TSBIRBV chapter 9

“Understood.”

Jinyoung moved toward his desk. His mind was already busy organizing the tasks he needed to handle before returning to the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.

“So, has your curiosity been satisfied?”

Jinyoung, who had just sat down and placed the flowerpot beside his desk, was startled and looked at Je Haryang. His lord was still focused on his letter, but there was a sternness in his voice.

Jinyoung quickly bowed his head.

“No, it hasn’t.”

He hadn’t expected to be caught so quickly when he thought he’d slipped away unnoticed. If Je Haryang had already guessed his actions, there was no reason to hide it.

“It seems I’ve taken a needless trip with nothing to gain.”

“Not entirely. I’ve learned that the guest is someone completely different from what I expected.”

“Completely different, huh.”

Je Haryang chuckled. Although his lips softened, his eyes remained solemn. It was as if he were reminiscing about a distant regret or harboring an unfathomable suspicion.

Whichever it was, it was something Jinyoung couldn’t fathom.

In addition to the urgent news, Jinyoung organized the issues requiring Haryang’s approval and brought them over.

Even as he stacked the bamboo slips, Haryang remained focused on completing his letter, not sparing a glance at the documents.

As Jinyoung was about to return to his seat, he paused at the sight of the name “Baekyang Jin-in” written at the end of the letter.

Jinyoung knew that name.

“Must you send him to Kunlun?”

After hesitating, Jinyoung cautiously asked. Though he still believed that the suspicious guest needed to be removed from Je Haryang’s side.

The problem was Je Haryang.

As soon as his lord had discovered the young man, Moon Yegyeol, on the riverbank at the foot of Mount Kunlun, he had taken him to the manor in Cheonghae.

Usually, he would keep his distance from doctors, yet he summoned several to tend to Yegyeol’s injuries, staying by his side, forgetting even to eat and sleep until the patient woke.

Even for Jinyoung, who had served Haryang the longest among his three subordinates, this behavior was unfamiliar.

It was strange to see his lord so invested in someone’s life and death. It was unlike him to cling to something when there was no hope, no miracle to rely on.

At that time, he had thought it was dangerous.

If it were dry wood, it might have caught fire, but Haryang was burning from a piece of wood soaked in water.

Jinyoung was filled with immense anxiety. He couldn’t stop worrying that if the guest were to die, his master might be driven to the extreme of biting his own tongue in despair—a fear that bordered on delusion.

Even though there was no real reason for such fear, Je Haryang’s demeanor appeared that desperate.

“Yet, as soon as the guest recovers, he is to be sent to Kunlun…”

Considering the way his master had acted up to this point, this was far from normal behavior.

For the first time since Jinyoung entered the room, Je Haryang paused his writing and set down his brush.

“There is no better refuge for a disciple than Kunlun.”

At those words, a shiver ran down Jinyoung’s spine.

Though his master had many enemies, none were more formidable than the Kunlun sect.

“I may not be able to deal with the living, but I cannot strike down the dead.”

Je Haryang was the only person unable to return to Kunlun, having sworn never to set foot there again, even after death.

As the day of the annual bloodshed approached, he could only gaze at the distant clouds over the mountain slopes, unable to return to Kunlun.

Neither in life nor in death could his blood, flesh, or ashes ascend Kunlun.

“Deliver this to Samrang.”

Holding the letter that was to be sent to Kunlun, Jinyoung looked down at it with a troubled expression.

Though Je Haryang was resolute in his decision, Jinyoung hesitated, unsure if this was the right course of action.

Despite having cared so deeply for the guest, Je Haryang intended to send him away to Kunlun for his own protection.

But Jinyoung bowed respectfully.

“I will deliver it immediately.”

“Oh, and…”

As Jinyoung was about to leave with the letter, Je Haryang called him back.

“Leave that here.”

Jinyoung carefully placed the flowerpot he had brought near Je Haryang and then retreated as if nothing had happened.

Je Haryang, expressionless as if he had never written the letter, opened the bamboo slip that Jinyoung had left behind.

Time passed, and the shadow of the brush holder slowly shifted across the back of Je Haryang’s hand. He eventually set the bamboo slip aside.

It was time to prepare Yegyeol’s meal and give him his medicine.

As Je Haryang stood, he glanced at the flowerpot.

