It was always a little strange, returning to Goryeo. Eui and Jia had both grown up there, but neither of them felt any real attachment to it. Eui in particular always felt unwelcome. Even after she’d removed the brand that once marked her as an exile, she felt self-conscious of every stray glance. And being a powerful cultivator in the company of three princesses meant that she drew quite a few stares.

Narae, on the other hand, didn’t seem bothered at all. She took in the city sights with wide-eyed wonder as they made their way to the palace.

“Wow! It feels like it’s been forever since I was here last. Was it always so cramped?”

Eui elbowed her in the side.

“Don’t insult the capital in the company of royals, stupid! It’s the same as it’s ever been, you’ve just gotten bigger.”

“Yeah, I guess. You’d know, since you’re still as short as ever.”

“Keep talking and I’ll bring you back down to size.”

Misun shook her head.

“She’s right, actually. The population in shield cities has been getting harder to manage, and Songdo has it the worst. The last century has been relatively peaceful, but that brings troubles of its own.”

Eui raised an eyebrow.

“Why not just expand the cities? Goryeo has a lot of land it’s not making good use of.”

Seong Misun fidgeted with the invisible storage ring on her finger, scowling.

“Shield formations aren’t easy to work with. Expanding them is difficult and making new ones is practically a lost art. Min has been doing her best, but I don’t think any of us realized just how much Do Hye was actually doing to maintain them back when he was prime minister.”

Eunae nodded.

“Jiaguo’s formation was the last one he built, and we lack the resources or technology to replicate it. That’s part of the allure of our academic exchange programs—many Goryeon scholars are eager to study it.”

Goryeo had always suffered from population problems. There was only so much they could fit within the shield formations they relied on, and while the magical advancements meant that Goryeon cities had some of the highest living standards in the world, that did little to help those who couldn’t afford to live within the walls. A bar that rose higher with every passing year.

Eui couldn’t really sympathize, though. Not with the ones responsible for creating that problem in the first place.

“Sounds like you really could have used his expertise. Too bad he had to die for the crime of...what was it again? Trying to save the world from catastrophe?”

Misun grimaced.

“I know, already! You can stop rubbing it in any time. Take it up with my aunt when you see her. Speaking of which, we’ve arrived.”

The Goryeon royal palace was as spectacular as ever. While most Goryeon architecture favored height—most notably the towering spires of the magical colleges—the palace was an ostentatious waste of space that took up multiple city blocks and never rose any higher than three stories.

The walls were made of enchanted jadestone, glowing a soft blue, and the palace was protected by two layers of shield formations—one around the main perimeter, and a second to shield the throne room in the main hall.

Theoretically, the crown was elected by a high council of nobles, but in practice, Songdo’s royal palace had been the ancestral home of the Seong clan for at least a thousand years.

The palace guards immediately bowed as they approached, recognizing the distinctive appearances of the three princesses and immediately ordering the gates open for their arrival.

Once inside, Misun turned to address the group.

“Empress Yoshika, you and your disciple will be shown to your quarters shortly. My sisters and I must report to the clan mother immediately, but we will try not to keep you waiting too long. In the meantime, please make yourselves at home.”

Eui bid farewell to the three Seong princesses, allowing a servant to usher her and Narae to their guest quarters. Though she had a home in the city—an estate that had been gifted to her by Eunae years ago—it would be easier for her to help Eunae and Haeun if she stayed in the palace.

Goryeo’s royal family didn’t hold anything back with their hospitality, either. The so-called ‘guest quarters’ was a detached building large enough to house multiple small families, complete with its own serving staff, and even a courtyard for meditation and training.

Eui was accustomed to more humble accommodations, but Narae was excited to be staying in such a fancy place.

“Wow! Aunt Eui, look at this place! I bet they have a bath that’s big enough to swim in.”

“Mhm, and heated too. A little luxury now and then doesn’t hurt, so what do you say we take advantage?”

“Can we?!”

She had to laugh. Maybe they’d spoiled Narae just a little bit too much for her to still be acting like that at her age, but it was precisely that childlike wonder that Yoshika wanted to protect from the cutthroat worlds of cultivation and politics. Narae wasn’t cut out to be a leader, and that was fine—Yoshika would give her the freedom to create whatever future she wanted for herself.

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Eui stretched as they made their way towards the baths, eager to relax after a long day of travel, when a familiar voice caught her attention.

“A moment of your time, Empress?”

Waiting for her in one of the mansion’s many sitting rooms was none other than Seong Minhee, the older sister of the queen and mother of Eunae and her sisters. Eui glanced up at Narae and sighed.

“Why don’t you go on without me? I’ll catch up shortly.”

“Alright! Have fun with your meeting or whatever.”

As Eui entered, Minhee gestured to the seat across from her, where a servant was already serving her a cup of steaming hot tea. Once Eui was settled, Minhee shooed the servants away, only speaking once they were gone and the room's privacy wards came to life.

“Your disciple is rather impertinent, isn’t she?”

Eui chuckled.

“She’s also my little sister, so I guess I’m a bit more forgiving.”

