When the Black Moon Rises - Side Story 18
Side Story 18
The woman, her eyes slightly moist, saw his expression and laughed heartily again.
"I've been talking nonsense myself. It's understandable; after that dreadful drought, you two are the first guests our village has had. I guess I got quite excited."
"That's right, our village wasn't as famous as the place that grants sons, but visitors never ceased. I wondered when it would be like that again, but thankfully, a young groom like you has already come."
"That's why we're so grateful to the celestials. We should have actually thanked them for saving us from starvation."
"So why didn't you go to the Funeral? You didn't even go during the drought."
"Who knew they would preside over the ceremony? If I had known, even if I lived a thousand li away, I would have rushed there in a heartbeat. I would have asked them to conjure just one rainbow."
Sehwa, listening quietly to the conversation, asked.
“A rainbow?”
"Yes. They say if a rainbow appears on the day of a funeral, it's a sign of going to a good place. I heard there were mysterious happenings during the Funeral, but that alone is weak; a rainbow needs to appear."
"Do you know what they call that? Saving someone from drowning, only for them to demand their belongings back."
"Right, right. They gave us rain, saved people from starvation, piled up all this precious food everywhere, and now you say it's weak because there was no rainbow? What's wrong with you? Good grief. If I were a celestial, I'd take back what I gave."
As soon as that banter ended, the women burst into laughter once more.
"Anyway, newlyweds, are you planning to just touch the rock and leave immediately? You came at a good time; how about staying here until tomorrow?"
"Yes, stay the night. Merchants have started coming and going again, and tomorrow, for the first time in a long while, a market will open in the middle of the village. There might not be many goods, but it's probably been a while since you newlyweds went shopping too. Wait until tomorrow, see what interesting things come, and then go."
As the woman said this, the gatekeeper who had demanded Baek Giha's identification token came running.
"Hey, are you planning to stay? If so, the Du family over there said they'd lend you a room."
He asked Baek Giha, but the answer came from the woman beside him.
"Oh, that's wonderful. I was going to offer a room in my house, but the Du family's place gets the best starlight and doesn't have many repairs needed, so it'll be more comfortable. You're happy too, right, newlywed?"
Sehwa, momentarily hesitant due to the woman's enthusiasm, nodded.
"Ah, um…… Then we'll stay the night."
As soon as she finished speaking, the women again offered a basket full of berries.
"Then take this and eat it too."
"No, we've already received so much, it's alright……."
"We're not giving you our share, so don't worry and take it quickly. It'll fall."
"No, we……."
"Take it quickly."
"……Um…… Then thank you, we'll eat it well."
"Yes, yes. You must be tired from coming all this way, so go lie down and rest quickly."
Sehwa nodded again, bewildered. Baek Giha took the basket from Sehwa's hand.
And following the gatekeeper's lead, they headed towards the Du family's house, who had offered a room to people they hadn't even seen.
The room was small but neatly prepared, and the bedding looked like it had just been laid out.
As soon as she entered the quiet room, laughter burst from Sehwa's lips.
"Why are you laughing?"
"Isn't the situation just ridiculous? They kept forcing snacks on us out of the blue. Security was supposedly so precarious until recently, yet they grab strangers out of nowhere, offer them a room to stay, and tell them to go shopping. It's hilarious."
It wasn't just the women who were strange. She herself wasn't the type to tolerate such coercion, but strangely, with those women, she ended up doing as they said, which was amusing.
Baek Giha, watching Sehwa laugh out loud, stepped forward, spread the bedding on the floor, and laid her down.
"I was thinking I need to retrain the warriors when I get back."
"Why the warriors?"
"No matter how much I sparred with the warriors, I never got this tired. Doesn't that mean the warriors' skills are below those women's? That woman was the first to push me around so much that I couldn't even speak properly."
At his words, Sehwa burst into laughter again.
Thus, she didn't notice sooner that Baek Giha's gaze was a little deeper than usual.
Perhaps because they had entered a quiet room after being in the midst of a conversation that felt like a whirlwind.
The bedding and pillow provided by the owner were made of rough cloth, but after laughing so much, she felt moderately drowsy.
The room, feeling quieter than usual, was also pleasant.
Just then, the wind gently rattled the window.
Sehwa waved her hand, and her spiritual power quietly opened the window.
The small window filled with the deep blue sky.
The cool breeze blowing in felt quite nice.
Lying on the small mattress, barely a fraction of the size of her bed in the Mystic Realm, yet feeling so comfortable.
'Come to think of it, since time turned back, everything has been moving so fast, I haven't had a proper chance to catch my breath.'
Even after killing the Corrupt Dragon, she had been busy purifying the remaining evil spirits until the wedding ceremony.
