Infernal Path (2)

3.

Tick.

The needle grazes the white flesh of the clock.

As if to leave a wound in a place destined to be wounded.

"...."

"So, how many times do I have to say it for you to understand? There's absolutely nothing between the Lady of the Golden Silk and me! It's a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!"

I blinked.

When I blinked, the blonde crown prince was getting angry in front of me. Since it was just the crown prince and me in the reception room, he must be angry at me.

"The lady completely misunderstands me as a person!"

"...."

It felt like a long time had passed.

And yet it felt like only a short time had passed.

Had my sense of time been broken? It's as if every single hair on my head has melted away in lukewarm water. Am I swimming in Raviel's dream? Or is Raviel swimming through my time?

'Either way.'

I spread my fan and fanned myself.

'It doesn't really matter.'

There was no reason to distinguish between the two of us.

Meanwhile, the prince's voice grew louder.

"I'm utterly displeased! Your tone, it's like, as if, I'm neglecting you to have an affair. Talking about me, the foundation of the empire!"

I looked beyond the crown prince's blonde hair.

Tick.

Tick.

The opulent gold-leaf wall clock consumed its own flesh, wasting time.

"...Wait. Lady. Are you looking somewhere else while someone is talking?"

"My apologies. I was looking at the clock."

"The clock? Are you saying even the time spent talking with me is a waste!"

"No, it's not that. It's just, the clock continually passes by the places it has already passed. As if it doesn't know it has been there before. Perhaps, the condition for eternity is oblivion."

"What? ...What are you talking about?"

"You yelled yesterday. You forget that you yelled. You nagged yesterday. You forget that you nagged. The day before yesterday, the day before the day before yesterday, a week, a month, a year. Forgetting and forgetting again, discarding and discarding again."

"...."

"Surely, a landscape you passed by yesterday. A place where my touch lingered yesterday. Yet, it seems strange as if it's a new scene. Thus, people live in eternity. Forever. A thousand years ago, and a thousand years hence."

"I really don't understand what you are saying."

The crown prince furrowed his brows.

"Do you admit that you misunderstood the relationship between the Lady of the Golden Silk and me?"

"Your Highness."

I closed my fan.

"In this history, you are not the first to betray love and then make excuses, nor will you be the last."

"...."

"Those who have evaded a day by claiming misunderstanding and mistake were not first with you either. They all met their ends in their graves, each facing their own conclusions. Please try to be wiser. Would the destined catastrophe change just by getting through today?"

"I don't understand what you are saying, I told you!"

"The Lady of the Golden Silk cannot love Your Highness."

The crown prince paused.

"What?"

"She fundamentally loves herself. Don't you understand?"

"...."

"There might be affection for Your Highness, but what truly delights Lady of the Golden Silk is [the image of herself secretly sharing love with Your Highness]."

I spoke calmly.

"It's not that you shouldn't share love. To share love with such a person, Your Highness has to become a follower. Begging desperately for the Lady of the Golden Silk's love, as if receiving mercy, receiving her favor. Only such a relationship will make you and her eternally happy."

"...."

"However, Your Highness is the foundation of this nation. You should stand the highest. Would Your Highness bow to a mere lady of a baron's family? If Your Highness bows, the subjects will follow in bending their backs, and the people will follow in bowing, then the master of this nation will not be Your Highness but the lady. Crown Prince."

I gazed intently at my fiancé.

"Are you truly planning to hand over the country to the Lady of the Golden Silk's family?"

Swoosh!

"...."

Drip. Drip.

Water trickled down from the side of my head.

Before me, a blonde man was fuming, holding an empty glass.

"You are the worst kind of person."

A meaningless curse.

Yet, even if it was the most trivial person in the world who spat out the insult and inflicted the wound, the wound I received was still a wound, causing the surface of my heart to sting.

"Why don't you ever try to understand me? I'm having a hard time too. It's tough! The prime minister nags me day in and day out, and I'm dragged to a position I'm not accustomed to, having to keep a solemn face! Of course, you wouldn't know, being born with the deep-seated lineage of the great Ivansia family! But..."

