There was an earthquake happening, so I decided to hurry back to the forest where the children were hidden.
The children were currently hiding with Gun Hye-rin in the forest by the riverside, a little distance away from the village.
They were hidden in a forest near the spot where we had moored the boat. And while the children were spirit beasts, natural disasters like earthquakes could still be dangerous for them—so I absolutely had to evacuate them.
Sure, the flying ones might be okay, but the ones that couldn’t fly needed to be especially cautious.
Didn’t even Water General noona get sucked underground by a sudden current and end up trapped for years?
Earthquakes were even more destructive than that, so I had to act quickly to get them to safety.
From what I’d overheard from people talking, the aftershocks were still going.
That meant there was a high probability this was a precursor to a major earthquake.
Back in my past life, I vaguely remembered hearing that continued aftershocks often preceded a big one.
I turned to the princess who’d come along with me.
"Your Highness, let’s head back for now. The children need to evacuate—"
The reason the princess had come with me was because there was a large village—big enough to be called a town—at the base of Wangok Mountain.
We’d planned to stay at a guesthouse overnight and see if anyone had witnessed any spirit beasts or strange occurrences.
The princess also knew the local geography well, and someone had to watch the children. But there was no way we were going to let the princess sleep outdoors while Gun Hye-rin stayed comfortably in the guesthouse, right?
It was just after I told the princess we should head back.
The moment I carelessly referred to her status as “princess,” the nearby refugees stopped and turned to look our way.
Everyone stared at us, eyes wide.
"Princess?"
"Princess?"
The princess quickly stepped forward, forcing a smile and explaining awkwardly.
"Princess—That’s my name. Yoo Gongju. Gong as in jade, ju as in pearl. It means ‘big jade pearl.’ People always stare like this when I say my name in a crowd... L-let’s go, My lord."
“...My lord?”
She suddenly linked arms with me and called me “My lord,” making me flinch—but then I heard her voice through transmission.
[Just smile so people don’t get the wrong idea.]
"Ahaha..."
Once we stepped away from the crowded road and into a quieter spot, the princess let go of my arm and sighed in relief.
"So-ryong, how could you call me ‘princess’ in front of so many people?"
I’d called her “princess” in a crowd without thinking. Like an idiot.
I quickly apologized.
Because, yeah—this was definitely my fault.
"I-I'm sorry."
"It’s not like I need an apology. My father cut ties with me, so I’m probably not even royalty anymore. Just call me by name."
She said it was fine—and then, out of nowhere, told me to call her by her name.
I flinched in shock at the suggestion.
"Wait, you want me to call you by your name? Directly? That’s a bit..."
I mean, sure, behind someone’s back, maybe—but calling a princess by name to her face?
Even I’d heard of pihwi—a royal naming taboo that strictly prohibited speaking a royal’s name.
When a royal was born, even the characters in their name couldn’t be used casually, not in speech or even in official documents. That was the essence of pihwi.
That’s why I was panicking. But the princess just looked at me like it wasn’t a big deal.
"So what? It’s just a name. What’s the big deal?"
"Still, I mean..."
"Then what are you going to call me when we’re around strangers? Sure, if we’re around people who know who I am, you can call me Princess or Princess of Gwan-do. But when we’re around people who don’t know, you need some kind of name to call me, right?
What are you gonna do? Say, ‘Hey, you’? ‘Yo’?
Come on, say it. Ji-ryeon. Say ‘Miss Ji-ryeon.’ Out loud. Go on."
Her name was Yoo Ji-ryeon.
I looked like I was about to cry as I answered her nagging.
"Why are you doing this to me? I saved your life, saved the sect, saved the four sisters, and now you're trying to make me a traitor?"
Maybe, in her mind, she thought she was being considerate. But if her “consideration” was going to get me labeled a traitor, anyone would be on the verge of tears.
Then she said, sounding genuinely hurt:
"Why not me? You call Miss Gun by name all the time..."
But that was the Heavenly Demon Cult.
This was the imperial family. Totally different playing field.
