Ch#13
“I-I pay my respects to the Heavenly Demon!”
First, I prostrated myself flat on the ground. I had just finished attending to Jeok I-geon this morning and was taking a brief breather in the back garden. I hadn’t the slightest clue when he had managed to get this close.
Could he have been watching me this whole time\?
That’s basically stalking…….
“Rise. There is no need to do that every time you encounter me.”
“B-but……”
“It is an order.”
Yes, sir. If it’s an order, I must obey.
I quickly picked myself up and politely clasped my hands together.
“Did you say your name was Seol-ha\?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Yesterday, I was in such a rush that I had no time to ask. How old are you, where do you live, and who are your parents\?”
I was momentarily dumbfounded by the rapid-fire barrage of questions from the Heavenly Demon.
I couldn’t understand why he was so curious about my personal background.
Of course, on the other hand, I felt a secret sense of relief.
After all, asking me directly meant he hadn’t ordered the Pavilion Master of the Ghost Soul Pavilion to dig into my background.
“I am seventeen years old this year. My parents are no longer with us, and my grandmother runs a noodle shop outside the fortress. I have lived at that shop ever since I was a child.”
“You lost your parents\?”
“Yes.”
“When was that\?”
“According to my grandmother, my father passed away in an accident while I was still in the womb, and my mother passed away from childbirth complications when she had me. So, I have never seen them.”
“Then your grandmother raised you all on her own.”
“Yes, she raised me through great hardship despite her poor health. That is why I entered the Cult as a maid—to repay her kindness.”
I had absolutely no idea why he was curious about this kind of stuff, but I answered as sincerely as possible.
My intention was to satisfy his curiosity so he wouldn’t come looking for me again.
“Your deceased mother… No, what was your father’s name\?”
“His name was Sin, character Won, character Pyeong.”
“Sin Won-pyeong……”
The Heavenly Demon’s brow furrowed as if he were trying to recall something.
He stroked his beard, lost in thought for a brief moment, before shaking his head and sighing softly.
“Hmm, as expected, it is not.”
What isn’t\?
He mentioned yesterday that I reminded him of someone. Is he reminiscing about that person again\?
In any case, I was glad it wasn’t. For a split second, I was terrified he might say he knew my father.
Though, of course, he isn’t my real biological father anyway.
With this, any possibility of being entangled with the Heavenly Demon was gone.
“You look as though you find it strange that I am asking such things.”
“I-I apologize. I was so startled that without realizing it……”
“It is fine. Anyone in our Cult would have reacted the same way. I do not blame you, so do not let it weigh on your mind.”
“Thank you.”
I bowed deeply, folding myself in half, acting as deeply moved as if I had received some grand gift.
“Then, go about your business. I shall drop by from time to time.”
“In that case, this lowly one shall… Excuse me\?”
What did he just say at the end\?
Did I hear him wrong\?
I didn’t even have time to double-check.
Leaving behind words that made me doubt my own ears, the Heavenly Demon vanished like the wind.
And exactly the next day, around the same time, he came to find me again.
This time, I was cleaning the interior of Geonyeonggak.
The moment I stopped wiping the floor and stood up to stretch my back, the Heavenly Demon suddenly materialized right in front of my eyes.
“Hieek!”
Startled out of my wits, I shrieked and lost my balance, stumbling backward.
Fortunately, some mysterious energy supported my back just in time; otherwise, I would have taken an unsightly tumble right in front of his face.
“Have you eaten breakfast\?”
Is this mister for real!
He scares the daylights out of me, and now he’s acting all sweet!
Does he think helping me from falling makes us even\?
He really is Jeok I-geon’s father—their shamelessness is identical.
“Today, I have come because I have something to give you.”
Though I cursed him a thousand times in my head, in reality, I was in full-on submissive mode.
As I stared at the Heavenly Demon while desperately trying to calm my pounding heart, he said something strange again.
“……To me\?”
“Yes.”
What kind of ominous development is this now\?
As I stood there dazed and blinking in bewilderment, the Heavenly Demon smoothly held out something.
“Take it.”
At his commanding, dignified order, my hands moved automatically.
Huh\?
It was a hairpin.
An incredibly expensive-looking hair ornament that only daughters of wealthy families would wear.
Why on earth was he giving me something like this so suddenly\?
