When the Black Moon Rises - Chapter 49
Chapter 49
“Sehwa! You’re awake!”
Ju Myoungyoon rushed in, his eyes reddening as soon as he saw that Sehwa had woken up.
“You poor thing. Are you hurt anywhere? Is your body alright? Do you feel any discomfort?”
Sehwa hugged her father, who was checking on her, and replied, “I’m fine. Nothing hurts, and I don’t feel any discomfort. It went well.”
“That’s a relief, but why did you have to stay unconscious for a whole week and make your father’s heart ache so much?”
“Actually, there were a few dangerous moments. But someone infused a lot of spiritual power in between, so I'm fine now. Thank you, Father.”
“Oh, that was the Baek Clan Head. He said he was the one who helped you during your exuviation and insisted that he had to use his own strength, so he stayed by your side day and night, giving you his spiritual power.”
In truth, Ju Myoungyoon had been suspicious of the underhanded dealings between Baek Giha and the Mystic Ruler.
How many days had it been since it was decided that his daughter would go to the Baek Clan?
No matter how he looked at it, there hadn’t been enough time for Baek Giha to have heard about it and come all the way to the Ju Clan’s territory.
‘Could it be that Baek Giha had targeted my daughter from the start, and the Mystic Ruler, knowing this, publicly announced that any descendant of his bloodline would do in order to avoid opposition and then brought up the topic of a marriage alliance?’
Once he started thinking that way, he became suspicious even about the help during her exuviation.
When she hadn’t woken up either, he couldn’t help but wonder if this whole thing was another one of the Mystic Ruler’s schemes to solidify the marriage alliance.
Perhaps that man was acting as the Mystic Ruler's eyes, sitting right there in his home.
He couldn’t openly chase away Baek Giha, who was saying that he would help with the aftereffects of her exuviation by staying in his daughter's room, and it was driving him insane.
So, he had been forcing him to drink that unappetizing medicinal concoction, hoping that he would just disappear from his daughter's sight and the residence on his own, but it seemed he had really helped his daughter after all.
Even though he loathed Baek Giha for his actions, he couldn’t deny the gratitude he felt.
Now that he believed that Baek Giha was the one who had awakened his daughter, his harsh opinion of the man had softened somewhat.
“Well then, let’s see if your exuviation went well. Try to raise your spiritual power.”
“……”
“Hmm? Go on.”
“Father, maybe because I just woke up, but I can’t seem to gather any strength right now. Could I eat first and rest a little before trying?”
“Ah, that’s right.”
Ju Myoungyoon, realizing his impatience, smiled apologetically.
“I was putting too much pressure on you when you’ve just woken up. Alright, wait just a moment. Your father will have some food prepared and brought to you.”
After Ju Myoungyoon disappeared outside the room, Sehwa looked around and tilted her head.
She asked Baek Giha, who was still sitting beside her, "By the way, have you seen anyone else here? Youngsun. She wouldn’t go anywhere and leave me unconscious, so where did she go?”
“……”
After a brief hesitation, Baek Giha realized that it wasn’t the best course of action to keep silent, and he cautiously opened his mouth.
“That… I…”
“……?”
“I… sent her out for a bit.”
“Why?”
“……”
‘Because that child is the Father’s eyes.’
How could he have properly held her hand even once with that child by her side?
To determine how chaotically mixed her spiritual powers were, he had to hold her hand and sometimes touch places like her neck or behind her ear.
But with Youngsun staring at him with watchful eyes all the time, he had felt rushed and self-conscious.
Meanwhile, as the time that the person before him remained unconscious had gotten longer, his worry had become unbearable.
So, he had sent her far away saying that he had to be careful when transferring spiritual powers that were fundamentally different. It was to ensure her young lady was safe, but unable to say all of that, Baek Giha simply forced a smile.
For him, who had never been mindful of anyone before, this situation, where he had to lie while being cautious of even a attendant’s gaze, felt unfamiliar.
Until now, he had lived with the unyielding belief that, “Didn’t you hear me? Then be quiet. You’ll naturally remember if you get a taste of what happens when you don’t listen.”
“But why didn’t you show him your spiritual power?”
Baek Giha, having realized that her earlier words had been a lie, asked. There was no reason why she shouldn’t have strength after he had given her so much blood to transfer spiritual power.
“Well, my spiritual power…”
She raised her hand and gathered her strength.
Mysterious purple flames flickered on her palm.
“What am I supposed to do about this color?”
“……”
He cleared his throat for a moment.
“Um, Father will be quite surprised. How about we say that the blue turtle’s spiritual power got mixed with mine? It's true that I transferred my spiritual power to you. Then I don't think he'll suspect anything.”
