“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What’s what?”

The Princess and Gun Hye-rin tilted their heads at my words and asked back.

I scratched my head before answering.

“I’m going to think about it from now on. This isn’t something you can decide on easily.”

It really was one of those impossible “Do you love Mom more or Dad more?” kind of questions — a world-class dilemma that was hard to resolve.

After all, butterflies and moths both belonged to the order Lepidoptera.

They differed in form and habits, but in the first place, a butterfly was simply a group of moths that had undergone a particular evolutionary branch.

Some scientists even said that butterflies had evolved from a group of nocturnal moths that decided to live an active life in the bright daylight.

So there wasn’t much of a difference in the species either, and in this case, it was a choice between Moji and Soji versus Sister Jeokwol — both equally precious no matter who I chose.

Moji and Soji were ones I had raised from eggs myself.

And Sister Jeokwol was that mysterious butterfly lady, a blood-drinking butterfly no less.

The Princess listened, then spoke with her lips slightly skewed.

“So that means the wedding night will have to wait until So-ryong decides on the next venomous creature and finishes registering it, right?”

“Y-yeah, that’s right.”

I stammered without meaning to, worried she’d say no, that it had to be right now.

Ever since I’d promised to take responsibility, the Princess had been radiating the kind of presence you’d expect from a succubus, not a royal lady, so she was the one I had to be most careful around.

'Feels like she’d suck my yang energy dry.'

The Princess asked again, her expression clearly displeased.

“You’re not going to make me wait months, are you?” 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

“Oh, heavens no. I plan to have it sorted out in a few days.”

I had no intention of making her wait months.

I also wanted to see just what that Smoothie looked like in person, and what those five jewels actually meant.

'How could I possibly hold back on that?'

Then, beside her, Gun Hye-rin gave me a look like she’d just fallen for me and voiced her support.

“I think it’s a good idea. Setting the wedding night aside, that ambition to ascend to the Higher Realm is admirable. It means you want to become a stronger man.”

The Princess sank into thought at those words.

A moment later, as if she’d reached a decision, she nodded.

“Hmm... well, it’s a process we have to go through anyway. What about you, Hye-rin?”

“I think it’s better to wait. If ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) my master says he’ll become a stronger man and then embrace us, a few days is nothing...”

Gun Hye-rin also agreed to wait.

I quickly thanked them.

It didn’t really seem like something to thank them for, but the gratitude just slipped out.

“Thank you.”

The Princess and Gun Hye-rin both smiled broadly.

“No need to thank us. This is for our sake, isn’t it?”

“Right, we should be the ones thanking you. You’re making the effort for us.”

“Y-yeah, that’s true.”

“Then we’ll prepare ourselves properly and wait, so So-ryong, do your best.”

“Once you’ve decided which venomous creature to register, let me know. I’ll help too.”

“Understood.”

“Then should we give you some space so you can think alone?”

“Shall we? When Hwa-eun gets back from meeting the Tang Clan Head, we can have tea together.”

“Let’s go.”

The two of them left, saying they’d give me time alone to think.

Since I’d gotten their understanding, I decided to hear Sister Jeokwol’s, Moji’s, and Soji’s opinions this time.

Up until now, I’d always made the decisions myself, but this time I really couldn’t decide, so I’d listen to the three of them.

After the wedding ceremony, we headed to the warehouse in the Fourth Compound assigned to us.

That’s where the kids were.

As we entered, the tails of Hwanji and Hwana caught my eye.

They seemed to be asleep, and up near the ceiling above them clung Sister Jeokwol, Moji, and Soji.

I called out softly to the sister and the kids.

“Sis. Sister Jeokwol. Moji, Soji.”

So as not to wake the others, I called only the three of them — and they immediately responded.

'Chii.'

'Mew, mew.'

They shook off their drowsiness, flew over, and quickly latched onto various parts of my body.

'Ahhh, that’s the stuff.'

Anyone who loves insects couldn’t possibly resist this.

Butterflies and moths flying over to land on you?

That’s just an irresistible move.

Sometimes butterflies need minerals and will land on people to lick their sweat — and for enthusiasts like me, having one lick the minerals off your body and getting a picture of it is a point of pride.

I smiled pleasantly and asked,

“What were you all up to?”

'Chii.'

'Mew, mew.'

We didn’t speak the same language, but having lived together so long, I could get the gist of their cries.

It was basically them saying they’d been napping.

