Truth
As Jeok Hanseong wrapped several layers of white cloth around Namgung Cheon's throat, the unconscious man’s neck held together at last, Hong Chilsong, who had been watching anxiously from the side, asked carefully, “...How is he?”
Jeok Hanseong gave a grim answer that was neither yes nor no. “If the blade had cut even a fraction deeper, there would’ve been nothing I could do. He’s not in immediate danger, but... I can’t say when he’ll wake.”
“Hmph...”
Hong Chilsong let out a troubled breath and furrowed his brows.
They had just barely managed to patch up the Seomuun Clan’s young clan leader, and now, as if adversity truly did stack one on top of another, even the Namgung Clan Lord had been sent to a sickbed.
What was worse, the one who had injured him was none other than Cheongwol. No wonder his unease only deepened.
“Is this really the time for you to worry about other people?”
As Hong Chilsong’s face stiffened further, Jeok Hanseong slowly shook his head.
“There’s no point looking after the Namgung Clan Lord any further for now. Let’s go reattach your arm. I’ve already asked the Tang clan head to keep it in a cool chest.”
That left Hong Chilsong looking rather stunned.
He had only been trying to save face with a bit of bluffing; he had never imagined that even the famed Divine Doctor could truly reattach a severed limb.
“...You’re telling me that’s actually possible?”
A faint smile touched Jeok Hanseong’s mouth.
“It’s not as if I’m reviving the dead. Reattaching a cleanly severed limb isn’t that difficult. Only...”
Hong Chilsong swallowed dryly, waiting for the rest.
“It’ll hurt so much you may think you’d rather live as a cripple.”
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“Ah!”
When Yeon Mukseol cried out sharply, Dang Sohye shot him a pitying look.
“It’s only a little sting. Don’t be such a baby.”
Her tone had somehow shifted from polite formality to blunt casualness, and Yeon Mukseol glanced at the arm being wrapped in cloth with a thin smile.
“You call this a little sting? It feels like it’s on fire. I thought you’d rubbed poison on it.”
Dang Sohye frowned and tightened her grip.
“Watch your mouth before I really do poison you. There haven’t been many people who’ve walked out of our clan after saying things like that and stayed in one piece.”
This time the pain was so bad tears almost welled in his eyes, and he hurriedly nodded without another word.
Only after she had finished binding the cloth with no inch left loose did Dang Sohye stand up, still glaring at him all the while.
“I have to change the dressing every day, so come once a day. Or ask the Divine Doctor to do it.”
“I’d rather have Miss Dang tend to me than some old geezer.”
“Tch.”
Disgust flashed across Dang Sohye’s face in an instant.
He was a man handsome enough to stand beside Cheongwol without shame, so he ought to have had at least some seriousness to match his looks.
Instead, his endless lightness was becoming enough to make her tire of him.
“Do what you want. Now, don’t you have something to tell me?”
When Yeon Mukseol blinked at her blankly, Dang Sohye stepped closer.
Then she pressed a hand to his shoulder, bent down, and whispered into his ear, “You should explain how the young alliance leader of the Four Evil Alliance had the nerve to swagger into our sect so brazenly.”
The smile at Yeon Mukseol’s lips stiffened, while the corners of Dang Sohye’s eyes curved prettily.
“You’d better answer carefully this time. By now, I’m sure a letter has already been sent to Wuhan saying black thunder was seen rising from our sect.”
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Dang Hyeongeuk, after ordering Seojin-yul to keep silent about what they had seen that day in place of the unconscious Neung Hwayeon, sent them back to Qingcheng.
Of course, with so many eyes having witnessed the scene, it probably didn’t amount to much. Still, it was better than having the person involved confirm the rumors himself.
“Haa...”
A throbbing headache hit him, and a sigh escaped before he could stop it.
The only relief, if it could be called that, was that Namgung Cheon’s life was not in immediate danger.
After being reunited after more than twenty years, his child had failed to recognize him and nearly killed him.
Even if they had sinned, it was far too cruel a punishment for their crimes.
“...”
Dang Hyeongeuk leaned halfway back in his chair and stared at the ceiling for a long while before forcing himself to rise.
Merely learning the truth was already heavy enough, and now, though he had not been in his right mind, he had ended up committing a crime against filial piety as well.
It felt as though his feet had been nailed to the floor, but he gritted his teeth and forced them forward one step at a time until, before he knew it, he was standing in front of Cheongwol’s room.
If he had known it would come to this, he should have told her the moment they reunited.
Swallowing his regret, Dang Hyeongeuk opened the door with a bitter expression, and both people inside turned their eyes to him.
