Hong Yeonhwa's Ordeal (1)
Hong Yeonhwa's Ordeal (1)
Lee Ha-yul had become a recognized figure of the Calamity Flame Family.
This was the story that spread to the world after the Calamity Flame Family's last Regular Gathering.
Every member of the family, main and branch houses alike, had gathered and confirmed it with their own eyes.
From Lee Ha-yul's hand surged a fierce Calamity Flame, and all present saw the blaze bloom like a crimson bud opening into full flower.
With that, the proof was complete.
No fool would cast doubt when Lee Ha-yul had personally manifested the Calamity Flame.
Even if the gathering had ended then, the whole world would soon have known Lee Ha-yul had awakened the Calamity Flame.
But the news did not stop there.
- They say the output of Lee Ha-yul's Calamity Flame rivals that of Hong Yeon-hwa, unprecedented as she is.
- They say the Progenitor's Beacon Fire Sword, which had remained hollow and transparent ever since the Progenitor's eternal sleep, recovered its lost color the moment Lee Ha-yul lifted it for the ceremony.
- They say Lee Ha-yul's elegantly refined features are nothing short of ruinous beauty, so much so that even the mad dog Hong Yeon-hwa turned into a docile lamb, cradling him in her arms as she wandered about...
The news reaching the outside was so shocking and intense that intelligence agents from every faction had to pull all-nighters over and over, straining to ascertain truth from falsehood and uncover the deeper intent.
Either way, the understanding that settled in the public eye was as follows:
Lee Ha-yul is a Calamity Flame Manifestor, and he shares an exceptionally close and affectionate relationship with Hong Yeon-hwa, the next head of the family.
Thanks to which, a perception took hold: he is the son-in-law of the Calamity Flame Family, whom Hong Yeon-hwa keeps wrapped up and cherished.
The proposals that had been pouring into Lee Ha-yul's inbox dwindled sharply.
He was the person the Calamity Flame Family's next head had marked as her own. Anyone waving their tail too openly couldn't guess what form of retaliation might follow.
Inside Siyoram, too, the number of female cadets approaching Lee Ha-yul with obvious intentions dropped.
Those who had no wish to court conflict with the Calamity Flame Family were staying clear on their own.
"Hmm-hmm-hmm~"
However, there was one bold soul audaciously flirting with the Calamity Flame Family's son-in-law despite all that.
At the sound of humming drifting from beside her, Hong Yeon-hwa turned her head slightly.
Yellow hair that fell neat and sleek almost to the waist, and round, soft eyes.
It was Ellia, whose gentle face belied the almost violently voluptuous figure that drew male gazes.
Seeing her happily humming to herself, Hong Yeon-hwa recalled a conversation they had shared in private—outside the Tower of Growth, not inside it.
"......"
It might be unfamiliar to ordinary people, but among superhuman factions plural marriage was not unheard of.
In fact, it was rather common. Those who carved out their own domains and ruled their territories frequently engaged in political marriages, didn't they?
The current head of Taesan had taken two husbands, and the head of Changhae had taken two wives.
The head of Calamity Flame... Hong Yeon-hwa's father had taken one wife, yet among the successive heads not a few had entered into plural marriages.
"...Hoo..."
Her chest felt tight.
'And I can't exactly beat her senseless...'
The impulse had flared up in Hong Yeon-hwa, but she suppressed it at once.
Her bond with Ellia was deep. From the start of the semester Ellia had come chirping around, their personalities had clicked, and now Ellia could be called a close friend. She had no wish to beat a friend half to death on a whim.
Above all, Lee Ha-yul treasured Ellia.
Hadn't he said that Ellia was the first person he met here, the first to lend him help?
Perhaps because of that, Lee Ha-yul had opened his heart wide to Ellia.
Whatever the reason, suppose Hong Yeon-hwa did beat that Ellia like a dog until she was a bloody mess—
How would Lee Ha-yul react in that moment? She couldn't begin to predict it.
