalist brought a good medicinal soup for you, Yeon-hwa! It should be ready by now, so I’ll go get it!”

Before Yeon-hwa could finish her sentence, Ari dashed out of the room.

The sound of her hurried footsteps conveyed a strong sense of responsibility.

Ari soon returned, tilting a bowl for Yeon-hwa to drink every last drop, and then she popped a small dried persimmon into her mouth.

“The herbalist said you might feel weak for a while and could develop a fever.

You must take your medicine and get better, Yeon-hwa!”

Ari’s worried expression, mixed with her tears, warmed Yeon-hwa’s heart.

Having seen Song-hwa in her dream, her emotions felt even more stirred.

Yeon-hwa smiled and expressed her gratitude to Ari.

“Thank you, Ari.