Chapter 100
Chapter 100
Yeo Il paused briefly, then checked Namgung Je’s pulse.
He is truly dead.
A few days ago, his body had been just as gaunt, scarcely different from a corpse—but breath had still lingered. He had only appeared dead. He had been alive.
And yet he died in the meantime.
Namgung Jeok-myeong, who had been watching her, spoke in a subdued voice.
“It was Father’s will. If his health did not improve and he failed to awaken properly by today… he asked to be sent off peacefully.”
To leave parricide as one’s final request to a son. She had thought before that he was not an ordinary man, but this was cold beyond measure.
“When did you send him off?”
“Almost immediately after returning from Hangryong.”
Having composed himself over the past four days, Namgung Jeok-myeong appeared remarkably calm despite his father’s death. Perhaps, after years of watching Namgung Je lie bedridden, he had already parted from him in his heart long ago.
“Only I and a few retainers know. I do not know how to tell Huimyeong. It has been but days since he fully accepted the death of Chumyeong.”
As his voice darkened, Yeo Il offered formal words of comfort.
“Huimyeong Oppa will recover quickly. If only to aid you, now that you have become the Clan Head of the Namgung Clan.”
Namgung Jeok-myeong gave a faint laugh.
“Yes… Clan Head. So the day has come.”
He exhaled, then continued evenly.
“The Sal-saeng-bu Uncle Pae discovered was indeed the copy. When I checked after returning from Hangryong, a small fruit hidden inside Father’s chest and near the front of his lower body had burst. Proof that his body had been turned over.”
“……”
“Uncle… having fulfilled his long-cherished wish, will likely not be seen for some time. Still, seeing that he did not defile Father’s body, perhaps some final affection remained.”
Yeo Il recalled the long, lingering gaze Namgung Pae had cast upon them as they descended the mountain. If not for Namgung Je, then at least for Namgung Jeok-myeong, perhaps he had retained some measure of familial feeling.
“How did so many names come to be written upon a person’s body?”
“It was Father’s decision. When he was still capable of movement, that was his final order. Perhaps he feared the Sal-saeng-bu might be lost.”
“Even so, it was nothing more than traces left behind by Salmak. Was it truly worth guarding to such an extent?”
“I believe it was a form of Father’s obsession. Just as he sought to hide you from the world… he was not entirely himself in those days.”
Namgung Jeok-myeong asked,
“So whose name do you seek?”
He gently removed her hand from Namgung Je’s arm and spoke words she found most welcome since meeting him.
“I have memorized every name written on the Sal-saeng-bu over the past four days. There will be no need to examine the corpse again. I can find it at once.”
After a long pause, Yeo Il answered.
“A name bearing the surname Yeo.”
“The surname Yeo…”
He searched his memory.
“There is one. Yeo Buyeon.”
“……”
“Is that the name you sought?”
Was it?
She thought it would not be strange to hesitate. She had heard the name only once, long ago.
But from the moment she first heard it, she had never once forgotten.
“Yes. That seems to be it.”
“Seems? That is unlike you.”
His voice grew calmer.
“However… a line was drawn through that name. It appears she is already dead.”
When an assassination was successful, a line was drawn through the name.
Recalling the peculiar sensation of drawing a black stroke across a name, Yeo Il nodded quietly.
So she is dead.
She thought of the jade ring within her robes.
She had intended to return it to the family of its owner, long deceased. Since she could not return it in life, she would at least place it upon the grave.
Once her thoughts settled, Namgung Pae’s face surfaced.
The Sal-saeng-bu would only contain the names of ordinary people. Why did he persist in seeking it?
If Cheon Muryeong had truly sought to reclaim it, the Namgung Clan would have been annihilated.
Yet he had remained within the clan for years, searching stubbornly. It must have been Namgung Pae’s own will.
…Ah.
Now she understood.
Namgung Pae also had a name he needed to find in the Sal-saeng-bu.
Just as she had.
Namgung Jeok-myeong asked,
“If you do not mind, may I ask whose name it was?”
Perhaps because she had achieved what she sought more easily than expected, she answered readily.
“My friend’s mother.”
After all, no one in this world would remember their names.
“Friend?”
“Yes.”
“I see many new sides of you today, Soyo. I did not expect such a word from your lips.”
Is that so.
“In truth, it is difficult to call her a friend. It was merely her dying wish that she become my friend.”
His silence grew heavy.
He gently stroked her back.
“How many have died because of this Sal-saeng-bu… most of them ordinary people without crime. A dreadful past that must never repeat.”
His gentle comfort enveloped her, yet it did not reach her ears.
It had never been meant for her. She had been the one who erased those names.
“It feels as though this is the first time you have spoken your true thoughts.”
“You seem to need to hide yours a little more, Oppa.”
“Haha. Only Uncle Pae and you speak so to me. …Is the Young Master behaving quietly?”
“Yes.”
“I cannot fathom how you became entangled with such a man.”
“You have many questions. Are you interested in Jin Cheong-ak?”
“It is not him I am interested in, but you.”
She shook her head with a weary expression.
“I have no interest in a man who already has an owner, Oppa.”
He reacted with dismay.
“Soyo. Did I not say my relationship with Cho-hong is not such? That child would be displeased to hear you speak so.”
Yeo Il laughed softly.
“You are too foolish, Oppa.”
“…That is rather abrupt.”
“But it is true. Sometimes you seem so foolish it makes me laugh. Do you know who I am? My name? What sort of being I was? Just because I call you Oppa, do you truly think I am Namgung Soyo?”
As she spoke, her voice and tone grew noticeably colder.
Then came a whisper laced with self-mockery.
“…I do not know myself well.”
“……”
“You are… yes, you are a very dangerous existence. After what happened at Hangryong, I am certain once more. You are not someone who should remain within the Namgung Clan.”
The sound of insects seemed louder.
The Northern Pavilion was full of flowers and trees. The chirping of birds and the cries of insects were more frequent, made all the more apparent by the absence of people.
“But… whether it will go as I think is another matter. So what will you do now? You have obtained what you wished. Will you leave this place?”