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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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Namgung Sol’s mother, Namgung Shi-hee, had a lover.
Because she loved him, she wanted to live.
She dreamed of being with him.
When the Family Head died and the tide of the Sword Family Blood Feud had clearly turned against them, Namgung Shi-hee began to think of a way to survive.
And she was given a chance.
A chance to protect her family in exchange for selling out her blood relatives.
“Hand over the Namgung survivors. In return, I will spare the lives of those you love.”
It was a chance personally guaranteed by the Dugu Family Head, Dugu Wol.
Namgung Shi-hee took the hand Dugu Wol offered.
Thus, the Namgung Family collapsed from within.
Dugu Wol kept his promise.
Namgung Shi-hee was free.
She lived with her beloved lover, turning her head away from the crime she had committed.
She had a child.
It was a daughter.
Hoping she would live as an ordinary commoner, she named her Sol.
Jeong Sol.
And then, her husband died.
From illness.
It was a common occurrence.
The human body, not having learned proper martial arts, was so weak that dying from a seemingly trivial illness was nothing to be surprised about.
From then on, Namgung Shi-hee taught her daughter the heart method.
Excluding martial arts like sword arts, she only had her cultivate internal energy so that she could be healthy.
Please, may you alone not leave my side so futilely like my husband.
However, Namgung Shi-hee did not know.
That the one who would leave the family’s side first was not her daughter, but herself.
And the daughter, while organizing her mother’s belongings, learned a secret.
It was the secret that she herself was a survivor of the Namgung Family.
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Namgung Sol, having finished her confession about her origins, timidly glanced at Namgung-Woo.
“Aren’t… aren’t you angry?”
To that question, Namgung-Woo replied with a face that genuinely showed he didn’t understand.
“Angry? Why would I be?”
“Yes? Well… because the Namgung Family fell because of my mother…”
Namgung Sol, rather, became more flustered and added a reason as if making an excuse.
However, from Namgung-Woo’s perspective, getting angry would have been a more contrived situation.
A traitor?
Namgung-Woo also didn’t particularly welcome such an existence.
However, was there a need to get angry even at the child, who was not the perpetrator?
In the current era, collective punishment was still in effect, but it was a system that didn’t particularly resonate with Namgung-Woo, who had lived in the future.
Rather, from Namgung-Woo’s perspective, it was harder to understand why she would throw away her life for a family she likely didn’t even remember, just because she was the child of a traitor.
“I understand to some extent. You learned of your mother’s sin and resolved to atone for it… But there’s still a part I can’t accept. Is there really a need to go that far? What you were trying to do didn’t seem like genuinely rebuilding the Namgung Family, but rather just trying to die with the Namgung Family, shouldering your mother’s sin.”
Namgung Sol stopped glancing at Namgung-Woo and lowered her gaze.
Namgung Sol’s eyes blurred and lost focus.
Her focus shifted to the faded memories of the past.
“Do you know this? Just five years ago, a rebellion was taking place in this country.”
The peasant uprising in Henan Province that began 12 years ago.
It was called the Yunyang Peasant Uprising.
The peasant uprising, which began in the first year of Emperor Chenghua’s reign, continued for a long period of seven years.
It was because the peasant uprising didn’t end with one occurrence, but various rebels appeared in succession, prolonging it.
As the peasant uprising became protracted, it gradually became militarized, and as they even learned martial arts, the government began to slowly recognize that the situation was not easy.
Around the time when the sense of crisis that the peasant uprising should not be allowed to continue any longer spread to Beijing, Emperor Chenghua sought help from Mu Geuk, the number one under heaven, who still maintained a close relationship with the Imperial Family despite having transferred to the Murim.
That was Mu Geuk’s last activity where he showed himself to the world.
It was exactly three days.
Just three days after Mu Geuk made his move.
The long, long peasant uprising thus barely came to an end.
“The place where the peasant uprising occurred was Xiangyang, but its aftermath reached the surrounding areas. Nanzhili was tasked with supporting the Huguang army, which was responsible for suppressing the peasant uprising, in place of distant Beijing.”
The small signal fire launched from Xiangyang sucked the lifeblood of the common people of Nanzhili.
Nanzhili was already burdened with the arduous task of sending supplies consumed in Beijing.
That was the reason for the existence of the Grand Canal.
A path to send the resources of the south to the north.
They were sending grain to the north, and grain was requisitioned once more under the pretext of military provisions.
The resources of the south thus disappeared to the north and to the west.
“People said in unison. It was better when the Namgung Family was around.”
Perhaps that was a lament commonly uttered by those reminiscing about the past.
However, in Namgung Sol’s eyes, their lives were too harsh.
So much so that there were even those who couldn’t bear it and eventually died.
And indeed, if the Namgung Family had been around, their lives would have been different.
