When the Black Moon Rises - Chapter 121
Chapter 121
Jung Chihwa blinked, dumbfounded.
She couldn’t tell if this situation, reuniting with her friend so suddenly, was real. In fact, she wasn’t even sure if the person before her eyes was really her friend.
“I’ll look a little different when you see me next time.”
As if fulfilling those words, Sehwa’s appearance had changed drastically.
‘How can someone change so much in just a few months?’
Her eyes were definitely Sehwa’s, but if Chihwa looked away even for a moment, it felt like a different person was standing there.
As if sensing her thoughts, Sehwa chuckled.
“Let’s go,” she said again, leading Jung Chihwa somewhere.
Jung Chihwa, looking as if she were in a trance, followed the person supporting her.
“Ah, please sit. But I don’t have anything to offer you…”
“It’s alright. I don’t mind. You sit too.”
Sehwa, acting as if she were at home, led Jung Chihwa into the Minister of Rites’ residence.
Somehow, she found Chihwa’s room right away and, sitting comfortably on the floor, gestured for Chihwa to join her.
Jung Chihwa awkwardly sat down across from her.
“But you…” Jung Chihwa asked cautiously, staring at her friend, who looked increasingly unfamiliar, “Sehwa… is that really you?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
“But your face…”
“Things happened. Anyway, did you prepare the grain and medicinal herbs? Why were you crying?”
“Huh?”
“Earlier. Why were you crying out there?”
“??”
Jung Chihwa blinked again, confused by Sehwa’s question.
She knew this was her father’s residence.
She knew she had returned home, she even knew which room was hers, yet she was asking why she had been crying?
Had she not heard what people were saying about Jung Seung-taek, the Minister of Rites?
“Why were you crying? And why are you wearing a dress? Did you stop dressing as a man? Did something happen?”
“......”
Jung Chihwa cleared her throat and answered, feeling as if she were in a daze.
That her father had performed the rain ritual three times and failed, and now he had to pay the price.
That since even the Hyeryu River had dried up, there was no way he could avoid punishment.
That Sehwa had warned her about the drought, but she hadn’t prepared properly.
That she had rashly distributed the grain and medicinal herbs, and now there wasn’t much left, and she didn’t know what to do.
Tears streamed down her face as she spoke.
Just as she was answering tearfully, as if about to burst into tears…
Bang! Bang!
Loud noises came from outside the door, followed by the hurried footsteps of many people.
“Come out! Jung Seung-taek, you sinner, come out and receive the royal decree!”
Jung Chihwa’s face paled, and she froze at the voice.
“R-Royal decree?”
She rushed out, not even bothering to put on her shoes properly.
Numerous officials poured into the residence, kicking the door open, calling her father’s name and searching everywhere.
“I-It’s her! It’s her!”
Just then, someone pointed at Jung Chihwa and shouted.
Jung Chihwa recognized the man.
He was the well digger she had hired to dig the multiple wells.
At the man’s shout, the officials, who had been searching the surrounding buildings, turned their attention to her.
Someone approached and asked, “Are you Jung Chihwa, daughter of Jung Seung-taek, the Minister of Rites?”
“…Yes, I am.”
“Did you meet this man a few months ago? Is it true that you, dressed as a man, had him find locations to dig wells?”
“......”
“I asked you a question.”
“Y-Yes.”
“What are you waiting for?! Seize her and take her away!”
“W-Wait! Just a moment!”
The terrified Chihwa shouted, wanting an explanation, but no one paid her any mind.
The servants of the residence didn’t dare interfere with the officials, and the man she had instructed to dig the wells kept shouting that it was her.
A bright red rope was tied around her, digging into her delicate skin.
Tears, which had stopped from fear, welled up again.
She didn't need an explanation to understand the situation.
They had found out about her preparations for the drought. Now rumors would spread that the Minister of Rites had caused the drought.
“Take her away!”
Just as the official, having tied Chihwa up, was about to drag her away…
“Why don’t you wait a moment?”
A clear, ringing voice cut through the air.
Some turned to look, wanting to see who dared interfere with official business.
Others looked towards the voice, clutching at straws.
“…!”
“…!”
A suffocating silence fell.
Those who had turned to look froze, as if turned to stone.
Those who turned their gazes later did the same.
“......”
Even the sound of gulping could be heard like thunder.
An unnerving silence, as if that spot alone had become a different world, swept through the crowd.
Sehwa walked calmly through the silence.
Her footsteps were light, as if she were floating in the air, leaving no trace on the parched earth, her movements fluid like water.
