Chapter 7
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Dragon's Wrath (1)
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Cheon Muryang finished his training early for a change.
Though, that was still after training nonstop from morning until noon.
“What's going on?”
Others murmured, finding it strange that the Great Young Lord was leaving early.
“Hmph. His patience must have finally run out. Just you watch, he'll go back to his scoundrel ways now!”
Lee Seok-gi grumbled.
However, even those who held a grudge against Cheon Muryang paid Lee Seok-gi's words no mind.
At some point, Cheon Muryang had unknowingly become the benchmark for a day's training.
“It feels kind of empty for some reason.”
Even if they weren't fond of him.
Cheon Muryang's absence was felt.
It was a truly strange thing.
All the while, a wind of change, unbeknownst to Cheon Muryang himself, was beginning to blow.
“I should eat properly for just one day.”
As he continued his physical training, he often found himself craving an excessive amount of food.
However, overeating could cause problems, so he had been controlling his diet according to Woryeong's plan, but he had reached his limit.
*Pat, pat, pat.*
Maids rushed past.
He could see them carrying armfuls of cleaning tools.
It seemed they were being hounded by the head maid.
“The family is certainly bustling. The Family Head must be arriving.”
It was then.
A maid, her lips pale blue, came rushing toward Cheon Muryang.
“Gr-Great Young Lord!”
“Hm?”
Hearing his name, Cheon Muryang stopped in his tracks.
“Ah, you're...?”
It was a handmaid who was close to Woryeong.
Her name was Hwahong.
“Hwahong, was it?”
“Y-Yes! Th-This is no time to be standing here! Wo-Woryeong is... Woryeong!”
Hwahong was rambling incoherently.
However, he clearly heard Woryeong's name in her words.
“What about Woryeong? What happened?”
“W-Well, that is... the person who is the Great Young Lord's fiancée...”
Cheon Muryang's brow furrowed.
“Fiancée? Did you just say fiancée?”
“Y-Yes...”
“Ha, was it around this time?”
Nameless had been Cheon Muryang's escort warrior, but around this time, he had been in the middle of intense training.
Thus, he didn't remember all the events that occurred around this period with perfect clarity.
‘I remember hearing that... to fix this idiot Great Young Lord, the Family Head sought to join hands with the Tang Clan.’
It was based on the judgment that the Tang Clan would know a way to resolve Cheon Muryang's imbalance.
For that reason, the Family Head had proposed a marriage to the Tang Clan.
‘The Tang Clan readily accepted...’
The Tang Clan accepted.
Perhaps from the moment they received the proposal, the Tang Clan had already laid out their future plans.
‘And so, the young lady of the Tang Clan visited the family.’
The Cheon Muryang she saw was one dead drunk and passed out.
Their first meeting was like that, so she must have lost all affection for him, but the young lady of the Tang Clan declared she would go through with the marriage.
‘That was a mistake.’
The Family Head, naturally in the weaker position, prepared everything in a flash, and suddenly, Cheon Muryang had gained the young lady of the Tang Clan as his wife.
That was the beginning of the Cheon Family's downfall.
‘At least, that's what I think.’
The Tang Clan, as promised, treated Cheon Muryang's body.
Over a period of ten long years.
In any case, watching Cheon Muryang's condition improve, the Family Head showed a particular weakness toward the Tang Clan.
‘At first, it was over minor interests...’
The Tang Clan's demands were trivial.
But as time went on, they began to cross the line.
‘Eventually, the Tang Clan tried to advance into Zhejiang.’
The Tang Clan intended to thoroughly use the Cheon Family as a foothold to advance into Zhejiang.
‘And in reality, they did...’
*Grind.*
Cheon Muryang gritted his teeth.
‘This damn marriage must not happen.’
But Cheon Muryang felt he was missing something important.
Why would the fiancée's name come up alongside Woryeong's?
“But what about the fiancée?”
“Q-Quickly! There's no time to explain!”
Hwahong grabbed Cheon Muryang's arm and pulled him along.
It wasn't far.
“I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry!”
There, he saw Woryeong, repeatedly bowing her head and begging for forgiveness.
At Woryeong's feet, the 'special meal' she had likely prepared with great care since morning was scattered on the ground.
“...”
“A mere apology won't clean a soiled dress.”
Her voice was like rolling jade beads.
That alone drew everyone's attention.
