Camellia 58

When such situations arose, the Tang family head would take a second wife and bear a new child. Fortunately, because Yujae’s mother was a daughter of the Jegal clan, they had to be mindful of their in-laws’ reputation, so the second wife was brought in later than usual.

“She gave birth to a son yesterday. They say he has the Poison-Immunity Body. That’s why things have been noisy outside lately. I’ve never seen Father smile so brightly. I wanted to kick him.”

Hayeon’s expression collapsed completely. The only reason she managed to endure was the gentle touch that comforted her. If not for Yujae, she might have fainted on the spot.

‘I have to leave now. I’ll never be able to return to Sacheon. But I don’t care. I’m sick of this place.’

‘…Orabeoni.’

‘Come with me.’

‘……’

‘You asked me to protect you.’

Hayeon, despite having the Poison-Immunity Body, was confined to Gyehong and subjected to humiliation simply because she was born out of wedlock. A bastard child who had the audacity to be born with strong resistance, a bastard who dared resemble her dead mother.

‘I’ll protect you.’

Yujae didn’t know the details of Hayeon’s birth mother, but there were a few things he learned by overhearing his parents’ arguments.

First, the family head had loved only one woman in his entire life. A love that came late. It might have been sudden misfortune for the woman, but for him, it was everything.

He was a man unaccustomed to rejection. To possess the woman who turned him down, he would have done anything. If she asked for the heads of renowned martial artists, he would have obliged. Even if she told him to die, he would have accepted.

In the end, he forced himself on her. Naturally, his love was rejected.

The woman who captured his heart had been a sword practitioner. So he crippled her meridians.

Having shattered the wings of a warrior who once soared freely, it was inevitable that his love would end in tragedy.

The woman gave birth, then took her own life immediately afterward. The Tang family head hated her for it. Resented her. And longed for her.

He believed he had given his all to her, only to be betrayed.

Hayeon was nothing more than an outlet for that rage. She resembled the woman he loved, the woman who left him.

Hayeon asked for time to think. Yujae didn’t understand her hesitation, but since there were still a few months before the ship to Haedong would depart, he decided not to rush her.

‘Orabeoni’s here, Hayeon.’

Instead, he visited Gyehong more often, spending time with her.

Though it was nominally called studying, Yujae’s trip to Haedong was more like exile. But after the decision was made, he felt liberated. Yuwon, who sometimes begged him not to go, eventually came to Gyehong on the eve of his departure.

For the first time, she had followed her brother who was always disappearing. Normally she wouldn’t have minded, since he was always wandering all kinds of strange places anyway. But now, with his departure to Haedong near, she grew anxious.

Especially after seeing him head toward Gyehong, she debated for a long time whether to tell their mother or not. She almost tore out her own hair over it.

In the end, she decided to go into the forest herself to bring him back. There, she met a girl with ashen-gray hair.

‘…You live here? In this poison-infested mountain? Why?’

When Yuwon learned about Hayeon, she cried so much her eyelids looked like they had been stung by bees. Seeing her, Hayeon cried too. The two sisters wept and laughed so loudly it nearly ruptured Yujae’s eardrums, forcing him to climb a tree to escape the noise.

Those were the most peaceful days in Yujae, Yuwon, and Hayeon’s lives. Everything seemed to be going well.

Hayeon showed the siblings a secret path through the mountain. Yujae grumbled about why she hadn’t shown it sooner, and Yuwon smugly claimed it was because Hayeon liked her more.

Although Hayeon hadn’t yet agreed to leave with him, Yujae was confident she would.

He believed she would go to Haedong and start a new life. One where she no longer had to poison her delicate hands or suffer the torment of ingesting toxins from martial artists. Those were days filled with laughter.

At least, until it was revealed to the Jungwon martial world that the Sacheon Tang clan had secretly acted as agents for the Cheonma Divine Sect during the Great Demonic War.

***

If the tail is too long, it will be stepped on. In the martial world, grudges are repaid only in blood.

These two truths combined to make the Sacheon Tang clan the enemy of the martial world.

‘There is Cheonma blood hiding here! Those who bear evil intent will surely be punished by the heavens!’

It was deep into the night, just before dawn. The estate once filled with magnolia trees was engulfed in flames. Thick, black smoke clouded what little vision the darkness had left. Screams rang out from all directions.

‘Please, spare me! Please…!’

A maid’s neck was pierced by a blade. Her roughly severed head rolled across the floor.

Masked warriors wielding heavy swords moved as though their only mission was to kill everyone within the Tang estate. It was a massacre, sparing neither young nor old.

Yujae couldn’t comprehend the carnage before him. Why were all the poison jars his mother managed smashed? Why was her corpse the only one submerged in an unbroken jar?

Why were his cousin’s limbs scattered across the garden? Why had his kind uncle been flayed alive? Why was his laughing cousin, who always teased him, screaming with his lower half severed?

Yujae could not understand anything.

The same chant repeated over and over.

‘We must find the blood of Cheonma!’

The blood of Cheonma? This was the Tang clan compound. Yet the masked warriors were searching for Cheonma blood.

Yuwon and Yujae just returned from Gyehong, they were speechless.

The fire devoured people. No, it was more like people were devouring people.

More died by the sword than from the flames. Yuwon, watching her brother stand frozen in the horror, desperately grabbed him.

‘Yujae, we have to go! Now!’

She was scared too. After seeing their mother’s corpse, her fingers began trembling uncontrollably. Her knees nearly gave out, but she endured. She couldn’t collapse, not when her brother still needed her and someone else in Gyehong too.

‘We have to get Hayeon, you idiot!’

That child was still alone there. Alone, enduring the choking smoke and the screams.

Luckily, the warriors hadn’t yet reached Gyehong Mountain. While they ransacked the estate, Yuwon dragged her brother behind her.

Tears poured down her cheeks like a waterfall. Her sleeves were useless against them. Yujae kept glancing back.

The smell of death filled the air. People on fire ran through the gardens.

Yujae locked eyes with one of them, then wrenched free from Yuwon’s hand and vomited.

‘Ugh, uuek…!’

It wasn’t just one person. It was two. A woman holding a newborn had reached out toward him. Begging, it seemed, for him to at least take the child.

But the baby was already engulfed in flames. The woman collapsed, lifeless, and the thing that had been a baby rolled out of her arms, tumbling across the blood-soaked ground.

A masked warrior casually stomped on the burnt infant.

“Those who bear evil intent will be punished by the heavens!”

But could a newborn truly bear evil intent?

It was a question for another time. Yuwon wiped Yujae’s mouth and trembled as she brought her finger to her lips.

‘Shh.’

Tears streamed down again, this time from Yujae. But he couldn’t even lift a hand to wipe away his sister’s.

A crowd of warriors gathered around the burned child, as if fascinated. If even one of them realized that the two siblings were hiding at the entrance to Gyehong Mouth, it would all be over.

Please. Please.

Yuwon prayed desperately, but her fears came true.

‘Run!’

Yuwon shouted, grabbing her brother’s hand and running forward as if her legs had finally unfrozen.