Her gait was dignified yet graceful, showing no fear even before so many officials.
Chihwa, like everyone else, stared blankly at the figure approaching her.
‘…Who… is that…?’
She felt like she knew her, like she was a friend.
But she couldn't believe it.
Even when they had met earlier, Sehwa’s appearance had changed drastically, and now she looked different again.
‘…That’s her?’
Her ebony hair, which had been neatly tied up just moments ago, was now flowing freely down her back.
It was a style unthinkable for a noblewoman, yet no one dared to criticize her.
On the contrary, it suited her so perfectly that their minds went blank.
Her translucently white skin was like the rarest jade, and her elegant features seemed to embody the perfect harmony of heaven.
Every time her long eyelashes blinked, their throats went dry.
Her captivating, dark eyes, her small, perfectly proportioned nose, her vibrant red lips…
As if they had stumbled into a fairy tale and encountered a celestial maiden, they stared, frozen, at the breathtakingly beautiful woman.
“First,” she began, a captivating smile playing on her lips, “I’ll be in trouble if you take my friend away like this.”
At her words, the ropes binding Jung Chihwa fell apart, as if cut by an invisible blade.
“!”
“And I need to know why you’re doing this.”
“Uwaah!”
As she spoke, the man who had pointed at Jung Chihwa was yanked through the air towards them.
He was forced to kneel before them.
“P-Please spare me! Please spare me!”
The man’s face was pale with terror as he pleaded, his forehead pressed against the dry earth.
Sehwa, watching him, glanced at a man whose attire stood out among the crowd.
Yi Hong-cheon, the Captain of the guards, whose clothing was slightly different from the others, swallowed hard several times before finally speaking.
“M-May I ask… who… you are?”
Those who had been roughly addressing the Minister of Rites by his name now spoke respectfully to Sehwa.
Their hands, holding their batons, were clasped politely before them, their faces filled with tension.
The officials didn't even notice that their superior was treating an unknown person with such respect.
Even if they had, they wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it.
They didn't know who she was or why she was here, but one thing was certain: this woman wasn't from the Human Realm.
“That’s not important right now. So, why are you taking my friend away? Where were you planning to take her?”
“Y-Your friend… your friend is… the daughter of Jung Seung-taek, the Minister of Rites…”
“You should say ‘His Excellency, Minister Jung Seung-taek.’”
“......”
Sehwa interrupted him, and Yi Hong-cheon, swallowing nervously, corrected himself.
“So… yes. What I meant to say is… Miss Jung Chihwa, the daughter of His Excellency, Minister Jung Seung-taek…”
“Yes.”
“She… was dressed as a man… and before the drought worsened, she engaged in… incomprehensible activities such as digging multiple wells and stockpiling grain…”
“How did you know the man dressed as a man was Minister Jung’s daughter?”
“Ah… well, that’s because… there was a bookseller who had been acquainted with the person dressed as a man for a long time, and he reported that the person seemed to be from the Minister of Rites’ residence…”
“And?”
“He said that she had warned him about the drought and told him to prepare. So we investigated and found out that the same person had been digging wells and preparing for the drought around that time…”
Yi Hong-cheon couldn’t understand why he was so readily revealing all the details.
But he felt compelled to explain everything, as if under some obligation, just because the breathtakingly beautiful woman before him nodded indifferently and said, “Continue.”
“So, we were monitoring His Excellency’s residence day and night to find out who was responsible, and we raided the residence after seeing someone who looked exactly like that man entering and leaving in women’s clothing.”
“But before you tried to take my friend, you were going to arrest Minister Jung as well, weren’t you? Why?”
“Well… that’s…”
“That’s?”
“…That’s…”
Yi Hong-cheon stammered, unable to explain this part.
How the King, wanting to avoid blame, had decided to make Minister Jung a scapegoat and present him to the people.
How he seemed to think that the more dramatic the spectacle, the more the people’s resentment would be diverted from him.
How he had been ordered to arrest Minister Jung on any pretext and drag him to the government office in the most humiliating way possible, under the public eye.
How could he say that here, before this woman who was making him address the Minister of Rites with respect and calling his daughter her friend?
Just as he was struggling to find the words…
As if she already knew, the breathtakingly beautiful woman’s eyes narrowed coldly.
Her red lips moved, and a cold voice flowed out.
“I’ll go in her place.”
“…P-Pardon?”
When Yi Hong-cheon asked back, not understanding what she meant, the woman added indifferently, “The place where you were planning to take my friend. I’ll go there instead.”
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