When the Black Moon Rises - Chapter 9
Chapter 9
In the past, the Ju Clan had exiled criminals to the human realm after destroying their source of power, and for the sake of managing them, they had established a base in the human realm a long time ago.
Occasionally, eccentric members of the bloodline would reside there and act as humans, holding high official positions.
Therefore, in the human realm, the members of the Ju Clan held great power, even if it was just a fabricated identity.
Sehwa, who appeared to be from that powerful bloodline, had registered herself in a school where humans learned.
She was there to study how it was different from where she lived and how the minds of humans worked.
Since men were much more free than women in the human realm, she had tied her long hair up and pretended to be a man.
It was better for her to travel alone so that her identity would not be discovered. However, despite her cold attitude, there were those who approached her.
One of them was Jung Heungsaeng, a human who had been sitting next to Ju Sehwa for a long time.
They had gotten to know each other by chance, but Jung Heungsaeng was also a woman disguising herself as a man.
Whether that was the case or not, it was irrelevant to her, so she had kept her mouth shut, but Jung Heungsaeng was self-servingly friendly with Ju Sehwa, who kept her secret, and she often blurted out her thoughts.
It was one early summer day.
It was said that the noble ladies, who usually remained in their boudoirs and were rarely seen, would all go out to enjoy the Dano festival.
They would wash their hair in the valley and swing on the swings, their fair faces completely exposed.
Being men at the height of their vigor, everyone in the school had flocked to that place.
It was said that you should go with the flow if you wanted to keep your secret safe.
Ju Sehwa, who was disguised as a man, was also reluctantly dragged along by Jung Heungsaeng.
They had been listlessly watching with blank eyes the women swinging high on the swings and the men cheering for them from afar, when Jung Heungsaeng pointed somewhere and laughed.
“Look, look. That's the man I was talking about. What do you think?”
In the grass, where Heungsaeng's gaze was directed, sat a handsome man in a lazy posture.
The white porcelain bottle in his hand was already half empty, and the bottom shot high up every time it reached his mouth.
His clothes were not neat, and the act of drinking alcohol from the middle of the day was difficult to understand. But.
“Isn't he a truly outstanding beauty?”
Just like a painting of a beauty.
Just like Jung Heungsaeng had said, his well-toned body and elegant appearance were perfectly harmonious to an astonishing degree.
‘Well, he is good-looking,’ thought Sehwa, without much interest.
“He doesn't come to the school. It’s a shame since I can’t see him often.”
Heungsaeng, who had been confessing that she was lucky today since she could see that face, quietly added.
“Actually, I even dreamed about that person when I first saw him. In my dream, I was married to that person and I was wondering what would be a good name for our child who had the surname Baek.”
Sehwa, who had been listening to Heungsaeng's giggling voice with a frown, asked one question.
“surname Baek?”
“Huh?”
“Is that man a Baek?”
“Yes. I heard he's a young master from the Baek family.”
Seriously. A Baek.
“Let's go. Our master will have already arrived.”
“What's wrong? Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”
“I hate the Baek Family.”
“Huh?”
“I really hate the Baek Family.”
The distance was very far, so it was unlikely that he would hear her voice at all.
But at that moment, the gaze of the handsome man sitting in the grass flew straight towards them.
Although she seemed to have made eye contact with his jet-black eyes, Sehwa carelessly averted her gaze.
It must be a coincidence. He couldn’t have been looking at them.
Turning away without paying any mind, she gestured to Jung Heungsaeng.
“Let’s go.”
“……That person is looking at us.”
“What are you talking about? We're so far away. He must be waiting for someone coming this way.”
“No. ……I think he’s definitely looking at us.”
“Let’s go.”
When she started walking first without waiting for Jung Heungsaeng, Heungsaeng quickly caught up with her and walked by her side.
“Look, look. He’s still looking. I'm telling you, he's looking at us.”
“Okay, okay.”
“Just take a look.”
“If he looked at us, then he looked at us, so what? He's just looking. We're going to be late. Let's go quickly. The master will be furious since there's no one at the school.”
“Oh, goodness.”
Sehwa chuckled as she watched Heungsaeng, who had let out a sigh as if she was unable to do anything about it.
She had also felt it. That someone's gaze was falling behind her.
But she hated the Baek Clan.
‘If only the Baek Clan had known their place and hadn’t dared to oppose the Ju Clan…….’
Then, her father and brothers would not be suffering so much on the battlefield.
She wouldn’t have felt guilty for being so comfortable by herself, and even her mother, who had been worried about her family every night and boiling with anxiety, would not have had to head for the battlefield.
She urged Heungsaeng to walk faster.
She pretended not to notice the gaze that persistently flew behind her until the end.
After that memory faded away, various illusions now flashed through her blurred vision.
The faces of her father and mother, smiling at each other until the very end.
The faces of her two brothers, looking at her with concern while she was wailing.
The faces of Sa Danyoon’s daughters who had died for her.
The faces of the members of her bloodline, all chanting for the execution.
It was when she coughed weakly with a choked throat from wandering in her delirium.
Someone approached her side upon hearing that sound.
“Sister. Are you awake?”
The person who approached supported Sehwa’s still warm upper body and held a water cup to her mouth.
She slowly swallowed the water that touched her cracked lips to quench her parched throat.
“Why are you so sick? Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? How are you now? Shall I help you change your clothes? Shall I help you up?”
Her mind returned a little after she had drunk the water.
She blinked a few times to clear her vision.
Someone was looking at her with a kind face.
“!”
“Sister.”
Startled, she reflexively slapped away the white hand that reached out to her.
“Sehwa, Sister?”
Sehwa’s pale face turned sharp.
‘Why…… Why is she here.’
The person who had been talking to her kindly and tried to feel her temperature was her distant cousin Sa Yeonju.
The one who had become Ju Kyunghyun’s wife instead of her.
The one who had said that she had a great idea. That in order to move Ju Myoungyoon, they should frame Ju Sehwa with a false accusation and torture her first.
Ju Sehwa had been very close with her distant cousin Sa Yeonju.
Sa Yeonju had always smiled, and had only ever charmingly begged or laughed when there was a problem. She rarely ever raised her voice.
When Ju Sehwa had been in the Baek Clan, she had acted as a contact for her parents, who were unable to act openly.
But then.
“At the meeting, I heard about the representative for the missing person’s case, and I thought that was it. If you happen to get engaged to the Young Lord, you will be a direct member of the Mystic Ruler’s family, so you would be able to go to the Baek Clan instead.”
“I was just hinting at something amongst the people, but the current Clan Head heard it and immediately directly asked the former Clan Head to send you there. Kyunghyun himself did it.”
“He intended to abandon you from that time on. Do you understand? Since twelve years ago!”
Sa Yeonju, having come down all the way to the very bottom of the dungeon of the secret chamber to see Ju Sehwa who had been tortured so terribly, had said such things with a joyous voice.
She had frowned at the filthy environment of the dungeon and looked at her with pity, as if she was looking at something pitiful and pathetic.
It was Ju Sehwa who had been shocked and stared at her with disbelief as she talked about her crazy idea with a normal face.
Her father had felt sorry for that cousin who had lost her parents and had taken her in to raise in the main house, hadn't he?
He had even permitted her to do more than his own daughter, so that she wouldn't feel intimidated by the members of the Ju Clan, but this was the result.
Even if she regretted it later, there was no way to turn back.
But that woman was right in front of her right now.
Looking as young as her and in a completely unguarded state.
Unlike when she faced the Young Lord, there was no one else in this room besides this cousin.
She didn’t have the time to think anymore.
She immediately jumped at her.
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