“Lord Chwima!”
At Geom Mugeuk’s call, Chwima lifted his head and looked over.
Seeing that he was not in a state of madness and rage, Geom Mugeuk felt relieved. If he was in his right mind, there was no way he would have done something like this.
“There’s no need to explain it twice anyway, so let’s wait a bit.”
Chwima understood Geom Mugeuk’s words and nodded. On the other hand, the Ice Palace martial artists surrounding him grew even more tense at Geom Mugeuk’s appearance. Some of them turned toward Geom Mugeuk and stood on guard.
They seemed convinced that Chwima was the one behind this incident.
A short while later, Ian arrived at the scene, followed by Han Seol.
The two women were startled. Among the dead was Jo Myeong, the man they had met at Baekju Snowfield who had been in charge of the liquor ingredients. He was the very person who had told them that the Snowfield Master had drunk with Elder Seo several times.
The two women looked at each other, then each turned her gaze toward a different person. Han Seol looked at Chwima first.
‘No way… did you kill them?’
Given the situation, it looked to anyone as though Chwima had done it.
Ian, on the other hand, looked at Geom Mugeuk first.
‘What do we do? It looks like Lord Chwima has fallen into a trap.’
If the person standing here with her had not been Geom Mugeuk, her heart would have been pounding as if it were about to burst.
But when she saw the calm look in Geom Mugeuk’s eyes, her agitated heart settled down as if it had been a lie. His gaze seemed as though it could resolve any danger in the world. No—even if he could not resolve it, that was fine. He was someone whose mere presence was enough.
How long did they wait like that?
From every direction, martial artists carrying shields and spears appeared and began sealing off the surroundings.
They were the North Wind Unit, the elite of the Northern Sea Ice Palace who obeyed only the orders of the Ice Palace Mistress. Armed with armor and shields, they were composed of those whose martial prowess surpassed any other elite organization within the Ice Palace, and one could tell from the extraordinary look in their eyes just how formidable they were.
The North Wind Unit blocked every direction like an iron wall, and some of its members lined up to the left and right, creating a path with their shields. Through their perfectly ordered ranks, the Ice Palace Mistress walked in. Behind her followed guards dressed in pure white martial robes.
Until now, he had only seen her inside the Palace Mistress’s Hall, where she seemed like someone alone in a castle of ice. But seen outside like this, she was completely different.
The Ice Palace Mistress silently looked at the corpses. Her expression was colder than ever. She had confirmed that among the dead was someone who did not know martial arts.
Only then did Geom Mugeuk ask Chwima.
“Lord Chwima, what happened?”
At last, Chwima opened his mouth.
“That man contacted me, saying he had something to tell me and wanted to meet.”
The corpse Chwima looked at was none other than Jo Myeong, the man Ian and Han Seol had met.
“I was about to speak with him when the blood vessels in his neck suddenly burst. Then the people who came running after hearing the sound burst as well.”
At that, someone spoke as if shouting.
“How are we supposed to believe your words?”
The person who arrived next was none other than Seo Nak. Only a moment ago, he had withdrawn from the Palace Mistress’s Hall with a troubled expression, but his bearing now was different from then.
“You’re covered in blood like that, and you expect us to believe you?”
The visible circumstances were unfavorable to Chwima. Since he was drenched in blood, he looked even more like the culprit.
It was then that Geom Mugeuk stepped forward.
“That is precisely why he can be believed.”
When everyone’s eyes turned to him, Geom Mugeuk calmly asked them,
“If Lord Chwima had truly killed them, would he have gotten blood on himself?”
Geom Mugeuk turned to Chwima and said,
“Even if they burst right in front of him, if he had wanted to, he could have avoided all that blood. And yet the fact that his clothes and hands are stained with blood like that…”
After a brief pause, Geom Mugeuk said,
“Means he was trying to save them.”
Chwima silently nodded. Even without bothering to defend himself, Geom Mugeuk had grasped the situation exactly.
Geom Mugeuk said to the Ice Palace Mistress,
“If the Demon Venerable had truly set his mind on killing those people, he would have killed them without anyone knowing. He would not have ended up surrounded here while covered in blood. You know this, do you not? What kind of people the Demon Venerables of our cult are.”
Of course, the Ice Palace Mistress knew very well. If Chwima had meant to do so, the martial artists who had first surrounded him would already all be corpses.
Seo Nak then asked in agitation,
“Then why is he standing there like that?”
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze remained on the Ice Palace Mistress.
“He waited out of courtesy toward the Palace Mistress. Believing that you would judge the matter wisely. If he had left this place, the problem would have grown even larger.”
A faint smile formed at the corner of Chwima’s mouth. Yes, this was why he could remain calm. As long as Geom Mugeuk was here, he would not be so easily framed.
“The words of demonic practitioners must not be believed so readily. Naturally, he should be detained until the investigation is complete.”
At Seo Nak’s firm assertion, Geom Mugeuk refuted him.
