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Chapter 202 - The Spear of the Great Debate - Part 6

"What's going on?"

Mo Yong Sanga turned her head to see an old man speaking to her from beneath the shadow of the eaves, concealing his body and wearing an awkward expression. She rapidly recalled information about the elder in her mind.

He was a member of the Council of Elders. His position in the council wasn't particularly noteworthy, nor was his presence dominating. Though he tended to refuse bribes, he wouldn't shy away from the zeal of other council members.

How did he come to know that she had come to the head family's residence alone with a troubled heart?

Mo Yong Sanga, suspecting something might be amiss, expanded her senses to their limits. Fortunately, there were no warriors around plotting an attack.

"No fool would dare create a ruckus in front of the head family's residence, so don't worry."

The elder stepped out from the shadow to reassure Mo Yong Sanga.

"Were you waiting for me?"

"I waited because I have something to tell you and to pass on."

"Speak, then."

What kind of words would make him wait here? Mo Yong Sanga asked the old man, not hiding her wariness.

"Be cautious of assassins."

"What are you talking about?"

The elder's words surprised even her, who was already filled with vigilance.

"It's just hearsay, but don't let it go in one ear and out the other. Hold onto it."

"What did you hear the young head of the family say?"

The old man shook his head and then, looking up to the skies, he began to speak.

"This battle ultimately comes down to how much justification one can accumulate before the head of the family passes away. The advantage always lies in the title of the young head, and unless the head awakens, that is a justification that cannot be taken from Mo Yong Bi."

"I am aware. Isn't that why they say to seek out the Sacred Martial Archive?"

"Correct. If one can enter the Sacred Martial Archive and take what's inside, no one will question their legitimacy. But that is precisely why someone might be preparing their last move."

"…An assassination, you mean."

Mo Yong Sanga understood why the elder mentioned assassination.

"Neither side will make foolish decisions. An organization without its head will not simply collapse but will run amok to its own tune. Why would they resort to such an act? However, those below might feel uneasy even at the slightest chance."

The Mo Yong Family's problem wouldn't be solved by the simple death of either faction's leader.

One must wear down the other's power and justification, in the sun or the shadows, and make them step down. That is the only way to preserve the complete Mo Yong Family.

Someone might prepare another safety measure before then. And the preparations might already be underway.

That was the truth the elder had come to convey.

"Thank you for telling me."

"Hmph. While other old folks may only wish to pad their own bellies, I yearn for the Mo Yong Family to reclaim the glory it held as the best clan in the world. Right now, I see this as nothing more than inevitable growing pains in that process. So take this."

The elder, seeming awkward about receiving thanks from Mo Yong Sanga, pulled several books from within his clothing.

"What is this?"

"It's the diary of an exploration into the Sacred Martial Archive. I once explored it in my younger days."

"To give me something this valuable…"

"Think of it as the stubbornness of an old man chasing dreams. I may be at the bottom of the Council of Elders. I may not have influence, but I'll be cheering you on. I must be off now."

Mo Yong Sanga bid farewell to the old man with her gratitude, and once he was gone, she headed towards the Spear of the Great Debate.

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After a particularly harsh winter passed, bringing in the new year, time continued to flow.

The chilly air intermittently gave way to warm winds that melted the ice, signaling that a new spring was ready to stir.

Before long, the season of her first love and the end of her last returned.

"Please apply the makeup beautifully."

With a solemn expression, Mo Yong Sanga sat at her dressing table and directed her handmaid.

"Yes. I'll make sure you are so beautiful that anyone would take a second look."

The maid with flowing orange hair tied it up firmly as she smiled joyously at the mistress of the Spear of the Great Debate.

She had been serving Mo Yong Sanga since her childhood. She was one of the few maids who stayed by her side even when the Chang Bong Clan was dissolved and Mo Yong Sanga was at her greatest crisis.

The mistress normally paid little attention to her looks. A bit of makeup and she would shine like silk embroidered with gold, like beautifully carved jade – yet she rarely bothered.

Today, however, was different. Today, Mo Yong Sanga wished to appear beautiful in the eyes of someone more than anyone else.

Indeed. Today was.

"Has the food for the lord's memorial ceremony been prepared?"

It was Kang Yoonho's memorial day.

"Yes. We have invited chefs with excellent skills to prepare delicacies from the central plains and all eight provinces of the Joseon region."

"What about finding out his favorite dishes?"

"The head of Chang Bong mentioned that he had asked the Kang clan, but they only found distantly related people and women who didn't go out, so they couldn't find out."

"…Is that so."

Bitterness tinged Mo Yong Sanga's voice.

"We have prepared all kinds of gourmet dishes. Surely, among them will be some of the young master's favorites!"

The orange-haired maid encouraged Mo Yong Sanga with a lively voice, aiming to lift her spirits.

"That must be the case…"

Mo Yong Sanga nodded slightly to the maid's words, then adorned herself with neat clothes and elegant accessories she received.

"If you'll hand me the hairpin, I'll do your hair."

"No, I'll put the hairpin in myself. Just help me tidy up my hair."

Mo Yong Sanga declined, as though she couldn't relinquish this to anyone else, and took out a hairpin carefully stored in a drawer.

This hairpin was something no one else could touch.

Two years ago, her beloved had pinned it in her hair himself.

Now, unlike two years ago, with skilled hands, Mo Yong Sanga adeptly fixed the hairpin into her hair.

"Once ready, tell everyone to step out."

After the maid had left the room, Mo Yong Sanga looked into the mirror.

She was not just the owner of the Spear of the Great Debate, but a woman. Once someone's wife.

Dressed appropriately for the memorial in neat clothes, elegant decorations, a silver ring on her finger, and a beautifully made-up face with the hairpin in place.

