Looking for the Runaway Heavenly Maiden - Chapter 24

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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24.

The moment Yeonhwa sensed the aura of the Three-Legged Crow at school, I rushed home, only to find it empty.
So my youngest sibling had caused another catastrophe of this magnitude.
I had suspected it wouldn’t be easy since he takes after Father, but his stubbornness is truly beyond ordinary.
A sudden headache seemed to throb, so I pressed my forehead. A long sigh escaped my lips.
Of all times, it had to be Mother now. I couldn’t even understand how she could accept this.
How did Mother manage to persuade her in such a short time?
Or perhaps there was no need to persuade Mother at all.
Mother might have….

“Oh my. The ground itself must be trembling, Your Highness.”

A playful voice pierced through my ears.
It was a familiar voice. In the Kunlun Mountains where Mother dwells, he was always there.
Without sparing a glance at the one now sitting on the living room sofa, I spoke.

“Be quiet.”
“Still so sharp with me. Even so, I’m delighted to see our princess.”

I let out a cold scoff. It was truly ridiculous.
He moved only by his own whims. The world held no interest for him.
That’s why no one could ever know his true heart.

“I’d like to tell you to get out of my house this instant. But as you know, I have quite a few questions for you.”
“You said to be quiet.”
“Exactly. Just answer what I ask.”

I finally turned my head to face him.
The golden shackles encircling his head gleamed.
The Jade Emperor of the Kunlun Mountains.
He was still smiling as always.
I asked coldly.

“Cheonhaerang. Where is he right now?”

* * *

I let out a hollow laugh. What was difficult for me came so easily to him.
Yet he, like my mother, was ultimately a bystander. They would not move unless it threatened their own prestige.
That’s what made it so strange. Honestly, I hadn’t expected him to listen. I had simply reached out in desperation, grasping at straws.
But my mother sent him to me.
The Jade Emperor.
He was one of the few who knew my true identity, and at the same time, he was someone who knew of Jiho’s and my childhood.
It was fortunate that my circumstances had piqued his interest.
He had readily agreed to protect Jiho, and for that I was grateful.
Gihyeongrang must have realized that Ryujiho was my weakness.
The Kunlun Mountains, where he and my mother dwelled, remained beyond Gihyeongrang’s reach. So Jiho would remain safe until everything was resolved.
I lifted my head and examined the sign. Against a yellow background, the characters “Seonnyeo Bosal” were written clearly.
Yerim was working here as a Seonnyeo Bosal. A true celestial maiden from the heavens, no less.
Was it to find me? Or did she have some other special reason?
Unable to arrive at an answer, I carefully opened the door and stepped inside.
A soft tinkling sound echoed through the space.
The dimly lit shop was empty of any furnishings. Because of this, it carried an oddly eerie atmosphere.
An ordinary human would have thought this was the place of a shaman who served the divine.
I looked around and spotted a door directly ahead of me. Yerim was likely beyond it.
The moment I took a step toward the door, something suddenly erupted from the floor and engulfed me.
I swiftly cut through them with my sword.
With a sharp sound, I examined what had been severed—transparent silk. It resembled a celestial maiden’s feathered robe.

“Who are you?”

Yerim emerged and stood before me, her eyes filled with wariness.
The flying blade caught between her fingers seemed ready to launch at me at any moment.
I faced her, feeling an inexplicable bitterness. The time had come to reveal everything.
The act was finally over.
I slowly closed my eyes. And when I opened them again, I met the gaze of Yerim, whose face was now filled with shock as she stared at me.

“What is this…?”

Yerim was bewildered.
Having encountered Gihyeongrang, she had become acutely alert.
Thus, she regarded the visitor with caution. The energy she sensed did not feel like that of an ordinary human guest. She even suspected he might be someone Gihyeongrang had sent.
But it was Cheonhaerang.
As I suspected. I found it suspicious from the beginning.
Seeing her now, that suspicion was correct.
Silver-white hair scattering like fresh snow and brilliant golden eyes gleaming with radiance.
The resemblance was no mere coincidence.
But Cheonhaerang was not a girl. She was clearly a boy.
In that moment, a thought flashed through her mind.
It was not some transformation technique capable of deceiving her eyes.
What if Yeonhwa had simply never been a ‘princess’ from the start?

“You don’t seem particularly delighted to see me, Yerim.”

Her confused mind suddenly became clear. Yerim hastily dropped to one knee and bowed her head.
Cheonhaerang was the Supreme Deity’s successor.
The Crown Prince.

“This humble servant, Yerim, pays respects to Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Please, rise.”

His voice was gentle, yet unlike before, it carried a subtle pressure of authority.
Following the Crown Prince’s command, Yerim stood. However, she did not raise her head to look at him.
She could no longer treat him as she had the high school student Cheonhaerang.
Yerim quickly reviewed her actions in her mind. She wondered if she had done anything that might constitute disrespect or blasphemy.
At our first meeting, I did scrutinize the Crown Prince with rather impure eyes….
Yerim wanted to believe he would not be so petty as to hold that against her.
Moreover, that incident was partly the Crown Prince’s fault as well.
If she had believed him to be a princess all this time, but he was actually the Crown Prince, who could have believed otherwise?

‘But why was he hiding his identity?’

Was there a reason the Crown Prince could not have been the Crown Prince?
Questions arose, but Yerim soon dismissed them. After all, the intentions of such exalted beings were not easily understood by someone like her.

“Yerim.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“You may return to the Heavenly Realm now.”
“…What?”

Yerim lifted her head without thinking, repeating his words back to him. The Crown Prince gazing at her smiled faintly and continued.

“Your mission is complete now.”

Those words should have brought joy, yet something felt strange. Yerim found herself gripped by an inexplicable unease.
All she had to do was return to the Heavenly Realm with the Crown Prince.

‘What about Jiho?’

Had he revealed his true identity to Jiho as well? Why had the Crown Prince come to reveal himself to her alone?
The belated questions flooded her mind in that moment.

“It’s been a pleasure, Yerim.”
“What? Wait, hold on! Your Highness, please!”

A brilliant light enveloped Yerim like chains, and she could not escape.

When the light faded, Yerim could only let out a hollow laugh.
The Heavenly Palace surrounded by golden roofs and white jade.
Baekokgyeong.

* * *

A warm spring breeze tickled her cheek as it passed. The cheerful voices of children filling the playground carried on the wind.
Throughout lunch period, she sat in the bleachers of the playground, gazing toward the school gate.
Cheonhaerang still had not appeared.
Trusting his word, Jiho waited for Cheonhaerang. In the classroom, she had repeatedly glanced back at the door.
But Cheonhaerang never came.

‘He said he’d be back soon.’

My heart stirred with unease.
Cheonhaerang had even sent the Three-Legged Crow. He would never break that promise.
If he wasn’t keeping it, there could only be one answer.
Jiho sprang to her feet. She had made up her mind to find Princess Yeonhwa.
That was the moment.
♩ ♪ ♬ ♪
The sound of a bell rang out.

“Hello.”

An unfamiliar voice pierced her ears.
Jiho, momentarily startled, turned her head. A young man she had never seen before stood before her with a smiling face.

“You’re Ryujiho, right?”

The young man knew her name.
Yet he was not from her class.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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