The Citadel of Bingyeon (Ice Smoke)

Episode 4: Flames

For the next few days, the stone chamber became a quiet sanctuary. Under the strict “doctor’s orders,” I stayed completely isolated in the area of the Supreme Commander’s private office. Outside the fortress, things bustled along with the heavy, echoing footsteps of armed guards and a taut political tension, but my world was trapped only in the warmth of the lively, blazing hearth and the cozy bed lined with velvet.

Chan-yeon, Hyun-jin, and Ji-seok moved on a strict rotation to keep my existence thoroughly hidden from the paranoid Supreme Council. While the others secretly searched the fractured borderlands of anomalous spacetime, at least one of them always remained by my side under the pretext of “inner-chamber security” to protect me.
Today, it was Chan-yeon oppa’s turn to guard the room.

Afternoon sunlight faintly seeped through the tall glass windows etched with frost patterns, casting a silver glow over the heavy oak-barreled desk where Chan-yeon sat. He was deeply absorbed in military paperwork, and the dignified white fur coat marking his rank was draped loosely over the back of his chair. Away from the court’s rigid formality and pressure, his shy, gentle true self showed through completely. In a lively yet low, calm voice, he was muttering to himself about supply lines and troop movements. Every few minutes, he turned to check whether I was all right, and whenever he caught me quietly watching him, he would break into a dazzling, sun-bright smile on his face, which had been tense with concentration.

"You should sleep, Seoha."

Chan-yeon murmured softly. His voice sank deep and gentle, making the air all around feel a little warmer. When he set down his quill, the exquisitely crafted silver cochlear implant on his ear caught the firelight and flashed sharply, and then he rose and walked over to the bed.

"You’ve been sleeping for three straight days already, just letting time pass by."

I replied with a small smile.

"If I keep lying here like this, I feel like I’m going to turn into a pillow."

Chan-yeon let out a playful little giggle, completely shedding his firm commander’s demeanor in one swift motion as he quietly sat down on the edge of the mattress beside me. His instincts were smooth without the slightest friction. Without saying a word, he slid one large, warm hand behind my waist, supporting my back with effortless steadiness so I could lean more comfortably against the pillow, carrying the weight of my body with a solid, unforced strength. Then, with the other hand, he gently reached out and carefully brushed away a strand of hair that had fallen across my face.

"The royal healer said the central pulse of your body temperature is still flickering irregularly."

As Chan-yeon spoke softly, the gaze that lingered near my shoulder was intense, yet unbelievably tender and sweet.

"Right now, Hyun-jin and Ji-seok have gone out toward the rupture coordinates and are putting everything they have into finding the magical traces your world left behind. Until they get back, you have to stay here and hold on without moving an inch. Understood?"

I nodded, but the very instant I looked down at my hand resting on the thick velvet blanket, an inexplicable, chilling cold swept violently through the room. The flames inside the stone hearth trembled violently, and the bright orange light at once melted down into deep, supernatural crimson and purple tones.

Chan-yeon’s body instantly stiffened. He shot a sharp glance toward the hearth, and in the hand gripping my shoulder, a hard, stubborn force rose up to protect me.
Before we had even exchanged a single word, a soft, heavenly radiance began pulsing fiercely from beneath my skin. From the tips of my fingers, a veil of vivid cosmic dust, tinted with twilight, spilled out naturally like the first spark of celestial void magic that had been sleeping in silence, and quietly touched Chan-yeon’s hand. I breathed in softly. The harsh frost pressing down on the room was completely nullified and vanished in the blink of an eye, replaced by a blindingly warm, immense heat utterly unlike the laws of this world.

Chan-yeon’s breath caught for a moment. He did not pull his hand away. Instead, he stared at the faint cosmic glow swirling between our fingers, his eyes widening in complete and utter shock. It was not Hyun-jin’s dark smoke, nor Ji-seok’s cold ice magic. It was something utterly unfamiliar and powerful—magic itself, slicing through and overturning every law of spacetime this kingdom possessed.

At that moment, the heavy oak door swung open with a clatter, and the urgent footsteps of the guards, like secret whispers, rushed into the room as if charging in at full speed.

"Hyung! We found something in the borderlands, but the Supreme Council’s guards have already started tracking the magic traces—"

Hyun-jin’s voice, bursting through the door into the room, cut off cleanly in the middle of the sentence. Ji-seok stopped in his tracks just behind him.

Hyun-jin froze on the spot. The afterglow of the faint purple light, slowly fading from the fingertips of my hand, reflected sharply across the hearing aid on his right ear and the cochlear implant on his left. Ji-seok stepped out from right behind him, and his signature proud, radiant smile vanished completely in the blink of an eye, replaced by deep, dazed shock and awe. The two young lords stared straight at me. In a single heartbeat, they understood perfectly that the stranger they had rescued from the snow was not merely some lost traveler drifting without aim.

Chan-yeon slowly lifted his gaze from my hand. His face had gone pale, but the story in his eyes had transformed completely into a fierce, absolute devotion. He smoothly slid one of his large arms around my waist and pulled me tightly into his chest, as if to isolate and protect me firmly from all the dangers of the world.

"Close the door, Hyun-jin."

Chan-yeon ordered. His voice dropped a whole octave lower, exuding a terrifying, razor-sharp gravity that sent chills down the spine.

"And lock it. No one—least of all the Supreme Council—must ever find out what just happened in this room."