Seomun Seol
Left alone in the room, Cheongwol let out a long, heavy sigh.
Adapt to a woman’s body?
As So Gayul had said, only a short time ago she had been a man in every sense of the word. How, then, was she supposed to accept something like this overnight?
Since becoming a woman, nothing about her life had felt familiar, but the thing she found hardest to accept of all was the change between her legs.
It had not been something she could boast about to anyone, but it had not been so lacking that she’d ever felt ashamed of it, either.
And now it was gone without a trace, leaving behind nothing but emptiness.
With her head hanging low, Cheongwol recalled a conversation she had once had with her grandfather.
"Cheongwol, if you go to the Central Plains, you must be especially wary of women."
"Be wary of children, the elderly, and women? You’ve told me that more than once already."
"Yes, good. Children and the elderly are also to be watched. But you, above all, must be careful around women."
"Why?"
"Because your looks, as a man, are more striking than those of most women. Have you not heard the saying that beauty is a curse? It does not matter whether one is male or female. Keep yourself proper and do not get dragged into anything unsavory."
"So, Grandfather, what you’re saying is that I’m too handsome for my own good, and it’ll cause trouble over love affairs?"
"You never know how to be serious, not even for a moment. Yes, that’s right. And even if it isn’t a love affair, the world is full of all manner of bizarre lunatics, so you must be careful."
"Understood. But isn’t it a good thing if women flock to me? Since I was born a proper man, having three wives and four concubines..."
"...What’s good about that! If you go gallivanting about with that face of yours chasing women, you’ll be branded a lecher and hunted down as a public enemy of the martial world! So stop talking back, and don’t even dare dream such foolish nonsense!"
To think he had worried that his grandson might suffer trouble because of women.
In hindsight, it was almost laughable.
Grandfather. You don’t need to worry anymore. Even if I wanted to, I can’t... not with this body.
She collapsed onto the bed and, in the same breath, remembered a book she had once pored over through the night.
It had been disguised as a martial manual, but in truth it had been packed full of erotic paintings.
Those were things her grandfather had never once taught her in life, so how intently had she studied each page, engraving every image into memory as she turned them over?
Come to think of it, I was already that distracted just from looking... If I’d actually experienced it myself...
Swallowing dryly, Cheongwol shook her head as though to banish the erotic paintings she had seen then.
Flawless, dazzling skin.
Large, soft breasts.
A smile so alluring it seemed capable of bewitching anyone.
One day, after all her revenge was finished, she had wanted to live peacefully in some quiet place with a woman like that.
But now that she had become a woman herself, all those dreams had turned to foam and vanished, and from Cheongwol’s perspective that was nothing short of absurd.
My wife... my children...
Thinking of them—people who had never even existed, yet had vanished like a mirage—Cheongwol buried her face in the pillow.
"..."
A moment later, Cheongwol, who had lain there as if dead, suddenly sprang up and waved her hands in a fit.
-Thwack!!
The innocent pillow flew into the wall, and an inexplicable look of contempt and disgust settled over Cheongwol’s face.
"No... absolutely not... if anyone even touches my body... I’ll kill them..."
What on earth had she been imagining alone to react so fiercely?
Whatever it was, it was clearly something she could never say aloud in front of others.
Her face, red with shame, looked as though it might burst at any moment.
After finally calming herself, Cheongwol sat cross-legged and began to regulate her breathing.
As she closed her eyes and slowly focused on the rhythm of her breath, an overwhelming yin force soon gathered around her dantian.
...
It felt as though she were standing before a towering snow mountain. Cheongwol frowned slightly in bewilderment.
She had built up yin energy in her dantian through her grandfather’s training, but the yin force before her now seemed bottomless.
Could this be...?
She herself possessed no inner power capable of generating such a quantity of yin force, so it had to be the yin energy she had obtained through the grand method.
But even with such a fortuitous gain right before her eyes, Cheongwol could not simply rejoice.
If she tried to use it recklessly, her body would not be able to withstand it, and her meridians would be torn apart.
It was like having a vast lake but being able to draw only as much water as a bucket could carry at once.
If she forced it and drew too much at random, the bucket carrying the lake water would break first.
In the end, she could not even begin a lesser heavenly circulation; she couldn’t so much as send her inner power through her meridians before opening her eyes again.
Only recently had she at last made her grandfather’s inner power fully her own, and now this yin force made even that power seem small by comparison.
"This won’t be easy, either..."
How much more effort would it take before she could truly command this yin energy?
Even as the thought crossed her mind, a faint smile appeared at the corners of Cheongwol’s mouth.
