The Woven Heart (Part 4)
The very day Jo Yeon received martial prowess from Ha-eun and danced with him.
The two had finally become one pair.
The pair of destined lovers left the sworn village and, with their bodies leaning closer than before, soared away on the flying technique.
From that day onward, they were together always.
Before, only their bodies had been together; now their hearts were completely woven together as well.
Again, the two spent years together, slaying youkai and carving love ever deeper.
At the same time, both grew even more.
Ha-eun’s martial prowess soared with Jo Yeon, rising higher and higher toward the ultimate of Five Qi Consorting with the Origin.
Since Jo Yeon had become truly partnered with Ha-eun, the framework of the consciousness technique he was creating had taken a nearly complete shape.
Tsutsutsutsutsu—
“How beautiful…”
Ha-eun smiled as he watched Jo Yeon refine the consciousness technique.
The concrete form of the consciousness manifested as threads, like those of a living creature, spreading in every direction.
And Jo Yeon’s threads shimmered with a purplish hue, shaped by his current state of mind, and at times even looked like tentacles.
The consciousness threads especially connected to the seven tattoos sprouting on Jo Yeon’s face, making them seem even more intertwined with him.
Recently, with two of the seven patterns merging into one, Jo Yeon’s face appeared closely linked to the tentacles.
The sight was strangely eerie, yet the consciousness threads were quite beautiful, and the man at their center burned like the flame of consciousness itself—an immortal.
After settling the consciousness technique, Jo Yeon removed his mask and met Ha-eun’s gaze.
From now on, Ha-eun no longer wore the mask.
Perhaps he wanted to see each other’s faces more closely.
“Hmph, shameful. It’s still incomplete, and… the threads spouting from my whole body are a bit… unsettling, aren’t they?”
“Um…”
Ha-eun watched Jo Yeon return the consciousness threads to their concrete form and then said, as if thinking for a moment.
“Isn’t it simply a difference in perception?”
“Difference in perception?”
“Yes. It’s unsettling, but… from another viewpoint, it’s truly beautiful. Just as you told me my face was pretty even though I wear the mask.”
“That’s really…”
“Enough. Don’t be shy about it. What I mean is… it’s only unsettling because you view it as unsettling… but in my eyes… it is.”
Ha-eun seemed to think of the words for a moment and then said.
“It looks quite strange and pretty.”
“Hmph…”
Jo Yeon flushed red.
“The word choice… is rather odd. You should study more.”
“No! What does that even mean! I just praised you and now…”
“Huff! Don’t hit me! It hurts because of the difference in physical strength! Never mind that. Let’s go eat. I’ll buy you something delicious to cheer you up…”
The two bantered briefly before heading toward the nearby village.
At the entrance, Ha-eun took Jo Yeon’s hand.
“Huu…”
He was not yet fully accustomed to going without the mask.
The mole-like marks were a special plague that could not be erased even by body reconstruction, and the burn scars had been deliberately left after the first reconstruction so that he would remember the fury of losing Wol-yeon.
Yet now, after vengeance was complete, those burn scars made him feel a great sense of shame.
Still, he took Jo Yeon’s hand, found peace in his heart, and walked with him into the inn while ignoring the stares.
The eyes of the inn’s patrons focused on the two.
A hunchbacked woman with a hideous face covered in burns.
Obviously a pair that would draw attention.
“Hmph!”
Jo Yeon’s displeasure with the gazes rose into killing intent.
His consciousness wave spread in all directions, paling the faces of the patrons inside the inn.
They finished their meals in an instant and fled the inn, and even those strong enough to endure the consciousness wave left their gazes behind.
“Ah, you didn’t have to do all that.”
“Hmph… I had something to say anyway.”
Jo Yeon took Ha-eun to the highest floor of the inn and sat at the spot with the best view.
And he tried to speak but his face flushed and he fumbled.
“Um… so, so…”
Jo Yeon spoke haltingly, panting.
And finally, he took Ha-eun’s hand and said, as if resolved.
