Looking for the Runaway Heavenly Maiden - Chapter 109

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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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110

* * *

It was a sleep without dreams.
Jiho opened her swollen eyes with difficulty and gazed at the ceiling. It was unfamiliar.
Only then did Jiho realize she was in Cheonhaerang’s house. His warm, comforting scent enveloped her.
Rising from the bed, Jiho leaned against the headboard. Cheonhaerang was not beside her. She couldn’t remember when he had left.
He would return. Cheonhaerang hadn’t died like Sister Yerim.

Don’t cry, Jiho.
Smile as you send me off. We’ll meet again someday.

Yerim’s final farewell echoed vividly in Jiho’s ears.
Yes, we will meet again. We live such long lives compared to humans, whose existence is but a fleeting moment….
Jiho gripped the blanket tightly with both hands, soothing her heart. That was when the door opened without a knock.

“Oh? You’re awake, Jiho?”

A tender voice pierced her ears. Jiho turned her head. Cheonhaerang stood in the doorway.
He walked to the side of the bed and sat beside her.

“Are you alright?”

With those words, Cheonhaerang covered her eyes with one hand.
His hand was cool, as if he had just come in from outside. It carried the scent of cold wind.
Jiho quietly felt the coolness of his hand. Cheonhaerang said nothing more.
Silence flowed between them, yet it felt natural.
It was Jiho who broke the brief silence first.

“Where did you go?”

At Jiho’s question, Cheonhaerang hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to remove his hand covering her eyes, then lowered it.
Jiho’s closed eyes slowly opened. Their gazes met.
Cheonhaerang’s expression was as if he had made a decision.

“…I went to Baekokgyeong to meet the Patriarch.”
“….”
“I’ve finished everything. Both my sister and I.”

Cheonhaerang had spoken of the marriage I desired, and Yeonhwa had declared she would not accept the throne.
Thus, their long and ancient bloodline had come to an end.
Whether Suho would inherit the Patriarch’s position remained uncertain, of course.
But she would be better suited than Yeonhwa, who had spent so long in the Human Realm, or Cheonhaerang, who yearned for a life beyond the Patriarch’s role.
Suho was appropriately emotional and combative, yet possessed a surprisingly cold rationality.
She might be more fitting for the Heavenly Emperor’s position than Cheonhaerang or Yeonhwa.

“Jiho.”

Cheonhaerang called my name softly.
Truth be told, this wasn’t what I had intended to say now. It might have been words that didn’t fit this moment, that seemed out of place.
But now that everything had finally ended, the moment I saw Jiho’s face, an irresistible impulse surged through me.
It was something I had longed for across decades.
From Cheongyeokgyeong until now, without a single moment of wavering.

“I’m not sure if it’s right to tell you this now. No, it probably isn’t. I know what’s in your heart right now. But if not now, when everything has ended, I might never be able to say it.”

Jiho listened to Cheonhaerang’s words in silence, waiting.
For a moment, an inexplicable anxiety bloomed—the fear that Cheonhaerang might leave me too. But I pushed it away as nonsense.
That tenderness, Cheonhaerang’s laughter, the one who had remembered me for decades and waited to meet me again—it could never be.
Yet hadn’t I failed to foresee that Yerim would make such a choice?
The hearts of others were, by nature, unknowable even a step ahead.
It was in that moment, as my trembling hands clenched, that I felt a large hand covering mine.
The cool hand now radiated warmth—a warmth that enveloped my anxiety.

“Jiho.”

At the repeated call, I finally found my voice.

“…Yes.”
“Will you be my companion?”
“What…?”

My eyes trembled faintly. Cheonhaerang’s words were something I had never anticipated.

“Ah, it lacked a bit of flair, didn’t it? No ring, and I couldn’t say something as grand as others do. But I wanted to say this to you most of all.”
“….”
“Sorrowful moments and joyful ones. My entire future. I want to share it all with you. So, Jiho.”
“….”
“Will you marry me?”

