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Chapter: 15
Ansi hurried along behind me, matching my short stride.
I could hear the envoys whispering among themselves from behind.
“I’ve never seen that blonde maid before.”
“Who knows? She must be a maid assigned by Un.”
The people from Un assumed she was a palace maid from Pyeong, while those from Pyeong assumed she had been specially assigned by Un. Thanks to that convenient misunderstanding, Ansi’s presence passed by without anyone paying much attention.
Well, it’s not as if anyone would make a fuss over a single young maid.
Seol Deunghwa was being held under such strict surveillance that it was practically imprisonment. Since I was told I had to enter alone, I left Ansi waiting at the entrance.
[Once I go in, use the wind to block the sound so nothing inside leaks outside.]
[Yes, Princess! I’ll seal it up tight, so don’t worry!]
With that, I no longer had to worry about anyone outside eavesdropping on our conversation.
As soon as I entered the room, the silver-haired woman sitting absentmindedly at the table suddenly lifted her head.
“Ruhwa!”
Crying out my name as though screaming in desperation, she rushed toward me. Before I even had the chance to sit down, she had already wrapped me in a tight embrace.
“Oh, thank heavens… Ruhwa, my baby… You’re alive. You survived! My precious daughter… Ah, Heavenly Gods, thank you…”
Still holding me tightly, the woman rambled incoherently before bursting into tears. Her agonized sobs echoed beside my ear. The arms wrapped around me trembled uncontrollably.
This was… rather awkward.
I can’t exactly comfort her the way I do Ansi. What should I do?
There was no way I could suddenly blurt out, I’m not your daughter. Your real daughter is already dead.
I’ll just wait until she calms down first.
In the end, I awkwardly returned her embrace.
The way Seol Deunghwa endlessly stroked the back of my head was so full of affection that it made me feel strangely uncomfortable. My chest ached.
Only after soaking my shoulder with her tears did she finally pull back and carefully examine my face.
“What happened? Are you hurt anywhere?”
The way she looked at me reminded me of my own mother.
Whenever I died and came back to life… whenever I lay sick in bed… my mother would always remain by my side, looking down at me with that same expression.
Exactly the same.
The words refused to come out.
But I had to tell her.
I couldn’t deceive someone like this.
I steadied my voice and spoke.
“Seol Deunghwa.”
“…Ruhwa?”
“I’m about to tell you something shocking. Don’t panic, and please listen until the end.”
“Hm? My precious flower… what is it…?”
“Seol Deunghwa… I am not your daughter, Se Ruhwa.”
Looking straight into her eyes, I spoke.
Only then did Seol Deunghwa seem to notice that my eyes were different from Ruhwa’s. Her expression changed.
“My child… your eyes…”
“I told you. I’m not Ruhwa.”
Suppressing the sigh threatening to escape, I continued calmly.
“I am Sang Rahee. My title is Princess Cheonmyeong.”
“…”
“I am the only daughter of the Jade Emperor and the King of the Underworld, the princess of both Heaven and the Underworld. I received this body through a bargain I made with your daughter, Se Ruhwa, whom I met in the Underworld.”
Seol Deunghwa stood frozen, her mouth hanging open.
I gently slipped out of her embrace and took a step back.
“You know I’m not lying, don’t you? You’re one of the Seol Tribe.”
“…”
She had turned deathly pale without saying a word.
Yet the fact that she neither dismissed my words as a joke nor denied them was answer enough.
Every member of the Seol Tribe could naturally distinguish lies.
They couldn’t detect lies told by someone who genuinely believed them to be true, but they could always recognize lies spoken with the intent to deceive.
Since I wasn’t a real member of the Seol Tribe, I didn’t know exactly how it worked.
But according to Ruhwa’s memories, the Seol Tribe judged lies by their smell.
Apparently, lies carried a different scent.
That’s an innate ability shared by every member of the Seol Tribe. And some are born with even stronger powers.
Among the tribe, there were occasionally people who could do more than detect lies.
Some could even smell fortune and misfortune.
If you can distinguish good fortune from bad, you can seek out luck and avoid disaster. No wonder the Empire coveted such an ability.
Unfortunately, it seemed the Empire had never managed to find the powerful individual it had originally been searching for.
Families that inherited extraordinary powers generation after generation were almost always descendants of unions between humans and gods.
Humans who inherited divine blood were called Godbloods.
Considering their ability to detect lies and distinguish fortune from misfortune… I think I know whose divine blood the Seol Tribe carries.
Both abilities belonged to the God of Fate, Gameunjang.
Gameunjang herself is happily living in Heaven with her husband, so the Seol Tribe probably isn’t descended directly from her.
Long ago, one of Gameunjang’s older sisters lamented that she had failed to become the God of Fate. She abandoned her divinity, descended to the mortal world, and married a human.
Which sister was it again? Nootjang? Or Eunjang? Ah… considering every member of the Seol Tribe has silver hair, it must have been Eunjang.
That meant the Seol Tribe were descendants of Eunjang, Gameunjang’s eldest sister, and therefore possessed divine blood.
