When the Black Moon Rises - Chapter 14
Chapter 14
“Young Lady, are you alright? Should we send someone to call a palanquin, even now?”
“No, I’m fine.”
Sehwa, who had been walking with a pale complexion, waved her hand.
She had never traversed the capital like this before, and so she had not yet properly grasped its size.
The districts within the capital were strictly divided, and the places where large mansions were located were close to each other, at a similar level.
Therefore, she had thought that the place she was trying to find was not that far.
‘But it's strange. Just why is my body like this? I’ve never felt this much pain before.’
It seemed that she was feeling even more exhausted because her condition was not good.
She finally arrived at a mansion that resembled a palace, with a face covered in cold sweat.
As she was about to walk to the entrance, her legs suddenly buckled.
She gritted her teeth and slapped her own cheeks beneath her veil.
It was to regain her focus since she wanted to hide her weakened state as much as possible.
Having shaken off her dizziness, she once again approached the gate of the mansion without hesitation.
“……Who is it?”
The gatekeeper, who had opened the gate, widened his eyes at the unexpected words of the noble lady who had suddenly appeared.
“Yes?”
“I have come to see Lord Choi Deokmun, so go and inform him.”
“…….”
‘She came like this without even a palanquin, and is telling me to inform the Lord? Does she want me to be scolded?’
Although Choi Deokmun was a merchant, he was a very powerful figure in the capital due to the wealth and insight that he possessed.
Therefore, often, destitute nobles would claim that they were relatives and come to try and meet the Lord.
But it was not just once or twice that he had blindly believed such words, and had ended up being scolded for it.
‘……Her attire looks quite expensive, though, to be carelessly rejected.’
Although he felt displeasure at the young woman’s haughty attitude, he could not answer carelessly.
‘Well, as long as it’s not my responsibility, it’ll be fine to just tell her to come back later.’
The gatekeeper concealed his dissatisfied expression with his lowered gaze and replied.
“I’m sorry, but the Lord is out.”
“He’s inside.”
“Yes?”
“He’s here right now.”
“……”
“Am I going to have to call out to the Lord directly for you to go and inform him?!”
Since it seemed that her physical fatigue was increasing as their conversation grew longer, Sehwa, with a sigh, pulled up her power.
Even if she was young and had not completed her exuviation, a mystic being, especially of the ruling race, was not something a human could dare to withstand.
At the moment when Ju Sehwa’s pupils split vertically, the gatekeeper trembled, not knowing what he was doing, and hurriedly rushed to inform his master.
It wasn’t long before the gatekeeper, who had entered, quickly ran back.
“I am sorry, noble lady. Please come this way.”
Whether it was her power or the answer he had received from his master, which was completely different from what he had expected, the gatekeeper’s attitude had improved significantly.
She nodded and followed him as he led her inside, crossing the courtyard.
A young man, with an elegant navy blue robe, was rushing towards them, walking quickly as if he was running.
The young man, who had a gentle impression, immediately looked at Sehwa, who had a pale complexion, and took her in with his gaze.
“I apologize for not guiding you inside quicker. Please come this way.”
Sehwa could sense that this young man had a weak trace of the bloodline of their race.
‘Is he a son? He’s older than me, but he doesn't seem to have completed his exuviation either.’
The exuviation of the young members of their race could only be completed in the Mystic Realm.
Since Choi Deokmun’s son had been exiled from his homeland, there was no way for him to expect to complete his exuviation.
As she was looking at him, the young man, who was guiding her, whose name was Choi Jangmyung, was also taking her in with sidelong glances.
‘Good heavens. It really is her!’
Choi Jangmyung had already met this woman a long time ago, when she was still a child, before she had even completed her coming-of-age ceremony.
It was when he was a very young child.
He had often been terrified of the fact that scales would sometimes grow on his body.
Whenever scales grew, a pain that felt as if his limbs were being torn apart would envelop his entire body.
“Father, it hurts. It hurts so much.”
Every time, he would cry and cling to his father, who would always look after him.
But even his father, who would have done anything for him, would shake his head at those times, saying that it was a matter where even doctors were not needed.
