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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Teottry
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Yeonhwa’s eyes widened at the affectionate confession, her heart pounding in her chest, its rhythm echoing his.
“Do you need another reason?”
His playful tone, forced despite the pain, sent shivers down her spine.
She looked at his chapped lips, dry and cracked from the heat of the explosion, a shameful desire rising within her, the urge to rise on her tiptoes and kiss him. She wanted to melt into his embrace, to surrender completely.
But… she couldn’t.
She was a tainted monster, and he was a shining hero.
Zoroastrian monster, saint destined to set the world ablaze, one of the many scattered seeds, a tainted bastard. No matter how she looked at it, she didn’t deserve to be by his side.
She shouldn’t desire him. It was presumptuous.
A monster’s role was to be slain by the hero, not to be loved by him. She couldn’t allow herself to fall in love.
She pulled away from his embrace, her hand pressed against his chest, trying to create distance, to extinguish the flames that had been ignited within her. But he held her fast, refusing to let go.
“No. I won’t let you go.”
He tightened his embrace, pulling her closer. It was always like this. Whenever she took a step back, he took two steps forward.
He closed the distance between them, oblivious to her feelings, making her heart race, filling her with hope. He was so… frustratingly inconsiderate.
“W-why?”
His warmth enveloped her, his gentle voice soothed her, and her heart, betraying her, began to race. Her voice trembled, tears spilling from her eyes.
“Because I care about you, a lot.”
He was so shameless, so indecent, holding her tightly, whispering sweet nothings, his affection a tangible presence.
“I told you before, I’m a persistent, possessive man. I never give up on what I want. And I won’t let you go.”
She looked up at him, the greedy wolf, blood trickling from the wound on his neck, his body battered and bruised, not a single part of him unscathed.
“Older Brother… you don’t know me.”
“You’re right. I don’t. So tell me. Stay with me.”
“You’ll only get hurt if you stay with me.”
“It’s alright. I can just apply some medicine. It would be even better if you took care of me.”
His strong arms held her captive, while his gentle voice chipped away at her defenses, slipping past the carefully constructed walls around her heart, invading her most vulnerable spaces.
She tried to push him away, to find a reason to resist, but he deflected every attempt, pushing forward relentlessly, until he reached the deepest part of her heart.
“I’m… I’m… not like you, Older Brother. I’m a monster… born to be sacrificed… to be slain… for the advent of the Saoshyant…”
Dark clouds gathered overhead, obscuring the sky, and rain began to fall, a sudden downpour that washed over them, a chilling reminder of the harsh realities of their world. But then, the rain stopped.
He had raised his injured arm, shielding her from the rain.
“Then I’ll defeat this… Saoshyant, or whatever his name is. I’ll protect you.”
She looked at him, her older brother, his body covered in wounds, shielding her from the rain with his outstretched arm. She couldn’t hold back any longer.
“Older Brother… you’re a fool. A hopeless fool.”
Her carefully suppressed emotions, shameful and indecent, erupted, tears streaming down her face.
She clung to him, her arms wrapped tightly around his back, her grip unyielding. She would never let go.
‘My hero, my older brother, my Saoshyant.’
Ironically, the Zoroastrian cult’s plan had succeeded. A Saoshyant, devoted solely to the saint destined to set the world ablaze, had been born.
The other followers might disagree, but that no longer mattered to Yeonhwa.
Her beautiful red eyes, filled with love, burned brightly.
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Man proposes, God disposes. Or as they said in the Central Plains, While planning is up to man, success lies with heaven.
He… thought of this proverb because all he could do now was wait for fate to decide.
Whoosh—Whoosh—!
He sat in a small cave, discovered years ago while hunting rhinoceros beetles with Jang Sam, watching the torrential downpour.
‘This rain… is relentless.’
Running through the mountains was exhausting enough, but running through the mountains in the rain, injured, was practically suicidal.
So, he had sought shelter in the cave. He was uneasy about hiding here, so exposed, but he had no other choice. He had reached his limit.
