9. Quickening Beneath the Surface (1)
Suryeon, who had been in a deep sleep, bolted upright. Silence surrounded her. The moment she realized she was in the Seonnong Palace, her mind sharpened. Earlier, in her dazed state, she had fallen asleep thinking she was just somewhere within the palace grounds. However, the dragon motifs scattered everywhere confirmed her suspicion: this was Jaehu’s bedchamber.
Suryeon focused on escaping with Rok, who looked every bit a dragon. She grabbed the first cloth her hands touched and hurriedly wrapped him in it. Setting aside the fact that she was the Dragon Master, the mere existence of a dragon was dangerous.
As soon as she arrived at her quarters, she lifted the cloth covering Rok. He looked up at her with his characteristic languid eyes and yawned.
“Rok, can’t you do something about your true form?”
‘What’s wrong with my true form?’
Due to her contract with Rok, Suryeon could understand him even in his dragon shape. She replied with a sullen expression.
“I can’t walk around with you looking like 그that.”
At that, Rok turned his head away huffily, clearly displeased.
“If the fact that I am the Dragon Master gets out, I could be assassinated without a trace.”
‘That’s impossible while I’m here.’
“You might not die, but I could.”
Suryeon snapped back at him, her eyes glaring. An “Unpowered” Dragon Master with no backing—even if she had died suddenly today, the procession would have continued. That was why the Seonnong Palace was as deathly quiet as if nothing had happened.
‘That won’t happen. If you die, I die. Do you think I’d just sit idle?’
Unlike her skeptical attitude, Rok remained relaxed. Was this the arrogance typical of a supreme being? Though she didn’t quite trust his attitude, she decided to look away. She had to go to work tomorrow. She felt wretched, worrying about work the day after she had nearly died. Her heart grew heavy. When feeling gloomy, sleep was the best remedy. She had learned long ago, back when she was a servant, that depression and melancholy could be washed away by a good night’s sleep. She arranged her bedding and dimmed the lamp.
‘I use some divine power to humanize, but it’s a tiny amount, so I’ll change back soon. Of course, if you learn to master divine power quickly, I’ll return to human form faster.’
“Just keep nagging, why don’t you?”
As she grumbled, Rok smirked as if amused. Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he slipped into her bedding.
‘Now, let’s sleep.’
Suryeon stared at him, flabbergasted. When she had last seen Rok’s humanized form, he looked almost like a young man. Thinking of that, it felt strange for him to be lying in her bed. In human terms, wasn’t this like sharing a blanket with a grown man? That was problematic. It was unheard of for an unmarried woman to share a bed with an adult male.
“Get out. Sleep over there, far away.”
‘Why! You used to hug me while sleeping just fine before.’
Rok sat up abruptly as if angry and tapped his front paws. His tiny, pathetic paws were so cute she almost burst out laughing, but she bit her lip and maintained a stern face. If she didn’t establish discipline now, Rok would surely try to hug her even in his human form.
“That was when I firmly believed you were a lizard.”
‘You can just keep believing I’m a lizard then!’
He shouted inside her mind. Stunned, Suryeon stared at him blankly.
“Where on earth do you look like a lizard?”
She recalled her past self, who had desperately insisted he was a lizard while denying reality. Thinking of it now, her tearful efforts seemed pitifully valiant.
Rok hissed as if he refused to lose. He seemed genuinely angry. Of course, a dragon caught between infancy and adulthood losing its temper only doubled its cuteness. Though laughing on the inside, she let out a sigh as if she had no choice.
“Fine, fine.”
Shaking her head, she climbed into the covers. Rok, looking satisfied, moved aside to make room for her. His warmth and comfort put her at ease. Considering how sleepy she felt despite having just napped, she must have indeed used some divine power—even though she didn’t even know what divine power was. As she drifted off, she pulled the warm Rok closer, her breathing becoming rhythmic. Rok flicked his long tail slowly before her eyes, as if checking if she was truly deep in sleep.
‘I almost didn’t get to sleep here…’
Rok lowered his tail with a sigh of relief. He slowly gathered his divine power. Gradually, he returned to his human form. Thanks to the contract, he took the shape of a fully grown man. With long, flowing crimson hair and red eyes, he exuded a mysterious yet wild aura. He moved carefully within her arms and stroked her hair.
“Mmm…”
When she tossed slightly, a strange light flickered in his red eyes. He hoped she would grow her divine power quickly. The stronger the Dragon Master’s power, the greater his own would become. Then, there would be no trouble in holding her. With his current strength, remaining human for even a short moment was his limit.
However, today he wanted to applaud her tiny “mouse-droppings-sized” divine power. She was clearly more comfortable with his dragon form than his human one, given she allowed him into her bed like this. Moreover, from what he had seen, she was incredibly conservative. He was dissatisfied that even her sleepwear was wrapped up so tightly—though he knew from seeing her leave the palace that this was considered “light” clothing.
Because of that, his stubbornness was ignited.
‘Well, this will make embracing her even more rewarding later.’
Ignoring the growing discomfort in his lower body, he buried his face in her hair. A faint scent of water lily wafted up—a scent that suited her perfectly.
