Chapter 15
When Namgung Mucheon arrived at the Cheongak Pavilion, the maids were bustling around the interior in a flurry of activity.
A young maid, who happened to spot Namgung Mucheon suddenly appear in the courtyard without any discernible presence, was startled out of her wits.
“I-I greet the Patriarch!”
The maid hurriedly bowed deeply.
A bloodstained cloth that had been held in her hands slipped and fell to the ground with a soft thud.
As Namgung Mucheon’s gaze fell upon the cloth, Seop Mugwang arrived behind him.
“Whose blood is that?”
Namgung Mucheon’s voice was calm but carried a weight that made the maid tremble as she answered.
“It… it is the blood of a guest, Patriarch.”
At that moment, Seop Mugwang felt as if the very air around them had frozen. Worried that the situation might escalate further, Seop Mugwang stepped forward and addressed the maid.
“Tell us exactly what happened.”
The maid, bowing even lower, explained in a shaky voice.
“There was a loud noise from the guest’s residence, so I went to check. The guest had a severe wound on their arm and was bleeding heavily. We quickly summoned a physician and tended to the wound, so I did not have the chance to ask what happened.”
“Where is the guest now?”
“They are in the main pavilion.”
As soon as the maid finished her response, Namgung Mucheon and Seop Mugwang headed straight for the main pavilion.
The closer they got to the main pavilion, the darker their expressions grew.
—Patriarch, something is off. That was not the scent of one person’s blood.
—I know. But this isn’t the time.
Although Namgung Mucheon had sensed the blood of dozens upon entering the pavilion, now only the faint trace of blood from the child’s wound lingered, just as the maid had said.
“This is absurd,” Seop Mugwang thought.
He had anticipated a scene of horrific carnage, yet nothing of the sort seemed to have transpired.
What in the world had happened?
As the maids worked busily to clean up the spilled blood and stem the bleeding, Ilhwa sat there calmly, her expression unperturbed.
She showed no sign of pain, nor any fear of the blood. Her composed demeanor only served to make the maids more uneasy.
“Is she really a child? She’s not even crying.”
“But how did she get hurt? And so suddenly? Why isn’t she saying anything? Someone should ask.”
“I don’t know. You ask her. She’s… kind of scary.”
Not a single one of them dared to address her easily.
The eerie aura emanating from Ilhwa seemed to weigh down the air in the room. Though she hadn’t said a word, the maids felt an almost tangible tension.
As the bleeding subsided, Ilhwa raised her gaze toward the door.
Noticing her movement, the maids, who had been watching her intently, followed her line of sight in confusion.
Moments later, the door opened, revealing Namgung Mucheon and Seop Mugwang.
The maids immediately rose and stepped back to make way for the two men.
“Greetings, Patriarch.”
“Greetings, Patriarch.”
Namgung Mucheon’s gaze remained fixed solely on Ilhwa as he entered the room.
Ilhwa also stood and bowed her head toward him.
“Greetings, Patriarch.”
“Everyone, leave.”
Seop Mugwang gestured to the maids, and in an instant, they exited the room.
Once the maids had left, Seop Mugwang briefly observed Ilhwa’s wound before nodding slightly to Namgung Mucheon and exiting as well.
Only Namgung Mucheon and Ilhwa remained in the room.
A thick, oppressive atmosphere enveloped the room.
“….”
“….”
Namgung Mucheon stared intently at Ilhwa’s wound.
Feeling his gaze, Ilhwa spoke first.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I was practicing when I accidentally hurt myself. It’s not a serious wound. I’m sorry for causing worry.”
“I can help you. So don’t hide it, tell me. What happened?”
“It was nothing. I just mishandled my sword.”
Namgung Mucheon’s gaze shifted to the sword leaning against the table.
It was a cheap iron sword, easily obtainable from any blacksmith.
The faint trace of blood stained the blade of the sword.
Namgung Mucheon felt a crushing sense of frustration, as though his chest were falling into an endless abyss.
He didn’t know whether it was because the child was carrying such a cheap sword, or because the child had injured herself while training with such a poor weapon, or whether it was the child’s calmness despite all of it.
Blood that hadn’t been fully stopped was now flowing down the child’s arm again, gathering at her fingertips.
Namgung Mucheon knelt before her, gently placing his hand on the pressure points to slow the bleeding. He then used a clean cloth to wipe away the blood.
Ilhwa quietly accepted his touch.
“I will trust your words.”
The sound of wiping filled the air between them.
“So, you should also trust me.”
“….”
