The Introverted Heavenly Demon - Chapter 73

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

The Introverted Heavenly Demon Episode 073
Treating Carelessly
As Jin Seol’s explanation continued at length, I found myself curious about something and posed a question to her.
“Miss Jin. You mentioned that Maryeom Palace collected this information directly?”
“Yes, Minor Sect Leader.”
“How exactly do they gather it?”
“Maryeom Palace maintains numerous informants throughout Kangho. They collect information from taverns, inns, shops, and sometimes from the streets, then consolidate and organize information that has been verified from multiple angles.”
“I see…. Then….”
“Is there anything else you wish to know?”
“Actually, there is something I’d like to ask.”
“Please speak freely, Minor Sect Leader.”
I hesitated briefly, but decided that since I had already broached the subject, I might as well satisfy my curiosity, so I asked Jin Seol.
“I would like to know how rumors about me and Baek Yeon are spreading throughout Kangho.”
“You mean rumors about the Minor Sect Leader.”
“Yes. Just as I seek to understand them, they surely seek to understand me as well, do they not? I’m curious how accurately the information has spread.”
Jin Seol answered without hesitation, as though she had anticipated what I would ask.
“May I tell you what I know exactly as it is?”
“Please do.”
“The rumor that the Minor Sect Leader defeated the Kunlun Sect’s First Disciple in a martial contest has spread widely throughout Kangho. It is said that the reason for the contest was to win the heart of the Kunlun Sect Leader’s Daughter, but…, that is not the truth, is it?”
“Ha Lady and I share only a senior-junior relationship. And?”
“There are also fairly well-known stories about tearing a tiger apart with bare hands, and about facing Hye Woon, a Shaolin disciple, in a tavern without either side determining victory. There are rumors that at the Merchant Guild Tournament, you intimidated merchants into making a small and medium merchant group’s master the Sangdo Alliance leader, and that masters from the Tang Sect attempted poison cultivation but found it ineffective….”
“Continue.”
“It was already known that the Minor Sect Leader’s martial prowess surpassed the first-rate level by age twelve or thirteen. That recently became reality.”
As I listened to Jin Seol’s words, I shook my head.
Listening to all this, I came to understand, at least roughly, how rumors spread throughout Kangho.
They were quite skilled at taking just a small fact and adding various imaginative embellishments to create a plausible story.
Stories that were neither quite false nor quite true.
Seeing my expression, Jin Seol paused and waited, and I asked her a question.
“Aside from those things, what is my reputation like? What do people say about my character and such?”
In truth, this was what I had truly wanted to know.
A characteristic of introverts, perhaps?
Though I appear uninterested in people, I cannot help but be intensely curious about what others think of me.
Moreover, I was worried that the fact itself—that the Minor Sect Leader of the Demonic Cult was a socially awkward introvert—might have been revealed.
“There are indeed quite a few frightening stories about the Minor Sect Leader.”
However, what Jin Seol actually said was entirely unexpected.
“Frightening stories?”
“Yes. Those who call the Main Sect the Demonic Cult prefer to think of the Sect Leader’s son, the Minor Sect Leader, as a young demon, and they amplify and reproduce such stories.”
I frowned slightly upon hearing myself called a young demon, but Jin Seol paid it no mind.
“For example, what sort of things?”
“There is a rumor like this: the Minor Sect Leader always carries a large sword, and stroking the hilt three times is said to be a signal that he is about to draw the blade….”
“What an absurd notion….”
“You must already be aware of the rumors that on nights when the full moon rises, I wander the darkness thirsting for blood….”
“This is ridiculous.”
“There are also tales that when I smile silently during conversation, it is a warning that I intend to kill my companion.”
Watching Jin Seol answer without hesitation, I could gauge just how pervasively these rumors had spread throughout Kangho.
I shook my head and asked.
“Do the people of Kangho truly believe all such nonsense?”
“Not everyone believes it entirely, but I suppose the rumors spread because people find some credibility in them.”
“Surely you don’t believe such tales yourself.”
“I do know that some rumors are completely baseless.”
This woman speaks strangely.
Some rumors are completely baseless? That implies the rest have some basis?
Smiling silently during conversation is a warning to kill one’s companion?
Does that even make sense?
Suddenly feeling wronged, I gazed at Jin Seol with an expressionless face.
Then, as she met my eyes and blinked, I suddenly let slip a faint smile.
“…!”
Jin Seol’s expression, which had been perfectly composed moments before, stiffened, and her shoulders trembled slightly.
“Minor Sect Leader…?”
“What is it?”
“What do you mean, what is it?”
In truth, my only intention was to test whether Jin Seol truly believed such rumors and would be frightened by my smile.
But then.
“Ah….”
As Jin Seol’s face flushed and she hastily averted her gaze, it became clear she had interpreted my intention quite differently.
And in a voice barely audible and trembling, she spoke to me.
“If it pleases the Minor Sect Leader, then naturally… this one would be delighted.”
Her face crimson as a radish, she lowered her head, her eyes blinking as her gaze drifted downward at an angle.
‘Delighted? Delighted about what?’
Come to think of it, this was the first time Jin Seol had seen me smile.
No, not just her—how many people within the Divine Sect had ever witnessed me smiling?
So it was hardly surprising that Jin Seol would misinterpret this situation entirely.
By this point, it was I who found myself overwhelmed with bewilderment.
“Ah, no, Miss Jin, what I mean is….”
Late at night, alone with a woman in a chamber, the situation had spiraled in an unexpected direction.
After so long, my true nature as a hundred-percent introvert had revealed itself….
Both Jin Seol and I remained silent, unable to speak first, as the awkward silence stretched on.