“I… want to… be with you…”
Tap—
Before Jo Yeon could finish saying the crucial fact, someone’s hand landed on the table and divided them.
Jo Yeon looked at the opponent with a furious expression, then suddenly felt a chilling realization and shuddered.
“What? By the time we reached here, neither of us noticed?”
A man wearing a straw hat and shabby robes.
And eyes that seemed dazed in a strange way.
A smile that looked unpleasant.
Jo Yeon suddenly felt a fear he had never known before, emanating from the man in front of him.
While Jo Yeon and Ha-eun were frozen stiff.
The man smiled gently and said.
“Fufu… Relax, you two. I only came to hear your names.”
Jo Yeon asked with a trembling voice.
“…Who are you, Senior?”
“Fufu, you may not know. Among the youkai the two of you killed while traveling together, one was… yes. The father.”
Chills ran down Jo Yeon’s spine.
What they had killed together were only youkai.
That meant the man in front was the father of one of the youkai they had slain.
And by Jo Yeon’s knowledge, there was only one youkai capable of such perfect human transformation.
“Transformation period… that is, a youkai of Nascent Soul or higher!”
Jo Yeon trembled like an aspen before the man.
“So this is how it ends…”
Jo Yeon’s eyes had filled with despair when.
Ha-eun panted and said to the man.
“I have no way of knowing who you are, Senior. But I must say this. The youkai we have slain were mostly youkai who enjoyed slaughtering humans far more than necessary. They would occasionally capture a human, wound them, and drive them off, teaching them that humans were not prey. I do not know which youkai you held as a son. But all the ones we killed had good reason for it!”
Jo Yeon looked at her with astonishment.
“No… talking like that in front of a Nascent Soul youkai… I see. You don’t know how high the level of a youkai capable of transformation is…”
But then he noticed the sweat beading on her neck.
Indeed. Even if the man in front was not known to be at a certain level, he was known to be a terrifying existence.
And yet she had answered so boldly.
Jo Yeon saw the echo of Wol-yeon in her appearance.
“Ah… Friend. You have truly… lived within me.”
While Jo Yeon felt the pressure of death in despair and saw Wol-yeon’s echo.
“Fufu… Hahaha!”
The man began to laugh.
The man clapped Jo Yeon and Ha-eun on the shoulders.
“There’s been a misunderstanding. My friends. I came to hold you accountable? No, I came to express gratitude because you helped me dispose of some waste.”
“Waste?”
Jo Yeon and Ha-eun’s eyes twitched.
The man laughed loudly.
“What you two killed were the waste that escaped during my completion of a secret art. To avoid attracting attention from the Jo Clan or Won Clan remnants, I was about to dispose of them when you two lent a hand. I should thank you instead. So I came to ask for your names in gratitude. Please relax. Fufu…”
“…”
“…”
The tension between Jo Yeon and Ha-eun eased a little at the man’s words.
But it did not vanish completely.
The two looked at each other and said.
“My name is Jo Yeon.”
“My name is Wol Ha-eun.”
“…”
But when the man heard their names, he said nothing for a moment.
Jo Yeon and Ha-eun nervously glanced at each other and looked at the man.
Suddenly the man muttered to himself.
But to both of them, the man’s mutter was crystal clear.
“In… is that it? Then what is attached beside me? Hmph… perhaps because my destiny is twisted, something is attached to me…”
The man’s hazy eyes alternated between them.
Ha-eun and Jo Yeon felt chills.
The gaze of a non-sentient object!
“What do you plan to do with us…”
While Jo Yeon felt uneasy.
The man suddenly smiled and said.
“You two friends… are you perhaps lovers?”
At those words, both faces flushed red.
“Um, yes.”
“That is correct, Senior.”
“Haha, I see. Then perhaps… would it not be better if you two severed your ties and parted ways?”
“!?”
At that, Jo Yeon stood up abruptly.
“…That is a shameless remark, but it is impossible.”
“Oh? Why is that?”
“My heart toward my partner cannot be severed. No matter how much you threaten me, Senior, I cannot change it.”
