Chapter 16

TL: pineapples

ED: sid

****

“You don’t want to be here do you? You want to leave like crazy but you are enduring it. You don’t even want to be the sogyoju. You want to live a simple life. Am I wrong?”

How did she know?

The secret that he dreamed everyday of popped out of the girl’s mouth.

Cheonma was acquainted with his father. Cheonma had occasionally visited his hiding father for a drink and then went back.

They didn’t talk much, but they didn’t seem to have a bad relationship. The atmosphere between them was calm and warm.

So he had never imagined that Cheonma would kill his parents to make him the sogyoju. The day his parents had died, Aku Ryun was sleeping.

It was the middle of the night when his mother suddenly woke him up and pushed him into the back of the kitchen. She told him not to make a noise.

Then, he heard a strange man’s ordering voice. The screams of people and the sound of breaking furniture was heard.

Something must have gone wrong.

Even though he wanted to run outside, he couldn’t. He knew he would die a dog’s death if he did so. If his parents were in trouble, it was on him to take revenge. If he died, there would be no one to avenge his parents.

The disturbance continued for a while.

Quietly, Aku Ryun only came out of the background cautiously. Then he opened the kitchen door a little and peeked into the yard.

There he was.

Cheonma. He was standing tall above his parents, who were on the ground in a miserable state.

With his teeth clenched, Aku Ryun even watched Cheonma put a sword into his father’s heart and hid in the background again. However, Cheonma eventually discovered him and made him sogyoju.

It was easy to pretend that he didn’t remember anything. He was a three year old child at that time. It would be even stranger for him to remember it. He had to become a sogyoju and undergo harsh training. But he could endure all of it.

He had to avenge his parents. With that goal, what could be difficult?

Giving the life-saving oil to the child made it that thousands of times more difficult. But he could handle it because it was his own choice.

But he couldn’t throw his dreams away. The desire to live a normal life did not disappear no matter how hard he tried.

But that child easily put his dream into motion. The dream that he had locked away in the deepest part of his heart because of the pain he had to endure.

When he had left the training area with the child, Aku Ryun thought he was dreaming.

It was ridiculous.

The child’s proposal was irresistibly sweet, even though he knew it was something he should never do.

Like the dried persimmon that the child once put in his mouth.

Aku Ryun clenched his fists.

Will he be able to avenge his parents even after owing that child? Would he be able to keep his oath of burning everything down to its roots?

Though he was hesitating, Aku Ryun took the bag that the child gave him. His legs moved automatically. As he went down the stairs, his steps got faster and faster.

If he just left here, he would be free. Finally. The freedom that he had hoped for was right in front of him.

Thump!

At the moment, he heard a small sound through the sound of the rain falling. Aku Ryun turned his head. Beyond the fog, he could see a gray figure lying on the floor.

“…!”

It was the child. The child had lost consciousness and collapsed on the floor. Only then he recalled the child’s abnormally cold body and blue lips.

At that moment, his desire for freedom disappeared without a trace.

“Young Miss!”

Aku Ryun ran up the stairs without any delay.

*  *  *  *

Seoyoung, who had returned to the room, opened her eyes widely.

The room was a mess as if someone had ransacked it in a hurry. The box that the child had cherished like a treasure was empty.

“What happened…?”

Seoyoung hurriedly put down the tray and searched the drawers.

“Nothing.”

She had put the bag that the child had asked her to bring a few days ago there, but it was gone.

Did she run away from home?

Though Young Miss was disappointed with the sogyoju’s situation, she didn’t think it was that big of an issue.

Magyo was such a place. Even if the Leader’s daughter was a weird child, she had to get used to the magyo’s rules.

But instead of adapting, she looks like she wanted to rebel. It was her fault for forgetting that the child was extraordinary. She should have persuaded her and explained.

In despair, she jumped up from her seat. It wasn’t the right time for her to be like this. She had been away for about an hour. She couldn’t have gone far.

If she moved quickly, she could catch the Young Miss before she arrived at the village. Seoyoung opened the door and stopped in her tracks. Right in front of the door was Aku Ryun holding the child in his arms.

“Young Miss!”

