Quietly, I drew a dagger from my waist and lightly cut across my left wrist.

A slicing sound followed, and blood began to trickle down.

The sound of blood dripping to the floor broke the silence like water tapping stone—and with every drop, Seol Unhae’s expression twisted more grotesquely.

“Is this blood any different from yours, Brother?”

“…It is.”

“Oh, is it? Does blue blood run through your veins, then?”

“Are you mocking me?”

I shook my head.

“What I’m saying is simple. This is Snow Palace blood.”

“…”

“The rest of the blood in your body, Brother, comes from the Hanbing Sect. Mine comes from a slash-and-burn peasant bloodline. But don’t you see? Whatever the rest may be, the only reason either of us is called a descendant of the Polar Bloodline, the only reason we carry those titles before our names—is because of the blood from the Snow Palace.”

“…”

“How much longer are you going to keep clinging to this nonsense about legitimate sons and bastards?”

“…”

“And really, of all people, you, Fourth Brother, don’t have time to waste on that.”

“…You…”

“Please. Grow up already. It’s pathetic.”

I stared at Seol Unhae’s frozen face.

I was curious what kind of answer he’d give—if any—but none came.

“And tell your maternal clan to stop interfering. When I was young, I let things slide, but if they so much as meddle in my affairs again—there will be a price. One way or another. Do you understand?”

“…”

“If you’ve got nothing more to say, I’ll be going.”

Even as I finished, Seol Unhae remained silent.

Whether he chose not to speak—or simply couldn’t—I didn’t care.

I’d said all I needed to.

I’d issued my warning.

That was enough.

Wasting any more time would be foolish.

I turned and walked away.

****

“…That bastard… was that really… Seol Unwi?”

He was already out of sight, but the scene that had just unfolded replayed vividly in Seol Unhae’s mind.

He couldn’t make sense of it.

Weak was not the word to describe Seol Unwi.

To describe Seol Unwi, you had to include curses. A disgrace to the Palace. A dumbass. The kind of guy whose every thought was transparent, who’d stammer and run away the moment things got tense. A pathetic coward, always a disappointment.

That was Seol Unwi.

But what he’d just seen was nothing like that.

His tone. His actions. His gaze.

Seol Unhae instinctively looked down at his own hands. They were soaked in sweat.

The man had completely changed.

He wasn’t the Seol Unwi he used to know.

It felt like he’d just stood face to face with a martial master who had spent decades in the murim world.

“…Young Lord… are you alright?”

It was one of the two men who had drawn their swords on Seol Unwi earlier.

He was one of Seol Unhae’s most trusted subordinates, and served as his personal escort.

His name was Yi Gyeom.

Seol Unhae asked him:

“You said earlier… that bastard killed two people in the medicine hall?”

“Yes. He killed a senior pharmacist and a mid-level one. The senior pharmacist, Jin Hansu, was someone Lord Jin Yangje of the Hanbing Sect had openly said he’d recommend for vice hall master.”

“Grandfather said that…?”

“Yes.”

Seol Unhae let out a sigh.

That was one thing.

“…Even if that bastard dared show me that kind of attitude… do you think he could do the same in front of the older brothers?”

Yi Gyeom paused for a moment, then answered swiftly.

“I don’t believe he ever would.”

“You sure about that?”

“As you well know, my lord, Second Snow Kirin and Great Snow Kirin have already reached the Realm of Heaven and Earth.”

Seol Unhae didn’t exactly feel inferior about that. Since the founding of the Snow Palace, no one had ever progressed that fast.

Great Snow Kirin, Seol Horyeong, was twenty-seven this year.

Second Snow Kirin, Seol Muryun, was twenty-six.

Both had reached the first stage of the Realm of Heaven and Earth: the Realm of Harmony.

They had already done so two years ago.

Not just in the Snow Palace—in all of murim—reaching the Realm of Harmony at that age was extremely rare.

So Seol Unhae had no reason to feel inferior.

They weren’t just exceptional geniuses—there were two of them.

Even though the position of the future Lord of the Snow Palace hadn’t been decided yet, Seol Unhae had no desire to compete in that fight.

Seol Unwi had asked him whether he really had time to be acting like this.

That was the context behind the question.

In the end, he had to pick a side.

Who would become the next Palace Lord?

The two geniuses were nearly equal in talent. The public believed the elder brother, Great Snow Kirin, held a slight edge.

But the result wasn’t guaranteed.

Someone could die before then.

“…So you’re saying, he acts like that in front of me because I’m an easy target, but he’d watch his mouth around the older brothers?”

“…That’s not what I meant…”

“Forget it. I’m curious myself. Has he been hiding his fangs all this time? Or has he really gone mad?”

Unfortunately for Seol Unhae, his guess was wrong.

Seol Unwi didn’t treat Seol Unhae that way because he thought he was easy to push around.

He disliked Seol Unhae because, out of all the blood relatives, he was the most cunning, the most foolish, and the most unimpressive.

Embarrassingly so.

That’s why Seol Unwi couldn’t stand him.

****

As I quickened my pace toward the Main Palace conference room—

I came to a natural stop.

“Hey, little brother.”

I turned my head.

There stood a woman with hair white and soft as snow.

“It’s been a while.”

“Yes. It has. Sister, have you been well?”

