Free Web NovelA sound of cracking air rang out.
Thud.
Sohwa’s head turned toward the noise. Her view was blocked by the snowy mountain’s stillness—it sounded like it had come from very far away.
“Don’t mind it. That’s the sound of breaking ice. It’s outside the island; nothing to do with us.”
Sohwa flinched at that. The Fourth Seat had promised to support their ships.
She began to worry something might have happened to him, but Hae-rak spoke in his usual, casual tone.
“I heard the Eom family’s ships all sank in the northeast bay not long ago. The old folks here think it’s a disaster if the Northern Sea freezes over. The Eom Grand Family Head went out to sea himself, borrowed boats, and said he’d break the ice before it froze more.”
Thud.
At the next boom, Hae-rak laughed faintly.
“I thought the ice would be too thick and take a long time, but maybe they decided to break only the waters around the island first. The Dong family’s harbor should be on the west, yet if we can hear the sound from here, they didn’t go far.”
“Even with outsiders on the island, is it fine to send all their strength out to sea?”
“Ever since the Ice Palace bloodline escaped, they’ve been anxious out of their minds. It’s understandable. If the Ice Palace recovers their territory, those people will be the first to die.”
Hae-rak spoke mockingly. Sohwa didn’t know how to respond and kept her mouth shut.
Crunch.
The sound of snow underfoot filled the silence.
As they climbed the mountain, Sohwa asked,
“Do you not resent the people in the Sun Palace?”
“Why would I? The Sun Palace didn’t betray anyone. The Palace Lord just couldn’t control his own temper and died because of it.”
“......”
“The ones holding the Desert Branch now are mostly from the Central Plains anyway. They’ve got nothing to do with the Great Desert. In a way, they’re pitiful. Like the people here, they carry the Blood Demon’s blood, so they work even more devoutly than cultists.”
“You really don’t seem to have any lingering attachment to the Sun Palace.”
“I don’t.”
No emotion at all showed in his voice.
Sohwa found it hard to understand that feeling, but since she didn’t know all the circumstances, she couldn’t ask rashly.
“If you don’t want it, then there’s no need to reclaim the Sun Palace... but still,” she hesitated before adding, “I don’t like the thought of leaving it in the Blood Demon’s hands.”
Hae-rak was silent. Sohwa walked beside him and spoke softly.
“Someday you’ll need a place where you can live in peace too.”
“I already have a house in Hubei. You’ve been there yourself. What’s there to worry about?”
“I’m not talking about a house given by the Blood Cult. I mean somewhere with no connection to it.”
“......”
“It might sound meddlesome, but even if you never go back to the Great Desert, I hope you can settle down wherever you wish—in a world without the Blood Demon. You’re capable enough for that.”
“I didn’t know you thought so highly of me.”
He sounded as if laughing at her words, yet Sohwa was sincere.
“You’re someone who can think ahead even while doing something difficult. You’re someone who deserves to have the room to live richly. It’s right that a man of your ability enjoys a life worthy of it.”
In her past life, Hae-rak had objectively lived a prosperous life.
He was the head merchant of Anguk Trading Company and, through marriage with Zhuge Cheonyu, had also gained the influence of the Zhuge clan.
He possessed one of the greatest fortunes in the Central Plains, built a family with a beautiful and well-known wife, and lived backed by the powerful Zhuge family—one of the Martial Alliance’s core powers.
Yet now she knew there had been dissonance in that life.
Min Hae-rak appeared cold, but he knew how to cherish those around him. One could not call him warm, but at least killing his wife’s brother must have weighed heavily on him.
Sohwa remembered, after returning from the Blood Demon’s Geumeunsan, how Zhuge Inhwi had been the first to send his younger sister away.
Zhuge Cheonyu too had always shown a quiet admiration for her elder brother, even while finding him difficult.
For Hae-rak to have killed his wife’s brother—Zhuge Inhwi, who had stood against the Blood Cult—must have been the Blood Demon’s command.
Min Yeohong’s perfect life had been the reward for living as the Blood Demon’s servant.
For a descendant of the Sun Palace, who hated the Blood Demon, that couldn’t have been a happy place.
If the Sun Palace had never fallen, Hae-rak would have lived as the lord of the Great Desert, enjoying wealth and power no less than in his previous life.
Then he would never have had to kill his family under his enemy’s orders.
Sohwa wished that in this lifetime, Min Hae-rak could settle somewhere untainted by the Blood Demon.
As she was lost in those thoughts, Hae-rak spoke.
“And you?”
Not understanding the question, Sohwa turned her head. He asked with a blank face,
“Why do you talk as if you yourself can’t live that way?”
“I already have roots strong enough to be more than I deserve. I have no need to seek a new refuge.”
