Thud-thud It felt like my heart dropped into my stomach in that moment. If I hadn’t been wearing a mask, I would’ve given away my embarrassment completely. My expression would have revealed everything, wouldn’t it?
“Who… did you say?”
I barely managed to calm my heartbeat and asked again, just in case I had misheard.
“I said Yeon,” she repeated, a bit more clearly.
But Yeon Minha pronounced that name even more distinctly. I let out a silent sigh inwardly.
How on earth did this lady know that title?
“It’s nothing much… When you came back from the South, you kept mumbling that name while you were sick in bed…”
“What…?”
“Kept saying you were sorry… even shed some tears…”
Disaster!
Of all times, that damned nightmare had to visit me back then too.
Why couldn’t I just let it slide instead of sleep talking?
“So I was wondering if there was something troubling you…”
Yeon Minha twirled a finger through her hair as she kept stealing glances at me.
“You were calling a woman’s name… Did you have some issues with a friend? Did you two fight? You seemed really close…”
Her tone tried to downplay it, but I could feel the intense curiosity burning in her red eyes staring at me.
This definitely wasn’t something that I could brush off easily.
What do I do in situations like this?
I’ve never heard anything from my sisters or the head about how to handle this.
Unlike her usual self, Minha rambled on to herself.
With her eyes spinning off-focus, it looked like she was more flustered than me.
“I, uh, I’m surprisingly open-minded, you know? Just because I’m a successor from five families doesn’t mean I’m all stuffy… I think it’s more important who I meet in the future than my past… and…”
I made up my mind. I had to do something to steer this conversation back before it went down a weird path.
At least it was fortunate that Minha seemed completely clueless about the identity of the title holder. After all, how many people could link me and her with just the name “Yeon”?
As they say, that person’s past must be entirely washed clean by now anyway…
“It’s not a big deal. I don’t remember well, but I think I just had a nightmare about a small conflict with a friend from my childhood.”
“…That’s all?”
Yeon Minha didn’t look convinced at all by my explanation.
I had no choice but to shamelessly push through.
“Yes, that’s it.”
“…”
Even after my direct answer, Yeon Minha still wore a suspicious expression. In fact, she seemed to look at me with even more skepticism.
“If you say so, then I guess it must be, but… it does make me a little sad… we’ve become so close… and I thought we were a bit more intimately connected than what’s generally perceived…”
She let out those words with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
I guess my attempt at handling this might have backfired.
I fell back into my thoughts again.
Her hurt seemed like it was justified.
It’s true I’ve been hiding a lot from Yeon Minha.
She’s always shown curiosity about the nature of my powers, and each time I take off my mask, her gaze meticulously examines the scar beneath my left eye.
She doesn’t even know my real name, yet I’m fully aware of Jeokhwa’s secret circumstances—things outsiders shouldn’t know—all through her.
She has always shared everything with me without holding back.
If this imbalance continues, it won’t bode well for a long-term relationship.
That said, I certainly can’t just reveal the identity of the title holder “Yeon.”
I have no idea how she’d react when she hears I was deeply intertwined with her enemy.
Just thinking about her potential response fills me with a bit of fear and horror.
But… I definitely need to satisfy at least some of her curiosity.
“…So how about secrets that nobody else knows?”
“What’s that?”
“My real name…”
“Uh, huh?”
This time it worked to my advantage, as Yeon Minha straightened up in excitement.
“Wait, you mean that wasn’t your real name?”
“Yes. It’s a pseudonym for certain reasons.”
Now that I think about it, why did the head give me a new name anyway? He still called me Hyun like before.
Even though I went through identity cleansing, aside from manipulating my place of origin and name, everything else is pretty much the same as before.
It was a question I brushed off back then, but looking back, there are quite a few of those now.
Should I just go to the East and confront this once the vacation starts?
I guess I understand a bit of the questions and frustrations Yeon Minha has now…
She gulped nervously as she asked me, “So, what’s your real name then?”
“It’s Lee Hyun. The family name is Lee, and the first name is Hyun. It’s not vastly different from the pseudonym.”
“Oh, I see… Not bad, actually… definitely a real name…”
“I originally lived in a pioneering village in the North, not in the South.”
“Ah, right… If it were the South, you wouldn’t have been attacked by the demon race…”
“And the scar beneath my eye? I got that while trying to help the friend I mentioned.”
“Oh, I see… Oh wow…”
Yeon Minha nodded vigorously with wide eyes as she absorbed everything I said. It felt like my words were hitting the right spot.
After that, I briefly shared a few more tales before wrapping up the conversation.
“Are you satisfied now?”
“I, I don’t know what you mean… If someone saw me, they’d think I forced you to spill your secrets…”
With that, Yeon Minha’s demeanor shifted to her usual coldness as she cleared her throat.
“Really, it’s my past that I’ve never told anyone about. I truly ask you to keep it a secret.”
“…Don’t worry. My lips aren’t that light.”