Her beauty, hoped to be admired by only one person.

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After all the servants had withdrawn, Mo Yong Sanga quietly waited for the time to come.

With the lord beside her, she would overcome anything. This crisis too could be surmounted. Past the joyous moments of the wedding, around midnight, happiness turned into despair, love both began and ended.

The spirit tablet read: Hyunbyeokhaksaengbugunshinwi (顯辟學生府君神位).

Kang Yoonho.

Mo Yong Sanga took out the tablet dedicated to her late husband and placed an incense burner beside it, lighting the incense.

As the subtle fragrance meant to honor the deceased twirled around her nose, only then did Mo Yong Sanga look at the tablet and begin to speak.

"This year, I prepared even tastier dishes. I brought skilled chefs to make foods from the central plains and Joseon's provinces."

Mo Yong Sanga poured wine into a cup for her husband and made a bow towards the tablet.

"Where are you now?"

She asked the tablet with a pained expression.

"Where are you enduring the wind and rain? Where might you be? I'm worried, constantly."

Search as she might, she found no trace of him.

Her lord, who died because of her, had his body torn to shreds and scattered on the streets. Over a year had passed in search for him, but his whereabouts remain unknown.

She should be tending to and maintaining his grave.

Her heart was burning away. Terrified at the thought that she might never find his body.

Without voicing her inner turmoil, Mo Yong Sanga composed herself, determined to find him, and continued to speak.

"So much has happened. I established the Spear of the Great Debate, incited the Council of Elders to diminish my brother's influence. I eliminated a unit of demonic cultists who'd infiltrated, and as a direct descendant, I've come to wield great power."

Two years had passed since the wedding. Countless events had unfolded.

The powerless girl had become the master of a clan. Sure, her journey thus far was in part due to substantial resources, but it was also because she was exceptional and had struggled desperately.

But she didn't see it that way.

"All this is thanks to you, my lord."

It was all thanks to her lord.

While her brother built up his power through the demonic cult, she gained the strength to oppose them with her lord's help alone, becoming a formidable force that even the cultists dared not provoke.

In Mo Yong Sanga's heart, the lord's greatness grew increasingly vast, comparable to the overwhelming strength of the demonic cult itself.

"Though you have given me so much, my lord, this is all I can do for you, and it burns my heart."

In the end, no one who knew her lord's favorite foods remained.

What if he were to return and be disappointed to find none of his favorites? What if he looked upon her with resentment?

Though the banquet was filled with delicacies some might never see in their lifetimes, Mo Yong Sanga bowed her head in sorrow, unable to bear it.

She placed a hand over her burning heart and continued.

"They say, in time, wounds heal. As years pass, painful memories fade. How could that possibly be?"

Some memories strangle and torment a person for life, reshaping them.

"My lord, you came to me like a miracle."

To her, who only loved wielding her sword, who was on the verge of collapse—weak and incompetent—her lord appeared like a miracle.

At her most desperate, barely standing, as if telling her the world was not yet over, he reached out his hand.

"The burdens I must bear grow heavier."

The young girl who loved swords was now pointed at as a villainess.

Using all that her lord had given her, Mo Yong Sanga became the leader of the Spear of the Great Debate and a symbol for rooting out the evil cult entrenched in the Mo Yong Family.

Responsibility and weight.

The expectations placed upon Mo Yong Sanga were heavy. Too much for a mere 21-year-old woman to bear.

Do they not say the heart's wounds fade with time?

With each passing year, the man named Kang Yoonho grows larger in the life and heart of Mo Yong Sanga.

"I wish I could drop everything just to see your face right this moment."

Would she meet him if she ended her life now?

Guilt digs into her heart, becoming remorse. Love for her lord intensifies further.

Longing grows ever deeper.

Just like last year's peculiar coincidence, a warm breeze entered the room.

"My lord…"

Had he come to enjoy the food she had prepared?

She couldn't raise her head.

Though she dressed beautifully to be seen by him, she could not lift her gaze in his presence.

Because she had not achieved enough. Because she was a woman burdened with sin.

The warm breeze, after stirring the incense on the altar, brushed past Mo Yong Sanga's cheek.

The wind was warm yet rough, as if admonishing her not to weaken. As a husband might reprimand his wife.

The breeze passed by her cheeks and disappeared.

"My lord. I wish to see your face one more time."

As the wind vanished, she steeled her resolve and murmured.

As the wind had suggested, it was still too early.

Death was merely an escape. She must never flee. She had no right to run away.

Mo Yong Sanga continued her resolve.

"One day, when the time comes, I'll live to see your face."

That day will come. And she must live well until it does.

Someday, she'll fall into the abyss of hell and stand before the judgment seat.

Even if she is torn apart, whatever punishment she receives.

She'll be able to say she lived her best—that she completed all her lord tasked her with.

So please, just let her see her lord's face one more time.

She deserves at least the chance to plead for that.

Tears rolled across her beautifully made-up face.

------------

Spear of the Great Debate.

There resides the increasingly infamous villainess and the only hope for eradicating the evil cult that has infiltrated the Mo Yong Family.

"Miss. With the information you provided, I have narrowed down the locations in the Sacred Martial Archive. It's time to inspect them."

"Prepare."

Mo Yong Sanga grabbed her sword, ready to set out on her inspection.

In search of her lord's remains, managing the Spear of the Great Debate, opposing Mo Yong Bi, and continuing the search in the Sacred Martial Archive for legitimacy.

Today, too, she prepares to reclaim the Mo Yong Family. To eliminate the demonic cult.

Some might say the villainess struggles in vain to seize control of the Mo Yong Family.

Yes, she is struggling.

In front of the tribunal of the netherworld, longing for the one meeting that may someday come.

Mo Yong Sanga struggles for the right to die.