Perhaps only now, having confirmed with her own eyes that the ravaged human realm had become so peaceful, did the reality that everything was over sink in.
That's why, perhaps, her eyelids felt increasingly heavy as she lay there, feeling the breeze.
His hand patting her gently made it even harder to resist the drowsiness.
Soon, her consciousness faded.
And Baek Giha, confirming Sehwa was asleep, quietly got up so as not to wake her and closed the window.
Cooling the room's heat with wind magic, he gazed for a while at her sleeping face, her eyes closed.
At the edge of his deepened eyes lingered an anxiety and unease that hadn't been there before.
Careful not to reveal that feeling, he gently stroked her hair.
"Oh dear, oh dear."
Beyond the open window, the sound of wailing continued.
The parents of the child whose funeral was held today had fainted, so it was likely the parents of other missing children crying.
The clan was divided into two factions, causing quite a stir.
One side insisted on immediately pressuring the Ju Clan to find the children's bodies.
The other argued that attacking the Ju Clan was still dangerous and they should wait a little longer.
Torn between these two, his head felt like it would explode.
Letters arrived daily from the heads of the Six Clans, and the elders were trying to pull him, the Divine Beast, to their respective sides.
He had various matters to handle and hadn't slept properly for a long time.
He just endured until his limit, then barely managed to catch snippets of sleep when he could endure no more.
Suddenly, he felt so tired he couldn't support his body.
But he had to endure.
He had been raised for this very purpose.
"You must become the Divine Beast, somehow. For the sake of the Baek Clan, absolutely! Do you understand?"
They say a child showing the potential to become a Divine Beast spends some time in the form of their beast counterpart after birth.
In his childhood, too faint to remember, he too had briefly taken the form of a White Tiger.
Because of that, he had long been pressured to become a Divine Beast.
They said no more Divine Beasts were being born in the Mystic Realm.
What would happen to him if he failed to become a Divine Beast?
There were times he wondered, but since he eventually became one, that question was now meaningless.
But even after achieving the desired goal, the pressure from those around him didn't lessen at all.
Rather, as the head of the Baek Clan, an even greater external weight was placed upon him.
The endless cries of parents searching for their children, the voices of the elders calling for him, the many demands of his vassals always echoed, tangled in his ears.
Those foolish clansmen, clamoring for war every day, didn't know.
That if he, as a Divine Beast, began killing, he would quickly lose himself and fall into the boundary between life and death.
The urging to quickly send a declaration of war to the Ju Clan sometimes felt like his entire clan was forcing death upon him.
But he had to do it; that was the position of a Clan Head.
Suddenly feeling a tightness around his eyes, he raised his hand and pressed the aching spot.
Since he couldn't achieve everything, tomorrow he would send letters to the remaining clans, excluding the Ju Clan.
Form an alliance and pressure the Ju Clan, even if it meant war.
"Let's do that."
Having made the decision, sleepiness washed over him.
Before his schedule became busier, he fell into a deep sleep right there, sitting in his chair.
It seemed someone's low voice reached his ears.
It was the voice of his father, who had passed away long ago.
She woke up in the early dawn.
Something felt strange, so she opened her eyes, but not much had changed from before she slept.
The window was closed so the night breeze wouldn't chill her, and everything was quiet.
The waning moonlight dimly illuminated the room through the paper window.
"……Are you awake?"
In the bluish room, she saw Baek Giha leaning against the wall. His eyes, elongated in the shadows, were gazing steadily at her.
"Did you have a bad dream?"
"Or did you have a scary dream?"
As she asked, her gaze fell on his forehead. Traces of cold sweat, not yet fully dried, remained.
Quietly sitting up, she approached him and hugged his sturdy shoulders. She gently stroked his back. Patting his cold fingertips, she asked again in a quiet voice.
"What did you dream about?"
He seemed unable to distinguish between dream and reality for a moment, even though his eyes were open.
Sehwa waved her hand again, opening the window with her spiritual power.
Then he moved slightly.
His hazy gaze, half in dream and half in reality, looked out the window at the gradually fading sky for a moment. Soon, a long sigh escaped his pale lips. After a long while, he asked in a cracked voice.
"Do you dream too?"
"Of course. What did you dream about?"
"……."
"A dream you'd dislike if you knew."
"What do I dislike?"
"……Um……."
"Um. Tell me."
"You…… will be alright, right?"
"What?"
"The child."
"The child?"
"……."
"Why do you ask? Are you worried about something?"
"That woman earlier said it. That she died giving birth. Hearing that, I realized I shouldn't just be happy that you're carrying a child. Giving birth is……."
Baek Giha trailed off, but Sehwa could roughly guess what he was trying to say.
"Are you worried something might happen to me while giving birth?"
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