“What’s that nonsense…? That’s ridiculous!”
Her face scrunched up like a crumpled piece of paper in response to the absurd question. Even if it was unseen, she could definitely tell. How could someone say such harsh things so nonchalantly?
“I was just asking, you know? Do you have any idea how many boys were fawning over Yeseo after that spar? Thanks to them, I had a hard time too…”
But the female student with navy blue hair continued calmly.
“All of them had terrible lines. ‘I was captivated by your strength,’ or ‘What do you like?’ and ‘Do you have a fiancé?’ Just cowards. If they wanted to say something, they should just say it directly. Ugh…”
Haewon shook her head in disbelief. It was a reminder of how many peculiar people there are in the world.
“So, I thought you might be one of them. I mean, if it’s ‘the Prince of Heukryeon,’ I’d gladly pass along your words!”
Even while saying this, her lips and eyes held a distinct playful glint.
I shook my head firmly.
“That won’t happen.”
“Really? Saying that makes me a bit disappointed. But then, if you felt that way, you wouldn’t have hit Yeseo so hard…”
“I didn’t hit her. It was a fair sparring match.”
Attempting to defend myself, the female student continued in a tone suggesting she knew everything.
“That’s what I meant. I’m not saying it’s bad. It was literally a spar, wasn’t it? I can kind of understand your position…”
Perhaps due to her characteristic cynical nature, she seemed largely unfazed by her friend’s injuries.
After hearing a few more random jokes, I was finally able to get to the main topic.
What I was curious about was Jin Yeseo’s attitude, which seemed overly obsessed with the victory or loss of the duel. I sensed something beyond mere competitive spirit with her.
It also seemed somewhat related to her dedication to training until her body was practically falling apart. Perhaps there was even a connection to how she appeared to be closer to circulation magic, despite majoring in expulsion-type magic.
“…Was that what you were curious about?”
“Yeah. Do you know?”
Haewon’s expression was slightly scrunched up in surprise, but she soon nodded.
“Well, I can share that much. It’s not much of a secret anyway. Everyone who knows it already knows.”
Before she began speaking, she gave me one warning.
“But don’t tell Yeseo I said anything, okay? I’m only telling you because it’s you. Just trying to repay a life debt.”
“I’ll keep my promise. Don’t worry.”
After all, nobody likes having their stories spread around behind their backs.
“Okay. Well, to cut to the chase… it’s because of Yeseo’s mother.”
“Her mother?”
“Yeah. The head of the Baekgwang family. You know? Ah, since you’re from one of the five families, you might have seen her at various social gatherings.”
“I haven’t seen her…”
“Really? That’s surprising… Did you not go out much before awakening? Hehe.”
Maybe I saw her on the day of the hearing. She could be one of those bizarre masked council members I saw.
“I’ve seen her a few times from a distance. Even for her age, she was stunningly beautiful. If Yeseo hadn’t mentioned it, I might have mistaken her for a sister.”
Overcoming aging means she’s an exceptionally powerful wizard. I also know two other people like that. Haewolhwa, who is now absent due to the eradication of the unmanned zone. And the mother of the one armed man.
Haewon lowered her voice even further and continued.
“The head of the Baekgwang family is truly devoid of kindness. She values the glory of the family over anything personal, and you don’t even need to mention her cruelty. It’s usual for family heads in noble houses, but she’s particularly extreme. Everyone in the know understands.”
“Why’s that?”
“Given the Baekgwang’s past, that makes perfect sense. You know about the Yamatai scandal, right?”
“I don’t know… It’s the first I’ve heard of it.”
Haewon gave me a skeptical look.
“You don’t know about the Yamatai scandal? How can someone from one of the five families not know about that major incident?”
“…I don’t know. Nobody told me.”
“Really? You must have been raised like royalty…”
After I brushed it off, Haewon seemed to find her own understanding.
Yamatai. An island nation across the eastern sea. Along with the Kingdom of Flowers to the west and the Republic of the Peninsula, it’s a body politic formed by those who survived the fiery tempest. One of the three civilizations that survived in the Far East.
I first heard its existence in class at the Cradle. I heard there are even a few exchange students from there at the Cradle.
The eastern development project wasn’t just about expanding settlements; it also aimed to establish direct shipping routes with them.
The north was blocked by demon races, and routes to the south were always dangerous due to pirates spawned from the unmanned zones.
However, I knew that the eastward development project ultimately ended in disastrous failure due to the chaos caused by five named monsters.
“It must have been chaos. The noble family leading the nation sold a precious national strategic asset directly to a foreign country.”
Haewon continued her story.
Decades ago, Baekgwang had been on the brink of extinction.
The family head at the time colluded with several powerful figures in foreign lands to embezzle a tremendous amount of stellite ore, and that fact was uncovered after much investigation.
Stellite ore, being the only particle conductive material, held immense value in itself. Just 1kg could make over 100 high-grade blades.
No wonder the Jeokhwa family amassed immense wealth with the exclusive rights to the stellite mines, while Baekgwang drooled at the prospect of seizing it.
Embezzling hundreds of kilograms of such ore merely to enhance their wealth left no escape route for Baekgwang.
And during that time, the one who stepped in was Jin Yeseo’s mother, who was then a student at the Cradle and the heir to Baekgwang.
“…So she personally cut off her parents’ heads and presented that to the council before the eradication team arrived.”
Haewon nonchalantly laid out those chilling words.
With that performance, she barely avoided complete annihilation, but in any case, treachery is still treachery.
