Looking for the Runaway Heavenly Maiden - Chapter 110

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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 devoid of even dreams.
With eyes swollen shut and barely open, I gazed up at the ceiling. It was unfamiliar.
Only then did I realize I was in Cheonhaerang’s house. His warm, comforting scent enveloped me.
Rising from the bed, I leaned back against the headboard. Cheonhaerang wasn’t beside me. I couldn’t remember when he’d left.
He would return. Cheonhaerang hadn’t died like Yerim had.

Don’t cry, Jiho.
Send me off with a smile. We’ll meet again someday.

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

“Oh? You’re awake, Jiho?”

His tender voice pierced through my ears. I turned my head. Cheonhaerang stood in the doorway.
He walked to the side of the bed and sat down beside me.

“Are you alright?”

With those words, he covered my eyes with one hand.
His hand was cool, as if he’d just come in from outside. It carried the scent of cold wind.
I quietly felt the coolness of his hand. Cheonhaerang said nothing more.
Silence flowed between us, yet it wasn’t awkward for either of us.
It was I who broke the brief silence first.

“Where did you go?”

At my question, Cheonhaerang hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to remove his hand from my eyes, then lowered it.
My closed eyes slowly opened. Our gazes met.
His expression was as if he’d made some resolve.

“…I went to Baekokgyeong. To meet the Patriarch.”
“….”
“I’ve finished everything. My sister and I both.”

Cheonhaerang had spoken of the marriage I desired, and Yeonhwa had declared she would not accept the abdication.
With that, the long lineage of their bloodline had come to an end.
Whether Suho would inherit the Patriarch’s position remained unknowable.
But she would be better suited than Yeonhwa, who had spent so long in the Human Realm, or Cheonhaerang, who yearned for a life other than that of the Patriarch.
Suho was appropriately emotional and combative, yet possessed a surprisingly cold rationality.
She might be better suited to the position of Heavenly Emperor than either Cheonhaerang or Yeonhwa.

“Jiho.”

Cheonhaerang called her name softly.
In truth, this wasn’t what I had intended to say now. It might have been words that didn’t fit this moment, that didn’t belong here.
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 right. I know what’s in your heart right now. But if not now that 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—that Cheonhaerang too might leave me. But I pushed it away as absurd.
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 human heart was something one could never know even an inch ahead.
It was in that moment, as my trembling hands clenched, that I felt a large hand covering mine.
The cool hand had grown warm. It was a warmth that enveloped my anxiety.

“Jiho.”

At the repeated call, Jiho finally found her voice.

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

The pupils of Jiho’s eyes trembled faintly. Cheonhaerang’s words were something she had never anticipated.

“Ah, it wasn’t very grand, was it? No ring, no eloquent words like others use. But I wanted to say this to you first, above anyone else.”
“….”
“The sorrows and joys alike. My entire future. I want to share it all with you. So, Jiho.”
“….”
“Will you marry me?”

Marriage. The word conjured 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 surrender more than I would.
He could not have been unaware of this. Yet still, he was asking me.
To marry him. To share my entire life with him.
Something rose to my throat. I didn’t know what it was, but I swallowed it down.
Yet I couldn’t hold back what spilled from my eyes.

“Crybaby Ryujiho. Your eyes must hurt.”

Soft fingers touched the corners of my eyes, accompanied by a playful voice.
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 confession, spoken through tears, Cheonhaerang’s laughter became radiant.
Soon, with breath that tickled my lips, I quietly closed my eyes and wondered.
When I met Yerim again someday.
Would Yerim be happy and congratulate us when she learned that Cheonhaerang and I had married?

* * *

“Wow….”
“Insane, that’s incredible.”

Exclamations burst from the children’s lips 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 midterm exams had been conducted online.
Though it was certainly spring, the school they saw for the first time in about a month—at a point when it had grown slightly warmer—appeared to have undergone far more than just sinkhole repairs.

“Hey, the construction got done in just a month?”
“I know, 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 previous school building hadn’t been ordinary either, but this new structure resembled a castle with its Gothic architecture, reminiscent of prestigious universities abroad. It was hardly what one would expect from a typical high school.
Jiho, visiting the school for the first time since that day, couldn’t help but gape. I’d heard that the Jade Emperor had overseen the construction.
I never imagined he would build something like this. That must be why Yeonhwa set the break period to one month.
The Jade Emperor had built the structure in just four days before returning to the Kunlun Mountains.
I had 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 them than I had imagined.
After the Jade Emperor returned to the Kunlun Mountains, Jiho finally went home.
I comforted my Patriarch, who held me tight and wept, and received my mother’s warm embrace. My older brothers and sisters-in-law, along with my nieces and nephews, welcomed me warmly.

I stayed for about a week, receiving such a warm welcome from so many.
During that time, I tried to talk about Cheonhaerang and myself, but ultimately only managed to tell my mother and sisters-in-law.
My Patriarch seemed ready to commit treason against the Patriarch himself at any moment.
In such circumstances, to say I was dating the Patriarch’s son and had promised marriage? The household would have been turned upside down.
My older brothers were no different from my Patriarch. So naturally, the only ones I could tell were 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’s face looked a little melancholy as she stroked my head, so I embraced her tightly.
In any case.
I had followed the Patriarch’s order to find the runaway celestial maiden, and finally I found her—the runaway Yeonhwa.
But I shook off my Patriarch, who clung to my pant leg refusing to let me go, and came back down to the Human Realm.
Cheonhaerang—whom I thought was a celestial maiden but was actually the Prince.
To paint a future together with him, now that we had promised marriage.

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

At the voice that pierced my ears, I turned my head. Those warm eyes that always held such tenderness gazed upon me.
I smiled brightly. Now I could say things like this.

“I was thinking how much I love you.”

In response to my words, Cheonhaerang’s face broke into a smile as clear and pure as a blue sky.

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

Cheonhaerang and Jiho clasped hands and stepped through the School Gate together.
From behind them, a butterfly—appearing from nowhere—beat its wings vigorously and soared into the sky.
With iridescent wings, the butterfly seemed to scatter light like glittering dust.

〈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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