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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: cyno
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Namgung Soso couldn’t comprehend the current situation.
When the mask fell from above, she had been purely happy.
Even though she knew it couldn’t be true, even though she was acutely aware that it was absurd, the vain hope that he would grant her wish made her lift her head.
But when she looked up and saw Byeok’s face…
It wasn’t the face of Namgung Cheolbin, the man she had loved, missed, and longed for the most in the world.
She blinked, thinking she might be mistaken, but it was still him.
His hair color had changed, but the faintly visible blue eyes, the cross-shaped scar on his chin, and the large scar running from his right cheek to his neck were all the same.
Naturally, she couldn’t say a word.
Reuniting with her brother? She had imagined it countless times.
She had also imagined him rejecting her, and even a few times where he would forget all the past grievances and ask her to live with him.
But when the moment came in such an unexpected way…
“Ugh……”
She couldn’t utter a word.
After that, everything happened in a flash.
“…………….”
“…………….”
“…………….”
For a moment, Byeok, who had returned to being Namgung Cheolbin, vented his long-suppressed anger.
Namgung Soso, who had endured it all, tried to organize her chaotic thoughts.
Her jumbled mind only began to settle after Byeok left.
Of course, it was only a “temporary” level of clarity.
“So… it was really my brother who was Byeok……”
Thinking about it, it wasn’t that strange.
Her madness, which had never occurred with anyone other than Namgung Cheolbin, had only manifested with him.
If the two were the same person, it naturally made sense.
It also made sense that Namgung Cheolbin had come from the Taiyuan Zhen Family’s carriage.
Geomhwa’s group had passed through Anhui, so it made sense that they had taken in Namgung Cheolbin after he was expelled from the Namgung Family.
The changed voice and hair color were hard to understand, but…
If it was seen as a struggle to break free from “Namgung Cheolbin” and find a new life as “Byeok,” it wasn’t entirely incomprehensible.
However, there was still something unsettling.
“…He said he changed.”
Namgung Cheolbin is trash.
That is an absolute truth agreed upon by everyone in the world.
There are theories that he was originally righteous but changed, or that he was always a hypocrite, but no one disputes that he is a villain.
She was one of them, and she believed it was the former.
The way he had acted during the war against the Blood Cult couldn’t have been an act.
Ultimately, it was a fact that he had fallen, so she thought he must have gone mad from spilling too much blood.
But.
“He was the same……”
The back she saw when the Wangsa Faction attacked.
Standing firmly between her and the Wangsa Faction, holding a sword, his back was…
“Just like… back then……”
It was exactly like the reliable back she had seen when he had stayed behind alone to face the monsters in Bingcheong Valley.
A back that overflowed with righteousness and justice, rare in this era, and had no trace of malice, solely focused on “protecting.”
“…He was supposed to have fallen.”
She couldn’t understand.
He protected her? Even though his name had already been dragged through the mud, why would he act righteously?
No one reveres him anymore.
And it’s not like he has any good feelings for her; if anything, it’s closer to resentment.
No matter how much she thought about it, his actions that day weren’t something a “villain” would do.
Rather, his demeanor, which didn’t boast about saving a sect, resembled the Namgung Cheolbin of the past, who saw good deeds as a given.
“Did the fallen man… get lost in old memories……?”
She didn’t need to ask herself to know that wasn’t the case.
“Ha……”
She hadn’t had the time to think properly recently, being out of her mind, but Namgung Soso wasn’t so dull as to be unable to discern right from wrong.
“It’s one of the two.”
The villain Namgung Cheolbin that the world speaks of.
And the still-good Namgung Cheolbin she saw with her own eyes today.
The answer was clear.
“Damn it……!”
It was just too shameful to admit it herself.
If she admitted that Namgung Cheolbin was actually a good person, the words and actions she had directed at him would suffocate her.
Until yesterday, it had been hazy, but now she remembered clearly.
‘You trash, just cut off that dick of yours. It’s disgusting and filthy.’
Those were the words she had spat at him.
Her cheeks turned pale, and her lips dried as she remembered the cold words she had thrown at him when he had come to see his sister.
“You crazy bitch……!”
Slap!
Namgung Soso slapped her own cheek.
Her mind began to spiral into chaos again.
An overwhelming sense of guilt ran rampant, setting her heart on fire.
To her brother, who had remained unchanged despite the world’s rumors.
To her brother, who had endured unbearable loneliness and came to her with a thread of hope, only for her to spit such venomous words for her own comfort.
“You crazy bitch……! Die……! Please die……!”
Slap!
“You trashy bitch…! Why did you say those things……! What are you going to do now……!”
Slap!
“After all those years together, you didn’t believe in your brother……! Why did you do such a thing……!”
Slap!
She felt the urge to stab her own heart and tear it to pieces.
She wanted to unleash the disgust and self-loathing she felt without holding back.
But she stopped at a bit of self-harm, paradoxically, because of anger.
“…But.”
Anger toward those who had spread the absurd lies.
“What kind of scum……?”
No, this wasn’t just rumors.
Evidence, witnesses, and even the government’s verdict.
