Chapter 226
Chapter 226
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 226
Chapter Title: Flower
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[You've been chattering away nonstop since earlier. If you're that interested in my disciple, fix that damn attitude of yours first. My disciple absolutely despises that kind of personality.]
[...What?]
[What do you mean, 'what'? No man—my disciple or otherwise—would ever like a woman who lashes out with violence and tries to outright murder people just because they rub her the wrong way. Of course, even if you did fix that attitude, I still wouldn't permit it.]
The woman who claimed to be Yuseong's master blocked my path while saying all that.
I'd been just moments away from finally claiming Yuseong for myself.
Even before my death. Even after reviving in this inhuman body, every single time I was on the verge of seizing him, something got in the way.
And now, dozens of times stronger than I'd been before dying.
Yet what truly halted me wasn't this woman's power as Yuseong's supposed master, but the indifferent tone of her voice and the words she'd spoken.
'Yuseong... hates me?'
...It was a thought that had never even crossed my mind.
Before my death, the way Yuseong had acted toward me seemed, to anyone watching, like he was clearly interested.
He'd been openly kind, insisted I call him "little sister," and always smiled at me. How could Yuseong possibly hate me?
Even if he did hate me, if I just showered him with even more affection...
-Halt.
'...Does that even matter?'
What meaning is there in forcing my affection on someone who hates me...?
The love I'd always envisioned wasn't anything like this.
It was supposed to be something beautiful—a mutual understanding, emotions shared between two people. That was love.
But what I was about to do...
All I'd gain from it was Yuseong's disappointment, sadness, anger, hatred... and his body.
Even if no one had stepped in to stop me.
"..."
-Drip.
The sword I'd been gripping slipped from my hand as my strength faded, hitting the ground with a dull thud under gravity's pull.
What did I really want?
Yuseong's love?
Or Yuseong's body?
'...Think this through, Han So-yeon.'
If it was the latter, it wasn't too late.
If what I craved was the sight of Yuseong cursing me out, twisting his face into that venomous scowl he never showed anyone else while I raped him—then I could pull back for now, track Yuseong down again later, and bide my time for another shot.
But if it was the former...
'...'
"L-Little sister! Are you okay? Any major wounds?"
"I'm fine for now, so don't worry too much."
...Way too late for that already, isn't it?
-Shing.
Too late to win his heart, so at least claim his body.
Pick up the sword again, Han So-yeon.
You want Yuseong, don't you?
Just clear this last obstacle standing in your way, and he'll be yours.
So...
'...'
...The voices echoing in my head said one thing, but my body in reality stayed frozen, the dropped sword lying untouched on the floor.
What I wanted from Yuseong...
....What was it, exactly?
-Roar!
That was my final thought as the fierce fireball barreled toward me.
.
.
.
"..."
Of course, I'd assumed I'd die right then.
Killing a body that had already died once felt oddly surreal, but it was a jiangshi after all—not unkillable by any means.
I pondered why she'd spared me after I'd tried to murder Yuseong's lover, but the answer came quickly enough.
She probably wanted info on those vampires from the other world.
...Yuseong didn't even seem to remember who I was, so I doubted she'd spared me out of sentiment for that reason.
If he did remember, she'd have killed me on the spot.
Why spare a traitor who'd shattered his dantian—not to mention now, over ten years later, trying to slaughter his lover too? What was so lovable about a bitch like that?
With my head a mess and my body bound, I couldn't do a thing. Days dragged on like that.
In the meantime, I watched Yuseong, the woman who seemed to be his lover, and the one who'd called herself his master go about their lives.
...It only tangled my thoughts even further.
And then Yuseong approached me first.
He had questions for me, clearly.
Makes sense.
He'd be curious about the vampires... and everything from the past.
I had no reason to hide anything.
I answered every question truthfully.
But even amid all that, one question stopped me dead the instant I heard it.
[...What exactly happened between us back then?]
"......"
My mind blanked the moment the words hit.
Should I tell the full truth? Or twist it somehow?
I had no idea how much of his memory Yuseong had lost, but the fact that he didn't remember me at all suggested a massive chunk was gone.
