Hyuk Dojin took a deep breath as if trying to maintain his composure as much as possible while relaxing his stiff expression. He quietly looked at the baby in the maid’s arms and spoke slowly.

“Those are harsh words for someone who has never even held a woman’s hand.”

I chuckled at his expression and nodded, then approached the baby. In fact, I could tell at a glance that it wasn’t Hyuk Dojin’s child.

That’s because in a world where everyone had black hair, how could there be such light brown hair? The maid hugged the baby tightly to her chest, shrinking back slightly as I approached.

“Is it your child?”

“Ah, no.”

“Then? Whose child is it?”

“Well…”

The maid hesitated and looked around carefully, then opened her mouth cautiously.

“…I don’t know, Young Madam.”

“You don’t know?”

I narrowed my brows. Saying she doesn’t know while holding a child who is just learning to crawl. Does that make sense? As I stared at her quietly, the maid spoke quickly.

“Uh, not long ago, we found a crying child in front of the main gate of the pavilion. We don’t know whose child it is, but the maids have been taking turns caring for the child, worried that something might happen to it in the cold weather.”

“A child whose parents are unknown…”

I turned my head and looked at Hyuk Dojin. He met my gaze, slightly raised his head to the ceiling, then lowered it again and shook his head.

No one saw them. How bold. To leave a child in front of the Young Cult Leader’s pavilion and go. It was something that could cost their head if caught.

Rubbing my chin, I blankly looked at the child. The child, who had only been crying until now, seemed to have sensed my gaze and looked at me. Now I noticed its eyes were golden.

…There were no children among the novel’s characters. I pursed my lips and quietly looked at the child, then opened my mouth again.

“A child of the colored-eye people*…” (tl/n: here was used the word “saengmogin”, which refers to people with colored eyes, particularly those of Central Asian, Middle Eastern, or European descent who were present in China during the Mongol-ruled Yuan dynasty. The term literally means “colored-eye people” and was used to distinguish these groups from the Han Chinese and other East Asian populations. So it means the child appears to have non-East Asian ancestry; a foreigner or mixed-blooded.)

“There are no such  individuals in our cult.”

Hyuk Dojin approached and stood next to me. The child, who had been staring intently at me, looked at Hyuk Dojin, furrowed its delicate brows with all its might, and glared at him. At the baby’s change in expression, Hyuk Dojin let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.

“So fierce, not knowing its life is hanging by a thread.”

“What will you do?”

Hyuk Dojin shrugged his shoulders.

“Killing such a small baby is not particularly my style. But if we leave it outside in this severe cold, it will surely die. For now, let’s have the maids take care of it, and when the weather gets warmer, it would be better to find a place for it to live.”

The maids’ faces brightened at Hyuk Dojin’s words. Have they grown attached to the baby? I quietly looked at the chubby cute cheeks, then raised my hand.

When I slowly brought it to the baby’s cheek, the baby wiggled its pebble-sized hand as if it had been waiting and grabbed my finger, putting it right into its mouth.

A ticklish and warm wetness. And even the oddly rough tongue. The baby sucked on my finger as if delighted.

The maids quickly tried to detach it with startled faces, but I shook my head to reassure them, then quietly looked at the baby. Seeing it smile brightly while making eye contact with me, a smile naturally formed on my face without realizing it.

“Is it cute?”

I slowly nodded my head. Hyuk Dojin, who had stepped back, approached next to me and slowly whispered in my ear.

“If you like babies, we can also…”

“Take good care of it.”

I cut off Hyuk Dojin’s words and pulled out my finger. Both the baby and Hyuk Dojin smacked their lips as if disappointed.

Strangely similar, I must say. After signaling the maids with my chin that they could leave, I turned to Hyuk Dojin and narrowed my eyes.

I quietly looked at his awkwardly smiling face, then suddenly realized that we still had no connection.

Unlike when my body was sick and I struggled with irregular periods, recently they had been regular. Can I give birth to a baby?

“Wife. If you’re angry…”

I slowly shook my head and walked past him. I felt that Hyuk Dojin had really endured a lot until now. I relied on his kindness and depended on his consideration.

What have I done for him?

I couldn’t easily find an answer to that.

* * *

In a space submerged in darkness.

Hyuk Muhyeol was waiting there for the person who would soon seek him.

After some time passed and the tightly closed door opened, his only son and successor, Hyuk Dojin, was standing right in front.

Hyuk Muhyeol grinned at the sight of him resembling his younger self. He jerked his chin as if telling him to sit.

Before Hyuk Dojin even came close and sat on the opposite side, Hyuk Muhyeol’s mouth opened.

“Did you resolve the matter well?”

“Except for sweeping away about five hundred warriors on the battlefield with just two people, there were no problems.”

“About five hundred of such riffraff wouldn’t be any problem for you.”

He tilted his head diagonally and looked at Hyuk Dojin. A son who resembled him but was fundamentally different.

Hyuk Muhyeol abandoned Geum Soso to protect the Demon Cult and maintain his position.

However, Hyuk Dojin did not. Hyuk Dojin bowed his head and bent his knees, which he had never done before, to protect the daughter of the Righteous Sect.

A mere daughter of the Righteous Sect. A woman who resembled nothing of Geum Soso except for her illness.

Yet, Hyuk Dojin was struggling to protect her.

Hyuk Muhyeol shifted his gaze from him to the corner of the table and spoke slowly.

“Your wife has become healthy recently. Is the medicine effective?”

Hyuk Dojin slowly nodded his head. At that, Hyuk Muhyeol also smiled slowly.

The method he had asked him about that could save Geum Soso. It was the ten-thousand-year-old fleeceflower root.

