Chapter 826

It was a corpse.

It could only be a corpse. Humans are not resilient enough to still be breathing after reaching such a state.

However.

“Ughhh…”

The faint sobbing sound coming from it—no, from *them*—made Ima-ra instinctively cover her mouth and take a step back.

Her limbs felt as if they had been dipped in icy water, and something inside her face seemed to flow down into her chest.

“Ugh…?!”

A wave of nausea rose from deep within her stomach, and Ima-ra bent slightly, letting out a suppressed groan.

‘What… is this…?!’

It was a horrifying sight. Even for her, as a blood relative of Ai-shan Gi-or, who had seen countless human corpses, this was unbearable to the point of making her gag.

“Grrrr…”

“Ugh… grrr…”

“Grooo…”

The sounds were like those of strangled beasts. Their skin was completely peeled off, their mouths sewn shut, making it impossible to recognize their original appearances. They sat in a circle in the middle of the underground prison, emitting weak groans.

Instead of eyes, purple gemstones were embedded in their eye sockets, and rotten pus oozed out like bloody tears. Their limbs, wrapped in something like ropes, were as thin as withered tree branches.

Their ears and noses were cut off, and the hollow holes were overgrown with green moss and pale mushrooms. It was a gruesome and disgusting sight.

If that were all, Ima-ra might have judged them as corpses at first glance. She might have thought they were humans tortured to death.

But if one witnessed the state of their abdomens, splayed open like animals on a dissection table, no one in the world could believe they were still alive.

The organs that should have been inside their stomachs were completely gone.

Instead, their abdomens were filled with something long and writhing.

– Tssss…

The thing that replaced their organs opened its mouth and let out a small cry.

Its forked tongue flicked in the air, and a pair of sharp fangs tore off chunks of flesh from the corpse-like beings and swallowed them.

Snakes.

Instead of intestines, their lower abdomens were filled with coiled snakes, gnawing at their hosts and squirming.

So where did their original organs go?

There was no need to search. The rope-like things binding the half-corpses in the prison, emitting a foul stench, proved their identity.

Living corpses, bound by their own intestines, turned into nests for snakes.

Beneath the feet of the half-corpses forming a circle were strange symbols and patterns reeking of blood. Around them were scattered unidentified animal bones, crow feathers, tree roots, and jewels.

And in the very center…

On a massive altar shaped like a giant hand with fingers spread toward the ceiling, made by stitching together hundreds of human hands…

– Thump! Thump!

Something wrapped in crimson curtains pulsed like a giant’s heart. Its ominous aura was so intense that just looking at it sent shivers down one’s spine.

‘Is this… sorcery? Why… why are such things in Mother’s royal bedchambers…?!’

Ima-ra’s pupils trembled in shock.

A horrifying, blasphemous, and surreal scene. Even to her, who knew nothing of sorcery, it was unmistakably the work of dark magic.

Not the kind of sorcery used by Westerners to heal or summon fire and ice, but something far more vile, dark, and sinister—literally the traces of cursed sorcery.

‘Was Mother… a sorceress…?!’

Ima-ra trembled as if the ground beneath her was collapsing. It was hard to believe, but the evidence was right before her eyes.

She finally understood why her mother, Meiharin, had been so frantically busy and why she had been so confident in her victory against Targien.

She also understood why some tribal Khans, who had been inexplicably loyal to Meiharin and Sahallyeon, had obeyed them like slaves.

A sorceress. A blasphemer who defiled both the living and the dead, said to bring ruin to everything in the grasslands. A public enemy who, once discovered, must be eradicated along with their lineage.

That was the true nature of her mother, Meiharin.

—

Having discovered Meiharin’s secret, Ima-ra immediately fled the palace and went on the run.

The fact that Ima-ra had entered the underground prison without Meiharin’s permission would soon reach Meiharin herself.

Ima-ra knew that if Meiharin, who had hidden her true nature even from her own daughter, found out about this, she could only imagine the worst for her safety.

‘…I’ll die. No, my soul might be taken, and I’ll become a slave. Or even if that doesn’t happen, if others find out, someday…!’