*Swish.*
Cheon Muryang's head turned.
There, a woman, wrapped in an aura of unapproachable nobility, was looking down at Woryeong.
‘She's like ice.’
However, though her eyes were as beautiful as crystal, they were as cold as ice.
“Deal with it as you see fit.”
She spoke as if she were a judge, someone who held the power of life and death over Woryeong.
But because she was a person of power, her words were no different from a death sentence.
The verdict was passed, and there were many willing to carry it out.
*Shing.*
The attendants around her drew their swords.
*Thwack!*
The tips of their swords touched Woryeong's neck.
Woryeong, her eyes squeezed shut and teeth clenched, trembled all over.
“That's far enough.”
Unable to watch any longer, Cheon Muryang stepped forward.
At this, the young lady of the Tang Clan, who had turned her head as if she would never look back, turned her body.
“...”
Cold eyes swept over Cheon Muryang.
With a smile mixed with ridicule and contempt, she asked.
“And who might you be?”
“I am Cheon Muryang, the Great Young Lord of the Cheon Family.”
“Aha, a pleasure to meet you. I am Dang So-hye of the Sichuan Tang Clan.”
“Right, Dang So-hye. What is going on here?”
“Oh, it's nothing much. I was just delayed because my dress was soiled.”
*Nod.*
Dang So-hye gave a small nod.
The escort warrior who received her gaze swung his sword without hesitation.
*Swoosh!*
A sharp edge aimed for Woryeong.
Dang So-hye expected a fountain of blood to erupt.
*Clang!*
However, her wish was not granted.
A single sword had blocked its path.
It was the Heavenly Light Sword, the blade of Cheon Muryang, known as the scoundrel of the Cheon Family.
*Whoosh!*
The Heavenly Light Sword's blade pulsed with energy.
In proportion, Cheon Muryang's aura settled heavily.
“I believe I asked what was going on.”
“The price for my soiled dress.”
“You would kill a maid of the Cheon Family for such a pathetic reason?”
“Such a pathetic reason, you say? What if what that maid spilled was poison? What if she was an assassin disguised as a maid?”
Dang So-hye radiated a murderous aura.
“This is a legitimate procedure according to the laws of the Tang Clan.”
Though she held no sword, a sharp aura could be felt from her.
But Cheon Muryang did not back down.
“This is the Cheon Family. We don't resort to such tricks. Furthermore, this girl is my person. Do not touch her.”
*Smirk.*
A smile spread across Dang So-hye's lips.
It was certainly alluring, but it looked unsettling somehow.
Because unlike the corners of her raised mouth, her eyes weren't smiling at all.
“How amusing. To think my fiancé is a man who knows how to look after his own people. I'm glad I came along.”
“...”
“I shall see you at the banquet tonight. Until then.”
She gave a small bow and left.
The man who had pointed his sword at Woryeong's neck brushed past Cheon Muryang.
“Ah, I do hope you'll be a bit more courteous then.”
Dang So-hye's words were cryptic.
At that moment, Woryeong began to convulse.
“Y-Young Lord...?”
“Woryeong?”
“My body... feels strange.”
*Thud!*
Woryeong collapsed.
Her consciousness faded.
Hwahong, who was beside her, screamed.
Cheon Muryang rushed to Woryeong's side and checked her pulse.
*Grit!*
‘Poison...!’
The Tang Clan was a family of poison.
Their poisoning techniques were said to be able to fool even ghosts.
*Grind!*
But he was the one who had missed it.
The excellence of the Tang Clan's poisoning arts was no excuse.
Cheon Muryang was enraged.
‘My failure to protect Woryeong is because of my own weakness.’
He had thought it was enough.
He had thought he was heading in the right direction.
But he was wrong.
He had to become stronger than anyone else.
“Young Lord...”
Hwahong called out to Cheon Muryang cautiously.
But upon seeing his cold eyes, which had sunk into an abyss, she lost her words.
Anger could burn red like lava, but sometimes, there was also a quiet, flickering blue rage.
*Shudder!*
Hwahong knew Cheon Muryang's anger wasn't directed at her, but she still felt an involuntary shudder.
“Hwahong, take care of Woryeong.”
“Yes? What are you going to do?”
“You said there's a banquet. I have to go. The main character can't be absent, can he?”
“...!”
After saying that, Cheon Muryang picked up the special meal that had fallen to the ground.