After wiping away all the blood, Namgung Mucheon pressed the cloth against the wound on her hand before standing up.
He looked down at her.
“As long as you are under the Namgung name, I will protect you. Even if you harbor other intentions, I will trust you. Do you understand?”
Ilhwa slightly lowered her gaze.
After a brief moment of contemplation, she nodded.
“Yes. I will remember.”
Her answer didn’t seem to be what Namgung Mucheon had hoped for, as his eyebrows furrowed slightly.
However, he let out a quiet sigh, nodded, and turned to leave.
“Very well. The head of the medical hall has arrived, so you should receive treatment. I’ll see you tomorrow evening.”
Namgung Mucheon left the room.
Soon, the oppressive atmosphere dissipated, and several presences were felt outside the door.
It was the newly arrived head of the medical hall and the external hallmaster, Namgung Yeom, conversing with Namgung Mucheon.
“As expected, they figured it out.”
Ilhwa sat back down.
Earlier, while she was trying to sleep, she had heard someone’s voice.
The voice, faint at first from a distance, grew clearer and distinctly commanded her.
“Kill them all. Kill everyone in Namgung, and scatter their blood at your feet.”
By the time she regained her senses, she found herself already holding a sword.
The maids outside were asking what was going on, but she was already swinging the sword.
The moment Ilhwa made her choice, it was to cut her own arm with the sword she was holding.
With the sharp feeling of the blade against her skin, her mind cleared, and as she dropped the sword, a maid entered, and this was the current situation.
“How did Namgung Mucheon and Seop Mugwang know?”
She couldn’t understand how they had arrived before the physician.
But the two of them had already realized that this wasn’t just an accident.
Namgung Mucheon’s words and Seop Mugwang’s actions spoke volumes.
“I need to be more careful.”
The senses of experienced martial artists could not easily be fooled.
She had managed to deceive them this time, but they wouldn’t let it slide forever without further questioning.
“What was that?”
Ilhwa looked down at her hands.
The voice she had heard, which seemed to come unconsciously, was unmistakably that of the Blood Demon.
No one was controlling her body; rather, it was her body moving on its own, obeying the Blood Demon’s command.
“Could I have been bound by the Blood Demon’s blood contract?”
The Blood Demon never trusted others easily, which was why before teaching blood techniques, the Blood Demon always bound the person with a blood contract to prevent betrayal.
Those who entered into such a contract would suffer great pain if they didn’t obey the Blood Demon’s commands and could never kill the Blood Demon.
However, the Blood Demon also could not kill those bound by the blood contract with their own hands.
“In my past life, I must have died at the hands of the Blood Demon.”
That meant that she was not bound by the Blood Demon now.
So, she probably wasn’t under the Blood Demon’s blood contract after all.
Someone knocked on the door.
Then, the voice of the head of the medical hall, “I’m coming in―” echoed. Ilhwa stared at the shadow of the head of the medical hall cast on the door.
‘If there’s something wrong with my body, I need to be the first to know.’
She needed to understand what was happening to her body, whether it posed a danger to Namgung, and whether returning to Namgung without any plan was a mistake.
Only then could she decide whether to prepare for it, or leave Namgung.
For that, she needed the head of the medical hall.
‘The head of the medical hall.’
She needed her.
“This… this must hurt.”
The head of the medical hall, her brows furrowed, treated Ilhwa’s wound.
To ensure nothing dangerous happened, Seop Mugwang was standing with his arms crossed, leaning against a pillar, watching closely.
The fact that he didn’t add any further words seemed to indicate that he, too, knew this wound was no accident.
He looked thoughtful.
“This might hurt a little. I’ve burned some incense to ease the pain, but it won’t be completely painless. If it becomes too much, let me know, alright?”
“Yes.”
“You’re quite a brave cat, not crying even with a wound like this?”
The head of the medical hall lightened the mood with a light joke as she continued her treatment.
“There’s another wound. Could you take a look at that?”
The head of the medical hall, treating the wound with delicate hands, looked up at Ilhwa in surprise.
Seop Mugwang, standing behind her, also frowned.
“Wait, there’s another wound? Where?”
Ilhwa glanced at Seop Mugwang.
Sensing her gaze, Seop Mugwang furrowed his brow even further.
“What is it? Where else are you hurt, huh?”
“My abdomen.”
“What? Your abdomen? Let me see!”
“It’s from my chest to my abdomen.”
Seop Mugwang, who had been approaching, stopped in his tracks, his expression contorting as he stared at her.
“Are you asking me to look?”