“Yuk Yunseo!”
An urgent cry rang out, together with a pain that felt like it would split his skull. Someone was shaking him. It took a moment before he could open his eyes. His blurry, swaying vision slowly came into focus. And right before him was a face so beautiful that it stole his breath. Skin so pale it was nearly pallid, and above it, anxiety and worry were etched in every line.
Only then did Yunseo realize that he was half-leaning, half-lying beneath the pedestal of a collapsed divine statue.
Just then, a sharp pain flared from his left shoulder. Through a wound deep enough to show bone, a frigid poisonous energy was spreading like madness through his blood vessels. Every inch the poison crept forward brought an agony that felt like his flesh being gnawed away.
The hem of a woman’s hemp garment, shielding him from the rain trickling through the debris of the shattered statue, was already soaked through, clinging to the lines of her body. Beneath the thin cloth, the woman’s slender waist and voluptuous curves were blatantly exposed. Especially at the moment she bent her body to support him, a startlingly soft resilience pressed directly against his chest.
“You’re awake? Don’t move. The wound is too deep…….”
She spoke in the gentlest voice possible, moving once more to lay him down more comfortably. In that instant, the sensation beyond the damp fabric brushed and pressed against him even more distinctly. Even with two layers of cloth between them, it was a sensation vivid enough to steal his breath.
Yunseo’s mind went blank.
……What kind of situation was this? Could it be—possession?
Before that thought could even finish, extreme pain surged again from his left shoulder and ribs. At the same time, memories flooded in.
Yuk Yunseo. The Great Jeong Dynasty, the last scion of the Yuk Clan.
And the woman before him was Gang Wolhwa, the Empress who had ascended the throne less than half a year ago.
The previous Emperor had been a wise ruler who expanded the territory in his youth, but in his later years, he fell into decadence and favored treacherous officials, leaving behind nothing but a rotten court when he passed from the world. And so Wolhwa had ascended the imperial throne in the very heart of crisis.
To hold the falling dynasty together, she had worked herself to the bone without a day’s rest, but the old factions wounded by the previous Emperor and the great clans coveting imperial authority directed all their fury at the young Empress. Prince Jeong’an raised a rebellion under the pretext that a woman could not govern state affairs, allying with the northwestern barbarians to bring in iron cavalry. The allied forces gathered thus broke through the Yellow River defense line in a mere three months.
And now, the Great Jeong capital of Luoyang was completely surrounded. The outer wall had fallen, and food had run out in the inner city. Wolhwa suppressed her ministers who insisted on fighting to the death until the end and decided to relocate the capital to Jinling in the south. A choice that looked half like defeat. Yet it was the only path to survival.
Under the pretext that the Emperor was personally leading the campaign, Wolhwa took Yunseo and an escort of elite warriors and broke through the siege while hiding her identity. But the information had already leaked. By the spies of Prince Jeong’an, the Black Sword Division, the rebel army’s most elite unit, pursued them.
The moment they escaped the narrow mountain path, a poisoned arrow flew toward the Empress. Yunseo blocked her path without hesitation. The poisoned arrow pierced his shoulder.
Wolhwa was also poisoned by a lethal toxin called Hwasim-dok. A deadly poison where, if not detoxified within two hours, one would lose all strength or perish as one’s body burned like fire. Outside this ruined temple, all the accompanying bodyguards had died in battle. It was clear the remaining experts would not be able to hold out much longer either. Inside the temple, a cold poison was freezing Yunseo’s blood vessels, while Wolhwa’s vessels were being destroyed as if burned by fire. The evacuation route south had touched the threshold of death from the very start.
Outside, the laughter and footsteps of the rebel soldiers were drawing closer. Like the drums announcing an execution.
“Yuk Yunseo…… It’s all my fault.”
Tears flowed from Wolhwa’s eyes.
“Your grandfather died beneath the barbarians’ horse hooves, and your father fought to the end atop the border fortress, dying a martyr for the country. Even though your entire clan bled for the nation…… The Gang Imperial House…… To your Yuk Clan……”
She could not continue. Though the Hwasim-dok was flaring up in her own body, spreading pain like countless fire ants gnawing at her blood vessels, what hurt even more was the fact that she could only watch this young bodyguard dying before her eyes. She knew it. That Yunseo did not have much time left.
Having recovered all his memories, Yunseo suppressed his pain and looked at her, filled with guilt.
……He’d only come to this world a few minutes ago, and they already wanted him to die?
In the world he used to live in, he had been an ordinary office worker tormented by overtime. He still hadn’t paid off his mortgage, had never properly traveled, and had never even truly held a woman’s hand. And yet—this was the end? —
Heaven has abandoned me.