“Hmph…”
At Jo Yeon’s words, the man seemed to hesitate for a moment, then suddenly grabbed Ha-eun’s shoulder and whispered in her ear.
“If you spend tonight with me, I will make you my wife and grant you a life of endless comfort. You will live another thousand years, and you can taste every rare treasure in the world.”
“What nonsense…”
Jo Yeon’s face flushed crimson.
And the man’s eyes split vertically.
“And above all, if you come with me right now… I will not kill you two.”
Ku gu gu gu gu!
An immense pressure enveloped the entire inn.
Jo Yeon was so crushed by the man’s pressure he could barely breathe, and Ha-eun barely managed to resist and gasped for air.
“Come… make your choice. Here, either die a meaningless death, or come with me and both of you will have a happy ending…”
And the next moment.
Jo Yeon’s eyes widened.
Slap!
Ha-eun had slapped the man’s cheek.
From Ha-eun’s entire body, protective energy burned to resist the pressure, and his hand shone with hand-protection.
Ha-eun bit his teeth and spat it out.
“If you are chasing us, Senior, I will die right here. The one who has loved and accepted me with all his heart is here, Jo Yeon. I will never accept the heart of another after receiving one from him. Stop insulting us and kill us already!”
At Ha-eun’s words, the man touched his slapped cheek for a moment, then looked at them with amazed eyes.
And the man smiled gently again.
“How interesting. My secret art must have taken effect, yet emotions came first… Fufu. Then I have one proposal. Do you plan to change your name in the future?”
The man asked while looking at Ha-eun.
She said she did not understand.
“…Well, I don’t know. But one never knows what will happen in front of people.”
“Hmph… very well. Then it is settled. I shall take my leave for now.”
The man removed his hand from their shoulders and turned to leave.
And toward the man’s back, Ha-eun spoke.
“I do not know why you treat us this way, but if you truly wish to receive a wife and love, treat people with sincerity. If you continue this attitude, Senior, you will never receive proper love in the future.”
Stiffly—
At Ha-eun’s words, the man suddenly stopped in place and looked at her.
Chills ran down Jo Yeon and Ha-eun’s spines.
In an instant, the image of the two bodies being torn apart flashed through their minds.
It was a residual image born from the killing intent that swept over them.
“Ah…!”
The man touched his head and laughed.
“I am sorry. For a moment my secret art slipped and killing intent leaked out. Then I wish you both good fortune in the future.”
The man smiled gently and looked at Ha-eun.
“And miss, you should be more careful with your mouth in the future. I hope your future is bright, but you never know. If you speak carelessly, you might meet a fate I cannot even imagine. Fufu…”
After finishing, the man descended the stairs with a laughing face.
For a while, the two stood frozen, unable to move.
Only after a long time, when the stench reached their noses, did they move.
Jo Yeon looked down from the inn.
Of the remaining patrons, almost all had been torn apart and died.
They had died from failing to withstand the man’s earlier pressure.
Jo Yeon and Ha-eun left the inn with stiff faces, without speaking, and fled the village on the flying technique for a long time.
Fortunately, no one chased them.
Yet neither could forget the horrible and ominous feeling they had felt when meeting the man.
“…Did I say something wrong?”
Ha-eun floated in the air with a bitter expression and said.
“I thought you wanted to be loved, so I gave you advice.”
“Hmph… love…”
Jo Yeon shivered, recalling the man’s hazy eyes and his emotionless will.
Since he had begun shaping the framework of the consciousness technique, he had begun to sense the hue of will, however faintly, and could recall the man’s will.
The man’s will was far too cold and heavy, radiating a chilling danger.
Jo Yeon had never felt a will of that level that screamed in such pain before.
“In my opinion, that man was not someone who wanted to be loved, but a madman. He felt completely without heart.”
The two built a stone tower to console the dead in the inn and conversed.
Returning to the inn to collect the corpses was too frightening for that being.
“Is that so… Well, one can have different tastes. By the way, there was something I wanted to say at the inn, but it was a little disturbed in the end…”
“Hm? What was that?”
