I Became the Owner of the Heavenly Flower Palace-Chapter 44: Did We Seem Like a Joke to Him?

After the banquet, Jincheon and his attendants headed to their lodging.

“There’s a byeolga here? In this place?”

“Yes. As of today, it has been designated a traveling palace.”

A byeolga was a separate residence—like a villa. A haenggung was a temporary palace used when a king or emperor traveled.

Ilyo emphasized the distinction, but Jincheon just let it pass with a shrug.

The villa they arrived at was, surprisingly, quite modest.

“I like it.”

Which is exactly why Jincheon found it charming.

The room prepared for him was much smaller than his quarters back at the Heavenly Flame Palace.

“Can the Seven Luminaries even fit in here?” he wondered—but they moved around him gracefully without ever bumping into one another.

“Please rest well.”

Ilyo bowed politely as she spoke.

Jincheon returned the courtesy.

“Thank you. You all rest well too.”

The seven maids bowed in response and quietly stepped out.

Click.

Once the door closed and Jincheon looked around, the room really was small.

He let out a dry chuckle.

“To think I’d call this small... what’s happened to me?”

This place was practically a mansion.

The villa could easily accommodate seventy people at once.

Even this single room would have seemed generously spacious to his former self.

And now, after just a few days, he found himself calling it “small” or “modest.”

Jincheon lay down and closed his eyes.

“I can’t get too comfortable. I need to know my place...”

Still, it was warm. And soft. And comfortable.

Surrounded by the touch of plush bedding, Jincheon drifted into sleep without even realizing it.

****

The Next Morning

“Huh!”

Jincheon jolted awake, sucking in a sharp breath.

And then—

“Uagh!”

“Are you all right?”

Startled by the face hovering in front of him, Jincheon let out a yelp.

But once he realized it was Ilyo—his black-haired maid—he sighed in relief.

“...It’s you.”

“Yes. It’s me.”

Her calm voice helped peel away the remnants of the nightmare.

Jincheon sat up.

Ilyo helped support his body.

“Are you all right?”

She asked again.

Seated on the bedding, Jincheon instinctively replied,

“I’m fine.”

Ilyo looked at him for a moment.

She seemed like she had something to say, but remained quiet for a bit before speaking again in a soft voice.

“Understood. Would you like to bathe?”

Jincheon glanced down at himself.

He was drenched in sweat. Even the clothes he’d slept in were soaked through.

There was no way he could just lie back down like this.

“Yes... and also—”

He hesitated, then added quickly.

There was no avoiding it anymore.

He was soaked to the skin, and the thought of just wiping down with a towel made him squirm.

“...Could you prepare a bath?”

“Right away.”

He’d tried to avoid it.

But there was no helping it now.

In the end, Jincheon had no choice but to choose the bath.

Jincheon slowly lowered himself into the wooden tub.

Warm water rose up to his neck, and he scooped a handful to splash across his face.

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Splash.

“That’s better.”

He let out a deep sigh of relief.

The heat wrapped around his body, and the solitude was incredibly soothing.

Thinking back, in the past few days, he’d only been alone when he was asleep.

Even today, the Seven Luminaries had tried to assist with his bath—as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

Jincheon had firmly refused.

Letting them follow him into the bath felt like crossing a line he wasn’t ready to blur.

“Hoo...”

He exhaled again, letting his body sink into the warmth.

And thought:

“What the hell was that?”

The sudden jolt awake. The body drenched in sweat. All of it came from the same source.

That nightmare.

It had been a dream of wandering through a wasteland, only to encounter dragons brimming with malice.

That dream. That stupid dream.

That’s what had left him soaked in sweat and gasping awake.

“But why would I have a nightmare like that?”

Maybe it was just exhaustion from the long three-month journey, piling up over time.

Still, having the same nightmare three nights in a row?

That was odd.

Even the content hadn’t changed.

“Is it anxiety?”

Maybe his current sense of uncertainty was manifesting as nightmares.

Jincheon stared at the closed bathroom door.

And called out in a low voice.

“Ilyo.”

“Yes.”

As expected, the reply came instantly.

“Ah, don’t come in.”

Jincheon quickly added.

He chuckled bitterly as he saw the door visibly flinch.

“Did I... do anything in my sleep? Snore loudly, or talk in my sleep?”

“You did not.”

“Did I toss and turn a lot?”

“You shifted a few times, but nothing I would call excessive.”

“I see.”

So it wasn’t his sleeping habits, either.

Just as he was about to wrap up the conversation, Jincheon froze.

“Wait... so you were watching me all night?”

“I was not.”

“Did you come in to check at any point?”

“No.”

Jincheon wasn’t convinced.

“But you were standing there before I opened my eyes.”

“Your heartbeat had accelerated rapidly. I believed it might be an emergency, so I entered despite the impropriety.”

Her response was smooth and immediate.

And yet Jincheon was startled again—for a different reason.

“You were listening to my heartbeat?”

“Yes.”

He was dumbfounded.

It sounded absurd—but somehow, coming from her, it also felt plausible.

And if she truly believed it was an emergency, she had a valid reason.

“Then... do you not rest?”

“I do.”

“When?”

This time, there was no immediate reply.

After a short pause, Ilyo answered.

“There are seven of us. We take plenty of rest. There is no disruption in serving you, Palace Master...”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Jincheon cut her off.

“I asked because I was worried. I was wondering if you all were pushing yourselves because of me.”

“...We are not.”

Her voice had a different tone to it this time.

But Jincheon didn’t press further.

“I understand. Just... please make sure not to overdo it. Take care of yourselves—all seven of you.”

“Yes.”

