When the Black Moon Rises - Chapter 4
Chapter 4
The time it took for her organs to melt felt like eons.
Even after most of the clan members guarding the execution grounds had left, she slowly died, driven mad by the pain.
Only a few members of the clan remained to watch her final moments, laughing at the blood flowing from her eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
The black blood mixed with poison spread slowly across the floor, mirroring her fading life.
And it was when that blood touched her twisted hand.
Fwoosh!
The pale back of her hand began to glow.
Quietly, slowly.
A breeze swept over the spot stained with her blood, and the ground trembled.
By the time those in the area felt the anomaly, it was already too late.
“What, what is this?”
“What’s going on!”
The wind that had started in the sealed room shook the massive execution grounds.
The eerie echoes soon turned into a deafening roar, shattering the floor and crumbling the platform.
Kaaaaa-pow!!
A violent windstorm that seemed to extinguish even the light raged.
Bang! Crash!
The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck, accompanied by ear-splitting explosions.
Light flashed like lightning. Thunder roared through the gale, battering everything.
It felt like the sky was falling.
The screams of fleeing people echoed. They were desperate to escape that hellish place, but it was not enough.
The anomaly continued for a long time, sweeping away everything around it, leaving nothing untouched.
Finally, with one last intense burst of light, a pitch-black void unfolded in a fleeting moment.
Everything had disappeared into that void.
Light, sound, wind.
Even those who had been there.
Above a towering cliff that seemed to touch the sky, perched on the edge of a rock bathed in moonlight, was a small pavilion.
A handsome man with black hair sat on the railing of the pavilion, looking anxious.
Unfazed by the dizzying emptiness below, he dangled his long legs and occasionally twirled a white porcelain wine cup in his hand.
This was Baek Giha, the head of the Baek Clan, who had risen to the position of the leader of the seven clans and was now called the Mystic Ruler.
His perfect features, framing a sharply defined jawline, were strikingly beautiful, and his eyes, gazing into the void, seemed to hold endless darkness.
Below him, beyond the steep cliffs, members of the Baek Clan were celebrating the ascension of their new Mystic Ruler, their cheers echoing.
Torches set up for him spread across the vast plain like stars.
The sight of a river of fire flowing beneath his feet was mesmerizing.
However, the man's face, devoid of any expression, remained as cold as stone.
Only the periodic tightening of his grip on the wine cup betrayed his anxiety.
“Lady Ju sehwa and her family have all been taken to the Clan Head’s residence.”
Upon hearing that report, he had immediately ordered his men to storm the place and rescue her and her family, no matter the cost.
But for some reason, no further reports about the situation had come in for a long time.
‘I should have gone myself.’
His sharply defined fingers clenched into a fist, veins bulging.
It was then.
A red light emanated from the ring he wore.
“!”
The statuesque beauty, Baek Giha, leaped to his feet. He stared at the ring with a look of utter shock.
‘……That can’t be.’
He kept denying it.
But the clear red light illuminating the darkness was neither a dream nor an illusion.
‘……No. It’s just some anomaly. It can’t be. She can’t be dead, it’s impossible!’
The vision of a woman with a cold expression flashed before his eyes.
A woman who stood tall even in precarious situations.
A woman who, despite her noble lineage, was as resilient and unyielding as a wildflower in a vast prairie.
A woman whose fiery spirit had stirred his heart for the first time in his life, drawing his gaze.
A woman who was so beautiful, she had broken through his numbness to aesthetic appreciation.
That woman, the one he wanted to embrace protectively, the one he wanted to do anything for.
……No matter how much he tried to deny it, there was only one reason for this red light.
‘I shouldn't have let her go.’
He hunched over, groaning in agony.
His heart felt like it was being torn into pieces.
‘I should have held onto her. Even if I had to forcibly confine her, I shouldn't have sent her back.’
Even though he knew his own feelings, he had no choice but to let her go because he knew how blindly devoted she was to the young Clan Head of the Ju Clan.
That devotion was more akin to a perfectly learned loyalty than romantic love, but even so, nothing changed.
The fact remained that there was no place for him in her heart.
Just as he was about to sink into despair, his face pale, the light from the ring did not subside over time. Instead, it burned even more intensely.
‘……What is this?’
His elegant eyebrows furrowed slightly.
