Free Web NovelThe Family Head of the Eom family gladly welcomed the people from the Central Plains as they came out and led the way.
“Our Eom family’s hot spring is at the eastern end, so it will take a little time. I will tell you about the island so you are not bored on the way.”
All throughout the move, the Family Head of the Eom family explained the island.
The flat land outside the palace was divided into three districts. He said each of the three Northern Sea families—the Eom family, the Dong family, and the Han family—managed one district.
The area outside the palace was not so vast as to let three families form their own power, and still less was it a place rich in food or resources.
Even so, the city of the Northern Sea was wealthy and peaceful.
Most Northern Sea people wore thick, clean clothes, and there were even those who wore garments embroidered with splendid patterns.
The buildings were also built of stone and solidly made, and they opened the hot springs and forcibly drew up geothermal heat. It could not have been a simple construction, and yet with little manpower and resources they were enjoying that luxurious environment.
Though Sohwa walked looking straight ahead, she observed everything that entered her field of vision.
“Here we are.”
At the Family Head’s voice, Sohwa lifted her head.
There was a red pavilion with the black cliff as its backdrop.
Stepping into the pavilion, Sohwa involuntarily flinched.
The Eom family’s house servants were lined up along the corridor.
Pointing to his house servants, the Family Head of the Eom family asked the Four-Directions Hall Administrator,
“Please choose with your own hand the child who will attend upon the Administrator today.”
At those words, the Administrator looked at the Family Head of the Eom family.
Sohwa understood Pang Shihyeon’s gaze. However one looked at it, the Eom family’s house servants were not ordinary people. They were prettily adorned, and most of them were male house servants.
Even Sohwa could understand what “the child who will attend upon the Administrator” meant, so there was no way the Administrator would not know.
But perhaps misunderstanding the Administrator’s expression, the Family Head of the Eom family gave a dry cough.
“If none are to your liking, I will summon another child for you.”
The Family Head turned around to look at the party. Smiling lewdly, he said,
“As for the ones left, you may choose and take them with you, so do not be too envious—wait your turn.”
At that sound, Pang Shihyeon asked in a chilly voice,
“Must one take only a single child?”
“Ah, how could that be? Take as many as the Administrator desires.”
Pang Shihyeon moved her hand and selected people.
She chose ten, and all were girls.
“Ah....”
The Family Head of the Eom family let out an awkward laugh as if flustered, then snapped at the house servants.
“What are you doing! Quickly attend upon the Administrator. Then, as for the others....”
“I am fine.”
The Black Tortoise Pavilion Lord cut off the Family Head of the Eom family’s words.
“No, even so....”
“There is no need for anyone to serve me at night, so it is fine. I am grateful for the Family Head’s favor, but because we have traveled long, my strength has fallen much; I wish to rest soundly.”
Keeping proper courtesy, the Black Tortoise Pavilion Lord declined the Family Head of the Eom family’s favor.
Scratching his head as if he could not understand, the Family Head gestured.
“You, see to guiding the guests.”
The house servants standing at the front moved quickly with tact and guided the Four-Directions Hall people one by one.
Noticing Namgung Jin and Tang Sohwa, who had remained at the back, the Family Head of the Eom family frowned and said,
“As for the two of you....”
There were no house servants left.
“Follow me. I will guide you to your rooms. In any case, in half a shichen we will have the evening banquet, so I will send children to wait upon you then.”
Sohwa thought it fortunate that she could learn the location of Namgung Jin’s room.
Following the Family Head out through the corridor, her vision grew hazy. Outside, fog was full. It was all steam.
Hot spring water poured down like a waterfall and formed a lake, and beside it was a stone building painted red.
It seemed that would be the lodging where they would stay.
As she approached the pavilion, Sohwa suddenly knit her brows.
For an instant a floral scent rushed in.
Tang Sohwa asked in a bitter voice,
“Family Head, is there peony nearby?”
“Peony? Haha, how could there be. As you see, this is not an environment fit for flowers to grow. If you need peony, I will have my people procure it for you.”
