About fifteen minutes had passed.

From the edge of the clearing where I sat, the savory aroma of grilled pork belly and the subtle scent of charring meat drifted toward me.

It came from the burning pig—set aflame by Hyang’s venom.

Looking up at the lantern, I noticed it was giving off a steady glow. Maybe because there wasn’t any wind tonight.

‘It should burn until morning, right? It’d be a problem if it went out halfway. It needs to keep burning at least until that thing wears itself out.’

Hyang’s venom burned through blood. When injected into a living creature, it spread quickly and ignited in a flash, but with a dead animal, it maintained a slow and steady flame.

Judging by the mouse I’d experimented on yesterday, the fire shouldn’t die before dawn.

Even the mouse had burned for three or four sijin, so with a pig, it’d surely last till morning.

Actually, it had to.

I hadn’t had time to test it on larger animals, but if the flame died early, there’d be no chance for a proper “conversation.”

Flap flap.

The sound of the Blood-Blossom Dream Illusion Butterfly’s fluttering wings still echoed softly in my ears.

Though it had been about thirty minutes, the creature was still circling the lantern.

Then it happened.

It finally settled against the lantern.

‘Oh? Is it going to rest?’

But the moment it landed, its wings slowly opened and closed, only to suddenly start vibrating rapidly.

As it fluttered, crimson powder scattered in a glowing mist around the lantern.

So it wasn’t resting—it hadn’t given up.

Insects, being cold-blooded, can’t regulate their body temperature. When the weather gets chilly, their activity drops.

But butterflies, unlike most insects, can still fly in cool weather. They vibrate their wings to warm up the flight muscles in their thorax, increasing their metabolic rate.

So what the butterfly was doing now was like warming up an engine before a race.

Flap!

The moment its wingbeats hit their peak, it launched from the lantern, shooting toward the village.

It was just like a sprinter making a running start.

‘No way. Is it really a spirit beast?’

The Blood-Blossom Dream Illusion Butterfly rocketed away from the lantern, heading straight for the village.

Its body shot forward—out of the trap, or so I feared.

For a second, I thought I’d underestimated a spirit beast.

But then, just before it could escape, its flight began to curve upward—then sharply turned back toward the lantern, drawing a wide loop in the sky.

One of the advanced maneuvers in aerial combat: the loop.

‘There it is.’

Relief settled in my chest.

The butterfly completed the loop and returned to the lantern.

And then it happened again.

Three times in total, it flew away from the lantern and circled back.

A butterfly of lesser will would’ve given up and clung to the lantern by now.

But not this one—it paused between attempts, reassessing its surroundings each time.

It even clung to the lantern and observed its surroundings before flapping off again, sometimes trying to rise straight upward into the sky instead of toward the village.

Still... it was all in vain.

At one point, it looked like it would finally escape—but inevitably, it circled back.

It clearly knew something was wrong with how it was flying, but due to Dorsal Light Response, it couldn’t break free of the lantern’s gravitational pull.

Flutter.

I was stroking Hyang’s sleeping head when I heard the soft flutter again.

Looking up, I saw the butterfly had once again clung to the lantern.

Was it finally exhausted?

Its antennae trembled, and then, with a deep exhale, its belly rose and fell—like it had sighed.

‘Is it giving up?’

It looked like it had resigned itself.

I was about to speak to it, maybe comfort it... when suddenly it leapt off the lantern and landed on the ground.

‘What!?’

It crouched there for a moment, shivering—then moved one trembling leg forward.

It had started to crawl.

Crawl!

‘No way. It's trying to crawl out of here?’

Even I hadn’t expected that.

Dorsal Light Response only applies during flight—so crawling was a loophole. It could actually escape this way.

I considered stepping in to block it, but I hesitated.

Its shivering legs and trembling antennae made it clear—this wasn’t just fatigue. It was anger.

My instincts, sharpened after dealing with Hwa-eun and Lady Seol, told me that stepping in now would not end well.

It wasn’t warming up or panicking.

It was seething.

Humiliated.

A butterfly, born to fly, was crawling along the ground—it had to feel like the deepest disgrace.

And, as luck would have it, it was crawling straight toward me.

It didn’t seem to realize I was hiding in the underbrush at the edge of the clearing.

My hand, which had been gently stroking Hyang’s head, froze.

As it got closer, I found myself at a loss—should I say something? If it got any closer, the tension would be too awkward.

Actually... I was kinda scared of what might happen if I didn’t say something now.

So I stepped forward from the brush and addressed it.

“Uh, hey there.”

It was barely five meters away when it stopped cold at the sound of my voice.

And then—the world began to change.

—Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch...

A strange sound echoed out, and the landscape around us began to shift.

First, a lake.

Centered on the butterfly, the surroundings suddenly transformed into a vast black lake, rippling beneath my feet.

Even the ground I stood on became the center of a watery abyss.

If I hadn’t realized this was an illusion, I might’ve panicked and started flailing.

‘Whoa. This is insane.’

The visual clarity was like a full 4D theater experience.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Even though the butterfly powder didn’t reach the grass beside me and the illusion wavered slightly there, it was vivid enough that I reached out and touched the ground just to make sure.

When I didn’t react, the lake around me began to shift—becoming a mountain gorge.

Then a bamboo forest, then a ravine... until eventually, the entire area morphed into a burning forest.

Flames roared sky-high and seemed to surge toward me.

I could feel the heat licking at my skin.

But when I still didn’t react, the world slowly returned to normal.

And this time, the butterfly itself began to fade into the surroundings—camouflaging itself.

