“Gah...!”

“...Well.”

Having freed the captives from the dungeon where Jegal Hwi and Namgoong Cheonghae had been held, those who had rushed on to sweep the nearby Wudang stronghold of Daoists caught their breath at the sight before them.

“Uwaaaagh!”

“Spare me!!”

By the time they arrived, the stronghold was already a slaughter yard.

The one flying among dozens of Wudang Daoists, hunting them like prey, was none other than Namgoong Seolhwa.

Swick— shweeeek—!

Each time she swung her blade, blood spattered and screams burst out.

The Wudang Daoists collapsed without managing even a proper attempt at resistance.

“Shouldn’t we... stop that?”

The Martial Alliance warriors who saw it began muttering.

However great their wrongdoing, the Daoists here were, at best, first- or second-rate fighters.

“Didn’t you feel something was off the moment you saw the Deputy Strategist injured earlier?”

“Are you saying she’s raging like this because of the Deputy Strategist?”

No one was dead, but no one was intact either.

Even if her own kin had been badly hurt, to batter those who could be subdued so easily—without mercy—was excessive.

“Try stopping her.”

“Look at that killing aura. One wrong move and my head will be next.”

“Even so, this is too...”

Just as Jegal Hwi, who had been listening to the murmurs, set himself to move—

Tadat—

Someone beat him by a step and rushed toward Seolhwa.

He hurled himself at the rampaging Namgoong Seolhwa without hesitation.

He wrapped her in his arms and restrained her.

Jegal Hwi let out a low breath and watched.

****

You are in danger.

The Lord is targeting you. He means to take you back to Hwaoru.

Hidden Moon had appeared out of nowhere, saying he had come to warn her, and delivered words she could not parse.

Hidden Moon was the holder of the Second Moon Medallion, favored by the Blood Demon.

In the former life, he had never betrayed the Blood Cult and had shown a loyalty higher than any.

The Blood Cult’s killer.

The Blood Cult’s hidden throwing-blade.

Judging by the fact that Dead Moon had become First Moon for handling jiangshi, Hidden Moon, as Second Moon, was in truth the strongest Moon.

That man left only a warning to be careful—and vanished.

Why should I believe you?

If you so wish, I can die by your hand here and now, Little House Lord. Only—what you seek to accomplish will require me.

And he bared his neck.

Hidden Moon was a superb killer, but he could not be swifter than Seolhwa’s sword already at his throat.

It was, in truth, the posture of one who had resolved to die.

She could, in that instant, have severed his windpipe.

Seolhwa did not kill him.

No—she could not.

From the first, I remained in Hwaoru for you, Little House Lord. That I remain still, even in this place where you are not...

If it is for you, will you trust me?

The expression on Hidden Moon’s face as he said this was something she had not seen even once in the former life.

Hidden Moon’s depths were unreadable, but he was a man of deep loyalty.

If that loyalty had, from the beginning, been toward her—

Please be careful.

Leaving those words, Hidden Moon departed.

As befitted Second Moon, master of concealment and assassination, his presence dissolved within moments, impossible to track.

Chwaaak—

“Graaagh!”

Is it true?

Did he really come only to deliver a warning?

But why help me?

If ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) Hidden Moon’s warning was true...

The Blood Demon is targeting me.

To drag me back to the Blood Cult and seat me as Little Cult Lord.

If she were taken back to the Blood Cult, the Blood Demon would surely—

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Her heart hammered.

An unrest she could not quell swept over her; her mind went dim.

She already knew the Blood Demon had been leaving her free to rampage as she wished.

And that his mercy would one day end.

But with that time looming before her eyes, the dense unrest would not easily abate.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

She had changed much and accomplished much, but there was still much to do.

The orthodox world had only just been set in order—this was only the beginning.

Why will he not leave me be?

Why must he—

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. THUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP—

“Seolhwa.”

Grab—

In that instant, someone approached from behind and pulled her into an embrace.

“That’s enough.”

The low voice that flowed in was as familiar as the hold that bound her whole body.

Yu Gang.

The moment she recalled the name of the one who had checked her, the heart that had been pounding like a lie began to calm, and the trembling of her body began to still.

Only then did Seolhwa look back at what she had done.

Groans of pain, Wudang Daoists rolling on the ground.

Dark red blood staining the ground in patches, and the blood of many on her blade and her hands.

“...”

As Seolhwa stared at her hands dyed red, the killing aura rampaging in her eyes ebbed, and her gaze gradually stilled.

Only when he was sure she had calmed did Yu Gang loosen the arms that had been restraining her and step around to face her.

With the Martial Alliance warriors at his back, he took Seolhwa’s right arm—the one that held her sword.

“Your wound has opened.”

Just as he said, the bandaged wound was already soaking through with blood.

It was the injury from the fight with the Fourth Blood Lord.

