Looking for the Runaway Heavenly Maiden - Chapter 105

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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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105

The Hallway was silent, devoid of any presence. Yerim moved forward at a measured pace.
Then, without warning, she stopped before a certain Room. She couldn’t fathom why her feet had halted of their own accord.
She pulled the door open with a soft creak. The Room was empty.
There was no real reason to step inside an empty space. Yet her feet moved as if possessed by something beyond her control, drawing her into the Room.
It was as she surveyed the spacious chamber that a strange vision materialized before her eyes.
A Room engulfed in flames. A man regarding someone with a face she had never seen before.
What unfolded next was brutally, devastatingly cruel.
Yerim gasped, her hand flying to her mouth to stifle the sound. The man’s hand pierced through the woman’s chest.
Soon the fire consuming the Room began to fade, and the man’s lips parted.

Die.
Before Cheonuyhua.
That is your final task.

Who is Cheonuyhua? And who was that woman for him to commit such an act?
Her mind reeled in confusion, nausea threatening to overwhelm her at the man’s cruelty. Yerim bolted from the Room in desperation.
She collapsed weakly in the Hallway.
It couldn’t be him. He had always been so tender toward me.

Yerim.

He had called her name with such warmth. A man like that couldn’t possibly be capable of such things.
…truly?
Another voice seemed to whisper from within her. She didn’t want to hear it. She didn’t want to see anything anymore.
Yerim pushed herself to her feet and ran, her gaze fixed forward without direction or destination, driven only by the need to escape.
The fragrance of Lush Greenery shattered against her senses.
Her turbulent thoughts gradually blurred once more.

So I have nothing. That’s why I….
I want to have you, at least.

The man’s words lingered in the air, resonating endlessly.
Yes, he was a man who had never possessed anything. And what he desired to possess was me.
That man loved only me.
Loved…me?

“Did you ever love me?”
“If I say I did, would you believe me?”

When…when was this memory from?
To shake off the unfamiliar memories that kept burrowing into my mind, Yerim shook her head.
It felt as though I had walked for a long time, as if running. Then my steps came to a halt somewhere.
The landscape that spread before my eyes was equally unfamiliar.
Yerim blinked. Beyond the hazy focus, a girl came into view.

“…Sister Yerim?”

The girl called out to me with familiarity, addressing me as sister.
Her face was a stranger’s, yet somehow I felt as though I knew this girl.

“Sister! Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”

The girl who rushed toward me asked with a worried expression. Strangely, her concern did not feel unfamiliar to me.
Why? Who could this girl possibly be?

“Your shoes? Why are you barefoot? What happened?”

To ask if you know me. To ask how you could possibly know me.
Just as I was about to open my mouth to speak, just as I was about to—

“Ryuibum raised her well. She has spirit and wariness both.”

“We see each other often, Yerim.”

“Retrieve the Seon Igyeong that Gihyeongrang possesses.”

“Sister. I was so worried. You’re alright, aren’t you?”

“There’s nothing, Yerim. All you can do is lean on me.”

Voices of strangers and a man’s tone tangled together in my mind.

“Could we pierce Gihyeongrang’s heart?”

Gihyeongrang’s heart… I could…

“Sister?”

Yerim’s tightly sealed lips finally parted.

“…Jiho.”

The Demon Force’s enchantment shattered.

* * *

Yerim gazed down at the ground inscribed with intricate characters. Light flickered across the letters, then faded.
It was a formation that could hide her body, if only temporarily. Yet this formation was merely a stopgap measure.
Gihyeongrang would have already sensed my disappearance from that house. Since this place too was Gihyeongrang’s Dimensional Space, finding me would not take long.
Cheonhaerang had to awaken before then.
The Sword of Spiritual Dao that could kill Gihyeongrang—its master was Cheonhaerang.
Yerim looked down at her clothes. No longer the pure white dress, but now a pale sky-blue winged robe.
It was what she had worn in Baekokgyeong. Perhaps because it had been so long, the garment felt unfamiliar to her.
She lifted her gaze. Not a single light pierced the pitch-black sky.
Demons now flew across the heavens. Yerim could sense they were searching for her.
It would be soon. She bit her lip. How could she turn this situation to her advantage?
Should I continue to feign being under his spell?
But what if I’m discovered?