...No, to be precise, she didn't want to imagine it.
That pure, pale, lovely child, by now so angelic you might as well call him a fairy descended from heaven.
If those pretty eyes, which at present held only Hong Yeon-hwa, were to fill with loathing and hostility...
Just picturing him shedding tears in sorrow and grief made the world spin dizzyingly before her eyes.
And moreover, even Lee Seo-yul, who acted indifferent but had opened her heart to Ellia, would come to harbor even deeper wariness and hostility toward Hong Yeon-hwa...
Hong Yeon-hwa did not want to be hated by Lee Ha-yul, nor did she want Lee Ha-yul to be sad.
'Agh...'
It was a truly awkward situation.
The petty schemes of strangers who had no established bond with Lee Ha-yul could be dealt with on her own.
But those with whom Lee Ha-yul had already grown sufficiently close—
Ellia, that strange professor, and her master, Baek A-rin—simply could not be swept aside so arbitrarily.
Interfering in Lee Ha-yul's personal relationships was poor conduct to begin with.
Hong Yeon-hwa trudged back to the dormitory.
Not her original dormitory, but Lee Ha-yul's.
Ever since she realized the yellow stray cat next door had slid her way into Lee Ha-yul's room and settled there, Hong Yeon-hwa had likewise come to live in Lee Ha-yul's dorm.
A small anxiety had gnawed at her. A worry and a fear: what if... he accepted Ellia, but threw Hong Yeon-hwa out?
That worry, fortunately, had missed the mark.
Lee Ha-yul did not cast Hong Yeon-hwa out.
On the contrary, pretending not to care, he was actually delighted, and kept fussing around her asking if anything was uncomfortable.
Thanks to that, Hong Yeon-hwa had been able to settle safely into Lee Ha-yul's dormitory.
- [Cadet Hong Yeon-hwa, authenticated]
She opened the door using the authentication code Lee Ha-yul had given her.
The door slid open with a soft, noiseless motion. But the expression of Hong Yeon-hwa, about to step straight in, stiffened.
"Huh?"
At that suspicious change in her mood, Ellia also halted. Tilting her head a moment, Ellia let out a soft "Ah—" of realization.
Only then did she too pick up on the presences inside the dormitory.
There were two.
One was the deeply familiar presence of Lee Ha-yul.
Before, it had been so faint it was hard to find, but lately it had become possible to perceive it—as if his belly had been filled full and plump.
And the other was... a cool presence.
Hong Yeon-hwa glanced down at the floor. By the entranceway lay two pairs of shoes.
"......."
Face rigid, Hong Yeon-hwa stepped inside the dormitory. After blinking a few times, Ellia followed behind.
The light was on beyond the sliding door that separated the entrance hall from the living room. Shadows flickered through the frosted glass.
Lifting a hand that trembled faintly, she placed it against the sliding door and pushed it open with forced calm.
The lit living room came into view.
And then...
"Ahaha, it tickles. I'm not going anywhere, so don't do that. There, there, it's okay~"
[Yeph...]
She saw Lee Ha-yul, cradled in Baek A-rin's arms as she sat on the sofa, his forehead pressed close against her navel.
"......"
- Huuuh...
Lee Ha-yul's condition was strange. He was drenched in sweat. His hair lay limp and damp, and droplets sliding along his cheeks soaked into the hollow of Baek A-rin's chest.
His parted lips, through which he panted for breath, revealed a pale pink tongue. His exhalations mingled breath and body scent with a dizzying concentration of sweet fragrance.
"There we go..."
As Baek A-rin smiled gently and stroked his hair, Lee Ha-yul lowered his head deep.
Because she wore a black sleeveless top, the expanse of her collarbone and cleavage swallowed up his face in an instant.
He pressed the bridge of his nose firmly against her cool skin to cool his heat.
"Uhuhu, so cute..."
As if to affirm the gesture, Baek A-rin guided Lee Ha-yul's head against her chest.
