Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Clear Wind, Bright Moon
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Tears flowed endlessly from her eyes.
A young lady wiped them away.
The emotions emanating from the lady’s expression, gestures, and voice, as Mu-heun observed, were thus:
Pain, guilt, anger, resignation, sorrow.
“I've ruined everything. Please, do not forgive me. Just kill me.”
“...?”
*Who in the world is she…?*
Mu-heun wore a look of complete confusion. Then, the lady spoke.
“I am Yu Song-hwa of the Poison Demon Family.”
“Yu Song-hwa of the Poison Demon Family...”
*The former Elder. I know of the Poison Demon Family Head, Yu So-jeong... Wait, what!*
Just then, a memory surfaced—one that the original Baek Mu-heun had suppressed to protect her, and thus had been hidden from the current Mu-heun.
***
It was the day of the funeral.
The Heavenly Dance Family Head, Baek Gun-hak, served as the chief mourner, and countless people, including the Elders, Palace Lords, and Pavilion Lords, came to pay their respects.
On this day, those who had lost someone precious gathered to share the sorrow that came with their loss.
However.
Sadly, the sorrow was not distributed equally. In fact, it fell upon certain individuals with immense, cruel weight.
The members of the Heavenly Dance Family, including Baek Gun-hak and Baek Mu-heun, with haggard faces, bid farewell to the woman they would never see again.
The matriarch of the Heavenly Dance Family and Mu-heun's mother, Yu Song-yeon.
Yu Song-yeon was someone everyone in the Heavenly Dance Family felt close to. A person kind to all around her.
Therefore, the news of her death dealt an even greater shock to the family's retainers, and the entire clan was steeped in a somber atmosphere, like a long rainy season.
Baek Mu-heun's mother, Yu Song-yeon, was that kind of woman.
At that time, there was someone who grieved as much as the Heavenly Dance Family members—and that was Yu Song-hwa.
Mu-heun's mother, Yu Song-yeon, was originally a member of the Violet Poison Demon Family. She was a cousin to Yu So-jeong, the family's legitimate heir. Because Yu So-jeong was so exceptional, others of their generation were not well-known, and among them, Yu Song-yeon had always played a supporting role to her.
Back when they were in their thirties, the Divine Dragon Assembly was held.
Baek Gun-hak, who attended as the representative of the Heavenly Dance Family, fell in love at first sight with Yu Song-yeon, who exuded a subtle beauty at the assembly.
His relationship with Yu So-jeong, the heir of the Violet Poison Demon Family, was also good, so the three of them visited each other often and remained close even after the Divine Dragon Assembly ended.
Yu So-jeong realized that Baek Gun-hak had feelings for Yu Song-yeon and encouraged him to confess them.
She also advised Yu Song-yeon that since she would now be responsible for the family alone, Yu Song-yeon should go her own way. Eventually, on a day when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, Baek Gun-hak of the Heavenly Dance Family confessed his feelings to Yu Song-yeon.
And so, the two became lovers.
A few years passed, and on another day of full-bloomed cherry blossoms,
the two pledged their betrothal.
On the day Yu Song-yeon left the Violet Poison Demon Family to join the Heavenly Dance Family, there was a child who cried and clung to her clothes, begging her not to go.
That child was Yu Song-yeon's niece, Yu Song-hwa.
For Yu Song-hwa, who was raised amidst the harsh training and dark arts of the Violet Poison Demon Family, Yu Song-yeon was the only older sister in the family who had shown her kindness.
The two were so close that it wouldn't have been strange to call them mother and daughter, so Yu Song-hwa's heart shattered as she sent Yu Song-yeon away.
And on the day of Yu Song-yeon's funeral.
Yu Song-hwa wept buckets, just as she had when she first sent Yu Song-yeon to the Heavenly Dance Family. Back then, she had cried like a child, but after she was done, she had wished for her happiness.
However, when she was bidding a final farewell to Yu Song-yeon from this world, she cried like a young woman who had lost her parents.
