Chapter 23
The maid apologized to Liyeon as she poured jujubes into the wooden barrel. It seemed she intended to disguise the barrel as a container of jujubes and smuggle Liyeon out.
With his hands and feet bound, Liyeon shed tears. How long had she been hiding this? Where had things gone wrong? Was it because of him again? If that maid had become strange because of him and ended up like this…
“You’ve really grown bold, you wench!”
Fortunately, Liyeon was rescued before long.
So Cheong-ja, who had built friendships with people of the martial world over the years, asked them for help, and the martial artists began searching the surrounding area one by one.
The maid repeatedly confessed that she had abducted Liyeon because she loved her. But Liyeon deliberately avoided her gaze. His heart was in turmoil with resentment and guilt.
That was when the maid pulled the dagger from inside her robes.
“What are you doing? Hurry and take that woman’s knife away!”
“Miss, please look at me properly. Look at what I become because of you. Look at how far I can go for you. If only I could be remembered by you…”
The maid turned the dagger around and pointed it at her own neck.
“I can do anything.”
And then she plunged it deep inside.
At that moment, Liyeon turned around. Their eyes met. Even then, the maid, who had never taken her eyes off Liyeon, smiled brightly.
The maid stared intently at Liyeon until her final breath. She died without even closing her eyes.
It was horrifying.
‘What was?’
Was it horrifying to see the maid reduced to such a state, or was it horrifying that she herself had made the maid that way?
From that moment on, Liyeon began rejecting people.
He was sick of everything.
***
Things like this happened several times.
Liyeon was kidnapped several times, and he was rescued several times.
There were even occasions when he came dangerously close to being harmed.
It happened when a burly servant kidnapped Liyeon. As he tried to catch Liyeon while he was fleeing through the forest, he encountered a group of bandits, and a fight broke out.
They fought over who would get Liyeon all to themselves. Eventually, they even drew their swords, and in the end, they killed one another.
Amid the corpses sprawled across the ground, Liyeon could do nothing but curl up and tremble.
Liyeon was gradually growing exhausted.
‘I want to stop.’
Eventually, Liyeon began wearing a veil. As if that were not enough, he covered his entire body with a thick ‘myeokri’.
But even that was not of much use. The older Liyeon grew, the stronger his yin energy became, until merely staying beside him was enough to be affected by it.
Before long, Liyeon even acquired the nickname ‘the demoness who devours people,’ because people would die one after another merely by staying near him.
‘I want to stop now.’
In the end, Xiao Cheong-ja decided to move their residence elsewhere. The rumors were one reason, but more than that, he could see that Liyeon was mentally exhausted.
Of course, things did not improve even after they moved to Bakrahyeon.
His illness worsening day by day was one thing, but even if he let his guard down just a little, he would quickly affect those around him. Watching the maids’ eyes become glazed over whenever he gave them even the slightest opening, Liyeon grew increasingly weary.
Eventually, when even Great Master Yeong-ro’s internal energy could no longer contain his yin energy, Liyeon thought:
‘…Let’s just stop everything.’
He did not know why he had to struggle so desperately to stay alive, nor did he think things would get better from then on. He thought giving up at this point would be better for everyone, including himself.
And so, while he refused to take his medicine and shut himself inside his room, waiting only for the day he would die…
“Miss, I brought your medicine!”
That child appeared.
The child’s name was Seo Dan. An ugly-looking boy.
Seo Dan did not know it, but Liyeon could clearly see his face the moment he threw the knife at him. The foolish expression of someone who had no idea what was happening to him.
In the end, he ran away.
But Seo Dan came back.
Not only that, he even said he had decided to serve him.
‘Why?’
A sudden curiosity arose within him, but Liyeon suppressed it. He then tried his best to cut himself off from caring.
There had been many incidents caused by giving people unnecessary attention like this.
If he did not give him any attention, he would naturally become tired and leave.
But Seo Dan did not.
‘Why?’
Even when he threw things at him several times and hurt him, he was the same. If anything, he even seemed to enjoy the situation as though it were exciting. When he even danced in front of him, he was dumbfounded enough to let out a hollow laugh.
For a moment, his heart almost softened, but when he accidentally threw an inkstone and made him lose consciousness, he steeled herself again.
Yes. Surely he would really give up now.
But Seo Dan did not.
‘Why?’
Somehow feeling anxious, Liyeon decided to use a stronger measure. He painted Seo Dan as a shameless scoundrel who cared about nothing but money.
He insulted his appearance, of course, and even cursed his parents. He thought that after being subjected to insults too terrible to repeat, he would get angry like everyone else… or else curse him and leave.
But Seo Dan did not.
Instead, he boldly confessed that he liked him.
‘Were you enchanted by me too?’
Liyeon knew the characteristics of people who had been enchanted by him.
They became monsters devoid of reason. They saw only Liyeon and acted as though he were their god. They were like fanatics.
But Seo Dan was different.
He said he liked him, yet somehow maintained a boundary.
