"She has always taught that the most powerful moral forces in life are invisible, and I have always gone along with her thinking that starlight and rain are what keep the world from flying to pieces."

-John Cheever

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Her mind is the only part that fell into a slumber. Only her retina shut completely because that's the only time she can take a good rest, a break from the world and everything inside. It's a REM sleep, and Byulyi confirmed it from the way she's unable to keep her eyes shut. The shade of red.

Patterns of green elongate as she stretches her body.

Sight's unclear, but it doesn't take a genius to recognize the energy she's surrounded with. Irene is sleeping beside her with an astounding moment of putting down her walls (Byulyi can enter her conscience but decide against it) and with her scooting closer into the cover, Byulyi swirled backward.

Her outlook of her current situation is a small sigh.

She cannot become someone else’s pet. Or else she will just be like another Kisum.

--

Weaving and swaying.

Chandeliers and high ceilings of European influence fill the sky above her. It's a vast expanse of a ballroom, and Irene looks down to find tiny hands and golden, tiny velvet shoes. "Hey, princess."

She turns back to find her father, Lee Sooman, the patriarch of SM Corp, extending his hand with a small, fatherly smile. That's how she remembers her father always called her. Princess, may I have this dance?

By the way she was swept off her feet and to the middle of the ballroom, it's a father-daughter dancing session, and she reverted back to 7-year-old again. Swaying to the left is the crowd watching them with the mix of awe and a little jealousy, a little bit of both. Swaying to the right is the lines of her stepbrothers and stepsister with their mother. Irene doesn't need to explain their expression when Lee Soo-man hugs her tightly. There are no words to describe how they may feel when he decides to bring his mistress' daughter to the ball of high importance. There are various agendas that 7-year-old Irene obviously didn't know any of.

The 7-year-old her that's just happy when lifted to the air as the music progresses.

The dance ended with claps and her feet touched the ground once again, and she doesn't have any intention to look back at her stepsiblings. One look at the mirror and she encountered the same frown on those red lips, features that are as icy and indignant that she maintained well even until adulthood.

It's a princess with a malady. Born from the lady of luck that became Lee Soo man's mistress. Right after the scandal, SM Corps. asset value reached its highest peak, beating its top performance. One could say that the princess possesses a certain amount of luck that will beat her predecessor.

From head to toe, she stares at her own reflection in the mirror, seeing the bearer of good luck. At a little throne that’s already prepared for her, a woman with a graceful line of smile and locks just as black as Irene sat near it, encouraging the tiny girl to come closer and holding her hand.

Irene never hesitates to take her mother’s hand. Whispers and reassurances that everything will be alright, that she is the child that deserves everything in the world, and she has the reason to smile instead of being seen as a princess with ongoing malady of the unknown.

Who’s my lucky girl?

That’s where her mother is wrong. She’s always the lucky one from the beginning. In the middle of the room noises are starting to get to her, and she can spot her step siblings laughing loudly with their cliques, pointing at them repeatedly.

The audacity of my father to bring his filthy mistress here.

She knew that the hands that cover her ears from behind must be her mother’s, an attempt to protect her child for whatever’s about to come. But Irene has an inkling. The sound grew louder and reverberated across the room, and now the recipients turned to them with blank eyes, parroting the same thing.

Filthy princess.

--

Byulyi doesn’t waste any time slithering into the bathroom before the lack of energy gets to her again. The serpent slithered quickly and let the transformation go. Several cracks later and she wash up the grimes and slimes on her whole body, rinsing everything clear under the shower head. Let’s not forget to clean the mess she had started.

Wrapped in a clean towel, she snatched her clothes from the bed, put it on in a haste with the intention of finally leaving Irene for good.

“Mm…”

That froze her and the serpent noticed the obvious frown on the sleeping woman as she scoot closer.

Byulyi followed the lines of cold sweat with her eyes, and against any better judgment, wiped it with her thumb and slipped strands of hair that scattered over her face behind her ear, witnessing as Irene winced in her sleep.

--

After a dream with tossing and turning, Irene opened her eyes with a glare and heaving breaths. Regaining consciousness of her surroundings proves not to be easy when her head feels like about to be split in two after a restless sleep.

The first thing she sees is the back of her neck. it was connected to her arm covered with a red sweater, and in an instant the hold around her confirmed this. Someone was giving her a piggyback, and the woman is swaying here and there, giving Irene what she doesn't know she needs.

"Wake up already."

One look from Byulyi and she can't seem to find the right words. is parched, yes, that must be it. The serpent shrugged. "Nightmare trolls invade you in your sleep. I have to carry you like this so the sway will push them out."

Irene can't tell whether the serpent is joking, and her expression tells her otherwise. "They won't stop until they get to your brain. I have to keep carrying you for a while."

"For how long?"

Byulyi frowned. "It won't take that long…"

Irene circled her arms around Byulyi tighter, holding on and snuggling inside her neck and Byulyi shriveled. "Stop doing that. It tickles. This will be the last time."

