Chapter 20
The moment he saw the child, Namgoong Cheongun knew.
“Seolhwa...”
Eight years had passed since he’d lost his daughter, but within the youthful face, he could still see the unmistakable traces of the girl he remembered so vividly.
He had once vowed that if he ever found her again, he’d run to her and hold her tight without hesitation—yet now that she stood before him, his steps slowed to a crawl.
“Seolhwa...”
Tears welled in Namgoong Cheongun’s eyes.
By the time he reached the glow of the pavilion’s lanterns, those tears were already falling.
“You’re such a disgrace, crying like that. What kind of man are you?”
Even his father Namgoong Mucheon’s gruff scolding didn’t register.
Cheongun knelt on one knee before the girl and met her gaze.
As Ilhwa looked into his clear, kind eyes, an odd tickle rose in her chest, and without realizing it, her fingers curled atop her own hand.
She found it strange—so she clenched her fist and lowered it.