Chapter 254. A Sister’s Funeral

Fortunately, Haerak had not gone very far. He was standing atop a roof that spread wide and flat like open ground.

Here too, sand had piled up in uneven patches, but it had failed to form hills. With nothing to block the wind, the sand seemed unable to settle and instead kept flowing on.

Haerak stood at the very center of that flat expanse.

As she drew closer to him, a massive structure came into view. A pillar rising to waist height supported an enormous slab large enough for several people to lie upon. Its center dipped inward, almost like a basin.

He brushed away the sand piled on the silver slab, even wiping off fine dust with the flat of his palm. Each time the surface, smoothed like a mirror, tilted under his touch, it reflected a sharp gleam of light.

Pii.

At that moment, a bird appeared, as if from nowhere.

Soon another flew in and perched beside it. Before long, countless winged creatures gathered, casting shadows overhead.

So-hwa, her gaze drawn skyward, asked,

“Do they raise birds in the palace?”

Haerak also looked up at the sky. He seemed to recognize them.

“No. They’re the kind that swarm whenever they see something crawling.”

“Then why bother flying all this way in the heat?”

“To eat.”

“…….”

“I’m joking. Those things are cowards. They can’t eat anything alive. They only pick at corpses. So many people die around here that they seem to roost nearby. Once a scout shows up, the rest swarm in an instant.”

So-hwa could not bring herself to continue the conversation.

Anyone dying near the Solar Palace was unlikely to be someone who had merely lost their way and died a lonely death.

They said vessels were raised around the Solar Palace, so the place the Blood Demon called a farm must also be nearby.

Just as Haerak said, the countless dots embedded in the sky soon merged into a vast shadow.

She lowered her gaze again. The smooth silver plate gleamed white. Yet whenever a bird passed over it, black spots appeared, like ink splashed onto paper.

So-hwa grew curious about the identity of the strange object.

“What is this?”

“I heard it’s something like a crematory used by the Palace Lord.”

If it was a crematory, then it was a crematory—she couldn’t understand what “something like it” was supposed to mean.

When she stayed silent, Haerak reluctantly added an explanation.

“Sunlight gathers here to make fire. If the weather’s good, you can cremate a body. If not, you can’t even hold a funeral, so it’s an awkward thing.”

Pointing at the hollowed-out center, Haerak continued,

“So if the weather didn’t cooperate, they say the Palace Lord would personally raise the heat and carry out the cremation.”

So-hwa understood at once. Haerak seemed to be holding a funeral.

“If the Palace Lord had to get involved personally, then not just anyone could receive a funeral.”

“I heard only the direct line of the former and current Palace Lords were allowed.”

Annoyed by the birds’ shadows repeatedly crossing the silver plate, he flicked away the Blood Demon’s fingers one by one. The birds chased after them and scattered in all directions.

Only then did Haerak place the Blood Demon’s index finger onto the silver plate.

Fwoosh.

A strange sound rang out as smoke surged upward.

The heat pooled in the silver plate instantly burned away the small piece of flesh. It was a bizarre object—so uncanny it was frightening, how it could hold such heat.

The charred finger quickly lost its shape.

There were no further rites to follow.

The descendant of the Solar Palace merely stared in silence at the finger turning to ash.

She had picked up bits and pieces about the Solar Palace’s culture through hearsay, but it seemed she didn’t know the details. Then again, there was no way the Blood Demon would have taught such things properly.

To the Blood Demon, the value of a Solar Palace descendant lay in the energy contained within the body, not the corpse. An empty shell was useless and would be discarded—there was no reason he would care about anything after death.

Only after a long while did Haerak speak.

“She was my sister.”

The words came without context, yet So-hwa understood their meaning.

“If she were alive, she probably would’ve helped you. Unlike me, she was full of ambition. She thought she’d become the master of the Solar Palace.”

So-hwa remained silent, unsure of what to say.

Lightening the mood with words was a skill, and she lacked that kind of eloquence. To avoid making a mistake, silence felt like the best choice.

Haerak seemed to swallow his words several times on his own. In the desert where not a single blade of grass could grow, the scent of peonies spread. The fragrance grew stronger, then was suddenly swept away by the dry wind.

“I think I did something pointless. What would the dead know? Even if they did, they’d probably laugh at me in the afterlife for doing something so strange.”

He muttered as if to himself, yet the sound carried heavily.

So-hwa gazed at the ash turning white and fell briefly into thought.

It was because a notion she had never once considered surfaced in her mind.

She found herself wondering what had happened to her own body after she died.

Even the Alliance Leader had not spoken in detail about what came after her death.

Then again, after slaughtering the Clan Head and the main family of Namgung Clan and taking her own life, her body surely hadn’t been treated with care.

