Looking for the Runaway Heavenly Maiden - Chapter 22

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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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22.

Humans inherently possessed their own unique aura.
But this visitor had none. I couldn’t sense any presence at all.
Yerim was slightly taken aback, though she didn’t let it show. She opened her eyes slowly as if deciphering something and faced the visitor.
The visitor stood at the doorway, gazing at her. He was a man with strikingly beautiful features that captured one’s attention at first glance.
Yet he was merely human. I had no intention of graciously forgiving a mere mortal for daring to look down upon me.
Moreover, how respectful had my previous guests been? They had attended to me, calling out “Fairy, Fairy,” with such reverence.
Yerim snapped her fan shut with a sharp sound and struck the table. She intended to seize the initiative.

“How dare you stand before a fairy with such insolence!”

Her voice carried considerable weight and authority.

‘Good, well done.’

She inwardly praised herself with satisfaction. But her stern expression crumbled at the man’s laughter that followed.

“Haha! A fairy, you say?”

The man’s tone carried a hint of mockery. Yerim’s brow furrowed.

‘What is this bastard?’

“Ah. I never expected to hear such things from the start.”

His voice flowed low, tinged with sarcasm.

“Fairy, are you inside?”

An unfamiliar voice called from a distance. Yerim’s senses sharpened instantly.

“You. Who are you?”

Something felt off. The voice I was hearing now was likely my first visitor of the day.
This man was not a visitor.

“So now you’re curious about me?”

The man who met Yerim’s gaze smiled faintly and spoke to her.
His tone felt oddly familiar, with an air of strange intimacy.
Her mind raced rapidly.
And then.

“…!”

The moment Yerim recognized who the man before her was, she shot up from her seat.

“You…!”
“As expected. You never disappoint me, Yerim.”

The man’s voice had transformed into one she knew all too well. His face was no different.
She had thought she’d forgotten long ago. She believed she’d erased it all.
Yet in truth, she had never forgotten him for a single moment.

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

Before their shattered trust, they parted ways like this.

It had to be this way.
He was a criminal who had disturbed the peace of the Heavenly Realm and sparked war.
A criminal the Heavenly Realm still hadn’t captured.
Yerim unleashed her power. White mist emanated from her form, rushing toward him, yet it crumbled before ever reaching him.

Of course, she knew that power of this magnitude would never touch him.
But at close range, things might be different.

“Fairy? Are you not here?”

A voice desperately searching for the fairy echoed meaninglessly from outside.
Yerim kicked off the table and lunged toward him. A short dagger had materialized in her hand.
The blade aimed solely for his throat.

“My, what an enthusiastic welcome.”

But my outstretched wrist only slipped uselessly through his grasp.
My wrist trembled violently, unable to escape from his firm grip.

“Let go of me!”
“If my throat gets pierced, I die too, Yerim.”
“Exactly. So you should die.”
“So I’m someone you hate enough to wish dead.”
“Yes. I hate you. I hate you enough to want to kill you.”
“Then that won’t work. You need to do well, Yerim.”

Yerim looked at him as if he were spouting nonsense. He continued smiling, whispering languidly.

“Ryujiho.”
“…!”

His pupils trembled violently, unable to conceal his emotions.
Yerim couldn’t speak. If I opened my mouth here, it would only reveal how much I was wavering.
He was already noticing from my current state alone.

“Ryuibum raised you well. You have quite the nerve and wariness.”
“….”
“Curious? How I found out?”

My mission with Ryujiho was conducted in secret through a private audience with the Supreme Deity. Few in Baekokgyeong even knew of it.
Yet this man before me knew of it, as if mocking it.
Moreover, as if he had seen Ryujiho directly.

“Should I tell you?”

His voice tickled like a seduction.
There was a time when I spent many days intoxicated by that voice.
Memories crashed down upon me defenseless, squeezing my heart.
I struggled to grasp my scattering thoughts.
This man doesn’t love me. He never has.
…Really?
I ignored the voice echoing in my heart. What mattered wasn’t something as trivial as love.
How much does he know?
That was the real question. He might already know who Princess Yeonhwa is.
It was a critical matter I needed to report to the Supreme Deity immediately.

“No, that’s not necessary. What matters isn’t how you found out—it’s that you already know.”

In truth, how he knew and the extent of his power were both important questions, but I was certain he wouldn’t reveal the answers.

‘I need to meet Princess Yeonhwa.’

Princess Yeonhwa.
She was Cheonuyhua, the Board of Directors at Seonhwa High School, and simultaneously the person who had been turning a blind eye to Princess Yeonhwa’s runaway.
After all, the place where the runaway princess was hiding was none other than Seonhwa High School itself. That was precisely why it had taken considerable time to find her.
If he knew about Princess Yeonhwa, how could he have found out?
And on top of that, Ryujiho.
Ryujiho, who had only recently arrived in the Human Realm and whose range of movement was limited. The only place where he could encounter Ryujiho was the school.

‘…Could it be?’

Was he also at Seonhwa High School? Is that how he saw Ryujiho?
Yerim’s mind grew dizzy with information that wouldn’t fall into place—until a low chuckle pierced her ears and halted her thoughts.

“Haha. You’re still amusing, aren’t you?”

Despite the laughter in his voice, the man’s eyes gleamed with a sharp intensity as he gazed at her.
A man who had once been her lover. Perhaps that was why Yerim’s heart ached faintly at the sight of his gaze.

“Yerim.”

Long ago, he had called her that way too. So tenderly. With such warmth.
Enough to deceive someone who knew nothing.

“Give my regards to His Majesty. I am most….”

Yerim held her breath. Before she knew it, they were close enough for their breathing to mingle.
His darkly gleaming black eyes were entirely focused on her.
This shouldn’t happen. Without realizing it, Yerim squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away.
At her reaction, Gihyeongrang let out a soft chuckle.
The impulsive thought even crossed his mind—should he just swallow those lips right now?
Coming to this Shrine in the first place had been an utterly impulsive act for him.
A woman who had once been his sanctuary.
Though their relationship was fractured and broken, he could still find stability within his seething rage when facing her.
Was that why the Supreme Deity sent her along as Ryujiho’s guardian? Because he knew I couldn’t easily touch her.
How trivial and laughable. Weren’t she and Ryujiho no different?
Moreover, she was no longer his. So there was no reason not to touch Ryujiho simply because she was by his side.
After all, Ryujiho was the easiest way to provoke Cheonhaerang’s wrath.
Gihyeongrang continued, his words coming late.

“…She’s doing well, or so I hear.”

A gust of wind swept through.
Only then did Yerim open her eyes and look down at her wrist.
The warmth that had enveloped her wrist was gone, leaving only cold air surrounding her.
Gihyeongrang.
That name, which she thought she had forgotten, was something she had never truly forgotten.

* * *

Startled, Jiho lifted her head without thinking and her eyes met Yeonhwa’s.
The golden eyes symbolizing her status as a princess gazed at her intently.
Jiho stared into the princess’s eyes but could discern nothing. Her mind was only confusion.

‘Return? Just like that?’

It was the return of Princess Yeonhwa that she had so desperately wished for, yet she couldn’t accept it.
Cheonhaerang had been so reluctant to return to the Heavenly Realm.
Just yesterday, there had been no indication of this.
A resolve doesn’t change in just one day. So wasn’t that precisely why she was anxiously fretting over what to do, even resorting to this absurd course of action?
And now she says she’s returning?

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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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