Following this, Baekgwang had to endure a miserable dark period for decades. Even worse than the Jeokhwa family now.
“It hasn’t been more than 15 years since Baekgwang regained its current status, but it’s still the weakest among the five families. That’s why other families rising among the twenty-seven magical families tend to look down on them. For example, the Seongsan family…”
Seongsan. That’s the family of Choi Woojin, a first-year student, and his sister, Choi Ireh. I thought it was strange how Yeseo and Woojin seemed to be at odds, but I never knew there was a backstory.
“The reason Baekgwang clings to Paecheon so desperately is also that. After Heukryeon suddenly declared retirement 15 years ago, the most powerful family was Paecheon. They wouldn’t want to experience that dark period ever again. Yeseo seems to follow Baek Seoyeon-senpai out of pure admiration, but… What?”
Haewon suddenly reached up to brush off the reed flowers that had landed on her head.
“Hmm. And even though Yeseo admires her mother, she hates what she represents.”
“Why?”
Hating your own mother while admiring her?
I’ve never disliked my mom even once in my life.
“Do you remember what I said about the head of the Baekgwang family?”
“Cold, lacking compassion, and prioritizing the family over the individual?”
“Yeah. She sees Yeseo as a pawn to make the family greater. Her daughter isn’t an exception. For instance, she might want Yeseo to take on the position of the failed black flame or push for an engagement with a financially advantageous family. And Yeseo detests being treated that way.”
Haewon struggled to shake off the reed flowers and then blew them into the reed garden behind her.
“Still, Yeseo accepted training in the black flame. It’s to regain the family’s unique magic that was lost due to the Yamatai scandal. It’s a job her mother failed at. But she seems unable to accept the engagement. It’s totally understandable. Would any decent man catch her eye after growing up looking at an iron lady?”
I didn’t quite understand her words at first. Even if her mother was like that, everything Yeseo possesses in terms of status and wealth comes from her mother. She’s enjoying all the benefits.
But after some thought, I realized that it doesn’t always work that way.
I too, had at one point not touched the eggplant dish my mom served me. Despite living in my mom’s house, being fed with money my mom earned, and eating food my mom made.
No matter how angry she got, I stubbornly refused to touch it. It seems some things you just can’t stand.
“I know there have been a few engagements that almost happened right before her wedding, but Yeseo broke all of them herself. So, in the end, her mother made her final offer.”
“What was that?”
“If she loses to a male student twice in the Cradle’s ranking matches, she’ll have to bend her will and accept the engagement chosen by the family. Yeseo accepted this offer. She was confident in her skills and, more importantly, it was an opportunity to be free from that wretched matter forever. But… now she’ll be in a desperate situation.”
“…Why?”
Haewon, who had been speaking freely, suddenly looked cautious, glancing at me.
Then, she cautiously opened her mouth.
“…Because she only has one chance left.”
I finally understood what she meant.
*
After a long conversation, the darkness of night had thickly settled around us.
It had been a valuable time where I could gather several pieces of information. To be honest, Yeseo’s situation was quite pathetic.
As I listened to her story, I was reminded of the parents of the one-armed man. They were part of a prominent family, yet had a down-to-earth personality. They treated even orphans kindly.
When I thought about the heads of the five noble families, like Yeon Jeong-mun, the father of Yeon Minha, or Baek Il-yong, the head of Paecheon, the differences were so stark it felt almost bizarre.
On one hand, I still couldn’t understand why the one-armed man distanced himself from such people.
As I walked toward the dormitory, heading toward the black-alder trees, I suddenly turned my head toward the main gate.
And the old training room on the 2nd floor of Building A still had light shining brightly.
“…”
However, that didn’t make me want to help Jin Yeseo or anything. After all, it’s someone else’s family matter. Even more so, Yeseo is a student often seen as belonging to the opposite faction compared to me and Minha.
The only reason I had brought up this story with Haewon was to see if there was a way to detach that clingy blonde girl.
But such discussions didn’t even come up…
Boom!
With a faint explosive sound coming from somewhere, a sharper pain started to throb in my head.
*
The blonde girl stared vacantly into space.
Her body swayed like a jellyfish, and her eyes were hollow.
All her efforts from the past life were negated in less than three months. The Cradle she thought would be the best stage instead became a total wreck for her.
The black flame ultimately couldn’t overcome the limits of her compatibility and remained stagnant. In the ranking matches, she was humiliated, on the verge of losing her freedom. To her dismay, she even lost to a friend she secretly considered beneath her, exposing her own hidden feelings she hadn’t even realized.
Losing her footing, Jin Yeseo felt hollow inside, like an old tree without its core. Any sense of rivalry or hostility toward someone had evaporated into thin air like smoke.
Recently, she had succumbed to impulse rather than reason, which led her to huddle in the corner of the old training room, waiting for something.
Thud… Thud…
Before long, the sound of someone’s footsteps that were now familiar echoed in. Soon, with a creak, the door opened, and a presence could be felt.
“Haah…”
The owner of the presence sighed heavily upon seeing Jin Yeseo, but she didn’t respond at all. She instinctively thought just one thing.
Show me today too. That effortless swing of the blade, light as a bird in flight. Something impossible for someone like me, caged in by family expectations.
However, instead of acknowledging her, he simply walked toward where she was sitting.
With each heavy footstep, the anger emanated from him unmistakably.
“Hey. Seriously, cut it out, okay?”
Then, a threatening and grouchy voice resonated right above Jin Yeseo’s head.
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