Unfortunately, my wish did not come true.
“Second Young Master, what in the world just happened?”
Ilhwa Sword Venerable’s voice trembled, but she maintained her composure.
Her original plan must have been this: yield the first three moves lightly, toy with me for twenty or thirty exchanges, then defeat me. Instead, she herself had lost in a mere three moves.
“Did I not tell you? It’s the Black Demon Sword, so be careful.”
I spoke as though I had won thanks to the Black Demon Sword, but she was not so weak as to cover her defeat with an excuse.
“Even if it had not been the Black Demon Sword but the Heavenly Demon Sword, this was not a fight I should have lost.”
She knew better than anyone that she had lost not because of the sword, but because of skill.
“I’ll tell you a secret. I have already achieved great mastery of the Flying Heaven Sword Art.”
For an instant, she was startled.
“You’ve already achieved great mastery? I can’t believe it.”
The level of the Flying Heaven Sword Art was comparable to the martial arts cultivated by the Demon Venerables.
Since I was saying I had already achieved great mastery of such a superior martial art, her disbelief was only natural.
“Do you not know my father? Would he place me in the position of Lord of Hwangcheon Pavilion simply because I’m his son?”
“Even if the Second Young Master has achieved great mastery of the Flying Heaven Sword Art…”
“You thought my internal energy would be lacking? Did I not consume the Heavenly Beyond Divine Pill?”
“Ah!”
I did not bother mentioning that I had also obtained the Majeong Pill in Socheondong.
“I won this duel. Do you acknowledge it?”
“…”
She could not acknowledge it.
“If I had known the Second Young Master’s skill was at this level, I would not have been so careless.”
She had not known my true ability, and the fight had taken place after she yielded the first three attacks. On top of that, just as she was about to speak, she had been struck by an attack and her sword had flown away. Several ill turns had overlapped for her.
“So you refuse to acknowledge it? If it becomes known that the Sword Venerable broke her promise, the label of coward will hound you for the rest of your life, Senior.”
“Shut up! There is no need to provoke me with such unnecessary words. I keep my promises. Second Young Master, what do you want?”
“You said that if you lost, you would even give me your life.”
“This duel was—!”
She closed her mouth, as if about to make some excuse. Whether she had lost because she had been careless or because her martial arts were inferior, a loss was still a loss. She was the one who had been arrogant enough to say she would yield three moves.
“Is what you want my life?”
“Of course not. I have been called a madman by Elder Blade Demon several times, but I am not that mad.”
“Then what is it you want?”
“Please accept my apology.”
For an instant, the Sword Venerable was startled.
“I apologize for the discourtesy I have shown you until now, Sword Venerable. This is a sincere apology, so please forgive me.”
She stared at me with an expression that said she could not understand.
“Are you mocking me?”
“No. I was rude to you today, Senior. I should not have summoned you to that place.”
“You won, and yet you are apologizing to me. Why?”
“Shall I be honest?”
“Of course!”
“I want to apologize like this and win your favor, Senior. I want you to support me sincerely.”
“Sincerely? Are you speaking of sincerity in a succession struggle? If you thought such a thing would work in this arena, I am disappointed. I did not know the Second Young Master was so naive.”
“It depends on the opponent. I am the sort of person who, if someone throws dirt at me, will shove them into a mud pit, and if someone splashes water on me, will answer with filthy water. But with you, Senior, I want to compete through naivety.”
“Why? Because I look naive?”
“No. Because you possess a lofty character. Because among the Eight Demon Venerables, you are more worthy of respect than anyone.”
Considering the life she would lead afterward, everything I had just said was a lie.
But those things had not yet happened. If her fate changed with her meeting me as the turning point, would the future where she stirred up a bloody storm disappear, and a new life unfold? Could flowers bloom in the desolate wasteland I had seen in her eyes?
“Do you truly think that of me?”
“Yes. You are noble and dignified.”
She bit her lip lightly. She seemed pleased by the compliment, yet at the same time, her feelings appeared complicated.
I walked over, pulled the Ilhwa Sword from where it was embedded in the ground, and handed it to her.
“Then I will see you next time.”
After bowing politely, I went into my quarters.
Once inside, I slept as I was, so I did not know how long she stood there before leaving.
* * *
The next night, Ilhwa Sword Venerable came to see me again.
Perhaps she had not slept all night, for her eyes and face were swollen.
“I will accept the Second Young Master’s apology.”
“Thank you.”
“In return, I have one request.”
“What is it?”
“I lost yesterday’s duel. I acknowledge that. But in exchange, fight me again today.”
I refused at once.
“I don’t want to.”
“Why not?”
“Because I will never be able to win again. If the Sword Venerable had not been careless, if you had not yielded the first attack, I would never have won.”
“Second Young Master, you have achieved great mastery of the Flying Heaven Sword Art, have you not? You have sufficient power as well. You can win even if we fight again.”
“I cannot.”
“Why are you so certain?”
“It was a stroke of luck that comes only once or twice in a lifetime. I am not someone who mistakes that for skill and becomes arrogant.”
“I will not set any conditions for when I win. But if I lose, I will grant whatever the Second Young Master wants.”
She was, in every sense, trying to recover her pride.
I felt as though I understood why she had become the Cult Leader, stirred up nothing but bloodshed, and then fallen.
What was that paltry pride worth? How could she know what I would demand? Truly foolish, and naive.
