Recovery complete—it was time to return.

And if it was time to return, it meant it was time to truly face the Blood Demon.

“All I can give you is this. Don’t forget—more than anyone, I am the one who wishes for you to end this cycle of regression.”

Seolhwa looked back at Sama Cheon one last time.

A man who, like the Blood Demon, had lived for an age, suffered through those long years, and spent them staring up at a mountain he could never surpass.

“You’ll fight too, won’t you?”

If her new sense was not mistaken, both the Blood Demon and Sama Cheon had reached the Heaven-Beyond-Heaven realm—beyond that, perhaps—truly superhuman.

Which meant that, no matter how much stronger she had become, without Sama Cheon’s help, the Blood Demon would be too much to face.

“...When the time comes.”

There was hesitation in Sama Cheon’s voice as he answered her.

That hesitation sprang from fear.

Fear toward the Blood Demon he had never once defeated across so long a time—fear toward Yeon Hwi.

“When the time comes... I’ll lend my strength.”

“That’s enough.”

“That boy.”

“?”

“The Heavenly Demon’s °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° son—the one you brought.”

Seolhwa’s brow knit, faintly.

“It seems the Heavenly Demon means to make him his successor. He looked ready to use you to make the boy settle down.”

“Use me?”

“As in—‘If you want the Demonic Cult’s might to aid you, take the seat of Cult Lord.’”

Seolhwa let out a small snort of a laugh.

“Why would I need the Demonic Cult’s might?”

“Do not look down on it. For the time being, I am myself a man of the Demonic Cult.”

“That’s true.”

Not that she thought Sama Cheon would swallow the Heavenly Demon’s words whole.

In any case, Sama Cheon was a soldier of the Demonic Cult.

“Granted—it’s better than nothing. The Blood Cult is not the Blood Demon alone.”

“Are you going to leave the Heavenly Demon’s son behind?”

“We’ll see.”

In Seolhwa’s mind, Yu Gang’s face—alight with joy at meeting his family—rose up.

But that had been before he knew he’d been cast away.

“Whether he stays or not in the Demonic Cult—that isn’t mine to decide.”

It was Yu Gang’s choice to make.

“It isn’t my life.”

If he wished to remain with his family, she would let him go; if he wished to leave, they would return together.

To the Central Plains.

“More than that—I’m surprised. I thought you had no interest in the Heavenly Demon’s child.”

“The one I mind is you. And it seems that boy matters to you.”

“...”

“You said this life would be your last.”

Sama Cheon turned to go.

“In that case, you must value your ties.”

Seolhwa suddenly recalled his story, of meeting countless ties and losing countless ties across many lives.

Because of that, he had come to avoid relationships that had no meaning.

With that thought, his back, receding from view, looked a little lonely.

Seolhwa watched him until he disappeared from sight, then turned her steps.

****

She wanted to see Yu Gang.

It wasn’t because of what she’d heard from Sama Cheon.

While she lay in bed waiting for her body to mend, the one she thought of most—more than grandfather, more than her father, more than Seop Mugwang—was him.

She did not know why.

At first, she had tried to find a reason for why Yu Gang kept coming to mind; but as time passed, she realized reasons didn’t matter.

She simply wanted to see him.

If you want to see someone—you want to see them, that is all.

Seolhwa’s feet, leaving Sama Cheon’s manor, naturally turned toward Yu Gang’s quarters.

But a visitor was already there.

A middle-aged warrior, well into his years.

“...So—you are the one who killed my mother...?”

At Yu Gang’s unsteady voice, Seolhwa, without thinking, hid herself.

Killed his mother...?

What are they talking about?

The man’s answer followed.

“Lady Dan had already been struck by a shaft from the pursuit unit. She was dying. She entrusted the Young Master to me—and then breathed her last.”

“But just now you said you received the order to kill my mother and me...”

“I was a warrior who had served the Dan family since my youth. I may have caught the Cult Lord’s eye and entered the No-Trace Unit, but I am not the sort to easily betray those I once served as master.”

“Then...”

“I did my utmost to keep the last order Lady Dan left.”

The man said he had smuggled the child out through the pursuit unit’s cordon and left the No-Trace Unit’s seal.

“I returned to the Demonic Cult with Lady Dan’s body, but because I could not produce the Young Master, I lost my left eye and left arm—and was demoted to this.”

Seolhwa at once grasped the story he was telling.

The child was Yu Gang, and the Lady Dan he spoke of was Yu Gang’s birth mother.

Yu Gang, listening, looked devastated.

His birth mother’s death had been effectively confirmed; it would be no small blow.