“That would not be fair.”
“Fair? What do you mean?”
Geom Mugeuk spoke to the martial artists around them.
“You have all likely heard the rumors that we are investigating the death of the Baekhwa Snowfield Master. During our investigation of that incident, we uncovered suspicious circumstances. One of the experts of this Ice Palace had secretly asked the deceased Snowfield Master to make Hyangseol Ice Wine for him.”
In that instant, Seo Nak’s expression stiffened. He had not expected Geom Mugeuk to bring that up here.
“That expert concealed that fact from us. But even after we uncovered it, we did not detain him. Why? Because we respected the Northern Sea Ice Palace and the Ice Palace Mistress.”
The martial artists around them looked at one another and exchanged glances.
Seo Nak could not protest. If the conversation dragged on, Geom Mugeuk would reveal here and now that the suspicious person was him.
Geom Mugeuk’s eyes sank coldly. Since coming to the Ice Palace, he had never once shown anger, but for the first time, he revealed an aura as sharp as frost.
“We respect you, yet you say you will not respect us?”
If the Ice Palace Mistress had not been present, he would have released his force and pressured Seo Nak even more strongly. But because he stood before the Ice Palace Mistress, he observed propriety.
Han Seol was startled by Geom Mugeuk’s sudden change. The man before her now was not the Geom Mugeuk who made frivolous remarks. That cold appearance, rather, suited the Ice Palace all too well.
At last, the Ice Palace Mistress, who had been watching, stepped forward.
“I understand what the Young Cult Leader is saying.”
After looking back and forth between Chwima and Geom Mugeuk for a moment, the Ice Palace Mistress ordered her subordinates,
“Lower your swords.”
The martial artists surrounding them lowered their swords.
Seo Nak did not give up until the end.
“Palace Mistress, you must not believe their words.”
“Yes, we must thoroughly investigate the cause of death of the deceased.”
The Ice Palace Mistress said to Chwima,
“Do not leave the palace without this palace’s permission.”
She would not confine him, but he was not to leave recklessly either. That was the compromise the Ice Palace Mistress had reached.
Seo Nak added to it,
“Until the results of the investigation come out, the palace’s experts should be made to watch them.”
The Ice Palace Mistress accepted that suggestion. In exchange, she added one condition for Geom Mugeuk’s sake.
“Only until the investigation is over.”
Chwima waited for Geom Mugeuk’s reaction. In this matter, he had to move according to Geom Mugeuk’s decision. Geom Mugeuk said nothing. It meant he should accept the compromise.
Chwima readily accepted the proposal.
“Very well.”
When Chwima left the place, Ian followed behind him.
Before leaving, Geom Mugeuk said to the Ice Palace Mistress,
“You asked why I was provoking him to this extent.”
Earlier, she had asked Geom Mugeuk. Why was he provoking Seo Nak so far? Why was he trying to show her his true nature?
Geom Mugeuk had answered that he was indeed provoking him, but not to show the Ice Palace Mistress. Now Geom Mugeuk answered that question.
“It seems he has finally seen it.”
It meant there was someone behind him. The reason he had provoked Seo Nak was to provoke and draw out the one behind him.
“Then I will see you later.”
After greeting the Ice Palace Mistress and turning to leave, Geom Mugeuk looked back at Han Seol and said,
“What are you doing? Are you not coming with us? Did you not decide to become one of us? Are you only one of us when the situation is good?”
The Ice Palace Mistress and Seo Nak looked at Han Seol.
The Ice Palace Mistress looked at her daughter without revealing any emotion, while Seo Nak was the opposite.
Seo Nak shook his head with a firm expression that told her absolutely not to follow. She had never defied him until now.
“I will go with you.”
Han Seol followed Geom Mugeuk.
After the three of them left, Seo Nak looked at the Ice Palace Mistress and said,
“The Young Palace Mistress must not be allowed to associate with the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.”
At that moment, the Ice Palace Mistress could not clearly tell whether his attitude was shamelessness or a sincere concern for the Ice Palace. That was how many long years she had spent with him.
He would betray all those long years? That thought clouded her cold judgment.
“I will keep a close eye on it.”
The Ice Palace Mistress turned and left the place.
Once she had gone, the North Wind Unit and the guards withdrew from the area in an instant.
To the martial artists who were about to examine the corpses, Seo Nak said with a grief-stricken face,
“Leave me alone for a moment.”
Everyone there knew well how much Seo Nak cherished the people of the Ice Palace, so they all quietly withdrew and gave him space.
Seo Nak looked down at the corpses alone. Instead of sorrow or regret, he was lost in other thoughts.
‘He is helping me.’
Just as he had been driven into a corner because of the Hyangseol Ice Wine, an incident like this had occurred.
It was at that very moment.
Drip, drip.
Blood began to flow from the pool that had gathered thickly on the ground. The blood flowed toward Seo Nak’s feet. Thinking that such a thing could happen, Seo Nak stepped aside.