The Namgung Family, which had established itself in Hefei for a long time and reigned as a local magnate, had strived to protect the livelihood of the people of Nanzhili.
It probably wasn’t because they were absolutely good.
However, in the end, it was a symbiotic relationship.
The Namgung Family protected the common people of Nanzhili from internal and external tyranny, and the common people of Nanzhili sent their respect and support to such a Namgung Family.
However, unlike the Namgung Family, the Dugu Family, which had newly taken control of the Murim in Nanzhili, had thoroughly complied with the Imperial Family’s demands.
Because they were originally not a family that ruled the land as a local magnate, but those who had served in the military and pledged loyalty to the Imperial Family.
“If the Namgung Family had remained, the Dugu Family wouldn’t have been so cooperative with the requisitions, even considering public sentiment. The fact that the people of Nanzhili suffered hardship… is my mother’s fault…”
Namgung Sol, having gloomily confessed her inner thoughts, spoke with forced cheerfulness.
“Well! Still, they say that now the Emperor has reformed the tax system, so life has become better than before. That’s a relief, right?”
“That’s a matter of course. If that state had continued, the next peasant uprising would have occurred in Nanzhili, not Xiangyang. At that time, would the Dugu Family have finished suppressing the peasant uprising instead of Mu Geuk?”
Namgung-Woo said sarcastically.
He held no respect for the Imperial Family, and Namgung Sol’s appearance—pointlessly pretending to be indifferent—was equally displeasing.
“…Um, that, uh…”
Namgung Sol wanted to ask something but mumbled, not knowing what to call Namgung-Woo.
“You can speak comfortably.”
“Ah, yes! Um, I… what should I do now?”
Namgung Sol fidgeted with her fingers and managed to ask the question.
Until now, she had merely tried to fulfill her duty as the last descendant of the Namgung Family on behalf of her mother.
To face the Dugu Family and meet her end.
Because she thought that was the only atonement for the wrong her mother had committed.
But if the true successor of the Namgung Family was here, what should she do now?
Namgung Sol had no idea what the answer was.
Therefore, Namgung Sol passed that judgment onto Namgung-Woo instead.
Even if Namgung-Woo treated her as a sinner, Namgung Sol was prepared to humbly accept that treatment.
However, the answer Namgung-Woo gave back did not match at all with what Namgung Sol had expected, nor with what she had worried about.
“What to do? Just live as you wish.”
“Yes?”
“Still, if I were to give advice, it would be better to stop saying things like you’ll die for the Namgung Family, or you’ll repay your mother’s sin with your life. Isn’t life too precious to be used for something like that?”
Namgung-Woo indifferently rose, as if that was all the business he had.
The reason Namgung-Woo had wanted to meet Namgung Sol was to build a cooperative relationship if she, as a survivor of the Namgung Family, dreamed of rebuilding the family.
However, what Namgung Sol desired was atonement for sin rather than the rebuilding of the family.
It was a different path from the one Namgung-Woo intended to take.
Namgung-Woo had no intention of interfering in Namgung Sol’s life just because he knew more of the Namgung Family’s martial arts and had achieved a higher realm.
In the sense that he had no intention of forcibly dragging someone in, perhaps he was similar to Namgung Sol, Namgung-Woo thought to himself.
However, Namgung Sol could not accept Namgung-Woo’s attitude that it was fine to end things here.
“Wa-wait a minute! You heard the story! I-I am also of Namgung Family blood…”
“I’m trying to establish a family, not seek death.”
“Me too! If the reconstruction of the Namgung Family is possible, I will naturally choose that! Until now… I saw no hope at all… But, if it’s you… please let me help! Please!”
Namgung Sol even grabbed Namgung-Woo’s trouser leg and cried out desperately.
Anyone seeing it would think she was a woman earnestly begging her lover, who was abandoning her and leaving, to come back.
“First, let go of this…”
At those words, as Namgung Sol tightened her grip even more, Namgung-Woo let out a dry laugh and said.
“I never intended to say no from the beginning. But remember this. What I need is not someone who wants to die, but someone who wants to live.”
Namgung Sol nodded her head so vigorously that one might worry her neck would break, and cried out in an exceptionally bright voice.
“I’ll keep that in mind!”
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Changmu Inn.
The Azure Sky Group members, who had hastily gathered at Namgung-Woo’s summons, immediately realized why Namgung-Woo had called them upon seeing the girl smiling brightly next to Namgung-Woo.
When everyone had gathered, with Geum-shin being the last, Namgung-Woo lightly tapped Namgung Sol’s back.
Perhaps she was still more accustomed to the lifestyle of commoners than the Murim.
Namgung Sol bowed not with a fist-and-palm salute, but by bending her waist deeply.
“Nice to meet you all for the first time! I am Namgung Sol! Please take good care of me!”
“Well… I’ll explain separately later, but she will be with us from now on.”
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