After some hesitation, his fingers lightly touched the deformed leaves of the plant. Startled by his own touch, he withdrew his hand and left the room.

It wasn’t until dinner that Je Haryang appeared, wearing his usual gentle expression.

“I saw Jinyoung carrying a flowerpot. Did you happen to meet him?”

“Oh…”

Yegyeol lowered his eyes as he fiddled with his chopsticks.

It seemed Jinyoung hadn’t run to tattle to the head brother, but it was surprising that he would do something so noticeable.

“Foolish…”

Clicking his tongue at Yegyeol’s apparent incompetence, he began to unravel his pre-prepared excuse.

“The head brother told me not to go outside during the day, but I felt stifled, so I decided to take a look around the garden. Then I was startled by someone claiming to work for the merchant guild.”

“So, you uprooted a plant that had taken deep root in the ground.”

Je Haryang’s voice was calm, but it felt as if he was suppressing something. Was he angry? Yegyeol couldn’t tell.

“To cover my tracks and prevent the head brother from finding out, I grabbed the nearest plant and gave it as a gift.”

“You do have an eye for things. That’s a flower imported from the West.”

A subtle smile appeared on Je Haryang’s face.

“I didn’t realize it was something so valuable.”

Realizing why Je Haryang had taken the trouble to plant such an expensive flower, Yegyeol’s mouth fell open.

He had essentially admitted to stealing a precious plant from someone else’s garden and then using it as a bribe.

“I’ll go back and retrieve it.”

Yegyeol sprang to his feet, but Je Haryang stopped him before he could leave.

“It’s fine.”

“But the flower…”

“It’s fine. There’s nothing I have that I wouldn’t give to you.”

Je Haryang’s voice was gentle as he spoke.

“Besides, do you even know where to go to find him?”

Him?

Yegyeol decided he would be kinder to Jinyoung the next time they met, realizing that Je Haryang referred to him so affectionately.

“Um… no.”

It was obvious that he wouldn’t know.

The only places Yegyeol was allowed to be were this room and the garden beyond. He had never considered leaving Je Haryang’s side.

As Yegyeol sat back down, Je Haryang’s gaze softened—a small difference that only someone with keen perception would notice.

“Why do you look so tense?”

“I thought you were going to scold me.”

“Why would I?”

“I removed my bandages, wandered around the garden alone during the day, and even gave away a precious flower…”

“It was cloudy today, so it was fine to remove the bandages. Besides, you must have felt suffocated staying inside all the time, which is why you went out. If anything, I’m sorry for leaving you alone. As for the flower, we can always plant another one.”

Despite the flower’s value, there was no sign of regret on Je Haryang’s face. Just as he had no peer in martial arts, he seemed to excel in his new role as a merchant.

The best part was that the kindness Yegyeol had only admired from afar was now directed at him. It was a feeling as surreal as returning to a world from a past life.

“Just hang in there a little longer. Once we go to Kunlun, you’ll be free to wander around as you please.”

Kunlun, again.

Yegyeol wished he could go back and scold himself for ever wanting to return to Kunlun with his head brother.

It was all because of his past life. In that life, Yegyeol had thought that if a dragon existed, soaring among the clouds around the peaks of Kunlun Mountain, it would be Je Haryang.

It wasn’t until he was reborn that the boy, who had once given his life for a distant and unreachable idol, realized Je Haryang was human after all.

In the most unexpected way.

“Isn’t there some excuse that would keep the head brother from having to take me with him without burning down the monastery?”

Yegyeol found it impossible to grasp onto a reasonable excuse. Perhaps his mind had frozen from anxiety.

“Would altitude sickness be enough to make the head brother give up?”

He didn’t want to make Je Haryang worry by pretending to be sick, but without that worry, Yegyeol’s life was like a candle in the wind.

“Better to make him worry than to actually die.”

As these dark thoughts crossed his mind, Je Haryang spoke up.

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

Yegyeol straightened his back instinctively, sensing the gravity of Je Haryang’s words.

His firm gaze indicated he was ready, but Je Haryang took a long time before speaking.

Just when Yegyeol’s anxiety had grown like bamboo during the prolonged silence, Je Haryang finally spoke.

“You’ve said that you don’t remember much after the bloodshed at Kunlun.”

Yegyeol nodded silently.

“Gyeol, it’s been twenty years since then.”