I set Sister Jeokwol on my head, Moji on one shoulder, Soji on the other, and headed outside.

“Shall we go for a little walk?”

'Chii?'

'Mew, mew?'

“I’ve got something to discuss with you three.”

The sudden invitation to go for a walk made the three tilt their heads at me.

I led them slowly toward the pavilion.

'Buzzz, buzz.'

It was spring now, and the Golden-Furred Wasp Kings were buzzing about the pavilion. Inside the main hall, Nanghu — daughter of Ranghu — was currently serving as queen.

We’d swapped hives with Ranghu last time.

Because Ranghu followed me around, she’d left most of her worker bees here and entrusted this place to Nanghu.

I’d greeted Nanghu a few days ago, so I just passed by the hive-hall and headed for the pavilion — but when I showed up, some of the workers flew over to greet me.

'Buzz.'

“Oh, hey — did you winter well?”

“You were from Ranghu’s hive, right?”

“Oh, the one with slightly darker fuzz. Oh, is that a gift? Thanks, I’ll enjoy it.”

One of them even gave me a lump of pollen mixed with honey.

When we reached the pavilion, I set the three down on the floor and, munching on the pollen cake, spoke to them.

“Actually, I’m thinking of registering one of you — Moji, Soji, or Sister Jeokwol — in the Beast-Heart Technique.”

'Chii?'

'Mew? Meww?'

“Yes, my martial art. Once we do it, you’ll be able to talk to me in my mind, like the others.”

They probably understood the gist from the others, but I explained it again.

Upon hearing this, Sister Jeokwol crawled along the floor behind Moji and Soji and gently pushed them toward me with her head.

'Chii.'

Probably her way of saying she was fine with it, and I should register Moji and Soji first.

'As expected of Sis. Then I should start with Moji and Soji.'

I felt grateful for her selflessness.

But then Moji and Soji quickly scurried around behind Sister Jeokwol and pushed her rear toward me.

'Mew, mew!'

A firm cry, clearly meaning she should go first.

Chiii.

When she recoiled in surprise and moved behind them again, they circled back behind her, and before I knew it, a game of tag had broken out in the pavilion.

'No, seriously — if even Sis and Moji and Soji are going to act like this, how am I supposed to decide?'

It really wasn’t easy picking just one of them.

***

-Rustle.

At the sound of grass being trodden on, Ma Pung-hu, Second Unit Captain of the Flying Bird Squad under the Murim Alliance, clenched the hand he had raised.

The squad members following behind him immediately froze in place.

A moment later, what emerged from the darkness of the undergrowth was a single snake.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Ma Pung-hu opened his hand again, and the squad resumed their advance.

They moved on in complete silence for three whole two hours.

After six hours of trekking through the jungle, the sight of a river finally came into view.

A voice reached him through sound transmission.

[Captain, we’ve reached the river.]

[I see it.]

Exchanging a few words through transmission, Ma Pung-hu and his men quietly approached the riverbank, quenching their dry throats after forcing their way through the jungle in the dark.

Then, in the moonlight, they checked their map.

[How much farther?]

[If we follow the river downstream for about two hours, we should see the Daewol Nation’s border fortress closest to here.]

[If you’ve all rested, let’s move.]

[Yes, Captain!]

The Flying Bird Squad was the fastest among the Murim Alliance’s reconnaissance units, and Ma Pung-hu’s Second Unit had crossed into the Daewol Nation to track the traces of the Blood Cult and the Five Venoms Sect.

The enemy had vanished without a trace, prompting the border crossing.

After the Lord of the Five Venoms Sect had suffered a grievous wound from the venom of Lord So-ryong’s spirit beast — So-ryong being the Beast Palace Lord’s son and the Tang Clan’s son-in-law — their base had been completely abandoned.

And for the next couple of months, it seemed they had disappeared entirely.

But recently, an odd story had come from survivors rescued off a drifting boat on the coast of Guangxi Province — residents of the Daewol Nation.

“A blood-drinking god descended from the heavens and takes the blood of those whose faith is weak!”

The man had been half-mad, so the martial artists of the Guangxi branch had at first dismissed him as a lunatic washed ashore.

But when the report reached the Murim Alliance leadership, the strategist had given an order for reconnaissance.

“I have a bad feeling about this, Ma Pung-hu. I want you to go.”

“Understood, Strategist!”

Two hours later, following the river, lights appeared in the distance in the darkness.