This wasn’t something that could be dismissed as mere gossip.
It was a systematic effort to isolate Namgung Cheolbin.
“What… what kind of bastard……!”
Her grip on her sword tightened.
She needed to apologize to Namgung Cheolbin.
She needed to prostrate herself, kowtow, and let her blood soak the ground as she apologized.
When enough blood had flowed to form a river, she would have to repeat her apologies hundreds of times.
But before that, there was something else she needed to do.
“Is the government in on it? Or……”
Namgung Soso began to think.
She turned her mind, which had been obsessed with her brother, toward those who had framed him.
It didn’t take long for her to figure out where she needed to go.
‘The evidence is probably gone.’
It had all been confiscated by the government or disappeared somewhere.
“But the witnesses remain.”
Namgung Soso thought of Hwangbo Jiyak, the Flower of the Hwangbo Family.
She had confessed that she had been slapped by Namgung Cheolbin while serving him alcohol.
There were many other witnesses as well.
Namgung Yeohui, a distant niece from Shaanxi.
She had confessed that she had lost her virginity to Namgung Cheolbin and that he was a pedophile.
And then……
………….
“Damn bastards.”
There were too many to list.
But Namgung Soso didn’t lose her strength.
In fact, it felt like she had finally found a purpose in life after so long, and vitality began to surge through her body.
“About… a hundred or so?”
If there were many people to find.
It would just take time.
She felt sorry for the Hangshan Sword Sect, but nothing was more important than her brother now.
“I’ll find out the truth, clearly.”
And then……
“I’ll take their heads and the head of the mastermind and offer them as an apology.”
She didn’t think she deserved forgiveness for the words she had spat at him.
But she had to apologize.
Because that… was not atonement, but judgment.
—
### Leaving Namgung Soso in a Panic
When I returned to the room after leaving Namgung Soso in a panic, the first thing I saw was Jin Gayeong, still unconscious.
Despite somehow winning, it was clear that Namgung Soso was stronger than Jin Gayeong.
“Ugh……”
Jin Gayeong groaned, furrowing her brow.
The duel with Namgung Soso must have been intense.
I held her wrist and channeled my energy into her, and her complexion improved slightly.
Whoosh-.
As I continued to slowly infuse her with energy.
“Ah… Uncle?”
At some point, Jin Gayeong opened her bleary eyes and called out to me.
“You’re awake.”
“What are you doing…?”
“I’m infusing you with energy.”
“……Pfft.”
She puffed out her cheeks, seemingly dissatisfied, and turned her head away from me.
I silently continued what I was doing, and at some point, Jin Gayeong spoke first.
“…You were going to leave me, so why are you infusing me with energy now?”
“Are you angry?”
“Yes, I’m angry. Why did you do that? Did you think I cared more about the title of Seven Flowers than you?”
“Am I that important to you?”
“Of course……! Ugh, never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Jin Gayeong, who had been about to say more, turned her body away from me, even more angry.
Though one of her arms was still in my grasp.
I had nothing to say, so I quietly continued to infuse her with energy.
Even if Jin Gayeong was angry, I had no words to offer.
In fact, I could tell through the flow of energy that she wasn’t really angry.
Though her energy wasn’t exactly stable either.
“……Uncle.”
Jin Gayeong called out to me without looking at me.
Her voice trembled.
Like someone holding back tears that were about to burst.
“To me… you’re more important than anything in the world.”
“Is that so.”
“I don’t want you to go anywhere. I don’t even want to imagine it.”
“I won’t go anywhere.”
“But you were going to leave.”
“Since you’ve told me how much you care for me, I’ll never leave you now.”
“……You’re mean.”
Jin Gayeong’s voice trembled even more.
She was really crying.
The unease she felt wasn’t from anger, but from sorrow and relief.
“You’re making my heart… sob… so uneasy, and then… sob… why do you say such reliable things……!”
“…….”
“You deceived me… sob! You said you wouldn’t go anywhere… and then you made that promise with Bihwa!!”
“I told you. I won’t leave you again.”
Whoosh!
Jin Gayeong turned toward me.
Her face was covered in tears.
I had stopped infusing her with energy long ago.
“Don’t leave me, don’t leave me behind. If you’re going somewhere, take me with you. It’s not that hard, is it?”
“I understand.”
“……Please.”
“Yes.”
Was it a delusion that her plea sounded like an order?
Jin Gayeong, who resembled Namgung Soso but was different.
Her tears, her sobs, her pleas—I knew they came from a place of genuine affection.
“I will never, ever leave your side. I swear it on heaven and earth.”
“……Hehe.”
Even her tearful, foolish smile felt warm to me.
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[Your Text Here]
mf took this long to figure out he was framed
Ehh, honestly, at first I did think it was sort of ridiculous how people turned against him, but recent revelations make it seem more believable. If his exceptionally intelligent younger brother, who serves as the grand strategist of the alliance was the one orchestrating his slandering then it makes sense that they were able to pull the wool over quite a lot of people’s eyes, especially the ones that’d been out of contact with him for some time like Soso. Still some questionable points, but it feels more understandable than it was originally.