“Do you know how great a shock it was to me, seeing you today at midday—standing beside the Cult Lord on the training ground?”

The man spoke on, almost in appeal.

“Young Master.”

He suddenly grasped Yu Gang’s hand.

“Do you know who gave me the order, back then, to kill Lady Dan and the Young Master?”

Before the shock of his mother’s death had even faded—

“The current Cult Lord.”

—came another shattering truth.

The man said he had come because he could not bear to watch Yu Gang stand at the Cult Lord’s side in ignorance.

The life he had saved—at the cost of an arm and an eye, a warrior’s very life—could not be left at the side of the very man who had wanted it ended.

She understood the man’s heart—but Seolhwa worried for Yu Gang, who had to bear the full weight of his words.

“I beg you, Young Master—choose wisely.”

With that, the man departed.

Even after he left, Yu Gang stood there for a long time as if nailed in place.

In that time, the sun sank lower still.

“Haa...”

Yu Gang looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh.

Unsure what to say, Seolhwa remained hidden even after the man was gone.

Then Yu Gang began to walk.

Seolhwa followed him at a distance.

Her realm had risen so far that Yu Gang could not sense she was near.

At last, when Seolhwa saw where he stopped, her gaze trembled faintly.

Here...

It was the quarters she had stayed in before going to Sama Cheon.

No one had stayed there since; the hall held not a trace of warmth.

But Yu Gang did not stop.

He was about to step inside when—

“Where are you going?”

Seolhwa made her presence known.

He turned back, eyes disbelieving.

****

“...Seolhwa.”

Whatever had happened in the meantime, his face had grown gaunter as he came toward her.

“Is it really... you? You came back...?”

His center listed, just a little.

Before she had gone to Sama Cheon, he had been like a child, joyful at the thought of seeing his family.

“Yes. I’m back.”

Yu Gang’s brows crumpled, as if he might cry.

Tap—

He ran to Seolhwa and wrapped his arms around her at once.

“Seolhwa.”

His body was cold.

He was always warm—but today, he was chilled.

“I missed you. I worried, wondering why you didn’t come.”

“I’m sorry. I was delayed.”

Seolhwa held him tight.

She wanted her warmth to drive out even a little of that cold.

“I... listen...”

With difficulty, Yu Gang forced out words, one by one.

His mother, those who had cast him away, the Demonic Cult’s might, succession.

Even if he didn’t say it, Seolhwa knew what he wanted to say.

“You don’t have to. I heard it all.”

Yu Gang drew back from her arms and looked at her.

His eyes were shaking.

“All... of it...?”

“Yes. Everything.”

His clear eyes brimmed again.

“Even so... we can still go back...?”

Even knowing everything, she had told him they could return.

Even knowing that, if they left, they could not gain the Demonic Cult’s strength.

“I... I can still go back—with you?”

“If that’s what you want.”

“...”

Yu Gang’s lips parted, then closed.

His heart wanted to leave this instant.

But if she left it to his choice—didn’t that mean Seolhwa had no choice but to give up the Demonic Cult’s strength?

He wanted to go back—but to gain the Demonic Cult’s might, then...

“No. I don’t think I can do this.”

“?”

Yu Gang looked at her.

Can’t?

What?

“If you stay here, I won’t be able to see you when I miss you.”

“...!”

Yu Gang’s eyes went wide as lanterns.

Seolhwa took his hand.

Startled, he looked between their joined hands and her face.

“Seol...hwa...?”

“I don’t even know what this feeling is. But if you’re in a place I can’t see you when I want to, I might never understand it for the rest of my life. So...”

“...”

“Let’s go back. Together.”

Yu Gang’s gaze shifted from surprise to bewilderment.

More than hearing that his mother was dead—more than hearing that the one who had tried to kill his mother and him was his father—

This moment shocked him more.

“I’ll ask you anyway. If we leave, we might never be able to come back.”

He had tried to kill Yu Gang—but he was a father of the same blood.

He might never see such a father again.

“Will that be all right?”

“...Yes.”

Yu Gang nodded without hesitation.

Parents he had not had since childhood—he could go on living as if they were not there.

More than that—Seolhwa had reached out to him first. How could he refuse?

For Yu Gang, there was no other choice.

“I want to go. With you.”

Seolhwa’s lips curved, satisfied.

She clasped Yu Gang’s hand tighter.

He gripped hers in return.

“Let’s go.”

The two of them left the Demonic Cult then and there.

And just as they passed beyond the Demonic Cult’s main mountain, the No-Trace Unit under the lead of White Shadow took up pursuit behind them.