Chapter 245
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 245
Chapter Title: I...
Namgung Hwi and Namgung Hwa-u's gazes turned toward the two.
The pair shifted awkwardly, glancing around nervously.
It was a far cry from the usual Namgung Ji-hu and Namgung Ji-yu.
They were being that cautious.
Ha Mu-baek, who had opened the door for them, walked back to his seat with steady steps.
At his subtle nod, the two finally sat in the empty spots.
How had he known they were coming?
The owner, who had appeared out of nowhere, set down cups and chopsticks before vanishing again.
What an enigmatic person.
"You must have been awfully curious. Coming all this way like this. And not hearing a peep after going to the trouble—it must have been frustrating."
Ha Mu-baek chuckled softly as he filled their cups.
He had already sensed their arrival through his qi perception.
He had even guessed that Seolran had tipped them off about the place.
But Namgung Hwi and Namgung Hwa-u were the ones taken aback.
No matter how deep in conversation they had been, how had they missed the pair's presence?
The entrance to this little tavern should have been well within their sensory range.
The reason was simple.
Ha Mu-baek had sealed the conversation from leaking out with his qi barrier while dominating the entire space as his own domain.
That had blocked their senses as well.
Something the two could never have detected.
"So, what now?"
Ha Mu-baek asked.
Namgung Hwa-u was scrutinizing Namgung Ji-hu closely.
"You've made tremendous progress in the meantime."
Namgung Hwa-u said with an admiring expression. Namgung Ji-hu bowed his head slightly.
Namgung Hwa-u's gaze now shifted to Namgung Ji-yu.
"Did your investigations bear any fruit?"
At the question, Namgung Ji-yu widened her eyes in surprise.
Her face betrayed sheer shock.
She hadn't expected her youngest uncle to know about that.
"Did you think your father wouldn't know something I did?"
Another question followed.
Namgung Ji-yu nodded faintly.
"That's probably why you came to the Dragon Training Pavilion."
She had suspected as much.
"The Namgung Clan is the Namgung Clan. Even if they handed the title of world's greatest clan to the Yeon Clan, they're still the top house in the world. They could easily track your clumsy movements."
Namgung Ji-yu bit her lip at Namgung Hwa-u's words.
That meant they'd been dancing in the palm of his hand all this time.
"You're still young and naive, so it's unavoidable. The clan has shadows watching from the darkness."
"Dark Shadow..."
Namgung Hwi murmured under his breath without realizing it.
He knew of them too.
That's why he had hidden his identity all this time.
If word of him reached their ears, who knew when they might come knocking.
That's what had made Chu Dong's brazen openness so puzzling.
The Dark Shadow should have been on his trail, yet he strutted about so openly.
They would probably descend on Wuchang soon enough.
Rumors of it were bound to reach Hefei somehow.
"Right, the Dark Shadow. They lurk mainly in the clan's territory, keeping a covert watch. Your childish antics would have caught their eyes in no time."
Namgung Ji-hu's fists trembled.
"Then why didn't he make Ji-hu the young clan heir?"
Namgung Ji-yu's tone turned icy.
She didn't call him father—just "he."
Namgung Hwa-u remained impassive at the shift.
He had probably anticipated that the sharp girl had already reached that conclusion.
"Not 'he'—your father."
Still, Namgung Hwa-u corrected her sternly.
"Is he really our father?"
Namgung Ji-yu stared at Namgung Hwa-u with cold eyes.
Now that things had come to this.
She wanted to ask someone who might know the truth.
"The clan's formations confirmed you as Namgung blood."
"Namgung blood, yes—but not his children."
Namgung Ji-yu pinpointed the formation's flaw precisely.
Did she think the clan elders wouldn't know what she did?
Some must have suspected. Namgung Hwa-u was one of them.
"Only my brother would know the truth."
Namgung Hwa-u replied.
Namgung Ji-yu let out a scoff.
That meant even Namgung Hwa-u had no certainty they were the clan head's true children.
Indeed.
A few in the clan had always whispered behind their backs.
Children without a mother.
Brought in from outside.
Maybe not even the clan head's blood.
Ones whose origins as Namgung blood were a mystery.
Did they think the siblings were oblivious to the rumors?
Or perhaps they wanted them to know.
The murmurs grew whenever Namgung Ji-hu and Namgung Ji-yu shone.
It was the ugly face of envy and jealousy.
"But listen."
Namgung Hwa-u gazed at Namgung Ji-yu with a sly smile before speaking again.
"Now I know the truth too."
Namgung Ji-hu and Namgung Ji-yu stared wide-eyed.
They hadn't dared hope to hear such words.
Yet.
The truth.
Their eyes twitched violently.
No—their whole bodies shuddered.
They had suspected it already.
That the clan head wasn't their father.
"Wh-what is the truth?"
Namgung Ji-yu asked in a trembling voice.
