When the Black Moon Rises - Side Story 24
Side Story 24
She, who had been asleep for a long time, opened her eyes in the season when the spring breeze carried the scent of flowers. It had been an unprecedentedly difficult birth. Thus, Sehwa had to remain asleep for a long while, unable to open her eyes. After half a year, she opened her eyes.
"...It seems I took a while to return. Seeing your expression."
When she said so in a gentle voice, Baek Giha felt as if something was blocking his throat, unable to even breathe properly.
"I'm sorry. But you didn't lose faith in me, did you? ......I've returned safely now, so don't worry. From now on, I truly won't leave."
He didn't dare embrace her. He only lightly touched his fingers to her hand, which had grown even thinner. He was afraid that her weakened body might sink into the ground from just that weight. Just enough to feel her warmth. Just that much. With their skin barely touching, he kept nodding his head. Even seeing his foolish appearance, she kept smiling, so Baek Giha also laughed through his tears. Because she had returned. There was nothing more he could wish for.
“No. I was gone for just a moment, and he's already settled in again.”
Youngchae clicked her tongue, looking down at Baek Manyong with a displeased face. Outside, attendants holding mountains of documents were tearfully searching for the Baek Clan's Chancellor. 'Yet this man is just stuck to the Young Lords with that goofy expression on his face.'
Baek Manyong was sitting in front of a silk basket containing two large eggs. Moreover, seeing the various scholarly books scattered around like a flooded river, she thought, 'He must have been reading to them again, calling it early education or something.'
“What is it? I am currently performing very urgent official duties.”
“This is an urgent official duty?"
"Ah, broadening the knowledge of our Young Lords is, of course, an urgent official duty.”
“The Young Lords are inside eggs right now. How can those in eggs hear you?”
“That's why it's even more necessary. Don't you know how special it is that they've become eggs like this?"
....Well, that's true.
Youngchae gazed for a moment at the two eggs, which emitted a faint glow. Surprisingly, these two large eggs were the children of Sehwa and Baek Giha. In truth, it wasn't all that surprising. Because they had shown extraordinary signs even while in the womb. 'It was probably like that from the first day, wasn't it?'
Youngchae recalled the day Sehwa and Baek Giha returned from the Human Realm. By then, the visitors who had been blocking the main gate, wanting to change their true forms, had already disappeared from the Baek Clan. This was because those who heard the news of Sehwa's pregnancy had rolled up their sleeves.
The direct line of our Baek Clan has been established! It's a time when even touring the Mystic Realm to boast about our Mystic Ruler isn't enough! And because of those shameless bastards, the Mystic Ruler can't return from the Human Realm!
Does this make any sense?
We must let the child in the Mystic Ruler's womb hear our voices even one more time!
Those bastards! Because of those bastards!
The fury of Baek Manyong and the clan heads was so great. As they took the lead in dealing with the uninvited guests, the Baek Clan's territory quickly began to return to its former state.
After that, days of waiting with outstretched necks for the return of these precious individuals followed. Then, finally, the long-awaited letter of return arrived.
The opened letter stated that they had a lot of luggage and needed people to move it, requesting support. A support request. 'Our Lord has grown too accustomed to wartime. To write a request for a few attendants in such a way.' Baek Manyong, laughing at the Clan Head's rare mistake, sent twenty experienced attendants to the passage connecting to the Human Realm.
...That was a complete miscalculation. Twenty people? Even fifty wouldn't have been enough for all the luggage; in the end, they had to borrow the hands of the warriors at the passage's guard post.
Baek Manyong and the people of the Baek Clan territory, who had been preparing to welcome the Mystic Ruler and the Clan Head, also just blinked their eyes upon witnessing the scene.
"No, what on earth is this........."
"The carts... just how many are there?"
Things that weren't even wedding gifts were piled high on each cart, passing endlessly through the main gate of the Baek Clan's territory. The contents, at a glance, were all small and intricate. So, that, no matter how you looked at it.............
“How long did they say the two of them stayed in the Human Realm?"
"Five months."
“Then is all of that the luggage they bought during those five months?"
Faces full of questions followed Sehwa. Sehwa, putting on the most composed expression she could manage, unknowingly shot a sideways glance at Baek Giha. 'I told you to buy in moderation.'
He had bought so many baby items, regardless of type. For a while, a strange spectacle unfolded in the capital of the Human Realm, where all shops, regardless of classification—fruit stalls, clothiers, fishmongers, taverns—sold baby goods. He would sneak out of the palace without her knowledge, returning several times with his hands and even his back laden with baby supplies. It reached a point where Seong Ik-gwon, unable to watch any longer, would summon merchant groups to the palace for a day to display their necessary goods. Far from bringing everything they had bought, they had sorted and sorted, yet it still ended up being that much.
'Will we even be able to unpack all of that?'
It was the moment the embarrassed Sehwa shook her head. Rustle. A strange breeze gently flew by and tickled her cheek. 'What is this?' Spiritual power was mixed in the wind. But it was too familiar to be someone's prank. 'This spiritual power is...'
Then the wind suddenly grew stronger, enveloping Sehwa.
"Ugh, what is this,"
The sudden gust was so strong that those nearby had to hastily move away. When Sehwa and Baek Giha stepped forward, the strange spiritual power was quickly brought under control. But they couldn't figure out what this phenomenon was.
"Good heavens!! The baby!"
