Free Web NovelWarmth spread across her face as if spring sunlight were shining down.
Sohwa fluttered her heavy eyelids a few times, then lifted her hand.
Her wide sleeve slid down with a soft sound, revealing an arm wrapped in cloth.
“......”
Realizing why her arm had felt so stifled, Sohwa stared at the white cloth for a long while before opening her mouth.
“Did you wrap this?”
“Yeah.”
A short answer came back.
It was a skill on par with any decent physician. He had wrapped it well, even taking into account the bend of the elbow.
Judging by how she could not picture the Crimson Blood Hall Lord tending someone else’s wounds, it seemed he had spent a lot of time tending his own.
Naturally, she gauged the atmosphere of the Great Desert—and heard a low laugh.
“Why? Are you suddenly impressed because there’s nothing I can’t do?”
She had been thinking something similar, so Sohwa lowered her arm without answering.
Rising from where she lay, she turned her body toward the direction the peony scent was drifting from.
She saw Min Hae-rak leaning against the wall.
He was rolling a small throwing dagger in his hand as he watched her.
“Are you all right?”
Sohwa nodded.
Out of habit, she touched her sleeve and realized all of her concealed weapons were gone, her expression turning awkward.
She swept back her hair, which fell all the way down to the floor, and looked around.
Perhaps finding that bothersome, Hae-rak straightened his upper body and asked,
“Do you need something?”
Sohwa’s gaze slid back toward him. More precisely, it lingered on Hae-rak’s hand.
Just as she was about to say something, she pressed her lips together.
“Why?”
Hae-rak narrowed his eyes. freēwēbnovel.com
“What were you going to say and then swallow? Making people curious.”
“...Is that throwing dagger by any chance mine?”
No matter how she looked, it seemed familiar.
But she could not be sure, since she had not carved any particular mark into it.
There were hardly any martial artists who engraved their clan’s seal on concealed weapons that were hard to retrieve. Most throwing daggers had no decoration, and if they did, that meant they were for collection, not for use.
The weapon in Hae-rak’s hand was also a plain, patternless throwing dagger, so it was hard for her to insist it was hers.
Even so, it felt familiar.
There had been a time she had accidentally spilled Bone-Melting Powder and the tip of the dagger had corroded, and the spot was the same.
When Sohwa stared fixedly, Hae-rak lightly folded the throwing dagger into his hand and spoke.
“Why do you think it’s yours?”
Sohwa almost said there was a mark only the owner would recognize, then stopped herself.
She did not know why the Crimson Blood Hall Lord wanted it, but it did not matter if he took it.
It was just that the words of the clan elders, who had scolded her never to leave concealed weapons lying around, floated up and left her feeling uneasy.
Still, it was a guilt she could bear.
If the Crimson Blood Hall Lord wanted it, she could give him far more.
He had protected a secret more important than her life—how could she hurt her benefactor’s pride over a mere throwing dagger? From the start, she had only been looking for a blade to repay him.
Swallowing what she had meant to say, Sohwa made a request.
“Even if it isn’t my throwing dagger, it doesn’t matter. Just lend it to me for a moment.”
“And then you’ll walk off with it, won’t you?”
Hae-rak spoke in a suspicious tone, but Sohwa dismissed it as pointless bickering and ignored him. Instead, she laid out why she needed the dagger.
“I’ve figured out a way to remove the Blood Demon’s dokgo. You must be impatient too, so let’s finish it now.”
Before she could even finish speaking, Sohwa bit her index finger, and Hae-rak quickly strode over and grabbed her wrist.
“What are you doing?”
“As I said before, I have to put blood against blood.”
“......”
“There’s no need to worry. Your blood won’t end up obeying me. My blood only affects the Blood Demon’s blood, so once we draw it all out, it’ll be fine.”
Hae-rak spoke in a voice that sounded dumbfounded.
“...It is yours. Stop biting your own flesh out of nowhere and just take it.”
He released the wrist he had grabbed and held out the throwing dagger.
Sohwa stared at her dagger and spoke.
“I don’t mind if you keep it, but...”
Hesitating, she asked,
“Why did you lie that it was yours?”
She could not understand. It was too trivial an item for the Crimson Blood Hall Lord to covet, so she wondered if there was some reason.
Hae-rak let out a hollow laugh.
