While they prepared for the process of breaking their spiritual tablets, Luo Mingyu and Pan Jiaying took the opportunity to ask a few clarifying questions.

“How long will it take to recover?”

Eunae shook her head at Luo Mingyu.

“I don’t know. It could be just a few days, but most likely longer. We haven’t really had time to extensively study the regenerative capabilities of the soul.”

Pan Jiaying frowned and crossed her arms.

“How do we know this will even work? What if we go through all of this and it doesn’t even break the tablets?”

“My sister has a solution for that—it’s part of our preparations here.”

Eunae gestured at the complicated array of formations she, Yoshika, and Misun had been working on.

“Misun’s formation is a soul resonance spell commonly used in Goryeo for...er...”

Yoshika laughed as Eunae trailed off, casting nervous glances at her. She swept Eui’s hair aside to reveal the scars on her forehead.

“It’s used to create magical brands that keep exiled criminals out of cities. Like the one on me. Li Meili can give you the whole story, Pan. Luo will have to earn it, though.”

Eunae breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.

“Yes, exactly. Only she knows how to read it, but Misun should be able to tell us when we’ve done enough.”

Luo Mingyu looked over the formation array with interest.

“I see...and these other circles?”

“Yoshika’s soul sight formation will let her monitor the process to ensure nothing goes awry—I’ll be making use of it as well in order to aid my own control. The last one is another failsafe—Ja Yun and I came up with it together.”

Ja Yun glanced up from her own work on the formation and smiled stiffly. Her geas was starting to wear off, and there were cracks in her calm facade.

“It’s a sort of feedback spell. If Eunae loses control of her power, the resulting surge of mana should be enough to trip the formation and automatically force Eunae to cut off any connection.”

Luo Mingyu whistled appreciatively.

“It’s good to know that my impending mutilation is being approached with due caution.”

Li Meili raised a hand, frowning.

“Yeah, about that—how bad is this ‘mutilation’ going to be? Being able to recover is all well and good, but what will it be like until then?”

Eunae grimaced.

“Well...I can’t say for certain, but it should actually ease up remarkably throughout the healing process. Immediately after the procedure, though? I...predict that they will be borderline non-functional for a short time.”

Pan Jiaying swallowed nervously and Yoshika sighed.

“We’d like to make it clear that this is entirely optional. If you don’t want to go through this, then we’re willing to just let you go.”

Seong Misun immediately came storming over.

“We’re what?!”

Yoshika met her glare defiantly.

“We’re letting them go! They are not our captives or hostages. Pan Jiaying is a friend, and Luo Mingyu risked everything to make Jung’s elixir even though he thought we were just going to kill him afterwards anyway. It’s not right to force them to go through this! If that means jeopardizing our mission, then so be it. We will take responsibility for our own actions.”

Misun scoffed.

“That’s very cheap of you to say when it’s not your decision to make, isn’t it?”

Master Ienaga stepped between them.

“No, it’s mine. I was worried that my students were about to make another grave error, but I’m pleased to see that they are capable of learning from their mistakes after all. I support Yoshika’s decision—if either of our guests wish to leave, then they are free to go and have my personal guarantee of their safety until we can escort them to the nearest settlement.”

Seong Misun hissed her response through clenched teeth.

“Ienaga Yumi, you are overstepping. While I respect your wisdom and experience, you have neither the authority nor the strength to command me.”

Ienaga calmly rested her hand on the hilt of her blade.

“You are welcome to test that, Your Highness. However, until then, my decision is final.”

Misun growled angrily and stomped off without another word. Luo Mingyu whispered nervously as he watched her go.

“Erm, will she be alright to perform the ritual?”

Ienaga gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

“She’ll be fine—at least half of her attitude is performative. She can’t be seen to be too acquiescent, but she’s not yet old enough to know how to make concessions gracefully.”

“I can fucking hear you!”

Master Ienaga ignored Misun’s protest and regarded Luo Mingyu appraisingly.

“So—it’s your decision. Stay or go.”

Luo Mingyu chewed it over for a long moment.

“You know, this entire band is not at all what I expected. Not long ago I’d have jumped at the opportunity to escape—it wouldn’t even be a consideration. But now...I must say, I’m too intrigued to back away. I always was a little too curious for my own good.”

Master Ienaga smiled and turned to Pan Jiaying.

“And you?”

Pan Jiaying just shrugged.

“I already made up my mind. If he’s going through with it, then so am I. This better actually be reversible, though.”

For all their preparation, the actual process of breaking the tablets was somewhat anticlimactic. Luo Mingyu went first, standing in the middle of the formation array and holding Eunae’s gaze while she uttered commands.

“For the next thirty seconds, try to stay as absolutely still as possible. Lift your right arm, lift your left arm, take one step forward, spin in a circle...”

And so on. Eunae simply dictated contradictory orders over and over while holding her power back from causing any damage that would be too deep to heal naturally. Placing time limits was another safety mechanism, while limiting her commands to simple actions would—in theory—prevent any severe personality changes, though they really had no idea what to expect.

Halfway through the second set of orders, Misun held up a hand.

“That does it. The signature no longer matches. Ancestors be damned, little sister, you actually pulled it off.”

Eunae quickly closed her eyes and lowered her veil while Yoshika stepped forward to inspect Luo Mingyu.

“Hey, Luo, how are you doing? You feel okay?”

The alchemist turned to face her and blinked slowly.

“I...yes?”

“What’s your name?”

“Luo Mingyu.”

He was answering better than they’d anticipated, but she’d need to go through the entire list they’d planned to make sure that nothing was amiss.

“Do you still remember our name?”

“Yes.”

He stared at her blankly, without elaborating. Okay, maybe not doing as well as she thought.

“What is our name?”

“Which one?”

“My real name.”