‘No. If it’s Gihyeongrang…’

So I have nothing. That’s why I…
I want to have at least you.

It was Gihyeongrang, who had seduced her with honeyed words from that cunning three-inch tongue of his.
If she approached him knowing the truth, he would perhaps only rejoice all the more.
Yerim lifted her hand to adjust the hairpin lodged in her hair. The tip of the hairpin was sharp.
Sharp enough to pierce human flesh.
Even if she couldn’t pierce Gihyeongrang’s heart, surely she could inflict a wound upon him.
Gihyeongrang was a criminal. Death was his inevitable fate.
If asked whether his death would grieve her, well…
It was a memory buried long ago.
Yet she had not forgotten. She had yearned for him.
But she could not discern whether she yearned for the Gihyeongrang of now, or the Gihyeongrang before she knew his true nature.
Perhaps she was simply clinging foolishly to the threads of the past.
Now was the time to end everything.
To erase all traces of him, all memories of him, she would need Gihyeongrang’s complete annihilation….
The resolve had been made. Yerim lowered the hand that had been adjusting the hairpin and turned around.
Cheonhaerang lay unconscious, and Jiho sat beside him. Their joined hands shared warmth between them.
Yerim walked toward the two of them. But soon she stopped in her tracks.
Something floated above Cheonhaerang’s body. Jiho’s gaze followed it.
A bronze circular mirror. It was Seon Igyeong.
Seon Igyeong flew toward Yerim. She saw the mirror hovering before her.
Seon Igyeong reflected a tree with petals falling one by one. Yerim recognized that tree.
It was a Chinese parasol tree.
Beneath the tree stood a woman and a man. They gazed at each other and smiled.
Buried memories began to flood back like a tidal wave.
Beneath that tree, she and he had first kissed.
At that moment, she thought her heart would burst. That night, she could not sleep properly.
Do you remember that thrill?
Or perhaps, since you never loved me from the beginning, there was no such thrill to remember?

“….”

Yerim’s eyes, which had grown hazy for a moment, became clear again.
The bronze mirror she had held, the image of happiness with him—all of it vanished.

“Huh? Cheonhaerang, are you awake?”

I called out urgently to Cheonhaerang. His fingers had definitely moved. Was he awakening from the nightmare?
By then, Cheonhaerang’s expression had grown peaceful.
Yerim, who had drawn near, gazed down at Cheonhaerang’s serene face and knelt on one knee beside him.
Seon Igyeong must have shown her that memory for a reason. Whether that reason aligned with her own intentions remained uncertain.
Yerim grasped the hilt of the Sword of Spiritual Dao, which lay carefully beside Cheonhaerang.
White light flowed from her hand, enveloping the blade, and a voice streamed into her consciousness.

“I had hoped that child would grow virtuous, yet in the end, it was not to be. For such a child, all I can ask is this: please, I beg you—kill that child’s future self.”

Though the voice was unfamiliar, Yerim felt she knew its owner.
The white light that had wrapped around the blade faded. Yerim placed the Sword of Spiritual Dao beneath Cheonhaerang’s hand. Then she met Jiho’s gaze, her face etched with anxiety.
Yerim said nothing. Yet Jiho sensed exactly what she intended to do.

“Sister, no? You won’t do this, will you?”

We hadn’t even properly exchanged greetings. I couldn’t let Yerim leave like this again.
Why, why did Yerim always insist on sacrificing herself?
I felt Yerim’s hand touch my head. She looked down at me and smiled.

“Then I’m counting on you.”
“Sister? Sister!”

Before I could grasp her, Yerim bolted from the Dimensional Space.

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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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