Chapter 282
Side Story, Chapter 10. An Impulsive Future
Seeing that her guest's cup was empty, So-hwa refilled it once more.
Chororok.
The tea brewed again was not as intense as the first cup. Perhaps knowing that as well, he idly stroked the teacup, dragging out the moment.
His gaze rose to So-hwa's hand as she filled his cup.
Having noticed something, Haerak's lips curved.
"It suits you well."
So-hwa's gaze dropped. He seemed to be referring to her protective ring.
Haerak seized the opening and teased her with a bright grin.
"You didn't accept it back then, but this time you did. Did something change in your heart?"
So-hwa could not answer.
He would not understand the feeling she had when Tang Ye-hwa handed her the ring again, and she had no confidence she could explain it.
Recalling the excited Tang Ye-hwa, So-hwa let out a soft chuckle.
"Why are you laughing?"
"Ye-hwa praises you a lot. She went on and on about how sharp your eye is. It was strange seeing her that excited for the first time in a while."
Haerak also seemed to recall something and laughed.
"Is it because she grew up seeing only good things? Your younger sister's eye is impressive for her age. It doesn't seem like the Myungcheon Merchant Group Head is coveting her simply because of the Tang Clan's prestige."
"I know. She has talent in commerce, but I'm hesitant to tie her to the Myungcheon Merchant Group."
"I've said it before, but the Myungcheon Merchant Group has already cut ties with the Blood Sect. Since he prioritizes his family, he won't make the Young Head do anything dangerous. And as you can tell by looking at that kid, he's too soft-hearted to be the sort who could scheme anything with that temperament."
"I know."
"But he already seems completely smitten with your younger sister. I heard the Merchant Group Head was clutching the back of his neck because the fellow emptied all the money he'd saved up so far to solve the homework Tang Ye-hwa gave him?”
Finding it amusing, Haerak brushed his mouth with his finger.
"Ah, if I were going to continue the Anguk Merchant Group myself, I would have brought your sister into the Anguk Merchant Group."
"If you're planning to hand the Anguk Merchant Group over to someone else, consider Ye-hwa as well. I'm not saying this just because she's my sister. She's had deep exchanges with her maternal grandfather since childhood, so her sense for commerce is exceptional. Her eye is as good as yours."
Instead of replying, Haerak smiled.
Rising from his seat, he extended his hand to her.
"Come. I'll show you where people enter the inner courtyard."
The surrounding air subtly changed.
Though it hadn't rained, the smell of earth drifted in.
It seemed those standing guard had drawn closer.
Perhaps sensing that, Haerak intended to return to his quarters.
So-hwa stood and followed him outside.
Haerak passed through the garden and entered a small grove. They hadn't walked far when a tall wall appeared.
Haerak placed his hand on it.
Kirik.
So-hwa narrowed her eyes, dumbfounded beyond disbelief.
In the middle of the outer wall was a false wall. Beyond the slanted partition, the nighttime street of the outer courtyard was visible.
"With the viewing angle shifted, if you stand right here, you won't be seen by others."
However, after looking beyond the partition, Haerak closed it again. Turning his body, he faced So-hwa. Looking down at her with an expressionless face, he spoke.
"I just had a thought. I've decided."
"...... What are you talking about?"
So-hwa couldn't understand Haerak's words.
Of course, even normally, she failed to grasp half of what he said at once. He spoke bizarre things to begin with, and he always tossed words out along the flow of his consciousness.
Still, separate from not understanding his words, she felt unsettled.
Haerak's expression was strange.
"Ten years is too long."
With no trace of playfulness on his face, he stepped closer to her.
"Thinking about sneaking around for ten years made my chest feel stifled. It’s not that I can’t come to you because I don’t know about the back door, is it? I don’t want to keep doing this—being unable to come when I want to, unable to see you when I want to, always worrying about others’ eyes. And for ten whole years, at that."
So-hwa couldn't respond.
She could say they could try to shorten that time, but it didn't seem to be the answer Haerak wanted.
Large hands cupped her cheeks.
“I'm sick and tired of waiting now.”
The lips that had landed on her cheek slid to her ear as if urging for an answer.
"I want to enter through the front gate and meet you regardless of who sees, and if I don't want to leave, I want to hold you in your quarters for ten days or for a month."
"Are you saying you'll enter the Tang Clan?"
A voice as warm as the heat spreading across her skin answered.
"If I have to wait ten years for you, I'll wait by your side."
So-hwa was flustered.
The Young Head she remembered had not held a wedding ceremony for a very long time.
