Mother
Under a clear sky without a single cloud.
Feeling the gentle breeze brush past and sipping a warm cup of tea.
I wanted nothing more than to sit in silence with my mother like this.
“……Is something the matter, dear?”
I had fulfilled my dream.
In my past life, it had been nothing but a fantasy I could only imagine. Now I could finally experience it for myself.
“No, Mother.”
“Then what could it be? My son, sharing tea with this mother of his?”
Was that how it had been?
In my previous life, had I truly never once shared a moment like this with her?
……I couldn’t remember.
“From now on…… I’ll visit often.”
“……”
At my words, Mother’s expression stiffened. Then she quietly took my hand in hers.
“……Are you sure nothing’s wrong? This isn’t like you at all.”
“I must have worried you unnecessarily. It’s nothing like that.”
I spoke with a smile.
In my past life, I had complained and thrown tantrums at this gentle woman endlessly. If I could meet my former self now, I would beat him black and blue….
“I just realized how immature I’ve been. All this time.”
“……”
A warm, pleased smile spread across Mother’s lips at my words.
Yu Ha-rin.
Second daughter of the Shanxi Yu Family. She had met Father by chance, and he had fallen for her at first sight, pursuing their marriage with bold, unstoppable determination.
But Mother had suffered from a congenital illness.
The Ju Family naturally refused to accept her—her background was modest and her body frail. Yet when Father declared he would abandon his position as family head for her sake, the elders had no choice but to yield and approve the union.
Regardless, Mother was so beautiful and graceful that Father had been captivated at a glance.
She was a kind soul who treated the servants with care and looked after even her stepchildren with thoughtful attention.
“Where was I in the story again?”
I never imagined it.
That Mother could be so talkative.
I sat quietly, listening to her stories again and again.
Simply sitting here like this felt so good. Why had I always been such a wretched son to a mother like her?
“Oh dear, was it boring?”
“Not at all. Hearing you speak like this, I was just thinking how truly beautiful your voice is, Mother.”
“Hohoho, really? Even this mother didn’t know her son could say such smooth words so shamelessly.”
Her smile bloomed like a flower in its first blush—lovely beyond words.
I held Mother’s hand tightly.
“I’ll get myself together. Mother. I won’t disappoint you ever again.”
“That’s right, my son. This mother has always believed in you.”
I wanted to keep seeing that smile forever.
No—I would see it.
There would be no future in which my mother passed away.
I scanned the surroundings with sharp eyes, then left Mother’s quarters.
I returned straight to my room.
I couldn’t show any sign of it in front of my ailing mother, so I had held everything in. Once inside, I recalled the memories from my past life and organized my thoughts.
Perhaps the family’s path toward destruction had truly begun after Mother’s death.
Father had cherished her far more deeply than I realized. After she passed, he cast family affairs aside and collapsed in helplessness.
When the head of the family lost his center, it was only natural for the entire clan to stagger.
Seizing that opening, the vile creatures who had been quietly lurking in the shadows began to slither out.
That was the memory I held of my family’s past.
And what I felt after meeting Mother today……
It was definitely poison qi.
Mother was the one who held the Ju Family together.
One year from now, her illness would suddenly worsen and she would leave this world. That was all I had known.
What if someone had orchestrated Mother’s death? What if that person was a spy from the Demonic Cult?
Once I calmed down, my thoughts organized themselves with frightening speed.
Looking back, everything had been strange.
As if it had all been orchestrated…… the family collapsed so abruptly.
Even the Five Great Families of the world had fallen quickly because of internal traitors. If even they could not escape it, how could the Ju Family be any different?
The Ju Family was a prestigious clan with fame and power comparable to those Five Great Families.
There is a traitor inside the family.
If everything had been a trap laid by the Demonic Cult, a stage prepared in advance?
I have to stop it. First, I must save Mother.
Before leaving her quarters, I recalled every servant’s face I had seen.
They were the ones who could approach Mother most easily, the ones in closest proximity to administer poison. Their martial prowess was ordinary, so they drew less suspicion.
Weren’t they in the perfect position to harm her?
“Muyoung.”
I summoned him at once.
From now on, I intended to have him thoroughly investigate every movement around the separate building in the rear garden.
Not me—Muyoung.
The Ju Family had purchased an enormous stretch of land and built a massive estate upon it. Its scale was overwhelming, displaying a grandeur that did not fall short of the Five Great Families in the slightest.
Father’s love for Mother was so profound that he had given her the entire rear garden.
Muyoung hid his presence beyond the rear garden wall, observing in secret.
The young master’s unusual order kept echoing in his mind.
Investigate everyone who enters and leaves the rear garden. Map out the matriarch’s entire daily routine.
It was an incomprehensible command, but today the look in the young master’s eyes had been different. He no longer seemed like the mad, indolent young master of the past.