At the time, she had no family left who could fight in her stead, and her clan had long since been expelled from the Murim Alliance.

Only now did So-hwa realize how little she had cared, and with that belated thought, she began adding crude imaginings of her own.

What if Tang Hak, who had vanished at the Yangtze, had not died and had rebuilt the Tang Clan all by himself? It was a fanciful, empty thought.

‘If Hak had found even a fragment of my remains, discarded somewhere in Namgung Clan, and buried it in the Tang Clan…….’

Mid-thought, So-hwa let out a small laugh.

At the soft sound, like a gentle breeze, Haerak turned his gaze toward her.

“Why are you laughing all of a sudden?”

“If I were your sister, I would’ve been grateful to you.”

“…….”

“For becoming the master of the palace again, and for not leaving me in that horrible place but bringing me back. I would’ve been thankful for all of it.”

She meant it.

It was only a brief imagining, yet warmth spread beneath her chest.

She didn’t know whether such a future could ever have existed.

Still, if Tang Hak truly had survived, and if that child had eventually killed the Blood Demon and rebuilt the Tang Clan, then even if she failed to fulfill the purpose of this life, she felt she could close her eyes in peace.

Haerak, who had been staring at her in silence, curved his lips.

Haerak spoke.

“So-hwa.”

At the call, So-hwa turned her gaze.

With a faint smile on his lips, Haerak asked,

“Didn’t you say that once the Blood Demon dies, we should think about what comes next?”

So-hwa did not bother nodding. He wasn’t someone who would forget what had just been said, so it couldn’t have been a real question.

“Come to think of it, I’ve never seriously pondered what happens after the Blood Demon dies. That’s probably why I went on at you about having a luxury and thinking of other things. Once the Blood Demon is gone, there’s nothing left to think about, nothing left to do.”

Haerak placed his hand on the heated silver plate. As more heat gathered, the remaining fragments crumbled finely and were swept away by the wind.

Less than a handful of gray-white ash was scattered into the air.

At that moment, the birds that had flown off returned, circling overhead.

As if intoxicated by the scent, they drifted this way and that along the wind.

But once they seemed to realize there was no longer a death left to feed on, one quick-witted bird disappeared into the distance. Soon after, the rest departed as well, seeking shade to escape the sun’s heat.

“Having something to dwell on after that isn’t such a bad thing.”

He looked as though he were contemplating what lay beyond something he had believed to be the end for a very long time.

It was an expression she had never seen before—light and clear.

Sunlight resting on the face she had thought flamboyant made it seem all the more pure.

It was as if something cloaked in venom had been thoroughly washed away.

“So, what will you do now?”

At Haerak’s question, So-hwa looked out over the wide stretch of sand.

Now, she had to wait for the help of others. At the very least, three days.

“We’ll have to hope luck is on our side.”

“Hm. That’s the one area I’m the least confident in.”

Haerak let out a sigh.

When she turned and began to walk, he followed after her.

After returning to the Solar Palace, they covered all the windows and waited for the chance that would come.

* * *

Not a single cloud marred the night sky. With moonlight brighter than ever pouring down, the headquarters was so clearly visible that there was no need to light lamps.

The difference was especially stark at the Alliance Leader’s residence, where no one came or went.

At the Alliance Leader’s residence, lush with greenery, the shadows of the trees filled the grounds. The fact that shadows could exist even in darkness felt strangely uncanny. Seated in the pavilion, the Alliance Leader voiced the passing thought aloud.

“Isn’t it fascinating how shadows fall even at night?”

The person who had entered without a sound came to a halt.

“There is never a moment when light does not touch the world.”

The voice was so calm it felt eerie.

Even without permission, the Four Seasons Hall Lord climbed the pavilion steps. The Alliance Leader did not stop Zhuge In-hwi from doing so.

Stopping at the landing, the Four Seasons Hall Lord asked,

“Why did you try to use Five Minerals Powder on me?”

At Zhuge In-hwi’s blunt words, the Alliance Leader let out a hollow laugh.

Only then did his composed eyes move, looking down at his guest.

“Isn’t that something I should be asking you?”

The Alliance Leader asked in earnest.

“Why did you use Five Minerals Powder on me?”

“I hoped you would do nothing.”

“What did you think I was going to do?”

The Alliance Leader shifted his question.

“What reason did you have to stop me?”

Zhuge In-hwi had many thoughts pass through his mind, but he answered with just one.

“I hoped you would not stand on the Blood Demon’s side.”

“Me, siding with the Blood Demon?”

The Alliance Leader laughed as if it were absurd.

The sound of his laughter gradually grew louder.

“Haha, did you think I wanted to help the Blood Demon?”

“I’m not interested in what your intentions were.”

Zhuge In-hwi’s voice was cold.

“In the end, it benefits him all the same, so it’s no different from helping him.”

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