As True as a Dream Chapter 66

“You’ve been making a lot of impressions lately.”

 

Deep in thought, Hae-Joo turned her head, startled by a finger pressing against the crease of her own forehead.

 

Then she saw Yi Ho lying on his side, leaning against the straw bales at an angle, his head resting on his hands, looking up at her.

 

His smile, calm and gentle, made her heart skip a beat.

 

The sunlight poured down on his head, his sickly white skin flawlessly clean, his loosely lined eyes mesmerizing, his pupils narrowed as he focused on her.

 

Involuntarily swallowing a small lump in her throat, Hae-Joo reflexively pulled her hips back to put some distance between her and him.

 

Instinctively, she sensed that something was wrong with him, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

 

“Is this place called the Jiao’am Inn still in town?” Yi Ho asked.

 

Hae-Joo narrowed her eyes at his question, but then sighed.

 

“I don’t know, I’ll have to ask around, I may have grown up in Gongju, but my placenta was in Sogok Village, not that I roamed the city like it was my backyard every day.”

 

When Hae-Joo finished speaking, she felt a blush creep up her cheeks as Yi Ho’s questioning gaze looked away from her.

 

That man was always handsome.

 

‘But why does he look so handsome today?’

 

Once again, she realized that something was wrong, but she concentrated on the conversation.

 

“It’s an old inn, so it shouldn’t be hard to find. When we go back to Gyeongseong, we’ll look for people who worked there before my father came to town, so don’t worry. We will definitely find the Guishan Dao as well.”

 

“Hmm. Really?”

 

At her words, Yi Ho smiled that seductive smile that made her fall in love with him all over again.

 

“That’s a touching thing for someone who says not to kiss. It makes me want to kiss you.”

 

Embarrassed by Yi Ho’s out-of-the-blue comment, Hae-Joo swayed her hips and pointed at the middle-aged man driving the cart in front of her.

 

Then she hissed and raised her index finger to her lips.

 

Yi Ho nodded and leaned toward her.

 

He pressed his lips to her ear and lowered his voice to speak softly.

 

“Don’t worry. We agreed that I wouldn’t kiss you until I realized I couldn’t live without you.”

 

“…Oh!”

 

His breath against her earlobe made every hair on her body stand up.

 

Hae-Joo quickly clamped her hand over his lips and shot him a look.

 

But Yi Ho, who was muzzled by her, smiled back at her with a gruff, yet somewhat sinister look in his eyes.

 

Only then did she realize what was wrong with him.

 

‘He’s doing this on purpose!’

 

She glared at him with a surge of anger, and suddenly her palms felt damp.

 

When she pulled away in surprise, Yi Ho leaned in again, her cheek close enough to meet his, and whispered softly.

 

“It was a mistake.”

 

“Ban Yi Ho!”

 

Hae-Joo gritted her teeth and called his name, and Yi Ho pulled away, smiling lazily.

 

“Hae-Joo, want to bet?”

 

The palm he’d licked was itchy, and she rubbed it with her hand, then looked at Yi Ho.

 

“That I can’t live without you, or that you’ll go down on me first.”

 

Hae-Joo was stunned, wondering if she had just heard right, but then she bluffed.

 

“A bet has to have a price, right? What are you betting?”

 

“Your favorite money. Twelve years of Song Yue debt forgiven.”

 

She was speechless as he recited the words as if he had been waiting for this.

 

To come in and take advantage of my weakness. That sneaky man!

 

“I have nothing to offer,” she said, “I’m not rich like you, and all I have is a modicum of skill.”

 

“Why don’t you bet on the pocket watch?”

 

“That’s absurd!” Hae-Joo exclaimed.

 

It was the first thing she’d ever gotten from Yi Ho, even though she’d gotten it in exchange for being his fake fiancée.

 

He said the diamonds were expensive, and she wondered how much she could get for them if she sold them, but she had no intention of selling them.

 

“It’s the most valuable thing you own, or are you not sure?”

 

Hae-Joo pursed her lips and looked over at Yi Ho, who smiled wickedly at her.

 

‘Uncertain?’

 

She thought back to the harsh, cold, uncaring temper she had seen in this man when they first met, and then to the way he had changed over the months, through everything they had been through together, to the way he had begun to treat her differently.