"Your suspicions are correct."
Namgung Hwa-u said shortly, but with heavy weight.
Thud!
It felt like a massive boulder crashing onto their heads.
No—like it crushing their hearts.
Both gasped for breath in that instant.
They steadied themselves soon after.
Taking deep, profound breaths.
They had suspected, but confirmation hit like a shockwave.
Namgung Hwi watched them with confused eyes.
He thought he had made up his mind.
But with the children right there, he second-guessed his resolve.
Remembering the Dark Shadow made it worse.
"Then are the rumors swirling secretly in the clan true?"
Namgung Ji-hu asked in a heavy voice.
Namgung Ji-yu chewed her lip raw.
"To some extent."
Namgung Hwa-u affirmed.
"Then who is our father?"
"No, are we even from the same father?"
As soon as Namgung Ji-hu finished, Namgung Ji-yu cut in.
With Namgung Hwa-hyeon proven not their birth father.
There was no guarantee they shared the same true sire.
They already knew their mothers differed.
Namgung Ji-yu herself from the principal wife, her brother from a concubine.
Namgung Hwa-u nodded slightly.
"You could think that. But only one Namgung moved with my brother back then. So your father is the same. And since both were confirmed as Namgung blood..."
Namgung Ji-yu looked slightly relieved.
She had guessed he wasn't their father, but now confirmed.
The lifelong bond with her brother, whom she had leaned on as blood kin, eased the fear he might not be.
They were true siblings.
Even if their mothers differed.
"Then who was the Namgung who moved with the clan head back then? We searched everywhere—no records. Even the whisperers never mentioned it."
"They know. Speak that name, and the Dark Shadow might pay a visit. They erased the records too."
"On the clan head's orders?"
Namgung Ji-yu asked.
"My father's command started it. And my brother has kept it that way."
"Grandfather..."
That meant even the previous clan head had suspected.
Namgung Ji-yu ground her teeth.
"Then we'll never know who our father is?"
A question laced with sorrow.
She didn't ask if they could find him.
She asked if they could know.
The implication was profound.
She already suspected their birth father was dead.
Her eyes pleaded with Namgung Hwa-u.
Tell us who our father is.
Namgung Ji-hu gazed at him with desperate eyes too.
"Hm."
Namgung Hwa-u crossed his arms, meeting the siblings' stares.
Then he downed his cup in one gulp.
"Cool that anger in your chests first."
He set the cup down firmly.
At his words, the two drained their own cups in one go.
Glug glug.
Ha Mu-baek refilled them.
"He was a low-rank warrior from the outer quarters."
As Namgung Hwa-u spoke, the siblings' eyes shook wildly.
Finally.
They were hearing about their birth father's existence.
"My brother said he had incredible talent. I never saw it myself, so I didn't believe it. But brother liked it enough to keep him close and took him on an outing. He returned alone. With you two. Easy to erase records for an outer quarters low-rank. Probably few in the inner quarters even know who he was."
The first story they had heard about their true father.
Shocking, yet it skipped what they yearned to know most.
So Namgung Ji-hu asked.
"What was his name?"
Namgung Hwa-u emptied another cup.
Then gazed up at the ceiling for a moment.
Giving them time.
Time for the parties to steel their resolve and compose themselves.
Namgung Hwi bit his lip slightly, whether he knew or not.
His fist on the table clenched tight.
But the siblings noticed none of it.
Their eyes were fixed solely on Namgung Hwa-u's mouth.
"Hwi."
A single character.
The man's name finally slipped from Namgung Hwa-u's lips.
"No such person in the clan..."
Namgung Ji-yu started to say.
There was one Namgung Hwi in the clan. He couldn't be their father.
But.
Hadn't they just learned of a Namgung Hwi recently?
A Namgung not on the clan roster.
Namgung Ji-yu's gaze turned naturally.
Namgung Ji-hu's did too.
There sat a man with an empty right sleeve, covered in sword scars.
Now he truly registered.
Eyes trembling wildly in turmoil.
Lip bitten.
Left fist clenched.
He looked as confused and tense as they felt.
"N-no way..."
Namgung Ji-yu murmured in a quavering voice.
"Th-that can't be..."
Namgung Ji-hu echoed her.
Namgung Hwa-u watched the three, as if his part was done.
Ha Mu-baek eyed Namgung Hwi, urging him to decide.
All eyes converged.
On Namgung Hwi.
He didn't avoid the children's stares.
His eyes still trembled fiercely.
But the confusion had faded.
He had decided.
Fear took its place.
Fear of voicing it.
Fear of what came after.
Yet he couldn't stay silent.
His heart was already pounding madly.
Ready to burst any second.
If he dodged the truth now.
Then.
His heart might truly explode.
Namgung Hwi's lips moved slowly.
"I..."
His voice emerged trembling.
"I am your father. Your father..."