Geum Soso didn’t have an incurable disease. It was just that there was no guarantee she could live long even if treated. The reason Hyuk Muhyeol ignored Geum Soso wasn’t that the medicine was precious.

It was her own choice.

The room where silence flowed was simply quiet. He closed his eyes tightly. The light beyond the faintly visible darkness was still shining on Geum Soso.

‘…Honey.’

-Please save Dojin. You mustn’t hand Dojin over to them.

He exhaled slowly. Hyuk Dojin reacted to his breath as the silence was broken.

“By the way, the reason you called me…”

But before his words could continue, Hyuk Muhyeol took something out from inside and placed it on the table.

He pushed the box as it was. Hyuk Dojin looked at the box that came in front of him, glanced at Hyuk Muhyeol, then looked at the box again and opened the lid. Inside, the same ten-thousand-year-old fleeceflower root that Moyong Sowol had brought before was in it.

His brow narrowed.

“Why is this…?”

“One root won’t be enough. Take it.”

Hyuk Dojin glared at the root with a displeased face, then shifted his gaze to Hyuk Muhyeol.

“What are you trying to make me do this time?”

“Nothing.”

“What?”

Hyuk Muhyeol leaned back in his chair, completely resting his body, and opened his mouth again.

“I’m not making you do anything. So don’t be suspicious and take it.”

Hyuk Dojin hesitated for a moment at his words, turning his head.

What could this man be thinking? How much will he exploit me later if I accept this? As he was having such thoughts, laughter came from in front.

When Hyuk Dojin made a puzzled expression, Hyuk Muhyeol shook his head with a smile on his lips.

“I can’t help but laugh seeing my son’s stupid face.”

“…Are you playing with me now?”

“How could I?”

Hyuk Muhyeol got up from his seat and stepped back. Sitting on the bed in his bedroom, he waved his arm as if it was bothersome.

Hyuk Dojin stared intently at his father, then closed the lid of the box and got up from his seat. He stepped back, opened the door, looked at Hyuk Muhyeol, then swiftly turned his body.

An extremely dry father-son relationship.

Hyuk Muhyeol quietly looked at the seat where his son had been sitting until just now and let out a long sigh. Then, his lips seemed to tremble, and soon a stream of blood flowed down from the corner of his mouth.

The blood dripped down towards the floor.

“There’s no time…”

He could only hope his body would hold out until he could keep his promise to Geum Soso.

* * *

Hyuk Dojin, who had returned to the room, hid the box in a deep place, changed his clothes, and immediately climbed onto the bed.

Seeing Moyong Sowol sleeping when he came out, he smiled brightly and laid down. He slowly turned his body towards Moyong Sowol and lightly kissed her forehead.

Hyuk Dojin quietly looked at Moyong Sowol’s side profile.

The actions Hyuk Muhyeol had shown just now lingered in his mind as he couldn’t understand them, but as soon as he saw her, all the idle thoughts disappeared.

If he gives this medicine to Monk Jeongun tomorrow to make into a medicinal herb and have her eat it, she will become even healthier. That was enough.

Attracted by her white and delicate skin shining under the moonlight seeping in, his hand rose.

He slowly caressed Moyong Sowol’s cheek. When the soft, slightly warm yet cold sensation was lingering on his fingertips, her eyes slowly opened.

“…You’re back?”

“Did I wake you up?”

Moyong Sowol turned her body diagonally to face Hyuk Dojin. Her hair, drenched in moonlight, scattered like silver threads.

Hyuk Dojin tried to brush away the thin strands of hair flowing down her cheek like silk with his fingertips, but Moyong Sowol quietly covered the back of his hand.

A smile formed when her palm, filled with warmth unlike her cheek, covered the back of his hand. As if he had been waiting, he leaned his body forward and lightly kissed Moyong Sowol’s lips.

Once, twice.

Short and simple kisses.

Moyong Sowol smiled. Her appearance was so beautiful that Hyuk Dojin pulled her body into his arms and deeply indulged in her tongue.

Moyong Sowol’s hand, embraced in Hyuk Dojin’s arms, gripped his back. It was a signal. The moment the distance between the two became completely intimate with no gap, Hyuk Dojin’s body spun and climbed on top of Moyong Sowol.

Their lips parted. Between them, their breaths and thinly connected saliva linked the two like a thread.

Her appearance reminded him of that night when she was drunk.

That night, Hyuk Dojin saw Sowol’s appearance as she awaited her end.

But her current appearance, kissing him and exchanging breaths, was completely different from then. It was like the eyes of someone looking at what comes next, not the end.

Soon, when that thread was cut off, Moyong Sowol’s mouth opened.

“You don’t have to hold back this time.”

A thin smile formed on her lips. She brought out the fragments of her immature emotions that she had expressed before.

“That day, when I asked Dojin to hold me, maybe I wanted to leave my trace on you.”

Her voice continued slowly. Dojin stared at her intently.

Sowol spoke slowly.

“If I die and leave like this, no one will remember that I was alive, so I think my selfishness to forcibly leave my trace was great.”

But not anymore.

Her voice cut off briefly.

Hyuk Dojin’s eyes trembled slightly. The fragments of emotions that flowed out of her mouth pierced him clearly.

“At least now, I can distinguish what I want, what I desire, what I want to do… and what I want to give.”

“Sowol.”

At Hyuk Dojin’s call, Sowol smiled slowly.

“So… right now, I’m saying that I want to become your wife, and I want to make you my man.”

It was different from the whim she had when she was prepared to die and tried to achieve something.

When her fingertips reached out and wrapped around his neck with a smile, her mouth opened again.

“So… hold me.”

It was a divergence that showed her life was different from before.