"Yeah, but she’s with the Heavenly Demon Cult."
The princess retorted, completely serious now.
"You think they’d let people toss around their ‘Heavenly Demon’s’ name like that? They’d behead you on the spot. Honestly, they’re scarier than the royal court. At least we give people a heads-up like, ‘You’ll be executed for treason!’ They don’t even say anything before chopping your head off!"
"Yeah, but the Heavenly Demon Cult is pretty much falling apart now. And Gun Hye-rin would stop anything from happening, so there’s nothing to worry about."
"I could stop them too."
"But Gun Hye-rin is like the emperor over there. You're not the emperor, Your Highness. How exactly would you stop them?"
"Well, excuse me~ My younger brother is the next emperor. If I tell him to cut it out, he listens. So obviously, he’ll do as I say."
She batted her eyes and made an adorable face like it was nothing.
What she meant was, even if she wasn’t the emperor, she had the Crown Prince wrapped around her finger.
By this point, I felt like I was being dragged into her pace.
But with how insistently she argued, I couldn’t bring myself to keep pushing back.
"Haa..."
The princess was definitely one to go at her own speed, but... was she always this cheeky?
There was no winning here.
She was being so persistent.
'Well, they say you can badmouth the king when no one’s watching, right? As long as I don’t get caught...'
Still, just in case, I made her promise.
"If this ever comes back to bite me for calling your name, you’ll take care of it, right? I’m seriously scared, you know."
"Of course. What’s there to be afraid of? Now, say it. Come on."
"Ugh... Fine. Then... M-Miss Ji-ryeon..."
"Yes, So-ryong. Fufu."
The moment I said her name, the princess looked delighted.
Unlike Gun Hye-rin, there was a different kind of laziness to her—a kind of clingy indolence that made me feel like she’d be a real pain in the future.
'She’s technically a divorced woman now, so it’ll be hard for her to remarry... Surely she’s not planning to just stick around me for life, right?'
***
First, I returned to where the boat was anchored and informed the commanding officer about the current situation.
“People are evacuating, saying Wangok Mountain might collapse from the earthquake. We should get to safety as well.”
“An earthquake, you say?”
“Yes.”
“Your Highness, where should we evacuate to?”
“Discuss it with So-ryong.”
The princess looked at me, telling him to confer with me, and the commanding officer turned his gaze toward me.
I quickly gave him a good location.
“Let’s evacuate to a forest near a flat area. During an earthquake, rocks roll down from mountains or trees topple over, so it’s best to flee to a forest where you can reach flat ground quickly.”
“Understood! I’ll have it scouted immediately!”
So the evacuation point was decided: a forest close to a flat plain.
The forest had many trees, which could fall during the quake, so the idea was to take shelter somewhere with nearby open ground where one could run if necessary.
While the officer sent out soldiers to find the right place, I called for Cho and Sister Jeokwol and took to the skies.
If there were signs of a spirit beast before the earthquake, I had to check.
Even if it were a volcanic eruption instead of an earthquake, I couldn’t let this go.
If there really was a spirit beast, I had to save it.
“Cho, Sister Jeokwol—let’s go. Let’s check if there might be any spirit beasts living nearby before the earthquake hits.”
Srrrk. 『Okay, Daddy.』
Screee!
At my call, Cho flew over and wrapped herself around me, and Sister Jeokwol clung to my back.
Just then, the princess stepped over beside me with light steps.
“So-ryong, I want to come too!”
“No, it’s dangerous.”
“But if I’m with you, it’s not dangerous, right? I want to try flying too.”
“This isn’t a joyride...”
“I’m not treating it like a joyride either. I’m going to help you.”
“...Fine, let’s go.”
It’d be hard to turn her down when she was asking so nicely. And if I took Gun Hye-rin flying but refused the princess, she’d definitely hassle me about it later.
So I said okay and took off into the air with her, and as expected, the commanding officer freaked out.
“Y-Your Highness!”