Finally, after piling all the stones, Ha-eun, who had offered a brief prayer, said to Jo Yeon.
“Can you… spend your entire life with me, Jo Yeon?”
“…”
Jo Yeon laughed at his own foolishness while looking at her.
When he thought about it, it was he who had first wanted to propose.
In the end, she had done it first.
Jo Yeon smiled bitterly and held both her hands and said.
“I will. For a hundred years, or even a thousand, I will be with you… and I will grow old with you and die on the same day.”
“I see… Thank you.”
Ha-eun smiled gently.
Jo Yeon also smiled bitterly and then laughed brightly.
“The formal wedding… shall we hold it there?”
“Where is that?”
“The place where we first exchanged names with each other.”
At Jo Yeon’s words, Ha-eun’s eyes sparkled.
“Ah, that place!”
“Yes. Later, when spring comes and the flowers bloom… then, when a good day is chosen, let us hold our wedding in front of that crabapple tree.”
At Jo Yeon’s words, Ha-eun nodded, blushing.
“That’s good, since it’s autumn now…”
“Half a year from now, the crabapple flowers will bloom. Until then, wait a little and we will choose a good day together and hold the ceremony, even if it’s simple.”
“That’s good. On that day, we will truly become one.”
At Ha-eun’s words, Jo Yeon smiled as if he had obtained the entire world.
Tsutsutsutsu!
Seven-colored patterns appeared on his face.
And the two patterns that had been half-mixed finally merged completely, and finally only six patterns remained on Jo Yeon’s face.
The two began preparing to decide a good day and choose the betrothal gifts.
Jo Yeon threw all his talent into creating the finest work suitable for her, borrowing the blacksmith from the youkai.
And Ha-eun honed his martial arts even more.
Once again, to undergo body reconstruction.
During the first reconstruction, he had left the burn scars to remember Wol-yeon’s vengeance.
But now he had repaid the debt to the level of avenging Wol-yeon.
So now there was no need for the burn scars on her.
To become one with Jo Yeon in the most beautiful form, she poured all her strength into the second body reconstruction.
And one month after the two promised to marry.
Jo Yeon was taken captive by the Jo Clan.
* * *
“Eh…?”
Jo Yeon looked at the Core Formation Grand Elder of the clan with astonishment.
“W-what do you mean?”
“Can’t you understand? You stupid fool. Our headmaster said he was planning a grand scheme! Gold God Thunder Gate, Black Ghost Valley, the Great Prairie Tribe Alliance! The East is too far, so it’s difficult to act, but still, gathering all the nearby forces, a new empire spanning the entire continent will be created.”
“Yes, yes. I understand that. But…”
“But what? You were told you would soon enter a political marriage with one of the Core Formation late-stage geniuses of Black Ghost Valley. So stop wandering and prepare for the wedding!”
“W-wait! Please wait a moment. I… am not suitable for marriage. As you know, I am hunchbacked and have a hideous appearance…”
“But you are a Qi Pattern Master! Originally a Seven Qi Pattern Master, but it evolved into a Six Qi Pattern Master. The Qi Pattern Master bloodline can only be inherited by those who are truly the direct bloodline of the Jo Clan. Moreover, for a Pattern Master to evolve to a higher level, it means even purer talent in the bloodline. Your bloodline is close to the direct line, so the ugliness of your appearance is no problem!”
“H-huh…”
Jo Yeon swallowed.
Direct bloodline?
Has the clan ever once treated him as a direct bloodline?
If they had, he would not have been wandering in the first place.
Jo Yeon decided to appeal not with logic or gain but with emotion.
“I have already made a betrothal with someone else.”
“Hm, who? Is it someone from a major sect?”
“No. Although I am just a martial artist, I have outstanding talent…”
Kwaang!
“Kuhk!”
Jo Yeon coughed up blood from the immense pressure crushing him.
The Core Formation Grand Elder glared at Jo Yeon with a furious expression.