So maybe...
...Even if I lied, he might not catch on.
His master didn't seem to have filled him in on me either.
And she didn't know the exact details of what went down that day anyway.
Only Yuseong and I had been there. She'd shown up after everything was over and just heard the reports.
So with her absent now, I could distort the truth however I pleased.
Something like: there were hidden circumstances no one else knew about. Yes, I shattered his dantian, but it's all a big misunderstanding...
...Ha.
'Pathetic.'
Just days ago, I'd been out of my mind, willing to force Yuseong into my grasp no matter if he got hurt. And now here I was, terrified of him hating me, scheming to lie my way closer to him.
Did I want to stay by his side that badly—even with lies like that?
...The desire to be near Yuseong was real, but not if it meant resorting to garbage like that.
I'd lived selfishly long enough, doing whatever I pleased.
Now it was time to own up to the damage I'd caused.
Just like Master had drilled into me relentlessly since I was a kid.
-Pfft.
'Maybe I had more sense back then.'
Ignorant of the secular world and other people, knowing only what Master showed and taught me—those days, I might've actually been more principled.
I hadn't thought much of sharing with others back then.
In the end, it all stemmed from that twisted desire exploding out of control—I refused to let Yuseong go to another woman. So yeah, maybe.
Anyway, the alone time let me sort my head out.
I'll tell him everything. Straight facts.
Back when Yuseong was an inner disciple of the Mount Hua Sect, I'd fallen for him at first sight. We grew close... but then I made the wrong choice.
No clue what the current Yuseong will decide after hearing it.
A normal person would lop off a traitor's head on the spot. But back then, Yuseong had been so pure... so young.
He's an adult now, seasoned by the world. Not as innocent anymore.
Though his looks had barely changed—hard to believe over ten years had passed.
'...Gotta apologize to Master too.'
She'd been a good master, even if strict. Must've been hurt bad having a screw-up like me as her disciple.
No idea where she is now. Later, I'll ask around or at least pass on my apology...
-Gush!
"Huh?"
A reflux surged up my esophagus, blood spraying from my mouth.
'Internal injury?'
Blood suddenly welling up from deep inside meant severe damage.
Not a trickle either—gushing nonstop from my mouth, and that wasn't enough. Nose, eyes, ears: every orifice bled in the classic seven-aperture hemorrhage.
I tried stemming the flow, probing inward. Instantly grasped the cause.
'...Barshutain...'
The vampire essence propping up this undead body was draining away.
Fine inside me until now—even after I was subdued, it lay dormant. For it to freak out like this now? Had to be him.
Better to kill us than let us who hadn't returned get captured as prisoners?
-Drip... drip...
"Cough."
Massive blood loss at once—my body temperature plummeted.
Master had ended me in one clean strike before; I'd barely registered death. This slow creep? Terrifying.
Second time around, and I still couldn't get used to it.
'Ah, nothing left to say...'
Too weak to even sit up now. I collapsed into the pooling blood.
No strength in my arms or fingers—not even to scrawl a message in blood.
'This way... I can't tell Yuseong anything.'
...Maybe that's for the best.
To someone without the full story, it'd look like a prisoner suiciding to withhold info.
Being remembered as a coward of a woman? Not the worst, maybe.
-Twitch...
'...If I'm dying anyway, I wanted it to be by Yuseong's hand.'
Even at the end, I couldn't fully purge that warped craving for him.
Still...
[But Yuseong, don't you have any other friends?]
[The boys don't seem to like me much... I have a few close girl friends, but unless it's special training, we don't meet. They group us by gender, so...]
[...So that's why you're always waiting just for me?]
[...Please come often.]
...He seems to have met plenty of good people now.
For his sake, better if this ugly specter from the past just vanishes like this.
-Gush!
'Ah...'
The cold reek of death—familiar from before—crept right up to my eyes.
And yet... for all the rotten things I did,
twisted as the path became,
my love for Yuseong—at least that much was real...
'...Better if he never knows.'
Who the hell was I even saying that to?
Crazy-bitch thoughts right up to the end.