“Would there be some grand reason? I wanted it, that’s all.”
“I just need to use it for a moment, so you can take it back after.”
In truth, she could offer up hundreds more such throwing daggers.
If Min Hae-rak wanted it, she even wanted to find him daggers forged from Han Cheol.
Thanks to him, she had kept her secret; she felt she could grant any unreasonable request.
Not knowing that, Hae-rak simply gave a feckless smile and stretched out his arm.
“All right. Use it well and hand it back.”
Gripping the throwing dagger, Sohwa nodded.
“It will be over soon.”
Sohwa pressed her fingertips to Hae-rak’s wrist.
Tiny pulses, mixed with his heartbeat, traveled up through her fingers.
She searched for the point where the pulse could be felt, moving her fingers carefully.
His pulse gradually beat faster.
Sohwa shut her eyes entirely and focused on her sense of touch.
Her fingers, slowly tracing his skin, finally found a place where the pulse of the wave felt stronger than his heartbeat.
Opening her eyes again, Sohwa saw that her hand was pressed to the center of Hae-rak’s palm.
She had been about to cut his Laogong acupoint when she raised her head. At that, her gaze met the Sun Palace bloodline who had been watching her.
“Until the Blood Demon’s dokgo is completely removed, my thoughts are going to affect you.”
She spoke in a calm voice.
“If I slip, I might end up harming you, so I’m going to focus only on the thought of removing the Blood Demon’s dokgo. I’m going to try not to let anything else come to mind, so I’d like you to trust me and stay quiet.”
Hae-rak’s lips tilted slightly.
“I’ll be in your care.”
He did not seem nervous.
Seeing his attitude, with no trace of playfulness, Sohwa also dropped her gaze to focus.
Like driving in a needle, she lightly pricked the Laogong acupoint with the tip of the throwing dagger.
Blood welled at the small wound, and before long began to flow around it.
Watching that, Sohwa cut her own thumb.
Thud.
Sohwa pressed her thumb down over Laogong, clamping over Hae-rak’s wound. At once, a violent wave surged up beneath her finger.
Thump, thump.
Following the recoil, wrinkles formed and vanished across Hae-rak’s palm. He swallowed any sound, but it seemed he could not suppress his body’s reactions.
He seemed to be in pain, so she had to finish as quickly as possible.
She addressed the Blood Demon’s dokgo in her thoughts as if speaking to it.
'Come out, all of you.'
Black spots appeared around Laogong. The dokgo swelled and shrank over and over, thrashing about.
At the same time, the tendons stood out on the back of Hae-rak’s hand.
It felt as if the gathered dokgo had completely filled the veins of his arm.
Sohwa’s brows drew together.
It was because the dokgo suddenly stopped moving.
The dokgo that had been oozing out of the wound began to slip back into Hae-rak’s hand.
'If I force it out, does it go back into the body again?'
As she watched the dokgo’s movements, Sohwa’s face slowly hardened.
Then, the dokgo’s color changed.
Only the area around Laogong where Sohwa’s blood touched did so.
The black spots lightened faintly, taking on a violet tinge.
It was a subtle difference, but Sohwa could not just let it pass.
Like dropping purple dye into black water, black-violet blood gradually spread inward, devouring the black blood settled in his forearm.
Rustle.
Sohwa pushed back Hae-rak’s sleeve to confirm the sight properly.
The black line that ran up to the crook of his elbow was changing.
When at last all of the dokgo had changed color, it returned all at once to black. Sohwa swallowed a gasp.
'So that’s how it changes.'
Even when she put her own blood into the Blood Demon’s host, their merging had taken time.
Regretting that she had not kept track of the time, Sohwa focused her thoughts again.
'Come out.'
As if soothing the dokgo, she stroked Hae-rak’s palm and repeated once more,
'Come out, all of you, without leaving a single drop behind.'
Sohwa felt the vibration spreading beneath her finger.
As if frightened by the sudden change, the blood moved toward the wound, then retreated again and again.
Like coaxing someone who would not answer, Sohwa carefully pleaded.
'Haven’t you tormented him long enough? It’s time to stop. Give your host back his freedom and free yourselves from this sorcery too.'
Was it just her imagination? The waves grew calm.
Sohwa slowly lifted her finger.