 

“Fine. I’ll bet on it!”

 

This man doesn’t know.

 

The fact that she, Yeon Hae-Joo, is betting on her means that she is confident that she will win.

 

Hae-Joo lifted her chin stiffly as if she had already won.

 

* * *

 

Gyeongseong, Song Yue Pavilion.

 

 

After spending the entire morning scurrying around Song Yue Pavilion, Hongo returned to his office to take a breather and think about Yi Ho out of habit.

 

It’s already been five days.

 

He doesn’t know how long Yi Ho has been away from Song Yue.

 

He will make an exception for the four days Yi Ho went out to catch sea snow recently, because Hongo was so busy that he didn’t even notice his feet touching the ground.

 

Hongo isn’t sure if he’s eating well, if he’s getting along with the young lady who somehow brought spring into his winter, if he hasn’t broken her heart with his cheeky, scheming personality, or if things have gone wrong with the village.

 

Most of all, he worried about Yi Ho’s health and whether there was anything wrong with him.

 

Even if there was something wrong with him, he wouldn’t talk about it, so he couldn’t be sure unless he could see it with his own eyes.

 

Hongo wondered what Hae-Joo would do if Yi Ho died suddenly.

 

Hongo was stunned by the sudden thought.

 

But then he shook his head, thinking that it didn’t matter who the half-human was.

 

Even if it was an imperfect half-human half-demon, Yi Ho was stronger, more poisonous, and more sinister than anything he had ever seen.

 

It was not a creature that would die just because fate said it had to.

 

Just like that day over three hundred years ago.

 

Hongo’s mind flashed back to the day he and Yi Ho first met.

 

 

* * *

 

It was a night when white snow covered the mountains and the earth was freezing cold.

 

The weather was so cold that even rabbits hopping through the snow were frozen to death.

 

Hongo was sitting in a tree, fiddling with the jewelry he’d stolen from Mrs. Guana Sato’s jewelry box.

 

Suddenly, from the depths of the forest, a half-grown child, who looked to be about ten or twelve years old, came out of nowhere.

 

From the strange yet familiar aura emanating from the child, Hongo immediately realized that it was a rarely seen half-demon.

 

Whether the child had been attacked by a demon or chased by humans, the clothes on his skinny body were nothing but rags.

 

Wounds gaped open through the torn clothing, bleeding profusely.

 

His left arm was misshapen and his feet, riddled with wounds, were missing a pair of straw shoes and blackened from frostbite.

 

He held a worn hatchet in his right hand, and his venomous, crimson eyes were on the lookout for something.

 

“What’s a little brat doing with a rotten axe?”

 

The child glanced at Hongo but ignored him.

 

Fortunately or unfortunately, Hongo was used to being treated like that.

 

He was a demon, but he wasn’t a demon strong enough to tear apart heaven and earth.

 

He was feared by humans, but not by demons.

 

He was just a nuisance who wanted to satisfy his own petty greed by crowing and devastating his opponents.

 

But to be disrespected by such a lowly youkai, what dignity could he have?

 

Red claws like hooks grew from Hongo Wu’s hands, and red raven feathers sprouted like iron nuclei from beneath his rounded chin.

 

Hongo Wu had just unleashed his killing intent.

 

The dense flesh enveloped the forest in an eerie atmosphere.

 

Hongo quickly killed his aura and rolled his eyes.

 

Just as he wondered what was going on, four shadows emerged from the deep darkness of the forest and swept across the white snowfield like the wind.

 

They immediately surrounded the youkai child on all sides.

 

Normally, Hongo would have raised his eyebrows at the sight of them.

 

But Hongo was afraid of them, for they were powerful demonic beasts that were far too much for him to handle.

 

“No matter how much you run away, no matter how far you go on this small mountain, I will slit your throat today and nip this filthy disgrace in the bud!”

 

“Even if you are only half a man, aren’t you still the child of that Gumiho, and if I kill him, it will only be a matter of time before my name rings out across the land?”

 

“Look at that white skin, it’s very appetizing, what kind of taste does this youkai have!”

 

Hongo’s heart felt like it was about to fall off a cliff.