“It’s alright.”
“Uh…….”
“I did speak somewhat rudely as well.”
Even though the other party was the one who caused it, that’s how it was for now.
“You’re right, I should have been the one to feel guilty first. You don’t have to apologize.”
Sighing again, it seemed as if the guilt was finally relaxing as he slumped his shoulders. Then he fumbled in his pocket, took something out, and handed it to me.
“What is this?”
I asked in surprise, taking it from him, and he averted his eyes, mumbling in reply.
“It’s candy… I heard from brother Ha Hyun that you liked it.”
“Oh.”
Brother Ha Hyun was someone who would offer me candy as if he were giving grass to a passing rabbit every time he saw me. He would just place it in my mouth, watch me for a moment, and then walk away without saying anything like other servants or guards.
‘But he really knew.’
It was true that I liked it.
I smiled and accepted the package of candy he offered, unwrapping it immediately.
“Have some, brother.”
“Thank you.”
For a while, we sat on the floor of the training room, chewing on the candy in silence.
As the serious atmosphere broke, a strange peace and awkwardness settled around us. A warm wind occasionally brushed our hair as it passed. Although I didn’t mind the silence, it seemed to be difficult for my brother to endure.
He hesitated for a moment and then opened his mouth again.
“I actually admire the General of Righteous Clouds.”
“…Uh, Master?”
I responded a beat late, slowly lifting my head.
Now that we had exchanged apologies, it would have been a good time to lighten the conversation, but I didn’t expect this heavy confession to come out of nowhere.
I listened to his words with a slightly startled feeling.
“If you’re a disciple of Mount Hwa, who wouldn’t admire him? When I first joined, when he wasn’t yet called the Sword King… I happened to see him wielding the Seven Plum Sword. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. In fact, there was a time when I wished I could call him Master instead of General.”
I suddenly realized. It wasn’t that I had been accepted as a disciple that was the problem for my brother, but that I was the disciple of the Master.
If I had become the disciple of another great disciple instead, he might not have cared so much about me.
“I see.”
“Yes, that’s why… I treated you like that.”
His face blank, my brother looked at me once and then smiled bitterly.
“You really don’t act your age.”
…That’s a sudden change of subject.
“Suddenly?”
“Looking at your expression, I just thought that. You’re definitely not an ordinary person either. But thanks to that, I feel a bit calmer.”
If he thinks I’m not an ordinary person and feels more at ease, does that mean he sees me as deserving to be Master’s disciple?
I asked nonchalantly.
“Because I seem to have the qualifications?”
“Qualifications?”
But my brother shook his head as if he had heard something unexpected.
“No, rather than that…….”
He paused to think for a moment, then continued.
“I just meant that you’re so composed that I can open up to you. Well, I did think that you were undeserving, jealous that you were the one chosen… but when I thought about it, what qualifications are needed for the masterdisciple relationship? Moreover, it’s about a Daoist temple. The Taoist priest is led by fate to find a disciple; I was foolish to envy that…….”
I was a little taken aback as I watched my brother’s expression become distant at the end of his words.
“Brother… did you suddenly become enlightened?”
“Isn’t that a word used in Buddhism? If I must say, I have come to understand the Dao a bit.”
With that, he put the last piece of candy in his mouth and stood up.
When he reached out his hand to me, I grabbed it without thinking, and he pulled me up from the floor, dusting off his clothes.
“Anyway, I should be going now. I’m sorry for taking up more of your training time. I shouldn’t create more reasons to apologize. Thank you for accepting my apology.”
“…Ah, yes. I’m grateful too.”
With that, my brother quickly left the training room with a light wave of his hand. Watching his retreating figure, I was left in admiration for some reason.
“It’s become like this, a thief…….”
Amazing, a riddle.
(This is a time delimiter.)
A few hours after my conversation with Ryu, a visitor came to me when the sun went down. This time, it was the ambassador.
“Youngest sister, are you in there?”
“Ah, yes!”
I, who was practicing tying my hair with a cloth in a martial arts world where there was no emotion like astonishment, quickly turned over the mirror and approached the door, fixing my hair with a comb. When I opened the closed door, the ambassador was looking down at me, smiling broadly.
“What were you talking with the brother about? …Ah, why is your hair like that?”
“I was practicing tying it…….”
“Do you want your brother to help you with that? Or can I come in before that?”
The ambassador wasn’t considered older just because of his position, but he was indeed the eldest among the disciples of the academy.
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
