Chapter 1
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On an old bed that seemed to creak at the slightest movement, Arin, even smaller and more frail than the bed itself, lay curled up.
The thin, tattered rags could not ward off the dawn chill, leaving her hands and feet ice-cold. As the sun rose, sunlight filtered through the frayed tent, making the cold slightly more bearable. However, the morning birds began to chirp incessantly, and before long, her stomach let out a loud rumble.
Only then did Arin remember she was hungry, and she shook herself awake.
"Ugh, up we go."
Her movements as she neatly folded the cloth with her fern-like hands and stepped out of the room were incredibly practiced. Even though the child was barely three feet tall, the wooden floorboards groaned loudly under her weight.
The floor was riddled with holes.
Floating dust motes sparkled in the sunlight, illuminating her path. Arin stepped outside with a hurried gait, as if none of that mattered. After a quick wash using the water basin in the yard, she moved to the main hall.
In the hall sat a meal, so simple it was practically pathetic.
Someone must have brought it while she was sleeping.
"The side dishes are getting fewer and fewer."
The meal consisted of nothing but barley rice and soy sauce.
It hadn't been this bad when she was first isolated here. As she slowly devolved into a nuisance in the eyes of the maids, she had been treated with increasing neglect. Unaware of these circumstances, Arin sat bravely before the tray and picked up her spoon.
It was barely edible once she poured all the soy sauce into the bowl and mixed it, but compared to the meals she used to receive, it was abysmal.
Still, Arin did not complain.
A child who fussed over food was a bad child. She had been told to stay quiet until her father’s anger subsided. Arin clung to the countless words she had heard since being locked away here, believing them with all her heart.
It had already been three months since she began living in isolation in the Annex.
Outside, the air was already thick with the scent of spring. It was just as Arin was staring blankly beyond the stone wall.
"My dear!"
Arin’s eyes widened at the familiar voice calling from afar.
"Mom?"
Arin scrambled to her feet and dashed toward the gate.
*Tap, tap, tap, tap.*
She crossed the yard barefoot and reached the gate, but it remained firmly shut.
"Mom, I’m here! I’m right here!"
No matter how hard Arin pounded on the gate, there was no response.
*I was told she collapsed because of me...!*
After Arin failed her Phantom Beast Transformation, her mother had taken to her sickbed in shock, and her father had turned away from her with a flushed, angry face. Her brother had claimed that all of this was her fault and that she was an unprecedented stain on the Red Snake Family.
Arin believed that her family was angry because she was lacking.
She had spent three months hoping that, in time, they would let her out and smile at her again. Growing impatient, Arin looked around. Finally, she leaned her body against the stone wall and began to climb, wedging her feet into the crevices.
She slipped and scraped her hands several times, but she did not stop.
It was only when she finally managed to rest her arms on top of the wall and look outside that she saw them.
"Mother! Didn't you hear a sound from over there?"
In the distance, a young girl was walking, holding her mother’s hand.
*That’s mine...*
Arin stared blankly at the ornament hanging from the girl’s skirt.
A red coral norigae, the symbol of the Red Snake Family.
It was an item that had been Arin’s just three months ago. She could not believe that a stranger was wearing her belongings as if they were her own.
Just then, she made eye contact with her mother.
"Mo—!"
Arin reached out, smiling brightly as if she had never been upset.
But her mother immediately stiffened, turned around, and hid the girl from Arin’s sight.
"It seems some wild animal must have wandered in. So-so, that Annex over there is dangerous because it isn't maintained, so you must never go inside."
"Yes, Mother."
The girl called So-so smiled prettily and hurried her steps.
Arin could only watch, unable to even call out to her mother as she drifted further away.
"No, Mom just didn't see me."
She couldn't understand the situation she had just witnessed at all. Only her mother’s gaze and cold expression lingered in her mind.
The momentum with which she had climbed the wall faded.
"Ah!"
Her strength gave out, her foot slipped, and Arin tumbled onto the ground.
*Thud, roll.*
Unable to move for a while due to the dull pain, Arin looked up at the blue sky and suddenly burst into tears.
"Waaah."
Her mother, who had been "sick," looked perfectly healthy.
Yet, she did not look for Arin. The maid who used to fuss over even the smallest scratch, the mother who always sang her lullabies, and the father who used to feed her yakgwa by hand—none of them were by her side.
Her brother, who used to be Arin’s pride, hadn't sent a single word.
Arin knew exactly what that meant.
She had been abandoned.
Because a member of the Twelve Zodiacs who could not perform a Phantom Beast Transformation was no longer one of them. The family was desperate to hide the fact that the youngest daughter of the Red Snake Family was a half-wit.
And so, Arin was isolated deep within the Annex.
* * *
The Kingdom of Yeon-ha, ruled by the Twelve Zodiacs.
The eleven families gathered around the White Dragon Family were born with the energy of the Twelve Zodiacs for generations.
Direct descendants of the Twelve Zodiac families would have their Spirit Core open at the age of five, allowing them to perform the Phantom Beast Transformation—the "ability to transform into a divine beast."
The Phantom Beast Transformation was the power of the Twelve Zodiacs. If one succeeded, they could use that power freely.
The Red Snake Family was contracted with the Fire Snake among the Twelve Zodiacs, born with the ability to manipulate fire at will.
This was a matter of course for any direct descendant of the Red Snake Family.
However, an unprecedented situation occurred in the Red Snake Family last year.
Hong Arin, their only direct daughter, had failed her Phantom Beast Transformation.
At first, they said it was because her Spirit Core was immature and could be reinforced. But when the year passed and no progress was seen, the physician concluded it was a "Spirit Core deformity."
Hong I-jin, the head of the Red Snake Family, could not accept his child’s disability. He could not admit that the child he intended to marry off to the White Dragon Family was inadequate.
The White Dragon Family, who had first contracted with the Twelve Zodiac Deities and founded the Kingdom of Yeon-ha alongside the other twelve families, had been marrying the daughters of the Twelve Zodiac families for generations.
To think such a misfortune would befall the Red Snake Family when the marriage to the White Dragon Family was already all but certain.
Arin’s stagnation was a great source of anxiety for Hong I-jin, who had been determined to forge a bond with the White Dragon Family this time.
He could not send a half-wit to the Imperial Family like this.
If other families found out, the disaster would be even greater.
Just as he was stalling, good news arrived.
There was a girl among the collateral branches of the Red Snake Family who had succeeded in her Phantom Beast Transformation.
It happened occasionally that a collateral member succeeded in the transformation.
After verifying it, Hong I-jin had the girl registered as his daughter three months ago.
That was Hong So-so, whom Arin had seen yesterday.
Hong So-so had inherited the room Arin used to occupy.
Before coming to the Red Snake estate, Hong So-so had always been hungry. Her mother was a drunkard and her father was a gambler.
Even for Hong So-so, who had lived in such abject poverty, an unexpected opportunity had arisen.
So-so, who could perform the Phantom Beast Transformation—if only for a very short time—no longer had to starve.
Her parents, who were of no help anyway, sold Hong So-so to the Red Snake Family like an object.
It was a truly fortunate turn of events. Having been raised as a direct descendant of the Red Snake Family with nothing left to envy, So-so had accidentally discovered the shabby Annex.
In that dilapidated place, which was no different from the house So-so used to live in, a girl of similar age was locked away.
Clear, vermilion hair that resembled a trumpet creeper.
Pale, white cheeks and intelligent golden eyes that looked as if they were embedded with stars.
The child, who seemed noble in some way despite her disheveled appearance, was strangely bothersome to her.
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