“No.”
Though Sohwa wondered if she had sensed wrongly, the scent contained in the steam was thick and blatant.
Sohwa, who reacted sensitively to fragrances, had her face harden to chill.
She felt the scent of peony moving.
Stopping before the pavilion, the Family Head said,
“There—the fifth floor is where you will stay. There, those two are the largest rooms, so stay in those rooms.”
The Family Head of the Eom family, pointing roughly from outside to the locations of the windows with his finger, then left.
Having ascended to the pavilion, Namgung Jin spoke before his door.
“I would like to talk for a moment.”
Only then did Sohwa relax her chilled expression and look at him. Clutching the door tightly, Sohwa shook her head.
“If it is all right, I will come later to the Young Clan Head’s room. It may take a little time, so please rest off your travel fatigue.”
“Then let us meet after half a ke. They say there will be an evening banquet, so I will wash and change in the meantime.”
Sohwa nodded and opened her door.
Creak.
Closing the door at once, Sohwa went toward the window. When she lifted the blind, the great hot spring she had seen before and the city came into view.
Standing without a motion, Sohwa took off her cloak and set it on the side table. Then someone picked up the cloak and hung it on a hook fixed to the wall.
“The Northern Sea hot springs are humid, so you must not leave clothes on the floor. If you hang them, your clothes at least will be a little less ruined.”
Sohwa’s gaze moved toward the side where the sound came from.
As if this were his own room, Hae-rak sat in the chair with a brazen manner. Only, perhaps because of his enormous build, the small chair struggled; he hooked one leg over his knee and barely found a posture. The sight was thoroughly ill-mannered.
Thus even words that were nothing much sounded like a sneer.
“Of the Namgung brothers, did you choose that Young Clan Head? Calling you to his room seemed natural.”
Fingering the earring hidden by his long hair, Hae-rak let out a hollow laugh.
“What, why are you looking at me like that.”
“......”
“If you can, say something. You have no expression, so when your mouth is closed it is hard to tell what you’re thinking.”
Sohwa sat in the chair facing Hae-rak and answered,
“I was not thinking of anything in particular.”
“What kind of thought is it that is not ‘anything in particular’?”
“I thought you were hurt, so I am glad you are unscathed.”
Quietly, she leveled the small chair. Thus she did not see the expression of the Blood Cult man sitting in front of her.
When she raised her head again, Hae-rak was knitting his brows.
Since she had never properly understood the Crimson Blood Hall Lord’s mood swings, Sohwa did not pay attention to the odd reaction. Hae-rak also, instead of explaining, let out a sigh and eased his face.
The appearance of the Crimson Blood Hall Lord was not greatly surprising.
She had worried that Hae-rak might do the crazy thing of appearing in the Northern Sea, but since she had long known he was not in his right mind, Sohwa calmly accepted reality.
Since he had come to her anyway, Sohwa asked Hae-rak,
“The Northern Sea nobles must know the Four-Directions Hall Administrator is a woman and of a conservative disposition, and yet seeing that they guided us to a pleasure house, it seems there is no place on the island for diplomatic entertainment.”
A gigantic hot spring that could take in a hundred people regardless of gender, and a pavilion with many rooms.
However one looked at it, it was not a wholesome place.
No, since the Family Head of the Eom family had blatantly told them to choose children to serve them at night, it would be strange not to catch on. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
With a faint laugh, Hae-rak answered,
“The Northern Sea Ice Palace is a closed place, so there are few occasions to entertain outside figures.”
Sohwa did not believe Hae-rak’s words.
“I have never heard of a city that opened hot springs. The technique must be that difficult, and it would have needed a lot of manpower, so saying there were no occasions to receive outside figures is strange. If construction was underway, whether bringing in materials or bringing in people, there would have been large-scale trade.”
