When the Black Moon Rises - Chapter 83
Chapter 83
The Mystic Ruler's warriors rushed like lightning into the hunting grounds and quickly rescued Ju Kyunghyun and Cheonryeong.
However, their bodies were already covered in blood from head to toe.
Even Ju Kyunghyun's deep green clothing was so soaked in blood that it appeared brown.
The Mystic Ruler's face turned pale white as he watched red blood drip from the hanging edges of clothes that hadn't yet absorbed it all.
"This cannot be! Kyunghyun!!"
The old man hurried over and thoroughly examined his son's body.
Only after checking the extent of the wounds, whether there was any danger to his life, and whether there was any loss of spiritual power did he grasp his son's hand with trembling steps.
The embarrassed Young Lord answered, "I am fine, Father," but that only provoked his anger.
"You should have fled immediately! Why did you stay long enough to use a flare? Don't you know your body doesn't belong to you alone!"
"...I'm sorry, Father."
"Where are you hurt and how badly? Are there any other wounds besides what I can see? What about internal injuries? You fool! How dare you let your body be wounded! Haven't I told you countless times? That you must be careful with your body. That you must not let even a single wound appear."
The old man, his hands trembling with shock, bellowed at the attendants.
"Why haven't you brought the medicine yet?! Hurry and bring it!"
The attendants rushed over with recovery medicine they had prepared for emergencies.
The pale-faced Mystic Ruler didn't even think to take his son to the private space prepared behind the platform.
Under everyone's gaze, he removed the upper garments and poured the medicines they had brought onto the Young Lord's body. He made him drink several bottles immediately.
"Still, there aren't many wounds. That's fortunate. Really fortunate."
As it turned out, the wounds on the Young Lord's body weren't that serious. Because Cheonryeong had blocked everything with his body, it was only his blood that had splattered and soaked the clothes red.
Even after confirming that the blood staining the clothes wasn't his son's, the old man couldn't hide his anxious expression.
He could only sigh repeatedly.
"You must take good care of your body. This body is truly important."
Moved by the old man's sincere words, Ju Kyunghyun lowered his gaze with emotion as he answered.
"Yes, Father. I will definitely do so from now on."
"Good. You've returned safely, that's what matters. Just in case, hurry back and soak in the medicinal bath before lying down."
"No. There's something I must tell you here. Ah, before that - you there. If there's any medicine left, bring one bottle."
Ju Kyunghyun held out his hand, conscious of Cheonryeong who had collapsed unconscious and mangled beside him.
The attendant who had brought the medicine showed difficulty.
"We used everything we brought today. That bottle just now was the last one."
"What? Then just go get more! Are you saying our Ju clan only has this much medicine?!"
"But..."
The attendant's expression darkened.
How could they run alone to the mansion to fetch medicine when such brazen people who dared to ambush the Ju clan's Young Lord were scattered around this area?
"Use this."
A voice cut in at that moment.
The Baek clan's Chancellor pulled out a small porcelain bottle from within his robes and tossed it toward Ju Kyunghyun.
Though he reflexively caught the flying object, Ju Kyunghyun's expression crumpled when he confirmed who had thrown it.
'How dare you... How dare you try to mock me with medicine like this after attacking the Young Lord in Ju clan territory!'
"The effects are quite good. If you wish, our warrior can prove the medicine's efficacy, so if you don't mind, please use the medicine-"
CRASH
"!"
"Gasp."
Everyone held their breath at the Young Lord's next action.
Ju Kyunghyun had thrown the bottle to the ground, shattering it.
"...What is the meaning of this?"
"Do you think you can erase what you've done with a few bottles of medicine?! Don't underestimate the Ju clan's warriors!"
At Ju Kyunghyun's shout, the Mystic Ruler frowned and asked.
"What do you mean by that?"
Ju Kyunghyun opened his mouth with an expression of unbearable outrage.
"Father, you must not let any of these Baek clan people escape from here. The ones who attacked me today used the Baek clan's barrier."
"What?!"
"It wasn't just backing me into a corner. As you can see from Cheonryeong's condition, they truly tried to kill me."
Ju Kyunghyun raised his voice, unable to contain his indignation.
"Please severely punish all those who dared to try to assassinate the Ju clan's Young Lord in Ju clan territory. You must notify the Six Clans Alliance of this incident and hold them accountable."
"..."
The stunned old man retraced the situation.
'Baek clan attackers? How could such a thing happen?'
After the end of the war, the only Baek clan members who had entered Ju clan territory were these fifty-four people gathered here.
They hadn't left their positions since arriving here, so how could Baek clan warriors appear inside that hunting ground?
Sure enough, the Baek clan Chancellor cut in with an angry voice.
"Young Lord, mind your words. If you dare to try to implicate the Baek clan in this incident, you should be prepared to deal with the consequences."
"You speak such words without conscience! Moreover, are you threatening me now?!"
The old man, openly showing anger in his gaze, slowly turned around.
"Baek clan Chancellor."
"Yes, Mystic Ruler."
