When the Black Moon Rises - Chapter 53
Chapter 53
‘This place, too, would have become desolate like other parts of the Ju Clan territory after those ten years, right?’
Having never been able to return after leaving for the Baek Clan, there was no way to know.
Crunch, crunch.
The grass beneath her feet made a pleasant sound.
Moonlight drifted like mist around her ankles.
‘If I go past here, there’s probably the pond…’
Sehwa walked between the neatly arranged garden trees, retracing her memories.
Soon, the large pond that she had often walked beside long ago revealed itself.
‘Wow.’
As if she had returned at the perfect time, the water’s surface was filled with lotuses in full bloom.
‘I’m seeing this view again.’
The tip of her nose tingled.
‘How fortunate it is that I could return… that I was able to come back.’
Just being able to see this view again meant that she owed Baek Giha a debt she would never be able to fully repay.
After calming the swirling emotions for a moment, she slowly moved forward.
As she entered the secluded gazebo beside the pond, she couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
The scene of blue moonlight scattering mysteriously was undeniably beautiful.
As she sat on the railing, a long-stemmed flower seemed close enough to touch.
Just as she bent down to touch the petals,
“Sehwa!”
“!!”
The sound of someone rushing over broke through the quiet space.
Startled, she nearly fell from the railing, but a large hand caught her.
“What do you think you’re doing!”
‘No, who should be asking whom that!’
Trying to calm her racing heart, she shouted angrily, “What do you mean?!”
At her reaction, Baek Giha mumbled in a deflated voice, “Just now, it seemed like, like you were about to jump…”
‘What did he say?’
“What nonsense are you talking about? Why would I suddenly jump into a lake in the middle of the night?”
Baek Giha’s gaze trembled as if he was flustered.
“……No, I…”
“……”
“Uhm… then, why…”
His nonsensical words were absurd, but seeing the large man shrink back made Sehwa forget her anger, and she giggled despite herself.
She broke off the stem of a small lotus flower that was within her reach and held it out to him. “Here, a gift for you.”
“You were trying to pick this?”
“Yes. It was reaching out over here.”
“You’re giving it to me?”
“Then who else should I give it to? Should I give it to someone else?”
“No! It’s mine.”
He hastily snatched the lotus from Sehwa’s hand.
“I’ll put it in, in my room.”
Though it wasn’t like he was seeing a lotus for the first time, he held the modest flower close to his chest as if it was precious, constantly looking down at it in amazement.
He looked at it as if it was the most precious thing in the world.
“Thank you.”
“……”
He had given her only much better things. Yet, he was so happy about such a humble lotus flower.
As she began to realize why, Sehwa felt a tingling in her fingertips and asked him, “Why did you come here at this hour?”
“……”
His lips, which had been turned up, suddenly hardened.
She watched as his face returned to its usual state before asking him again, pretending not to notice, “Did you follow me? From where? From my room?”
“What are you saying? Absolutely not.”
He shook his head resolutely, saying he would be in big trouble if Elder Myoungyoon heard that.
“Then, what is it? This is the inner garden, and it isn’t connected to the guest rooms. So how did you end up here? Especially at this time of night?”
She already knew the answer, but she asked, wanting to hear what he would say.
“That is…”
“……”
“Well…”
“Well?”
“Well… Ah, yes. The geomungo.”
“?”
“Would you play the geomungo for me? I wanted to hear it.”
Sehwa’s eyes widened, but Baek Giha nodded. In truth, the real answer was what both of them knew, but unable to admit that he had followed her, he made up an excuse on the spot.
‘Now that I think about it, isn’t that a good idea?’
“I’ve heard that your geomungo sounds like a heavenly melody.”
“That must be from my brothers, right? You believe that? It’s a meager talent.”
“Still, I would like to hear it someday.”
“Well, maybe if I get the chance.”
Cold sweat trickled down Sehwa’s back as she dodged the answer.
