Requiem of Subdued Souls

“Ajin is the Princess of the Kingdom! If the Princess wants to do that, then she can do that! How dare you say such things!”

An angry roar rang out and a white-haired woman was trembling in anger.

The Empress Dowager.

She was the mother who had given birth to the King. She was the only one who could raise her voice even in the presence of the King.

‘This is what it means to hold power.’

Seol Young stood behind her and looked at her.

The aura around her would make the sister of Zaha look like nothing, and the place he was currently in since this morning was the hall of the Empress Dowager.

How far would things go? Nothing seemed so surprising anymore.

“There was the incident the other day when a ghost named Do Hwa tried to avenge her grudge after decades. It touched me so much that I said a few words to the Princess. Upon hearing those words, the Princess wanted to give the price to that Hwarang in white. What is wrong with that? Isn’t he a Hwarang? And a qualified one too?”

The Empress Dowager shouted.

“The words of the Princess are orders! You need to follow them! If anyone utters other words of refusal in the future, I will regard them as standing up to me!”

Her angry roar made everyone go silent.

“Then.”

She looked at Seol Young.

“Princess Ajin, the second Princess of the nation, has selected you as the Royal Guard Hwarang as her giftee for the festival, so please do your best to honor the Princess.”

Saying so, she lowered her fan, a symbol of honor.

“I will obey the command of the Princess.”

Seol Young bowed and accepted it.

Royal Guard Hwarang.

It was the Hwarang who served the King or any member of the royal family after receiving a certain mission.

On the day of the festival, the Princesses commanding the women of the royal family compete in weaving skills while selecting Hwarangs one by one.

And Seol Young was chosen for that role, so he could now confidently meet the princess.

After everyone left, Zaha smiled.

“Thank you.”

The Empress Dowager said.

“Why are you thanking me when it is what the Princess wanted?”

“But didn’t you take my words into consideration? I cannot help but feel great at being favored like this.”

When Zaha smiled and said that, she spoke with a firm face.

“Do not push it. Since you are the siblings who have pledged your loyalty to the royal family, I will think this that is a cute thing you did. If it is because of some other goal, then forget it.”

Her words were strict, but her eyes were gentle.

They said they were relatives on the maternal side. Zaha was too young to be her son, so she saw him as a grandson, and it was obvious that she cared for him.

“No matter what anyone says, this old woman will say a couple more things, so please don’t let them reach the ears of the Princess. There are still people who say she is inferior to others, so take this as a chance to put an end to those rumors. And there is nothing wrong with what you said.”

“Yes.”

After talking with the Empress Dowager, they went outside, but then some people appeared.

They were Zaun and her people. They walked so fast that their skirts were fluttering in the wind, but they stopped when they saw Zaha and Seol Young.

“…”

The siblings met. From the looks of it, it seemed like they were meeting for the first time after a long time.

As if they were estimating each other’s changes over the past eight years, they looked at each other for a moment.

Zaun spoke first. 𝐛𝗲𝗱𝐧𝗼𝐯𝗲𝗹．𝐧𝐞𝘁

“Still the same.”

“Nunim too.”

“You seem to be unable to hide your intentions too. Did you think I wouldn’t hear about how you ran to the Empress Dowager? If things don’t go your way, you choose to play badly?”

“Play badly?”

Zaha asked, like it was funny.

“Don’t you know what it means for a powerful evil spirit to possess the body of a child? Do you think we have enough time to delay it until tomorrow, the next day, or the day after that? The decision has to be made swiftly. Am I wrong, Seol Young-rang?”

Seol Young didn’t want to be involved in the fight between the siblings. However, when the two of them turned to him at the same time, he had no choice but to express his opinion.

“If you ask me, I think the words of the High Governor are right. No matter what we do, there are people who will talk about the revelations of the Great Heavenly Pavilion, and if the Empress Dowager decides to intervene, then the pavilion will become less troublesome for us.”

Zaun’s eyes glared at him.

“Now that it has come to this, the fate of our family depends on whether or not this task is accomplished.”

“My life is always at stake.”

“You know that is not what I meant…”

“Why do you say so much?”

Zaha interrupted her.

“You know many people have gotten their nails blunt by now. Is living comfortably as the wife of a powerful man nice?”

Zaun’s eyes turned to Zaha. She glared so much that it was difficult to think that they were siblings. She then bit her lip and spun around.

“Let’s go meet the Princess first.”

And then they left for the palace, where the Queen and the Princesses were.

Before entering, the sound of weaving could be heard, and they moved inside to see a large room.

This place was made by tearing down the walls to temporarily expand it, and many women were weaving inside. The looms were endless, and the pages of the books they were following were spread everywhere.