Touching the red-painted window frame, Sohwa continued,
“If there were engineers who could plan and realize a city, anyone would have tried to possess them. They would not have easily let them go beyond their own territory. For work of this scale to have taken decades, it does not seem likely they sought permission and brought them out.”
Sohwa’s black eyes dropped to the man sitting before her.
“Unless they were the Blood Demon’s property.”
“......”
“Are the Northern Sea nobles also Outlanders whom the Blood Demon seized?”
Resting his chin in satisfaction, Hae-rak smiled.
“I like it when you have thoughts that are this abrupt.”
Though the teasing did not feel pleasant, Sohwa could not hold back her curiosity and asked,
“I heard the Northern Sea nobles were outsiders. They lived outside the palace walls and married the Ice Palace people, and were recognized as nobles of the Northern Sea.”
“Yes. That is how it was.”
“Was the opening of the hot springs done in that period? If they created a city like this, they would be worthy of being recognized as family by the Ice Palace Lord.”
With the corner of his mouth curling, Hae-rak nodded.
“The ones who led the opening were the Han family, the family that took the center. They are the ones who, playing at being the Branch Lord of the Northern Sea Branch today, received the Four-Directions Hall.”
At those words, Sohwa turned her gaze out the window. The mountain beyond the hot spring came into view.
The mountain range called the Northern Sea Ice Palace.
Gazing at the silver snowy mountain as darkness settled, she asked,
“Was it the Han family who made the Blood Demon’s Passage?”
“Rather than ‘made the Passage,’ they made the Passage entrance. At that time the Blood Demon was even more obsessed with sorcerers than now, so he did not leave precious sorcerers in a place like this. I heard he kept them stuck right at his side and had no mind except to hold and chew on them; I did not care to know, so I did not ask the details. In any case, when the island was stabilized, the Blood Demon personally brought a sorcerer and had sorcery engraved at the Passage entrance, as I understand it.”
The extermination of the Northern Sea Ice Palace had likewise been an incident the Blood Demon planned with precision. Letting out a stifled breath, Sohwa asked,
“What use did the Eom family and the Dong family have to win the Blood Demon’s trust?”
“Ah, those two families were born with the most important and best thing in the world.”
When Sohwa looked at him, Hae-rak smiled.
“Luck.”
“......”
“Utterly useless people are alive after facing the Blood Demon and are enjoying power; one could call it tremendous heavenly luck.”
Sohwa did not believe the words.
There was no way the Blood Demon would leave the useless alive.
“The Blood Demon is not such a benevolent person, and you and the Crimson Blood Unit are not humans with patience good enough to leave those who are an eyesore alive, so how did the Eom family and the Dong family maintain a power equal to the Han family’s?”
“It is not equal power.”
“The Blood Demon of the Han family spared the Eom family and the Dong family, so.”
“The Han family asked that the Eom family and the Dong family be spared?”
“Because he would have needed personnel to maintain the island, would he not? And to be honest, is that old man, the Blood Demon, not a bit frightening? If you keep the worthless on both sides, I look all the more useful, do I not. Rather than die alone, it is better to keep others beside me and push back my turn to die to third.”
“......”
“Thanks to that, whenever the Blood Demon gave orders in the Northern Sea, the Han family drew back from dangerous work, and the Eom family and the Dong family fought to accomplish even that among themselves. To survive the Blood Demon, they had to prove themselves useful somehow.”
Hae-rak clicked his tongue.
“At any rate, the people here are not in their right minds.”
Hae-rak’s eyes rolled this way.
Receiving Hae-rak’s gaze, she asked,
“Then why did you come here?”
With the corner of his mouth curling, Hae-rak answered brightly,
“Because I feared you might die.”
“Do you still not trust me? I am not someone who will harm you; there is no need to keep watch.”
“I tell you and you do not believe it. I told you I came because I was worried you might die.”
“I do not die that easily. You know that.”
“I have seen many who boasted they would never die and then died. So you also, do not so recklessly stake your life.”
With the laughter gone, golden eyes met her gaze.
“If you die, you will not be the only one who dies.”
