When the Black Moon Rises - Chapter 27
Chapter 27
A trembling voice flowed pitifully from between Sa Yeonju's lips.
"Sister, I truly don't understand why you're slandering and framing me like this. What did I do so wrong to you? Are you this angry because I spoke a little about you to others out of concern?"
Her tearful appearance was utterly pathetic.
However, the problem was that no one cared about Sa Yeonju in such a state.
Sehwa took out a container filled with silver needles from her sleeve.
The startled onlookers whispered amongst themselves.
"Oh my, what's that? She claimed something was mixed in, and now she even prepared silver needles beforehand?"
"What? Judging by her preparedness, this doesn't seem like the first time this has happened?"
From the moment the pure white needles appeared, all eyes in the banquet hall followed their movement.
They fixed their curious gazes on Sehwa's fingertips, watching with bated breath for what would happen next.
Even with the concentrated attention on her, Sehwa's hand movements were unhesitant.
Not hurried, but not slow either.
The long silver needles pricked the dishes on the table and were lifted.
And everyone in the banquet hall couldn't hide their surprised expressions.
Despite having prepared a considerable number of silver needles, every dish they touched turned black, making the test results undeniably clear.
Those who were seated next to Sa Yeonju recoiled in horror and quickly moved away.
Sa Yeonju, watching with trembling hands, cried out miserably.
"I-It wasn't me! It wasn't me! This is a setup! There's no reason for me to do such a thing! Are you all going to believe this absurd situation?"
"..."
"You've all known me for a long time. So you should know, I would never do such a thing. No, more than that, why would I? For what reason would I do that to my sister?"
"..."
"Fine. Even if no one believes me, please give me a chance to prove my innocence. Please."
Her pleading voice was desperate, but the voice that cleanly cut it off was equally clear.
"You already threw that chance away. You should have eaten it when I told you to."
With a regretful expression, Sehwa clicked her tongue and added,
"But I can't ignore your grievance when you're so saddened. I'll give you one more chance. Why don't you go to the next room and take off your clothes?"
"...W-what?"
"You can bring anyone you trust as a witness. We'll examine your clothes, and if nothing is found, I'll apologize this time. Ah, this time I'll even kneel before everyone here."
"..."
"So go ahead. You might feel a bit uncomfortable with all these speculations flying around, but this injustice will be cleared up if nothing is found in your clothes. Of course, if something is found, you'll have to bear the consequences."
"..."
"Why aren't you going?"
"..."
"How strange. Can't you go?"
Sehwa's voice continued, but Sa Yeonju remained frozen, unable to speak.
Ju Suyeon, who had been quietly observing the confrontation, her eyes gleaming, moved slightly closer to Sehwa.
She had realized that they were not this young lady's target.
The same was true for the other members of the Ju clan present in the banquet hall.
Their expressions towards Sehwa had become more favorable than before.
Ju Suyeon said in a sorrowful voice,
"Young Lady, this is my fault. For such a thing to happen at the banquet I hosted... I'm truly ashamed."
"It's not your fault. You didn't personally poison the food."
"Don't say such things. This could have turned into a huge disaster for me as well, so I will not take this matter lightly. Furthermore, I apologize once again for the seating arrangement. It was never my intention to disrespect you, Young Lady."
"I know. You were just being considerate, thinking I would be more comfortable next to my cousin."
A delighted Ju Suyeon nodded.
"That's right! Exactly! That's what it was!"
"But with the rumors about me and this incident... what should we do now?"
Sehwa closed her eyes and pressed her hand to her forehead.
"Thinking about those rumors spreading further makes me uneasy. It feels like I'm tarnishing my parents' reputation. And the fact that my cousin, whom I cared for so deeply, committed such a horrifying act against me..."
Ju Suyeon scooted closer and comforted Sehwa.
"Young Lady, don't worry. We're all blood relatives. What harm can a few minor rumors do among family? We will all keep our mouths shut about today's events."
Slowly opening her eyes, Sehwa nodded.
"That's right. All we can trust is family."
She added that if it were only the Ju clan present, such a thing wouldn't have happened.
"We must stick together. We must cherish each other and keep each other's secrets, no matter what. Because we're family."
Then, as if she had just remembered, she asked Ju Suyeon,
"So, is this a banquet with only Ju clan members?"
This time, Ju Suyeon understood perfectly.
Not only Ju Suyeon, but everyone present understood.
Even Sa Yeonju.
It meant that as long as the Ju clan stuck together, they would keep any secrets. But if not, there was no telling where the letters in their hands would end up.
"S-Sister."
As Sa Yeonju stammered and called out to Ju Sehwa, everyone's attention in the banquet hall once again turned to her.
"W-wait... what are you trying to do?"
Sensing what was about to happen, Sa Yeonju backed away, waving her hands.
And as expected,
"Drag her out immediately. I don't want to see that face at any future banquet, so make sure she doesn't come anywhere near here."