‘Ah, this is nice…’
Realizing his divine power had reached its limit, he slowly reverted to his dragon form.
By morning, Suryeon was exhausted from a standoff with Rok, who insisted on following her. Eventually, they reached a difficult compromise: he could remain in his true dragon form, but he was not to make a sound or presence known. In short, he wasn’t even to dream of flapping his wings near her.
‘Are you that ashamed of me being your dragon?’
Rok growled and stamped his paws, but she merely shrugged.
“I hate noise. You’ve lived only as a dragon so you don’t know, but my life is exhausting enough even when I stay still. If the fact that I’m a Dragon Master is revealed…”
‘If it’s revealed, what?’
“I’ll be caught up in all sorts of palace intrigues and have to work overtime every day… and it’ll even become difficult for me to sleep with you.”
Suryeon intentionally put on an exaggeratedly sad face. Rok flinched. She suppressed a laugh, thinking this tactic was quite effective. Being a dragon, Rok didn’t understand the concept of “overtime,” but he seemed shocked by the idea that they couldn’t sleep together.
Suryeon barely managed to leave him behind and headed out. He might be tailing her from somewhere.
The moment she opened the sliding doors of the Records Hall, Gyeongchip and Gogu greeted her with startled expressions. Suryeon smiled brightly and approached them. Gyeongchip rushed toward her.
“Suryeon-nim, are you alright? What on earth happened!”
“I am sorry to have caused you worry.”
Gyeongchip shook his head, saying, “As long as you’ve returned safely,” and took her hand. Gogu still looked pale and tired, but he wore a faint smile.
“We were just talking about you. Rumors were rampant that you had died from a fatal wound.”
I did die.
Suryeon thought gloomily, looking at their worried eyes. She had tried so hard to live quietly in the Seonnong Palace, yet all she got in return was death—it felt strangely sorrowful.
“I heard from the Head of the Dong Family that the arrow missed your vitals and you received immediate first aid…”
Gogu spoke calmly, but there was a hint of suspicion in his eyes. She couldn’t blame him. Even if she had avoided a fatal blow, it shouldn’t be possible to return to work the very next day. Yet, Suryeon looked perfectly fine, without a single scratch. She momentarily wondered if she should have faked being sick. But since Sohan and Jaehu knew the truth, it was pointless.
“…Well, I was lucky in many ways.”
Suryeon summarized everything quietly. It wasn’t a lie, but it was so compressed it made her feel embarrassed.
“It seems His Majesty Shinnong and the Head of the Dong Family are looking into the truth of the incident.”
Was that why the palace felt subtly chaotic? Even on her way to the Records Hall, she had noticed servants scurrying about everywhere. Suryeon simply gave a non-committal “I see.” Even if they didn’t act, she planned to find those who killed her in her own way. Secretly.
“Would you like to see the state funeral records Gogu and I drafted? We were debating how to handle the incident regarding you.”
At Gyeongchip’s words, Suryeon looked startled. Was there a need to record someone almost dying?
“Isn’t it a bit much to record such a trivial matter in the state funeral archives?”
“A person nearly dying isn’t exactly trivial…”
Gogu looked up at Suryeon with a vacant stare. Gyeongchip suddenly clapped his hands as if remembering something.
“That’s right! I found something while looking through previous funeral records. What was it… it was in the History of State Funerals. It even recorded how the Shinnong of that time tripped during the procession.”
Gyeongchip chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.
“Ah, that’s in Volume 8, Page 112. The Shinnong at that time was from the Ha Family.”
When Suryeon spoke with such indifference, Gyeongchip and Gogu wore strange expressions. She didn’t seem to notice their faces as she examined the records they had written.
“…”
When the conversation cut off and silence filled the room, Suryeon looked back at them. Gogu suddenly stood up and headed for the archives.
“Why are you all acting like this?”
She tilted her head, wondering if she had gotten the facts wrong because their reactions were so suspicious.
‘Was it not Volume 8? No, it’s definitely Volume 8.’
“Recorder Suryeon, how many volumes are in the History of State Funerals in total?”
As Gyeongchip asked with a stiff expression, Suryeon looked puzzled. She recited the answer as if a cheat sheet were laid out in her mind.
“There are 12 volumes in total. Except for Volumes 3 and 5, they are all massive tomes exceeding 500 pages.”
That was why it had been so difficult for Suryeon to organize the data. Since it covered funeral history, there were illustrations, but there were no interesting folk tales to make it easy.
In contrast to her bewildered expression, Gyeongchip looked like he had realized something. He suddenly understood why the Head of the Dong Family had been making such a fuss.
‘This bizarre memorization ability… could it be…’
Gyeongchip knew that the manifestation of Linguistic Authority (Eonryeong) began with an extraordinary capacity for memorization.
Gogu hurriedly spread Volume 8 of the History of State Funerals on the desk. With uncharacteristic haste, he flipped to page 112.
“…His Majesty Shinnong tripped over a stone during the procession. Feeling embarrassed, he called a recorder and said there was no need to record such trivialities…”
Gogu recited the text and looked up at her with a horrified expression. Gyeongchip stared at her as well. His face was closer to pure shock.