Yu Gang unwound the old bandage, tucked it into his coat, then riiip—tore open the right sleeve of her robe.

“It’ll hurt. Bear with it.”

He pressed the wound to let the blood flow, then wiped it with the torn sleeve.

At the sharp pain, Seolhwa flinched without meaning to, and shivered—but that was all.

She left her body in Yu Gang’s hands.

The torn wound now looked as if it had been inflicted just now.

Yu Gang looked at her.

“The Chief Strategist will be all right.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than several presences were felt.

Seolhwa turned to look at the late arrivals.

Having heard that she was running wild, Namgoong Mucheon and Seop Mugwang had come.

“Good grief...”

Seop Mugwang palmed his brow at what had already been done, and Namgoong Mucheon looked at Seolhwa with a hardened face.

His gaze lingered, for a moment, on Seolhwa’s injured right arm.

Seolhwa lowered her head.

“Mounted Pursuit Chief, take Namgoong Seolhwa back to the command tent. And see that she does not leave it without my leave.”

Namgoong Mucheon’s voice, heard past his gaze, was firmer than at any other time.

“Understood.”

Yu Gang obeyed the Alliance Lord’s order and led Seolhwa away.

Seolhwa followed him without a word.

****

Some time passed after they returned to the tent and her arm was properly treated.

The tent’s dark-draped ceiling lifted, and the dying light of dusk spilled into the tent’s interior.

Seated in a chair, Seolhwa raised her gaze from the light that half-lit her feet and then faded, and looked at the one who entered.

Namgoong Mucheon stood there, his face set.

Seolhwa rose and saluted him with a clasped fist.

Namgoong Mucheon let out a short breath, drew a nearby chair over, and sat before her.

“Sit.”

Sssk—

Seolhwa sat again.

Their knees were so close that only a fist could fit between them.

Unable to meet his eyes, she stared at that strange narrow distance.

A short silence.

Namgoong Mucheon spoke.

“Do you know what you did wrong?”

Seolhwa dipped her head, quiet.

“My conduct was excessive.”

“It was more than excessive. Among those you injured, there was not one who could have taken even a single exchange of your sword. Do you know that?”

“But because of them, Uncle—”

“There is no need for a ‘but’ in what you did. For any reason, you should not have done that.”

They were that far apart in skill.

No matter how wrong a choice they had made, and no matter that someone had been hurt by that choice—

“What you did was tyranny—and a massacre. You severed their tendons and took their lives as martial artists; if that is not a massacre, what is it.”

Killing is not the only form of massacre.

As Namgoong Mucheon said, those wounded by Seolhwa’s blade would never again freely wield their martial arts as before.

She had trampled those who had already lost the will to fight and taken their lives as martial artists; it was unmistakable tyranny.

“Do you still think of yourself as an assassin raised by the Blood Cult?”

At the words “Blood Cult,” Seolhwa flinched before she knew it.

Her figure, exuding killing aura without discrimination and swinging her blade, differed little from what he said—an assassin’s—and she could not refute it.

“Seolhwa.”

Namgoong Mucheon took her lightly trembling hands in his.

Seolhwa’s eyes wavered as she cautiously lifted her gaze.

“I know with what heart, with what resolve, you came back.”

The guilt of having shattered her family with her own hands.

The vengeance toward the Blood Cult that had made her do it.

Because of that, her will to protect her family and clan was stronger than anyone’s—and because of that, seeing Namgoong Cheonghae hurt had stirred an anger she could not bear.

“But your thirst for vengeance is too dense—and dangerous. If you are blinded by it and cannot judge rightly, then perhaps you must look back and ask whether that vengeance is just.”

Seolhwa lowered her gaze again.

A rage and lust for revenge so thick it blindfolded her eyes and muddied her judgment.

As Namgoong Mucheon said, what she had shown today was not Namgoong Seolhwa—but Ilhwa, the Blood Cult’s Little Cult Lord. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Only the murderous will she had long suppressed was ruling her.

“You are of the Namgoong. Even if the time you spent away is still long.”

“...”

“Do not forget. You are Namgoong.”

Seolhwa dipped her head, soft.

Of the Namgoong.

In those few words lay the heavy duty and the upright spirit of one of the Namgoong.

She had returned to the Namgoong Clan and vowed to live as a Namgoong child—

Yet each time the assassin’s nature she could not easily cast off crept over her, Seolhwa felt stifled.

Though more than four years had passed since leaving the Blood Cult, it felt as if she still had not escaped the Blood Demon’s clutches.

As if she herself could not let go of the link to the Blood Demon.

Her breath caught in her throat.

“Because the matter is grave, I cannot let it pass this once. For the next half month, you are forbidden to go out. When all matters here are concluded, return to the main house and reflect.”

For the first time, Namgoong Mucheon gave Seolhwa punishment.

Knowing the care and heavy concern contained in that punishment, Seolhwa quietly nodded.