Absolute Regression - Chapter 406



Only Noblemtl

Try being fooled by the 406th sect leader once.

The sword dance drama could feel the determination of the drunkard.

I was determined to kill everyone involved in this.

Once he had made up his mind, it was a decision he could not and should not interfere with. This was Amazon’s decision.

The sword dance looked at Ian. She was looking at the drunken woman as mentioned above. Ian also instinctively felt what the drunken woman was thinking. The drunken woman’s determination was even more frightening because she was not drunk.

Geommugeuk looked at Hanseol.

‘Do you feel it?’

How could Hanseol not feel the emotion of being drunk? She just couldn’t understand it.

‘Why are you doing this?’

I don’t think it’s a relationship that should go this far. If he really liked a woman, he wouldn’t have been apart. At most, we exchange letters and drinks once or twice a year. Isn’t that all there is to a relationship?

It’s human nature to deceive and cheat others even when looking them in the eye, so what can there be in a relationship where you haven’t even seen each other’s faces?

However, I agree with one thing.

“It’s true that I have questions about Wonju’s death.”

The sword dance spoke to her.

“Please help us actively resolve this incident at the Ice Palace.”

“What do you want?”

Geommu-geuk looked at Chwi-ma. He planned to leave this matter entirely to Chwi-ma.

But Chwima showed an unexpected reaction.

“Let the young leader decide. The smarter one should use his head.”

“You were doing such a great job of reasoning just a moment ago?”

“I did that because I know that person well.”

You can tell that Chuma is a smart person just by looking at his judgments.

Chwima said with his eyes while watching the sword dance.

-Take me to them.

Geommugeuk answered with his eyes.

-I will definitely do that.

Geommugeuk said to Hanseol.

“Please do me one favor. I don’t need any other help. That one thing is enough.”

Hanseol was curious. What on earth could be the request that would make her ask for only one?

“Your Majesty, please join our investigation team.”

Hanseol opened her eyes wide at the unexpected request.

“Let’s solve it together!”

Chwima and Ian were greatly impressed.

With Hanseol joining, there will be no need to ask her for any favors in the future. If you move with her, you will be able to handle most of the tasks that can be done in the Ice Palace.

It was the moment when the devil asked, “What is your wish?” and I answered, “To have you.”

And this request had another hidden intention of the sword dance that Ian and Chwima were unaware of. He wanted to keep her close to him because the Blood King might be after her.

“Are you serious?”

“I’m serious.”

Hanseol’s words of refusal were rising to her throat. Her instinct was to reject socializing with people.

The reason why he didn’t reject it right away was because he thought that the main character had not committed suicide. If that was the case, he had to find the evil spirit for the sake of the Ice Palace.

“You’re still helping me, right?”

“Isn’t that helping someone on the same side?”

“!”

That’s right. I accepted this offer unilaterally and told my mother that I wanted to find out what kind of person the cult leader was. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that I wanted to show that I could see through the rumors and that they were exaggerated.

‘Side with them?’

Hanseol looked at the three people with a renewed sense of anticipation.

It was a truly strange combination. That overly beautiful woman had come all the way to Bukhae to rescue the husband of the woman who had given her a glass of water.

The drunkard, who is abstinent from alcohol, sometimes says he will take revenge on the person with whom he exchanged alcohol and letters.

The swindler-like leader who is praised as a transcendent being is asking me to join him.

Hanseol shook her head with an expression of incomprehension. But her decision was the opposite of that action.

“Okay, I’ll join you. But there’s a condition.”

“Speak.”

“You must not hide anything from me while doing your work.”

“Okay, I’ll tell you everything. But promise me this. Don’t avoid it and say you don’t want to hear it. Don’t say it hurts your ears.”

In that way, Han Seol also became a member of the investigation team for this case. However, the biggest obstacle she had to overcome was from now on.

“Then move immediately. I think it would be better if you stayed with Ian.”

“You want me to move?”

“Why are you so surprised? From now on, we are a family, so of course we should sleep together, eat together, and think together.”

Family? Hanseol regretted her decision to join. It was a big decision for her to just agree to become a member of the same family.

‘What on earth do you want from me?’

Despite feeling such opposition, Geommugeuk pretended not to know and spoke to her.

“There is power in the experience of eating and sleeping together. Try it out this time.”

Hanseol looked at Ian. Sleeping with that woman? I’ve never slept in a room with a man before.

In this situation, Geommu-geuk took care of Ian.

“I’m sorry I decided without consulting you in advance.”

“No, I’m fine.”

Ian said to Hanseol.

“Give me the honor of being with you, My Lady.”

Chwima also added a word.

“This is an important matter to me, so please give in to me, Your Majesty.”

Although he was reluctant, Hanseol eventually gave his consent.

“Okay, let’s do that.”

It’s not because of the two of them. Hanseol has just started practicing sword dance and martial arts. Sword dance will definitely prove that he is someone who uses words to manipulate people.

“What should I do now?”

Not only Hanseol who asked the question, but also Chwima and Ian were at a loss. What should we investigate now? Should we meet more people around us? Or should we look at the battle records?

Fortunately, the Geommu Theater was standing in front of the path it had to take.