“Senior, I will not tell anyone about yesterday’s match. So you need not insist on defeating me. In any case, no one will ever know about what happened yesterday.”
“One never knows with people. You might blurt it out while drunk.”
“That will not happen.”
I did not rush. Since I held the initiative, I simply had to draw her over to my side slowly.
“Please sleep well tonight. You look worn.”
I turned to go back in, but she suddenly spoke.
“It was humiliating.”
Those words stopped my steps.
I turned back to her.
“Did I not tell you? My victory was entirely luck.”
“It was not only because I lost the duel.”
The source of that humiliation lay somewhere I had not expected at all.
“The words ‘not the face’—the more I thought about them, the more humiliating they were.”
They were the words she had shouted when the sword had flown toward her.
Not the face!
“That can happen. It was your face. Even as a man, I would not have been any different.”
“An ordinary person could be that way. But the Sword Venerable cannot. I should have let my face be pierced instead.”
It seemed she had found it terribly shameful and humiliating that she had spoken those words.
Of course, I understood her for saying them. Just as much as her honor and her pride as the Sword Venerable, she had strong pride in her appearance. She was the sort of person who wanted to hear that she was beautiful and looked young more than that she fought well.
“Do you understand now why I came back?”
“Yes.”
“Then will you fight me?”
She was filled with desperation, but my answer did not meet it.
“I don’t want to.”
As I turned away, her cry rang out behind me.
“Second Young Master!”
“Can you not simply let me savor this one stroke of luck?”
Then the Sword Venerable said something unexpected.
“I made a promise. That I would never lose.”
“With whom?”
“That I would lose to no one except that person.”
That person? If the Sword Venerable was referring to someone as that person…
“Surely not?”
The person who flashed through my mind at that instant flowed from her lips.
“I made that promise with the Cult Leader.”
The moment I heard those words, what Father had said to me came to mind.
—The Sword Venerable is a person with many wounds.
I could tell that there was some deep bond between Father and the Sword Venerable.
“When did you make that promise?”
Instead of answering, the Sword Venerable revealed her respect for my father.
“The only person I respect is the Cult Leader.”
I could not believe her words.
A person who respected Father this much had stirred up such a bloody storm to seize the position of Cult Leader? Why on earth?
“I do not want to break my promise with the Cult Leader.”
As if worried I might misunderstand her in some insolent way, she quickly added,
“If you are harboring any disrespectful thought right now, I will make this clear. Do not insult my pure respect for the Cult Leader.”
“No, I was not thinking that.”
“Then that is fortunate.”
“Why do you respect my father so much?”
The Sword Venerable merely smiled faintly and did not tell me the details.
If she had brought up her matter with Father, then she had used her final move. I could no longer refuse.
“Very well. A promise made with Father must be kept.”
Ilhwa Sword Venerable was delighted. It was a smile of genuine happiness, making every smile or laugh she had shown until now seem false.
“Are you that happy?”
“I am.”
“I will do my best this time as well.”
“That is what I want.”
In the second match as well, I fought with all my strength.
If anything, I was more excited than during the first duel. Ilhwa Sword Venerable was not careless, and her eyes were filled with an uncontrollable passion.
Of course, this fight was not a battle to kill, but a duel solely to determine victory.
A dozen or so moves of probing passed, then a hundred or so exchanges to warm the body, and after pouring out brilliant techniques, more than three hundred moves went by.
The longer the duel continued, the further we drifted from the matter of victory.
We had become immersed in the pure pleasure of matching martial arts. Who would win was a matter for later.
I was astonished when techniques that seemed impossible connected into one another, and even more astonished by the sense with which she swiftly grasped my openings.
Ah! She is truly remarkable. This person truly deserves to have “Venerable” attached to her sword.
Normally, I would have had no time to think such thoughts, but as though by prior agreement, we stepped back and rested at the moments when rest was needed.
Because we were wholly absorbed in the fact that we were matching martial arts, we chewed over the many techniques we had exchanged.
This moment of purely competing in martial arts was giving me greater joy than any thrill that the crossroads of life and death had given me in the past.
Just as I had felt with Father and Ian, I had to admit that I had misunderstood parts of her as well.
Her desire for honor and her pride were not struggles to fill her barren spirit. Their source lay in the pride she had in her martial arts.
At least when it came to swordsmanship, she was more serious, more sincere, and more genuine than anyone in the world. Her attitude toward swordsmanship was enough to remind me of the way Father regarded martial arts.
The two of us, who had spent our entire lives learning only swordsmanship, thus fell deeply into a conversation carried out with swords.
The match was a draw. In a fight without the will to kill, our skills were neck and neck.
“You must not have used your killing move, so this match is my loss.”
“Is that not the same for you?”
“No. This is the full extent of my ability.”
Ilhwa Sword Venerable, who had been quietly gazing at me, suddenly spoke.
“Second Young Master, thank you.”
Leaving that single sentence behind, she turned away.
What was certain, however, was that she left with a more relaxed face than on the first day.
I still did not know how she would act from now on. Since she had promised Father she would not lose, she might come to see me again tomorrow. Or perhaps today’s duel would be the end forever.
The duel with her had moved my emotions. What meaning had it held for her? I did not know whether it had been enough to moisten the desolate wasteland of her heart.
In any case, my investment in her began now. Making even one person mine was this difficult.