Chapter 9
“How dare you! How could you speak the name of His Highness the Prince so rudely!”
The court lady shouted sharply.
Haena flinched, but her eyes remained fixed on the Fourth Prince standing before her.
It’s him.
The child who had been locked in the deepest room of the Yeon family’s underground cellar.
The only one among the escaped children who had never been recaptured.
The golden eyes she had never seen under the bluish moonlight felt strangely unfamiliar.
But everything else was the same.
So much so that it was impossible to think he was anyone else.
“Y-you… is it really you?”
Haena spoke despite her discourtesy. She would surely be punished, but she had to know.
He had suffered greatly.
So much that she had once thought he might already be dead even if he had successfully escaped.
“Prince Tamrang Seonggun! How dare you speak so disrespectfully!”
At the court lady’s furious voice, Seowan pressed down on Haena’s head.
“It’s fine. Let her be, Lady Kwon.”
It was then that the boy’s clear, youthful voice was heard again.
“But Your Highness…”
“I know her. Tamrang. Let that child lift her head.”
The court lady hesitated, and Seowan removed his hand from Haena’s head.
Haena lifted her head as if springing upward.
A familiar face came into view.
Still gaunt, but far better than when he had been confined in that underground chamber filled only with bluish moonlight.
Their eyes met—those faint golden eyes. The eyes that had once been filled only with ferocity now curved slightly, almost like a smile.
Haena stared blankly at his face.
She was more shocked and relieved by the fact that he was alive than by the revelation that he was a prince.
He was alive.
Tears burst from Haena’s eyes.
Her smooth, chestnut-like face crumpled like a steamed bun that had split open.
Seeing that, Hwi-seo let out a small laugh.
It reminded him of the first time he had seen that strangely familiar yet ridiculous expression.
* * *
The first time Hwi-seo met Haena was on the seventh day of his imprisonment in the Yeon family’s underground cellar.
The warriors who had been escorting him had been cut down instantly. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself trapped in a prison made of moonstone.
Even as the foreign energy in his body clashed violently with his own, he barely managed to keep his eyes open when a man in cloud-patterned robes entered.
A flicker of surprise, then shock, crossed the man’s face before it turned cold.
“Speed up the work.”
He left those words to his subordinates and exited the cellar.
Even in his dazed state, Hwi-seo clearly remembered his face.
Yeon Gimum, the head of the Yeon family.
The strangely frequent disappearances of children.
The moonstone-made chamber—and himself imprisoned within it.
Hwi-seo quickly realized what Yeon Gimum intended to do.
But there was nothing he could do.
He was an intelligent royal—but still only a nine-year-old child.
For Hwi-seo, a member of the royal family, the experiments were even more intense.
The moonstone chamber was filled with bluish moonlight all day long. The food provided in excessive amounts was mixed with finely ground moonstone.
Inside that place, Hwi-seo struggled.
He tried to force out any remaining strength, and even deliberately injured himself, thinking they might release him if he became too damaged.
But the Yeon family did not even blink.
To them, all of Hwi-seo’s attempts were merely additional data for their experiments.
Exhausted, he eventually stopped eating.
If he was only going to be used to benefit them, he would rather die as a royal.
“Hey, hey. Eat this. If you starve like that, something bad will happen.”
That was when Haena appeared at the cell bars.
Under the bluish moonlight, she looked like a child painted only in black and white.
With round eyes and flushed cheeks, she held out several rice balls.
“Go away.”
Hwi-seo, barely conscious, rejected her coldly.
There was no doubt the food was also mixed with moonstone.
Startled by his harsh response, the child hesitated.
Then she slowly approached again.
This time, she even entered the cell and held out the rice balls once more.
“Quickly. Eat it before someone sees. This won’t hurt you.”
Even a small amount of moonstone caused unbearable pain when ingested.
The other children cried and refused the food—but eventually had no choice but to eat.
Hwi-seo was also suffering from unbearable hunger.
