Chapter 70
Even what the older sister said didn’t end there.
He… he had actually, unbelievably, seen her breasts!
Sahyeon nearly fainted at those words.
The older sister was saying it because she thought he was a girl, but in reality, wasn’t he a perfectly normal boy with everything a boy should have?
W-What should he do? Just as the older sister had said, he had ended up seeing a young lady’s chest. Did he have to take responsibility?
“Want to see them one more time? Just say the word.”
“No-!”
“Puhahaha!”
Only when the older sister finally burst into roaring laughter did Sahyeon realize that all of it had been a joke.
The older sister really loved playing pranks.
Whenever they got bored on the road, she would scare Sahyeon with lies, saying that there was a bug crawling on his clothes or that a beast was coming from over there, and she would also say indecent things just to make Sahyeon shriek in horror.
Having lived alone in the mountains since childhood, Sahyeon had absolutely no immunity to such jokes. Every time Sahyeon jumped in fright, the older sister would laugh delightedly.
Every time he saw her like that, he was utterly bewildered, but… he still liked it.
Whenever she treated him that way, Sahyeon felt like an ordinary child, as though he had really become siblings with her, and it made him strangely excited.
So when he heard that she had an older sister who was like family, he couldn’t help but feel envious. He wanted a family too. He wanted siblings. He wished he could have a family like her…
“Can’t I just keep being your older sister?”
But in the end, the one who said those words first was the older sister.
“You don’t have to be related by blood to become family.”
“If you want, I can be your older sister whenever you need me.”
“Should we become sworn sisters right now? Wanna make the three of us sisters?”
She said she would really become his older sister, that he could think of her as family and rely on her.
For a moment, Sahyeon’s heart pounded.
It was the first time he had ever heard words like these. Everyone had always been wary of him because he was the Second Young Master’s son. They were basically kind to him, but most people maintained a certain distance or never approached him beyond a certain point.
But the older sister approached him without hesitation.
She teased him just as she would any other child, laughed and chatted with him, and told him she would become his family.
That was truly enough to make him cry with happiness.
‘I really wish it could be like that.’
But he knew it couldn’t.
Because “Pyeonghyeon” was a lie to begin with. He had lied to his older sister from beginning to end.
“…I’m sorry.”
From then on, Sahyeon’s mood began to sink.
To make matters worse, the older sister’s condition was gradually getting worse as well.
Perhaps the medicine wasn’t working very well, because the older sister looked even worse than she had the previous day. She became exhausted after going only a short distance, and she was sweating so much that Sahyeon couldn’t help but worry.
But every time, the older sister would simply say she was fine or pretend that nothing was wrong. Watching her made Sahyeon’s guilt grow and grow.
‘It’s because of me.’
Because he had asked her for help, because he had injured his ankle, because she had to carry him on her back while she herself was sick…
Therefore, he had to tell her the truth.
He couldn’t burden her any more. Even if he couldn’t reveal his identity, he had to tell her what had happened to him. She had the right to know.
He should. It was only right that he should…
‘What if she becomes disappointed in me?’
That one worry made it impossible for him to open his mouth.
It was the same even when they arrived at the shrine.
The older sister was even watching Sahyeon, who was sitting there depressed by himself, with a concerned gaze. There wasn’t the slightest trace of resentment in her eyes. Looking into those eyes, Sahyeon merely opened and closed his mouth.
Sister, I lied to you.
I’m sorry, but I didn’t mean to.
I was afraid you wouldn’t help me, that you would leave me behind.
I was afraid you’d be disappointed in me…
‘Please, I have to tell her.’
“Actually, I…”
Just as Sahyeon finally managed to open his mouth…
“Hey, you there!”
The situation instantly took a turn for the worse.
At the sudden sound of a familiar voice, his body froze. The older sister, realizing what was happening, hurriedly shoved him beneath the shrine altar, and the men entered.
The men even said everything without hesitation.
They said all the things Sahyeon should have told the older sister himself.
Sahyeon trembled as he glanced to the side. Perhaps because it was dark, he couldn’t see the older sister’s expression.
‘She must be disappointed.’
Even after the men finished talking and went outside, the older sister showed no reaction whatsoever. It was the same when they finally came out from beneath the shrine altar.
Just from the men’s conversation, the older sister had clearly figured everything out. She had openly asked Sahyeon, “It’s you, isn’t it?”
Although the older sister continued to treat him as she always had, Sahyeon couldn’t calm his anxious heart.
‘She must be disappointed.’
In the end… they were caught.
As luck would have it, one particularly sharp-eyed man had been guarding the door.
There was no time to do anything. They were surrounded in an instant, dragged away, and locked inside a warehouse.
They even said they were going to kill the older sister. Even as Sahyeon confessed everything, he felt as though he was about to cry.
‘She must be disappointed……’
“You still can’t trust me?”
Thump.
His heart sank.
She really was disappointed. He had made his sister disappointed in him. Now she would hate him. She would despise him…
Sahyeon finally began to cry. Even so, he kept apologizing to his older sister. His mind was filled with only one thought: somehow, he had to at least get his sister out so she would hate him less. But Sahyeon had neither the strength nor the means to do anything.
