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Chapter: 136

“Your Highness, I have something urgent to ask of you.”

“Ask away,” I readily agreed, but Soldier Do remained silent.

“Why is is?”

“There is something I urgently need to ask.”

“You want a private audience?”

I wasn’t particularly interested.

My grandfather spoke up, “What is your reason?”

That’s right. If you have a question, just ask it. Why does she have to be so… In that moment, her gaze shifted from me to my grandfather.

“It’s just a private audience, General.”

The two of them glared at each other, engaged in a tense standoff. They seemed like sworn enemies. What could have happened between them?

Then, my grandfather stood up.

So, the loser of that standoff was my grandfather. What an absurd situation.

“Your Highness, please allow me to step outside the tent for a moment. I’ll be right out here, so if anything happens, please call for me immediately.”

“Yes? Alright.”

And my grandfather immediately left the tent. I was left alone with Soldier Do.

Perhaps because my grandfather had left, the dangerous scent emanating from her seemed even stronger in the tent.

Then she took something out of her bosom.

“Do you remember?”

And the unpleasant smell became even more intense.

Thud-

Soldier Do placed a small wooden box, no bigger than a fist, on the table.

“Poison?”

The words slipped out of my mouth involuntarily, but it seemed to be the correct answer. Soldier Do nodded.

That must have been the source of the dangerous scent I had been sensing from her.

“Can I open it?”

“Yes.”

I opened the wooden box she handed me. Inside was a metal needle.

“A poisoned dart?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you giving this to me?”

Soldier Do stared at me intently. Oh, right. Of course.

“I had a head injury earlier this spring. Because of that, I have some memory problems.”

She looked shocked.

“...Could you repeat that?”

“I lost my memory,” I said quickly. “Partially. Not completely.”

Soldier Do was so shocked that she couldn’t speak for a moment.

“Does the General know about this?”

“He does.”

“Does His Majesty know?”

I shook my head.

“But it doesn’t really cause any problems in my daily life, so don’t worry too much about it. But I thought I owed you an explanation.”

A look of bewilderment appeared on her usually cold face.

There was no sign of worry.

“How did that happen?”

Hmm... I couldn’t possibly tell her that I got beaten up by a bodyguard.

“I had a minor accident, and I guess I was just unlucky.”

Soon she nodded and began to explain hesitantly.

“I will tell you.”

* * *

The Yunrim Do clan, from which Do Ye-ran hailed, had a lineage of inherent poison abilities.

However, like the Ye royal family, their bloodline had been diluted over generations, eventually causing their abilities to fade. This had happened several generations ago.

Nevertheless, the current head of the clan refused to give up their abilities.

Their clan was no ordinary family; they were a powerful noble clan that controlled the largest grain-producing region in the south.

To ensure their clan\'s prosperity, they had secretly eliminated obstacles. The foundation of their power was their unique ability, and with it, they had acquired vast territories and wealth through bloodshed.

So, for several generations, the Yunrim Do clan had been selecting a few children from their direct bloodline and raising them with poison. Do Ye-ran was one of them. And among her generation, she had the strongest constitution capable of withstanding the poison.

Of course, the pain was a separate issue. Though she survived ingesting the deadly poison, she couldn\'t escape the agony.

She couldn\'t live like this anymore. So, when she was young, she ran away from her clan and blindly sought out General So\'s residence.

She didn\'t necessarily need So Ik-Gyeom to be her helper, but since he was the most famous person at the time, she had gone to the So family\'s residence.

And she aspired to become the princess consort of Prince Ikwon.

To escape her clan, she needed someone with even greater power, so naturally, her goal was the palace.

General So accepted the young Do Ye-ran\'s plea for help. It wasn\'t a loss for him.

Having the Yunrim Do clan as an in-law could greatly help stabilize Yegyeong\'s uncertain position.

And so, she finally crossed the threshold of the palace, and her plan to escape her clan was almost successful.

"-You\'ll die too."

Do Ye-ran remembered the young prince cowering in a corner of the palace.

"-Why did you come to the palace? Go back."

Yegyeong had said that back then. He was a prince, but in reality, he was just an injured boy. But no one seemed to realize that.

"-Where should I go?"

What was she supposed to do? She was going to die anyway. She could never go back to the Yunrim Do clan.

"-You have a home outside the palace."

But he dared to call the Yunrim Do clan her home.

"-I don\'t."

At that time, in her youthful heart, she couldn\'t contain her anger.

Do Ye-ran fought with a peer for the first time. It was Yegyeong.