Sohwa was deeply attached to the Tang Clan; she had no thought of leaving Sichuan.
“Besides, I don’t have the luxury or the capacity to think of anything outside the Blood Demon. To want more than this would be greed.”
Hae-rak frowned.
“Since when does thinking require capacity? You usually think about every useless thing, so don’t make weird excuses.”
There was irritation in his tone.
Sohwa didn’t argue—her lips only curved faintly. freewёbnoνel.com
“What now? I said that to make you annoyed—so why are you smiling?”
When he looked incredulous, Sohwa replied,
“Because it feels natural that you and I think differently.”
“How so?”
“I have to stay far from the Blood Demon to cut off his limbs, but you can only wound him by staying close.”
She felt his gaze turn toward her but didn’t look back.
“The best attack I can make is to weaken his power. If I get distracted and he catches me, there’s almost nothing I can do.”
Her eyes drifted toward the cliff beyond the eastern snowy ridge.
“Isn’t it the same now? There are only Crimson Blood Hall remnants here, but without your help I can’t destroy a single Passage. So before he catches me, I have to pour everything into what I can still do.”
“......”
“If I let my mind wander and end up facing the Blood Demon, how pathetic would I be, wasting the time I had? I might not even get the chance to poison him while making the medicine he wants. I could end up helping him destroy my family.”
Her voice flowed calmly through the quiet air.
When they passed beneath tree shadows, the night darkened further.
The stench of blood and faint presences reached them.
It was no longer the time to talk. Sohwa closed her mouth.
But the man beside her didn’t end the conversation.
Min Hae-rak stopped walking and said,
“What if I buy you time?”
Sohwa turned her body toward him.
Looking straight at her with black eyes fixed, he asked, slowly, one word at a time,
“If I give you time, will you be willing to have other thoughts?”
Before she could answer, the Crimson Blood Hall Lord asked again,
“I don’t know how much time you need, but if I hand it to you, will you use it to think of something else?”
A faint crease formed between her brows.
“And how would you know how much time I need?”
“Say it. Any amount is fine.”
Silence followed.
It wasn’t a question one could easily measure—and he surely knew that.
She couldn’t understand why he was asking such a thing.
Turning slightly forward out of the shadow, she said,
“This is a waste of time. We haven’t even blocked the Passage yet—what if the Crimson Blood Hall Lord crosses over?”
“You don’t need to worry about that. Just answer.”
He didn’t move, only pressed the question.
Sohwa finally turned back.
“I don’t understand why you’re being stubborn over something so pointless. Do you think I can calculate that exactly?”
It wasn’t the answer he wanted, and the Crimson Blood Hall Lord didn’t react. Sohwa exhaled in frustration.
Unable to leave him behind alone, she matched his ridiculous argument.
“What answer do you want? Should I say a month? A year? Would you believe that?”
“I’ll believe it, so tell me.”
“......”
“A month, a year—whatever it is. Just tell me how much time you need.”
“Do you really think I can kill the Blood Demon within whatever time I name?”
Hae-rak closed his mouth again. It meant he wouldn’t speak until she gave a number.
In a dry voice, Sohwa asked,
“If you’re that confident, then you try calculating it. How long will it take to reclaim the Northern Sea, return the Ice Palace to its bloodline, help your people reclaim the Sun Palace, then go back to the Central Plains and dismantle the Muhyeongak cult? How long?”
“......”
“The time I wish for—one month, no, I wish it were tomorrow. It doesn’t even have to happen the way I said. If the Blood Demon died from some mysterious illness or sudden heavenly punishment, that would be fine. Anything would do.”
The more she spoke, the less the timing seemed to matter. Sohwa voiced what ran through her mind.
“No matter how long it takes, as long as the Blood Demon disappears, it doesn’t matter. Tomorrow would be fine.”
“All right.”
As if satisfied with that answer, the Crimson Blood Hall Lord stepped closer.
“Time is just an excuse.”
“......”
“Peace of mind isn’t something time gives. Strength doesn’t, either.”
He came closer still.
“It’s entirely up to your will. You can have it anytime you decide to.”
Stopping right before her, he added,
“If there are people helping you, and if you believe you can truly succeed in the end, then you can always allow yourself to think of something other than that old man.”
“......”
“So try believing—both in yourself, and in someone beside you like me.”
The Crimson Blood Hall Lord bent down, meeting her eyes. He lightly flicked her ear.
“And please, breathe. Just breathe.”
The crimson gem hanging in the air swung with the movement. He caught the swaying earring and said,
“If you get consumed by thoughts of that old man, if your goal becomes desperate, you won’t endure it. Practice taking it easy. This won’t end in a day or two—you’ll only survive if you learn to erase him from your mind.”
