The journey down the mountain was swift and efficient.
Upon arriving at the Chancellor's grand residence, Lee Sunrye looked at the filthy, trembling silver-haired woman and gave her orders without hesitation.
"Wash her thoroughly. Dress her in the finest silk and lay her on my son's bed."
The specially summoned female servants — the only women allowed inside the residence today — bowed and moved quickly. They had been strictly instructed to leave immediately after their task was complete.
The silver-haired woman was carried into the luxurious bathroom while barely conscious. Warm water enveloped her sensitive new body. Hands moved over her in practiced silence — wringing out her long silver hair, working a cloth along the curve of her shoulder, her waist, the back of her knee.
'Don't touch me…! How dare you… lowly servants…!'
She screamed and cursed inside her mind, but her body only twitched weakly. The proud Flower General who once commanded the battlefield could do nothing now but lie still under their hands, water dripping from her chin, her fingers curling uselessly against the wet stone of the tub. The humiliation burned deeper than any blade wound she had ever received.
When they finally dressed her in a thin, snow-white silk robe — its fabric so light it seemed to forget her body was beneath it — she was completely exhausted.
They laid her gently on the large bed in Seo Yunhan's private chamber — a sacred space where no woman had ever been allowed to enter for generations.
'I must stay awake… I am Baek Muhyeok… I cannot fall like this…!'
But no matter how fiercely her mind resisted, her transformed body had already reached its limit. The moment her head touched the soft pillow, overwhelming fatigue swallowed her whole. She fell into a deep, helpless sleep.
It was well past midnight when Seo Yunhan finally returned to his residence.
The moment he opened the door to his bedroom, he stopped breathing.
A woman was lying on his bed.
He had never stood this close to one before — not since he was old enough to remember. Silver hair spilled across his pillow, catching the candlelight in a way he had no comparison for. The thin robe had slipped from one shoulder, baring a line of pale skin and the small hollow above her collarbone, and for a long moment he simply stared, because he did not know where else a man was supposed to look. To him, who had spent twenty-some years measuring women only by the distance he was required to keep from them, she did not look like a person so much as something he had no name for — a goddess, his mind offered, helplessly, for lack of any better word.
This residence had been cursed for generations. The men of the Seo family were born with overwhelming yang energy so powerful that no woman could live under the same roof. For centuries, the family had relied on the High Monk's arrangements to barely continue their bloodline. Yet they were infamous for bringing misfortune to any woman who entered the household.
And now, the prophecy that the Chancellor's generation would be the last — that the great Seo clan would end with him — had loomed over his head like a death sentence.
Until tonight.
Seo Yunhan's heart slammed violently against his chest. A scorching heat he had never experienced before erupted from the depths of his core. The massive yang energy he had suppressed for over twenty years surged wildly, making his entire body tremble.
He stood frozen for a long time, unable to move or even breathe properly.
Then, as if drawn by an irresistible force, he slowly walked toward the bed. His bandaged hand reached out with trembling care and gently brushed the silver hair away from her face.
The instant his fingertips touched her warm cheek, a violent yet strangely sweet current ran through his entire body. Something deep and unknown awakened inside him for the first time in his life.
"…My fate?"
His voice was a hoarse, barely audible whisper.
On the bedside table was a letter from his mother.
This is your destiny. — Mother
Seo Yunhan stared at the sleeping woman for a long time. His usually cold and rational eyes were now filled with shock, deep confusion, and a pure, trembling wonder he had never felt before.