Chapter 61: Emerging into Light

My senses, sharpened to the extreme, felt even the blood vessels in my body. That’s how it was internally.

And that sensitivity, sensing the flow of blood through my veins, extended outward.

I felt the cave connected to the nest like the vessels beneath my skin. Even in this dark, wind-swept rock cave, I could feel it as clearly as if it were in my palm. There were things I could see without seeing, hear without hearing. My senses worked together, searching for the path.

Step by step. Each step carried certainty. Despite my exhausted, hypersensitive body feeling like it was dying, I moved forward. The strong conviction that my path was right brought a subtle thrill. My footsteps were the answer, the way.

But it was also agonizing. I thought I’d die, then that I’d rather die. The cycle of feeling like dying and wanting to die repeated. I endured the pain and kept walking.

Could missing one dose of that drug mess me up this badly?

Damn Jongmeoki Flower.

No, damn Emperor Taizo. That wretched old man, giving me this cursed body.

Just walking felt like a challenge. Pushing past my limits, I kept going. It was indeed a battle. A battle with myself, though I’d fallen into this predicament by chance.

“Your Highness…”

At some point, Deokbong noticed I was trembling from chills. But there was nothing he could do. Light a fire? Give me his clothes? What could he do? Nothing.

“Your Highness, there’s light…”

I looked at Deokbong without answering. When our eyes met, he flinched. My eyes must’ve been terrifying. I’d bet on it.

“Listen for monsters approaching. They must’ve come this way. No doubt. You know why—you saw the eggs first. Don’t worry about me.”

Mentioning monsters made Deokbong freeze.

Hondon was still muttering, “We’re going to die,” to himself. Something seemed off about him, so I called out softly.

“Hondon.”

No response. Has he really lost it?

“Son Hondon.”

He finally looked at me. Even if I didn’t like some things about him, he was the Lord of Wolhanseong’s kin. If I borrowed him, I’d return him intact.

“Fine. Keep being our human torch.”

I kept walking, searching for the path.

How much time passed?

Finally, results showed.

I saw light.

Something pale between the rock walls. In this dark landscape, anything white had to be light. And light meant a way out.

“Finally… we’re out.”

I grinned. Then my vision blurred. My body swayed. For a moment, I couldn’t see, and when I opened my eyes again, Hondon was holding me.

“Your Highness, open your eyes.”

The terrified Hondon seemed to have regained his senses. His eyes were alert, his speech back to normal, more respectful.

I forced my heavy eyelids open. The sunlight stung, making me squint again.

The dawn sun faced me.

The sunlight rose, heralding a new day beyond the horizon. The world slowly soaked in it. The dark sky donned a red and blue robe, reborn clearly. As the sun lit everything, nothing could stay hidden.

Morning mist glowed white in the sunlight, and cold air melted in the sun’s warmth. Dewy grass spread over the ground. The birds’ chirping wasn’t bad. It wasn’t just quiet.

The world was waking. I struggled to keep my eyes open.

“We’re alive…”

Hondon muttered, unable to hide his joy. I never thought we’d die there, so it wasn’t a big deal to me, but for Hondon and Deokbong, it seemed profound.

Whatever. I was going mad. I was utterly exhausted. I wiggled my fingers to call Deokbong closer.

“Look, Deokbong.”

My dry mouth made my voice like brittle sand.

“Carry me. I’m dying. No joke.”

Deokbong didn’t refuse.

“Yes, yes, Your Highness!”

Guide Deokbong carried the mad prince and walked. It wasn’t a long distance like crossing a mountain, but it wasn’t short either. Knowing the shortcuts was fortunate. Still, it took half a day.

Luckily, he had confidence in his stamina. Even carrying the prince, he could rest intermittently, and Hondon helped.

Compared to following the prince, who found the way in the dark cave without hesitation, this was far easier.

Physical hardship was better than mental unease, Deokbong thought.

Carrying the mad prince, he recalled the prince in the cave.

The mad prince seemed blunt but wasn’t. He caught Deokbong when he tripped over his own mistakes, and when the ground collapsed into the nest, he checked Deokbong’s safety first.

To think such a person was the mad prince was absurd, Deokbong thought.

Moreover, the prince was calm. Not just calm—he sought solutions, even asking Hondon and Deokbong for opinions. He could’ve insisted on his own.

He was a prince, so he could. Yet he sought their input. Deokbong recalled Wolhanseong warriors who dismissed his decades of experience as a mere herbalist.

The more he thought of the mad prince, the more he admired him. He was truly worth emulating.

Wasn’t it a life-or-death situation? In caves or forests beyond the border, people often died getting lost. Even in daylight, it was the same. Forests were always dark.

Even Deokbong, a ten-year guide, had been in dangerous situations, losing his way.

In those moments, he easily lost composure. No one stayed calm before death.

Especially a prince not yet mid-twenties…

Not despairing was a feat, unlike Hondon.

He’s unique, Deokbong thought.

Hondon’s past was well-known. As a child, he was trapped in a mine. Not alone, but he was the only survivor. Everyone else died.

Hondon spent days with corpses in the dark, narrow mine. His fear of confined spaces was a famous story in Wolhanseong.

If Deokbong and Hondon were alone in that nest, what would’ve happened? Deokbong could easily guess.

Both would’ve panicked, unable to climb to the monsters or find another path.

They’d have starved there.

Horrible.

Deokbong newly respected the mad prince.

At the prince’s age, Deokbong was still wandering mountain foothills as an apprentice herbalist.

Is royal blood just different? If even the mad prince was like this, what was the better-regarded second prince like? Deokbong grew curious.

It was fortunate such people were royalty. Fortunate to be born under them, Deokbong thought.

When he and Hondon reached Wolhanseong with the mad prince, he was exhausted but felt fresher than ever after a mountain mission.

A northern gate guard recognized Deokbong and shouted.

“His Highness has returned!”

Wolhanseong buzzed instantly. The soldiers who fled, thinking the prince dead, had returned and delayed reporting.

The prince’s safe return was like a thunderbolt to them.

Meanwhile, the prince’s retainers from the capital, unaware of the soldiers’ reports, were worried sick.

Hearing of the mad prince’s return, they rushed out, some barefoot, forgetting shoes.

Deokbong set the prince down in the courtyard for the crowd.

“Your Highness! We knew you’d return!”

Yu Nangjang arrived first.

“Your Highness, what’s this…”

Heo Jungnangjang came next.

“Oh no, oh no… Your Highness, our Highness… Look, look! Call a physician now!”

A retainer came third, but his heart matched the first. His body just lagged.

The mad prince was soon surrounded. Deokbong, unable to leave, was caught in the crowd.

“Your Highness!”

The Lord of Wolhanseong arrived late.

Ye-kyeong was swarmed by his retainers, checking on him. There was no room for the lord to join. But it didn’t matter—he had no intention of doing so. Keeping a step back, he spoke to Ye-kyeong.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

Ye-kyeong smiled silently. That was enough. The lord and the mad prince weren’t close anyway.

Watching, Deokbong thought the mad prince was worth following. It wasn’t just him—others awaited his return too.

Perhaps “mad prince” shouldn’t even be thought anymore.