Thank You
Tomusa drew a long, deep breath.
If I let this one get away here, there's no telling what else might happen to the young master.
She fed that steadfast heart into her blade and kindled a sword qi of searing crimson. Myoryeong met her at once, sheathing her own sword in a qi black as pitch. Aura struck aura, and the clash spat out a grotesque shriek of metal.
She had ignited her sword qi, and yet the tide of the fight hardly turned. Myoryeong still overwhelmed her, toying with her as if the whole thing were a game. Tomusa was a swordswoman who fought by the principles of the heavy sword, but Myoryeong had already read that art and laid her counters, and against her Tomusa was helpless—able only to take the blows.
Damn it. They said all I had to do was hold out, but this is too much. Do I still need more time?
Tomusa blocked and dodged with everything she had, yet Myoryeong's edge kept finding skin. The cuts were shallow, but the wounds scored across her body were more than enough to whittle her stamina away, and before she knew it she was hauling in great ragged breaths.
"It's over now. Give up. No one can stand in the way of my love."
"L-love...?"
At those words, Tomusa's face went rigid.
"Of course! How could I cross swords with you if I didn't love the young master? I'll break you here, and leave what comes next for later."
The longer Tomusa listened, the more her expression twisted.
"Love? You kidnapped the young master and tried to cast sorcery on him, and you call that love?"
"Kidnapping? I merely entrusted his treatment for the Yin-Yang Blocked Meridians to people I could trust."
"Then you should have told the Matriarch and hired them properly!"
Fury became her fuel, and Tomusa drove herself back into motion.
"No. The Matriarch would never have trusted them. If he was to be freed from his pain even a single day sooner, this was the only way."
Myoryeong's sophistry set Tomusa's teeth on edge.
"Shut up! It doesn't change a thing—you still tried to use sorcery on him!"
"It isn't sorcery!"
Myoryeong's blade tore a deep wound into Tomusa's shoulder.
"All I did was make myself a little more charming in his eyes! I never harmed the young master."
The wound stole Tomusa's balance, and Myoryeong kicked her square, shoving her back.
"This is the end. Stop interfering with my love, and get out of my sight."
Myoryeong flicked the blood from her sword and lunged, driving in for the final blow. But Tomusa did not give up. She stepped forward.
"You bitch!!"
She poured her boiling emotion into the blade, and the sword qi answered, gathering light along the edge. Tomusa swung. The qi shot free and opened a wound across Myoryeong's throat.
It was a turn Myoryeong had never anticipated. By her measure, Tomusa was incapable of releasing sword qi at all. Feeling the blood from her neck soak into her clothes, she clapped a hand over the wound in a panic.
Tomusa did not let the opening pass. She crashed into Myoryeong and pinned her flat. Myoryeong fought desperately to twist free with one arm, but she was no match for Tomusa, whose hands were both free. As her struggling weakened, Tomusa closed her grip around that throat. She had not yet climbed out of her rage.
That was when Yu Dan-a came up to her, the encirclement at last complete.
"Ha-yeong, you must not kill her! Did I not explain as much this afternoon?"
But Tomusa never heard her. Her whole mind was fixed on killing the enemy before her eyes, and Yu Dan-a had no choice but to seal her acupoints and strike her unconscious.
"See to Ha-yeong."
Dan-a gave the order to the warriors waiting below the building.
"And you. I will have a word."
Yu Dan-a drew her sword and set the edge against Myoryeong's throat. Myoryeong paid it no mind. She only gazed up at the night sky.
"Who stands behind you?"
"No one. I acted alone."
"What have you been doing to my child all this time?"
"I cured his Yin-Yang Blocked Meridians, and I laid a suggestion. That is all."
Yu Dan-a's brow twitched.
"A suggestion?"
"Nothing more than an art that lets him find me a little more charming. I must infuse him with my internal energy every night, so if I die, it cannot even activate."
At that, Yu Dan-a let out a sigh of relief.
"Any last words?"
"Watch over that warrior, so she does not fall to her inner demons. If she tries to take me as a cautionary lesson, she will come face to face with the contradiction in her own feelings and be swallowed by them."
"Ha-yeong will see to that herself."
At last Yu Dan-a swung, the blade sighing through the air.
"Why are you sparing me? The Matriarch I know is not a woman moved by appeals to sentiment."
