Flower Dream Chapter 29

Splash.

On a night when clusters of stars large and small gathered to form a Milky Way, the sound of water splashing echoed faintly through the open-air bath, where hazy steam spread like fog.

“Phew…”

Shin Ryuwon tilted his head back with a languid expression and let out a weary sigh. Having returned from the Honghwa Clan’s sacred site, he had shut himself in the bathchamber right after finishing his meal.

Perhaps because the blood of the dragon flowed through his veins, apart from purification, Shin Ryuwon loved bathing. Soaking in the water without a single thought allowed him to momentarily distance himself from everything that troubled him.

“…”

Gazing silently at the Milky Way stretching across the pitch-black night sky, Shin Ryuwon lightly opened and closed his fists. Even though the sun had set, there was no sign of fever rising—so despite the bother, making the personal trip to the Honghwa Clan’s sacred site had been worthwhile.

Shin Ryuwon closed his eyes, recalling the place he had visited several shichen ago. Over the past few days, he had bathed daily using water drawn from the lake at the sacred site, but direct contact with a massive mass of divine power was on an entirely different level.

Long ago, the divine beasts, who had laid hands on creation—a power that originally belonged only to the Creator—in order to alleviate the suffering of their children born from humans, could no longer remain in the mortal realm.

Thus, leaving behind only a minimal number of divine beasts such as the Four Directional Gods, who bore the duty of maintaining the balance of nature, all others departed to the divine realm.

But the traces of the divine beasts, who had once roamed freely between heaven and earth, remained in countless places across the world, still influencing the mortal realm even at this very moment. The most representative of these were the sacred sites on each small island.

The sacred sites of each tribe shared one common feature: no matter which one you visited, there existed a lake imbued with the divine power of the ancient divine beasts. It was not simply water, but a vessel containing a vast energy that prevented it from dissipating.

Perhaps because of that, the lake water at the sacred sites remained unaffected even during severe droughts and never overflowed even when torrential rains poured down.

Due to these mysterious phenomena that could not be explained by human knowledge, legends had been passed down that drinking the water would cure any illness completely, and bathing in the lake would make wounds disappear without a trace.

In fact, there was some truth to it. While it wasn’t a panacea, it did help restore the body damaged by divine fevers, as it did now, and aided in faster healing of wounds and illnesses.

That was also why incense bearers gave birth in water-filled tubs of sacred lake water when delivering babies. The water imbued with the divine power of the divine beasts was excellent at reducing labor pains and preventing postpartum fever, and it was also unparalleled for healing wounds sustained during childbirth.

Though not as effective for ordinary people as it was for divine people and incense bearers, it still had some benefits, so every year many people visited the small islands hoping for a miracle.

However, not everyone could freely enter the sacred sites. The residents of each small island strictly controlled access so that not just anyone could enter the holy grounds.

Of course, regardless of who qualified to enter the sacred grounds, it was entirely irrelevant to Shin Ryuwon, who was a member of the imperial family. He could enter the sacred site whenever he wished, at any time. Today was no exception.

Peonies, red spider lilies, azaleas, peonies, thistles, camellias, cluster amaryllis, roses, cypress vines, pomegranates, purple magnolias, plum blossoms…

Differing only in whether the colors were light or deep, the Honghwa Clan’s sacred site was, true to its name, a garden filled with various kinds of red flowers and trees. At its center lay a vast lake called “Jeokhwadam” (Red Flower Pool)—named so because the water reportedly turned red at every sunrise and sunset.

At the heart of Jeokhwadam floated a small island, and that was the Honghwa Clan’s sacred site. Within it stood an altar for offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors, and the tribe’s sacred relic—the horn of the Fire Dragon—was driven into the ground like a stele.

The horn of the ancient divine beast, which had existed in harmony with nature for over a thousand years, still held vast divine power despite the long passage of time.

Shin Ryuwon sat in meditation before it and fully opened his divine power. In response to his energy, the Fire Dragon’s horn glowed red and engulfed Ryuwon’s body. After that, the entire world turned white.

Falling into a state of selfless absorption, Shin Ryuwon used the Fire Dragon’s energy that had entered his body to expel the toxins accumulated within him. At the same time, he released all the power he had been suppressing, feeling a sense of liberation for the first time in a while.

Though lightning struck and gales arose within the sacred site from the divine power he emitted, both the horn that towered high into the sky and the lake that surrounded it like a barrier absorbed everything. When Ryuwon emerged from the sacred site after completing his purification, over two shichen had already passed.