‘She must have made her wish as she said she would. But what did she wish for that would cause such a phenomenon…….’
That was his last thought.
The light that burst forth like an explosion engulfed everything around him.
The intense red light swirled everything within it before finally vanishing into the black void.
And so, time was turned back.
Chapter 1.
Ding- Dong-.
For a moment, she thought she heard the bell announcing the Hour of the Horse (late morning to early afternoon).
It was as if the Divine Bell, the treasure of the Ju Clan and symbol of the celestial realm, had rung with a deep, clear sound.
“So, what do you think of this proposal?”
“Clan Head!”
“Silence, Myoungyoon. I am speaking directly with your daughter.”
When Sehwa regained consciousness, she realized she was bowing deeply before someone, her head lowered.
‘Huh?’
The excruciating pain that had driven her mad had vanished without a trace.
Not only that, but for some reason, her appearance in her downward-facing view was different from her last memory.
A clean skirt and pure white hands.
‘What is this? I was at the execution grounds, no, before that, I drank the Fatal Fragment and died. Why am I alive?’
Moreover, her body, which had been battered by prolonged torture, had returned to its original state.
It was the moment Sehwa stared strangely at her fingernails, which had been torn off long ago but were now back on her fingertips.
“Ju Sehwa.”
At someone's voice, she reflexively raised her head.
Sitting there was the frail former Clan Head, looking exactly as she remembered him from twenty years ago.
An old man sitting like a stone statue, gazing at her with indifferent eyes as if looking at an object.
Startled, she looked around.
Pure white marble floors and a massive window covering an entire wall.
Beyond it was a view filled with pear trees.
‘Good heavens! It’s the human realm!’
This was the former Clan Head’s detached palace in the Ju Clan’s estate built in the human realm.
Twenty years ago, this was the detached palace where she had been decided as the betrothed of the young Clan Head, Ju Kyunghyun.
And.
‘……Father!’
Her deceased father stood beside the former Clan Head.
Looking much younger than she had last seen him.
‘……What is this? Am I seeing things?’
Her father was alive.
When their eyes met, the corners of her eyes grew hot.
Her vision instantly blurred.
Whether it was an illusion or not, what did it matter? Her father was standing there, unharmed, looking at her.
“Ju Sehwa. Can you not hear me?”
She desperately wanted to embrace her father, who was looking at her with concern.
She would have, if not for the old man present.
‘But what is all this? Was everything that happened earlier just a dream?’
It didn't feel like a dream.
The extreme pain of her organs melting, the despair that tore at her heart with sorrow.
The sensations of all those moments were still surprisingly vivid.
‘I don't know what's going on, but to have to see that face again.’
Her eyes flashed coldly for a moment.
Ju Kyunghyun, the successive Clan Heads of the Ju Clan, and her betrothed were all problems, but that old man was the root of all evil.
If only the old man hadn't committed those unforgivable acts for his own immortality.
If only he hadn't made the Ju Clan the common enemy of the other six clans.
‘My family wouldn't have met such a tragic end.’
All the intense emotions she had felt before her death swirled within her heart like a vortex.
The urge to rush forward and kill the old former Clan Head was overwhelming.
But no matter how she felt.
‘……No. Father is here.’
Even if all this wasn't real. How could she put her father in danger again?
With a heavy heart, Sehwa lowered her gaze, which had been impolitely fixed on the Clan Head.
She quickly bowed her head, feigning a trembling voice.
“Forgive me. I was blinded by the brilliance of the Mystic Ruler whom I have the honor of meeting, and overwhelmed by your majesty, I could not speak. Please punish my rudeness severely.”
‘These kinds of honorifics are probably commonplace to him.’
She was still young and had not yet undergone her coming-of-age ceremony, so anything more exaggerated than this would be problematic.
But for some reason, the Clan Head did not respond even after hearing her words.
‘Should I be more deferential? Should I kneel?’
It was then that a low chuckle escaped the old man.
“There is no need to fear me. Compose yourself.”
Fortunately, her eyes, which had reddened at the sight of her alive father, seemed to have lent credibility to her words.
“So, what are your thoughts on my proposal?”
‘Proposal? ……Ah. He’s asking about that proposal now.’
Her gaze blurred as she briefly searched her memories.
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