Then, as if a dam had burst, blood streamed out.
Drip, drip. freewёbnoνel.com
Her gaze slid down to Hae-rak’s forearm. The black veins were steadily shortening.
Like vomiting blood, the wound kept heaving up dokgo.
The dokgo’s territory shrank to the size of a bean, then soon to the size of a grain of rice.
Suppressing the urge to squeeze out the remaining blood, Sohwa waited for the dokgo to emerge on its own.
And then it happened.
Plop.
The last drop of black fluid fell, and red blood began to flow.
Sohwa let out a breath of relief before she knew it.
“Ha.”
Her exhale sounded loud.
It seemed she had been unconsciously holding her breath.
After a long while, Hae-rak’s voice reached her.
“...Is it done?”
When she lifted her gaze, the Crimson Blood Hall Lord was looking at her with a tense expression.
Sohwa gave a slight nod.
“It seems so, but do you want to check?”
“How?”
“Break the Blood Demon’s prohibition.”
“Ah.”
Hae-rak let out a small laugh.
He opened his mouth as if he would speak at once, but no sound came out.
He seemed afraid.
It could not be that he feared mere pain.
More likely, he did not want to cradle hope only to be disappointed.
On the day she had resolved herself to die, when she had finally placed her dearest goal before her eyes, what she had felt had not been joy but fear.
Sohwa did not rush him and waited until Hae-rak was ready.
After moving his lips several times, he seemed to make up his mind and met her gaze.
The moment his golden eyes locked on her, a warm energy spread in all directions. A voice with just as much presence bored into her eardrums.
“The Blood Demon wants to hide my existence from the Central Plains. He wants to make no mistakes at all and completely obtain the things I desire.”
Hae-rak gave a faint snort of laughter.
He placed a hand on his chest and stroked around it. Then he pulled open his front to check his chest with his eyes.
But his skin was clean.
Back when she had failed to detoxify him with an antidote, Sohwa had once checked his body.
At that time, pitch-black veins had converged on his heart like a spiderweb.
Now, even though Hae-rak stroked the area around his heart several times, his body did not react.
His gaze returned to Sohwa.
Tang Sohwa met his golden gaze and waited.
Her thoughts were all no more than conjecture; she needed his confirmation.
Yet instead of answering, Hae-rak let out a smile she could not read.
His long fingers reached toward Sohwa’s face.
His fingers brushed against her lips and gently pressed down on her lower lip.
“You’re going to hurt yourself like that.”
It seemed she had been biting her lip without realizing it. Aware now of how tense she was, Sohwa consciously loosened her hand, which she had balled into a fist.
“Was that the prohibition?”
“Since a few months ago, thanks to you, the reaction weakened, so it no longer killed me—but it was a very strong prohibition. Even so, if I slipped up and misspoke, it would rush to my heart and torment me.”
Letting his words trail off, Hae-rak put his hand to his chest again.
He rolled his tongue inside his mouth, then gave a hollow laugh.
“...It’s too easy.”
A faint anger lay in his bitter voice.
He could not readily continue and shut his mouth again.
Sohwa could not understand what he was feeling.
How could she understand the feelings of someone who had been bound to the Blood Demon for decades?
She worried that if she gave clumsy comfort, she would only wound him.
And the chances of that were high. She had no talent for comforting others.
Silently, Sohwa picked up a cloth lying beside the gold needle and wiped the blood from Hae-rak’s palm. She felt his gaze fall on her, but she deliberately ignored it.
Without a word, she tidied up the area and wiped the bloodstains from the throwing dagger as well.
Placing the dagger back on Hae-rak’s palm, Sohwa checked that the wound had not yet closed and rose to her feet.
“Wait here. There’s a salve outside; I’ll bring it.”
But her rising line of sight dropped straight back down.
Before she had time to be startled, Hae-rak pulled her into his arms.
Rustle.
The sound of his long coat brushing against her ears tickled her eardrums.
The Crimson Blood Hall Lord, his hand cupping the back of her head, buried his face against Sohwa’s shoulder.
Normally, it was the kind of act she would have gotten angry over, but Sohwa could not move.
The Crimson Blood Hall Lord’s trembling ran through her entire body, and his hot breath brushed her ear.
After a long time, a hoarse voice bored into her eardrums.
“...Thank you.”