“But your spiritual power is white.”
“Well. We could say that a previous clan head of the Baek Clan married someone from the blue turtle, Jang clan. The Ju Clan probably won't dig up all the Baek Clan's records.”
“……I'll try to think of something too.”
After that, Youngsun, as if having received the news from Ju Myoungyoon, came straight away.
She cried, saying how glad she was that her lady had woken up, then busily offered to bring her clothes to change into and prepared a bath. Baek Giha left the room for a while.
Sehwa soaked her body in the bath that Youngsun had quickly prepared, washing away the sweat and applying a mixture of aromatic oil and scale oil all over her body.
“Your hair has grown so much longer. It might take a while to dry it, should I trim the ends a little?”
“No, it’s fine. Step back and watch.”
At Youngsun’s words, Sehwa circulated her spiritual power through her body.
Transparent purple spiritual power rippled and instantly dried away all the moisture from her body.
“Wow, you’re already operating it so freely.”
Sehwa’s lips twitched, her face expressionless at Youngsun's admiration.
“But why is your spiritual power purple?”
At that question, she hurriedly lowered the corners of her mouth again.
“……Oh, well, that's…”
“The color is so out of place. Perhaps you haven’t realized it yet, but could you be unwell somewhere? Should I call a physician?”
Seeing Youngsun looking so concerned, Sehwa desperately tried to come up with an excuse, but when Youngsun then said,
“Or should you at least tell the Elder about it first?”
And started moving as if she would go call her father at once, Sehwa grabbed Youngsun’s hand and said hurriedly, “No. It’s because of the spirit orbs that we dug up.”
“spirit orbs?”
“Yes. It seems that it was an spirit orb from the Jang Clan, a blue turtle divine beast. It’s because of that.”
“Oh no. Then won't we get caught for secretly getting our hands on the spirit orbs? The Mystic Ruler is so sensitive about that.”
“That's why we need to lie. I’ll say it’s because of the Baek Clan Head's spiritual power for now, so if anyone asks, just say that’s what you saw too.”
“Huh? Why the Baek Clan Head? The Baek Clan Head uses white spiritual power though.”
“Actually, the Baek Clan Head's… ancestor seven generations ago married a daughter from the Jang Clan. So, maybe that's why there's some blue mixed in…”
“Is... that so? But…”
Youngsun, who still seemed worried as she thought that might not be enough to convince, nodded, saying that she understood.
“After pouring half of it on you, the other half of the box is still left. I have to hide this well.”
“What?! You only used the five from my sleeve? You poured half a box on me?”
“Was that… wrong? I, I’m sorry. I was just worried that you were in danger…”
“No wonder my spiritual power feels so strong.”
Youngsun had done it for her, so she couldn’t show it, but she had already decided where to use the spirit orbs, so it was regrettable that she had used half of it on herself.
She also had a feeling that the Mystic Ruler would notice something once he saw the color of her spiritual power.
As she looked at her spiritual power in her hand, Sehwa thought carefully after a period of contemplation.
‘At this point, should I just become a divine beast?’
“They say she’s awake.”
“Was she truly unconscious?”
“It seems like she was. No one left the house, and it was a mournful atmosphere the entire time.”
“……”
“Young Lord, would you like to go see her?”
“No need. It’s nothing.”
Ju Kyunghyun coldly waved his hand at his subordinate’s report.
But then, he also worried that something might create an obstacle to that child's trip to the Baek Clan if he left things as they were.
“So, it's certain she’s awake? Is she well enough to go to the Baek Clan?”
“Yes.”
“……Haa.”
“Young Lord?”
Ju Kyunghyun’s head was throbbing.
‘Father ordered me to prevent Baek Giha and that child from contacting each other in order to ensure that word of Sehwa going to the Baek Clan didn’t leak out early…’
Originally, he had been planning to have Ju Sehwa stay here at the Mystic Ruler’s residence while Baek Giha stayed at Ju Myoungyoon’s house, but he had ended up messing things up out of anger.
‘Even so, who would have thought it was a real exuviation?’
Besides, who would have guessed that Baek Giha would rush to help Ju Sehwa with her exuviation, when he didn’t even know her face?
‘He sure likes to meddle. …I need to resolve this before the Mystic Ruler returns.’
Ju Kyunghyun, who had been pondering while rubbing his aching head, stood up.
“Okay. Lead the way. I should also check whether any information about her trip to the Baek Clan has leaked out. I have to go there at least once anyway.”
As Kyunghyun followed his subordinate toward Ju Myoungyoon’s residence, his face was twisted unlike his usual self.
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