Flashback 8: Lies That Beget Lies
Lies continued, summoning other lies in their wake. She should have loved him, but she hadn't. Never once sick, yet she claimed illness. The world had a saying—lies beget lies—but Heuk-yo despised it. If lies could birth something, then why, as the empress of falsehoods, had she borne nothing?
"Ah."
She gazed at her belly. Swollen taut. Empty inside. More than anyone, she knew. The writhing shape within wasn't human. No soul, nothing. Just herself.
No child in there. I can't bear a child.
"Aaaah...! No! No!"
A lightning bolt of impulse struck. If she took Jang Cheon's essence now, couldn't she create one? But it was futile. Jang Cheon would never, never give it to her.
「What nonsense is this? The child would be in danger!」
「Just wait a little. Once it's born healthy...」
None of that mattered. No child would come. Or she could pretend. Deceive again, betray again, perform. Perhaps for a lifetime. Pretend it was Jang Cheon's child, betray him alone and live on.
"Aaaah! No!"
Heuk-yo screamed alone. A scream no one would hear.
Loathsome belly. Repulsive flesh. Her past sins rose one by one. Years of toying with Jang Cheon, deceiving him—far too many. More than her hands could hold.
Maybe she shouldn't have faked illness. Maybe she should abandon the pregnancy charade. If she'd been sincere instead of acting.
Jang Cheon would have impregnated her anyway, made her swell like this for real.
Why had she made everything a lie?
"No... no. This is..."
She couldn't continue. No path, no exit anywhere. Dead end. Always circling back to her own fault.
No path to atonement. How to make amends? Only one conclusion, no matter how she thought.
"I... I can't stay by Jang Cheon's side like this. This... can't be..."
She'd reached her limit. Amid mind-shattering pain, Heuk-yo grasped a thread of hope. Straw or not, it would do.
"If I could start over from the beginning... not as I-hwa, but as the real me. Truly... as myself. Meet Jang Cheon again..."
But how? No turning back time. Broken vessel can't hold again.
In anguish, she gnawed her nails, probing possibilities in silence. At last.
"......"
At last, Heuk-yo opened her eyes. With infinitely sad, hollow gaze, she thought of her still-recovering husband and bit her lip.
"......Yes, Jang Cheon..."
Rumors drifting from the marketplace. Whispers of spies passing by. A new group the Cheon Family Manor folk were forming, its leader's true identity...
While she chased personal pleasures, others pursued theirs with pure abandon. Indifferent to all else.
She'd forgotten. Not the only one sending avatars to the lower world for amusement.
Desperately reading the flow of karma, she'd glimpsed it. A dark cloud looming over Jang Cheon's future.
"Arrogant thing."
Jang Cheon would stand out. At least his dazzling talent couldn't be ignored. Super 1st Rate before even twenty. High chance of surpassing to Transformation Realm. Rare brilliance in the lower world.
That's why it targeted him.
What would she have done? Tired of the 'act,' overturn the game? Reveal her true colors and slip away quietly?
Each thought stabbed her heart unbearably. I deserve punishment. Punishment... Can't stay in this filthy, sordid form. Can't let Jang Cheon die to it.
"......"
One way satisfied it all.
That day, the sky was clear. Jang Cheon left early for distant treatment. Perfect excuse—body not fully healed, needed care. "See the skilled physician in Jangan," she'd said.
One final lie at the main gate.
"Oh, the baby says hello. Tell Daddy to come back safe."
She smiled brightly, hiding her burning agony. After today, no more need.
As Jang Cheon passed the garden gate, she implanted suggestions in his escorts.
「If trouble strikes home, tell Jang Cheon I'm safe. Serving Jang Cheon is paramount.」
Her authority ensured it. Nothing else would concern them. Helplessly.
"Just once... please forgive me, my Jang Cheon."
Against vermin, the whole world was no challenge. Even all Central Plains warriors against Heuk-yo—grasping her true divine form would overwhelm them.
But today was different. Heuk-yo sat quietly in the grand hall, awaiting the visitor.
Publicly, the Cheon Yeong Corps was 150 elite warriors gathered by the Cheon Family Manor. All Super 1st Rate masters or above, led by a Transformation Realm powerhouse. Fitting symbol of the world's top clan's might.
Yet.
"Oh?"
One entered through the main gate. Tall elder with spear on back. Cheon Yeong Corps leader, Gwang-ryeom. Or.
"Quite the capable wench? Never heard of your kind."
To some, a colossal white skeleton shouldering a hellfire spear. Human shape, but no flesh or skin—just blazing bones.
Battle God Baek-cheol.
Heuk-yo smiled faintly. One of the Outer Gods she always scorned. Overly strong even as avatar, so he masqueraded as a group.
And his lower-world pleasure? Life-or-death combat. Pure struggle of survival and demise.
"Heard the house lord's formidable. You the lord?"
Baek-cheol didn't recognize her. No interest whatsoever. Battle god of strife, schemes beneath notice.
Fortunate, at least.
Heuk-yo replied calmly.
"Sorry, not the lord."
"I see. Then where's the lord? Man named Jang Cheon. Kill him first, then savor life-death with you."
Flame-filled sockets fixed on her. Eerie sight. To avatar eyes, just a tall elder asking mildly. To true sight, utter monster.
His soft voice began carrying strange echoes.
"Ever the beast. Discard grand future joys for trifling pleasures?"
"Who are you!"
Trapped form, barely half her true power. Avatar-against-avatar here? No chance of victory. She yearned to split that hollow skull now, shred his ambition for Jang Cheon.
But that wouldn't stop Baek-cheol.
Only one path left.
"An enlightenment to remind you of something fine."
Melodious voice. Innate Outer God power compelling even a battle-crazed skeleton to listen, if briefly. Heuk-yo wielded it fully, speaking softly.
"Ever felt unsatisfied after a fight?"
Lower-world avatars. Forced equal realms with foes.
Baek-cheol loved fights. 'Fair' ones, supposedly. But never truly equal. Mortals couldn't touch gods, same power or not.
Heuk-yo knew. He craved ugly honor masked as battle lust. A tale to boast: I slew such a mighty foe.
His essence.
Then.
"Don't you crave victory in more thrilling combat? Ever think sword-on-sword lacks... something?"
His method: appear, demand deathmatch. Braggable perhaps, but not eternally legendary.
She subtly prodded that flaw.
"No desire for a true archfoe? Isn't that the life-death battle you seek?"
"......Yes! But what's a true archfoe? Life on the line makes any foe!"
Even Outer Gods blind beyond their domain. More mighty beast than god, perhaps.
Beasts needed beastly persuasion.
"A foe harboring hatred for you. Mere equality falls short. Give reason to grow stronger. Make you their life's goal. Then future clashes bring greater joy, no?"
Quietly coaxing, she drew his focus afar. Beyond immediate Jang Cheon brawl, to distant horizons.
Baek-cheol nodded vigorously.
"Hearing it, you're right! Let's do that. What now?"
"Kill me."
Heuk-yo's answer was simple.