Any trust she had in her mother had long been erased by the horrifying scene in the prison. Fear born of distrust and ignorance pushed her forward like an arrow.

That was the reason Ima-ra left Ordos and embarked on a desperate escape.

—

Ima-ra’s first attempt to flee the palace was cut short within three days.

Not by Meiharin’s pursuers, as she had feared, but by Targien’s scouts, who had captured her while patrolling and found her to be a mysterious rider.

The scouts, who had served in the enemy army for years, immediately recognized her identity and tied her up tightly before presenting her to their lord, Targien.

When Targien received the report that Meiharin’s golden child had been captured wandering the grasslands without any escort, he scoffed, saying it made no sense…

“…It’s true. Huh. Unbelievable.”

After seeing Ima-ra dragged before him, he let out a hollow laugh and had no choice but to commend his men.

“Now, what on earth made you leave the palace and get caught? If it were Amin, I might understand, but I never thought you, Ima-ra, would be so foolish as to not understand the current situation.”

His tone was light, as if joking with a long-lost sister, but Targien’s eyes were filled with murderous intent, and a cold sneer hung on his lips.

He looked like a dog staring down trapped prey.

“Ugh! Ugh!”

Ima-ra, bound and gagged, chewed on the gag and let out incomprehensible cries. Sweat mixed with dirt dripped down her distorted face.

Targien chuckled at her state and gestured for his men to remove the gag.

“Take off the gag. Let’s see what she has to say.”

“Yes!”

A warrior from the enemy army, who had been holding a knife to Ima-ra’s back, bent down and removed the gag from her mouth.

“Puh…!”

Freed from the gag, Ima-ra bent her head and gasped for air before glaring straight at Targien and speaking.

“What a shame to reunite like this, Brother Targien. Since you’ve removed the gag, how about untying these ropes too? My arms are going numb.”

Her tone was sharp, mixed with displeasure, hostility, and despair.

“Call me Khan Targien. Ever since that witch Meiharin and that snake Sahallyeon took over Ordos, any blood ties between us have long been severed.”

“…Well, if you’re hostile to me because of my mother and Sahallyeon, I’d like to tell you there’s no need. I left Ordos because I didn’t want to be lumped in with them.”

Targien’s eyes showed a flicker of curiosity at Ima-ra’s response.

“What do you mean? Are you saying you’ve betrayed your mother?”

“Well, yes. If you’re curious, I can tell you, but I’d like some privacy first. It’s not something to discuss in front of others.”

“Hmm…”

After stroking his chin in thought, Targien made a decision and dismissed his men, then pressed Ima-ra for the reason she had left the palace.

“Alright, speak now. I’ve sent my men away, as you wished.”

“…Before that, could you swear not to harm me? You look like you might kill me after hearing my story, and it’s making me nervous.”

Ima-ra let out an exaggerated sigh and shrugged her shoulders.

Despite being captured by Targien, who was now her enemy, she showed no fear, acting boldly and calmly.

Though her back, soaked in cold sweat, betrayed the fact that her bravado was nothing but a desperate act.

“Ha, still as cheeky as ever. Fine. For old times’ sake, if your answer satisfies me, I’ll guarantee your safety.”

Targien, seeing through Ima-ra’s bluff, nodded with a mocking smile.

“However, if you’re planning to spout nonsense—”

“It’s a story that could turn all the neutral tribes against Sahallyeon. How about that? Satisfied?”

“—Hmm. That is indeed an interesting story…”

Targien nodded.

“Alright. I swear as a warrior not to harm you. Now, tell me everything you know.”

“It’s not a long story, but—”

Ima-ra recounted every detail of the hellish scene she had witnessed in the palace’s underground prison.

She explained how Meiharin was preparing some kind of evil sorcery ritual in the underground prison, and how Sahallyeon was aware of it but chose to turn a blind eye.

“Meiharin, a sorceress? And practicing cursed sorcery? That’s quite the amusing story. I’ll have to reward the warriors who captured you handsomely.”

Targien laughed fiercely.

He now had the decisive justification to turn his rival into a public enemy of the grasslands.