Owing to its relatively small population and the bountiful resources of Mount Geumji, Jiaguo City was incredibly wealthy for its size, by immortal standards. As such, it was surprisingly easy for Yoshika to meet Goryeo’s demands to recoup the cost of the Sky Hall’s repairs. However, it gave Eui an opportunity to get a meeting with the queen.

Since the first day of her arrival, Queen Eunhee had been unusually absent. Now that she had become the top suspect for a possible conspiracy to revive the Kumiho, Eui was much more interested in getting a private audience.

She’d already prepared the resources that Goryeo demanded—including the xiantian grade mana stone—but refused to turn them over until she could meet with the queen. Ostensibly, it was an opportunity to negotiate sovereign to sovereign, but Eui had other plans in mind.

Eui strode through the oversized halls of pristine jade pillars, where not a hint remained of the destructive battle she’d had against the Magma elemental so many years ago. Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen any sign of the elementals during her visit. Perhaps they’d left when Void shifted its focus to interfering with Sovereign Longyan.

As much as she appreciated not having a vengeful demon lord bearing down on her, she’d really hoped to learn more from Void before it departed. Maybe it thought guiding her to true immortality had been enough, but she always had the impression that it was holding something back.

Eui stopped before the doors to the throne room, sensing the extra layer of protection within. With a shield around the city, a second around the palace, and a third protecting the throne room, Goryeo’s capital city was nearly unassailable—more so than even the other shield cities. Yet, it had nearly fallen to the coup staged by the elementals, subverting the defenses from within and taking advantage of factionalism among national powers to slow any internal responses.

One would think that the Seong clan would be cautious about infighting so soon after an event like that, but there she was, in the middle of nearly every powerful member of the family conspiring against the rest. It was exhausting.

The guards—who were mostly ceremonial, really—bowed respectfully and opened the doors for her, heralding her arrival.

“Empress Yoshika, of the Jiaguo Empire.”

Eui stepped inside and walked to the center of the room, bowing politely, but not kneeling. Queen Eunhee sat casually on her throne, leaning to one side and crossing her legs as her eight calligraphy-brush tails swayed listlessly behind her.

“Empress, it’s so good to see you. I’m sorry we haven’t had time to catch up, but it’s been rather busy lately.”

“Of course, Your Majesty. We’re well familiar with the stresses of running a nation.”

“Naturally. My apologies for all the trouble my daughters have caused—and congratulations on your own daughter’s recent ascension.”

Eui shook her head.

“It’s no trouble at all. Seong Min meant well, and her strictness has served as an excellent growth opportunity for my disciples.”

Eunhee cocked her head and chuckled.

“I meant Minhee and Misun. Misun has always been a bit of a rebel, and she’s never seen eye to eye with her mother when it comes to Eunae. Their petty feuding has gotten worse with Eunae’s upcoming ascension.”

Eui pursed her lips. So Queen Eunhee knew about her meetings. What else did she know? How much was safe to reveal?

“They both have their own concerns, and I can’t blame them for seeking outside assistance. Speaking frankly, I don’t think your clan has ever treated Eunae properly, but at least now that her ascension is approaching I can see that those two each care for her, in their own ways.”

The queen raised an eyebrow and smirked, gently tapping her cheek with one finger.

“But not me?”

“If our past meetings are any indication, your support has always been silent and out of sight. I’m sure you care about her too, but I only really have your word to go on.”

“Hmph! You’re suspicious of me, are you? Damn that Misun—what’s gotten into her? Say it plainly. What do you suppose my hidden agenda is?”

Eui swallowed nervously. This wasn’t going the way she’d hoped.

“I didn’t mean any offense, and I’m not here to make accusations.”

“Tsk, of course you aren’t. You’re far too sweet for that, and it’s one of your better traits. Empress Yoshika, I like you—I wouldn’t have entrusted my two most precious daughters to your care if I didn’t—but the interests of my family are mine to worry about, you understand?”

“I do. But I won’t allow any harm to come to Eunae or Haeun, no matter who threatens them.”

The queen laughed and shook her head.

“Of course you won’t, and I’m counting on that. You protect them in your way, and I will protect them in mine. We need not step on each other’s toes. And you can tell Misun to stop her ridiculous scheming—I won’t be as merciful if she repeats her last failure.”

“I think she’s learned her lesson, but she does make some pretty compelling arguments.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Like what?”

Eui shook her head.

“I promised not to betray her confidence. You’ll have to ask her yourself.”

“Oh please! I know she’s been digging up records about her late aunt, I know she’s been pursuing Do Hye’s last work, and I know who she’s been consulting about it. This is my kingdom, Empress Yoshika, and I’m not so blind as to miss what’s happening within the walls of my own palace!”

She certainly knew more than Eui had expected. Giving more away, too.

“You’re admitting your connection to Seong Heiran?”

The queen rolled her eyes.

“Not if you’re asking officially, no. I suppressed that information for a reason, Empress, and I’d have you respect that. My younger sister was deranged, and our mother could do nothing to control her. I’ve been very careful to avoid making the same mistakes with Eunae.”

“By lying to her?”