He was in a relationship promised for marriage to Zhuge Cheon-yu and was effectively in a marital relationship, but because he often left Hubei under the pretext of trade, he had not held an official wedding for over ten years.
In this life, So-hwa understood the reason.
It seemed the Blood Demon had wanted him to wed Zhuge Cheon-yu, but Haerak had refused, having no intention of having children.
He may also have believed that one day he would kill the Blood Demon and return to the Solar Palace.
But Haerak saying now that he would come to the Tang Clan meant that he intended to hold a wedding.
“It won't be any different from now anyway, will it? Even if I go to the Solar Palace, I'll just come back to the Central Plains to see you again. Even then, I'd have to live apart, awkwardly worrying about others' eyes...... I don't have the confidence to repeat this for ten years."
"If you marry now, you'll have to live as Min Yeo-hong in the Central Plains for the rest of your life."
So-hwa said in a small voice.
"If you reveal that you're the Solar Palace Lord, you won't be able to stay in the Central Plains. Those connected to you, even the imperial palace, might covet the merchant group and forcibly brand you as a Blood Sect spy or a villain."
"I can just live as Min Yeo-hong, so don't worry about such pointless things."
"And after ten years? Won't you have to return to the Solar Palace then? What excuse would you use to relocate?"
"We could say the Solar Palace and the Tang Clan are exchanging envoys, and that you and I reside in the Great Desert like a delegation."
"People aren't fools. If you live ten years as the Tang Clan Head's son-in-law and then go to the Solar Palace, your identity will eventually become a rumor."
"My face is already famous in the Central Plains, so that too is a pointless worry. And people of the Central Plains aren't interested in things that happen in other regions. Would they really dig into what someone living in the Great Desert is like?"
"......."
"I understand and agree that you still have things to do in the Central Plains, and I also can't abandon the Solar Palace. So for ten years, I'll live by your side as a live-in son-in-law, and when your business is finished, we'll go live in the Great Desert together. How clean is that? Why did I agonize over something this simple for so long?"
Haerak seemed to have already made up his mind. His stubbornness was no small thing either, so So-hwa, half-giving up, mulled over his decision.
Thinking seriously, serious words inevitably followed.
"What if a child comes to exist between you and me before we go to the Great Desert?"
Haerak, who had been speaking smoothly, suddenly lost his voice.
Unaware of his silence, So-hwa sank into her thoughts.
"If we live in the Central Plains and then suddenly relocate to the Solar Palace, problems will surely arise."
"What problem would arise?"
At Haerak's matter-of-fact question, a faint crease formed between So-hwa's brows.
"You really have no awareness that you are a Palace Lord."
"That's understandable. I reclaimed the palace by chance, and it hasn't been that long. Besides, I haven't lived there many days, so of course it doesn't feel real. No, but why is my lack of awareness a problem?"
So-hwa looked up at Haerak with an exasperated gaze.
"Do you know what the child of a Palace Lord is called?"
"The Young Palace Lord."
"And what do you think happens if a Young Palace Lord raised in another sect returns to the palace later?"
So-hwa spoke in a calm voice.
"Look at me. What would have happened if I had grown up at a Vessel Farm or the Blood Demon's Jin Yin Mountain?"
"I don't want to imagine something that horrifying."
Ignoring Haerak's words, So-hwa continued.
"I would clearly have had no attachment to the Tang Clan, and I might have been loyal to the Blood Sect."
At her words, Haerak closed his mouth.
Because it truly seemed likely.
"If the Young Palace Lord spends their childhood here and then returns to the Solar Palace, they definitely won't be able to adapt. The environments are vastly different, aren't they? And how would you teach martial arts? If you teach the Solar Palace's techniques here, your identity would be exposed."
Haerak covered his mouth with his hand and pondered seriously.
"Ah, what should I do?"
"Why?"
"It seems like a serious problem, but I'm so happy that you even thought about having a child with me that I can't think straight."
"......."
So-hwa felt sorry for Min Doyu.
She finally understood why Min Doyu, who had dreamed of a new golden age for the Solar Palace, had returned with such a gloomy expression.
Suddenly, Haerak lifted So-hwa’s hand, which he had been holding.
"Still, if the child grows up here, wouldn't there be good points as well? They could learn the Tang Clan's martial arts and study many different things."
He added as he lightly kissed the butterfly wings on the ring.
"And at the mother's natal family, they could learn poison arts and medical knowledge, so they'd be able to protect their own body and stay healthy for life."
So-hwa closed her mouth without realizing it.
Because that also seemed true.