Luo Mingyu blinked, looked at Jia’s ears, then nodded slowly.

“Lee Jia.”

Yoshika ran him through a long list of questions to establish that his memory was unaffected, but as she went further, the oddities of Luo Mingyu’s condition became more evident.

He didn’t volunteer any information that wasn’t explicitly asked of him, and almost never acted of his own accord. When asked for an opinion about anything other than Eunae, he’d just get confused. Meanwhile...

“What is your opinion of Eunae?”

Luo Mingyu just smiled contentedly and refused to answer.

“Okay, well he’s not totally insensate or anything just...sort of empty? We’re guessing that as he recovers, his personality will slowly return to normal and he'll regain some autonomy, but until then we’re going to have to sort of herd him around.”

Misun snorted.

“Honestly, this is still better than some of Eunae’s nursemaids got, and their conditions were permanent. Well, farmer girl, you’re up. Last chance to back out if you don’t want that to be you.”

Pan Jiaying took a steadying breath.

“It’s just temporary, right? He’ll get better?”

Yoshika nodded.

“As far as we can tell, yes. The damage to his soul is extensive, but surface level—we can already see signs of recovery.”

Pan Jiaying turned and took Li Meili’s hands in hers, looking into her eyes solemnly.

“You’ll take care of me while I’m all loopy, right?”

Li Meili nodded.

“Of course. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Pan Jiaying smiled and hugged Li Meili.

“Then I’m ready!”

With their potential pursuers stymied, the group was able to get on the move again, though they kept a fairly slow pace at first in order to keep a close eye on Jung, Luo Mingyu, and Pan Jiaying.

Jia tried to spend as much time with her big sister as possible, though Jung struggled to stay awake for longer than an hour at a time. Meanwhile, for the first few days Luo Mingyu and Pan Jiaying needed constant supervision, but within a week they both started to regain their autonomy and could handle basic things like following the group or feeding themselves.

Eunae tried to keep her distance from them as much as possible, partly out of fear that her presence would worsen their conditions, and partly out of simple shame. Rika thought her concerns were silly, and told her as much when she sat next to Eunae under the shade of a tree to give her news about their progress.

“Eun-eun, they’re not going to catch fire if you talk to them. If you keep avoiding them all the time, they’re just going to end up with weird impressions of you.”

Eunae sighed.

“I doubt I could make their impressions of me any worse. Every time I see their vacant stares, all I can think about is the fact that I did that to them. And then when they do notice me...those smiles.”

She shuddered, and Rika wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.

“Okay, I’ll admit that part is a little creepy, but you can work on it now, right? Honestly, I’m a little jealous that it was Yoshika that inspired you to break through like that.”

“She’s...very good at pushing, yes.”

Rika sucked in through her teeth.

“Ouch. A rare backhanded compliment from Eun-eun—I thought you’d be happier to have made progress.”

“It’s hard to be pleased with an enhanced ability to enslave people, Rika.”

“Hmm, isn’t the whole point that you didn’t, though? Sure, they’re all spaced out and weird right now, but they’re going to get better. And they’re getting better a lot faster than we expected, too! Eui says they’ll probably start acting more like themselves again pretty soon, with a full recovery within a month. That’s pretty good, right?”

Eunae frowned, leaning harder into Rika for comfort.

“But until then, they are my thralls. I can’t feel good about this, Rika. I can’t let myself feel good about this.”

“Why not? The spiritual tablets were pretty much chaining them to their sect, and you broke that. In a way, you actually freed them, didn’t you?”

“Overriding one set of shackles with another...it didn’t feel right when I did it to Jia, either. No matter how temporary it may be. In fact, temporary control is almost worse.”

Rika hummed thoughtfully.

“Because you worry that you’ll be tempted to use it? That temporary effects will be easier to justify, and lead you down a slippery slope?”

“Yes! Exactly! Yoshika doesn’t understand, I don’t think. Both of them are so focused on what’s in front of them right now, that they don’t know how to look forward. To them it’s more power, more control—I’m stronger than I was, and that can only be good. They promised that if I lost sight of myself, that they’d be there to pull me back, but what if I can’t be pulled back? What—what if I don’t want to be?”

Eunae leaned her head on Rika’s shoulder and swished her tails self-consciously as the silence stretched on. She knew Rika was just considering the question seriously, but Eunae grew more worried by the second until Rika finally answered.

“I don’t know about any of that, to be honest. There’s not a lot of people I’d trust with a power like yours, but I’m glad it’s you. Just the fact that you’re so worried about using your power responsibly is a good sign that I can trust you to do so. But, if it helps...”

Rika reached over with her free hand and lifted Eunae’s chin. Butterflies exploded in her stomach as Eunae realized what was happening. Without hesitation, Rika pushed Eunae’s veil aside and gave her a long kiss on the lips.

Eunae melted into Rika’s embrace. It was only the second time they’d kissed, and the first had been so sudden that she’d barely even been able to process it. When Rika finally drew back, Eunae chased after her for a fraction of a second before blushing and sitting back again, trying to will her fluttering heart to settle down.

Rika grinned down at her.

“If you become a mad tyrant I’m definitely breaking up with you.”

Eunae erupted into laughter. It had caught her completely off-guard in a way that only Rika could manage, and she couldn’t hold it in. She let herself go and fell into a long-lasting fit of giggles that was probably the least princess-like thing she’d done in well over a decade. It was just such a silly, Rika-like thing to say.

By the time she managed to regain her composure, Eunae was lying with her head on Rika’s lap, wiping the tears from her eyes after laughing so hard her stomach hurt.

“Thank you, Rika.”

Rika beamed down at her.

“Any time. Anything else I can help with while I’m here?”

Eunae closed her eyes and lifted her chin.

“Give me another kiss.”

“Well, if you insist...”