“You have to wonder. Why was it Wonju? Why did they have to kill Wonju of the Baekjuseolwon among all the people in the Ice Palace?”

And the sword dance drama found the answer in one person. Respectfully, because it was in front of Hanseol.

“I think Amazon already knows the answer.”

The two women’s gaze turned to Chwima. They were all surprised, but Chwima was the most surprised.

“Do I know why?”

“Yes. Even if you don’t know who killed him, you probably know why they killed him.”

“I don’t know?”

Although Chwima was flustered as if he had been cornered by a monster, Geommugeuk was resolute.

“No, you know.”

There was a reason why Geommugeuk thought so.

“You, the Lord, have never had any problems in Baekjuseolwon, and you are not someone who has mastered strong martial arts. You are not someone with power, resentment, or secrets. So what is the reason?”

The reason why Chwima said he knew was contained in these last words.

“His death was definitely alcohol-related.”

* * *

As the carriage entered the Bukhyeolmun Gate, Yang Joong finally felt relieved.

‘I came back home.’

The carriage finally stopped when it reached Daejeon, deep inside Naewon.

Yang Joong got out of the carriage. His father did not return in the same carriage. They might have talked about this and that while riding together.

He was angry. Yang Joong understood his father. He valued Buk Hyeon Moon more than his children. It was only natural that he was angry at himself for causing such great harm.

On the other hand, Yang Joong’s resentment towards his father faded when he returned home.

When he demanded a hostage exchange, he abandoned him, but he was still his father who saved him by making a deal with the North Sea Ice Palace. At any rate, he survived, so that was good.

My father was alone in Daejeon. He had defeated all the soldiers who usually guarded the place.

‘You intend to reprimand me for my mistake.’

He would not want to damage his son’s honor in front of his subordinates. Feeling his father’s consideration, his heart felt even more at ease.

“father.”

My father was staring out the window with his back turned in silence. Today, that back felt even more unfamiliar and scary.

Yang Joong unconditionally placed the blame on the Demonic Cult.

“I really didn’t know that the demonic bastards would show up.”

Then the Bukhyeolmunju asked coldly.

“Why did you say that?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The location of the laboratory.”

At that moment, Yang Joong’s heart sank. He had forgotten. The fact that he had told them all the places where the captured people might be.

‘I said it to survive. You refused to exchange hostages and abandoned me, so you did it to survive!’

But the two of them weren’t usually able to have such candid conversations.

Yang Joong tried hard to suppress his surging emotions and said as Geommugeuk had told him.

“It was to lure them there and capture them. If they had moved the lab, I believe they would have definitely prepared countermeasures against intrusion at the new location.”

But that didn’t work on my father.

“If you had to tell me because he threatened to kill you, you should have told me a place other than the lab. That’s the only place I know. You should have just stopped him.”

‘It was a life or death situation, Father!’

Yang Joong didn’t make any excuses. It would have been nice to just scold him and end it here, but the real reprimanding was just beginning.

“The emperor died because of you.”

Hwang Soo was the person who was conducting the experiment there.

‘So? Is it more important that he’s dead? Than that this son is alive?’

It was something I had been building up in my mind all along. But I couldn’t do that. It would only make my father more angry. My father would think it was a childish complaint that didn’t even know the difference between public and private.

“I was wrong. I will never make the same mistake again.”

But my father did not forgive.

“Go away.”

“!”

“Go to Zhejiang and don’t come back until I tell you to.”

Zhejiang was too far away from here. To Yang Zhong, the words “leave for Zhejiang” were like a death sentence.

Yang-Joong was shocked to learn that his father was trying to kick him out.

The father made his two sons fight for the succession. The father did not give his trust to the eldest son. That is why Yang-jung had hope. He thought that he could become the successor too.

So I really did all kinds of things.

For the sake of the Bukhyeolmun Gate and for my father, I did things that should not be known to the world.

But now I knew. I hadn’t dreamed with my father. I had dreamed alone.

“No, I won’t leave!”

Yang Joong was angry. He had been afraid of his father and could not properly express his true feelings, but now he could not hold it in anymore.

“I did everything my father told me to do. If he told me to kill, I killed. If he told me to kidnap, I kidnapped. And now you’re telling me to leave? I don’t like it!”

‘You used me like a hunting dog. If your child is a hunting dog, then what is the father?’

It was a word I couldn’t bring myself to say. But it was a resentment I could have let go of, considering what would happen next.

Phew!

With the sound of flesh being torn, Yang Zhong’s words and movements stopped.

He lowered his head and looked at the bloody blade sticking out of his chest. Was it because he was so shocked? It didn’t hurt.

I’ve seen so many images of swords piercing people, yet this image now seems so unfamiliar.

Who the hell is this? Who can come in here?

He slowly turned his head to look behind him and saw that the person who had stabbed him was the first person he thought of.

He was the eldest son of the Bukhyeolmun clan and his older brother, Yang Seok.

His older brother, who had always been a thorn in his side during the fight for succession, was able to do something like this.

The person Yang Joong couldn’t understand right now was his father. That father who was silently watching this scene. My brother wouldn’t have dared do something like this without his father’s permission. If he refused to leave, he was told to kill him.

