Hae-rak’s upper body slowly retreated backward.
“...What do you mean by saying we should think about what comes next?”
“I don’t want to make a mistake over something that isn’t important.”
At the answer he had not expected, the Crimson Blood Hall Lord’s eyes narrowed.
“Something that isn’t important?”
His voice was offended, but Tang Sohwa seemed not to understand what was wrong.
“Whether it was your body being moved by someone beautiful, or your heart going to them—if it’s just to check something like that, we can do it even now, can’t we?”
Just because she spoke seriously did not mean her words lacked teasing meaning, but as though she had never once put words like these in her mouth in her life, she failed to notice the stiffened atmosphere.
Instead, her expression looked almost resolute.
“But the Blood Demon can’t be killed right now.”
“Ah, now we’re talking about the Blood Demon again?”
He let out a hollow laugh and scrubbed his face. In any case, it was because he understood what Sohwa was saying.
“So, to put it simply, you’re saying I’ve been pushed back in the rankings by the Blood Demon.”
“You and I can make mistakes and fix them, but if we fail at killing the Blood Demon, it can’t be taken back.”
The corner of Hae-rak’s mouth curved.
“Well, the weight of the mistake is different, I suppose.”
He swept up the strands of hair tickling the nape of his neck.
It was a body that had no reason to feel heat, yet since earlier, a peculiar warmth that tickled his entire body had been uncomfortable.
With Tang Sohwa’s new throwing dagger—one he could not recall when he had taken—he pinned his own hair in place.
Sohwa’s eyes narrowed.
“...Do you have sticky fingers or something? I don’t know why you keep coveting things, but if you want it, you can have it—just say so.”
A voice full of mischief came back.
“Since you’re talking about coveting things, I’ll say this. Didn’t you say earlier that you might have been moved by a beautiful person’s body? Are you saying you coveted my body?”
When no answer came back, Hae-rak shrugged.
“If it’s something like that, you don’t need to worry about making a mistake with me. Unlike you, I can always offer my body to a benefactor, so do whatever you want without worrying about the aftermath. Even if it wasn’t something that ran deep for me, I don’t mind.”
She knew he was joking, but Sohwa found the words unpleasant.
“No.”
At the cold response, Hae-rak squinted one eye.
“No, that wasn’t something I said to make you angry. Today’s incident can be taken lightly, so don’t exhaust yourself alone by having strange thoughts.”
“I know you came to the Northern Sea because of me.”
“Oh, you’ve gotten quite sharp in the meantime. What happened while you went to the Central Plains?”
Crossing his arms, Hae-rak looked down at her with an approving expression.
The peculiar atmosphere bothered him, so he deliberately acted exaggeratedly lighthearted. It was right after their bodies had been pressed closely together, so his mind, like Tang Sohwa’s, felt strange as well.
“I also know that even if you look impatient by nature, you’re not a foolish person.”
“You say compliments like insults. I thought you were lecturing me not to act stupid.”
However, despite Hae-rak’s effort to lighten the weight of the air, Sohwa made the atmosphere strange again.
“I know that you, who had no interest in finding the Sun Palace, forced yourself to come here, and that the reason you lured the Blood Demon was all consideration to buy me time.”
No matter how much he tried to change the flow, she was not drawn along.
Instead, she kept loading her words with meaning, making the air even heavier. The density was so thick it felt awkward to breathe, yet the face of the one speaking was calm.
“Even if you helped me with a light heart, to me it isn’t something light. So I can’t take it lightly, and I don’t intend to.”
“......”
“Don’t keep saying things you don’t mean and forcing me to treat you lightly. I know you’re telling me to think less, but when you do that, I end up thinking even more.”
She took from her sleeve something Hae-rak had not taken with him.
A cloth bundle that had been in the same place as the throwing dagger revealed itself.
The neatly wrapped cloth was undone layer by layer along her white fingers. Soon, the lump of cloth let out the flesh it held. It was a large finger, dried blood caked onto it.
Sohwa lifted her head and looked straight at Hae-rak. Perhaps because he hadn’t expected it, the undefended look on the Crimson Blood Hall Lord’s face filled her vision.
Sohwa thought she understood why Hae-rak had been saying useless things, trying to scatter her thoughts.
She herself must have been wearing that kind of expression as well.
A face that made people uneasy because they couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
However, instead of forcing away the uncomfortable atmosphere, Sohwa made a suggestion.
“If you want, I can preserve it so it won’t rot.”