Yeon Minha nodded a little as she spoke. Her face was filled with satisfaction from sharing a secret. As we immersed ourselves in conversation, the clock in the room had already pointed to three in the morning.
“Senpai, you should go sleep now.”
“Already? I’m not sleepy yet…”
“If you sleep too late, you’ll be tired tomorrow. Plus, you need to wake up early and go back to the inner house before anyone notices.”
“Yeah, that’s true… I got it…”
But Yeon Minha still sat stiffly in her spot, alternating her gaze between me and the bed, only to quickly turn away if our eyes met.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and lie down.”
“Which side are you going to sleep on…?”
But then Yeon Minha suddenly started saying strange things.
“Huh?”
Only then did she finally get up and move toward the bed. She pulled a pillow from the head of the bed and plopped it onto the wide bed between us.
“Just so you know, if you cross over this middle pillow…”
“Senpai, what are you talking about? Of course, you should sleep alone in the bed.”
“Uh…?”
Upon hearing my words, Yeon Minha made a sound that indicated her surprise.
Even though the bed was big enough, it didn’t change the fact that it was still just one bed.
Naturally, only one person could lie down.
“So, what about you…?”
“I can sleep on the floor. Or I can just stay up all night.”
“But you’re a guest in my house… I can’t have you sleeping on the floor…”
“Then I’ll sleep on the bed, and you can sleep on the floor?”
“…Oof.”
Yeon Minha let out a slight groan and then shot me a glare filled with discontent.
“Hmph. Fine. Do whatever you want. Sleep on the floor or not, it’s up to you.”
With that, she threw another comment and flopped onto the bed, swiftly covering herself with the blanket.
The other half of the bed remained empty.
*
Soon, the sound of Yeon Minha’s soft snores began to fill the guest room. I could tell she had fallen into a deep sleep. It was a sound I had grown quite familiar with by now.
The guest room was separated in a different wing, so I could have gone to sleep too, but instead, I chose a different path.
Suddenly, hearing that unexpected name from Yeon Minha made my heart feel quite unsettled.
Moreover, while chatting with her, I had temporarily forgotten, but everything in this mansion since the moment we arrived has been a source of discomfort for me.
The suddenly altered mansion layout, the servants who seemed like they were hiding something, the anxious and tense hostess, the head of Jeokhwa who showed no interest in his daughter, her aunt who was strikingly resembling Yeon Minha, and the lavishly old-fashioned guest room that felt so out of place with me.
Each of these was just a small annoyance, but when mixed together in my head, for some reason, they continued to poke at my senses.
If I didn’t take a midnight stroll soon, I felt it would be impossible to calm this disordered heart.
The head once told me that the most important thing for a wizard is tranquility… but tranquility is still one of the farthest words from me.
Anyway, since Yeon Minha said I could roam freely, I figured it wouldn’t be a problem. I thought I’d just take a light stroll around the paths created around the outer building before heading back inside.
Moreover, as my body recovered, it seemed like my resistance was increasing as well, because the time Yeon Minha could sleep without my powers was rapidly increasing.
Now, I could really last without any issue for an hour or two.
Still feeling some concerns, I firmly denied that I was getting better…
I opened the window softly so as not to wake Yeon Minha and moved outside stealthily.
The crescent moon hung in the sky, making everything outside very dark. Only the streetlights set in the garden emitted a dim light.
I spread out some barriers slightly around me as I followed the darkness of the walkway.
Even if there were any security measures detecting particle movement, in this state, I should be safe from causing unnecessary commotion.
The gravel-paved path crunched with crunch crunch sounds underfoot, and the gnarled trees surrounding were massive as if they were hundreds of years old.
Meanwhile, something really sparkled and twinkled appeared and disappeared in the air.
Just as the steward had said earlier, this phenomenon seemed to be caused by spirits clashing and bouncing out of the void into the material world.
As I strolled through this surreal scene, I thought about the owner of the affectionate name “Yeon.”
Two years had already flown by since then. Yet, I was still captivated by that scenery from back then.
When I was in the military, I could somewhat bury that sorrow and anger on the battlefield… but sadly, the cradle wasn’t the best place to regain such tranquility.
You could say it was the opposite. Every time I met someone, the trigger of memories went off at any moment.
Is it really possible to fulfill the head’s request to the very end in such an environment?
Moreover, helping Yeon Minha to keep an eye on Paecheon for the sake of him and my sisters…?
“Ah…”
Lost in thought, I suddenly realized I had reached the edge of the path surrounding the outer building. No matter how stealthy I’ve been, there’s really no need to create trouble by stepping outside.
“…Let’s go…”
I sighed deeply. My head was still in disarray, but there was nothing else I could do. I couldn’t leave Yeon Minha alone for too long.
Just when I turned my body to head back to the guest room, my senses, especially my sense of smell, heightened against the damp night air.
What suddenly entered my nostrils along with the dew was unexpectedly a light, metallic scent of blood.
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