“… … If it was going to be like this, why did you save me?”

A cold answer came out to a question full of resentment.

“We cannot allow the bloodline of the Bukhyeolmun to die at the hands of others. They can only die at our hands.”

That’s ridiculous. If that’s the case, you should have exchanged hostages. Instead of killing him, you should have sent him to Jeokgang somehow. If he didn’t go, you should have persuaded him and sent him. You should have sent him after suggesting a blood transfusion. If it were my father, he would have done that…

Yang Zhong’s resentment ended there.

Phew!

The sword was roughly pulled out, and Yang-Joong fell to the ground, blood gushing from his chest, dying.

Joo-gyu and Hwang-chu, who had been kidnapped along with Yang-jung earlier, had already been eliminated.

The Bukhyeolmunju spoke to Yang Seok.

“The leader of the Demonic Cult stayed in the Ice Palace and began investigating this incident.”

“We will cut off any tail that might connect us.”

“This is a matter of life and death for the text, so it must be handled with care.”

“Please leave it to me.”

After Yang Seok left, Bukhyeolmun looked down at his dead son. His heart ached. However, it was a pain that could be endured. If Bukhyeolmun collapsed, it would be unbearable.

* * *

The horse was walking around the yard.

‘I know the answer. The answer is within me.’

I thought the conjecture of the blacksmith was plausible. She was not someone who would have a grudge against anyone. If she was involved in a conspiracy, it would definitely be related to alcohol.

As I was walking, I took out the letter I had shared with her and read it. Then, as I was walking again, I stopped and read another letter. I looked up at the sky and thought about various things, and then I walked again.

Ian was looking at that drunken appearance from the window in the room.

“Your Majesty, you have a lot on your mind.”

Hanseol sat on the bed without answering. She didn’t even unpack the luggage she had brought.

“Do you regret it? That you decided to be together?”

Hanseol just gave him a cold look and still didn’t say anything.

Ian said nothing more and just looked out the window again.

It was serious outside and serious inside. The sword dance that had caused such great trouble to the two people had left the place for a while, saying that it was going somewhere.

At that moment, Hanseol suddenly spoke from behind.

“Don’t you feel like you’re being deceived?”

Ian turned his head and looked at Hanseol.

“To the young cult leader?”

Hanseol nodded.

Ian could tell how Hanseol felt about him. He felt like he was being used and tricked by Geommugeuk.

I was thinking of just giving him a smile, but then I decided not to. It was okay for him to think of himself that way, but Ian couldn’t stand it when he thought of Geommu Geuk that way.

“Maybe.”

Although he said it as if he was admitting it, it was the beginning of ‘making the sword dance drama known.’

“I was tricked into curing the side effects of the martial arts I had learned. I didn’t say anything, but it was a side effect that had caused me a lot of trouble.”

Ian did not reveal the specifics of the side effects.

“Because I was deceived like that, I learned swordsmanship that I could never have dreamed of, and became the head of an organization that I could never have dreamed of. Because I was deceived like that, I also became the adopted daughter of someone that I could never have dreamed of my entire life.”

Hanseol wasn’t curious about what kind of swordsmanship it was or what kind of organization it was, but she was curious about who her father, whom she had never dreamed of in her entire life, was.

“Who are you talking about?”

Ian answered honestly. It wasn’t a secret anyway.

“This is the head of our school, Lord Kwonma.”

Hanseol was surprised to hear that Ian was Kwonma’s daughter.

‘This woman is Kwon Ma’s daughter?’

So did the cult leader care for this woman? No. Now Ian was saying that it was because he met the cult leader that he was able to become Kwon Ma’s daughter.

“I was deceived like that and became drinking buddies with the Lord of the Underworld and the Lord of Demons, and the person who was supposed to be the next Demon Lord ended up becoming the leader of the organization I lead.”

Since none of the words he continued to speak were ordinary, Hanseol suspected that Ian was lying. But would he dare to lie to her? Would something that would be revealed if investigated?

“And now I’m talking to the Princess of the North Sea Ice Palace. If I hadn’t been deceived by our Princess, I would have been guarding the front door.”

Ian’s eyes were clearer and more calm than ever.

“Isn’t it okay to live a life of deception like this?”

It wasn’t just to clear up misunderstandings about the Silk Sword Dance. It was something that other people might have just overlooked.

But strangely, I felt like telling Hanseol properly. That cold princess wasn’t the type of person I would like.

“Isn’t it hard to believe? Sometimes I don’t believe it either. There are many times when I wonder if this is a dream. That’s why I told you before. I told you to believe it once. Oh, now I have to say it differently.”

After a moment, Ian said:

“Try being fooled by the little cult leader once.”

The two people’s gazes were entangled in the air. Hanseol couldn’t understand, and couldn’t believe it. However, she didn’t feel any falsehood in Ian’s clear eyes looking at her.

Just then, Chwima rushed into the room and looked for Geommugeuk.

“Where is the cult leader?”

“He said he had something to do and went out. What brought him here?”

Chwima was a little excited, which was understandable.

“The answer was within me!”