Then, as if it were alive, the blood changed direction and headed toward Seo Nak.
Startled, Seo Nak moved to the opposite side and avoided it.
Then the blood changed direction again and flowed toward Seo Nak.
Stepping backward, Seo Nak asked,
“Is that you?”
At Seo Nak’s question, the blood that had been flowing stopped. It was as if it had understood his words.
Seo Nak said in a trembling voice,
“Thank you for this matter. I will not make another mistake. I will deal with them.”
As if it had understood him, the blood that had stopped for a moment slowly began to return to the pool it had originally come from. Astonishingly, no bloodstain remained on the floor where the blood had flowed.
In that way, the blood returned as though being absorbed back into its original pool.
Seo Nak slowly walked over and looked down at the pool of blood. Before he knew it, the blood had returned to being ordinary blood.
Perhaps this matter had not been help for him, but a warning to him.
His face was reflected on the surface of the blood. It was the resolute face of a man who had made a decision from which he could no longer turn back.
* * *
“Stop swallowing your anger and just drink instead.”
Despite Geom Mugeuk’s words, Chwima drank tea.
“That makes you even scarier.”
Their opponent had trapped Chwima. In other words, he had trapped a Demon Venerable. He must have been furious to the top of his head, yet Chwima was still only drinking tea.
Geom Mugeuk said to Ian,
“I do not know who it is, but they chose the wrong opponent.”
Ian, too, could tell that Chwima was truly very angry. What was astonishing was the way he restrained himself. She had thought that among the Eight Demon Venerables, he would be the one most likely to lose his temper. Yet he was controlling himself more admirably than any Demon Venerable.
“I suppose this is why you were able to become Lord Chwima.”
When Ian sincerely expressed her admiration, Chwima gave an awkward smile. Since he was a man who drank, he did make efforts to regulate himself, but he was an emotional person. The reason he had been able to remain so cool-headed after coming here was because of one desire.
The desire to show Geom Mugeuk a fine side of himself. He wanted to show that throwing himself into a lake while drunk was not all there was to him.
Geom Mugeuk said to the three of them,
“Thanks to this, we now know for certain. Seo Nak is definitely connected to the force behind him.”
At last, the Blood King had begun to move. As soon as Seo Nak was in trouble, he acted immediately. He was not far away.
The one startled by those words was Han Seol.
“A force behind him?”
“I believe someone has joined hands with him and is plotting a major conspiracy.”
Unlike Chwima and Ian, who already knew that fact, Han Seol did not know about any of it.
“Why did you not tell me beforehand?”
At her question, Geom Mugeuk answered,
“That sounds like a question you should ask the Palace Mistress.”
“My mother knows as well?”
“I believe so.”
When he sensed Han Seol’s expression stiffening, as if she felt excluded, Geom Mugeuk said,
“It is likely not merely a problem on the Palace Mistress’s side.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean it is time for the Young Palace Mistress to have a conversation with her mother.”
What he had said to the Ice Palace Mistress, he now said to Han Seol as well. Because he thought what the two of them needed was conversation.
“In my relationship with my father, I was the one who approached him first. If you think about what kind of man my father is, that was truly no easy thing. But if they have raised us to our age, is it not a child’s duty to make them say at least once, ‘So this is how much the child has grown’?”
Of course, Han Seol had never once thought of it that way.
“The problem with your relationship is not whether it is distant or close, cold or warm. The problem is that it has hardened.”
“!”
The word “hardened” struck Han Seol’s heart. She felt that he was right. Now, before she even felt hurt, she would think, “Mother has always been that kind of person.”
She had never thought of drawing what was distant closer, nor of changing what was cold into something warm.
“Why are you saying these things to me?”
“Because I meddle too much.”
There must be some intention behind it. Han Seol could not fathom Geom Mugeuk’s mind. He was someone who naturally made the words “what a strange person” come to mind.
Ian asked Geom Mugeuk,
“Why did they frame Lord Chwima?”
“They were that desperate. In other words, it also means Elder Seo is someone they absolutely need.”
Through this incident, Geom Mugeuk had learned several things about their opponent. Moreover, he was already planning the next step.
“With this incident, they have tied our feet.”
Outside their residence, experts from the Ice Palace were standing guard. It meant they would monitor them wherever they went.
“This actually works out well.”
“It works out well?”
Not only Ian, but even Chwima and Han Seol looked at Geom Mugeuk with expressions asking what he meant.
“Because in reverse, no matter what we plot, it will become something we could not have done.”
“Ah! Because we are being watched here! But I do not think it will be easy to slip out secretly.”
“We will not be leaving. There is someone who can do that splendidly in our stead.”
Geom Mugeuk looked at one person. Chwima and Ian’s gazes followed Geom Mugeuk’s to that person as well.
Facing the three people looking at her, Han Seol shouted before even hearing the words.
“I refuse!”