Only Baek Manyong, who was always intoxicated with the Baek Clan's Divine Beast lineage, recognized the nature of the wind and shed tears of emotion.
“As expected of the Young Lord of the great Baek Clan, destined by the heavens for great things, to wield the surrounding spiritual power like their own limbs even before being born! Knowing in advance that the future Clan Head of the Baek Clan is so extraordinary, I feel I could die here with no regrets, but that is absolutely out of the question, and I vow here and now to live no matter what and become the right hand of the Baek Clan, faithfully serving our Young Lord! I vow it again."
"What. This is the child wielding spiritual power?"
“Yes, Clan Head! I have read in the records that you also showed the same phenomenon. In earlier records, it was written that children who showed the potential for exuviation into a Divine Beast, besides temporarily taking on their true form after birth, would use spiritual power like this from within the womb. Therefore, our precious Young Lord will surely be reborn as a Divine Beast."
Baek Giha, who had covered the Chancellor's mouth, looked back at Sehwa. Sehwa also had a bewildered expression, unable to believe what she had just heard. Wielding spiritual power from the fetal stage. Did that make sense?
On top of that, Elder Jinhyun of the Baek Clan's medical office, who examined the returned Sehwa, told an even more unexpected story.
“Ah, it seems....."
“It seems?"
“It seems you will give birth to twins."
Baek Manyong, his eyes wavering, covered his mouth once again. Good heavens!
When all these facts became known, the Baek Clan was in an even more festive mood. The child of a Divine Beast would be a Divine Beast! For the heavens to bestow upon our Baek Clan another Divine Beast. And not just one, but two! Everyone was excited, eagerly anticipating seeing the Young Lords as soon as possible.
But there was one problem. The amount of spiritual power wielded by the unborn children was too great. And there were two such children in her womb. On top of that, the birth was even more difficult. In any era, giving birth was akin to risking one's life. Sehwa's was among the most difficult of births.
She had boasted to Baek Giha that there would be no problem. But during the actual birth, the immense spiritual power held by the children and her own spiritual power became entangled, making it impossible to even use her healing abilities properly. Thus, while the children were barely safe, Sehwa had to fall into a rather long sleep until her tangled spiritual power recovered. That period was a full half a year.
During that time, the Baek Clan's territory had become a desolate place where not even a loud footstep could be heard. If not for the occasional loud cries of the children echoing, it might have truly felt like an empty house.
“Ugh, I really don't even want to think about it again.”
Youngchae shook her head as she carefully wiped the large eggs in the silk basket with a clean cloth. The period of watching her master sleep with a pale complexion remained a very terrible time in Youngchae's life. Then, after half a year, Sehwa had opened her eyes.
But before everyone could rejoice after confirming the Mystic Ruler's safety, as if they had been waiting for their mother all this time, the two children simultaneously turned into eggs.
“It was an entirely natural course of events. Are our two Young Lords ordinary mystics? Our extraordinary, brilliant hope and radiant light of the Baek Clan will surely remember the contents of the books I read to them without missing a single thing, and upon growing up, they will greatly elevate the name of the Baek Clan throughout the Mystic Realm.”
“I know they're outstanding and extraordinary. Still, I want to see our Young Lords' faces now.”
The eggs, which they thought would hatch in a year or two, showed no signs of cracking even after three years, five years, and then ten years had passed. It was fortunate that records remained in old texts of some staying in egg form for even longer. If not for that, everyone might have fallen into chaos, thinking something was wrong.
"Hmph. That would be the case for common folk who dared not believe in our Young Lords. I, Baek Manyong, would not have been the least bit flustered even if another ten years passed like this. Surely, within these eggs, they possess a great power that people like us cannot comprehend-."
"Yes, yes. I understand, so Chancellor, please hurry outside. The elders are on the verge of a fight, saying they will decide the Young Lords' fetal names this time.”
“What? Are you saying they are deciding something so important without me?”
Baek Manyong shot to his feet. The names of the Young Lords had been the biggest topic of conversation among all the people of the Baek Clan territory for the past ten years. So many had stepped forward, offering to create their fetal names, given names, and courtesy names. Now, ten years later, the children already had five hundred and forty fetal names, one hundred and twenty name candidates, and two hundred courtesy name candidates. A significant portion of those had been proposed by the Baek Clan's Chancellor right before her.
"Where is such an atrocious thing happening? This is absolutely unacceptable. Where is it? Does the Clan Head know about this?"
"Well. Why don't you ask him yourself?”
"Where is the Clan Head?"
"Where else would he be? The flowers have bloomed so beautifully today, haven't they?”
At those words, Baek Manyong turned his head towards the wide-open window. Flower petals were fluttering gently in the breeze. When he listened closely, he could hear the sound of a quiet conversation amidst the warm wind.
Stop it and let me down quickly.
Why. Let's stay like this a little longer.
What if someone sees?
I've sent everyone away.
They can see from the window.
So what if they see? Are we doing something wrong?
Baek Manyong, listening to the small voices, laughed quietly.
“Indeed. I asked the obvious.”
I’m not sure how many people are waiting for the rest of the side stories, but for those who have, I sincerely apologize for the delay. These last few chapters were only accessible via coins on KakaoPage, and until recently I had no way to purchase them here. As soon as the app became available, I bought the remaining chapters. I hope you all enjoy the rest of the novel.
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