The last time she had played the geomungo was before she went to the Baek Clan. That meant it had been seventeen years ago.
‘Would I even remember what I’d learned back then?’
But for some reason, when she imagined him looking forward to it, she didn’t want to say she couldn’t do it.
‘Well, I did learn it once, so if I relearn it, I would remember it quickly… I should be able to, right?’
For now, that was not a topic that should be prolonged.
While looking for something to change the topic, she finally noticed that his attire wasn’t suitable for this time of night.
“By the way, you haven’t even changed your clothes yet. Were you coming back from somewhere?”
“……Ah.”
“?”
“The, the scenery is quite beautiful. Is it normal for lotuses to bloom so abundantly in ponds like this? Even though the Baek Clan has all sorts of spectacular landscapes and flowers that bloom all year round, we don’t have any lotuses.”
“I know. That too.”
‘What is this? Why did he suddenly change the subject after going somewhere?’
Sehwa tilted her head as she pretended not to notice his efforts to change the topic.
Since she had changed the topic herself, she couldn't really say anything.
‘There isn’t really any place he knows in the Ju Clan territory.’
However, she had a strange conviction that he would tell her later even if she didn't press him now.
“I also haven't come here in a very long time. Or perhaps, since time has returned, maybe it just feels like a long time,” she said as she quietly stared at the lotuses that had spread out their red petals, together with him, before asking something else, “By the way, it seems like you spoke a lot with my brothers. If you know about the geomungo, then it means you must have spoken about that as well.”
“Of course. We’ve gotten very close.”
“……You’ve gotten close?”
“Truly. They seem to like me quite a lot.”
“……”
‘They had a ten-year-long war that killed each other’s family members, so how can they get close like that? Is that how the world of men works?’
“Then next time, how about I play the geomungo for you first?”
“Do you know how to play an instrument?”
“Yes.”
“But you don’t have a geomungo.”
“You could lend me yours. Since you’ve learned it, you must have one.”
“……”
“Why? Don’t you want to?”
“Later. Not here, in the Ju Clan territory, but somewhere else.”
“……”
“The human realm would be fine too.”
His eyes narrowed.
He must have started to suspect something, since she kept giving those kinds of answers.
With a lot of things to hide, Sehwa laughed awkwardly and turned her gaze away.
Every time the wind brushed against the pond, the soft and large pink lotus petals fluttered gently.
“Since we are here now, I’ll ask.”
As she quietly gazed at the other side of the pond filled with lotuses, she asked, “Back then. At the Baek Clan.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you suddenly start being so nice to me? You weren't like that at first.”
Come to think of it, he had definitely ignored her at first and acted no differently than other members of the Baek Clan.
Since he wasn't nice from the very beginning, but had become friendly one day, there had to have been some kind of trigger for that.
“Because I didn’t know you then.”
Hearing her question, Baek Giha, unable to hide the guilty expression on his face, answered. “Because I didn’t know you then. If I had, I would never have let all those things happen.”
All those things.
That’s right. So many things had happened during those twelve years in the Baek Clan.
Not knowing that even more things would happen after she returned.
“I’m not blaming you. You suddenly started teaching me archery, and helped me a lot during the hunting competition, you just suddenly became nice to me one day. That’s why I was wondering why.”
“……”
After hesitating for a moment, Baek Giha’s gaze flew through the past, before landing on a specific memory.
That’s right. There was a trigger.
He probably started to take an interest in her on that day.
That day when they bumped into each other in the corridor.
Back then, Baek Giha was also quite angry about the Ju Clan’s dismissive attitude towards the disappearance case.
He had already requested an investigation into the missing person case to the Ju Clan several times, but they had all been swept under the rug.
He was furious at their shameless behavior and had been about to drag the Ju Clan’s Mystic Ruler’s successor to see them, when—
“I am Ju Sehwa, daughter of the Ju Clan Elder, Ju Myoungyoon.”
He had felt so dumbfounded to see that a random woman had come instead.
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