When the Black Moon Rises - Chapter 95
Chapter 95
"!"
Thin tears flowed from Sehwa's eyes.
"You all... being safe... makes me so happy."
"..."
"That you're safe... I'm truly relieved."
"..."
"That you're alive... that nothing happened."
With those final words, she could no longer hold on and lost consciousness again.
A sound like a groan slipped between them.
"...Thank goodness."
She truly said it was good.
Even while facing death herself. Even though her flesh, completely ravaged by fire, must be in terrible pain.
Despite all that, she said she was relieved.
Saying nothing had happened.
Unable to hold back any longer, Youngsun finally burst into tears like a child.
Waaaaaah.
Someone should scold her to be quiet since the young lady was sleeping.
But this time, even Youngchae couldn't stop Youngsun who was wailing loudly.
After all, her own eyes were bright red as clear tears streamed down.
"..."
Merchant Ji quietly watched the scene.
With eyes as wet as the sisters', he quietly slipped out of the room to avoid being a disturbance.
Baek Giha and Ju Myoungyoon's faces were as pale as Sehwa's in her sickbed.
Though they were searching everywhere for medicine, it was far from enough.
Moreover, since they didn't know who was behind this, they couldn't reveal Sehwa's condition and had to move in secret.
Merchant Ji, who had hurriedly brought the three here, was helping to procure medicine, but could they fully trust even him in this situation?
They were only letting him stay because he brought high-quality medicine while asking to watch over the young lady for a while, and even after checking several times with the dragon scale needle, no poison was detected. They needed to grasp at any straw they could.
There were many herbs that could turn poisonous after being consumed, and many that could transform into poison after time passed, so they couldn't let their guard down.
Even while maintaining their suspicion and openly having over a dozen warriors watch his every move, Merchant Ji showed no complaint and sincerely brought medicine.
But even that medicine wasn't enough to improve Sehwa's condition.
Ju Myoungyoon immediately recognized what had caused the burns eating away at Sehwa's skin.
'This is the Mystic Ruler's fire! This is!'
An offensive spirit orb containing the power of the ancient dragon that only the Mystic Ruler could possess.
'Then this can't be treated with ordinary medicine!'
Sure enough, no matter what medicine they used, the speed at which Sehwa's condition worsened was faster.
Far from improving, they could barely maintain her current state.
Baek Manyong had already used all the medicine he brought, and though Baek Giha tried to procure more, it wasn't easy since this was another clan's territory.
"I must go to the Baek clan."
After hesitating, Baek Giha spoke to Ju Myoungyoon.
"If I take divine beast form and use spiritual power to run at full speed, I can return here in two and a half days. So until then... please take care of her until then."
"If you go to the Baek clan, will there be some way?"
Seeing Baek Giha's firm attitude, Ju Myoungyoon desperately grasped at this thread of hope.
"I have my fang from when I shed my skin to become a divine beast. Unlike the fang gained when becoming a spiritual beast, the divine beast fang should be able to save a life once."
"!"
A fang of the Baek clan patriarch was a precious treasure equivalent to the Ju clan's dragon scales.
It would be something that could save Baek Giha's life once in any situation.
Even though he no longer had an immortal body...
"Such a precious... thing, is it alright to use it?"
"We can't delay even a moment, so I'll go right now."
However, Baek Giha turned to leave the room without showing any hesitation.
Before transforming into his divine beast form, he turned back and earnestly entreated Ju Myoungyoon.
"Exactly two and a half days. I'll return somehow within that time, so please take care of her until then."
At the same time, his form changed without a moment's delay.
A massive divine beast appeared, its eyes glowing deep ocean blue, and let out a silent roar toward the sky.
The white tiger leaped into the sky and ran across the western horizon as if treading stairs made of wind.
Meanwhile, Ju Myoungyoon's hardened face also clenched his teeth. Now that the Mystic Ruler's fire had appeared, he too had to prepare something.
Returning to his room, Ju Myoungyoon sat at the table and, after careful consideration, wrote two short letters in a code that only family members could understand.
After hesitating, he quietly called his two most trusted servants.
"Deliver one to my wife and one to my sons. Deliver them urgently but make it appear as though nothing is wrong on the surface."
Ju Myoungyoon's voice was so cautious that even the two summoned servants understood the gravity of the situation and became careful.
After the servants carrying the letters left, just as Ju Myoungyoon was about to leave his room to go to Sehwa, it happened.
"Elder!"
Someone came running with the guard servant and urgently called out to him.
"Ah, you are..."
It was a scout who had endured ten years of war together under his command.
The message was so urgent that the guard servant had no time to come report separately and ran together.
"What brings you all the way here so suddenly?"
His appearance was clearly not normal at a glance.
His whole body was covered in dust and sand from rushing here so urgently.