"But."

I looked at the crown prince expressionlessly.

And thought.

"But, what is it?"

Should I replace him.

"...."

The current Emperor is a sage.

However, there are countless cases where a tyrant ascends to the throne right after a sage dies, ruining the country. If the empire's fate hangs by no more than one generation, it wouldn't be bad to start preparing from this generation itself.

It's a last resort.

For this certain end, I'll scatter spies throughout the nation, assassinate obstacles in advance, and prepare to instigate rebellion at the right moment.

"Your Highness."

Hesitation.

The crown prince unconsciously stepped back.

"I understand Your Highness the deepest. Since childhood, I have tried my best to love you. This love might seem insignificant. But this is my best. In my heart, I cannot kindle a larger candle than this."

"...."

"Dismiss the Lady of the Golden Silk. That is the path for Your Highness and for the country...."

"Monster."

The crown prince grabbed the doorknob.

"Such a monster."

And then, he ran away.

"...."

Tick.

Time flows.

"...."

Tick.

Water droplets wetting my head fall with the sound of the second hand.

"...."

Suddenly, I realized.

The fact that I had been betrayed.

"Ah."

How tedious.

[The skill cannot find the target's alias.]

In that tedium, anger somewhat congealed.

[The skill cannot find the target's true name.]

Tick.

But.

Tedious and boring as life may be.

[The skill cannot find the target's appearance.]

Tick.

Certainly.

[Reconstruction failed.]

Gong-ja,

I, You. (ED: Here, "내가 그대를" is a part of "나는 그대를 사랑합니다," which means "I love you." However, this only includes "내가 그대를," which, when translated, means "I, you," omitting the part about love.)

[Substituting data required for implementation.]

Tick.

4.

How tedious.

"...."

I blinked.

As I blinked, I—realized that I was sitting cross-legged.

Had I fallen asleep in this position? Or had I briefly fallen into a state of no thoughts, no worries, failing to grasp enlightenment and completely slipped out of it?

"Lord of the Heavenly Demon."

The sounds of the world reached me.

"...."

I quietly turned my head.

Startled.

The young man in black flinched as our gazes met.

I knew his name.

"You are Flame Ghost Demon."

"My, my apologies."

Flame Ghost Demon bowed deeply.

"How dare someone like me disturb the practice of the Supreme Being… I have committed a sin worthy of death!"

"So noisy. I've heard that enlightenment is a peace that won't break no matter what touches it, so quiet that it wouldn't shatter. If it would break from being disturbed, it wouldn't have been enlightenment in the first place."

I smiled.

"It's like waking from a nap. Rather than ruining enlightenment, I would prefer to receive an apology for interrupting a pleasant nap."

"Uh…. Ah…. My, my apologies…?"

Tsk.

"What a boring subordinate. Just go and bang your head over there."

"Ah! Yes!"

Flame Ghost Demon immediately responded as if that was much easier.

"Then I'll report!"

"I'm listening."

"First, we've circulated a proclamation throughout the land and evacuated the citizens."

Flame Ghost Demon continued speaking, his head planted upside down. Despite his head supporting his entire body, there was no shaking, demonstrating that he indeed was an elite disciple properly trained by our sect.

"Many people do not believe the rumors that a plague is descending from the heavens, and convincing them was difficult. However, after showing them those already afflicted by the epidemic, tightly bound and paraded around, even the most skeptical had no choice but to believe!"

"...."

Is that so.

It's been several months since an inexplicable plague began to spread throughout the martial world.

This place is still the world before I, before Master, faced the white funeral shroud.

"You have worked hard."

"Your praise is too generous!"

"But what use is fleeing when one cannot escape a plague on the move. It's impossible to build huts under the sea or tents above the clouds. The outskirts by the sea under the sky will be the last refuge for the people."

"...."

"However, it was only out of respect for humanity. I am proud of you for spending a day comforting the people, which could have been spent seeking refuge on an island."

Flame Ghost Demon corrected his posture and bowed deeply.

"Loyalty!"