Why does she dislike the last sentence so much? Why does this remind her of when she's carried by her mother, the lady of luck? Why does it remind her of home? They are just strangers. "I'm having a bad dream."

Byulyi shrugged. "I know. The monster resides in your head too long, and this will get it out." They look at each other at the same time, Irene's stare is more like confirming whether the serpent is just saying it. Byulyi didn't keep the eye contact long, instead focusing on the digital clock hanging above the TV. "I have to get going soon."

Moon Byulyi will never know how her head will repeat the same question.

"Stay longer. I'll cook."

The serpent tsk-ed. She hurried into the room and placed Irene seated on her own bed but Irene grabbed the hem of her sweater, her eyes locked to Byulyi. "Wait at the dining table. I'll cook some stuff."

--

The serpent was never a big fan of human delicacy. Everything smells and tastes like an idea gone wrong, at least until the ramyun with ham and poached egg served in front of her, and she went down to it ravenously without a second thought. Irene gives her a long look before doing the same with twirling the noodles with her chopsticks, placing it on the spoon and starting eating. The graceful munching was dismissed by Byulyi who happens to be in a zone with her food.

"Is it that good?"

The serpent chooses to continue digging, partly not caring to come up with an answer.

"You can get this everytime you want if you can form a contract with me." Byulyi snorted her ramyun and coughing furiously. She glared with reddened eyes but not without saying a word, choosing to just let everything be. Irene raises an eyebrow and again they continue eating.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Byulyi grumbled through her teeth.

"Why can't you be mine?"

This woman really can't take no for an answer, and Byulyi can just ignore the skipping beat in her chest at the sudden question. Albeit it's rhetorical. "Stop saying it."

"Why do you help me before when you don't want to have anything to do with me?" She touched her bandaged wrist thoughtfully. "I don't understand." Byulyi wiped with a napkin after finishing her meal.

"You don't have to." because she doesn't understand it either. Pulling herself away from Irene becomes such a gargantuan task; they are always at the same place and having a bad time. It's the sick will of the gods. "It's better for us that there will never be another time."

"I don't think that is possible as long as I want that contract."

Irene hears a loud sigh across the table.

"Why would you even want to get tangled when you are lacking nothing in your life?"

"What do you mean?"

"Those people who kept me, they were so bored out of their minds to the point of willing to sell their souls, having a body that doesn't belong to them just for a short time."

Irene let out a short hmph, and Byulyi glared. "Like you?"

Byulyi walked to the kitchen and put the bowls in the sink with a loud clang. She makes a quick dash to the door and snatches her coat off the hanger, not giving any chance for Irene to study her expression.

"I will do everything in my power to avoid another meeting, if I were you." She knew Irene could hear every word. "My advice for you is to do the same."

The door's already swung shut and she's out of Irene's sight.

--

Chirping birds and a bright sky filled with clouds. It's a lovely day to do what the serpent has been waiting for so long; driving a camper van and finding a spot in the woods full of trees she can latch on and rest on. The sun is already high between the clouds when Byulyi stops the van, pulls out portable desks and unfolds a chair, changing to a shirt with lighter fabric.

And even after a 3-hour ride, the nosy bluejay will always be able to locate her. She holds back a sneer when noticing the damn bird hidden between tall bushes nearby. "Don't even move from there, or I'll just cut you on the spot."

The bird let out a long chirp that can be interpreted as mocking based on Byulyi's experience so far. What is it now?

"I will never soil a goddess. It always comes with unbearable consequences, even if Hades demands it." Why is Kisum so persistent about this? But she can guess why. "Either you're with me or you're not, pick your battle."

Within the gleam of blue light, the bluejay transforms into a woman that is shorter than Byulyi, sporting a serious look on her face with folded arms. "That's not fair! You knew that I was bound to you until the souls had been reaped, all of them." Seeing the bluejay in her human form didn't faze the serpent one bit. She steps back into her van, cutting the conversation short. Kisum steps inside to find Byulyi chopping the raw chicken meat into cubes and dumping them into her salad bowl. "Eugh. You're eating that?"

"I'm into veggies these days." She grabs a mayonnaise bottle and sprays the salad with both hands, starts mixing the two up and offers it to Kisum, who rejects it with a frown.

"It's much more nutritious than your useless seeds anyway."

Kisum groaned at the changed topic in the conversation. "She's not him, you know. I don't think fate can just tamper with everything and take her soul without giving you the credit."

Byulyi scoffed. "Because she's a goddess?"

"Born out of a goddess. But now I'm not sure. A goddess' luck should be able to do even herself good once in a while. It's like this woman doesn't even get the slightest amount of what she can inflict on everything around her. The luck is starting to wear out."

Once again it reminded Byulyi of various occurrences that happened after their first meeting. Always at the wrong place and wrong time. Kisum nodded twice, unaware of Byulyi changing expression at every second, deep in thought.

"It doesn't matter. The more vulnerable she is, the bigger possibility she can keep you."

Byulyi doesn't say a word when her bones cracked and melted into muscles and scraped into blue and green, assuming a bigger siz