Baek Mu-heun and Yu Song-hwa had only met a few times and did not know each other well. But they shared something in common: a person more precious to them than anyone else, Yu Song-yeon.
A long period of loss descended upon Baek Mu-heun. It was the same for Yu Song-hwa. But soon, Yu Song-hwa felt an unbearable rage.
It was hostility, anger, and killing intent toward Baek Mu-heun.
From Yu Song-hwa's perspective, Mu-heun was an enemy whose death by a thousand cuts would not be enough to satisfy her.
If he was going to survive by borrowing Yu Song-yeon's life, shouldn't he at least live well? Soon, rumors of Baek Mu-heun reached her. The fourth young master, the scoundrel of the Heavenly Dance Family. The rumors about the one her beloved had sacrificed her life to protect were horrific.
It was unforgivable. His actions were a disgrace to Yu Song-yeon's memory. *If he was going to live like that, why did my sister have to die?* An absurd rage consumed her.
Ten years passed like that.
Eventually, Yu Song-hwa ground her teeth and vowed revenge.
*'I'll kill him.'*
And so, she waited for the scoundrel of the Heavenly Dance Family to be carousing at a courtesan house and launched her attack.
***
*'So that's what happened.'*
Mu-heun closed his eyes for a moment and thought.
Indeed...
It was something he would have had to face someday.
“So you were the one who attacked me at the courtesan house that day.”
The day I first entered Baek Mu-heun's body.
Baek Mu-heun's body had certainly been on the verge of death. The one who had put him in that state was right before his eyes. And yet, the attacker, Yu Song-hwa, was still shedding tears.
“Have your memories returned?”
The emotion he sensed from her was a heavy burden of guilt.
“Why did you attack me?”
“I thought you... were disgracing your mother's death.”
“...”
Mu-heun chose his words carefully. Yu Song-hwa's choice was clearly wrong. However, from his position, it was difficult to condemn her. Looking at her now, she had risked her life for her choice, and she had succeeded. But...
A miracle had occurred.
Mu-heun had survived. And his actions since had changed to an astonishing degree. He had even won the Divine Dragon Assembly, become a figure revered by all the successors of the Demonic Cult, and earned the high esteem of the family heads of both the Heavenly Dance Family and the Violet Poison Demon Family.
Facing each other again in a completely reversed situation, Yu Song-hwa and Mu-heun didn't know what to say.
Mu-heun raised a hand, then, finding nowhere to put it, lowered it again, repeating this a couple of times. He then opened his mouth to speak, only to close it again, doing so three or four times.
After some time had passed, he finally squeezed his eyes shut and let out the words from his heart.
“Do you still think I am disgracing my mother's death?”
Mu-heun asked in a low voice.
“No.”
Yu Song-hwa's reply was also brief. Mu-heun felt he had to convey his thoughts to her properly.
“I was too selfish.”
“...”
“Overwhelmed by my own loss, I failed to live properly. And in doing so, I never apologized for the pain I caused.”
“...”
Yu Song-hwa stopped crying, a bewildered expression on her face. When she looked at Mu-heun, his expression held a resolve that fully accepted all his past regrets and wrongdoings, yet was determined to move forward step by step.
“Truly, truly. I am sorry.”
Mu-heun spoke again in a low voice, offering no more excuses. It was a sincere apology delivered as Baek Mu-heun.
“Do you not resent me?”
“Thanks to you, Lady Song-hwa, I was able to come to my senses. In fact, I am grateful.”
Yu Song-hwa spoke, her eyes moist with tears, her voice choked with emotion.
“You have grown dazzlingly. Your mother would surely be proud.”
Yu Song-hwa offered Mu-heun a tearful forgiveness.
For the two of them, the details of the attack or assigning blame no longer mattered.
What mattered in this moment was their sincere feelings for Yu Song-yeon. Once that sincerity was conveyed, everything else became meaningless.
