How much time had passed?
It had not been long since she woke.
Watching the moon rise, it was likely just past the Hour of the Rat.
It was rather late for a guest to arrive.
Namgung Bia could say nothing of it.
Because of who her visitor was.
Hm...
Namgung Bia glanced all around.
Somehow, she had found and served tea, and in the woman’s every movement as she sipped, there was an abundance of dignity.
Though faint traces of years lingered, her appearance maintained an exquisite beauty.
Even a fleeting glance at her clothes made it clear they were no ordinary garments.
The silence that stretched was heavy.
What should she say to break it?
Namgung Bia resented her own lack of eloquence.
While she fidgeted, her lips twitching slightly.
The woman sitting before her broke the silence first.
“I’m sorry for visiting at such a late hour.”
The woman spoke, a faint smile touching her lips.
That smile held an indescribable dignity, making matters even more difficult.
“Ah... I was... in the middle of cultivation, so... please... do not mind me.”
“Thank you for understanding. Cultivation... do you always train at this hour, Young Lady?”
“...Ah, yes...”
“I see. You are diligent.”
With that, the woman began to swiftly write something on a document she had taken out.
“...Cultivation... night.”
It seemed she was writing something terribly important.
Namgung Bia was incredibly curious from where she sat, but she could not bring herself to peek.
Perhaps noticing her attention, the woman soon looked at Namgung Bia and let out a light cough.
“I’m sorry. I have a bit of business.”
“It is fine...”
“As for how to address you, may I call you Young Lady Namgung?”
At the woman’s words, Namgung Bia nodded.
She immediately regretted it.
She should have answered instead of merely nodding.
Perhaps due to her extreme nervousness, she felt as though her head had short-circuited.
“I, for ease...”
The woman, about to speak, momentarily closed her mouth.
She seemed to have something she wished to say, yet it would not come out easily.
“...Lady Mi, yes. I think you may call me Lady Mi.”
“Yes...”
“I’m sorry for coming so late. I heard a direct descendant of the Great Namgung Clan was staying here, so I wished to speak with you, even at the risk of rudeness.”
At Lady Mi’s words, Namgung Bia nodded, but...
Was that truly the reason?
It seemed true that she wanted to converse.
But it did not feel as though she had come simply because her surname was Namgung.
‘...Why?’
Namgung Bia did not know why she thought this.
Yet somehow, she felt it was so.
If one called this intuition.
She was rarely wrong.
“Young Lady Namgung has a remarkably calm demeanor.”
Was she perhaps saying, in a roundabout way, that she was taciturn and dull?
If that were the case, Namgung Bia wanted to change it somehow.
But there was nothing she could do.
In truth, she was indeed such a person.
“My daughters too... I only wish they would take after such a side, but alas.”
“Pardon...?”
Is this alright?
Namgung Bia could not properly comprehend where this conversation was headed.
What in the world was happening?
Namgung Bia did her best to suppress her tension as she observed the woman before her.
‘...The malice... is faint...?’
It was at a level barely noticeable if one were not paying attention.
This was due in part to the change in Namgung Bia’s own realm.
And also because his realm had risen and improved.
Even so, the faintness remained no different.
Just that alone made Namgung Bia feel somewhat more at ease.
Yet the silence continued.
Namgung Bia was so utterly devoid of conversational skill that she could not produce a topic to break the awkwardness.
Above all, she did not know how to treat her counterpart.
Guyang Cheon was the son of a concubine.
And the person before her was said to be the principal wife.
In such a complicated relationship, what was she to do?
She recalled something Guyang Cheon had once said.
-You need to study some common sense.
Was this also something within the bounds of common sense?
If so, she should have listened to him earlier.
If only she had known she would face such a situation.
“That child.”
Once again, it was Lady Mi who broke the silence.
Namgung Bia had to tense her back at the words reaching her ears.
‘...What...?’
If by “that child.”
She was surely speaking of Guyang Cheon.
What could Lady Mi have to say to Namgung Bia about Guyang Cheon?
‘Slander...?’
When a principal wife spoke of a concubine’s child.
It was usually that sort of thing.
From what Namgung Bia had seen and experienced, nine times out of ten, it was so.
Would she bring up past misdeeds, or even fabricate ones he had never committed?
If so, how should she react?
‘Should... I... get angry?’
Had it been anyone else, she would have drawn her sword without hesitation.
But now she had to think.
If she acted rashly, he would bear the responsibility.
Even if it was not his burden to bear.
Knowing he would take the blame in her stead, Namgung Bia had to think very carefully.
To stand by his side, she must not cause him harm, at the very least.
While she waited for Lady Mi’s next words, extremely tense.
“Is he good to you?”
“...Pardon?”
“That child, is he good to you, Young Lady Namgung?”
It was such an unexpected question that her already blank mind felt as though it turned even whiter.
‘Good... to me?’