Better to have more than less.
"Again, you’re writing another letter that won’t receive a reply."
As Seomun Hwi struggled to decide what to write next, a woman came over and sat beside him.
Her name was Seomun Seol.
Her features and even the air about her resembled Seomun Hwi so closely that some people mistook them for twins, but in truth she was his younger sister by two years.
"There’s no harm in writing if I don’t expect a reply."
"...I see."
Though their exchange was calm and measured, Seomun Seol knew it was not really as simple as that.
The Seomun Hwi she knew might have appeared blunt, but in truth he was deep-hearted and full of feeling.
"What are you planning to write this time? I’m sure you’ve already used up every possible subject and then some."
At Seomun Seol’s question, Seomun Hwi gave an awkward smile.
"I was just worrying over what to write. If you have a good idea, tell me."
"...If one comes to mind, I will."
Saying that, Seomun Seol sat up as straight as her brother and glanced sidelong at him.
Who exactly had he met two years ago, when he left Anhui over the family’s affairs, to make him this devoted?
She had tried hinting at it more than once, but each time Seomun Hwi merely brushed it off, saying it was the first friend with whom he had ever shared his heart.
Did he really think I’d believe that?
What sort of person would keep sending letters to a friend who never even wrote back?
So Seomun Seol had come to a firm conclusion in her heart.
There was a woman he kept in his heart.
Whatever the circumstances, he couldn’t meet her, so he was taking solace in sending letters instead.
Her brother had always lived under the burden of being the young clan leader, so cautious in everything he said that even a single word was weighed carefully, and so restrained in his smiles that each one seemed held back at the brink of appearing.
In the end, his caution had gone so far that he never managed to make a single true friend, and after realizing that, all that remained to him was the grand title of young clan leader.
He would have been better off, honestly, if he’d at least enjoyed drinking and music like the children of other great families or merchant houses.
Watching him foolishly shut himself away in the training yard and swing his sword over and over hurt the hearts of the Seomun household, Seomun Seol included.
They knew the burden that should have been shared among many rested alone on Seomun Hwi’s shoulders.
Yet since he was said to be the most gifted martial talent the Seomun Clan had produced since its founding patriarch, there was nothing they could do.
Seomun Hwi knew that as well, and so he simply moved forward in silence for the sake of the clan.
A woman who had stolen such a man’s heart?
Seomun Seol did not know who she was, but she was willing to stand on her brother’s side all the same.
There was only one problem: none of the people actually involved seemed to have had any say in the matter.
Unaware of any of that, Seomun Seol looked at Seomun Hwi with determined eyes.
"Is there something else you wanted to say?"
"Nope."
"...I see."
She was an unusual younger sister, though today she seemed even stranger than usual. With that thought, Seomun Hwi sank back into his worries.
That affair between the young clan leaders of the Huangbo Clan and the Shandong Yue Clan... I already wrote about that last time. And the life-and-death duel that took place in the Four Evil Alliance, too, I wrote about that, didn’t I...
Just as Seomun Hwi’s eyes began to narrow with concentration, Seomun Seol spoke to him again.
"Ah, that’s right. I heard you’re going to Sichuan this time."
"Yes."
Seomun Hwi nodded briefly without adding anything else.
"You wouldn’t tell me if I asked why, would you?"
But contrary to Seomun Seol’s expectation, Seomun Hwi readily explained why he was going to Sichuan.
"I heard there have been talks of a marriage alliance with the Tang Clan. Since there are clan matters to attend to as well, Father told me to go and see them while I was there."
"What? A marriage?"
Seomun Seol shot to her feet, and Seomun Hwi looked at her in surprise.
"I don’t know why you’re reacting like that, but calm down first."
"How can I calm down? You go and carry out something like this without even discussing it with me!"
She snapped the words out as though asking how her brother could possibly do this, but Seomun Hwi still looked no less baffled.
"I only said I would go meet the Tang family’s daughter. What is there to discuss?"
"That’s exactly the problem...! The daughter...?"
Only then did Seomun Seol realize she had been laboring under a trivial misunderstanding.
"You thought it was your marriage?"
"Ah, well..."
Seomun Seol turned her face away, embarrassed, and Seomun Hwi gave a short laugh as though he had known all along.
"Didn’t Father already promise you that you would choose your own match?"
"...That’s embarrassing. I’m sorry."
"It’s fine."
Smiling with equal parts embarrassment and apology, Seomun Seol sat back down.
...Then does that mean my brother is planning to meet two women at once...?