Chapter 3
Yuwon emptied the bowl of poisoned soup cleanly. It was, in fact, a rather satisfying al.
‘Poison in the first al after starting a new life… What a disgustingly persistent connection.’
It was a subtle blend — one only soone like Yuwon, who had spent his life studying poisons, could recognize.
Strong-scented ingredients like pepper, herbs, and minced garlic had been used to mask the poison’s presence. Of course, it could not deceive Yuwon.
‘Poison in the Prince’s al… and in the very first dish he eats after waking up from a half-month coma? Whoever planned this has nerves of steel.’
Judging by its taste, scent, and the faint tingling that lingered on his tongue, it was not a fast-acting toxin that would kill instantly.
‘But with long-term ingestion in small doses, it’d be perfect for crippling a perfectly healthy person. Now I finally know why this pathetic body ended up like this.’
Yurion’s body was as thin and brittle as a dried twig. The reason was, of course, poison.
‘How long has he been ingesting poison this way…? Since around the age of ten, when his body started deteriorating rapidly?’
If he had internal energy, he could have circulated it to examine his condition more closely, but even that was impossible for now.
‘At least one thing is certain — soone has been targeting the Fifth Prince. If I want to survive, I’ll need to establish myself faster than planned.’
Yuwon realized that the ti he had might be far less than he thought. There was no room for delay.
‘So it won’t be an easy start, then.’
Yuwon decided to completely revise his plan.
The next morning, after waking, Yuwon imdiately began executing his next move.
“Attend .”
“Yes, Your Highness. You called for ?”
A maidservant who had been waiting outside the bedchamber hurriedly appeared at Yuwon’s summons and bowed her head.
“Yesterday, you said I had awakened after being unconscious for half a month, correct?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Good. Then send word to my father. Tell him that when he has the ti to summon , I will go to pay my respects.”
The maid, who had been standing politely before him awaiting orders, widened her eyes in surprise.
‘The Fifth Prince… wants to voluntarily go pay respects to His Majesty?’
She had heard from a colleague who had worked yesterday about the Prince’s condition, but this went far beyond her expectations.
‘I was told that even when His Majesty summoned him once in a blue moon, His Highness would tremble for days and lose sleep out of fear…’
The man before her was utterly different from the Fifth Prince she had heard about. She was so startled by the unexpected behavior that she forgot to respond.
“I must have been a rather kind person,” Yuwon said calmly. “To make you feel so at ease that you’d lose your senses before , no?”
His tone was composed, almost gentle.
The maid quickly ca to her senses, snapping her head up and shaking it frantically as if struck by thunder.
“N-no, Your Highness! My apologies, I montarily lost my—”
Those who worked in the Fifth Prince’s palace were often replaced — and for good reason. To lose one’s composure before him could very well earn a slap across the face.
‘I’m dead!’
The maid squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for whatever punishnt would follow. But several seconds passed, and nothing happened.
When she cautiously opened her eyes, she found Yuwon watching her with a faint, amused smile.
“Hm… That’s quite a hurtful reaction. I thought myself a decent man, and yet you deny so directly. I’m almost embarrassed.”
“M-my apologies!”
Her voice rang loudly in the chamber, as though trying to convey the depth of her remorse through sheer volu. Yuwon couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
“It was rely a jest. You need not worry. Still, you’re rather spirited for so early in the morning. What was your na again?”
At this point, even a young maid could sense that the situation was turning out far better than expected. She cautiously gathered her courage.
“M-my na is Erilyn, Your Highness.”
“Erilyn. It would do you well to lower your voice a little. My ears are still ringing.”
“S-sorry—!”
Erilyn, who was about to shout another apology as usual, quickly caught herself and lowered her voice.
“…I apologize…”
“Good. Much better like that.”
“Your praise honors , Your Highness.”
Erilyn was bewildered.
The Fifth Prince before her was nothing like the crude, temperantal man she had heard so many horror stories about.
‘Is this… because of the mory loss?’
When she first learned that her post would be in the Fifth Prince’s palace, she had spent days trembling in fear.
“Now then, send word to my father. Ah, and bring breakfast as well. I find myself rather hungry.”
“As you command, Your Highness.”
Bowing politely, Erilyn left the Prince’s chambers.
‘He’s so different from the rumors. But… one thing was true after all.’
The rumor that the Fifth Prince resembled his late mother and was the most handso among the five princes was absolutely true.
As she hurried off to arrange his al, a rosy blush blood on her cheeks.
*
“So. You asked to see ?”
The Seventh Emperor of the Aphahiel Empire — the outcast of the White Lion House.
The man who stood at the very pinnacle of tens of millions of imperial subjects, and the father of Yurion Aphahiel — Emperor Yulaios.
He sat upon the imperial throne, carved with the emblem of the white lion, and gazed down at Yuwon.
“How could soone as lowly as I dare seek out Your Majesty? I rely hoped for the honor of seeing you and awaited your summons.”
“Have you oiled that tongue of yours since last we t? The whelp who only knew how to bark has learned to say sothing pleasant, it seems. Talking to you now feels like speaking with those sycophants who are all honeyed words and no substance… I thought I had sired a dog, but it seems I’ve birthed a snake instead.”
The Emperor Yulaios’s words were cold and biting. Yuwon had expected no warm welco—being known as the wastrel prince, he knew as much—but for a father to say such things to a son who had just awakened from a half-month coma was cruel nonetheless.
‘He’s completely written off… Well, I can’t bla him. I’d have done the sa.’
After all, unlike his four brothers, Yurion—mocked as the White Dog—had given the Emperor no reason to look upon him fondly.