I’m pathetic. I hate myself so much. So much…
“Then why did you save me?”
But the older sister was different.
“…Because I was being chased too, just like you. In the end, I ran away, fell off a cliff, and was swept all the way here.”
This time, too, she was different.
“Maybe I’m in the same situation as you. Maybe someone is chasing you too… I thought about it a lot at first.”
Just as she had when they first met, just as she had when she treated his injuries.
“My choice is the same as it was then.”
She reached out to him first.
“How could I leave you all alone when you’re this delicate?”
Sahyeon suddenly thought of the heroic novels.
Of the protagonists who helped people out of a sense of justice.
Of the heroes who never turned their backs on someone in trouble and protected people even if they had to risk everything.
‘The hero, my hero…’
She was here.
The tears poured out as though a dam had broken.
The truth was, he had been scared. He had been miserable. Because no one had helped him. Because everyone had simply turned away. He had been afraid that perhaps the world really was this cold. That perhaps it was nothing but cruel.
But now, he had no regrets.
I wanted to come outside because I wanted to meet you.
‘Sister, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry…’
Sahyeon cried for a long time in his older sister’s arms. She merely laughed openly and comforted him. After that, the two of them searched for a way to escape.
The older sister suggested escaping through the window, and Sahyeon agreed. But Sahyeon would bitterly regret this decision for the rest of his life.
In the end, the two of them were caught again.
And the older sister…
The older sister…
…….
***
“Are you awake?”
When Sahyeon regained consciousness, Eom Papa had already moved them to an inn.
As soon as Sahyeon woke up, he looked for the older sister. But when he saw Eom Papa’s expression, he stopped. Under normal circumstances, Eom Papa would have scolded Sahyeon by now, but she wore an unusually grave expression.
Eom Papa merely sighed and said one thing.
“I don’t know if we can save her.”
Ah, that feeling at the time.
From that day onward, Sahyeon stayed by his older sister’s side all day long.
It was the same even after they moved to their hideout in Guangxi Province for her full-scale treatment.
The older sister’s face was different from usual. Her lively complexion had turned deathly blue, and the corners of the mouth that had once smiled mischievously were torn open and caked with blood.
Now, Sahyeon couldn’t even cry anymore.
He spent ten days living in terrible regret.
If only he hadn’t presumptuously gotten involved. If only he hadn’t escaped through the window with his older sister. No, if only he hadn’t asked his older sister to help him.
He shouldn’t have met her in the first place…
But Sahyeon could no longer return to the time when he didn’t know his older sister.
All he could do was desperately pray to the gods of Heaven and Earth and make a vow.
Never again. He would never let something like this happen again.
He would never allow his older sister to be put in danger.
Never, no matter what happened… He had made that vow, but.
“No, no, Sister, no…”
Sahyeon hugged his older sister’s cold body tightly.
The regret began all over again.
He should have gone with her after all. No, at the very least, he should have stopped her until her body had recovered, and only then should they have moved together.
Part of the reason he hadn’t done so was that his older sister had looked so desperate…
“Don’t worry too much.”
That night, Eom Papa had quietly told him.
“Even this old woman has no intention of leaving that girl alone like this. She may be stubborn and a bit disobedient, but she’s my patient…”
“Eom Papa…”
“First, I’ll see if I can find a carriage for that girl to ride in. If she travels by carriage, it’ll put less strain on her body. And don’t worry about contacting us, either. I’ll tell the coachman to send a carrier pigeon whenever he stops in a city.”
Sahyeon was grateful to Eom Papa for taking so much care of her. At the same time, he was able to feel a little relieved.
Indeed, news came periodically.
Sahyeon was secretly relieved when there was no trouble all the way within Guangxi Province. It was the same when he received word that she had entered Hunan Province.
But the news stopped there.
No matter how long he waited, the next letter never came.
He wondered if something had happened to the carrier pigeon and waited for the next one to be sent, but it was the same. Only then did Sahyeon realize that something had gone wrong.
“Eom Papa, we have to find Sister quickly. Something must have happened to her!”
“No way…”
Eom Papa seemed to hesitate for a moment, but perhaps she was worried herself, because she decided to leave with Sahyeon. And so, near southern Hunan Province, the two of them were able to find traces of the older sister twice.
Once, when they discovered the carriage and the dead coachman. And once when they heard that she had bought a donkey in a nearby village.
When they heard that she had bought a donkey in particular, both Sahyeon and Eom Papa were horrified. Eom Papa was so dumbfounded that she even said this:
“With that body, she’s actually struggling all the way to Hefei? Hah, she’s crazy. Absolutely crazy! Has she really decided to die?!”
Sahyeon thought the same thing, but if that was really the case, then they had even less time.
Sahyeon urged Eom Papa on, hurrying their journey. And so, when they were almost at Hefei.
They finally found her.
His older sister, collapsed by the side of the road.
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