“…‘Been well’? I’m too young to be hearing that kind of talk, don’t you think?”

“I just couldn’t think of a better phrase. Truly, it’s good to see you again.”

Ice Snow Spirit, Seol Yeonhwa.

My sister.

She’s twenty-six this year.

She tilted her head slightly.

“So they say you’ve changed. Guess it’s true. Anyway, listen. I went «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» to a post-Heavenly Alliance youth gathering recently, right?”

As usual, like always, she began to speak naturally while walking beside me.

“But some of those guys were seriously weird.”

“Is that so?”

“Especially the young master from the Path of the Overlord sect—he was just ridiculous. You’ve heard of them, right? Those idiots claiming they inherited the legacy of the Hebei Peng Clan that was wiped out during the Millennium Turmoil.”

“I’ve heard of them.”

“He kept trying to hit on me, believe it or not. Even if his brain’s made of muscle, at least he knew what was pretty.”

I just smiled.

In all of Everlasting Snow Palace, the only one who ever treated me warmly was her.

My sister glanced at me with a curious expression.

“Are you okay, little brother?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

“I’m asking because you don’t look fine. What kind of mindset shift did you go through to come out all mature like this?”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“It is. But I’m worried because that bastard definitely won’t like it.”

The bastard she was referring to was a man just ahead of us, entering the conference hall at a measured pace.

Long hair. A solid, well-built frame.

Sharp eyes, crisp clothes—his whole demeanor radiated icy composure.

That was Second Snow Kirin, Seol Muryun.

Seol Muryun.

Technically speaking, although my sister is the eldest daughter, in the hierarchy, she’s placed below Seol Muryun.

The order goes: Great Snow Kirin, Second Snow Kirin, Ice Snow Spirit, Third Snow Kirin, Dark Snow Kirin.

Seol Muryun and my sister were born from the same mother.

But because Seol Muryun took his first breath just a few moments earlier, he’s considered the older sibling—and she’s never quite gotten over that.

Second Brother glanced at the both of us once, then walked silently into the meeting room without a word.

“He’s always been the quiet type, but he seems especially mute today.”

Second Brother rarely speaks.

He lives for cultivation. He has no interest in family affairs, doesn’t care who bullies me, and generally couldn’t be bothered.

His only goal is the title of Palace Lord.

I paused briefly, and then turned my head. My sister, who had walked ahead, turned back as well.

There stood a tall man, about six and a half feet tall, with an imposing presence.

“It’s been a while, both of you.”

Great Snow Kirin, Seol Horyeong.

A powerhouse who reached the Realm of Harmony at twenty-seven.

I bowed with a martial salute.

“It’s been a while, First Brother.”

“It has. But hey, little brother.”

“Yes?”

“I heard you killed two pharmacists in the medicine hall?”

My sister’s eyes widened—it was the first time she’d heard that—but she didn’t interrupt.

I raised my head and looked at my eldest brother.

This man—

He seemed warm on the surface, but I knew all of it was purely ceremonial.

It had always been that way.

That didn’t mean he was two-faced or insincere. Just… precise.

Seol Horyeong is like Seol Muryun.

Men consumed by martial arts.

Neither cared about family drama or who was tormenting whom. They were cold, detached from those things.

Looking back, I realized something else about my brothers—excluding Seol Unhae, of course.

Both were obsessed with martial arts, yes. But they also shared a kind of philosophy.

To them, when facing hardship, what mattered wasn’t whether you overcame it—but whether you fought desperately to turn it around. Whether you did everything in your power to change your fate.

They judged a person’s worth based on that alone.

If you failed to overcome it, that was all you were.

If you gave up without trying, then you weren’t worth the air you breathed.

In their eyes, such people weren’t even worth paying attention to.

It was a surprisingly simple worldview. But a solid one.

I had come to understand it far too late.

Looking at my smiling eldest brother, I answered in an unwavering voice.

“They disrupted the hierarchy. Would you have let them live, First Brother?”

A crack appeared in that carefully constructed smile.

First Brother stared at me, clearly surprised, and spoke slowly.

“…Me? Of course not. I’d have killed them too.”

“Of course, First Brother, you probably don’t care much for being disrespected—but I’ve trained them thoroughly. Something like this won’t happen again.”

“Oh? That almost sounded like there was a bit of a sting to that, huh?”

“Just think of it as a little sibling griping.”

A smile spread across First Brother’s lips.

And I knew.

That wasn’t one of his formal, forced smiles.

That was genuine.

“Well damn… The heavens must be flipping upside down. Are you really our little brother? You’ve gotten reliable.”

“Thank you.”

“Also—listen, I snuck up just now, hiding my presence on purpose to surprise you both. How the hell did you notice me before Yeonhwa did? Do I stink or something?”

“No, it’s not a smell. I sensed the change in the flow of air around us.”

“…You did?”

“Yes. No matter how stealthy someone is, if they can’t control the energy that surrounds them, then it’s just a pretense of stealth. It’s not real stealth.”

“…Huh… well, looks like I just learned something today.”

“You’re already a genius who reached the Realm of Heaven and Earth, First Brother. I’m sure you’ll understand it naturally, sooner or later.”

He blinked, as if not quite understanding what was happening—and my sister, standing beside me, did the same.

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