Martial families paid close attention to the bodies of talented children from an early age. This was especially so for the direct descendants, including the Young Lord. Precious elixirs were bestowed, and masters of the family would cleanse and stabilize the body's meridians through marrow cleansing. The Tang Clan now had such systems well established.
Moreover, living in the Tang Clan meant learning much about medicine and poison, which would be an invaluable asset to a martial artist who was often injured.
Sensing that So-hwa had been persuaded, Haerak lowered his head to meet her gaze.
"It's a good idea, isn't it?"
Honestly, it seemed so.
When So-hwa nodded, Haerak smiled broadly.
Touching her bare earlobe, he said,
“It's good.”
"What is?"
"That with the Blood Demon gone, a day comes when we can talk about things like this."
At those words, So-hwa fell silent.
Without noticing, a sense of ease had also settled in her heart.
It was the first time she had thought about matters beyond the Blood Sect and the Tang Clan.
It was thanks to the many people who had shared the burdens of her heart.
Above all, the man before her had taken on the greatest share.
"Ah, there's one thing I want to ask."
"What is it?"
"I actually asked this before, but if I enter as a live-in son-in-law, do we live together in your pavilion?"
So-hwa nodded.
"Hmm."
Haerak made a subtle expression.
"Why?"
"You and I have very different tastes, don't we? I was wondering if I could change the pavilion a bit."
"Fine. Do as you like."
"No, I don't plan to change that much. That red silk hanging in your quarters—first, I want to replace that with something else. I don't know why, but every time I see it, I feel strange."
At that, So-hwa fell silent.
As if lost in thought, she then nodded slightly.
"All right."
So-hwa turned her steps toward her quarters. As her hand began to slip free, a flustered Haerak grasped it again and followed after her.
"What, are you going to take it down already?"
"It's not something that needs to be put off. Since we've decided, it's better to do it now."
"This feels unsettling. Since when did you start listening to me this well......."
When So-hwa didn't answer, Haerak cautiously asked,
"What are you going to hang there instead?"
"I'm not sure. It takes a long time to finish embroidery, so I don't know what to hang there for now."
Haerak openly brightened.
"Then I'll bring something suitable myself. Ah, and that black ceramic piece on top of the chest, can I throw that away too? It also feels unsettling. I've secured a craftsman who works with glass at the Solar Palace, so I'll ask him to make a masterpiece that can't even be compared to that ceramic."
"All right. Do whatever you want."
"And that creepy stone statue in the garden......."
"Ah, you shouldn't touch that. I was told it's a statue Father gave to my birth mother as a gift when he was the Young Lord. He said it was a sculpture of my mother."
"No wonder it was eerily beautiful. I'll make sure it's well maintained so not even a single weed grows around it."
The Solar Palace Lord, who had been subtly looking for chances to bring in his own things, shut his mouth.
In the meantime, So-hwa removed the silk that had been hanging in the room. Looking down at the red cloth, she handed it to Haerak.
"Burn it."
Startled, Haerak waved his hands.
"No, it's not so strange that it needs to be burned."
"......."
“If I hurt your feelings, I'm sorry. Your embroidery skills are no less than a master's……”
"I was never hurt."
Instead of handing the silk to Haerak, she carried it herself into the garden.
Click.
So-hwa opened the lantern in the garden and set the silk alight.
Watching her actions, Haerak asked awkwardly,
"If you weren't hurt, why go so far as to burn it?"
"Just because."
Standing by the pond, she watched the red cloth emit black smoke.
"I don't want to remember it anymore."
At her cryptic words, Haerak made a strange expression.
Approaching the pond, Haerak took the burning silk from her. The moment his hand touched it, the silk flared up and quickly turned to ash.
The memories of the past, forcibly embraced and lived with, vanished into the air.
She had thought it would feel empty, but her heart felt lighter.
Of course, merely erasing a visible image wouldn't make past memories disappear right away.
Still, she believed that as new memories piled up, the past would fade into obscurity.
Brushing the ash from his hand, Haerak asked,
"Are you satisfied?"
In response, So-hwa curved her lips.
"I think so."
This impulsive night truly seemed satisfying.
Waiting for a future different from the past, she prepared herself to accept a new family.
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02/03/26 11:33PM
(T/N): I want mooore! I was hoping for at least one chapter showing them with their child. Still, the ending was quite satisfying. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to edit this thoroughly from start to finish, but let’s see, maybe if I find the time. Haha. Until next time, readers! Please check out my other translated works: I Became an Evolving Deep-Sea Creature / Anagin Chronicles <3