NOVPUBWhen I greeted the Huanglong, his mouth, which wasn’t hidden by the blindfold, slightly lifted in a faint smile.
“You're quite polite, even in times like this.”
“I’m sorry for coming suddenly, especially during such a busy period.”
“You don't have to worry about the move. The dragon palace follows the palace’s owner. The Dragon King granted permission, and both Qinglong and I made up our minds. With Yishin on the ground, the move wasn’t difficult.”
It felt like I was hearing something good, but the content was strange.
It seemed so natural to be placed on the same level as Huanglong and Qinglong.
The mention of the Dragon Palace's owner, which sounded like a joke at first, started to take on more weight.
Hwang Jiho, with an indifferent face, picked apart Huanglong’s words.
“It seems like Yishin had no opinion at all.”
“He’s a busy and humble child, so we have to put in the effort. Yishin, rest well. You haven’t been back to your palace in a long time, right?”
“The benefactor of the noble clan has returned to the Dragon Palace? Huanglong, are you speaking nonsense because of the stress from the move?”
“I also welcome Huangho. And the humans who came with him.”
Although Hwang Jiho said something, Huanglong smoothly deflected it, not engaging.
But there was a phrase that bothered me.
“He just called them humans. It sounded like he was talking to Jeon Muyeong... Is he including me in that? Or is there someone else?”
While I was thinking about who else might be coming here, some wandering dragon spirits fluttered toward Huanglong and began gesturing with their hands and feet.
Huanglong observed them quietly, then nodded and whispered something. The dragon spirits relaxed their tense faces and drooped down onto the clouds.
It seemed like they were tired from rushing to greet us, and I wished they could rest for a bit.
“Huanglong, is the preparation almost done? If it’s not ready quickly, should I use the power of my wish?”
“It will be soon. The priestesses seem to be ready as well.”
As Yeong Jegun urged him, Huanglong reassured him.
Even though many were pricking at Huanglong from all sides, he kept his balance, demonstrating his experience in managing the Dragon Palace.
As Huanglong had said, the priestesses, who had been focused on managing the colorful clouds, looked this way.
“There are still only four priestesses. The position of the green priestess is still vacant.”
Yoon Yeorang, who had ascended to the position of the sulfur priestess, was now managing the green-colored clouds as well.
She was such an exceptional priestess that handling two clouds seemed effortless, with both yellow and green clouds shining brightly.
The other clouds, though not as brilliant as Yoon Yeorang’s, still glowed brightly.
The purple cloud was handled by the priestess with sharp hearing, while the ochre-colored cloud was controlled by the priestess with excellent eyesight.
When I turned my eyes toward the red cloud, I doubted my vision.
“...Wasn’t that the youngest priestess of the Dragon Palace I saw back then? Her expression has changed a lot.”
I clearly remembered her face from when I asked her to remove her veil to eliminate any possibility of her being a traitor when summoning the Dragon King.
Her features were the same as I remembered, but her expression and atmosphere were completely different.
When I saw her before, her face had been tired, like someone who had been commuting to work, likely because of the incident. Now, she didn’t have that feeling at all.
Even though she had just used great power, she appeared completely relaxed.
They say quitting a black company is a cure-all, and it seemed like she had benefitted greatly from that escape.
But when our eyes met, her expression immediately stiffened.
It seemed I had startled the priestesses.
“Yishin oppa? No, how did you get hurt like that? Your eye...”
Yoon Yeorang, dressed in the yellow priestess attire, looked at me, unsure of what to do.
She had only ever seen me smiling, and I felt sorry for making her look like that.
Before I could say anything to comfort her, Yoon Yeorang spoke with a determined expression.
“My priestess sisters and Huanglong-nim, along with the Dragon King-nim, will treat you soon! Please come this way!”
“Yeorang’s enthusiasm is overflowing. Move over here.”
Huanglong pointed to the center of the magic circle that spread out across the room.
Since it was within the yellow-colored Huanglong Palace, the five-colored dragons were decorated around the magic circle, aligned with their positions.
I had thought they called me here to discuss future plans with the dragon clan.
But I never imagined they brought me here to treat me.
Before I could decline, Jeon Muyeong moved.
“Is this enough?”
“It’s better to go a little further inside.”
Even though Jeon Muyeong had just met Huanglong, they exchanged words fluently as they guided me to the exact center.
As we moved closer, the pressure from the power increased.
I wondered if it was really okay to use such power.
But I didn’t have the energy to refuse or escape, and it seemed like it was already too late.
I would think about how to express my gratitude later.
Boom!
When we arrived at our destination, Huanglong conjured a cloud to form a chair.
It should have looked sloppy if it was just a pile of cloud, but the shape of the chair and the curve at the ends of the cloud were elegant.
As I sat on the cloud chair, Jeon Muyeong lightly patted my shoulder before walking away.
Once Jeon Muyeong left, I leaned back on the cloud chair.
‘The gaze is intense.’
Everyone in Huanglong Palace was staring at me.
The stares felt sharp and heavy, and I could feel my heart growing heavier.
As I was thinking about possible gifts for later as a token of thanks...
“Dragon King-nim, please listen to our song and heal Yishin oppa!”
Yoon Yeorang’s lively voice made the five-colored clouds shine, as if the Dragon King himself had heard her call.
Following Yoon Yeorang’s lead, the other three priestesses joined in singing.
The sound of clear voices resonated through the five-colored clouds, surrounding me with a clear aura of supernatural power.
Though they hadn’t sung many verses yet, the pain that had been stabbing through me eased, and strength returned to my body.