“About half is gone…”

Shin Ryuwon assessed his condition and muttered to himself. It would have been nice if he had been healed all at once, but the toxins accumulated in his body were too deeply embedded for that to be possible. Still, he couldn’t exactly feel regret either—the recovery itself was actually much faster than expected.

The fact that the sacred relic at the Honghwa Clan’s sacred site was the body part of a dragon, sharing the same roots as himself, probably contributed to its effectiveness, but more than that, it seemed the effects of getting proper rest for the first time in a long while were significant.

“As they say, sleep is the best medicine…”

Shin Ryuwon moved his head from side to side, feeling the remarkably light sensation in his neck and shoulders, and curled the corners of his mouth. Since childhood, he had rarely felt refreshed upon waking. Because he couldn’t achieve deep sleep due to his insomnia, his body was always heavy and sluggish, and his head felt as if it had a boulder resting on it.

When new medicines and sleeping incense developed by royal physicians and perfumers happened to work well on occasion, or when he visited a sacred site like now to purify his body, he would feel better for a short while, but such days were far fewer than the ones that weren’t.

Even suffering from chronic sleep deprivation, the divine blood artificially infused him with vitality, so his daily life wasn’t greatly impaired, but his mood was perpetually low. Naturally, his nerves also became sharp.

Yet these past few days, every time he opened his eyes, his body felt so light it might float away, and his mind was clear and refreshed. It was all thanks to the young perfumer he had met upon arriving at the Honghwa Clan’s small island.

Dan Yuha.

Shin Ryuwon softly murmured the name of the perfumer who had gifted him sleep. Honestly, at first, he hadn’t expected anything at all. That was only natural—if royal physicians and perfumers who had been in the royal palace for at least a decade couldn’t solve his insomnia, how much could a novice who had just taken his first steps do?

Of course, he had heard from Mun Sewon that Dan Yuha had placed first in the state examination. But in truth, that much was also true of the perfumers belonging to the imperial household. They were people who had naturally been called prodigies or geniuses in their respective regions.

Moreover, no matter how talented one was, one couldn’t ignore experience and one’s surroundings. To create incense, herbs, medicinal teas, and the like, a variety of ingredients were needed.

A perfumer’s experience and growth came from having more opportunities to manufacture newly devised incense or medicinal teas and test their effectiveness.

Ultimately, without the financial resources and connections to procure expensive, rare ingredients and to withstand multiple manufacturing failures, it was difficult to establish oneself as a perfumer, no matter how great one’s potential.

In Dan Yuha’s case, since his father had been a somewhat renowned craftsman, he probably had basic tools and ingredients from the start. However, having become a solitary orphan at a young age and receiving no support from his tribe, it was nearly impossible for the perfumer to fully exercise his abilities.

That was why Shin Ryuwon, while impressed by what Dan Yuha had accomplished alone at such a young age, hadn’t held any particular expectations. Yet the fledgling perfumer, newly established as a craftsman, had shattered his preconceptions to spectacular pieces. Thanks to that, Ryuwon had been able to fall into a deep sleep for the first time in ages.

Shin Ryuwon inherently disliked it when his predictions didn’t come true. That tendency had only grown stronger over the past few years, as he had spent more time on battlefields than in the royal palace—because a single mistake or moment of carelessness could lead to defeat.

Yet this time, even though his expectations had been completely off the mark, he didn’t feel the least bit displeased. Rather, he felt a sense of fondness and pride toward Dan Yuha. He was also grateful that Yuha had gifted him a peace he hadn’t known in a long time.

“How should I repay him…”

Shin Ryuwon leaned his back against the bathtub and fell into thought. Some people might think him cold-hearted for not taking any action toward Dan Yuha, but in reality, Ryuwon had been pondering the matter in his own way.

“They’re not exactly soft-hearted people…”

Shin Ryuwon recalled this morning when Hyeok Ryeoa had suggested hiring Dan Yuha as his exclusive perfumer, and found it remarkable. And it wasn’t just her—Chief Eunuch Baek, Mun Sewon, and others had also subtly nudged Ryuwon’s side, expressing their favorable impressions of Dan Yuha.

Just as much as their own master, Shin Ryuwon’s retainers were famous for building walls against others. Since they were the first targets approached by those who wanted to bask in the reflected glory of the Third Prince, the most likely candidate for the next emperor, they had been plagued by all sorts of solicitations over the years and had fallen into deep distrust of people, much like Ryuwon himself. For all of them to simultaneously show favorable attitudes toward a single person was an exceedingly rare occurrence.