He was clearly panicking at the sight of the princess’s first flight, but that eventually faded as Wangok Mountain came fully into view ahead.
A scenic mountain lined with waterways.
But it was immediately obvious why the earthquake was happening.
There were exposed cross-sections of strata all over the mountainside.
Whether the region had once been geologically active or not, the mountain’s slope showed stacked geological layers.
Just then, the princess’s delighted voice came from beside me.
“Wow, this is amazing! I can’t believe flying through the sky feels this incredible. I wanted to try it with you once before, but there were too many people around, so I couldn’t ask.
Oh, look at that! So-ryong, that huge mountain looks tiny from up here.”
Earlier she claimed she wasn’t tagging along for fun, but clearly the princess had other intentions.
I glanced at her and pointed it out.
“Didn’t you say you were coming to help?”
“Of course. So what should I do?”
She smiled and asked what to do with such a straight face that I sighed internally.
“Uh... we’re looking for signs of spirit beasts. So, anything like fallen trees, nest-like formations, signs of burning, signs of freezing—basically, anything that seems out of place.”
“Oh, so we’re supposed to look for anything that doesn’t match the season or that mountain?”
“Exactly.”
To be honest, I’d thought she’d just make things more annoying—especially on top of Gun Hye-rin. But she actually grasped the instructions pretty well.
In that regard, she was better than Gun Hye-rin. I was just thinking that as I scanned the area—
“Oh!”
I heard the princess exclaim in admiration and quickly asked,
“What is it!? Did you find something!?”
It really seemed like she had discovered something.
But then she pointed below and said,
“Look over there, So-ryong. What a gorgeous landscape!”
“...Huh?”
She’d answered like she understood the assignment... but it turned out «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» she was just admiring the scenery.
My enthusiasm faded instantly as I said flatly,
“Princess, we’re not sightseeing. We’re trying to save spirit beasts that might die in this earthquake...”
I reminded her again, trying to instill some sense of duty—and she nodded brightly.
“Of course. I haven’t forgotten.”
But then the same kind of thing happened again.
“Oh!”
“What is it this time?”
“See that rock? Doesn’t it look just like a crane?”
“...Seriously...”
After four or five more similar moments passed—and a couple brief returns to the boat to rest—I was feeling hungry and figured it might be time to head back for a meal before resuming.
That was when the princess pointed again and gasped in wonder.
“Oh!”
But by now, I was thoroughly conditioned not to trust her “Oh!”s. She had become the boy who cried wolf.
I grumbled back,
“What now? Did you discover another scenic lake?”
The princess flashed a sly smile and answered,
“Nope. There's a cave down there.”
At the word “cave,” I looked down—and sure enough, there it was: a massive cave, wide open and vertical, pointing straight toward the sky.
Vines were trailing down into it like they were climbing inside.
So she wasn’t just playing around. I was just about to be impressed when—
Rrrrrumble...
A deep, resonating sound erupted from the cave, shaking the ground and echoing all around us.
***
Flap flap.
Coo, coo.
At the sound of the messenger pigeon landing, the Crown Prince rushed to the cage.
As he reached in, he could feel the warm body heat of the pigeon.
He quickly took it out and untied the message bound to its leg.
The red paper attached to the bird’s leg—it was a hongji.
That meant this was a report from the Shadow Division about his sister’s whereabouts.
Reports related to his sister were always delivered with red paper.
This system had been implemented after she was once placed in danger. Now that she had gone outside the palace again, it had resumed.
Likely because the Emperor had given no contrary order.
The Emperor was currently asleep.
While he couldn’t cancel the system, it was fine for the Crown Prince to review Shadow Division reports when the Emperor was incapacitated.
So he checked it—and noticed something strange written on the paper.
“The Princess is engaged in bihaeng.”
He stared at the line for a long moment, perplexed.
Since it was written in code, the pronunciation was the only clue.
And “bihaeng” could mean:
Bihang — disgraceful conduct,
Bihang — unlawful behavior,
Bihaeng — flying.
It meant the Princess was doing one of the three.
“...?”
