Free Web Novel"Never touch the Tang Clan again."
Whether he had expected it or not, the Blood Demon was not surprised. He merely nodded in assent. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"Fine. I promise not to lay a hand on the Tang Clan anymore."
But Sohwa added another condition.
"And give me the caretaker in the Black Pavilion’s secret vault."
"No."
The Blood Demon rejected it outright.
Sohwa stepped back as if yielding, then changed the terms.
"Then give me five volumes of the Black Pavilion’s secret ledgers."
"The ledgers cannot be taken outside."
"Copied records will do as well."
The Blood Demon fell silent for a moment, his pupils shifting upward.
As if weighing whether that much could be handed over, his gleaming dark-crimson eyes lowered toward her again.
"Let it be five copied volumes."
"Per person."
"Per person?"
"Did you really think you would obtain just one and be satisfied? You captured the bloodline of the Outlands, made farms out of them, and humiliated them thoroughly."
Tang Sohwa’s voice was cold.
"You said you wanted the Crimson Blood Hall Lord’s frame badly enough to hand over the Sun Palace. You would keep seeking more until you obtained a frame you liked even better."
The Blood Demon’s mouth split into a long grin.
"That is not wrong, so I have no way to refuse. If you produce a frame to my liking, and afterward I still desire the frame between you and the Crimson Blood Hall Lord, would five ledgers matter? I will increase the number of ledgers you may take per person."
Meeting his red gaze, Sohwa spoke.
"Even after all this talk, it is meaningless if the Crimson Blood Hall Lord is dead. I will check his condition."
"Hm. His condition will not be very good."
With an impassive face, Sohwa stared at the endless corridor.
"Are you two the only ones in the Sun Palace?"
"All the ones with any sense fled long ago. Is there any need to kill those who ran into the desert just to survive?"
"You must have spared them because they were frames you cherish at the Sun Palace. You can capture them later."
The Blood Demon let out a short laugh.
"Tsk. You really do not know how to gild people’s faces. In any case, there is no one here to attend to you, so you will have to move on your own. Fetching water will be your job as well."
Sohwa recalled the sound of water she had heard on this floor. As if reading her mind, the Blood Demon spoke of this level.
"There is a place on this floor where groundwater rises. I left Hae-rak there, so find it yourself."
The Blood Demon closed his eyes. He seemed unable to resist the sleep pressing down on him.
Sohwa was about to turn away, then annoyed at the sight of him sleeping so comfortably, she deliberately woke him.
"Is there a Medical Division as well?"
"I have never been there, but this is a palace in name—would there not be one?"
Just as Sohwa was about to leave, something caught at her, and she turned back.
"Then what are you planning to do here with no attendants at all?"
She found it strange that he would remain in a palace where he had to handle everything himself. No—what was strange was that he had left not a single attendant behind. A bad thought took hold.
Soon, the uneasy suspicion she had been harboring pierced her ears.
"As an owner, I intend to watch the breeding of the pets I have raised so carefully."
"Do you suffer from some illness that makes you die if you speak properly?"
"Haha, that is not for you to say, is it?"
Sohwa’s face remained expressionless, but her eyes were full of disgust.
"I have no intention of doing such things in front of you. I will not even permit you to sense aura."
"Hm? Then how am I to know whether you are making frames or not?"
"I do not know why you need to know that in the first place."
"I must know. What if you pretend to couple with him and then run away, deceiving me?"
Sohwa replied in a frigid tone.
"If I must show you everything, then let us consider it undone. I have no intention of permitting voyeurism to a perverted old man. It would be better to remain imprisoned at Geumeunsan for life."
"Do you not know that once you have already appeared before me, you have no choice?"
The Blood Demon said so with his eyes closed.
Sohwa let out a hollow laugh.
"Do you truly think coupling is everything? If I do not cooperate, you cannot obtain a frame from me. Even if you force me and the Crimson Blood Hall Lord to couple by any means, if I give up, the frame cannot come out into the world."
The Blood Demon opened one eye halfway, as if he understood what she meant.
As if to confirm that understanding, Sohwa warned him.
"At the very least, remember this—the one without a choice for nine months will not be me, but you."
"Hm."
The Blood Demon scratched at his chin, pondering.
Soon, a voice thick with drowsiness came forth.
"However, then how am I to know when you become pregnant?"
"You can only know once there is a child."
Sohwa looked at him as if wondering whether she really needed to explain such a thing. Then she realized it.