Their understanding, which transcended misunderstanding, was supported by their love for one person. And so, the layers of resentment melted away like snow in the morning sun.
Bright moonlight shone down upon them, and a clear breeze blew.
***
After the banquet ended, Mu-heun went to see the Heavenly Dance Family Head, Baek Gun-hak, and told him what had happened with Yu Song-hwa.
For a moment, dozens of emotions flickered across Baek Gun-hak's face, but the words he uttered were not grand.
“That...”
Baek Gun-hak knew Yu Song-hwa as well, and he was not ignorant of the relationship between his wife, Yu Song-yeon, and her. Thus, while he could understand her actions in trying to kill his son, it seemed he could not forgive them.
Mu-heun understood Baek Gun-hak's feelings, but not wanting Yu Song-hwa to be punished, he defended her.
“This all happened because everyone loved Mother so dearly. The person responsible is also deeply repentant, and I do not mind, so I hope you will let this matter pass without any punishment. I beg you.”
“Whatever the reason, she tried to take my son's life. And yet you ask this father to impose no punishment?”
“...Yes. In truth, had it not been for her, it would have been difficult for me to come to my senses. That would have made Mother's death meaningless.”
Baek Gun-hak was speechless for a long time.
Perhaps he was superimposing the memories of his lost wife, Yu Song-yeon—from the moment he first met her, to her funeral, and then to Baek Mu-heun's subsequent breakdown.
Nevertheless, he could not deny the presence of his son before him, who had overcome it all and grown splendidly. Baek Gun-hak gave a bitter smile.
I left a few proposals and quietly excused myself.
It was a proposal to research poison and medicine and to create formations with the Violet Poison Demon Family. Inside, I also included a formation that would be helpful for the trip to Sichuan. Once completed, it could be linked with the Myriad Fragrance to provide excellent support.
Father is... quite a wise man, so there shouldn't be any problems. In fact, he will likely use this opportunity to solidify the alliance between the Violet Poison Demon Family and the Heavenly Dance Family.
*'He is someone who deliberates on all matters for the sake of his son, so he must know that this will be even slightly helpful to the tasks left for me.'*
***
The next morning, as the sunlight streamed in.
I had untied all the knots entangled in Baek Mu-heun's past. I felt unburdened, my body twice as light as before. It was a refreshing morning, as if I had gained the strength to leap farther and higher.
But with that came something I needed to know. I wanted to have a private conversation with a certain man. I summoned him to the Dragon Demon Pavilion, which was still empty.
He was Seo-bong, a member of the Azure Dragon Unit.
Mu-heun prepared for his meeting with him.
“You've come.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
This fellow, who still called me 'Young Master,' was one of the connections I had forged after being reborn. At one point, because of his burning fighting spirit, I had simply thought he was just another common martial artist of the Demonic Cult, obsessed with martial arts and power.
“Are you training well in the internal arts and martial techniques I gave you?”
“I am doing my best to learn them, but I am still sorely lacking. I will continue to devote myself to my training.”
This answer alone set him apart from the others. This guy's roots were clearly in the Orthodox Sects. When I asked the Azure Dragon Unit Commander, Cheon Ga-rak, I learned that Seo-bong was an orphan who had joined the Demonic Cult without any family or relatives.
However, this honest and burning fighting spirit was not something such children usually possessed. And his face was strangely similar to a child I once knew.
“I asked the Azure Dragon Unit Commander and heard the gist of your story. But I want to hear it from you. How did you end up joining the Demonic Cult?”
“That is...”
*'He said he met Cheon Ga-rak after joining the Demonic Cult, where he was raised harshly, used as a tool, and was on the brink of death. Knowing Cheon Ga-rak's personality, he probably wouldn't have asked for more details about his past...'*
“If you don't want to talk, you don't have to.”
“No, it's not that. It's just...”
“Just?”
“There is something I would like to ask first, though it may be rude.”
“...What is it? Speak.”
Seo-bong, knowing it was impolite, trembled but spoke resolutely.