It was Dongpo pork, a dish Cheon Muryang was particularly fond of.
It was covered in dirt, but Cheon Muryang ate it without a care.
“It's delicious.”
“Y-Young Lord?”
“If Woryeong wakes up, please tell her for me. The special meal was truly delicious.”
“Ah... Yes!”
“Good. Thank you.”
A chill ran down her spine.
Right after expressing his thanks, Cheon Muryang's expression hardened into a cold mask once more.
*Thud, thud.*
Cheon Muryang immediately walked off somewhere, and watching his back, Hwahong had a premonition of trouble.
“Please...”
Hwahong desperately hoped that the Great Young Lord's scoundrelly behavior, which she would normally find so dreadful, would succeed just this once.
* * *
The head of the Cheon Family had returned.
And he brought with him the surprising news of Cheon Muryang and Dang So-hye's marriage.
“Hmph. A marriage, you say.”
Cheon Seonhak, who had been away from the family on a mission, also returned to coincide with this day.
“Bringing in the Tang Clan... what were you thinking, brother?”
Cheon Seonhak felt uneasy.
The Tang Clan was neither a fox nor a wolf.
They were a tiger, fully capable of devouring the Cheon Family.
“Tsk.”
Cheon Seonhak changed his clothes and was about to go see the Family Head.
But a vicious killing intent, emanating from somewhere, stopped him in his tracks.
‘The training grounds?’
The source was the training grounds.
As if drawn by something, Cheon Seonhak headed there.
The banquet celebrating the Family Head's return was an event even the trainees attended, so the place should have been empty.
“...”
However, there in the center of the training grounds was Cheon Muryang, swinging his sword as always.
But his sword radiated a killing intent that had never been there before.
‘Such vicious killing intent.’
This was not Dancheon, the Sword that Severs the Heavens.
It was a sword meant to sever not the heavens, but a person.
Cheon Seonhak stopped and watched Cheon Muryang's sword.
*Fwoooosh!*
The cry of the sword flowed out.
In complete contrast to that clear sound.
Cheon Muryang's face was contorted like a malevolent demon.
‘This is dangerous.’
He was in a precarious state.
A situation where his anger could easily consume his body.
Seeing this, Cheon Seonhak stepped forward.
*Shing!*
The clear sound of a sword being drawn.
However, Cheon Muryang did not want Cheon Seonhak's intervention.
*Krrrrk!*
The trajectory of the Heavenly Light Sword shifted slightly.
The sword, filled with killing intent, fell directly toward Cheon Seonhak.
*Kwaaaang!*
The two swords met at a single point in mid-air.
Cheon Muryang's body was thrown back forcefully.
*Drip!*
Blood trickled down.
*Ptui!*
Spitting coarsely, Cheon Muryang ignored the surging pain and got to his feet.
“What enrages you so?”
“I am weak.”
“...”
“I must become strong.”
“For what purpose?”
“To protect what is mine.”
“And what is it that is yours?”
“The Cheon Family.”
*Gwoooooo!*
Cheon Seonhak's aura flared up.
In an instant, it enveloped Cheon Muryang.
Cheon Muryang was suppressed by the aura, unable to move a muscle, but he did not lower his head.
“Can you take responsibility for those words?”
Cheon Muryang said without a hint of wavering.
“Yes.”
“Good. For the first time, you are acting like my nephew.”
“...”
Cheon Seonhak smiled faintly.
*Whoosh!*
Along with the clear cry of the sword.
Cheon Seonhak's sword slowly rose.
“Watch. If you are to harbor anger, do not make it the anger of a petty man, but forge it into a Dragon's Wrath.”
The Dragon's Wrath was the fury of a dragon.
Even anger has its own class.
“A dragon is like water. But even a benevolent being, if provoked to a Dragon's Wrath, will return as a typhoon.”
Cheon Seonhak's sword tore through the sky and ascended.
The whirlwind that spun around it was truly the dragon's fury, tearing apart and violating its opponent at will.
“...”
That tremendous sword was more than enough to contain Cheon Muryang's rage.
Cheon Seonhak said with a smile.
“Well then, will you learn it?”
“What is the name of that sword art?”
“A name... Since it contains the dragon's fury, the Dragon's Wrath, would it not be the Dragon's Wrath Slash?”
“Please teach me.”
Before he knew it, Cheon Muryang was free from Cheon Seonhak's aura.
“Very well.”