Ma Pung-hu halted his men and spoke to them all.

[I’ll go take a look. Stay here and wait. If I’m not back by the second watch, withdraw quickly to the Central Plains.]

[Understood!]

Leaving his men in ambush among the rocks along the riverbank, Ma Pung-hu used his specialty — Hidden Step Technique.

It was a skill for masking one’s presence so only insects or wild animals might notice.

He had picked it up in the marketplace back when he was a third-rate warrior, and it was this very skill that had allowed him to rise to captain of the Flying Bird Squad. It was his bread and butter.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

Even while darting through the shadows of the grass, his footsteps made almost no sound. As he drew closer to the fortress, a strange smell reached his nose.

'The stench of decay?'

The reek one might expect from rotting corpses seeped into his senses.

And now that he thought about it, even for nighttime, the fortress was far too quiet.

Sensing something was wrong, he leapt from shadow to shadow along the sparsely lit streets until he reached the fortress’s center — where he found a hellscape on earth.

'What is this—?!'

Thousands of dried, decaying corpses were piled in the middle of the city, exuding a foul, nauseating stench.

And in the very center, something utterly inhumane was taking place.

From a bamboo cage crammed with people, one by one they were dragged out by martial artists dressed in crimson uniforms — and had their blood drained until they became dried husks and died.

Ma Pung-hu immediately leapt back toward where his men were concealed.

He had to report that the Blood Cult had seized a Daewol fortress and turned it into a living hell.

The Blood Cult strengthened themselves by drinking blood.

No one knew exactly how many people lived in that fortress, but if left unchecked, this could lead to a repeat of the Blood Cult Massacre thirty years ago.

***

I spent the whole evening thinking about it, but still couldn’t decide who to register.

The dilemma carried on even after dinner, and persisted all the way to the moment I lay down in bed after washing up.

'Damn it, I’m really getting decision paralysis. Moth? Butterfly?'

Creak.

As I lay there agonizing, I heard the sound of the door opening.

Sounded like Hwa-eun coming in for the night.

Thanks to Sister Seol having gently explained things to the kids earlier, we’d been allowed to sleep alone like this at the main house, and since the very first night she’d returned, Hwa-eun had been more than satisfied every single day — so tonight should have been one of those nights we could sleep peacefully.

I needed to preserve my yang energy for the next realm, and Hwa-eun had to follow that as well.

But her footsteps sounded different tonight.

Hwa-eun’s steps were usually near-silent — probably because she came from an assassin family — but now I heard a faint rustling.

“Hwa-eun, your footsteps sound—”

I turned my head mid-sentence, about to say they sounded different tonight — and saw someone else smiling sweetly.

“Gyaaaah!”

I yelped and yanked the blanket over myself.

I had taken off my upper garment, and the Princess was walking over lightly as she spoke.

“What’s got you so startled?”

“Uh, w-we agreed to have the wedding night later, remember?”

“That’s right, isn’t it?”

“Then why are you here?”

We had indeed agreed to put off the wedding night — and yet here she was.

At my question, the Princess smiled slyly.

“We agreed to have the wedding night later. We didn’t agree to put off sleeping together.”

Technically, she was right — but there was a problem.

She was wearing what you’d call “showdown lingerie.”

In Japan, that’s the term for sexy underwear worn for a decisive moment — and wherever she’d gotten it, hers was silk and sheer lace.

By the light of the lantern, her body showed through the fabric.

Somehow even more seductive than being completely naked.

“Wait, that outfit—”

“Even if we’re putting the wedding night off, I can’t just wear anything to bed, can I? Let’s just hold hands and sleep.”

She approached lightly and sat down on the edge of the bed.

We had promised, but with a woman looking like that sitting beside me, I couldn’t help it — the blanket rose into the shape of a Mongol tent.

'Whoa there! How could a northern barbarian tent be standing in the middle of the Central Plains... No, wait, I’m Korean, so does that make me an eastern barbarian? Whatever, stop it! Down, boy!'

The eastern barbarian raising a northern barbarian’s tent clearly wanted to invade the Princess’s Central Plains.

I was frantically trying to calm the barbarian down when a voice called from outside.

“Lord So-ryong, the Clan Head urgently requests your presence.”

“At this hour?”

“Yes. He said an urgent message has arrived from the Murim Alliance and asks that you come to the Clan Head’s quarters at once.”

Thankfully, it seemed my father-in-law was calling me away for urgent business.