She thought she would be kicked out of the palace right after that, but unexpectedly, Do Ye-ran was able to stay in the palace.

It was thanks to Yegyeong not telling anyone about the fight.

She wasn\'t grateful. She didn\'t know how to be grateful.

She just thought that if something like this ever happened to him, she should turn a blind eye to his mistakes once.

Time passed. One day, Do Ye-ran discovered that Yegyeong had a precious item.

It was a small wooden box. As soon as she saw it, Do Ye-ran recognized what it was.

A needle coated with a deadly poison. It was undoubtedly an assassination weapon. Having lived with poison all her life, she could recognize it by the faint smell emanating from the box.

"-It\'s a gift from my mother, don\'t touch it."

Do Ye-ran couldn\'t understand. It didn\'t make sense that such a thing would be a heirloom, and it was ridiculous that Yegyeong cherished a poisoned dart like a treasure.

But she gradually came to understand his strange behavior. Because living in the palace meant knowing things she didn\'t want to know.

As time passed, Yegyeong seemed to rely on Do Ye-ran. She was the only one who visited his empty quarters, so it was a natural progression.

Do Ye-ran realized this and felt reassured. She would be able to stay in the palace.

However, that was shattered in an instant.

"-Get out. I don\'t want to see your face. Don\'t let me see you, even when you\'re dead."

Yegyeong, who had suddenly changed, had kicked her out. She didn\'t know why. And the general did nothing.

He didn\'t help Do Ye-ran stay, nor did he persuade Yegyeong to change his mind.

Do Ye-ran had to return to her hometown, feeling only betrayal. She left the palace and the capital.

But she didn’t just leave quietly. She stole the poisoned needle that Yegyeong cherished and left for Yunrim Do.

“That’s impossible.”

A foul, poisonous smell still wafted from the box Soldier Do held out. It had remained the same for all those years?

“There’s no way poison could remain potent for that long.”

“Yes, while I was in Yunrim, I studied this poison and created a similar one. The poison on this needle is just a similar effect... It’s a completely different poison from the one the late queen left behind.”

I didn\'t know whether to be impressed or not.

I responded with an awkward laugh.

"So what? You’re going to give it back now? Sorry, but I’m past the age of obsessing over such things."

“...I heard you lost your memory, and it seems that’s not a lie.”

Soldier Do sighed softly.

Then, she whispered conspiratorially, “This is a poison that will make your ability disappear.”

My eyes widened involuntarily at her words.

“Aren’t you uncomfortable?” She asked pitifully.

I shook my head.

“Not at all. I’m perfectly…”

Drip-

Blood dripped from my nose.

Thud-

A crimson line fell onto the table.

Drip, drip-

A few more drops of blood fell, creating a small puddle on the table.

The smell of blood filled the air. But it seemed like only I could smell it.

“Your nerves are so frayed that you can’t bear to dress, eat, move, sleep, interact with people, or even think about the past or the future.”

Blood continued to drip. I covered my nose and mouth with my sleeve.

“You said so yourself, and I remember it clearly, so why are you lying?”

With trembling eyes, I stared at the wooden box that Do Ye-ran had offered.

There was no lie in her words. Everything was harder than it had been when I was Baek Yeon. I tried not to show it, but every moment was a struggle.

At least, if I accepted this and was given a few more years, I could reach the same level I had reached when I died as Baek Yeon.

But I knew that wasn’t enough. I had already experienced it.

On the one hand, I thought that the limits of this body would surpass the limits of Baek Yeon.

Apart from my status as a prince or my desire to protect the Blood Cloud Fortress... I wanted to reach a higher level.

“If you lose your ability... His Majesty will no longer pay attention to Your Highness.”

She knew.

Soldier Do knew more about me than I did.

If I were the real Yegyeong, sitting here in Yegyeong\'s shell, I wouldn\'t have been able to hide my agitation.

But since I wasn\'t the real prince, I didn\'t feel any agitation.

“And you won\'t have to worry about the scrutiny of Prince Yehui and the Woo clan anymore.”

She knew about palace affairs as well as my grandfather.

“You can live a comfortable life. A life of an ordinary person, free from the hatred and scrutiny of others.”

She probably knew more about the previous Yegyeong than anyone else in the world.

She was the one who held my greatest weakness.

If she wasn\'t on my side, she was definitely an enemy I had to kill.

“But if you’ve truly changed...”

Soldier Do raised her hand and covered the wooden box with her palm.

And she looked straight at me. Looking into her eyes, I realized why she had come this far.

She was asking to become my servant.