The servants standing around the banquet hall, upon receiving Ju Suyeon's signal, slowly approached Sa Yeonju.
The frightened Sa Yeonju looked around and shouted,
"W-why are you doing this? No! I'm telling you it wasn't me! We've all been getting along so well, and now you're going to believe my sister's lies and not even give me a chance to prove my innocence?"
Someone replied,
"But you're not a Ju, are you?"
Sa Yeonju's expression froze as she heard the words she least wanted to hear.
Quite a few people came out to see her off when she left the banquet hall.
"Come again."
"Yes, let's meet again at the banquet I'll be hosting soon."
"Me too. I'll be hosting a banquet as well, so I hope to see you there."
Sehwa only smiled in response to their greetings without saying a word, then turned around.
Youngsun asked in a lowered voice,
"They act all friendly on the surface, but you never know what they're truly thinking. Could this have unnecessarily raised their guard? I was wondering if it would have been better to deliver the letters individually."
"No. It had to be done openly. If you do it secretly, they think you're trying to exploit their weaknesses, but if you do it publicly, they think everyone's on the same side."
"I don't know what that cousin will do now that she's been kicked out like that. Wouldn't it have been better to just deal with her directly?"
Just a few days ago, Youngsun had been shocked by the mention of killing Sa Yeonju. Hearing such words come from Youngsun's mouth now, Sehwa's eyes widened before she burst into laughter.
Such blind trust without even knowing the reason... She had longed for someone who would offer her such loyalty.
"She won't have the energy for that for a while. What she fears most is not being accepted by the Ju clan. So, we need to completely isolate her first. To make sure she can never act like a cuckoo again."
A sardonic smile played on her red lips.
"With nowhere else to turn, she'll go to the branch family elders. That way, we can weed out those with malicious intent from there as well."
"Can we trust those people?"
"There's a limit to what I can do alone. I need to find people I can use."
The reason Sehwa attended the banquet today was to distribute those letters.
"Does good and evil matter? Why should the morality of our clan members matter?"
A low, calm voice had asked her that in the past.
Were those words fit to come from the mouth of a Clan Head leading an entire clan?
Sehwa had looked back at the owner of the voice with a dumbfounded expression.
Baek Giha's face, as he twirled an arrow between his fingers, had seemed quite sincere.
"If you're going to say that, why even bother establishing rules?"
As if good and evil were all friends, why not live lawlessly without any qualms?
Don't even bother investigating missing person cases, and don't call me all the way here.
As if amused by her sulky appearance, Baek Giha had looked back at her and chuckled.
"Everyone becomes good when their desires are fulfilled."
This man occasionally laughed at such inexplicable moments.
Every time, it had made her quite angry, as if she was being treated like a fool.
"You said you came here after being betrothed to the Young Lord, so you'll become the Clan Head's wife when you return, won't you? So listen well. What I need are those who can be my hands and feet, not those who are good."
His words were right.
These past few days, she too had been contemplating a lot about the time she had returned to.
It was because of the contrasting cases of Sa Yeonju and Choi Deokmun.
If this were the underworld, everyone would be her enemy, so she would have no qualms about taking revenge.
'But if I've gone back in time, there are those who haven't committed any wrongs yet.'
In Sa Yeonju's case, clear resentment and inferiority were her motives, so there was no way to turn back. And she didn't want to either.
But in cases like Choi Deokmun, resentment was merely the result; there were separate motives that drove him to act.
If she could satisfy those motives, she could make him her subordinate.
Moreover, she had firmly secured him with a retainer contract.
No matter how much she hated him in her past life, there was no reason not to join hands with him in this life.
Likewise, it was crucial to set limits to her revenge for events that hadn't happened yet and to identify who would join her side.
"Are you going back now?"
"No. I still have one more place to go. I'm going to the west district."
"Yes. I'll go ahead."
'Come to think of it, I'm thinking about that man again.'
Now that she thought about it, he had done so much for her.
He was the one who taught her swordsmanship and archery.
He was also the one who helped her regain her composure when she was about to break down from the prolonged time away from her homeland.
'Father must have already met him, right?'
Her father seemed to have held him in high regard on the battlefield.
Her father and Uncle Danyoon had also crossed over to the Mystic Realm alone, and Baek Giha had said he came here alone as well, so would there be only three of them on the way to the Ju Clan?
If so, what kind of conversations would they be having?
Whatever it was, they were all formidable warriors, so they must be exchanging equally formidable words.
Contrary to Sehwa's expectations, there were no formidable words exchanged between the two at that moment.
Rather, the atmosphere only grew tense with each exchange.
In fact, it was no different from Ju Myoungyoon unilaterally venting his anger.
Still, Ju Myoungyoon had been very considerate of Baek Giha until now.
He had tried to be courteous no matter what Baek Giha did, but...
"Elder."
"..."
This was not someone to be treated in such a manner.
"Father."
"..."
His stomach churned with anger.
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