When Liyeon clearly showed that he hated something, he quietly backed away, and even while making embarrassing confessions of affection, he never once tried to touch him.
Liyeon began to become confused.
Was he really in love with him? Had he truly been enchanted?
In order to find out, he unconsciously began giving him some leeway.
Before he knew it, Liyeon was being swept along by Seo Dan.
When the time came, he would put on ‘myeokri’ and wait for him first, and whenever Seo Dan sulked, he would panic and fumble around in confusion. He even sought advice from the enemy Chief Steward.
And eventually, he even began taking his medicine again.
How hollow he had felt when he took the medicine he had resisted so fiercely.
If he was going to do this, why had he resisted so much? Why had he pushed him away so desperately…?
‘Are you really different?’
Little by little, hope accumulated in his heart.
Maybe this time would be different.
Maybe, truly, it would be different.
Then another memory surfaced.
A maid who had once given Liyeon a similar sense of hope.
The ending that had come after he allowed that maid to get close.
What had happened to that maid?
‘No.’
It felt as though he had finally awakened from a dream.
Liyeon did not want to face the same catastrophe again.
So he desperately pushed Seo Dan away.
Whenever Seo Dan looked hurt, his heart would sting, but he forced himself to pretend not to notice.
The time for his seizure had come around again, after all.
Since things had come to this, he thought that rather than becoming attached to him and falling into despair once again, it would be better if he simply died like this…
“Something happened to him… what?”
But you always exceeded my expectations.
“It seems he fell down the mountain while gathering medicinal herbs. By heaven’s grace, he wasn’t seriously injured, but he severely sprained his ankle, so they say he’ll need to be treated and observed for the time being.”
“…….”
“It must have been difficult even to put weight on the ground, so I don’t know how he managed to make it all the way here in that condition…”
Liyeon wanted to ask Seo Dan, who was sleeping:
Why did you do that?
Why didn’t you give up on me until the very end?
You could have given up so many times.
I was cruel to you.
Then why did you climb that mountain for me?
Why did you risk your entire body to obtain those medicinal herbs?
Even though you were hurt this badly, why did you drag that injured body all the way here?
“Do you pity me?!”
“Of course I pity you! How could I not?!”
Liyeon’s heart pounded.
“Ever since some point, I started worrying about you.”
His heart pounded so painfully that it hurt.
“I told you earlier, didn’t I? There’s nothing more difficult than watching someone precious to you suffer. Now, when I see you suffering, it hurts me too.”
Even after I pushed you away like that, you stayed until the very end.
“I wish you weren’t in pain, Miss.”
You called me precious.
Liyeon suddenly felt as though he might cry.
The hot lump rising in his throat made him want to burst into tears right there.
Suppressing his tears with all his might, Liyeon opened his mouth.
He did not know what he should say.
Only ragged breaths escaped his lips, and just when a tiny piece of his true feelings was about to come out…
His veil was lifted.
His face appeared.
His ugly face.
The face that bewitched others and turned them into monsters.
The face that would change even Seo Dan.
Their eyes met.
His heart plummeted to the bottom.
‘Ah, soon…’
Liyeon’s breath grew constricted.
Please, let me just die like this…
“Wow.”
Liyeon opened his eyes.
“Wow, Miss, you’re so beautiful~! You had looks like this, so why did you hide your face all this time? Everyone around you kept saying there must be something wrong with your face, so I really thought…”
Liyeon looked at Seo Dan again.
His playful yet warm gaze had not changed.
Even so, unable to believe what was happening before him, he asked once more.
“Are you really all right? Really… perfectly fine?”
“Huh?”
But Seo Dan’s reaction was still unfamiliar.
“Good grief. Miss, there’s such a thing as being too full of yourself. Ah, what does ‘being full of yourself’ mean? It’s short for being self-absorbed, like you, Miss…”
“…….”
“…H-hold on, are you disappointed because I’m not affected? Oh, come on. Fine, I’ll flatter you a little right now. Beauty mode, begin! Beauty mode, X-freaking-loud begin! Beauty mode begins with a freaking fanfare! Beauty festival begins! Beauty club opens! Beauty club discount event…”
“…Haha.”
“…Beauty party begins! Blessings of beauty begin! Huh? Wait, what did you just say?”
“Haha, hahahaha…!”
It was because it was so unfamiliar.
Liyeon suddenly could not stop the laughter that burst out of him.
It was even more so because of Seo Dan’s utterly dumbfounded expression.
Liyeon laughed like a madman, tears streaming down his face.
See?
He was different.
This child was different.
Now, he really could give him his heart.
“Mi-Miss? Are you all right? No, why are you suddenly laughing like that… Whoa!”
Liyeon pulled Seo Dan into his arms.
Seo Dan, suddenly embraced, was bewildered, but then he froze when he heard the sobbing that followed.
A small hand rose behind Liyeon’s back.
That touch, that warmth… It had been so long since he had felt them.
He had missed them so much.
Liyeon cried for a long, long time just like that.
Dawn was coming.
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