After some back-and-forth, Muyoung ultimately could not break Ju Woo-jin’s stubbornness.
So he moved.
The matriarch’s residence, the servants and guards around it—Muyoung silently recorded everything and observed every detail.
I will head to the main hall for dinner. Return before then.
At first he wondered what on earth he was doing, but the young master’s unfamiliar seriousness forced him to focus.
The reason he had been tasked with this was obvious.
There are guards in the rear garden as well.
The warriors protecting the family matriarch could not possibly be ordinary. If he loitered there, he would inevitably draw their attention.
Muyoung, however, was different.
The Rising Dragon Unit.
They were the elite shadow guards personally assigned by Father—my own shadow. Muyoung was a warrior of the Rising Dragon Unit, the family’s sharpest blade.
He had been placed at my side as one of the finest elites because of all the trouble I caused, ready for any incident.
I planned to use him to slip past the eyes of the separate building’s guards and observe the situation there.
Time passed, and before dinner, Muyoung returned.
“How did it go?”
“I have recorded everything here, Young Master.”
Muyoung immediately pulled a sheet of paper from his robes and handed it to me. It contained every person who came and went from the garden, the servants, and even the formation and positions of the deployed warriors.
As expected of Muyoung.
“Well done.”
I was satisfied. I had only needed a rough count, yet he had investigated with meticulous care.
“Then please explain the reason, Young Master.”
Muyoung asked with a rigid expression.
“Why you ordered this subordinate to spy on the matriarch.”
I paused for a moment.
Muyoung was someone I could trust.
I remembered how he had fought the Demonic Cult until the very end to protect both me and the family.
The family head commanded me to place the young master’s safety as the highest priority. Your safety…… is the primary mission I was given.
Even with his arm severed, his final image of standing firmly before me remained vivid. He had every reason to resent me, yet his eyes had stayed unwavering and upright until the end.
A true warrior.
Yes, Muyoung was indeed a warrior.
“Listen carefully to what I say from now on.”
Muyoung was my personal guard. His gaze followed me wherever I went. If I could not escape that gaze, the only choice was to bring him fully to my side.
That evening.
As Father had instructed during the day, I headed to the main hall to attend dinner.
Ridiculous.
I couldn’t help laughing as I walked.
In the past, I had never joined these gatherings. Father would scold me the moment he saw me, and if unlucky, I might even run into my second brother.
Unlike my kind eldest brother, my second brother was a bastard who looked ready to devour me alive whenever our eyes met.
I can’t avoid it anymore.
Twisted rebellion.
In my past life, I would become furiously upset with Father over the smallest things and refuse to listen to him.
But not now.
Though my body is fifteen, my mind has long passed forty.
It felt disgusting to think about, but…… what could I do? I had returned like this.
After losing what mattered most, I could now see things I had never noticed before.
That Father had been doing everything in his power for me, in his own way.
I had realized it far too late.
Now I can apologize.
I would no longer ignore Father’s best efforts. After all, I had done nothing good for him either.
Thud!
I opened the door to the main hall.
From every direction came the servants’ startled whispers.
It was obvious what they were saying.
Why is he here instead of at Geungnakru at this hour…… Has he gone mad? Did he eat something wrong…… and so on.
Yes. This was my current reputation.
Even the servants would pretend to fear me and avoid me, yet whisper behind my back. In my past life I had looked down on them and paid them no mind, so I never heard it……
But now I heard and saw everything.
“……”
I quietly looked at them.
“Hic.”
“Hup.”
The flustered servants trembled as though having a fit.
Before stepping fully into the hall, I spoke in a low voice.
“I can hear every word.”
“……”
“……”
Yes, this much.
This warning should make them careful from now on. Since I had given them plenty of reasons to talk in the past, I would let it pass graciously today.
I gently patted their shoulders and crossed the threshold into the main hall.
It was then.
The area around the hall was so quiet it felt suffocating.
The instant I stepped past the threshold, my dantian churned and every sense in my body stood on end like needles.
Crazy.
And then the immense killing intent washed over me.
Gazes that seemed to pierce through me one by one shot from every direction.
What is this?
I was startled.
Of course I knew the source of this killing intent.
The Rising Dragon Unit.
One of the family’s strongest martial forces, tasked with guarding the family head.
Normally, there was no way I could have sensed their killing intent. They were existences far beyond the reach of my current martial level.
Yet……
I could feel it.
Fifteen.
The number of people, their ambush positions—everything was crystal clear.
It wasn’t that I had tried to sense them. My body had simply reacted on its own.
Ha, could this be…… the influence of regression? This impossible sensitivity?
I had never known it in my past life.
Not the poison qi lurking in Mother’s body, nor the killing intent of the Rising Dragon Unit.
This was no coincidence.
Soon the killing intent vanished as if it had never existed.
Only then could I relax my rigid body and step fully into the main hall.