Wandering Through Vol. 3 Chapter 81 - Settlement

“What… did you… say?”

 

Yiseo’s words faltered.

 

In the shadowed light, Leegwang’s face was too dark to make out his expression. He pulled her frozen head toward him, pressed a light kiss to her lips, and then stood up.

 

“Seems someone’s come looking for us.”

 

Whoever was at the door, Yiseo wanted to grab him and demand to know just what he had called her. But before she could even reach out, he had already moved away from her and was opening the door.

 

Someone was standing on the porch before Leegwang opened the door.

 

His large frame, substantial enough to fill the doorway, blocked her view of who stood before him. 

 

Truthfully, she wasn’t curious about who it was. 

 

Yiseo’s mind was already completely occupied by the single form of address Leegwang had uttered.

 

Staring blankly at Leegwang’s back, Yiseo’s eyes suddenly met a pair of reddish eyes visible over his shoulder.

 

In that instant, Leegwang’s body crumpled to the floor.

 

Beyond his collapsing back, Suyeong stood, silhouetted against the dim dawn light.

 

The metallic scent of blood wafted past her nose. 

 

Even seeing Suyeong’s blood-soaked hands and the hem of his clothes, Yiseo didn’t immediately comprehend whose blood it was.

 

She just stared, breath caught in her throat, utterly stunned.

 

It felt unreal.

 

Suyeong stepped past the kneeling Leegwang and strode quickly toward Yiseo. 

 

Even then, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from Leegwang’s back. It seemed he would get up any second, completely unfazed, surely…

 

“Ugh…!”

 

A bloodstained hand grabbed Yiseo and hauled her up. 

 

The strong grip seized her arm and dragged her out of the room. She tried to resist being pulled away, but Suyeong paid no heed. Her captured arm felt like it might break, and her dragged legs were scraped raw.

 

Only then did I snap out of my daze.

 

Yiseo pushed away Suyeong’s arm, which was holding her, and screamed while hitting him.

 

“Let go, let me go! What are you doing! Why…!”

 

Suyeong grabbed both of Yiseo’s arms. His pale face and reddish eyes staring down at her were strange. 

 

But Yiseo was busy looking back at Leegwang, who was clutching his stomach and collapsing, so she didn’t even notice that.

 

“Sister.”

 

At that call, Yiseo’s gaze turned to Suyeong for the first time. Her lips trembled. She had thought, and had to believe, that no one else would remember the past life except her, yet now it was overlapping with the present life.

 

“You, your memories…”

 

“Come with me, Sister. I will protect you.”

 

“…”

 

What should I call you?

 

She was confused, unsure of whom the young man before her was, when a horrified scream cut through the dawn air.

 

“Ack!”

 

It was the people who had come running after hearing Yiseo’s earlier scream.

 

A young man dragging away the Grand Prince, who was bleeding and collapsed in front of the room, and his wife, with his bloody hands.

 

To anyone seeing it, Suyeong was the culprit.

 

The people who came running hastily pulled Suyeong away from Yiseo. 

 

Compared to how firmly he had been holding Yiseo just moments before, Suyeong was subdued with a strangely hollow ease. 

 

Yiseo watched Suyeong being dragged away through the crowd.

 

How did Suyeong remember his past life? She had no idea…

 

“Yiseo.”

 

Feeling a tug on her skirt, Yiseo turned around. 

 

The face that stared back at her, with a blade stuck in its stomach, showed not a single trace of a frown.

 

Leegwang, holding onto her skirt, asked in a voice that was severely strained.

 

“Will you not blame your brother this time, either?”

 

She couldn’t move her lips.

 

Soon, the Grand Prince was hurriedly moved by the hands of the people who had rushed over. 

 

Someone helped Yiseo up as well. 

 

In the midst of the flustered crowd, she blankly pondered what he had said.

 

Did you also truly remember the past life?

 

💫

 

For a full day, every physician in the area was in and out of the guesthouse of the government office where the Grand Prince was lying down.

While the blade lodged on the left side of the Grand Prince’s abdomen was being removed, and he was being treated, not only his retinue but even the local magistrate came and was unable to sit still, anxiously pacing. 

 

This was understandable, for if any lasting harm came to the Grand Prince’s body, even those who had merely provided the guesthouse were likely to be held collectively responsible and punished together.

 

While Yiseo sat dazedly in a corner, Court Lady bustled about, turning away visitors and managing the members of the retinue.

In the midst of this chaos, as night fell, a physician finally stated that his life was no longer in immediate danger. 

 

Upon hearing this, Court Lady spoke to Yiseo, who was still sitting in the corner.

