Chapter Eleven: The Dreamer Between Two Thrones
The room was dim.
Candlelight flickered softly against the paper screens, casting long shadows on the wooden floor. Outside, rain whispered against the tiled roof like secrets trying to slip past the silence.
Jiwoon opened his eyes.
The ceiling above him was unfamiliar. His body ached—his mind, heavier still. But it wasn't pain from a wound. It was something deeper, like his soul had been cracked open and hastily stitched back together.
And someone else had been inside.
---
He sat up slowly, head pounding, flashes of images hitting him like waves.
> A woman in black feathers. A battlefield soaked in silver blood. Sheila—screaming his name. The scent of burning lilac.
And above all, a voice that still echoed in the back of his mind like wind through broken glass.
> "She chose him over you. Again."
He clutched his head.
"No," he whispered. "I made my choice too."
---
☽
In the next room, Sheila stood at the window, watching the rain fall over Seoul.
Hyunsoo entered quietly, his hand still wrapped from training. "He's awake."
She didn't respond.
"He seems stable," he continued. "No sign of the Night Queen's influence. But that doesn't mean it's gone."
"She's inside him," Sheila said softly. "Not fully… but enough."
He stepped closer. "You're not safe near him anymore."
"I don't care."
Hyunsoo's jaw tightened. "You should."
She turned to him. "You saw what happened in the palace. Taeha wants to tear us apart. But Jiwoon's not our enemy. Not yet."
"He kissed you."
She froze.
"He almost killed you."
"I let him in," she whispered. "Because a part of me still believes… that boy I once knew is still in there. The one who stayed up with me studying for exams. The one who left that jade ring in my locker before I left for Canada. The one who—"
Hyunsoo closed the distance.
"And what about me?"
She looked up. His voice was low, dangerous in its tenderness.
"I have fought for you in every life. I have bled for you, died for you, and waited through centuries for you. But if he's the one you choose to save—"
"I'm not choosing," she said. "I'm remembering."
He stared at her.
She reached for his hand and placed it over her heart. "And this remembers you."
---
⚠️
Later, Heeyoung unrolled a scroll in the hidden shrine beneath the hanok — an ancient prophecy scrawled in lunar ink.
"It's time you saw this," she said.
Sheila, Hyunsoo, and Jiwoon stood around the altar as she translated:
> "Three stars shall burn beneath the final eclipse.
The Crown. The Sword. The Shadow.
Only one shall rise with the Moon."
Hyunsoo's eyes narrowed. "Crown. Sword. Shadow. That's us."
Jiwoon's voice was gravel. "Only one survives."
"Not survives," Heeyoung corrected. "Rises."
"Semantics," Jiwoon muttered.
"No," Sheila whispered. "It means only one of us can bear the full awakening of the Moon Throne. Only one of us can ascend."
Jiwoon's gaze darkened. "And what happens to the other two?"
Heeyoung hesitated. "Their power... is consumed. Burned in the ceremony. Body, soul, and memory."
Silence.
Hyunsoo spoke first. "Then the path is clear."
"No." Sheila's voice rang out. "It isn't. I won't let either of you die for me."
Jiwoon laughed bitterly. "And what will you do? Rewrite fate?"
"If I have to."
---
🌒
That night, Jiwoon stood alone in the training yard, surrounded by whispers only he could hear.
Taeha's voice slithered into his mind again.
> "She'll never choose you. Just like before."
"Get out of my head," he growled.
> "She would rather die with him than live with you. And you know it."
He drew his blade.
It pulsed with corrupted magic.
> "Let me help you, Jiwoon. You don't need to kill her. Just replace her."
A memory surfaced — the old prophecy again. The final eclipse. A ritual. A sacrifice.
Could he… survive it?
Could he ascend in her place?
He dropped the blade.
"No."
But deep inside his soul…
A small, broken voice whispered back: Yes.
---
☽
Meanwhile, Sheila walked alone through the shrine beneath the hanok. The Moon Crest floated beside her, softly glowing.
She knelt before the oldest statue of the Moon Queen — her original self.
"I don't want to choose," she whispered. "I don't want anyone to die. There must be another way."
The statue said nothing.
But a soft glow shimmered at its feet — a hidden inscription, now visible only in moonlight.
> "The Crown must break for the Moon to shine."
She looked up, heart thudding.
What if the prophecy didn't mean she had to kill someone?
What if… she had to die instead?