Looking for the Runaway Heavenly Maiden - Chapter 103

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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103

Blue light shimmered across the thick front paws. In an instant, the formation drawn on the floor blazed and vanished.
Jiho transformed into human form.
I couldn’t erase Cheonhaerang’s memories, so in moments like this, I had to push forward without shame.
That was the only way to escape this humiliation.
Sitting in the chair with a fresh, unbothered expression as if nothing had happened, I recalled Haedosol.
She was a beautiful woman. I could understand why the Patriarch had fallen for her.
Yet there was something peculiar about her.
Even seeing Baekho, Haedosol accepted it without hesitation. And her clothing.
Objectively speaking, they wore garments unseen in this era and were suspicious figures who appeared suddenly in these mountains.
Yet Haedosol showed no wariness toward them.
As if she knew something.
Was it from her time with the Patriarch? Had the Patriarch revealed so much to Haedosol?
Even so, she couldn’t possibly know about those who traveled backward through time to reach the past.

‘Regardless… that’s not what matters now.’

I couldn’t know how much time had passed in the present while we were in the past.
Even if it were merely an instant, it would be enough time for something to happen to the Jade Emperor and Yeonhwa.
I had to use Seon Igyeong to return to the present.
The answer to the Evil Spirit’s test had already been decided within me.
That answer… even if it were a contradiction.

After a long moment of contemplation, I called out to Cheonhaerang.

“Cheonhaerang.”

As if he’d been waiting, Cheonhaerang’s gaze lifted. Our eyes met.
I spoke.

“Let’s go back now.”

No matter how formidable the Evil Spirit, it could not resist the power of Seon Igyeong. I was certain of this.
That was when an echoing voice resounded.

The Patriarch once said: “Heaven’s way is impartial and shows no favoritism, always siding with the virtuous.”
Heaven’s way holds no personal attachments and shows no bias, forever standing with those of virtue.

It was the Evil Spirit.
Jiho and Cheonhaerang bolted upright from their seats and scanned the room. They found no trace of the Evil Spirit anywhere.
Yet the Evil Spirit’s voice continued to echo.

But the one called Heaven—the Patriarch—showed personal favoritism and neglected even those you now believe to be virtuous.
Thus the distinction between good and evil that Heaven made is truly meaningless, and so you too—

In an instant, a sharp wind swept through. A black tendril that cut between them coiled around their bodies before they could even react.
Then the Evil Spirit’s whispered voice pierced their ears.

Are nothing but evil that turns away from unspeakable tragedy.

As if their mouths were sealed shut, they could not speak. That was when it happened.

“Might I step inside for a moment?”

A gentle voice rang out softly. It was Haedosol.
With a tsk of the Evil Spirit’s tongue, the black tendrils that had wrapped around their bodies vanished.
Jiho and Cheonhaerang exhaled with difficulty. For those brief moments, they could barely breathe.
Jiho was the first to steady her breathing. She opened her mouth. It was strange that she wasn’t answering despite the lamp being lit.
But she quickly closed her mouth without saying anything.
Come to think of it, her voice should not be heard here. She needed to transform back into Baekho.
Jiho hurried toward the mat on the floor, transformed into Baekho, and lay down. Her white tail swayed slowly.
As their eyes met briefly, Jiho nodded toward Cheonhaerang.
Cheonhaerang moved toward the door. Then, as if nothing were amiss, he carefully opened it.

“Yes, madam. What brings you here?”

The woman standing at the door looked far too young to have a child.
She seemed more like an older sister with a considerable age difference rather than a mother.
For a moment, Cheonhaerang’s eyes met Haedosol’s.
The emotions mixed in her eyes were quickly concealed, but Cheonhaerang understood. Looking at Haedosol, he found traces of someone within her.
Perhaps from the very beginning.

“I thought you might need this, so I brought it.”

Didn’t Haedosol know everything?

“….”

Words failed me. I couldn’t speak. Jiho, who had been creeping up behind me, was in the same predicament.
What Haedosol held out was Seon Igyeong, one of the Heavenly Talismans the Patriarch had given to this woman.

“…Did you know from the beginning, madam?”

After a brief silence, Jiho spoke first. Deciding there was no need to maintain her White Bird form any longer, she transformed into human shape.
Haedosol’s gaze turned toward Jiho. Even witnessing the White Bird’s transformation into human form, not a flicker of surprise crossed her face.
Haedosol spoke.

“When you spend time with him, you come to know many things, whether you intend to or not.”
“…The child might wake. Let us speak inside, madam.”

I glanced at the Separate Room, where the lights had already been extinguished. Haedosol entered the room without resistance.
The door closed with a soft thud. The three of us took our seats. A lamp on the table cast a gentle glow.
Haedosol’s eyes moved between me and Jiho, who sat across from her, before finally settling on the lamp. Then her lips parted.

“I won’t live long.”

Her quiet voice fell into the air, leaving it cool and still.
The woman spoke of human mortality, yet her tone remained composed, untouched by emotion.

“It was already decided when I conceived his child. How could a mere human body dare to carry his child? But I knew, and still I couldn’t abandon this child. Perhaps he… never realized what would become of me.”

The woman’s voice, steady until now, wavered slightly at the end. But soon she composed herself once more.
Seon Igyeong, resting on the table, gleamed in the lamplight.

“He told me that when the child grew, I should give him this mirror and tell him to come find you. He said he would send the child wherever he wished to go. I understood. This object was not meant for a mere human to possess. If I wanted to raise the child as human, I should not give him this. Yet I realized that ultimately, I would give it to him. Because after I’m gone, the child will be alone.”

It was a long story. But I and Jiho listened to Haedosol in silence.

“So I became curious about the child’s future. After I’m gone, what would become of him—a child I could no longer protect. And then this mirror showed me. The child’s future. I wished for that future to change. But if you’ve come here, perhaps that future hasn’t changed after all. Is this what they call fate? An order that cannot be defied.”

The woman’s gaze, which had been fixed on the lamp, lifted. Haedosol looked at me.

“Cheonhaerang.”

Haedosol’s form of address had changed. She no longer bothered to hide that she now knew Cheonhaerang’s true identity.

“I am merely a human of limited learning, so I dare not judge what is right or wrong. But this much I know—I wished for that child to grow virtuous, yet in the end, she did not. All I can ask for that child is this: please, I beg you, kill her in the future. But now… now, please leave things as they are…”

Haedosol could not continue. Her voice, thick with tears, choked.
A tear gathered at the reddened corner of her eye and fell with a soft patter onto the table. Neither Cheonhaerang nor Jiho could find any words to speak.
To know your child’s future, to witness that future unfold, to hope for change yet watch it never come.
What must a mother’s heart feel like when she finally asks for her own child’s death in that future?
Even if it was a future yet to come, the child was still bound by blood. They could not even begin to fathom such a mother’s anguish.
Unable to offer even comfort, they could only watch the weeping woman in silence.

“…!”

The mirror blazed with light—so brilliant it was difficult to open one’s eyes.
The radiance spread in all directions, flooding the room completely.
When the light finally faded, they had returned at last.
To Gihyeongrang’s Evil Realm.
The Evil Spirit’s power had been broken.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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