“Did you say you have a friend with the surname Kang…?”
Murong Sang-a’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
“He’s the first friend I made after coming out to the Martial Arts World. He’s from Joseon.”
Cheongun felt a bit wronged. Wasn’t his first friend from Hubei Province the Kang family? Besides, wasn’t the author’s name edited in the Chronicles of the Wind and Cloud Heroes, Kang Mo?
Even the Joseon folks living in Central Plains didn’t they say the author was likely a Kang rather than a Mi?
Of course, he thought it was just a common surname and asked, not knowing the connection in front of him.
Cheongun took a little detour to apologize.
“Is that so?”
Of course, the other person’s reaction was not favorable.
Murong Sang-a stared at Cheongun with tightly closed lips. Why was he bringing up his Kang family friend again?
Was he trying to mention the feud of the Kang family? Or was he going to talk about Liang’s matter? Either way, it was definitely a touchy subject.
“His name may not be known in Yodong Province, but he’s quite well-known back in Hubei Province.”
“In Hubei?”
“He’s a really good writer.”
“A writer, you say?”
Fortunately, it seemed he wasn’t saying it with malice. Could he really just be trying to talk about his friend? Murong Sang-a lowered her guard slightly and spoke to Cheongun.
“That friend is an author. He writes about the Martial Arts World. He has written books that are sold out in Hubei.”
“Is that so?”
“Even while drifting down the Yangtze River, people were talking about his novels.”
After seeing Cheongun’s proud smile, Murong Sang-a realized the intent behind the conversation.
It was just a simple chat mixed with bragging about a friend. Perhaps an explanation for why he casually mentioned the Kang family. If the benefactor was trying to apologize, then even if it is a sensitive topic, she would accept it. Murong Sang-a decided to play along with Cheongun’s words.
“It must be quite hard to gain that level of fame by writing about the Martial Arts World. You have a remarkable friend.”
As she erased her wariness towards the topic about the Joseon man with the surname Kang, someone began to float in the back of her mind.
‘He really wrote well, didn’t he?’
The Joseon folklore that connected her to the Master. Later, she discovered those stories didn’t exist in Joseon.
‘The Mask Princess was written for me.’
Creating just an interesting story is hard enough, but he even embedded meanings that only she could catch and added codes that would be easily missed by others.
How much thought must he have put into that for her sake?
He was a hero who used everything he had to save the one he loved. In that moment, the heart of the wicked woman ached.
“He was a Joseon person, but full of admiration for heroes.”
“Hero…? Are you saying?”
Hero. As that word came out of Cheongun’s mouth, which had just been reflecting on the Master, Murong Sang-a looked at him, unable to close her slightly parted lips.
“Thanks to him, I was able to become close without difficulty.”
“What kind of book did he write?”
Murong Sang-a now listened intently, not just as a simple exchange.
“That is… Ah!”
Cheongun seemed startled and covered his mouth, like he was about to reveal something he shouldn’t have.
‘Adult books… No, he’s a writer of colored heroic stories.’
While Cheongun knew The Rise of the Tang Family discussed about heroes, explaining it to others was another matter.
His friend usually wrote under a pseudonym. After all, didn’t adult authors use pseudonyms to hide their identities?
He had to keep the secret for his friend’s honor.
“…?”
“It’s embarrassing, but I didn’t get to read the book because I met him while traveling.”
Instead of blaming his friend, Cheongun decided to turn the blame onto himself.
He genuinely couldn’t read the book after all. He had visited Yichang only to find the Tea Bookstore was closed, and other bookstores didn’t sell The Rise of the Tang Family.
“Is that so?”
Cheongun felt a cold reaction piercing his ears. I’m done for. Does she think I’m lying?
“It was certainly a rush situation, so I didn’t have the time to read the book.”
Cheongun decided to add more.
“In a rush situation?”
“I met him on the way to the Sichuan Tang Family when his lover was poisoned.”
“That sounds serious.”
“It was indeed serious. My friend risked his life to go from Hubei to Sichuan for his lover.”
A demonic cult’s ambush. A journey risking life to reach the Tang Family. Though many things happened until Cheongun reached Yodong Province, it was still the most memorable.
“To risk his life for his lover…”
“Fortunately, he reached the Tang Family safely. By now, he should be happily in the embrace of his beloved.”
He hadn’t heard the conclusion. But everyone was filled with certainty. Surely, it must have happened by now. It had to.
Cheongun silently wished for his friend’s beloved to recover safely.
“To risk his life to save his lover. Truly… that’s really fortunate.”
Cheongun was unaware.
A man with the surname Kang.
A woman in a life-threatening crisis.
A man risking his life to save his lover. And finally, a happy ending.
He didn’t know the significance of what he had just said to the woman, Murong Sang-a, right in front of him. Though he was trying hard to pretend to be calm in front of the benefactor, his eyes were trembling.
“So, anyhow…”
“…?”
“I… I didn’t mean to imply anything with the common surname Kang.”
Cheongun forced a strained smile and apologized for his rudeness.
Perhaps the two could have talked more about the Joseon man with the surname Kang. But after all, it was merely chit-chat for Cheongun’s apology.
Since Murong Sang-a understood the benefactor’s intent, she refrained from probing further.
No, she couldn’t probe further.
A man with the surname Kang who risked his life to save a woman. The wicked woman who plunged a dagger into the heart of a hero could not ask about a story that reached a different but similar conclusion.
