BIUM Chapter 4

🌙

 

Overwhelmed by the surging pain, Hwan opened the medicine bottle the woman had given him, but strangely, he kept feeling reluctant to use it. 

 

Tucking the woman’s medicine back into his robe, he instead poured the medicine Geonmyeong had given him into his mouth.  

 

Unlike the soft melody echoing in his mind, all he saw before his eyes were the gruesomely dead court ladies and the bloodstained storeroom.  

 

A reality he couldn’t turn away from, no matter how much he wanted to. A bitter smile twisted at Hwan’s lips.  

 

Whew—

 

It had been a horrific night, but today might be slightly better. 

 

Suppressing the churning in his stomach, Hwan closed his eyes.  

 

🌙

 

By the time the dawn sun rose and Hwan stepped outside, the eunuchs guarding the area hurried toward him. 

 

Their breath caught at the sight of Hwan, drenched in blood, and the horrifying scene inside the open room, reeking of iron.  

 

“I got bored, so I just killed them.”  

 

“Th-That’s…” 

 

“What? Did I ruin your fun?”  

 

“N-No! How could we—!?”  

 

The blood-soaked smile on his face was terrifying enough to send chills down their spines. Though he bowed deeply before Myung, in front of others, Hwan never hid his monstrous nature.  

 

After all, he was the blade wielded directly by Empress Hong. 

 

The atrocities Hwan committed in his uncontrollable rage were nothing more than trivial matters to Empress Hong and Myung.  

 

“Then why are you still here?”  

 

“Huh?”  

 

“Clean it up. You don’t expect me to dispose of that trash myself, do you?”

 

As Hwan reached for his blood stained sword, the eunuchs scrambled inside. Ignoring their screams and retching, he wiped the blood from his face and hands.  

 

The madness in his eyes faded into calm, and his twisted smile straightened into a composed expression.  

 

Unbothered by the fleeing eunuchs and court ladies, Hwan soon arrived before a shabby palace in the western corner. He exhaled deeply, as if expelling the lingering bloodlust.  

 

At the faint sound of his presence, the door opened, and a middle-aged woman stepped out.  

 

“Hwan?”  

 

“You should have slept longer.”  

 

“I couldn’t, knowing you hadn’t returned. Are you hurt?”  

 

Her attire was too worn-out to even be called silk—a tattered robe and skirt, her hair neatly tied up but fastened with a tarnished hairpin covered in grime and rust.  

 

She looked so aged and disheveled that no one would believe she had once worn imperial yellow and borne a prince. Though she had given birth to a royal son, she had never been granted a title and could not leave the palace. 

 

Trapped within its walls, people called her ‘Jung Sanggung’—the lowest of court ladies.  

 

“It’s someone else’s blood. I’m unharmed.”  

 

“Serving the Crown Prince grows more dangerous by the day. Are you truly unhurt?”  

 

There was only one reason Hwan endured this wretched palace, bowed before Myung, and willingly stained his hands with filth.  

 

The only person before whom he could drop his monstrous facade.  

 

His mother, who had imprisoned herself in the palace to protect her neglected son, despite her fear of Empress Hong’s family.  

 

The sole reason he endured this blood-soaked existence was to one day free her from this place.  

 

“This task was just slightly more difficult.” 

 

“As long as you’re unharmed, nothing else matters. If the Crown Prince orders something too dangerous, run away. Do you understand?” 

 

“…I will.”  

 

Hwan grasped Jung Sanggung’s hand, its texture rough like a lowly servant’s—she had no court ladies to attend to her. His expression darkened, but she smiled reassuringly and gently pulled her hand away.  

 

“Mother. Soon, we’ll be able to leave.” 

 

The enormity of his quiet words left her speechless.  

 

“Wh-What are you saying?”  

 

He didn’t believe the Emperor would ever show them mercy and release them.  

 

“Just hold on a little longer.”  

 

By handling their dirty work, Hwan had been gathering Empress Hong’s weaknesses—secrets even she didn’t know he possessed. 

 

The moment the Hong family’s foundation shook, his knowledge would become a fatal flaw, enough to destabilize her.  