“Thank you.”
Pardon\?
I’m the one who received the gift, so why are you thanking me, mister\?
Just as I was about to open my mouth because the situation made absolutely no sense, I saw it again.
Yearning.
He was looking at me, but at the same time, he wasn’t.
The Heavenly Demon was reminiscing about someone else through me. And with such profound tenderness, too.
Who could it possibly be\?
What kind of person could plunge the absolute master of the Demonic Cult into such sentimentality\?
I was curious, but of course, I couldn’t ask.
Just because the Heavenly Demon was kind to me didn’t mean I was foolish enough to act overly familiar with him.
I knew my place and my limits better than anyone.
The Heavenly Demon stared at my face for a long while before suddenly vanishing into thin air.
What if he comes back tomorrow\?
Fortunately, my worries turned out to be completely unfounded.
Instead, perhaps as a law of equivalent exchange,
an unexpected visitor came to see me.
“Grandmother\?”
About halfway between Jamigwan and Geonyeonggak, there is a path leading to the Demonic Medical Pavilion.
Naturally, the probability of me running into my grandmother there was zero.
Madam Sin-geum was not a maid within the fortress, nor did she know anyone here besides me.
Except for the time she came to pick me up shortly after I possessed this body, this was her very first visit to the fortress.
“Grandmother, what brings you here\? Did something happen at home\?”
Honestly, Grandmother’s sudden appearance was scarier than the Heavenly Demon’s.
I ran toward her, quickly scanning her from head to toe.
“Grandmother, are you sick\? What did the physician say\?”
Though I occasionally put on a show for others by mentioning a frail, elderly mother, in reality, our Madam Sin-geum possessed a constitution of pure steel.
So I had never worried about her health, but seeing her show up out of the blue suddenly filled me with dread.
“You silly girl, why would your granny be sick! Let me look at you! I heard you got cut by a blade!”
“……Huh\?”
“What a worthless piece of trash! How dare he scratch someone else’s precious granddaughter’s body! I should drag that bastard—who deserves to be torn limb from limb—throw him into a vat of poison, and stomp him to pieces!”
Wow, my grandmother’s cursing is terrifying.
Upon spotting the nearly healed wound on my neck, Grandmother flew into a towering rage.
Even though she was a tough lady who frequently used colorful language, I had never seen her this worked up.
“Grandmother, calm down! I’m completely fine! It was just a tiny scratch, this small.”
“What if that bastard’s blade had poison on it! The moment I heard the news, my heart sank to my stomach. Do you have any idea how terrified I was!”
To think my grandmother would say the exact same thing Jeok I-geon did.
I flashed a bright, cheerful smile to reassure her as much as possible.
“Oh, come on, Grandmother, what an active imagination! That will absolutely never happen. Did you forget I have the Poison-Evading Bead\? I always carry it on me just in case, so don’t worry at all!”
“Let me see it one more time.”
Perhaps my efforts had paid off, as Madam Sin-geum’s voice softened considerably.
“This won’t leave a scar, will it\?”
“Of course not! A tiny thing like this won’t leave a scar. It’s already almost completely gone.”
“Aw, my sweet child! Getting caught up in a sword fight because of some cursed scoundrel! You only have two months left, right\? Let’s just endure that and get out of here. Your granny doesn’t care about living in luxury, so just stay right by my side! Got it\?”
The hand caressing my cheek was rough, but her heart was warmer than anything.
Indeed, our Madam Sin-geum is the best.
My only ally in this world.
For her sake, I resolved to do my absolute best during my remaining time here.
“But Grandmother, how did you find out I was hurt\? Who told you\?”
“Who else could it be\? It was that boy who practically lives at our noodle shop.”
“Yang So-baek\? He told me not to look for him because he was focusing on his training for a while, but he already paid a visit\?”
“He got in. He kept singing about it, and he actually did it. I must say, I see that boy in a whole new light now.”
“Don’t tell me… he got into the Blood Shadow Squad\?”
“Why wouldn’t it be\? His dream was always to join the Blood Shadow Squad, after all.”
Oh my god, no way!
That slacker Yang So-baek actually passed the entrance exam for the Blood Shadow Squad\?
Does that mean we’ll be working together in the Main Fortress now\?
I should say hello to him sometime soon.