"You need not know. Live as a nun at the Shaolin Temple, and carry out the tasks we give you. That is all."
"So you mean to use me as a pawn until I die."
"Did you think I would let you die in comfort here? You will reflect on what you have done until the day you die."
"Understood. If it is for the young master, living once more as a Black Shadow Warrior would not be so bad."
Yu Dan-a withdrew her sword.
Myoryeong simply closed her eyes and swore an oath to the stars.
The next time we meet, please have grown, young master. The next time we meet, I will court you openly, and without shame.
When I woke, I was alone.
A chill morning wind had filled the places where Myoryeong and Tomusa should have been. On the slim chance they were still here, I opened the rooms assigned to them, but no one was there either.
"Mom! Dad! Tomusa and Myoryeong are gone!"
"What is a boy doing running about dressed like that?"
Mother, only just awake, scolded me.
"That's not the point! I can't find Myoryeong or Tomusa!"
"Stop crying, and speak calmly."
She brushed my cheek with her sleeve. Only then did I realize I was crying.
"So-sang is away from the estate at present, and Ha-yeong is resting in the medicine hall."
"The medicine hall? You mean Tomusa's in the medicine hall!"
The moment the words left her, I bolted for the hall where Tomusa was.
I threw the door open and found her changing the bandages soaked through with blood all over her body for fresh ones.
"Waaah, Tomusa!"
I ran straight to her and threw myself into her arms. Startled, she gathered me in.
"Young master, what brings you here at this hour?"
"Hic... T-Tomusa, why are you the one... hurt so badly... hic! Why did you leave me all alone...! Everyone just disappeared... hic...!"
"Calm yourself. Please, calm yourself, young master."
Only after I had cried for a long while in her arms could I begin to feel all right.
"Have you settled a little now?"
"Yeah. I'm okay now. But why did you get hurt like that?"
"During the night, we were attacked by the same kidnappers who took you before. These are light wounds from facing them. Please do not worry."
"How am I supposed to not worry! And that wound on your shoulder isn't light at all!"
"I am truly fine. I have already applied Jade Spirit Powder, the finest of all medicines for wounds of the blade. All that remains is the ointment."
"Then I'll put it on for you!"
"Pardon? No, it is quite all right."
"No, it isn't all right with me!"
Flustered as she was, she could not outlast my stubbornness, and in the end she gave in.
"There are no great wounds upon my back."
"Even so! There's a bruise right here. You have to put medicine on places like this carefully, too."
At that, Tomusa let a soft laugh escape.
"You are only saying so because you are embarrassed to see me undressed, are you not?"
"Ah...! Ah...!! I am not!"
"Enough. Give me the medicine now. I will tend to the front myself."
"Here."
She spread ointment over the places I had not managed to reach and began winding on fresh bandages.
"Want me to wrap them? It looks uncomfortable."
"No. You have little strength in your hands, young master. If you wind them, they will only come undone."
"Yeah, okay."
I wavered for a few seconds over whether to speak, and then I did.
"Did Myoryeong fight too...?"
"...Yes. She did."
"Is Myoryeong all right...?"
Tomusa clutched her head and let out a long sigh before she answered.
"She took a grave wound to the neck. So she has been moved elsewhere."
"Really?!"
I was so startled I jumped where I stood.
"Even so, her life is not in danger. You need not worry overmuch."
"Yeah...? That's a relief, at least...."
"Then I can see Myoryeong later, right...?"
"...I do not know."
Was it only my imagination, or had she just dodged the question? I wanted to ask her a great deal more, but she did not look to be in any mood for it, so I left the details alone. All I held onto was the wish that I might see Myoryeong again soon.
"Anyway, I'm glad you're safe, Tomusa. And this time there's something I absolutely have to say!"
"...What is it?"
Unease sat plain on Tomusa's face. I, by contrast, strapped on a smile and got ready to deliver a magnificent line. I cleared my throat.
At those words her eyes flew wide, and tears spilled down her face.
"H-hey! Why are you crying?!"
She covered her reddening eyes and went on.
"It is nothing. I simply... I simply never imagined I would hear such words."
I threw my arms around her from behind and hugged her tight.
"Then I'll just have to say it often from now on. I'll say it again—thank you, always, Tomusa."