“This… disgusting thing. Making a betrothal with a beast? Not the clan’s collateral line, and a Qi Pattern Master awakening in the Jo Clan’s face making such a betrothal! You, control your mouth! If word of you committing bestiality comes out, the Jo Clan will become the laughingstock of the world! Listen well. Youkai are not human like us! They are beasts or livestock! Using the expression of Gold God Thunder Gate… they are [non-human]! Because of your disgusting appearance, there is already some dissatisfaction from the Black Ghost Valley side, but if it comes out that you committed such disgusting acts, your political marriage will be ruined!”
The Core Formation Grand Elder continued shouting without stopping his rage.
The Core Formation late-stage geniuses who had gathered in front of the Elder, who were to enter a political marriage with Black Ghost Valley, all laughed at Jo Yeon.
“Making a betrothal with a beast?”
“He’s gone crazy. His lust is as twisted as his appearance.”
“It’s really disgusting, I can’t even speak. Hehe…”
Jo Yeon gritted his teeth while receiving all their mockery.
“As the Elder said… I am hunchbacked and have a hideous appearance. But…”
He looked straight at the Elder and said.
“She… she is not a beast! She is also a genuine ‘person’!”
At Jo Yeon’s words, the Elder said with surprise.
“Crazy. Calling a beast a person! Not content with having intercourse with a beast, it looks like a beast! You madman, do you know how much is at stake in this political marriage? Even though your partner has many male bias issues, it is the daughter of a Core Formation late-stage genius from the Cursed Vein Branch of Black Ghost Valley!”
“If it is such an important political marriage, please let me send a young and handsome late-stage genius instead of someone like me, a hunchback. I am not worthy to marry the daughter of a Cursed Vein Branch Elder.”
“You! Do you know how much we want the Qi Pattern Master bloodline! For a Qi Pattern Master, you must absolutely participate in this political marriage! Are you refusing the family’s kindness you have enjoyed so far! Because of some twisted love for the beast? Do not make the clan a laughingstock. Remember how much family kindness you have received while growing up and wandering the world!”
At the Elder’s sharp outburst, Jo Yeon bit his teeth.
Family kindness?
What had he received?
Jo Yeon recalled his father who beat him from childhood, the peer clan members who harassed him at the main family, and the adults who kicked him away when they saw him as disgusting.
The spirit stones and pills the clan gave him were always taken away by his peers, and even the three Core Formation Pills meant for him to reach the realm were stolen by relatives, and only after buying Core Formation Waste Pills from the market and eating them did he reach the Core Formation realm.
Moreover, it was not the Jo Clan that had killed his close friend.
Jo Yeon’s eyes turned upside down at hearing the words of family kindness from a family he already despised and the words insulting Ha-eun.
“Do not insult her. Who said she is a beast! She is a martial artist who understands righteousness and a person with humanity. The real beasts are even in the same clan, treating collateral lines as experimental subjects…”
“Enough!”
Kwaang!
Jo Yeon stopped speaking again from the Elder’s roar, coughing blood.
“You are completely mad. Completely bewitched by beasts. No good! Lock this madman in a private room and watch him closely! Do not let him out until the political marriage! Do not let him out at all!”
The Elder glared at Jo Yeon and said.
“Whether you like it or not, sacrifice for the clan! You have inherited the Jo Clan’s merit and bloodline, were born with great Qi Pattern Master talent, received the clan’s support, and rose to the Core Formation realm! If you have enjoyed the benefits, you should know how to repay the kindness! The political marriage will be held this winter. Until then, reflect in the private room and sort out your heart!”
“Wait!”
Jo Yeon resisted, but the clan’s Core Formation investigators rushed in and suppressed him, dragging him away.
“Wait! Elder! I cannot do the political marriage. My promise with her…”
But his will was ignored, and he was locked in the private room.
Jo Yeon stared out from the private room with an astonished expression.
The private room was covered with airtight formations, making escape impossible.
Jo Yeon bit his teeth.
“No…”
This could not happen.
He had to be with her.
“No!”
Kwaang!
He glared with red eyes and pounded the wall.
Kwurung!
But as he raged, the formation activated and a law technique that shocked his consciousness was deployed.