“Lady. High Governor.”

When they passed by, the ladies-in-waiting naturally greeted them.

‘Such iron fortress.’

Seol Young thought.

The Queen was being very careful when it came to the situation of Princess Ajin being leaked outside. After passing through so many women, who were lined up like a wall, and moving further inside, they eventually arrived in a room deep inside the palace.

A lady-in-waiting said,

“They are here.”

“Oh!”

The Queen raised her head, and the others looked after Princess Ajin, who was asleep, and Princess Ara was playing next to her.

“I was waiting for you, ever since that moment, the Princess has been in deep sleep without even waking…”

The Queen looked at Seol Young anxiously.

“Please tell me.”

“Since that thing happened yesterday, I have been looking into a lot of things, and a possession is not something that can be solved swiftly, right? If we do something wrong, it will take months, years, or even more to remove the effects it had on her and recover her lost memories…”

Her eyes were tearing up, and Zaha reassured the Queen.

“It’s not just Seol Young-rang, but I am here too. You have nothing to worry about.”

Seol Young added,

“I have solved possessions many times, and I never failed. I will do everything I can to get her back to normal before the festival.”

“Did you hear that? Then except for the Princess, everyone please…”

“Wait.”

Zaun interrupted.

“The Queen is anxious and doesn’t wish to be separated from the Princesses as much as possible. Just like the last time, do it in front of us.”

“You should realize that this…”

Zaha was about to snap back when Seol Young blocked him.

“Let me discuss it with the High Governor for a while.”

“…?”

Zaha looked at him, and they moved out.

“See, Seol Young-rang. Why are you being so mean? It isn’t like we are trying to butter up the royal family, so why are you doing this now?”

“Don’t mention it.”

Seol Young approached the elder lady-in-waiting who commanded the others.

“The fact that Princess Ajin violated the ghost story of the old palace, doesn’t mean that she went all the way there?”

“Yes. She was playing games with the others when she sneaked inside.”

“And what was Princess Ara doing?”

“Watching the weaving with the others.”

“Aren’t the two of them usually together?”

“That’s true, but Princess Ara was trying to act like an adult… She didn’t want to participate in the game that day.”

Zaha looked at them as they talked, and his shocked expression slowly disappeared.

The answers of the lady-in-waiting made his eyes shine with interest.

“Are you saying that Princess Ara needs to be vigilant too?”

“I don’t know…”

Seol Young said.

“Twins are different from normal siblings. Although Princess Ara seems to have no symptoms on the outside, it might be something else. We need to thoroughly examine all the possibilities”

“In other words, while exorcising the evil spirit possessing the younger one, you want to investigate the older one as well? No strange symptoms have appeared.”

“That’s it.”

After talking, they went back inside and Seol Young told the Queen,

“This place is a good boundary against the demons. I’ll open the door to the next room, and you can observe from there.”

“Ah! Thank you! Thank you so much!”

“In return, do not let yourself be shaken no matter what happens. You cannot go out of there or make a sound.”

“I will definitely do that.”

The Queen nodded.

And she got ready right away.

Princess Ajin was still asleep.

Seol Young collected spiritual qi onto his fingers and made a circle by writing something around the Princess, and the letters were immediately absorbed into the floor.

Then he crossed over to get closer to her and made a guardian circle for the others.

“Princess Ara will be shocked at this, hold her in her arms and turn her face back so that she doesn’t…”

While Zaha was talking to them, Seol Young secretly hid Zaha’s plaque in the circle.

This plaque had no effect on people, but if an evil spirit got close, it would act like a talisman, and it would feel a burning pain all over its body and go into a seizure.

“Right. Come on in.”

The Queen and Zaun crossed into the guardian circle and sat down, and the nanny holding Princess Ara walked in.

Seol Young and Zaha observed Princess Ara’s actions. There was nothing odd about her.

She went out of the room and into the circle, yet she looked peaceful.

“Nice.”

After confirming that they were seated, Seol Young took out the things he had prepared.

A rope, a bell, and a plaque.

“When the evil spirits are exorcised, they will go into the plaque and be sealed…”

He explained as he looked at them. Then he tied the plaque to the end of the rope. He also attached bells to guide the way to the plaque, one after another.

But then…

“……!”

The faces of those present changed, and they stared wide-eyed.

“Here it is.”

Zaha said, and Seol Young looked back.

Princess Ajin was awake. In the darkness, her blue eyes shone. Her hair that was pulled back was now undone and standing up in all directions.

The body of the princess rose as if it were levitating in the air.

Then…

“Kwaaak!”

She started screaming and had a seizure.

TL/N:Nuna is Korean for sister, and Nim is an honorific