 

“It won’t take long.”  

 

Jung Sanggung’s eyes glistened with unshed tears as she gazed at him anxiously.  

 

Though she smiled and said it was fine, Hwan never missed how her eyes always looked beyond the palace walls.  

 

Empress Hong and Myung would never let them go—but if their own survival demanded it, they would have no choice but to release their grip on Hwan and Jung Sanggung.  

 

He tightened his hold on her wrinkled hand.

 

🌙

 

Hwan blocked the sword swung by the soldier barring his path and closed the distance between them.  

 

The soldier tried to pull back as Hwan advanced, but Hwan’s blade pierced his heart first.  

 

“Haa… Haah…”

 

Gazing at the lifeless soldier, Hwan exhaled roughly. He had been sent to eliminate an official rebelling against the Hong family, but halfway through his mission, he was ambushed.  

 

A trap.  

 

The only saving grace was that they weren’t trying to kill him outright—they seemed intent on capturing him alive. He had barely escaped the momentary opening they gave him, but not without deep sword wounds carved into his body.  

 

‘The Pyo family.’ 

 

They had openly revealed themselves to Hwan, as if ordering him to serve not the Hongs but their own puppet masters. But the Pyo family was just as untrustworthy as Empress Hong’s faction.  

 

The Pyo family was also a thorn in the side of the Eun family. Thinking of the Euns brought Geonmyeong to mind—and that nameless woman.  

 

“Over here! He’s he—urk!

 

“We must capture him!”

 

As the encirclement tightened around him, Hwan suppressed his pain and forced himself to move again. His shoulder and leg bore deep gashes, but he had no time to dwell on the pain.  

 

Cutting down another soldier in his way, Hwan turned not toward the imperial palace but toward the bustling marketplace. 

 

As expected, the streets were crowded with people enjoying the full moon night.  

 

“Find him!” 

 

Clutching his bleeding wounds, he moved swiftly through the crowd. But it wasn’t hard to spot Hwan—a man drenched in blood and reeking of iron.  

 

One by one, his pursuers closed in, eventually cornering him in an alley.  

 

‘Five.’

 

Suppressing the agony wracking his body, Hwan tightened his grip on his sword. If he were uninjured, he might have stood a chance—but in this state, taking down two would be his limit.  

 

“Wouldn’t it be better if you came quietly?”*

 

“You stab me full of holes and now invite me along? How charming. Typical of your kind.”

 

Hwan’s mockery hardened their expressions. The moment they hesitated, his sword moved first—but the bold strike was effortlessly blocked. 

 

These were no ordinary opponents.  

 

“Just cut his head off—urk!”  

 

Grabbing the assassin’s blade mid-thrust, Hwan drove his sword into the man’s throat. 

 

As the assassin collapsed, another closed in, slamming a fist into Hwan before he could dodge. The impact sent him crashing to the ground.  

 

“Vicious bastard.”

 

“Let’s just kill him.” 

 

Feeling the cold steel against his neck, Hwan exhaled sharply. 

 

There was no way out. He had wanted to survive, to escape the palace somehow—but this was the end.  

 

In his final moments, Jung Sanggung flashed through his mind. And then…  

 

‘I still have to return that handkerchief…’  

 

If he had known it would come to this, he should have at least asked for her name.  

 

They had only brushed past each other twice, yet she kept surfacing in his thoughts. Maybe that was why he was hallucinating her now.  

 

‘I’m not dead yet.’  

 

“Ah!”  

 

‘…Or am I?’  

 

The woman he thought was an illusion—Geonmyeong’s daughter—stood right before his eyes.  

 

Why now? Why here?  

 

“R-run…!”  

 

“Kill her too!” 

 

He forced his battered body to move, but it wouldn’t obey. Before he could react, an assassin swung his sword at her.  

 

“No!”  

 

The blade meant to sever her head sliced through empty air as she twisted aside. The assassin, dismissing it as luck, struck again—and missed once more.  

 

She couldn’t have trained in martial arts—her movements were too untrained, too instinctive.  

 

Yet she was mesmerizing.  

