Rise of an Empress

Reincarnation

Concubine Seo wakes up to a weird sound. The sound was disturbing her sleep continuously, although she covered her ears with her hands. Opening her eyes she tries to remember where she is? In the temple? Or in concubines' palace?

Before her mind clears, she feels a warm wet kiss on her neck, "My Queen's sleep has broken."

Concubine Seo immediately gets up. She can understand that she is in the Royal Palace of the Emperor. How did she end up here?

"Your Imperial Majesty!"

"Are you not feeling well?" Emperor Sinjong asks with confusion.

"I am sorry, Your Imperial Majesty. Suddenly I got startled thinking where I am. What's that sound?" She says formally.

"It's raining."

"Raining? The ritual has been accepted then..." She gets down from the bed and steps towards the door. She passes the corridor to go on the covered premise of the royal palace. Sinjong keeps following her.

Yes, It's raining heavily. Concubine Seo stands on the covered premise. Emperor Sinjong stands behind her.

"My Dragon Goddess has brought the rain," he whispers in her ear.

"She is so kind," Concubine Seo stretches her hand to touch the rain.

"Can't you remember our moments?" The Emperor asks suddenly. He is feeling something has cut away.

"Your Imperial Majesty!" She turns back facing him.

"Yes?"

"I... I can't remember anything that happened after I entered. I was worshiping until my mind blacked out on me. Everything went well, didn't it? I didn't do anything wrong!" Concubine Seo asks with fear.

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It's almost 3 days after the ritual was completed. The last thing of the ritual was that the people of Goryeo witnessed Emperor Sinjong holding Concubine Seo in his arms and walking out of the temple, while it was raining. The Emperor and the Concubine left the temple on a palanquin. From that time it's been raining heavily for a total of 3 days and 3 nights.

The rain stopped after leaving a fertile Goryeo which is ready for harvest now. It has not only removed the drought but also has made the legacy of Emperor Sinjong's ruling so strong.

Concubine Seo is still staying in the royal palace until then. The Emperor hasn't allowed her to leave the royal palace. She understands that something between them has changed. He has become more quiet and soft to her than before. Right now she is sitting in front of him. She bites her lower lip in the awkwardness of silence between them.

"Let's go to the Dragon Temple today. We should pray frequently in the main temple from now on," Emperor Sinjong tries to find any change in the brown eyes of Concubine Seo.

"Always what His Imperial Majesty thinks is the best decision for me," Concubine Seo replies shortly while pouring some more chrysanthemum tea on the Emperor's empty cup.

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Concubine Seo is now talking with the little children monks of the temple. They are trained from childhood to being an ideal monk when they reach maturity. Emperor Sinjong can see this view while sitting in Chief Monk's room.

Concubine Seo is smiling widely while talking with them. Can she not remember anything? Why? And why can only Sinjong remember?

"Is rebirth or reincarnation possible?" He comes to the point by asking the chief monk.

"Your Imperial Majesty, the question you have asked is really beyond explanation. But I will try to quench your thirst with my limited knowledge. The answer is possible. It's said that the Emperors of Goryeo are reborn forms of dragon warriors who took part in the battle for the Dragon Goddess," The chief monk says.

"What's the relationship between the Dragon Goddess and the Dragon Warrior?" The Emperor doesn't take time to ask the next question.

"Just the relationship of a creature and Goddess. The Dragon Goddess is immortal and the dragon warrior is mortal. Dragon warriors were creatures who used to be the guardians of nature on behalf of the Dragon Goddess until the battle with the underworld occurred."

"Occurred? They don't exist anymore, do they?"

"Dragon warriors are usually reborn as emperors like His Imperial Majesty," Chief Monk smiles.

"Can the Dragon Goddess be reborn too?" Shin Jong questions more precisely.

"Why will she be reborn, when she is immortal? With all the values, a goddess can't be reborn in the mere human body. Part of her soul can be, but never her full soul. It can be called a partial rebirth. Replacement is more appropriate than rebirth. But the goddess of fate controls the human's future. Why would one goddess sacrifice herself in the hand of another one? There remains a lot of insecurities for a goddess like her when the God of darkness is now dominating a lot more places in the world than before. "

"I think somewhere I heard a dragon warrior fell in love with the Dragon Goddess," Emperor Sinjong tries to throw a tat in the dark.

"Who won't fall in love with the Dragon Goddess? There's some myth about it. Once, the Goddess flew down from heaven for a dragon warrior. But the warrior died in a battle with the underworld to protect the Dragon Goddess. The underworld tried to take the Goddess to build up control over the sky and ground. Although the dragons won the battle, a lot of dragon warriors died in it. The Goddess flew away in melancholy of losing her favorite warrior to her heaven again. From then the dragons started to evolve into Serpentine creatures. Do you want to see it?" 

"Can I see?" The Emperor asks with surprise.

"The story is engraved on the temple wall."

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"I never noticed such engraved arts on the temple wall," Concubine Seo gets surprised seeing the handmade arts on the temple.

"It's an ancient monk's quarter. It has turned into a temple now. I didn't even notice before. They have drawn a lot of stories here. That time it was easier to engrave stories," Emperor Sinjong explains.

"These are so beautiful. But it's a bit hard for me to understand. Can I touch them?" She says in a happy voice.

"You can. The dragon with the largest wing is the Goddess. Only the Dragon Goddess has bigger wings so that she can fly up to heaven."

Concubine Seo keeps admiring the arts on the temple wall, while Emperor Sinjong keeps admiring her.

What he can remember is that she cried on his lap as she couldn't protect her warrior in her previous life.

In her previous life, she was the Dragon Goddess and he was her Dragon Warrior. She flew down from heaven for him.

Now she has flown down from heaven again. She has tried to be lower status than him in this life so that they can live together at least for once by sacrificing her unpredictable future to a fateful goddess. Is he worthy to receive such love from her?

"I will protect you no matter what. Let's live and die together this time," The Emperor mumbles while looking at his precious concubine.

Some words are floating in his brain.

"Our past is history… 

Our future is a mystery… 

Today is a gift…"

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