Hae-rak let out a small laugh.
“I really wasn’t in my right mind. I completely forgot about this.”
He placed a hand at his waistband. It looked as if he were searching for something. When she watched him blankly, only then did Hae-rak refuse her offer.
“No. Just looking at it is disgusting, and I have no intention of keeping it nearby.”
“It might be fine to keep it as a spoil of war. If you review the fight, next time you might get the finger you want, don’t you think?”
“Spoils of war?”
Smiling, Hae-rak pulled his hand out of a pocket.
He deliberately opened his palm to show her. Four pieces of flesh, fouled with blood, lay on it. Their lengths were irregular, but all of them were fingers. Hae-rak picked up the one with a ring on it.
A flashy ornament she felt she’d seen somewhere before caught Sohwa’s eye.
“So this was the Blood {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Demon’s index finger?”
Hae-rak nodded.
Sohwa looked at the finger wrapped in the dark-red ornament, then lowered her gaze—and immediately frowned.
“...Wasn’t it just the index finger you wanted? Why did you tear off so many fingers?”
“I moved with the intention of tearing off the entire right hand. I figured if I tore indiscriminately, I’d hit the Shangyang acupoint eventually.”
Hae-rak readily acknowledged his own limits.
“At the end, I lost consciousness and couldn’t move properly. I couldn’t even check whether I’d cut it off, but I guess I succeeded.”
He put it briefly, but it wasn’t hard to imagine the situation. Sohwa stared quietly at the Blood Demon’s index finger he was holding.
“...That’s incredible.”
She meant it sincerely.
She had told him the location of the Shangyang acupoint, but she had never thought Hae-rak would actually tear off the Blood Demon’s finger.
The current Blood Demon had regenerated his finger, but he could not recreate the stolen traces of another person’s qi along with it.
Nor was it possible to gather up the qi that had already departed.
Guessing at the Blood Demon’s fury, Sohwa understood why he had offered her forgiveness as though it were a great reward.
It must have been an extremely disagreeable situation, so the value of forgiveness would have felt that much greater.
Sohwa quietly examined Hae-rak’s face, wondering if the Crimson Blood Hall Lord might be afraid.
The ends of Hae-rak’s eyebrows drooped subtly.
As if he still had lingering feelings, he rummaged through his waistband a few more times, then muttered with a disgruntled expression.
“It felt like I tore off all ten fingers, but there were fewer than I thought. What a shame.”
“...I can see why the Crimson Blood Hall Lord calls you a mad dog.”
“If I’m a madman in that lot’s eyes, doesn’t that mean I’m normal?”
That didn’t seem to be the case.
Sohwa could not bring herself to say it out loud.
He looked in a good mood, and she didn’t feel like spoiling it.
As if proving his nickname, he continued with sudden, impulsive actions. Gripping the Blood Demon’s finger, Hae-rak went out through the window.
“Where are you going?”
At Sohwa’s call, Hae-rak turned back. But the height at which their gazes met was a little strange. It was higher than when he had been inside.
He waved a hand at Sohwa.
“I won’t go far, so just wait a moment.”
When he disappeared from view, Sohwa approached the window. Then she flinched at the sight below it.
Sand had piled up on the ground, forming a hill.
“Was there originally a sand hill here?”
“No. It looks like it piled up overnight. The one who was clearing the palace ran off, so by tomorrow it’ll be even higher.”
“I didn’t realize the sandstorms were this bad at the Sun Palace.”
At Sohwa’s words, Hae-rak gave a short laugh.
“That’s why you shouldn’t leave the window open for long. In no time at all, the inside will turn into a mess of sand, so close the door and wait.”
Sohwa thought she understood why the Sun Palace’s windows were made of thick fabric. Since closing them took time, it must have been a concern for air circulation. The wind and sunlight that came in through small openings seemed to be the outside air they could enjoy.
In the meantime, Hae-rak tramped up the hill, stepping deeply into the sand. The sand mountain wasn’t tall, but it was still higher than the roof of this floor. When Hae-rak climbed onto the building’s roof and vanished, Sohwa hesitated.
Although he hadn’t left the palace, they were still in a situation where a qi curtain had been spread, so if he fell, the Blood Demon might grow suspicious.
“Where are you going?”
“The sky. I have to send it from up here.”
Hae-rak gave an answer whose meaning was unclear.
When no sound came, an uneasy feeling rose up. In the end, Sohwa climbed out the window as well, following the sand hill upward without realizing it herself.