* * *
The night had grown deep, and the bell tolling the Hour of the Ox echoed softly through the darkness, well past midnight.
That sound allowed me to recover some measure of composure.
I gazed out at the darkened window and opened my mouth.
“Miss Jin. The night grows late. It would be best if you returned home now.”
Jin Seol, who had kept her head bowed with flushed cheeks until that moment, blinked several times before lifting her gaze to meet mine.
“Yes, Minor Sect Leader….”
Her voice trailed off, tinged with reluctance.
And yet.
“Minor Sect Leader. Might I be so bold as to say one more thing?”
“Of course.”
Before stepping through the door, Jin Seol smiled and spoke slowly, her voice carrying a note of joy.
“I am deeply grateful that you have treated me with such gentlemanly courtesy throughout.”
“There is no need for gratitude….”
“But when we meet next time…, if you would treat me with less restraint….”
….
“I believe I would be happy.”
With those words spoken through her flushed face, Jin Seol turned and slipped out through the door, vanishing from my quarters.
My mind churned as I watched her depart.
‘This is rather troublesome.’
Until now, I had never once considered myself weak when it came to women.
Or rather, given my introverted nature, I found it difficult to interact with all people equally, so I did not believe that women presented any particular difficulty beyond that.
Yet perhaps my thinking was mistaken.
Recalling how I had stood speechless before Jin Seol, unable to find the right words, still made me dizzy.
It had been similar with the Gold-Burning Girl and Ha Yeon Ryeong, but facing a woman who openly expressed her affection proved far more awkward and vexing than I had anticipated.
Was it the lingering effect of my past life—a perpetual bachelor who had never even had a female friend, let alone a girlfriend?
The saving grace was that at least today, my counterpart had been more embarrassed than I, so my shortcomings had not been glaringly apparent.
‘No matter how I think about it, it would be better to avoid entanglement with women as much as possible.’
No—beyond that, it would be better still to avoid creating situations where women develop romantic feelings for Minor Sect Leader Baek Yeon.
Perhaps I needed to practice concealing the fatal charm(?) of an introvert.
In any case.
Through my conversation with Jin Seol just now, I had come to truly understand how the people of Kangho perceived the Minor Sect Leader.
A blood-crazed demon. A murderer beyond redemption…. Something along those lines.
Thinking of it that way, I found myself smiling bitterly without meaning to.
Had I been the person I was not long ago, I would have lost sleep over the injustice of such rumors spreading about someone as virtuous as myself.
But my thoughts now were the complete opposite.
Did I not already know better than anyone how difficult it was to survive as an introverted Minor Sect Leader of the Demonic Cult?
Perhaps it was better that people feared me and kept their distance of their own accord.
Though it was true that thinking of all the people of Kangho fearing me as the disciples of the Sun and Moon Divine Sect did brought a certain sadness.

* * *
From deep within the distant mountains, the howl of wolves echoed through the night, leaving a lingering trail of sound in its wake.
In the late hours when only the chirping of insects broke the silence.
Within the confines of the Chong Dan Fence belonging to the Sun and Moon Divine Sect, one of the massive pavilions remained shrouded in such impenetrable darkness that not even a lantern’s glow pierced the veil—one could not see even a hand’s breadth ahead.
A woman with a face as pale as snow moved through the corridor, holding a single candle aloft.
The flickering light cast her shadow dancing and wavering across all the walls around her.
Until she reached the innermost chamber of the dark pavilion, not even the faintest whisper of sound escaped from her footsteps.
“My lady. It is Jin Seol.”
Only after a considerable time had passed since the woman’s voice echoed forth did a response emerge from the darkness.
“Good. Have you returned from the Minor Sect Leader’s Quarters?”

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