"When you entered Ju clan territory, did you accurately report the number of cavalry members?"
"Of course. Though I don't know why the Young Lord is trying to pin such an outrageous incident on our Baek clan. Mystic Ruler, you must remember that during the ceasefire, even though we could have pressured the Ju clan more, we kept our word and immediately withdrew our soldiers who were full of morale from consecutive victories and arguing to push forward, without any delay, as soon as you promised to resolve the disappearance incident."
After making this long statement, the Baek clan Chancellor continued speaking before anyone could comment.
"Yet now you try to falsely accuse a delegation that visited with just fifty-three members so as not to pose a threat to the Ju clan. If even one more Baek clan warrior is found anywhere in Ju clan territory, not just in this hunting ground, we can return not only the compensation items we're taking this time but all the spiritual power compensation we've received over the past period."
Ju Kyunghyun, who had to suddenly deal with too many things, couldn't immediately understand the Baek clan Chancellor's long and very fast words.
But he clearly grasped that they were denying it was them.
"It's all lies, Father! It was definitely the Baek clan's barrier!"
Ju Kyunghyun shouted with veins popping on his neck.
"Don't listen to that man's words. When the Ju clan warriors bring those men's corpses, the truth will be revealed."
Just then, the warriors who had rushed into the hunting ground to rescue the Young Lord returned.
They were each carrying a body, but something seemed strange about their appearance.
These were men who usually displayed cruel methods, dragging enemy scalps around.
Yet for some reason, they now carried the bodies over their shoulders with somewhat awkward expressions.
Moreover.
"...cough."
Judging by the small groan and cough, though unconscious, at least one wasn't even a corpse.
Ju Kyunghyun, enraged to his limit, rushed at them.
"You crazy fools! How dare you bring these traitors who attacked the Young Lord here so intact?! You should have cut off their heads right there! If you kept them alive to investigate their backing, you should have at least cut off their limbs! You should have gouged out the eyes that failed to recognize the Young Lord!"
Meanwhile, the Mystic Ruler's eyes trembled intensely.
'Those men attacked Kyunghyun?!! That can't be! Aren't those men the guards I assigned to protect Kyunghyun!'
Until just now, he had been grinding his teeth, saying he wouldn't let anyone who attacked his son live.
However, now he couldn't understand how the situation had turned out this way.
'The other five are also men I sent to beat up Ju Sehwa, so why are they all suddenly saying they attacked Kyunghyun?'
He could tell that something had gone unexpectedly wrong.
'If these men are the culprits, I need to find out how things turned out this way. So for now, I need to somehow resolve this situation...'
That's when it happened. Suddenly the Baek clan Chancellor stood up.
He quickly approached and quietly observed one of the men the Ju clan warriors had put down, then tore part of their clothes.
RIP
When he tore away the ragged part that had been cut by a blade, a small round marking appeared before everyone's eyes.
With a hardened expression, the Baek clan Chancellor spoke in a low voice as if grinding his teeth.
"I think I know how things are turning out. You there! Go bring what I was going to present to the Mystic Ruler today!"
Several Baek clan warriors quickly moved at that command and brought a huge cart covered with cloth.
Everyone's gazes gathered on it as it stopped in front of the platform.
The Baek clan warriors dumped what was inside onto the ground.
"!"
"Gasp!"
"Th-those are all now..."
It was nothing but corpses inside.
They were the bodies of intruders that had been frozen with arrows still stuck in them and thrown to the bottom of a lake, then retrieved today.
The sight of the corpses entangled with lake mud and pierced all over with arrows was grotesque and frightening in itself.
At the Baek clan Chancellor's signal, one of the Baek clan warriors dragged over a corpse whose arm was exposed.
"Look at this, Mystic Ruler."
"...What is this?"
"Recently at night, assassins attacked me while I was sleeping. There were quite a few of them so we had no choice but to turn them into pincushions like this, but when we examined them afterward, wouldn't you know they all had this marking on their bodies?"
"!"
The surprised Ju Kyunghyun rushed over first to examine the marking on the corpse and the marking on the guard, but they were completely identical.
'These men attacked the Baek clan too? Why?'
"At first I suspected the Ju clan might have sent them, but I thought that the righteous and merciful Mystic Ruler wouldn't ambush us when we entered your territory with so few people. That would be too despicable and lacking in class, hard to believe as the method of a ruler. So today I was going to tell the Mystic Ruler about this incident where the Baek clan delegation that you permitted was attacked in your territory, and request that you root out every single one of these shameless and violent perpetrators who tried to restart the war by ambushing the Baek clan Chancellor. But now the ones who attacked the Young Lord today also have the same marking on their bodies. Doesn't this make even clearer the scheme of these men trying to drive a wedge between the Ju clan and Baek clan!"
'...Why does this man keep talking so long?'
Ju Kyunghyun, who had been staring with a stunned expression at the Baek clan Chancellor's stern face as he rattled on, came to his senses.
In summary, it meant that these men with the marking had tried to ambush and assassinate both of them simultaneously.
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