I was sitting cross-legged alone in the empty training hall. Silence and solitude swirled around. Normally, Yoo Doha would have been in front of me, chattering about various things and adjusting my breathing technique, but today, he had unavoidable urgent business and left, telling me I had to do it alone.

Yoo Doha had said I could rest for a day or so, but now that the breathing technique had become comfortable, there wasn’t much difference between this and resting, so I didn’t see a reason to take a break and just sat here.

After sitting for a while, evening out my breathing and circulating my internal energy, I slowly opened my eyes.

“…”

Perhaps it was because Yoo Doha, who had been tightly regulating my breathing technique in front of me, wasn’t here. Many stray thoughts invaded my mind.

And most of those stray thoughts were about what happened with Hyuk Dojin. When I closed my eyes, Hyuk Dojin came to mind. His smile appeared above the dark scenery.

His smile when he woke up and saw me, smiling brightly. Because he knew how to smile so beautifully, it made the onlooker have complex thoughts.

The slanted angle of his body, the depression of the bed, the sound that brushed my ear, and his scent that seeped into my nose all felt distant.

From the moment we first met until now, Hyuk Dojin was a person who embodied the sun that I couldn’t face and showered it upon me. He was a warm man who didn’t fit the role of the Young Cult Leader of the Demon Cult.

However, recently, the light had been disappearing from his face. He was losing warmth and tenderness. His worries increased, and his sighs grew.

He always smiled in front of me, but I knew his smile wasn’t the same as before. And I knew the reason was me.

My feelings of despair when I came here had undergone many changes after meeting Hyuk Dojin, to the point of being laughable. The will not to give up and the courage to grasp a possible thread. He was a man with many admirable strengths.

However, it was regrettable that his efforts didn’t yield the desired results. If I had been a bit healthier. If I had a bit more time.

…If we had met a bit earlier.

Would a different path have been visible then?

“You’re there, aren’t you?”

I slowly opened my eyes and parted my lips. Despite my soft voice, it echoed slightly in the training hall. There was no answer. I knew with his skill, he could hear even this level of voice, but he wasn’t responding.

I opened my mouth again.

“Could you come out for a moment?”

This time, only my voice flowed hollowly. I stared blankly at the air that gave no answer or reaction. I let out a small sigh. I guess it can’t be helped.

“I’m having trouble breathing. Please help me.”

“Are you alright?”

As soon as I told a small lie and acted, a person appeared in the empty space where there had been nothing. I knew it. Hyuk Dojin had assigned someone to me. Not for surveillance, but to protect me.

And I knew that person’s skills were quite outstanding. I didn’t know their name, but I could sense it. The fact that unfamiliar people didn’t frequently come and go around me, and moreover, they made Hyuk Dojin feel at ease to leave my side.

The person who appeared wearing a black mask had a very thick voice. He urgently opened his mouth and approached me, bending his knee.

I lightly placed my fist near my solar plexus and made a pained expression, but as soon as his appearance was revealed, I lowered my hand. The man visibly flinched as soon as he saw my face that had returned to a serene expression.

Smiling faintly at him, I said:

“I’m sorry. I had no choice but to deceive you because there was no answer.”

“…It’s alright.”

I stared intently at the man who closed his eyes and answered quietly before opening my mouth.

“What’s your name? It seems like you’re always by my side, but I don’t know your name.”

“Please call me Eun Do.”

Eun Do? Did it mean to hide and steal? I made a puzzled expression, thinking it wasn’t a suitable name for a person.

“I used to be a top-tier assassin in an assassination group. The name was given to me because I hid in the shadows and stole people’s lives.”

“…”

“It’s a childish name, isn’t it? The names of assassins are usually childish and common. That way, even if you hear the name, you won’t know I’m an assassin.”

How did he know I thought it was childish? Was it that obvious? I let out a few dry coughs. Eun Do stared intently at me. Meeting his gaze that seemed to ask why I called him, I calmly relaxed my expression.

“Are you by my side every day?”

“Yes.”

“Without even a day of rest?”

“That’s right.”

“Don’t you have shifts?”

“No, we don’t.”

“Then when do you rest?”

Eun Do calmly answered my question with only his eyes visible.

“I don’t rest.”

“How can you…”

“It’s alright. Protecting Miss Moyong Sowol, the wife of the Young Cult Leader, is only natural for me. There can’t be even a moment’s gap in that.”

“But isn’t it too excessive? If you stay by my side without any rest, it seems like you’d get tired…”

At my question, the mask covering Eun Do’s mouth slowly moved. Was he smiling? A faint sound of exhaling seemed to come from his mouth, and then his voice flowed out.

“On the contrary, it’s comfortable. When I used to protect the Young Cult Leader in the past, I often had to leave the cult, and there were many times when I had to move actively, so I got tired, but there’s no difficulty in protecting Miss Moyong Sowol since I don’t leave this place.”

“…Still.”

“It’s alright. Rather, may I ask why you called me? If there’s anything that makes you uncomfortable or if your body isn’t feeling well, please tell me. I’ll bring Hwa Ui.”

I shook my head at his consideration.

“It’s nothing like that. I just wanted to ask you something.”