“Yes!”

“Yessir.”

“Yeees~!”

The chorus of replies caught Jincheon off guard.

So Ilyo wasn’t the only one outside the bathroom.

Ahem.

He cleared his throat to cover the awkwardness.

Then, carefully—quietly—he washed himself off, doing his best to avoid making a sound.

After finishing his bath, Jincheon had his usual breakfast: a few soup dumplings and a cup of warm tea.

Maybe it was because he’d washed up after a long time, but even his mind felt refreshed.

“The departure preparations are complete,” said Neung Gayeon, the North Wind Commander.

“Then let’s go.”

Jincheon rose to his feet.

In front of the villa’s main gate stood a carriage he hadn’t seen before.

It was a four-horse coach, sleek and majestic—even without any flags, it looked like something belonging to a powerful noble house.

The red roof was still a bit too conspicuous, but Jincheon decided not to let it bother him.

Whatever.

He had sixty-nine armed escorts traveling with him. At that point, who cared whether the roof was red or blue?

Frankly, he was just relieved he didn’t have to ride in the palanquin the maids had tried to bring.

Whinny.

The white horse Jeolyeong snorted in protest.

Jincheon smiled as he stroked the beast’s neck.

“There, there. We’ll ride together next time, all right?”

With how long the journey was going to be, riding a horse the whole way would absolutely destroy his backside.

After soothing Jeolyeong, /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ Jincheon climbed into the carriage.

He felt great after his bath—but when he remembered the nightmare, it tempered his mood.

Clack.

The carriage door closed.

“Surely I’m not going to keep having those damn dreams, am I?”

Clop clop.

The wheels began to turn, and the column of escorts followed in formation.

Just like that, Jincheon and his retinue departed from Jucheon.

****

The carriage carrying Jincheon rolled swiftly down the main road.

Ordinarily, traveling from Jucheon to Nanzhou by horseback would take over ten days.

There was also the ever-present danger of bandits.

But Jincheon wasn’t worried.

No bandit in their right mind would try to rob a carriage escorted by seventy mounted guards.

The terrain to Nanzhou wasn’t particularly harsh either, so the carriage surged confidently down the dusty road.

Clatter, clatter.

“Has it been five days since we left Jucheon?”

Jincheon gazed out the window, watching the passing scenery.

Several days had already passed since their departure.

“Good. I haven’t had that damn dragon dream again.”

To his relief, the nightmares had completely vanished.

Not a single trace of that dream had returned.

“It wasn’t the Heavenly Flame Palace’s fault... was it?”

Coincidentally—or maybe not—the nightmares stopped the very moment they left Jucheon.

It was hard not to suspect a connection.

“Well, either way, I’m not complaining.”

For Jincheon, it was an immense relief.

When you can’t sleep well, your quality of life drops like a stone.

With that worry gone, his mind felt at ease, his body lighter.

“Nice. Though... it’s getting a bit dull.”

The carriage was comfortable, and the ride smooth—but it was monotonous.

He knew it was a bratty thing to complain about. Even saying it aloud would’ve sounded ridiculous, especially to the guards riding behind him.

Still, the boredom was real.

“This is when a bit of idle chatter would be perfect...”

Unfortunately, there was no one to talk to comfortably.

Just as his eyelids started to droop from the rhythm of the ride, a voice called out:

“Palace Master.”

It was Neung Gayeon, the North Wind Commander.

Jincheon turned his head. She’d ridden up alongside the carriage on horseback.

“There’s an obstruction ahead,” she said. “We’re preparing to break through. Do we have your permission?”

Obstruction? Break through?

He was confused, but nodded anyway.

When you don’t know what’s going on, best to trust the person who does.

“Do it.”

“Yes.”

Neung Gayeon bowed her head, then leaned toward her lieutenant and gave a quick command.

Jincheon leaned toward the carriage window and peeked ahead.

Huh?

Up in the distance, he saw it.

The road narrowed sharply as it snaked along a gorge—and lying across that narrow pass was a massive fallen tree, completely blocking the way.

It was strange—blatantly suspicious, even.

This was a dry, sparsely wooded region. That tree hadn’t just fallen. It was placed there.

But that thought only lasted a second.

Fwoosh—

A whistling sound tore through the air.

BOOM.

With an explosive blast, the tree burst apart.

The massive trunk split into pieces, shards flying in every direction.

“Whoa!”

The cry escaped Jincheon before he could stop himself.

“It’s all right,” Neung Gayeon said immediately.

“Ji Baanna, Commander of the Mouse, fired the shot. We’ll proceed through as planned.”

That... was an arrow?

For a second, he’d thought it was a cannon blast.

He looked at the horses, worried they might’ve panicked—but the carriage actually picked up speed.

Crunch, crunch.

The wheels and hooves plowed right through the shattered debris, not even slowing down.

Their formation didn’t falter in the slightest.

Shff.

Then Neung Gayeon suddenly raised her gaze.

Jincheon instinctively followed her line of sight.

Up there?

Along the cliff ledge above, he could see flickers—shadows of figures.

Jincheon had traveled enough to know exactly what this was.

Bandits!

They’d blocked the path, hoping to ambush with arrows from above.

Jincheon opened his mouth to say something, but Neung Gayeon spoke first.

“Gi Cheonhwa.”

Gi Seoran responded immediately.

“Yes.”

“Who are they?”

“They’re called the Yellow Wind Gang. The largest bandit group in this region.”

“Bandits...”

Clop clop.

A brief silence fell.

“...Did they think we were a joke?”

The way Neung Gayeon said it—cold, sharp, and flat—sent a chill through the air.