Yunseo swallowed a bitter smile inwardly.
The figure of Wolhwa, sitting before him as if she might collapse at any moment, blurred and wavered. A face completely devoid of color beneath dark circles. Rather than the dignity of an Emperor, what showed first was the exhaustion of a human being bearing everything. He couldn’t blame her. She wasn’t the one at fault. The previous Emperor who left behind a rotten court, the feudal lords hungering for power, and this chaotic era itself were the sins.
“I’m…… fine.”
A cracked voice barely spilled out.
“How could you be fine……!”
Wolhwa’s eyes trembled violently.
Yunseo’s vision grew darker. His breathing grew faint, and he felt the cold poison approaching his heart. That moment—
A black darkness descended as if his consciousness had been severed.
“Yuk Yunseo!”
Wolhwa placed her hand on his throat. His pulse was so faint it was nearly undetectable. As if clinging to that weak throb transmitted through her fingertips, she bit her lip. But despair surged in quickly.
“Keuk!”
Fresh blood burst from Wolhwa’s mouth. Flames churned through her meridians as if burning her blood vessels. Her vision shook. Outside, the rebel soldiers’ footsteps drew even closer. The remaining time was a few minutes at best.
Then a line of memory flashed through her mind.
The Imperial Secret Canon.
「Ice poison and fire poison. The two poisons that kill each other will devour one another when yin and yang intermingle.」
In Yunseo’s body was Bingsim-dok.
In her own body was Hwasim-dok.
One was a freezing chill,
and the other was a heat that burned the body.
There was only one way for both of them to survive.
……The harmony of yin and yang.
Wolhwa’s hand trembled faintly. The dignity of an Emperor, the face to maintain—in that moment, all meaning was lost. He was her bodyguard. She was the Empress who had ascended to the throne by the Will of Heaven. If this fact became known to the world, mockery and ridicule would last a thousand years. However, Yunseo’s body temperature was gradually dropping.
The Yuk Clan was a house of loyal subjects who had offered the blood of three generations for the Great Jeong Dynasty. If that bloodline were severed here, she would never be able to forgive herself for the rest of her life.
Wolhwa quietly closed her eyes. Two trails of tears flowed down her cheeks. And when she opened her eyes again, nothing remained but the resolve of one person, not an Emperor.
“Yunseo…… You must not die.”
She murmured softly yet firmly.
“Today, this body shall save the lives of both you and I.”
Her damp garment quietly loosened in the wind. The firelight flickered, and a faint fragrance spread through the air. Warm body temperature seeped into Yunseo’s hazy consciousness. The warmth of life overlaid upon his body, which had been cold as ice.
“……It’s alright. It will be over soon.”
Her voice trembled, but her hands held no hesitation.
Just before his consciousness faded, Yunseo realized instinctively.
That this Empress was the most valuable piece in this chaotic world.
If he could protect her, he could survive even in this tumultuous world.
No,
he might even be able to overturn the world.
He didn’t know how much time had passed. Breaths settled and the warmth retreated. Wolhwa hurriedly fastened her loosened clothes. Beneath the firelight, her face was flushed red.
“You…… Are you alright?”
Yunseo slowly opened his eyes. His body felt light. It didn’t hurt. Not at all.
“What just now was……”
Wolhwa averted her gaze.
“……It was merely one of the treatment methods. Nothing more.”
At the same time as those words—
A cold voice echoed in Yunseo’s head.
[Ding!]
[Combat Card System activation complete]
[Individual bearing great fortune detected]
[Core Card of UR rank acquired]
『Empress of a Fallen Kingdom · Gang Wolhwa』
※ Card Rank: N → R → SR → SSR → UR
[Current Bond Stage: Beginning (20 / 100)]
[Reward: 20 Stat Points granted]
[Exclusive Combat Skill acquired]
『Yuk Clan Secret Art』
Automatically unlocks the final realm accessible only to the bloodline of the Yuk Clan.
[Trait acquired]
『Yin-Yang Harmony』
· Complete immunity to poison
· Greatly increased energy recovery speed
· Mutual growth acceleration when deepening bonds with individuals bearing great fortune
A searing heat wrapped around his entire body in an instant. Shattered muscles revived, and blood vessels that had felt on the verge of tearing were completely restored. The wound on his left shoulder healed before his eyes. Yunseo slowly rose from where he lay. His internal energy was completely different. The weak power exploded and grew suddenly, instantly surpassing the level of an ordinary martial artist. Even without holding a blade, his body already knew how to cut. He quietly clenched his fist.
“……I’ve survived.”
And he slowly raised his head to look at the Empress.
In this chaotic world—
she was the first card.