The wounds and guilt in Murong Sang-a’s heart gnawed at her incessantly.
“You don’t need to worry too much. It’s not like I’ve been troubled by that issue.”
What Murong Sang-a could do was barely maintain her impassive face and end today’s duel.
—-
“Miss, let me brush your hair.”
“You must be tired, so please sit down.”
“Please do.”
Murong Sang-a, finished with her bath, entrusted her tangled hair to her attendants.
“Our lady! How can your skin be like that of a baby’s! Your skin seems to improve day by day.”
Today, the lady’s mood seemed heavy. The two attendants, having just overheard Cheongun and the lady’s conversation at the training ground, knew the situation.
One attendant tried to lighten the mood with cheerful chatter.
“Even if you have a pretty face, if you frown, you’ll look ugly… Hah. Why are you prettier still?”
“…”
The attendant continued to chatter away, but the heavy atmosphere didn’t lighten at all.
“Miss…”
“Is something wrong?”
Murong Sang-a replied to one attendant quietly brushing her hair.
“If there’s something bothering you, shall I send someone to look into it?”
If there were members of the Spear Peak Band present, they might have reprimanded the attendant for speaking out of turn. However, even Murong Sang-a’s attendants had their own opinions.
The attendants had stayed by the lady’s side even when half of the Spear Peak Band had left. They might not know about the events at Changbong Hall, but when it came to the lady, the attendants certainly had something to say.
“…”
Murong Sang-a’s gaze fell low.
“What if it’s someone who acts similarly? Could it be a distant relative or something?”
“What are you saying? You mean that Joseon writer from earlier?”
The attendant who had just tried to lighten the mood looked shocked, turning to her friend.
“If there’s something bothering you, it could be one way to relieve your burdens to find him and support him.”
“Hey. It’s a person thousands of miles away in Hubei Province. And just because he shares a surname, does that mean they’re related?”
“There could be something to it, you never know.”
“It’s probably just a wild goose chase. Even if he is related, what would you do? They seem to be living well. Do you want to disturb the lady’s peace with foolish talk?”
The cheerful attendant shot a look at her friend with wide eyes.
“Still…”
Both attendants had valid points.
The lady felt a sense of guilt towards the Kang family. There was a possibility that a man with the surname Kang could be a relative of the Kang family of the 역관 clan. Supporting him could lessen her emotional burden.
But how ridiculous. Not only the Kang family of the 역관 clan but also countless others with the surname Kang. Besides, Hubei was a whole half-year’s journey away. It was obvious it would be a futile effort.
Murong Sang-a quietly listened to her attendants’ chatter, finally managing to speak.
“Thank you for your concern. If it’s all settled, let’s head back.”
A polite dismissal. Murong Sang-a decided not to respond to her attendants anymore.
“Miss…”
“I’m sorry. I will finish up and leave right away.”
The attendants bore witness to the lady’s ongoing sorrow over an irreversible love and swallowed their words.
—-
“You follow me later. Seriously. I’ll be dead at the hands of my sisters!”
“I was just worried about you!”
Once the sounds of her attendants faded outside the door, Murong Sang-a quietly sank into her thoughts.
The words of her two attendants seemed reasonable. They could be relatives. Then it would be wise to help in order to unburden her heart. No, it was foolish talk.
With a long sigh, Murong Sang-a let out her thoughts.
“Humans need some sense of dignity.”
Murong Sang-a was self-deprecating. It wasn’t because the Joseon writer with the surname Kang probably wasn’t Master’s relative; the women from the Kang family also hated the Murong family. They would rather die than receive help from the Murong household.
“If you’re going to seek solace for your heart, it’s better not to do it.”
The writer with the surname Kang, unlike the women of Kang, wasn’t in a position where he needed saving.
She had heard he was a famous author.
If he happened to be the Master’s distant relative, how would he feel? How insulted he would surely feel if the family’s nemesis suddenly appeared, offering money.
“You’d be trying to ease your own heart! What? You think I’d accept money for the blood of my family?!”
That reaction would be an obvious one. Even if she tried to disguise her name, it wouldn’t matter. It would only be a self-soothing act.
Such foolish mistakes were unacceptable. A wrongful act.
Her ending would be to bear the sins and step into the fiery pit, not to relieve her heart’s debts with foolish gestures.
“To risk one’s life to save a lover and in the end, the two become happy.”
Murong Sang-a murmured to herself, hugging her knees sadly.
Was there ever a conclusion like that for her?
If only she could truly complain how hard it was today, perhaps her beloved Master would have held her dearly.
Maybe there could have been that ending.
“It’s just the opposite for me.”
If the wicked woman hadn’t betrayed her hero.
On a quiet night, perhaps she could have gazed into the eyes of her beloved Master instead of facing her sins from someone’s casual remark.
“There’s no need to think any further.”
It wasn’t a question to delve into any longer. It wasn’t about mulling over. It was merely something Cheongun said to apologize.
Instead of spending time raking through her own wounds, she needed to keep moving forward to meet her Master.
But.
“A writer with the surname Kang from Hubei’s Yichang…”
Murong Sang-a lay on her bed, blankly repeating to herself.
A single surname on a land as vast as the Central Plains, just because someone thought a dead person was alive doesn’t mean they could easily find them.
Yet today.
Perhaps, even a small clue she wouldn’t have thought about is deeply etched in her mind regarding a person she couldn’t forget, the one who lost her beloved.