She racked her brains to answer.
Lately, he had improved somewhat, but when she approached, he avoided her.
He would say he would not, then disappear without a word.
Then return, badly injured somewhere.
His tone was rough.
And he was tactless...
‘...?’
The more she thought about it, the stranger it became.
As Namgung Bia’s expression grew increasingly odd, Lady Mi spoke with a faint smile.
“Seeing your expression, I understand.”
“Ah...! That...”
She had made a mistake.
She had to manage her expression somehow.
Namgung Bia hated that she was weak in this regard.
“As you can see, he is a child with many thorns.”
At Lady Mi’s words, Namgung Bia tightly shut the mouth that had been about to make excuses.
“He wears thorns to hide his wounds, so please do not hate him. It is the fault of the adults, not the child...”
Her voice was as composed as ever.
Her tone was filled with a chill where not a hint of emotion could be felt, yet.
Namgung Bia felt her tension unknowingly ease at the strange sensation from each word she spoke.
Perhaps because the person she had first faced.
And the person she had imagined, were somewhat different.
“I have imposed enough for one late night. I cannot take more of your time, so I must be going.”
Lady Mi rose, bowing her head slightly.
Namgung Bia hurriedly rose as well, but Lady Mi gestured with her hand.
It was a sign that seeing her off was unnecessary.
Yet Namgung Bia could not simply remain seated.
Could she truly have come for such a brief exchange?
What had Lady Mi come to see in her?
Namgung Bia, lacking in learning and wit, could not know.
But she felt as though she could not let her leave just like this.
“...He is a... good person.”
At the words Namgung Bia had struggled to bring forth.
Lady Mi’s footsteps halted for a moment.
“Young Lady?”
“Pretending not to care about anything, yet trying to protect those around him.”
Her faltering, awkward words calmed the moment she began to speak of Guyang Cheon.
It was truly a wondrous thing.
That when it came to him, she could change so smoothly.
“...Acting recklessly, yet ultimately moving for the sake of others.”
Of course, his temper was somewhat poor, so his actions tended to be extreme.
Every day,
he would say that living was bothersome, that he lived for his own record and for himself, and yet.
Namgung Bia knew his eyes looked not at himself, but at his surroundings.
Why was it that sometimes, when he looked at her,
she could see guilt and regret dwelling in his eyes? She did not know.
Because he did not speak of it first, she did not ask unnecessarily.
Whatever it was.
The fact that he cared for her was enough for Namgung Bia.
“...He is a good person.”
Even when she spoke clearly.
Still lacking in eloquence, she could not ultimately convey all she wished to say.
Lady Mi seemed to fall into thought for a moment at Namgung Bia’s words.
Then she donned the same faint smile as before.
“...Is that so?”
Having said so, Lady Mi slowly went outside and vanished from sight.
Namgung Bia, left alone, as though having endured a sweeping storm,
let out the breath she had been holding and composed herself.
She would later say.
That this day was the most nerve-wracking day of her life.
She walked the night road.
Moonlight poured down, suffusing it with light, yet the dark path ahead was hard to see.
For an ordinary person without internal energy, it would have been difficult to find the way without a light to illuminate the path.
But.
Mihyoran walked the path calmly.
Having walked it many times, she could not fail to know it.
‘There were flowers blooming on the left.’
Though they were gone now.
Flowers had bloomed there.
She did not remember the name, but they had surely been white flowers.
Untended, weeds grew thick, and the trees grew unbeautifully, but.
Mihyoran did not interfere.
Because she knew all too well the reason her husband did not maintain this path.
It must be because he did not want to touch the garden she had created, even now.
‘A foolish person.’
That was the extent of Mihyoran’s sentiment.
Mihyoran, strolling slowly through the garden.
“Mujin.”
Suddenly, she opened her lips and called for someone.
-...Yes, my Lord.
Then, surprisingly, a voice was heard from the empty air.
Unperturbed, Mihyoran asked in a calm voice.
“How was it?”
-...As the world says, much seems to have changed.
“For example?”
- The greatest example is that he seemed to notice my presence.
At the words of the man called Mujin, strange light glimmered in Mihyoran’s eyes.
He sensed my presence.
“Are you certain?”
- Yes. More precisely, from the moment he faced you, my Lord, he had already detected my presence.
From the moment he entered Guyang Cheon’s room.
Did that mean he had noticed Mujin’s presence from the start?
That child?
- Because of that, I could not approach easily, but I watched from afar. He seemed greatly changed from before.
“...Mm.”
Mihyoran exhaled a held breath at Mujin’s words.
She defined the welling emotions.
“Is it joy, or bewilderment. If not, is it regret?”
It was a difficult matter.
Emotions were still something difficult for her.
The growth of the child who had caught her eye concerned her.
The thought that he might have escaped his past wounds.
To Mihyoran, could that not also be called hope?