Despite the insult, Yuwon carried on the conversation as though unbothered.
“In just a day, I have already co to learn of my own notorious reputation. I can only feel ashad that one so insignificant as I has caused concern to Your Supre Majesty.”
Once, the youngest prince could barely stamr a “yes” or “no” before his father, but today he was holding his own. The Emperor gave Yurion a second look.
‘Oh? Sothing’s different today… Could it really be that he’s suffering from amnesia?’
The unexpected sight of a son who admitted his faults with dignity and sought forgiveness piqued Yulaios’s interest—but only for a mont. His reply remained as icy as ever.
“…I thought you’d bla your fainting on so convenient illness or concocted excuse, but it seems not. So, amnesia, then… Tsk, as if you weren’t already enough of a disappointnt—now even your mory fails you. How much worse will this get…”
The Emperor remained cold to the end, incapable of offering even a single word of warmth. Yet Yuwon did not falter.
“Your Majesty need not be troubled. This insignificant being is far too unworthy to burden one so occupied with the affairs of the Empire.”
“…Unworthy?”
Had he misspoken? A faint edge of anger laced the Emperor’s voice.
“Are you saying that one of the five legitimate heirs of the Aphahiel Empire is so unimportant that his health ans nothing?”
The Emperor, who had been speaking coolly all along, finally burst forth in anger. In truth, he had been holding it back until now.
“How lightly you must regard the four letters that follow your na—Aphahiel!”
The man known as the Black Lion roared his fury.
‘Tch, I didn’t foresee this turn…’
He had misjudged the Emperor’s temper—his plan was now in jeopardy. But Yuwon quickly found his foothold.
‘Of course. Facing the Emperor of an empire was never going to be easy… In that case…’
A head-on confrontation was the only way forward.
Before being Emperor, Yulaios was a great warrior—an immortal knight. Sches and tricks would not work against such a man; directness offered the best chance of success.
‘No point in playing clever. Then…!’
Still kneeling, Yuwon lifted his head. The Emperor’s sharp, furious gaze t his own.
Their eyes clashed in midair.
‘Well now… he doesn’t avert his gaze?’
The calm, clear eyes of Yurion—steady as a still lake—startled the Emperor.
This was the sa reckless son who had never once been able to look him straight in the eye. Yet today, Yuwon t his father’s fury without flinching.
“Does Your Majesty truly believe it is natural for a lion to concern himself with the fate of a serpent’s offspring? I think otherwise.”
“…!”
It was an unmistakable provocation. Yuwon had thrown the Emperor’s earlier insult—calling him a serpent’s spawn—right back at him.
Even the imperial guards, sworn to stand unshaken beside the Emperor, stiffened in disbelief. These were n who lived by the sword and did not startle easily—but this, this was madness.
‘The Fifth Prince has finally gone insane!’
‘No wonder he was speaking so sensibly earlier—it was just to set up his downfall. That White Dog never changes. Good grief…’
Even the elite guards of the Empire flinched. But none were as shocked as the Emperor himself.
“You wretch…! Do you dare presu to lecture your own father?”
The Emperor had called himself “father.” Yuwon had succeeded in drawing him from the throne of an emperor down to the role of a man—of a father.
And with that, the advantage shifted to Yuwon. He pressed on.
‘Now!’
Still kneeling, Yuwon suddenly rose to his feet.
Clang—!
Startled, the captain of the royal guards instantly drew his sword and stepped between Yuwon and the Emperor.
The other guards reached for their hilts, ready to draw the mont a command was given.
Every eye in the chamber fixed upon Yuwon.
Amid the thick tension, Yuwon stood tall, then slowly bowed—not with the greeting of everyday courtesy, but with the solemn obeisance reserved for one who had just received a great favor from his sovereign.
As the Emperor and his guards looked on in confusion, Yuwon spoke with asured gravity.
“I am deeply honored that Your Majesty has seen fit to call a serpent’s child. From this day forth, I shall live as a serpent.”
The Emperor had only feigned anger earlier, intending to test his wayward son who seed so oddly changed. But this answer—this defiance—brought forth genuine rage.
His expression hardened; the warmth of pretense turned to the chill of ice.
“Do you even understand the aning of what you just said?”
“I do, Your Majesty.”
Yuwon’s answer ca without hesitation.
“So the amnesia made you think to change—and yet all you’ve done is go from a dog to a snake? I never expected much of you, but this—!”
To call the son of a lion a snake—and for that son to accept it so boldly—was beyond comprehension. The Emperor could only sigh in disbelief.
‘Of course. If he’d inherited even half of his mother’s nature, he’d never be like this…’
For the first ti in five years, the disfavored son had co of his own will to offer greetings. The Emperor had been moved enough to allow it. But now, seeing this insolence, he was filled only with disgust.
As he raised his hand to dismiss Yuwon, the young man’s next words froze him in place.
“A dog can never beco a serpent, and a serpent can never beco a dog—that is the way of the world. Yet if, by chance, a dog could beco a serpent… then why could that serpent not beco a lion?”
“…!”
Thud! It was a declaration of war.
The Iron-Blooded Emperor, whose expression rarely changed, felt his eyelids tremble.
The wastrel son who had only ever brought sha now claid he would no longer be a dog, but a serpent—and, in ti, a lion. The aning was clear, and the Emperor could not pretend otherwise.
At Yulaios’s stunned expression, Yuwon answered with a faint smile.
The White Lion House, the pillar upon which the Empire stood tall—
And among the four lion cubs it had birthed, now slithered one serpent that bore venom.
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