He had defeated their pursuer and set fire to the storehouse, sending a signal, a beacon of smoke, alerting others to their plight. While it risked revealing their location to the enemy, he had to prioritize getting word out.
He had done everything he could. Now, all he could do was wait. The die was cast.
He personally hoped… Muk-gang-emon would swoop in and save the day. Otherwise, they were in serious trouble.
“Achoo-! Achoo!!”
He turned instinctively at the sound of a small, delicate sneeze and saw Yeonhwa quickly turn away, her face flushed crimson, her ears burning. She was clearly embarrassed.
It was just a sneeze, a natural bodily function. There was no need to be embarrassed, especially between family members. But Yeonhwa was sensitive, easily embarrassed by such things.
A cold draft swept through the cave. The rain had lowered the temperature. He looked at Yeonhwa’s shoulders, trembling slightly.
He wanted to build a fire, but they had no materials, so he moved behind her and embraced her, sharing his warmth.
“O-Older Brother?!”
“It’s cold. Let’s stay like this for a while.”
“O-okay.”
She seemed to appreciate the gesture, leaning back against him. They sat in silence, listening to the rhythmic drumming of the rain against the cave entrance.
He looked at Yeonhwa’s small back, moving slightly against his chest. She smelled good, despite being drenched by the rain, just like him.
Her delicate ears, the nape of her neck, her beautifully maintained hair.
He… felt a strange warmth towards her, an unexpected surge of affection.
Though he had never met her before, never even heard of her, he felt a deep connection, an instinctive recognition of her as kin.
While she was his uncle’s daughter, a blood relative, this feeling was different, deeper, more profound.
He felt a strange disconnect, a dissonance between his rational mind, which recognized her as a stranger, and his instincts, which accepted her as family.
As he pondered this, Yeonhwa spoke hesitantly, her voice a soft whisper, yet clear and distinct.
“Um… Older Brother, were you… serious about what you said earlier?”
“Hmm? What did I say?”
He hadn’t forgotten, but he had said a lot of things, and he wasn’t sure what she was referring to.
“About… staying with me forever.”
He hadn’t said those exact words, but it was close enough. There was no need to deny it, so he nodded in agreement.
“Of course I was serious. Why?”
“Are you… sure it’s alright? I’m not even your real sister.”
Yeonhwa had brought up the fact that she wasn’t his real sister because she was Sima Bu’s hidden daughter, but Mancheon interpreted her words differently.
‘She’s still concerned about being adopted.’
He pushed aside his own doubts and anxieties, pulling Yeonhwa closer, his arms wrapping around her tightly, his voice a soothing whisper, like a lullaby.
“Then let’s make a vow, beneath a peach tree.”
“What?”
Yeonhwa blinked in confusion at his unexpected words. But Mancheon, having already set his plan in motion, continued, crossing the point of no return.
“Let’s vow to never betray each other, to cherish and protect each other, and to love each other as true family.”
“What?!”
“Though we were born of different mothers, on different days, let us become true siblings through this vow.”
A vow of brotherhood, sworn beneath a peach tree. The Oath of the Peach Garden.
It was a famous tale, known throughout the land. But there was a problem: Yeonhwa was of mixed Western descent. She was unfamiliar with such stories.
And more importantly, she was a devout follower of Zoroastrianism, a cult that permitted marriage between siblings.
To Yeonhwa, Mancheon’s proposal of an oath of brotherhood sounded suspiciously like a marriage proposal.
She had thrown a light jab, testing the waters, and had received a straight right hook to the jaw, a knockout blow of sincerity.
‘S-so… we’ll name the child after combining our names… Hwa-cheon (Fire Heaven)? Man-yeom (Deceiving Flame)? Wh-what should we do?! R-right! We should decide this together…!!’
Her mind short-circuited, overloaded. The world spun around her.
A warmth spread through her, chasing away the chill, her heart pounding so loudly she could no longer hear the rain.
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Ayo this is going to be a wincest😏