Marriage. That word summoned countless thoughts.
Baekho, one of the Four Celestial Guardians who protected the Heavenly Realm and the Patriarch.
The weight of that name and the balance of the Four Celestial Guardians.
Barriers would surely manifest before them because of this.
To be together, much would have to be sacrificed. Perhaps Cheonhaerang would have to sacrifice even more.
He could not possibly be unaware of this. Yet he was still speaking to me.
Asking me to marry him. Saying he wanted to share his entire life with me.
Something rose to my throat. I didn’t know what it was, but I swallowed it down.
But I couldn’t hold back what burst from my eyes.

“Crybaby Ryujiho. Your eyes must hurt.”

Along with his playful voice, soft fingers touched the corners of my eyes.
I barely managed to open my mouth as I looked at Cheonhaerang, who was smiling tenderly.

“…I will. I’ll marry you. So—”

Stay by my side forever.
At my tearful confession, Cheonhaerang’s laughter became radiant beyond measure.
Soon, with warm breath tickling my lips, I closed my eyes quietly and thought.
When I meet Yerim again someday.
When she learns that Cheonhaerang and I have married, will she congratulate us with joy?

* * *

“Wow….”
“Insane, that’s crazy.”

Exclamations burst from the mouths of students as they gazed at the school building bearing the name Sunhwa High School visible beyond the school gate.
It was mid-May, after the school had been closed due to sinkhole construction and even the midterm exams had been conducted online.
Though it was unmistakably spring, the weather had grown somewhat warm by now, and the school they saw after roughly a month away from campus appeared to have undergone far more than just sinkhole repairs.

“Hey, they rebuilt the whole thing in just a month?”
“Right? It’s insane. I feel like I’m at some magical castle.”
“Yeah, that’s a bit much.”

The students chattered among themselves.
The old school building hadn’t been particularly ordinary either, but the new structure resembled a castle with its Gothic architecture, like a prestigious foreign university. It was hardly recognizable as an ordinary high school.
Jiho, visiting the school for the first time since that day, couldn’t help but gape. I’d heard the Jade Emperor had overseen the construction.
I never imagined he would build something like this. That must be why Yeonhwa extended the closure period to a month.
The Jade Emperor had built the structure in four days and returned to the Kunlun Mountains.
I thought the Jade Emperor would stay longer in the Human Realm. Perhaps to remain by Yeonhwa’s side and offer his support—something like that.
But it seemed there was a deeper rift between those two than I had imagined.
After the Jade Emperor returned to the Kunlun Mountains, I finally went home.
I soothed my father, who held me tightly and wept, and received my mother’s warm touch. My older brothers and sisters-in-law, along with my nieces and nephews, welcomed me warmly.

I stayed for about a week, surrounded by so much welcome.
During that time, I tried to talk about Cheonhaerang and myself, but ultimately only managed to confide in my mother and sisters-in-law.
My father, raging wildly, looked ready to commit treason against the Patriarch himself.
Dating the Patriarch’s son and promising marriage in such circumstances? The household would be turned upside down.
My older brothers were no different from my father. So the only ones I could speak to were naturally my mother and sisters-in-law.
My sisters-in-law smiled brightly and said they would support me. My mother.

“Yes, our Jiho has already grown to such an age.”

My mother, stroking my head as she spoke, looked somewhat melancholy, so I embraced her tightly.
In any case.
I had obeyed the Patriarch’s command to find the runaway fairy, and finally I found her—the runaway Yeonhwa.
But I shook off my father, who clung to my pant leg refusing to let me go, and came back down to the Human Realm.
Cheonhaerang—I thought he was a fairy, but he was actually the Prince.
Now, with him, whom I had promised to marry, I would draw a future together.

“Jiho, what are you thinking so hard about?”

At the voice that pierced my ears, I turned my head. Those eyes, always full of warmth, gazed at me.
I smiled brightly. Now I could say things like this.

“I was thinking how much I love you.”

As if answering my words, a smile as clear as the blue sky bloomed across Cheonhaerang’s face.

“I do too. I love you, Jiho.”
“Then shall we go in now?”
“Yes.”

Cheonhaerang and Jiho clasped hands and stepped through the School Gate together.
From behind them, a butterfly of unknown origin appeared, beating its wings vigorously as it soared into the sky.
The butterfly, adorned with iridescent wings, seemed to scatter light dust in its wake.

〈In Search of the Runaway Celestial Maiden!〉 Complete.

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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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