Then, lifting her head with a beaming smile,
her eyes met Hong Yeon-hwa's.
"Oh, you're here?"
Seeing Hong Yeon-hwa's expression rigid enough to crumble, Baek A-rin waved her left hand with perfect composure.
.
.
.
A little time passed.
"So, in other words..."
Leaving the wreckage of the living room behind, Hong Yeon-hwa, seated at the kitchen table, spoke. Her lips, which had been sealed as if in a vow of silence, parted, and a voice simmering with emotion leaked out.
"...Right now, of all times, Ha-yul's Calamity Flame triggered a Trial, and you were helping him settle it..."
"Mm-hmm. That's what I said, isn't it?"
Seated opposite her, Baek A-rin tidied her disheveled hair and nodded.
The Trial of Calamity Flame.
Hong Yeon-hwa had undergone it once herself.
A tremendous side effect that occurred as the Calamity Flame mutated.
The types varied, but the very first Trial that struck was usually the same.
It dragged up the Manifestor's memories to provoke emotional turmoil.
From the trivial things of daily life to the great things that shaped an entire existence...
The stirred-up emotions soon escalated into a fever pitch, throwing the person into great disarray.
If not properly overcome, it was a terrifying side effect that would ultimately use the Manifestor themselves as kindling and destroy them entirely.
Hong Yeon-hwa had resolved to overcome it alone, spending days groaning in misery, and only managed to prevail after receiving the scarf as a gift from Lee Ha-yul.
"It hasn't been long since Ha-yul manifested the Calamity Flame, right? But the side effects turned out to be really severe anyway. So I had no choice but to stick close and provide intensive care like this. Ah~ It was really dangerous earlier at the Spell Workshop, I'm telling you."
So, in other words... she could understand why Lee Ha-yul was in such a disheveled state.
"Therefore, I'll be imposing on your hospitality here for a while. Please take care of me~"
"Yeon-hwa, I'm sorry..."
"It's not your fault. What does Ha-yul have to be sorry for? Don't apologize."
Baek A-rin waved her hand as if to say "take care of me," and Lee Ha-yul, cradled in her embrace, mouthed silent apologies.
Of course, what her heart wanted was to slap Baek A-rin away and pry the two of them apart right this moment, but...
- Sssssss...
It was true that Baek A-rin was blocking the heat and rising emotional turmoil accumulating inside Lee Ha-yul's body, so she couldn't bring herself to do it.
Naturally, Hong Yeon-hwa could help him by Harmonizing the Calamity Flame too, but... she couldn't match the Azure Sea.
She had endured the Trial firsthand.
She knew how agonizing it was to withstand that without assistance.
Even Hong Yeon-hwa, who had lived a relatively sheltered life, had suffered so—what memories would Lee Ha-yul, whose life from childhood until now was filled with terrible hardship, be recalling and suffering from...?
"Haah..."
In the end, separating those two would only mean prolonging Lee Ha-yul's pain.
Moreover, with even the worst possibility—death—lying in wait, she could hardly endanger Lee Ha-yul over something as trivial as a jealousy that, though it felt like it was tearing her stomach apart, was by comparison nothing.
Hong Yeon-hwa let out a deep sigh.
It was a wordless sign of consent.
"Oh dear... look at him all limp and drooping. Ha-yul, can you eat porridge?"
"Even if he doesn't want to eat, we have to feed him. The Trial will continue at least a few days, so we need to fill his stomach well."
More beasts had appeared.
.
.
.
"Ah, that's right. I got a ring from Ha-yul."
"Why, this absolute bitch."
* * *
[The Tower Master of Harmonization tilts her head]
[Ha$ Yo^'s *! gone w&% lik# %hi@?]
[The Tower Master of Knowledge shrugs]
[The Tower Master of Growth expresses concern]
[So@n t*e ch#% wil% en$%r K#owled#e's @%. Prep@%]
[The Tower Master of Knowledge nods]