His face was so exhausted it was completely drained of blood.
"What in the world happened? Did something happen at the territory line?!"
When Ju Myoungyoon hurriedly approached and asked, the warrior spoke with trembling lips.
"It's terrible. Lady Cheon is critically ill."
"What?!"
At the sudden news, Ju Myoungyoon couldn't understand his words for a moment.
His wife Cheon Sua was also staying at the territory line as a physician to support the battlefield situation.
How could she suddenly be in danger?
"After hearing news of Young Lady Sehwa going to the Baek clan, she was hurriedly returning, but unexpectedly we encountered the alliance patrol warriors at the territory line and there was a small battle. There... because I failed to protect her properly, the lady was gravely injured."
The warrior spoke heavily with a tearful voice.
"I truly apologize. Even with ten mouths, I have no words to say. We were urgently escorting the lady back, but it seems she can no longer hold onto life..."
"Why didn't you send someone ahead! You should have sent someone to deliver the news first!"
"We were all giving our spiritual power to the lady to extend her breath even a little longer, so we couldn't spare anyone."
There was something suspicious about the warrior's words, delivering such news right when his daughter was in this state.
But wasn't this warrior with reddened eyes like Ju Myoungyoon's own limb, whom he had raised since he was very young?
Grasping his trembling hands, Ju Myoungyoon asked.
"Then where is my wife now?"
"About an hour's distance from here. I ran ahead because I feared she might not last even that distance. But even if you go now, I'm not sure if you'll be able to be there for her final moments..."
The warrior finally burst into tears.
During the ten years of war they had endured together, this warrior who had always been solid never showed tears even with life-threatening major injuries.
Seeing such a warrior cry like this, Ju Myoungyoon's face turned pale once again.
What was happening? How could his wife's life be in danger when Sehwa was so ill?
'Could whoever did this to Sehwa be trying to kill my wife too?'
Though Ju Myoungyoon's head was complicated with various matters hitting at once, he had to set priorities.
'...Wife.'
Since his wife's life was said to be in critical danger, he had to go see her first.
"I understand. Let's go together. Let's hurry."
"Yes. Please follow me."
Since it was said to be an hour's distance by horse, he could return at full speed if anything happened.
But even so, he couldn't help but think of precautions.
After sending the warrior ahead to the stables, Ju Myoungyoon found Baek Manyong and briefly explained the situation.
"It will only take a few hours. Could I entrust the mansion to you?"
Sa Danyoon had left his post, and Baek Giha had departed for the Baek clan to retrieve his secret treasure.
After sending his loyal servants to deliver the letters, there was no one left to entrust this matter to except Baek Manyong.
"I will leave all the mansion's guards here. I will go alone, so if anything happens..."
To think he now had to make such requests to an enemy who had been trying to take each other's lives for ten years.
It was bewildering even to himself, but there was no one more trustworthy than the Baek clan warriors here now.
Though usually talkative, Baek Manyong gave a short answer in this moment.
"I will protect it without fail."
How reassuring those words were.
Nodding his head in gratitude, Ju Myoungyoon pulled something out from inside his robes.
"This is..."
"My name tablet. Though it shouldn't happen, if anything occurs, use this tablet to command the mansion's people."
As Baek Manyong received the tablet, Ju Myoungyoon spoke once more as if making a pledge.
"I will return shortly."
And then he left the mansion with the scout.
Watching him disappear into the distance, Baek Manyong ordered the mansion's servants.
"Lock all the gates. Until the Elder returns, do not let anyone inside these gates. Understand!"
Chaesu, the servant guarding the mansion's side gate, was quite tense today due to the dark atmosphere of the mansion.
Though he thought the vigilance would ease as time passed, wasn't the mansion's atmosphere only growing darker?
Accordingly, Chaesu's tension also kept growing.
'There seems to be some problem in the mansion.'
Though the matters inside the mansion weren't known to him, he recalled that the annex had been quite noisy as he rubbed his arms at the eerie feeling.
It was Elder Myoungyoon who had taken in and raised him when he was wandering the streets as an orphan like a beggar.
He still couldn't forget those hands that lifted him up when he thought he would be happy to die right there if he could just have one bowl of porridge, at a moment when he was about to starve to death.
If not for Elder Myoungyoon, he would have already died there cursing the world.
'Is something really happening in the mansion now? I wish I knew too.'
He thought as he looked down at his thick forearms.
If so, he too was willing to join the commotion as one pillar of the mansion.
'Then it would be good to repay the kindness, and if I happen to be trained as a warrior too, even better.'
How cool would it be to become a warrior instead of a side gate guard, drawing swords and riding horses?
Just as Chaesu's lips loosened slightly from the tension as he imagined such things, it happened.
Someone carefully knocked on the side gate he was guarding.
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