And before he could even determine whether her words were true, his hand moved first.
He grabbed a rice ball and bit into it.
It did not hurt.
Just as she said, it was safe.
Like a starving child, he devoured it hungrily.
“Slow down… here, drink some water too.”
As if accustomed to it, the child patted his back.
After drinking the water, Hwi-seo finally regained clarity.
He looked at her sharply.
Her small clothes bore the cloud pattern.
“Who are you?”
“Oh, I’m Haena. I work here in the underground.”
Her voice grew quieter as she spoke.
Hwi-seo’s gaze turned colder.
“Then can you get me out of here?”
At his wary tone, Haena lowered her head.
Then she shook it.
“I’m sorry. I can’t…”
Hwi-seo let out a hollow laugh.
So this was all it amounted to—cheap pity.
Or perhaps she was deceiving him, feeding him moonstone.
After all, she was one of the Yeon family’s servants.
“If you’re done, leave.”
He turned away coldly.
Behind him, he sensed hesitation. Then the sound of the door opening and closing.
“I’ll come again.”
A thin voice, tinged with tears, called out.
Hwi-seo did not respond.
But Haena kept her promise.
She came at least once every two days.
Always with something in her small hands.
She was an exhausting child.
The worse Hwi-seo’s condition became, the more she cried when she saw him.
She cried while bringing food, apologizing that she couldn’t come every day. She cried while applying ointment in a rough container, saying he looked like he was in pain.
It irritated him so much that he finally snapped.
“Then why don’t you bring it every day like you say?”
At that, Haena burst into tears again.
But what followed was something Hwi-seo did not expect.
“I-I’m sorry… but the other kids are so hungry too…”
“…”
“I’m still just a young maid… even if I bring all my meals, it’s not enough… I’m really sorry.”
Hwi-seo only blinked.
Even while eating food without moonstone, he had never considered it might have been Haena’s portion.
On the day she brought ointment, he noticed injuries on her body.
Deep wounds, as if she had been stabbed by something.
When he asked why, she smiled brightly.
“When servants get hurt, they give us ointment. So I just… got a little hurt on purpose.”
She said it so casually.
Without hesitation, she cleaned the moonstone from Hwi-seo’s wounds and carefully applied the ointment.
Blood seeped through the bandage loosely wrapped around Haena’s leg.
He thought it was nothing but cheap pity.
A shallow act of kindness, done for her own peace of mind, with no real courage behind it.
But Haena kept performing that “hypocrisy.”
She gave him the compassion he desperately needed—and always apologized for it.
The worse Hwi-seo became, the worse Haena’s complexion grew.
It was only natural.
Even for a commoner, prolonged exposure to moonstone was harmful, and life in the Yeon household was clearly not kind to her.
Haena cried a lot.
She cried when Hwi-seo was in pain, and cried when he told her not to come anymore.
Only once did she smile—when he told her his name.
As days passed like that, Hwi-seo realized he would not last much longer.
The boy prepared for his final struggle.
He forced himself to eat and sleep whenever he could.
And the day before his plan, he grabbed Haena as she was leaving.
“You feel sorry for me.”
His dry hand tightly gripped her small one.
“Then help me. Just once.”
It was an arrogant yet desperate command.
Even dressed in rags, his gaze was fierce.
Haena shrank under his intensity.
“Tonight, leave the side gate of the manor open. You can close it after the hour of the Pig. But from midnight to the hour of the Tiger, it must stay open.”
That night, the full moon marked a day when many in Cheonmang Kingdom stayed cautious.
From midnight to dawn, the moon would be brightest—security would likely be lighter.
But there was no guarantee they would not be caught.
Haena’s eyes trembled.
What if… I get caught…?
Hwi-seo read the fear in her expression clearly.
“Can’t do it?”
He asked again.
Haena remained silent.
It felt hopeless. Of course she couldn’t—
Just as Hwi-seo scoffed and let go of her hand—
“I’ll do it.”
A small but clear voice answered.