Young Miss’ face was pale and bloodless. Young Miss was gone for only an hour but she was already half dead.

Seoyoung covered her mouth because she thought she would scream.

Aku Ryun quietly asked Seoyoung,

“The bed?”

“The bed… is not being used. It will be uncomfortable.”

“Get the blanket.”

Seoyoung hurriedly laid down the silk sheets. Aku Ryun laid the child on top of the bed. When he grabbed the child’s wrist, her dantian was dry. What on earth did she do to lose all her internal energy?

The child was stronger in the ice arts than anyone else, but it was a different story if she had no internal powers. Without her powers, she couldn’t stand even a little cold.

It was a side effect from being exposed to Bing Eun-seol’s ice powers from an early age. It was only given that she would faint when she was also exposed to the winter rain.

Aku Ryun began to push his energy into the child.

“Haaa.”

The child was breathing hard, almost like she was vomiting up air. Her white face gradually regained its normal color. Her bluish lips also became red.

Aku Ryun put the child’s wrist down only after he had filled her dantian.

“Bring warm water over.”

“Oh, yes, sir!”

Seoyoung rushed to the bathroom. Aku Ryun rested his head on the wall and closed his eyes. His mind had blanked out when he saw the child collapse.

At that moment, neither freedom nor revenge was important to him. All he could think of was how to save the child.

She was poisoned with a deadly poison that had seeped into her body and mind.

Aku Run opened his eyes with a bitter smile. He opened the bag that was leaking water and took out what was inside one by one.

“… what a sight.”

Everything was taken out of the bag. Inside were red stones that could buy a house with even just one of them, gold spearheads, cultivation medicine which was more expensive than its weight in gold, and godok which had value that couldn’t even be measured.

It had contained all the gifts given to the child by the elders. The elders had boasted loudly that the child had been very happy when she had received the gifts. But she had given them to him…

Sighing, Aku Ryun took out the black pouch that was in the innermost part of the bag. An unknown chill was permeating from it.

“This…”

Aku Ryun was speechless when he opened the black pouch. Inside of the pouch were flowers that the child had made with her powers.

How has she already made these?  How did she make these when even experts struggled? And to create them so it would be preserved like this.

At that moment, a sudden realization passed though his head. He knew why the child’s dantian was empty

“Because she made these…”

She said that she put something that would make money in the bag, but he didn’t know the specifics. Believing strongly that the flowers would be sold for a large price, she had made those until all her internal energy ran out.

Just for him.

He didn’t know who told her that, but it was a ridiculous notion. He couldn’t believe that she thought of selling them.

Aku Ryun put his hand on his strangely itchy chest and hardened his face.

He had to firmly reprimand the child so that she never does something this reckless again. If he kept his distance from her, this wouldn’t happen again. It was right to stay away from each other since they were poison to each other.

Aku Ryun put the things back in her bag but paused when he got to the black pouch. He could see the child trying her heart out without knowing that her body was damaged.

He pondered for a while and put the black pouch in his arms.

“Uh….”

Just then, the child groaned and slowly opened her eyes. Her eyes soon gained focus. She looked up at the ceiling as if she was trying to figure out where she was. But then she saw Aku Ryun.

“Why… are you here?”

“Be careful that you don’t use up all your energy.”

“I told you to go… to go live freely…”

“Young Miss.”

Aku Ryun spoke dangerously and looked down upon the tearful child’s face.

“Don’t come to the training camp because I don’t need food. Even if I become sick, collapse, or die, don’t worry about me. It’s annoying.”

“Is it because of me? I collapsed…  you gave up your dream to help me, didn’t you?”

“Don’t misunderstand. You’re not that important to me.”

She looked up at him in reproach. Like she was telling him silently to not lie.

‘No I’m not lying. You’re nothing to me. You are just the daughter of an enemy…. the daughter of an enemy’

Aku Ryun couldn’t resist the sudden urge and grabbed the child by the neck. THen he lowered his head and whispered in the child’s ear.

“So don’t do whatever you want again. Before you break this thin neck.”

The child swallowed. Her poor little face was frightened.

Watching her, Aku Ryun calmly turned and walked outside.