 

Against all reason, his heart pounded as he watched her, unable to look away.  

 

“Agh!”  

 

After evading, she seized an opening and struck the assassin’s wrist. The sword clattered to the ground—but as she reached for it, Hwan’s mind blanked.  

 

“Don’t touch it!”  

 

That sword was too heavy for her. Thankfully, she heeded his warning, pulling back just in time to avoid another attack.  

 

Biting his lip until it bled, Hwan forced himself to grip his sword again. He had to save her.  

 

“S-stop him!”  

 

His pursuers belatedly realized his intent, but even bleeding out, Hwan was unstoppable.  

 

Five became three. Three became one.  

 

As the last assassin staggered from a kick he delivered, Hwan drove his sword through the man’s chest.  

 

“Ugh!”  

 

With all his enemies dead, Hwan swayed—and the woman rushed to his side.  

 

He didn’t know if he’d survive. Pain no longer registered as he leaned into her support, his vision blurring.  

 

“Are you alright?”  

 

He wanted to see her face clearly, but his sight was failing. He should have been furious at her for jumping into danger, but he lacked the strength. This might be the last time he’d ever see her.  

 

With what little strength remained, he needed to ask—needed to hear her answer.  

 

“How… how do you tell Myung and me apart?”  

 

“Because you’re different.”  

 

“…”  

 

“You’re not the same person, are you?”  

 

Myung and Hwan were different.  

 

It was the truth—yet no one had ever said it to him. Only now, at death’s door, did he finally hear it.  

 

Not a bad last thing to hear.  

 

As his consciousness faded, he let himself sink into her arms.

 

🌙

 

His body was on fire.

 

Hwan wanted to get up, but even lifting his eyelids felt impossible.  

 

“You need to stay lying down.”

 

The woman took the cloth from his forehead and soaked it in cold water again. The chill against his skin finally gave him the strength to open his heavy eyelids.  

 

“Where…?” 

 

“This is a residence near my mother’s gravesite. It’s a bit far from the capital, near the Eun family’s burial grounds. People avoid this place, so you can rest safely.”  

 

“I have to go back…” 

 

He forced himself up, pain shooting through his entire body, but he gritted his teeth and pushed through. Not only had he failed to carry out the order to kill the official, but he’d also left a trail for the Pyo family to follow.  

 

He still had to bow to Empress Hong’s commands—he needed to return to the palace.  

 

“If you keep pushing yourself like this, your body won’t hold up. You need to rest now.”  

 

“I have to go.” 

 

Despite Yiwon’s protests, the man stubbornly insisted. As he struggled to rise, the bandages wrapped around his wounds stained red with fresh blood.  

 

If she had been even a little later, he would have died.  

 

“What are you—argh!”  

 

When she stepped in front of him, blocking his path, Hwan froze. 

 

Seizing the moment, she grabbed his shoulders and pushed. Her strength wasn’t much, but between his injuries and the shock of her sudden proximity, he collapsed back onto the floor.  

 

“When you’re hurt, you don’t get up—you rest!” 

 

Her firm glare made it impossible to argue.  

 

As Hwan reluctantly relaxed his body, the severity in her eyes softened. But then she realized she was practically straddling him and jolted back in surprise.  

 

‘Why would she act so recklessly if she was going to be flustered like this?’  

 

“See? When you’re in pain, you should listen to those around you instead of being stubborn. I’m only saying this because your wounds are serious.”  

 

“What if your father finds out about this?”  

 

“Huh?”  

 

“Wouldn’t it be troublesome if Myung learned of it?” 

 

“…”  

 

“Wouldn’t it be better for me to leave?” 

 

His pointed question left Yiwon momentarily speechless. Her conflicted gaze flickered between him and the bloodied bandages wrapped around his body.  

 

Honestly, the best course of action would have been to send for a physician through Geonmyeong—but something told her that wasn’t an option.  

 

The bigger problem was the realization that ‘she’ had been the one treating him.  

 

“I’m sorry.”  

 

“I asked if this would cause trouble for you, not for an apology. Isn’t that a bit sudden?”