“You must become stronger. It’s a pain that will come throughout your life, so you have to endure it! Endure it.”
He had been resentful of those words at the time, but as he grew up, he had come to understand the reason.
He was not a human.
Exuviation was the only way to get rid of that pain.
But since he had been exiled and could not return to his home, he could not even expect to complete his exuviation.
Instead, his father would sometimes take him to a distorted void, saying that it was a gate to the Mystic Realm.
Since that place was always guarded by soldiers, his father would always give them multiple thick pouches of coins.
After that, the soldiers would watch him come and go without saying anything.
“If I go in here, will that Mystic Realm that you were talking about come out?”
“Yes. But we had our source destroyed when we were exiled from there, so do not go in there with vain hopes. In a state where you don’t have spiritual power, you will be burned to ash soon after you pass through the gate.”
“Do you want to go back, Father?”
“……”
His father did not give any reply and only looked at that distorted void.
But from the expression that he had made, Choi Jangmyung had already felt like he had gotten the answer.
After that, Choi Jangmyung had often come to this place. And as his father had done, he would give the soldiers thick pouches of coins.
It was as if he was just throwing his money away, since there was nothing that he could do by coming here.
But there was no way he could not come.
The pain that would come at random times had grown more severe as he grew older. As he became more afraid of that unbearable time, he could not help but come to the gate of the void every day and wonder if there was a way to cross it.
It was on one such night that he had met that girl.
The full moon was shining brightly in the sky, and the soldiers who had received the pouches from him had temporarily left their posts.
It was on a night when his father, who usually came to pick him up, had not come even though it was late, for some reason.
As he had been afraid of when the pain would come again and had fallen asleep while huddled up, a small hand had touched his shoulder.
When he opened his eyes, a small girl with a white and clean nightgown was in front of him.
“You’re also a member of our race. But why are you crying in a place like this?”
The small girl, with wide eyes that were as big as a deer’s, was so cute.
Choi Jangmyung, having forgotten that he had been crying, blankly stared at her.
“Why were you crying?”
The child asked with a clear voice that was as if beads were rolling.
“Ah, because it hurt.”
“Where does it hurt?”
“Everything hurts. My whole body hurts.”
Listening to that voice, he somehow felt so sorrowful.
Forgetting that the child was smaller than he was, he blurted it out as if he was complaining.
“Oh, you poor thing.”
The child's expression twisted, and then she gently stroked Choi Jangmyung’s forehead.
It was at that moment.
Something flowed from her small hand onto his forehead.
A sensation he had never felt before, as if his body was forgetting its weight and floating, had enveloped Choi Jangmyung.
“Sehwa, where are you! Ju Sehwa!”
Suddenly, someone’s urgent voice could be heard.
“Ah. I have to go.”
The child said as she turned her head back.
“You will feel a bit less pain now. I’ll see you again next time.”
She said her farewell and jumped into the distorted void.
“Father, I’m here!”
After she disappeared, no other voice could be heard any longer.
It was as if no one had been there, as everything became silent.
But Choi Jangmyung was certain that that night, which had felt like an illusion, was not a dream.
Because after that night, the pain that had felt as if his limbs were being torn apart had never come again.
That girl, who had shone more brightly than the moonlight, under the light of the full moon that had illuminated the night sky.
That girl was Choi Jangmyung's first love.
Perhaps someone with sufficient spiritual power had helped him, and his father, who had belatedly come to know of that fact, had also been very pleased.
“Will we be able to meet again?”
“That, it’s probably not possible. If a child has enough spiritual power to fix your pain, then she must be of noble birth.”
“……”
“Such children don't usually leave the Mystic Realm.”
“Even so.”
“Hm?”
“I’ll still wait.”
“For what?”
Whether that child would come here again one day, or.
‘Whether I find a way to go past that gate and meet that child one day.’
“For anything.”
To meet that child again had become Choi Jangmyung’s long-held dream.
And yet the gatekeeper had spoken of an unbelievable name.
“Sehwa, where are you! Ju Sehwa!”
That Ju Sehwa, daughter of Ju Myoungyoon, was the one who had come to see him.
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