“Yes! My sister and I waited a long time before having children specifically to save them from the curse of their aunt’s legacy. Eunae’s burden was heavy enough without lending credence to the ridiculous idea that she’s somehow a reincarnation of Heiran.”

Eui pursed her lips. That was what she’d thought the reason was, and now that Eunhee mentioned it, giving the people a few centuries to forget was certainly one way of protecting their children from chastisement.

“So you’re not trying to revive the Kumiho?”

She laughed.

“Yoshika, our clan’s traditions have been symbolic for a long time. Long before Heiran came along and threatened to turn them into a reality. By those traditions, Eunae really should be the one to inherit the throne after her ascension, but I can’t allow that. Not everybody has forgotten my younger sister, and giving Eunae the throne would embolden our enemies in a dangerous way.”

“So Haeun is the safer pick. Plus, she won’t be catching up nearly as soon, which gives you more time to prepare.”

“Exactly! Although I never expected Eunae’s progress to accelerate so much either. That was part of the reason I had Haeun study under you, but if anything her progress has slowed down.”

Eui crossed her arms and frowned.

“She’s been focused on her divination, but I think her progress has been just fine. She passed your test, didn’t she?”

“Oh, I know, but after how quickly her tails grew in, it's a little disappointing that she stopped at five.”

The obsession with counting tails was a strange one. As far as Yoshika could tell, there wasn’t actually any direct correlation between a Seong’s power and the number of tails they had. It was just an expression of spiritual affinity like any other. But then, the high nobility of Goryeo were all like that. Eunae’s paternal cousin, Kim Yongsun, had fur all over his body and the face of a tiger, and though he had only been rather average as an academy student, the Kim clan considered him their pride and joy.

That obsession with spiritual affinity leaked into the broader culture of Goryeo, and led to the alienation of the small minority of humans who didn’t express any spiritual traits.

It bothered Eui, as someone who had herself been belittled as a child for having ‘only’ her tail to distinguish her, but she wasn’t Goryeon anymore. It was someone else’s problem to solve. Hopefully the lessons she’d instilled in Haeun would one day lead to a change for the better.

“I’m sure she has plenty of growing left to do.”

“Indeed! Well then, I suppose we should get to the actual purpose of this meeting, hm?”

Eui blinked, then remembered the pretense behind the audience.

“Oh! Right, uh, I’m worried that the demands are a little disproportionate. I’m happy to provide Eunae whatever she needs for her ascension, but it would be cheaper and more effective to replace the neutral mana crystal with a properly attuned one.”

The queen cocked her head.

“Hmm, are you sure? I was actually the one to insist on that addition. Don’t you think it would be better if we could configure the Sky Hall to convert excess energy from the tribulation directly into Eunae’s Soulfire? It would save her having to refine it back into her primary element, and every little bit counts in a tribulation.”

“That...does make sense, yes. And a neutral crystal would make working with an esoteric element like that more practical.”

“That was my thinking precisely! We can strike that request if it’s too much, but I really do think it would help.”

Eui shook her head.

“No, you’ve convinced me. Would it be alright if my disciples and I helped with the reconfiguration personally? Even with neutral crystals, esoteric elements are difficult to work with, and Heian is probably now the world’s foremost expert on it.”

“That would be greatly appreciated! I’ll inform Seong Min as soon as we’re finished here.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. And, I’m sorry for doubting you—I meant no offense.”

Queen Eunhee waved her off.

“None taken, dear. And it’s good to be cautious—that skepticism will serve you well as a ruler, I’m sure. Is there anything else I can do for you, Empress?”

Eui shook her head and bowed.

“No. Thank you for your time, Your Majesty. I’ll go prepare my disciples for work on the repairs.”

“Very well! It was good to speak with you again, Empress Yoshika. We should do so more often, when we have the time.”

The queen chuckled at her own joke, and Eui returned the smile.

“Right. When we’ve got time.”

As if either of them were ever anything less than swamped with work. Eui bowed once more and took her leave, her smile dropping as soon as she’d left the main hall of the palace.

“Heian?”

Her daughter’s spirit form stirred within the depths of her soul. Physically, she was busy watching over Narae and Haeun, but she’d been right there with Eui in spirit.

“A lot of her words were both true and false.”

Yoshika had learned the hard way that deception didn’t always mean lies. Do Hye had been a master of lulling people into a false sense of security by almost always telling the truth, slipping his deceptions into the gaps between fact and fiction.

Heian’s newly refined domain was incredibly good at spotting such contradictions, however.

“Like what?”

“That she’s protecting Eunae. That Eunae can’t inherit the throne. That she’s avoiding Heiran’s mistakes. That she didn’t expect Eunae to progress so fast.”

“What did she actually mean?”

Heian gave her a mental shrug.

“I don’t know.”

It wasn’t a perfect system. Heian couldn’t tell whether something was true or false, only identify the half-truths that lay somewhere between, and even then she could only speculate as to the true meaning behind it.

Still, what she’d sensed was damning enough. Misun was right—the queen was compromised. Yoshika didn’t know what she was planning, exactly, but she didn’t need to. Eunhee had given her everything she needed to set her trap.