 

“The bleeding has stopped. Now, if we can just control the fever, we will have passed the major crisis, My Lady. You should go in and get some rest now.”

“But what if something happens during the night…”

 

“The servants we brought and the physicians we summoned will be watching over the Grand Prince through the night, so please do not worry. Besides, if you were to fall ill yourself, the Grand Prince would surely reprimand me once he recovers.”

 

The Court Lady called for Ban, who was waiting outside the door.

 

“You there, Ban. Did you prepare the bedding in the back room as instructed? Quickly, take Her Ladyship and see that she gets some sleep.”

 

Ban scurried over and, with hands that seemed unsure whether to support Yiseo or simply carry her off, led her away. 

 

Yiseo, having no strength left to resist, kept looking back at the lying Leegwang until she was finally led out.

 

After seating Yiseo on the bedding spread out in the back room, Ban spoke.

 

“You should lie down, My Lady.”

 

“I’m alright…”

 

“Even if you can’t sleep, please lie down. Do you have any idea how ghostly pale your face looks right now?”

 

Yiseo touched her own face. She wondered if it didn’t look so good. Ban only shook her head and patted the blankets firmly. 

 

Seeing that Ban seemed unwilling to leave unless she lay down, Yiseo reluctantly lay her unwilling body down.

 

The lamp went out, and the rustling sound of Ban leaving could be heard.

 

Only after the footsteps outside faded into the distance did Yiseo sit up again. She thought about going outside, but she could vividly see that even if she went out, she would just be brought back here by others. 

 

So she simply curled her body up tightly on the bedding.

 

…You won’t die, right?

 

Yiseo quietly placed her hand over her heart. 

 

A pulse throbbed steadily. 

 

Since her lifespan was connected to Leegwang’s, if his life were in danger, there was no way she wouldn’t have felt it.

 

So it should be fine. He should be able to get up soon.

 

Yiseo muttered that to herself inwardly and sat quietly in the darkness. 

 

Being alone for the first time in a while felt…

 

“Ah.”

 

‘I’m all alone. Right now.’

 

Suddenly, the thought occurred to her that if she ran away now, no one would be able to catch her. But her body didn’t move an inch. 

 

Yiseo glanced at the door once, then buried her head between her knees.

 

…Did your memories really return?

 

The thought of what kind of eyes the awakened man would look at her with made it hard to breathe. She remembered eyes filled with resentment and distrust, eyes that gnawed at him internally yet still refused to let her go.

 

She had left because she didn’t want to see that look.

 

Yiseo resented the Dragon God. She had done her best to survive. 

 

But the Dragon God, for some reason unknown to her, had returned his past life memories to him, and now there was nothing she could do about it.

 

For the Dragon God had already left her and descended upon Leegwang.

 

Am I supposed to repeat what I did a year ago and ask to have the memories erased once more? Would Leegwang just let that happen again? 

 

Am I just going to be trapped by his side like this for the rest of my life?

 

Yiseo blankly let the jumble of thoughts flow through her mind. She didn’t even know what the right answer was.

 

Time passed endlessly. 

 

The night was so profoundly deep that she couldn’t tell what time it was. Yiseo rubbed her warm eyes with her hands, which were cold in contrast.

 

Suddenly, she heard a commotion outside. She thought it might already be dawn, but her surroundings were still pitch black. 

 

Yiseo lifted her head, which she had been letting hang.

 

As the commotion drew closer, the door burst open and people poured into the room.

 

Yiseo’s eyes flew wide open.

 

“My lord!”

 

The man who had practically spilled into the room from outside dropped to his knees with a thud that shook the floor. Yiseo hurried over to Leegwang on her unsteady legs.

 

The moment she grabbed both his shoulders as if to support him, the reality that he was truly here before her finally hit. 

 

Through his parted robes, she could see the cloth tied around his stomach staining red. 

 

Startled, she let go of his shoulders and straightened up.

 

“Is no one here?”

 

His condition was clearly not one that allowed him to be moving about. 

 

What was the physician thinking, letting him out in this state? 

 

She needed to call for someone to stop the bleeding from his reopened wound immediately.

 

Without a thought for her own legs, Yiseo stepped toward the open door.

 

“Lady Shanggung, here… Ah!”

 

But the body that wrapped around her waist and fell forward sent Yiseo tumbling down. She had no warning and couldn’t get her hands out in time to break her fall. Her hip and head hit the floor directly. 

 

For a moment, white sparks flew in front of her eyes.

 

Her head throbbed with a sharp pain. Yiseo could only manage to blink. Her blurry focus gradually returned.

 

“Yiseo…”

 

In her newly cleared vision, she saw deep blue eyes looking down at her against the dark night. 

 

He was crying.