“Clan Head.”
Seomun Hwi, who had been holding Cheongwol in his arms and stroking her hair, rose awkwardly to his feet as if he had done something wrong.
“That’s enough. Sit.”
Though she had become a woman, how could a man feel romantic affection for another man?
He still couldn’t easily understand Seomun Hwi, and yet, at the same time, he felt a strange sense of relief.
If Seomun Hwi had not been here, Cheongwol would truly have collapsed.
“The Namgung Clan Lord has only fainted because he spent too much energy and hasn’t yet come to. His life isn’t in danger, so there’s no need to worry. The old Hong gentleman is also being treated directly by the Divine Doctor.”
Only after hearing Dang Hyeongeuk’s words did Seomun Hwi finally exhale in relief, clutching Cheongwol’s hand more tightly.
Cheongwol’s eyes were swollen red from crying, and her whole body still trembled as though she could not shake off the shock.
“It wasn’t your fault, we said it was the Sunflower Manual’s fault. So there’s no need to feel guilty.”
Dang Hyeongeuk managed a strained smile, but he knew the truth.
His words would not comfort Cheongwol even a little.
Thinking it would do no good to leave things like this, Dang Hyeongeuk turned as if to go brew some tea, but then—
“...That man.”
That pitiful voice caught at his ankle like a sudden hook.
“Was he really... my...”
Cheongwol could not bring herself to finish the sentence.
She was too afraid of what answer might come from Dang Hyeongeuk’s mouth.
But what could Dang Hyeongeuk do?
He clenched his lips, slowly opened his tightly balled hand, and began to speak the truth one piece at a time.
“Yes. The Namgung Clan Lord, Namgung Cheon, is your biological father.”
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As Cheongwol listened to the truth that had been hidden from her for more than twenty years, she felt as if she were being thrown, over and over again, off a cliff into bottomless darkness.
The grandfather she had believed to be her only blood relative had been the enemy who killed her mother and the one who had torn her from her family.
And So Gayul, whom she had thought of as a grandmother, had deceived her, only to bring her grandfather’s revenge to its end.
Now that she had mastered the Sunflower Manual, the righteous sects would only divide more fiercely and continue tearing each other apart.
“...Hah.”
A short laugh escaped her lips.
There had never been any need to run around insisting on avenging the Im family.
The moment she defied her grandfather’s dying wish and went to Kongtong to learn the Sunflower Manual, her revenge had already been complete in all but name.
Her laughter grew louder and louder until it echoed through the room.
Grandfather.
In the end, it all turned out exactly as you wanted.
I became the sword of the Im family and nearly killed my own father, the one I could never bear to strike down.
And that’s not all, is it?
I learned the demonic art that everyone in the Central Plains wants destroyed, so now there’s nowhere left in this world for me.
The laughter faded, and a heavy silence pressed down on them.
Had everything her grandfather ever shown her really been a lie?
At this point, there was no way to know. But one thing was certain.
For the one who had once been called Im Cheongwol, there was not a single thing in her life that could be called truth.
Not one.
“...Cheongwol.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Cheongwol cut Seomun Hwi off at once, then turned her tear-filled eyes on Dang Hyeongeuk.
“Can you prove it?”
“...Prove what?”
“That I’m blood of the Namgung clan and the Dang clan, not of the Im family.”
The sadness in those eyes made his chest ache, but Dang Hyeongeuk still nodded slowly.
“Come with me.”
As Dang Hyeongeuk began walking, Cheongwol and Seomun Hwi followed behind him.
After all this time had passed, how was he planning to prove that Cheongwol was the blood of two great clans?
With a hardened expression, Seomun Hwi looked worriedly at Cheongwol walking ahead of him.
He wished there were something he could do, but he had never once felt so powerless.
Before long, while Seomun Hwi was still caught helplessly between one thing and another, the three of them stepped into a hall connected to the rear of the clan head’s quarters.
The atmosphere was solemn, and the thick scent of incense had soaked into the old wooden walls, so it seemed to be an ancestral shrine.
“...Come in.”
Dang Hyeongeuk paused at the doorway as if to pay his respects, then took off his shoes and entered.
Cheongwol and Seomun Hwi also offered a brief bow before stepping over the threshold together.
— Fwoosh.
A moment later, faint light flickered to life and drove back some of the darkness in the room. Then Seomun Hwi lost his words altogether at the sight before him.
Inside a hanging portrait taller than a man, a woman who looked as though she had been painted directly from Cheongwol herself was smiling quietly.
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