Beyond him, hundreds of elite disciples bowed.

"For the Demonic Cult!"

Further beyond, tens of thousands of followers kneeled.

"For the common man!"

A noble echo resounded through the headquarters of the Demonic Cult.

I sat upon a stone platform and bowed my head.

The scenery of the Demonic Cult, reaching its zenith in this era, unfolded before me.

"...."

It's tedious.

Despite the world facing destruction, what exactly is this profound tranquility?

It's not triviality. It's not boredom. I haven't lived in a world so narrow that it could be considered trivial, nor have I led a leisurely life to the extent of feeling bored. I would have always been on the edge of life, tirelessly through all seasons.

'Did I do my best?'

Yes.

'Did I take responsibility for what I should have?'

Yes.

'Did I also shoulder things I didn't need to?'

Without a doubt.

'Was it good to wield the sword?'

Perhaps.

'Was I happy?'

I don't know.

"...."

I slowly nodded.

'I can answer thus to a thousand questions.'

All the followers of the Demonic Path were bowing. Only the sky could have seen me nodding, thus I made a gesture to myself using the white sky as a mirror.

'Only two questions make me respond with [perhaps], [I don't know], and make my current self feel tedious.'

I want to know.

"Namgung Un."

I opened my lips.

Flame Ghost Demon slightly lifted his head.

"Yes?"

"Send a letter to the leader of the martial alliance, Namgung Un."

"...."

Flame Ghost Demon didn't ask further. He simply brought over the writing brush and ink.

I flicked my finger.

Paper.

The paper floated in mid-air, becoming stiff.

Ever since I mastered the sword technique, I became less reliant on tools. Amidst Flame Ghost Demon's suppressed exclamation, I flicked my finger again.

Brush.

My finger became the brush handle. The internal energy at the tip of my nail became the brush tip. Gathering ink at one point and sweeping it across, there was nothing rough in writing letters, even with a void between the paper and me.

Ink.

Thus, black letters imbued with the force of my energy were written.

"Burn it."

I put my hand down.

"How could I possibly—"

"Even if a plague ravages, the world remains, and life persists even after waking from sleep. This is my will. If it is my will, it will remain even if burned."

"...."

Flame Ghost Demon, trembling, set fire to my paper.

The flame transferred from the candle quickly consumed the edges of the paper. Red bite by red bite, leaving blackness in its wake, the flame spread.

"Ah."

However, the letters were not devoured by the flames.

Instead, they blazed even brighter.

The internal energy soaked in the ink held the letters firmly. The letters became embers. Fixed in place, even as the base they were attached to was burned and burned again by the fire, my embers blazed brightly in the void.

Though the world is plagued with incurable diseases,

Can't humans soothe the ailments of humanity?

A hundred years lived, hanging by the second of death,

Come forth, martial world.

My century waits here.

Flame Ghost Demon trembled and prostrated himself.

I glanced briefly at the realm I had inscribed in the void.

"I will write one more thing for you to send to that leader of the martial alliance, Namgung Un. Take it yourself and, in front of Namgung Un, in front of the eyes of the martial alliance's rabble, burn it with your own hands. It's regrettable that I can't see their faces myself."

"Yes…, Heavenly Demon."

Flame Ghost Demon's voice stuttered.

I murmured indifferently.

"The moment the ember consumes all and turns to ash, understand that you have not responded to the call for the Righteous and Demonic Great War."

The followers marveled at my words engraved in the void. They considered it a miracle. Like rain falling from the sky and flowers blooming from the earth, yet the ember formed between heaven and earth seemed to them a proof, a permission that they are still allowed to survive in this world.

They exclaimed.

"For the Demonic Cult!"

Thud.

Something landed on my nose, making me look up.

"For the common man!"

Snow was falling from the sky.

It was the first snow.

"For the Demonic Cult!"

Yes, Namgung Un.

You would not betray me.

However.

"For the common man!"

The only question was whether I could make you happy.

That was the problem, is the problem, and will remain the problem.

[You are implementing the trauma of the enemy who killed you.]

I.

Quietly closed my eyes.