Since their powers originate from divine power, Seol Deunghwa knows my words are true.
Knowing they were true didn’t necessarily mean she could accept them.
I expected her to ask something.
Instead, she remained silent.
Unable to bear the silence any longer, I continued on my own.
“I met Ruhwa on the banks of the River of Three Crossings. There…”
As I continued telling the story, Seol Deunghwa’s complexion grew paler and paler.
“…So I changed her name to Sohwa. She’s now living happily in my palace in Heaven as a celestial attendant.”
“…”
“I know you want to see her… but ordinary humans can’t easily ascend to Heaven, and immortals and gods aren’t allowed to descend to the mortal world freely. That’s one of the laws established by Heaven.”
“…”
“But…! Once Sohwa grows up and becomes a proper celestial maiden, she’ll be able to come down to the mortal world on official missions. Then you’ll be able to see each other.”
“…”
“…I’ll make sure you can meet her before you die. Even if there isn’t an official mission, I’ll send her on an errand somehow…”
“…”
“So… please don’t cry.”
I muttered helplessly.
Seol Deunghwa silently shed tears, her face pale as paper.
She wasn’t wailing.
She simply sat there, frozen as though her soul had left her body, while tears streamed endlessly down her cheeks.
I hated seeing people cry in front of me.
I’d already seen far too much of that.
At least this time… she’s not crying because of me.
She was crying for Ruhwa.
But that didn’t make it any easier to watch.
The face of a mother grieving as though dying after realizing her daughter was gone…
Someday, when the other side of my coin finally appears, my own mother would probably look exactly like this.
I couldn’t bear it.
“Please don’t cry. Sohwa is doing well in Heaven. It’s not like you’ll never see her again, right?”
Seol Deunghwa didn’t react at all, as though she couldn’t hear me.
Her face had grown frighteningly pale, and the tears simply wouldn’t stop.
I almost wished she’d scream instead.
The life of Se Ruhwa that I’d seen through the Mirror of Karma came back to mind.
Within those memories was Seol Deunghwa.
After losing her family and homeland, being dragged away by the emperor she hated, and imprisoned…
Her daughter, who looked so much like herself, had become her entire world.
…Could she be planning to follow her daughter in death?
The sudden intuition terrified me.
I hurriedly blurted out,
“I’ll avenge her!”
Seol Deunghwa looked up at me with bloodshot eyes.
Taking a deep breath, I continued.
“I’ll take revenge—as ‘Ruhwa’—against everyone responsible for her death.”
So don’t die until you’ve seen it all.
I swallowed those last words instead of speaking them aloud.
“…!”
At the word revenge, life briefly returned to the woman who had looked ready to hang herself and follow her daughter.
Relieved, I continued.
“I’ll punish not only the one who shot the flesh-cutting curse at Ruhwa, but also the person who ordered the assassination. Is there anything else you want? I’ll grant whatever you wish.”
Seol Deunghwa slowly closed her eyes before opening them again.
Her eyelids trembled.
Then, in a low voice that sounded almost like a groan, she whispered,
“…Kill him.”
“Hm?”
“Please… kill the Emperor.”
“The Emperor? You mean the Emperor of Pyeong?”
“Yes. The emperor who murdered my parents, my brothers and sisters, my friends, my neighbors… burned my homeland… violated me… and even caused my daughter to die.”
For a moment, it felt as though blue flames were burning inside Seol Deunghwa’s eyes.
With tears still running down her face, she smiled.
“If you truly can do anything… then please kill the Emperor.”
Kill the Emperor of Pyeong.
I fell silent for a moment.
The ruler of the greatest empire in the mortal world.
A man protected deep within countless palace walls, surrounded by formations, imperial guards, and supernatural protectors.
Could I really kill someone like that?
My hesitation lasted only a moment.
Who do you think I am?
In an instant, more than a dozen methods came to mind.
All I had to do was choose the one that attracted the least attention, caused the fewest aftereffects, and served as the most fitting revenge.
I smiled without hesitation.
“All right. I’ll kill him.”
“…What? You’re serious?”
“You asked me to.”
“B-But…”
Seol Deunghwa stammered in disbelief.
I sat down in a chair and continued.
“I am Princess Cheonmyeong. The Princess of Heaven and the Princess of the Underworld.”
“…”
“If I wished, I could summon heavenly lightning to strike the Emperor where he stands.”
“I could also alter his lifespan in the registers of the Underworld so that his life ends tomorrow.”
“…!”
“But that wouldn’t be satisfying, would it? You want a more… human kind of revenge.”
“A… human way?”
“An assassination, perhaps. Or a rebellion. Which do you prefer? If you want to kill him with your own hands, I can help with that too.”
“…”
Seol Deunghwa silently moved her lips for a long time before finally speaking.
“I don’t care how it’s done. I only want him… to die knowing that it was because of everything he did…”
“Knowing that it was Ruhwa’s revenge… my revenge… the revenge of the Seol Tribe.”
That was a wish I understood completely.
And I already knew exactly how I would do it.