“Kuuuugh!”
Jo Yeon opened his eyes wide from the consciousness shock.
“This… this is…”
When his consciousness collided with the formation, he felt something abnormal in his mind.
He instinctively knew.
The formation in this room was a brainwashing formation to brainwash Jo Yeon.
A brainwashing formation created to make his body and mind give themselves to the Jo Clan!
Crunch…
Jo Yeon was certain.
If he was locked here until winter, he would eventually go completely mad, forget her, and become a puppet that only follows the clan’s commands.
“I have to escape! Before the wedding date!”
He analyzed the formation and began to evolve the consciousness technique he had been developing even more.
To never be brainwashed.
To remain himself, Jo Yeon, as himself.
And… to break the formation of this room.
Time passed quickly.
Finally, winter arrived, and Jo Yeon faced the Elder who came to the private room.
“Have you calmed down a little?”
“…Yes, Elder. Previously, I seemed to have gone mad for a moment and done disgusting things. Please forgive me, I will follow your words from now on.”
Jo Yeon’s eyes looked hazy in some way.
At his appearance, the Elder smiled with satisfaction.
“Very good. The cultivation formation granted by the Dragon Race worked well. The wedding is in a few days, so prepare. It would be good to dress him in advance. Hey!”
At the Elder’s order, the Jo Clan’s servants came and changed Jo Yeon’s clothes.
Jo Yeon was dressed in the Jo Clan’s traditional wedding attire.
A clean pink silk robe.
The Elder nodded with satisfaction, looking at him.
“Even a hunchback looks decent in this. Haha! Then you stay here and reflect for a few days. We will soon become in-laws with the Cursed Vein Branch of Black Ghost Valley…”
The Elder said satisfied and left the private room.
But after the Elder left, Jo Yeon’s gaze changed.
He spread his consciousness with sharp eyes.
Tsutsutsutstsu!
The consciousness threads filled the room.
Jo Yeon focused his mind on the consciousness threads and placed his hand on the floor.
Uuuung!
His consciousness threads attached to the ceiling, walls, and floor of the private room and began drawing strange circuits.
“It is still incomplete, but it can at least break the formation.”
Uuuung!
Jo Yeon’s circuits took control of the formation.
And at some point.
Flash!
Jo Yeon completely controlled the formation and, without any trace, dismantled a part of the formation.
“It’s done!”
He smiled with joy and finally stepped outside.
“The Elder passed by, so the defenses are weak.”
He looked around, confirmed no one was there, and skillfully left the Jo Clan.
The Jo Clan’s formations repeatedly blocked his way, but Jo Yeon passed through the formations using his unique consciousness technique and circuits.
It was late at night.
He slipped through the darkness and finally completely left the Jo Clan’s territory.
“I did it! I did it!”
After leaving the Jo Clan’s territory, Jo Yeon quickly rode the flying technique toward the distant Seongje Empire.
“Soon the political marriage date will arrive. Before that… I must marry her.”
Jo Yeon knew it.
He and she would eventually be captured by the Jo Clan again.
Perhaps this political marriage could not be avoided.
But…
Even so, Jo Yeon wanted to hold the first wedding with her.
Marrying a mysterious Black Ghost Valley female envoy he did not know first, and then holding a second wedding with her later?
“Absolutely impossible.”
Even seeing Wol-yeon in the afterlife, Jo Yeon was determined to hold the first wedding with Ha-eun at all costs and flew quickly.
Fwaaah!
Flying through the dark night sky, Jo Yeon finally arrived at a corner of a forest.
“Ah…!”
The moment he arrived, his eyes reddened.
In winter.
A crabapple tree whose leaves had all fallen.
There, Ha-eun had built a hut and lived.
To fulfill the promise of holding the wedding in front of that crabapple tree.
Jo Yeon entered the hut.
“Who… ah!”
Ha-eun’s face showed surprise as he saw him.
For a moment, the two looked at each other in silence.
No words were spoken, but meaning was conveyed.
Jo Yeon and Wol Ha-eun ran to each other and embraced.