“What is it that you want to ask?”

If it’s this man, he would know. He must have observed Hyuk Dojin for a long time. I stared intently into his eyes, blinked once, and slowly parted my lips.

“It’s about Geum Soso, Hyuk Dojin’s mother.”

“…”

His face, which had shown no change in expression, slightly stiffened. It was noticeable even though only his eyes were visible. Confirming his reaction, I continued speaking.

“I know I should ask Dojin since she was his mother. But since it’s a painful wound for him, I want to be a bit cautious. That’s why I’m asking you, Eun Do. Am I being rude?”

“No, you’re not…”

I smiled at him as he calmly shook his head and spoke again.

“I knew that Dojin’s mother passed away when he was young. Is that right?”

“To be precise, it was 11 years ago.”

“Were you by Dojin’s side at that time?”

“…”

Eun Do stared at me silently for a moment before grabbing the mask covering his nose and mouth and lowering it. Contrary to my expectations, his revealed face was very young. No, not only that, he was a strikingly handsome man.

Like Yoo Doha and Hyuk Dojin, he had a kind face that couldn’t be called a traditional demonic cultivator.

Was this man an assassin? It was hard to easily believe that fact, but since now wasn’t the time to mention such things, I focused on Eun Do’s words.

“It was about 3 years after I started serving the Young Cult Leader. Lady Geum Soso had been ill since the Young Cult Leader was young, so even at that time, she was often bedridden. The Young Cult Leader frequently visited Lady Geum Soso.”

Eun Do narrowed his eyes as if recalling something and cast his gaze into the void. Following his averted gaze, I also looked up at the void.

“Thinking about it now, that was the time when the Young Cult Leader smiled most brightly and genuinely. He really smiled a lot and had a lot of charm. When he clung to Lady Geum Soso and smiled, he often showed an innocent side that made his title as the Young Cult Leader seem irrelevant.”

But.

Eun Do paused for a moment as if pondering something, then opened his mouth again.

“In the year the Young Cult Leader turned twelve, Lady Geum Soso’s illness worsened, and she couldn’t survive the winter. I vaguely heard that she could have lived longer, but she caught a cold from the cold wind that came through the window left open for ventilation in early winter, and it eventually developed into pneumonia, leading to her death.”

Eun Do showed a bitter smile.

“I still remember. The Young Cult Leader, who couldn’t shed a single tear despite Lady Geum Soso’s passing due to being suppressed by his role as the Young Cult Leader. And the humble funeral where no one came to pay respects, even though she was the Cult Leader’s wife.”

“It was humble?”

“…”

Eun Do, who had been quietly muttering, rolled his eyes and looked at me at my question. Without answering, he pulled the mask back up, covering his mouth and nose.

“Lady Geum Soso’s death is entangled with many interests. I don’t understand those interests, nor do I want to understand them.”

He moved away from me.

“All I know is that there is someone who was hurt by that death, and that person is the Young Cult Leader, whom I value more than my own life.”

“Eun Do. Wait a moment…”

“Someone is coming. Let’s talk later.”

He seemed to prostrate himself lightly before disappearing in an instant. Surprised by his disappearance, I was wearing a dumbfounded expression when someone knocked on the door of the training hall and carefully opened it.

“Miss Sowol.”

Joo Hwarin, who entered through the open door, lightly bowed.

“I apologize for interrupting your training. An urgent letter arrived for you, so I brought it in haste.”

“A letter?”

Was there a letter coming for me? I slowly rose from my seat and approached Joo Hwarin. She carefully held out the letter in her hand. I took the letter from her hand and checked the seal.

“…”

The seal stamped on it was the Moyong seal. As soon as I saw that seal, I hurriedly unfolded the letter. The handwriting and affectionate words written inside. It was a letter from my older brother, Moyong Do, who had flown a long distance for me.

As soon as I saw Moyong Do’s handwriting, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, I felt something welling up inside and bit my lip tightly.

My eyes felt painfully reddened, so I forcibly rolled up the letter and tucked it into my bosom. Joo Hwarin, who had been observing me in front, silently handed me a handkerchief.

After wiping the corners of my eyes with the handkerchief she offered, I smiled brightly with a hot breath.

“Thank you, Hwarin.”

“Not at all. Ah! And there’s one more piece of news.”

“What news?”

I tilted my head as I lowered the handkerchief. Was there any news? Joo Hwarin continued with a slightly worried expression.

“They say a banquet will be held.”

“A banquet?”

“Yes. They say it’s a grand banquet held by the cult to celebrate your wedding.”

“Why hold a banquet when it hasn’t been long since the wedding?”

Joo Hwarin made a complex expression and let out a deep sigh.

“Why? Is there a problem?”

“…No. No, there is.”

Joo Hwarin, who had been quietly muttering, shook her head and changed her words.

A problem? What problem? As I asked with a puzzled expression, Joo Hwarin narrowed her brow and gave me a worried look.

“The person who decided to host the banquet is the problem.”

“Who is it?”

Joo Hwarin let out deep sighs and uttered the last words.

“It’s Elder Do Seokhwi, the head of the Southern Manchuria Do clan.”