‘I remember receiving treatment from the traitors before. But the difference in power now is enormous compared to back then.’
Since I was in the center of the song, I could clearly sense it.
Though the priestesses had only recently taken over, and one of the five positions was still vacant, they were wielding much more power than the previous ones.
I knew Yoon Yeorang was strong, but it seemed like the other priestesses were also stronger than the previous ones.
The healing song gradually focused on my eyes.
“The power that took the eye of the dragon’s benefactor comes from the clouds. Do not stop singing and continue manipulating the clouds.”
I heard Huanglong’s voice.
Following his advice, the priestesses moved the five-colored clouds in sync with the song.
As they handled such a powerful force, the five-colored clouds were pushed out of alignment with the song’s rhythm. Huanglong helped the priestesses keep the clouds from moving out of the magic circle.
The clouds that had been swirling in tune with the music slowly compressed until they were the size of my eye, then stopped before me.
Whoosh!
As the clouds’ power surged, the blindfold Huang Jiho had made slid off my eye.
I hurriedly grabbed the blindfold with my hand, fearing it might fly off somewhere in the flow of energy.
As I did, the five-colored clouds paused in the spot where my left eye had been, transferring the energy of the song into me.
The pain that had been there earlier was replaced by warmth.
I could feel the Dragon King’s power through that warmth.
‘It’s the Dragon King’s energy. The priestesses must be connected to the Dragon King now. But they’re still struggling this much...’
Though the voices singing the song never faltered, beads of sweat appeared on the foreheads of the priestesses, with Yoon Yeorang leading them.
The priestesses of the Dragon King were channeling the divine power in the Dragon Palace, but it didn’t seem like regenerating an eye would be this difficult.
Perhaps the problem was that I had been using the Eye of Life and Death when I lost my left eye.
‘Even though I was using the Eye of Life and Death, I was still attacked. Dohcheol used the divine power of fate to take my eye with stronger force, which makes sense why the regeneration would be this taxing.’
I wanted to suggest stopping right then.
I didn’t come to this world to make Yoon Yeorang and the other priestesses suffer.
I could still fight with one eye, and if it became too much of an obstruction, I could come up with a solution then.
Just as I was about to say something, Huanglong’s voice came again.
“Qinglong, did you bring what you prepared?”
“Of course.”
Is Qinglong here?
Had Qinglong arrived while the priestesses were singing?
Though the Huanglong Palace was vast, it seemed my senses had dulled to the point where I didn’t know who had entered.
Qinglong opened a box shaped like a dragon and took out several five-colored pearls.
He used his blue energy to scatter dozens of pearls over the magic circle.
Swoosh!
The pearls melted into the five-colored clouds.
These pearls didn’t seem like ordinary jewels.
While they might not be as rare as the black pearl I had received before, each one appeared to possess a unique power, suggesting they were precious pearls made in the Dragon Palace.
Could they really be used just to fix one eye?
“Ahhh...!”
The moment the power of the pearls merged, the priestesses who had been focusing briefly lost their concentration.
When two of the five-colored clouds began to fade, Yoon Yeorang’s clouds wrapped around the two priestesses.
In that short moment, it appeared that Yoon Yeorang was managing all four clouds.
Normally, a priestess handled only one color of cloud, and could manage a maximum of three adjacent colors, but Yoon Yeorang seemed to have exceeded that limit.
‘Could it be that Yoon Yeorang can manage all five-colored clouds by herself?’
Even as the two priestesses nodded their thanks, Yoon Yeorang was still smiling and singing.
When Yoon Yeorang helped the two, the dark cloud that had been hovering in my left eye dissipated, and a heavy feeling took its place.
It felt like my left eye, once filled with dark clouds, had been restored.
As the healing song ended, a blurry image began to appear in my left eye.
‘I have a left eye now... But it’s hard to see just with that one.’
Though the left eye was covered in frost and difficult to see through, I was just glad that it had been restored, and something was visible.
However, others didn’t seem to share my feelings.
The people around me were staring at my left eye, looking like they had a lot to say but couldn’t.
“Hm... I guess healing it all at once is difficult.”
The first to speak was Yoon Yeorang, her face downcast with frustration.
I knew how much effort and suffering Yoon Yeorang had put in, so seeing her like that made me feel guilty.
“I can see. It’s fine. Thank you for healing me.”
Even as I expressed my gratitude, Yoon Yeorang still looked conflicted.
Huanglong spoke.
“...It would be faster to see it directly.”
With a signal from Huanglong, a dragon spirit brought over a decorative mirror that could be used for ceremonies.
The two dragon spirits showed me my face in the mirror.
Looking at my left eye, I realized why everyone had reacted strangely.
‘I thought my vision was just a little off...’
My left eye, which had once been black, was now filled with the five-colored clouds.
It was the color of the five-colored clouds and the pearls.
“Dragon King chose to create a temporary eye with the priestesses’ power. Trying to regenerate it all at once would strain your body, it seems.”
Huanglong said as he examined my left eye closely.
The healing was taking too long. Would it be better to leave it like this?
But Huanglong didn’t give me the chance to suggest that.
“I will discuss the treatment plan with the Dragon King. Don’t worry, just wait.”
For now, I would have to think of a way to hide my left eye, which had changed colors.
As I nodded in agreement and turned my head, I saw those standing around me.
‘Why are there so many now?’
I thought only Qinglong had come, but there were more.
The first to appear were Jeokho and Kim Shinrok, father and son.
Kim Shinrok was dressed the same as Jeon Muyeong, so I wondered if he had come in his guise.
And then there was the real Seong Guk-eon.