But I knew it hadn’t disappeared. The grass beneath it was being pressed down as it moved—not toward me, but to the side.

“Hey. Can we talk for a second?”

I took a step in its direction and tried again.

The grass flattened silently under its weight.

“I said, hold on. Just talk to me for a bit, will you?”

The creature kept moving without a word, so I pointed at the lantern and said,

“If you just talk to me for a moment, I’ll turn that off. So please, just for a moment...”

It was at that moment.

The creature’s body became visible again, and it glanced between me and the lantern.

It must not have realized I was the one who lit the lantern, but it seemed to finally understand after hearing what I said.

Its trembling antennae flickered.

—Poo-hwak!

A cloud of fine powder burst into the air like mist.

The fine powder densely engulfed the surroundings.

So it could move the powder independently, not just to create illusions? I hadn’t considered that.

But it wasn’t like the powder had any physical force, tearing the body apart or being especially toxic.

Still, the sky around the creature turned stormy, and lightning crashed down.

There was no sound, but my body still flinched.

It was the kind of ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) scene that said, “I’m mad now.”

At that moment, I couldn’t help but think—

‘Did I mess up?’

As expected.

The creature leapt at me and slammed into me.

***

The creature leapt and landed right on me.

The moment its antenna touched my forehead, I found myself in a strange forest.

‘Is this a mindscape?’

At first, I thought it was a mental realm.

But if it were, Hwa-eun or the other kids would be here—but they weren’t.

Even when I tried speaking to them mentally, I couldn’t communicate.

There was a dreamy, hazy sensation—it didn’t quite feel like a mindscape.

‘Wait... is this a dream? Is this really the famed Butterfly Dream!?’

Come to think of it, the Tang Clan’s Heavenly Venom Compendium said Bloodfire Dream Butterfly could show dreams.

At first, I thought it was just a misrecorded ability—maybe someone confused it with its illusions—but maybe it really could show actual dreams.

I was still stunned by the idea of a butterfly showing dreams when...

The view blurred, and a woman appeared.

She wore a striking red dress—deeper than the red favored by Hwa-eun. It was the color of blood.

Her hair and eyebrows were black, but tinged with red.

Her dress looked like something an empress would wear in a historical drama—flowing and translucent.

She had sharp features and a dangerously alluring charm.

‘Oho...’

But her deep crimson eyebrows were furrowed.

“Ah... hello?”

Her pressure was so intense that I instinctively used formal speech. In that moment, an image of the lantern flickered beside her.

She flicked her foot at it.

It looked like she was asking, “You did that?”

I nodded.

“Yes, I did that.”

The woman stomped over with a furious expression and pointed at the lantern.

Clenching her fists, she gestured from me to the lantern repeatedly.

Probably threatening me to take it down right now or else. But since this was a dream, she couldn’t do anything directly.

Trying to calm the Bloodfire Dream Butterfly down, I spoke.

“Let’s calm down first. I didn’t do it with bad intentions. I was worried.”

“?”

She paused, confused by the word worried.

So I started to explain in earnest.

“Well, the thing is, you’re putting everyone to sleep and sucking their blood, right? If this keeps up, a lot of people will come thinking you're dangerous... and then, well, they might try to hurt you.”

At that, butterfly wings appeared behind her back.

The woman now looked like a fae with fluttering wings.

She flapped them, as if to say, I can fly, I’ll be fine.

I shook my head.

“There are martial artists in Murim who are great with bows, and masters who can fly through the air. It won’t be so easy.”

At my words, she tilted her head and reached out to touch my forehead.

Then, a projection of some of my memories began to ripple beside her.

Like Gungbong shooting arrows at deer from afar, or martial artists flying through the air with light footwork.

After seeing a few of these, Bloodfire Dream Butterfly widened her eyes, looking slightly shocked.

Then she sighed, her shoulders drooped, and she pointed to the side.

The projected memories disappeared, replaced by a mountain valley.

It seemed she was saying she understood and would return.

The lantern image vanished.

She was saying she would go back to the mountains if I took it down.

Just as Bloodfire Dream Butterfly turned to leave, I quickly called out,

“Um... if you ever get bored, want to come with me, noona?”

She was fading, but stopped at my question.

As she turned back, I explained that I had other creatures at home, and if she wanted, I could give her blood, too.

Bloodfire Dream Butterfly came closer and touched my forehead again.

As images of my other kids appeared, she looked surprised.

Then she projected an image of a burly man... and a smaller, younger version of me.

Then a vivid image of red blood.

She seemed to be asking, But aren’t you too small to give blood?

Thinking back, the men she drank from were always strong adults.

She must have been carefully choosing people she could feed on without killing.

“We’ve got lots of strong people at home.”

When I said that, she looked curious.

Yep—nothing beats food when it comes to winning someone over.

In the wild, food is survival.

Life starts and ends with securing food.

Digging through my memories, I found Peng Clan’s Gwiseong-hyung, and Bloodfire Dream Butterfly looked delighted—until I told her he wasn’t part of my household.

She looked a little disappointed.

But when she realized the Tang Clan had plenty of sturdy men, she nodded.

In the distance, the Nine-Tiered Gate of the Tang Clan shimmered into view.

She was saying she’d come with me.

I smiled and responded.

“Welcome, noona. Now... what should we call you? Oh right—we already have Cheongwol, so let’s name you Jeokwol.”

At my words, Bloodfire Dream Butterfly nodded eagerly, and my vision blurred.

When I opened my eyes, the first light of dawn was breaking, and the rooster’s crow echoed through the village.

It seemed everyone was finally waking from Bloodfire Dream Butterfly’s sleep.