This, too, was a story where not a single thing could be easily defined.
“Yes, they call him the True Dragon, I hear.”
- Yes. I have heard it spread far and wide through the Central Plains.
She had heard the news that an epithet had been attached to that child.
She knew it rose and fell from the mouths of many juniors of the martial world.
And she knew it had taken root in the minds of even more people.
‘That child.’
Unable to endure the wounds carved into his heart.
A child who had been gradually crushed.
When had he become such a person? While she had fled and left.
Thus, while Mihyoran was immersed in indescribable sentiments.
‘...’
Mujin was recalling their recent encounter.
He had not spoken of it to his Lord.
Guyang Cheon was not merely at the level of sensing his presence.
‘To think he would find me out.’
The moment he realized the opponent had sensed his presence.
Just as he thought to gradually widen the distance.
Guyang Cheon sent a gaze laden with annoyance toward Mujin.
Their eyes met.
From that great distance.
And then.
[“Hey, you’re really annoying. Tone it down.”]
At the immediate voice transmission, how startled Mujin must have been.
‘...How?’
The Lord’s son, as Mujin had last seen him.
Had been broken beyond repair in his eyes, irredeemable.
Not his body, but his mind.
But what of now?
‘Shallow.’
In contrast to the distinct presence he felt.
The feeling was far too shallow to grasp what kind of person he was.
This meant he was exceptionally skilled at concealing himself.
How in the world, in just a few short years?
Even if the Lord had left the household, it had been only a few short years.
Yet Guyang Cheon had overturned everything about himself in that brief time.
Could he truly have done so by his own strength alone?
‘Or with the help of another power?’
Mujin instantly erased the thought that had been falling into contemplation.
His Lord would not be unaware of what he himself could think of.
“I understand. You have worked hard.”
-It is nothing.
Resuming her slow steps, Mihyoran decided to ask Mujin something else.
“Come to think of it. How is your son faring?”
-Ah...
At Mihyoran’s question, Mujin revealed a flustered reaction for a moment.
He had not expected the Lord to remember such a thing.
After briefly sorting his thoughts, Mujin answered in an embarrassed voice.
-He seems to be faring well.
Moreover, it seemed he was staying right beside the Lord’s son.
Judging by his expression, he seemed quite alright.
“...Then that is a relief.”
-My Lord.
“Mm.”
-May I ask how the earlier meeting went?
At Mujin’s question, Mihyoran’s footsteps came to a sudden halt!
“How curious, that you would ask me something.”
-...I apologize if I have offended.
“No, you have nothing to apologize for.”
Her expression changed.
The emotion that had briefly seeped into Mihyoran’s face died.
And returned to a cold expression once more.
“She did not seem to be a particularly remarkable child.”
It was her opinion of Namgung Bia.
Beautiful—indeed, an exceedingly beautiful child, but.
She seemed to lack much to be called the bloodline of a prestigious clan.
Her talent was high, so much that she held the epithet “Sword Dancing Maiden,” but.
She was not satisfied with that.
There were many children with talent in this world.
In this regard, something other than martial talent was more important.
‘I had intended to take measures if necessary.’
The Namgung Clan.
..
!
....
...
The center of the Four Great Families of the righteous sect, proud as they were.
It was also a place entangled with countless filthy affairs.
How deep was that darkness—possessing even a tiny fragment of it.
One could use it to sever an engagement or apply pressure as much as one pleased.
Moreover, the Hundred Flower Merchant Guild.
In such matters, they possessed a great deal.
For one as inarticulate as herself, this was all she could do for her children.
Mihyoran could have completely severed this matter if she had wished, but...
-...He is a good person.
At the last words the Namgung bloodline had uttered.
Mihyoran temporarily set aside the thoughts she had been recalling.
“The child was lacking, but she was not bad.”
Having spoken, Mihyoran slowly resumed her steps.
Mujin’s answer did not come, but she paid it no mind.
“...It is still difficult.”
If only she could do for the other children as much as she had done for the first and second.
Doing so for the remaining children was truly difficult.
Because she did not know if she had the right.
For she was not their birth mother.
Moving slowly, she looked back once more at the place she had been gazing at earlier.
The thicket where the white flowers had taken root.
Hm...
Not so long ago.
Pushed forward by a friend’s hand.
She remembered the child who had approached with a face full of fear.
A face resembling her husband’s.
It had been quite amusing to see tears welling in his eyes.
Handing her a trembling, tiny hand, the child had said.
“L-Lady Mi... this...”
What he held in his hand was a white flower.
A flower that her friend had grown in the garden.
Receiving the flower held in that trembling hand.
What had she answered then?
‘Had I said thank you?’
She could not have spoken such warm words.
If by some chance she had.
The child would not have burst into tears and run into his mother’s embrace.
“What a pity.”
Mihyoran, who had spoken, did not know what she found pitiful.
The words had simply come out in that moment.