“I missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
For a long time, after those words, the two said nothing.
And a while later.
Jo Yeon spoke.
“The clan is trying to make me the target of a political marriage.”
He grabbed Ha-eun’s shoulder and said.
“There is no way to avoid it. The Jo Clan is the top clan of the continent… even if you run, they will eventually chase you.”
“Then…”
“But… we can become husband and wife.”
Jo Yeon looked into Ha-eun’s eyes with burning resolve.
“Today, let us hold the wedding. Although I will be captured again and have to undergo the political marriage, you will be my first wife. No matter how grandly the political marriage is held, my opponent will be my second wife.”
The two held hands tightly.
“Even if it is my fate to undergo the political marriage, in that fate I will cherish you as my first. So… although the preparations are not ready and the ceremony will be simple…”
While speaking, Jo Yeon’s eyes reddened.
It did not turn out as he thought.
He had wanted to choose a good day and hold the wedding while looking at spring flowers in spring, but the situation of suddenly holding the wedding in winter itself felt unreasonable.
But even so, he wanted to connect his fate with her.
“Will you marry me?”
Ha-eun also reddened his eyes, listening to Jo Yeon’s sincerity.
“Yes. I have been ready to be with you anytime, at any time.”
She took Jo Yeon’s hand and touched her face with his hand.
The place where the burn scar had been.
She had succeeded in the second body reconstruction and erased the burn scar over the past few months.
Jo Yeon and Ha-eun went outside the hut.
In front of the hut.
In front of the crabapple tree that had saved their lives, where they had first exchanged names.
They placed cold water in front of the crabapple tree.
Ha-eun looked at the crabapple tree with bitter eyes.
“I wanted it to connect when the spring flowers bloomed, but fate did not allow it.”
“…”
At Ha-eun’s words, Jo Yeon looked at the crabapple tree with only branches left.
And he took off the clothes he was wearing in that place.
The Jo Clan’s traditional wedding attire given for the political marriage with the Black Ghost Valley female envoy.
He looked at the pink silk robe for a moment, then without hesitation tore the silk robe.
Rrip, rip!
He tore and cut the silk robe with quick hands.
After a while, Jo Yeon’s silk robe became dozens of pink ribbons.
Jo Yeon quickly climbed the crabapple tree and hung his pink ribbons on each branch one by one.
Although the flowers had not bloomed, the crabapple tree with dozens of pink ribbons hanging was quite beautiful.
Jo Yeon came down from the tree and smiled gently.
“I am sorry I could only do this much. But still… this is my kind of spring.”
He smiled bitterly while looking at the countless pink ribbons fluttering in the winter wind.
“…Strange… I am sorry it is too strange.”
And Ha-eun shook his head.
“…I said it was not strange… but strange. …It is beautiful.”
Ha-eun smiled brightly while looking at the tree.
“Strange and beautiful. Like you.”
The two held a glass of cold water and held the ceremony in front of the crabapple tree with dozens of pink ribbons.
“I swear to the heavens and the earth.”
After the night passed and dawn rose far away.
The time when the moon set and the sun rose.
Jo Yeon and Ha-eun swore in front of the sun and the moon.
“We swear before the eight-colored beings who have blessed us since the beginning of time. We swear before all mountain gods and earth gods, and all gods of heaven and hell. Under the governance of the heavenly gods, we will become one fate. We will grow old together for a hundred years, or for a thousand years.”
“When his hair turns white, so will mine, and when he rolls in the mud, I will roll with him. When he falls to the bottom of hell for committing sins, I will go with him to the bottom. Neither paradise nor hell will ever be separated.”
“Let us become Biwing Birds and fly together in the sky, and Letu Zige and root together on the ground, so that all gods of heaven, earth, mountains, and snakes will bless us.”
After stepping through the simplified procedure of the wedding ceremony, the two drank half of the cold water receiving the dawn light.
After that, the two held each other’s hands.
Whoosh whoosh—
The wind blew and surrounded them as if blessing them.
Thus, Wol Ha-eun and Jo Yeon became husband and wife.