“I can understand that. In any case, welcome Empress Yoshika. Please enjoy this tea as thanks for taking care of my daughters these last five years.”

“Thank you. It’s no trouble—Eunae is a good friend, and Haeun is practically a perfect student. My little sister could learn a lot from her.”

“And Misun? What of my eldest daughter?”

That was a strange question. Eui furrowed her brows as she took a sip of the tea—which was indescribably good. She was no connoisseur, but even she could tell that Minhee took her brews very seriously.

“Aside from our travels and my last visit to the palace, I haven’t had much opportunity to spend time with her. I consider her a friend, but it’s a distant friendship, and I think she prefers it that way.”

“I see. In that case, you may well know my eldest daughter better than anyone. She has always kept to herself, but recently her isolation has grown even more severe than usual.”

That was odd, but what was even stranger was the fact that Minhee was bringing it up at all. The oldest Seong was something of an enigma to Eui. They’d only spoken a few times, and Minhee always maintained a perfect veil of polite formality that gave away very little of her true feelings. She’d fit right in with Qin’s cultivators.

“Is there a reason you’re telling me this? Shouldn’t you be attending the meeting with the rest of your clan sisters?”

“I should, so I will keep this brief. I am concerned about my daughters. Misun has been acting strangely—isolating herself more than usual and throwing herself into her work in ways that I’ve never seen before.”

“Isn’t Misun working harder a good thing? I don’t mean to offend, but she’s usually kind of...”

Minhee huffed.

“Lazy, yes. She’s been changing ever since her blunder during the attempted coup, and I must attribute at least some of that to you. Normally I’d agree that it’s for the better, but the recent change was rather sudden and coincided with two other sources of concern.”

Oh great. More political drama, just what Eui needed in her life.

“Go on...”

“The first is Do Hye’s execution. Despite our best efforts, my sister and I were not able to unravel whatever technique he uses to enact his reincarnations. Misun, for all her other failings, is a nearly peerless magical genius, and we were thus forced to rely entirely on her to carry out the Snake’s sentence. She was against it, but begrudgingly complied with our orders.”

“For the record, I also think it was stupid to kill him.”

Minhee pursed her lips.

“Noted. Afterwards, Misun began isolating herself to focus on her research. Practically nothing could pry her from it until Eunae’s letter.”

“Okay, and the second?”

“My other daughters...it’s clear that one of them will eventually surpass my sister to claim the throne, but Eunae’s unprecedented transformation has been...a contentious topic among my clan sisters. We do not know the meaning of her phantom tails, or what will happen when she ascends.”

Succession was always a difficult issue, but Eui got the impression that Minhee’s concerns went deeper than just the throne.

“So what does this have to do with me?”

Seong Minhee shook her head.

“I cannot be certain. The queen is confident that Eunae’s transformation and her ascension will both be boons for the clan, but I fear that she dotes too heavily on my daughter to form an unbiased opinion. I worry that Misun either knows or is planning something that she’s not willing to share with the rest of us—driven by her fear of our ancestor.”

“And, what, you want me to stop her?”

“I have duties to my clan and country, and I must act accordingly. If the queen says that there is no cause for concern, then my hands are tied. You, however, have no such qualms. I have no others I can turn to. You alone can be trusted to protect my daughters—all of them—from themselves, and each other.”

Eui sighed.

“I would have done that without you asking.”

“I know. That is why I am asking. I have not been a good mother to my children, but I love them all the same. I do not know what secrets my daughters harbor, but I hope that you can watch over them in my place.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Minhee inclined her head respectfully.

“See that you do. Or rather—thank you. I’m afraid we are out of time. Enjoy the tea, Empress Yoshika.”

With that, the mana construct vanished, leaving Eui alone in the room. She’d known that Minhee wasn’t actually present, but after the princesses had done it to her, it felt a bit rude to point it out.

Eui groaned irritably as she finished her exceptionally good tea and rose to make her way to the baths. She was going to need it more than ever to deal with whatever plots were brewing in Goryeo’s royal palace. Surely Misun wasn’t going to repeat the same mistakes that had nearly led to the destruction of her entire family in a military coup.

She’d think about it later. Until then, she just wanted to take advantage of what might be her last chance to relax for a long time.

After undressing in an unnecessarily large changing room and quickly washing off, Eui joined Narae in the baths, letting herself sink down to her neck in the luxuriously warm waters. It felt as though it had been the first time in years that she’d allowed herself a proper soak instead of just wicking away the dirt and grime with magic.

“Hey Aunt Eui! About time you got here—I was worried I’d start to get all pruny.”

“Narae, your skin is enhanced by ki—it’s literally impossible for it to shrivel in the water.”

“Oh. Cool! Hey, check it out—looks like my height’s not the only thing that’s grown to surpass you.”

Eui stared blankly as Narae flaunted her chest—assets that she’d definitely inherited from her mother.

“I see.”

Maybe Minhee was right. Narae was getting a bit too impertinent for her own good.

“So you’ve chosen death.”

Narae blinked.

“Wait wha—?!”

Her cries were cut off as Eui unleashed a technique so devastating that even Jia was unable to withstand it—tickling Narae into submission until she begged for forgiveness.