The Blood Demon was suppressing a laugh.
He had been spouting nonsense simply to tease her.
"I never thought you would show me either. Hae-rak goes without saying. I, too, am someone for whom the result is all that matters. As long as you place the child in my arms, it will suffice. I have no interest in your Hae-rak."
As if still lacking sleep, the Blood Demon closed his eyes and sank back into the cushioned chair.
Biting the flesh inside her cheek, Sohwa turned away. She felt humiliated, but soothed herself with the thought that the day she would repay it in kind was not far off.
Having come up to this floor, Sohwa stopped in front of a window.
Swoosh.
The suddenly opened view made her squint for a moment, but she soon adapted to the light. Opening a window, she turned her head toward the place where the sound of water came from—and then flinched.
The Crimson Blood Hall Lord was sitting with his back against the wall, and she could not tell whether he had lost consciousness or was dead.
Sohwa realized why she had not sensed Min Hae-rak’s aura from this place. Stakes were driven into his body. Wooden blocks seemed to have sealed his acupoints.
She approached him and pulled out the stakes embedded in his body one by one.
If there was still blood left to spill, reddish fluid seeped little by little from the large holes.
His appearance was in ruins, but if he regained consciousness, these were wounds from which he could recover quickly enough. In any case, the Blood Demon would never kill Hae-rak, so he would not have endangered his life.
‘If the acupoints blocking the blazing-yang energy are reconnected, the pain will be horrific, but...’
Sohwa gathered the blood-soaked stakes to one side and slipped her hand into her sleeve.
With a faint hope, she checked what she carried, but inside her sleeve were only extreme poisons and antidotes. Hae-rak had not been poisoned now, so they were all useless.
Sohwa looked around.
In the darkness still clinging to the space, vague outlines emerged. What looked like jar-like vessels were piled to one side, and beside them dry cloth was neatly folded.
Sohwa walked over.
Swoosh.
Drawing the cloth farther aside, the interior came into clearer view.
At the center of the room was a small fountain. Where water spouted upward, there was a long basin like a bath, and its far end connected to the window, letting the water spill outside.
Vegetation was planted around the waterway. It seemed they were growing plants using groundwater. free𝑤ebnovel.com
Sohwa considered whether to wash Hae-rak’s body, then decided to look for medicine first and went down to the first floor.
Naturally, the Sun Palace also had a Medical Division. They were no different from martial clans—there would be frequent injuries.
There were an inordinate number of salves in the Sun Palace’s infirmary. Sohwa applied them one by one herself or placed a little in her mouth to determine what they were.
She selected medicines that would prevent wounds from festering and aid recovery. She also wrapped several herbs she recognized in cloth.
She did not see a distiller, but since there was a human distiller on this floor, she could brew something roughly similar.
As Sohwa was climbing the stairs again, she frowned. On the landing sat Min Hae-rak, having lost consciousness.
Behind his enormous body, the stairs bore bloody footprints. Unable to endure it, he must have crawled out and collapsed.
Seeing that he had tried to go to the Blood Demon with that body as soon as he regained consciousness, she understood why he was called a mad dog.
Unlike the Blood Demon or herself, Min Hae-rak needed time to recover.
Sighing, she supported him. At that moment, Hae-rak’s hand fell limply to the floor, and something dropped from it.
Thud.
Sohwa seated the Crimson Blood Hall Lord back on the stairs and picked up the small object.
A fine line appeared between her pale brows.
It was someone’s finger.
Sohwa held it up against her own hand to compare. It looked like the ring finger of someone with large hands. Soon, Sohwa’s black eyes darkened.
She could guess what this was.
It was the Blood Demon’s ring finger.
Her gaze fell on the Crimson Blood Hall Lord.
Sohwa grasped the situation.
The Blood Demon would never have handed over the blazing-yang energy of the Sun Palace he held so dearly without resistance. Hae-rak must truly have fought, staking his life.
Sohwa understood why the Blood Demon had driven stakes into his body to pin him in place.
Even while unconscious, he tried to crawl out—one could easily imagine what he had been like when whole.
Sohwa held her breath for a moment and closed her eyes.
The Blood Demon seemed to be sleeping fitfully. The wind repeatedly advanced and retreated, carrying waves of a nauseating stench.
The rotten scent of blood that had roamed over her, mixed with the aura of others, gradually thinned. Still, there was no telling when it might return again.
When she opened her eyes once more, Sohwa quietly supported Hae-rak and returned to the place where the water was.
