Chapter 63

Chapter 63

“……It’s all my fault.”
Han Tae-moon, who had finished his rant, met my gaze through the bars and calmly spoke. The story he told was something of an epic.
He started out in tears.
Slowly, I began to feel sad.
By the end, when the jumble of emotions had been sorted out, his reaction was.
His reaction was more like that of a first-timer, or an enlightened person.
“I felt very stupid and foolish to talk about it,” he said. I once prided myself on being the head of the Three Great Palaces, the lord of the Northern Sea Ice Palace, and a monarch who had achieved the Great Dynasty of Taiping, but as I spoke, I realized that it was not I who was wronged, but others.”
I think I know who he’s referring to.
“……The countless people of the North Sea. It is I who have made the cold winds of the North Sea even more bitter.”
In a self-pitying rant, he said he was unworthy of the throne.
“I have rejected the touch of the Middle Kingdom, and I have refused to listen to the advice of the other three courts, so…….”
Suffering from all sorts of hardships, he became sickly and weak.
I listened to the words of an elderly man who was far from the majesty of a courtier.
“Who am I to argue about their peace, their security, or anything else?” he said.
I looked at the old man, ashamed to admit that even this was an afterthought, a self-reflection.
“To let go is to be truly unconcerned. As a courtier, if I have not fulfilled my duties as a courtier, I am not derelict. If you have not fulfilled your duties, you must do everything in your power to bring them back, no matter what other excuses you may have.”
I said what I wanted to say. His gaze was fixed on Han Tae-moon, but the person projected in it was someone else.
It was none other than the head of the Southern Palace, my father. I hoped that for once he would think like Han Tae-moon, who was a single-minded warlord and stubbornly insistent that his way was the right way. I wanted him to be a true monarch who could care for the peace of the family, the stability of the people, and the security of the country, not just the name Namgung.
To me, Namgung Mu Baek has failed in his role. He allowed my mother to die in his previous life, failed to take proper care of the family when they were ill, and caused the Southern Palace to break down. I encouraged rivalry, and I allowed myself to be deceived by those who had the background.
So I looked at Hantae-moon and realized.
“I will help you.”
Help this old man in front of me.
Help the monarch who realized the reality of the present rather than the glory of the past.
I will see with my own eyes the true Taepyeongseongdae he has created.
My path will prove right.
“……!”
Han Tae-moon’s eyes widened at my words.
* * *
After talking for a long time with the Han courtier, I and the elderly man escaped from the ice cave.
“If I disappear now, there will be chaos, so let’s come up with a plan.”
“Is it because of this man by the hump?”
“He is my only remaining blood relative, and if he disappears,…… there will be another crisis in the Ice Palace.”
I heard that if the palace lord disappeared immediately, the two Daoists of Qingcheng and the man who was acting as the palace lord would be in a frenzy, so I decided to take my time.
At the same time, I realized that the man who was so extreme as to torture his son in front of a courtier deserved to be in charge of this place.
“Bing Tian Sword, please find him and bring him to me, and if he is not there, please…….”
Bing Tian Sword Bupyeong.
The next strongest member of the Northern Ice Palace after Han Tae-moon and Han Il-sang.
More than just the logic of strength, the Bing Tian Sword Team he leads has long been the pride of the Beihai Ice Palace. The Bingtian Swords, which began with the history of the Ice Palace, was founded on absolute loyalty to the royal family.
And so, I moved to find Bupyeong.
“What are you going to do?”
The old man spoke slowly.
“Well, if you’re going to help, you’re going to help, and a man can say two things with one bite.”
“Arthur.”
The old man shot me a reproachful glance.
“The Northern Sea Ice Palace is a sect that is comparable in size to any great sect. Even if you manage to escape from this place, you’ll never be able to restore it. Beating a rock with an egg.”
“Is that why you’re suggesting that we hurry up and find the Bai Ginseng and leave?”
Meeting my gaze, the old man sighed.
“You shouldn’t go overboard with your helpfulness.”
“What did you see here, Mr. Shouxu?”
“……what.”
What did he see?
I lifted the corners of my mouth when I saw his mouth twitch.
“Uncle.”
“……Why?”
“I want you to see the world without prejudice.”
“It is true that I have many preconceived notions, but I would never be prejudiced…….”
“That’s not true.”
I want him to see me as a guardian,
And I hope that he will not narrow his view of the world to reflect my world.
“I have seen hope.”
“Hope……?”
I called it hope when I saw it broadly and loudly, not through a narrow gaze.
The North Sea people call the North Sea Ice Palace the Nara. Although they are no longer the nations they once knew, they have not forgotten the past.
And the palace lord of the North Sea Ice Palace, or rather, the former palace lord, recognizes his own inadequacies and feels atonement for the North Sea people.
“A most idealized and hopeful place.”
“…….”
I could return at any time. The Beihai Ice Palace.
In the midst of the bitter cold, I could come back to the same place where the warm breeze blows.
Of course, one thing was necessary for that to happen.
“But only if the cause is removed.”
“Tsk.”
The original cause.
Two people, both of whom were said to have mastered the supreme heart, had been here for less than two years, and they had shaped the Northern Ice Palace into this shape.
“I’ve heard it said by a courtier, that something drastic must have happened to create this shape in such a short time.”
“How did it happen?”
I clicked my tongue, feeling drunk as I looked at my host’s red cheeks.
“Well, sober up a bit and talk to me. You’ve been complaining that it’s cold and using that as an excuse to drink a lot of alcohol, and now you can’t think straight.”
“……chet.”
As the alcohol kicked in, my uncle’s face quickly turned red and he returned to normal.
“Tell me, anyway.”
“…… A drastic change, even if it’s a vice lord named Han Il-sang, and even if you’ve managed to convince the people of Binggung by framing the situation as treason.”
There was definitely a loophole. There were not many people who followed Han Tae-moon, who was the lord of the Northern Ice Palace.
“How can everyone agree when there are so many people who would rather maintain than change, who would rather survive than thrive?”
“There must have been many who were dissatisfied, many who decided that the past was better than the present?”
“I’m sure you’re one of them.”
Furthermore, he doubted that many people would wish to see the Northern Sea Ice Palace in such a dilapidated and darkened state.
“It was not visible in the Ice Palace.”
“It would be more of a threat if it were in the same room as Han, and Han didn’t do that earlier. The Han Clan didn’t target the Han Clan from the beginning, but the Han Clan’s followers.”
So it would be easier to find Bupyeong, the Bing Tian Sword, who was following Han Taemun. At the very least, Buping was the most loyal. At the same time, the Bing Tian Swords under his command were said to be the most powerful group in the Northern Sea Ice Palace.
One could only assume the worst.
“If you killed Bu Ping and gave someone else the command of the Bing Tian Swords.”
I shrugged, even though it was probably what my uncle expected.
“That would be easy,” I said, ”and he would not consider his position to be secure.”
Unless it’s a position earned through skill and recognition.
Unless it was earned by kowtowing to power, by flattering authority.
It would be filled with people who were disliked, because that’s the power of long tradition.
“Don’t worry, things will go more smoothly.”
Namgungban, from the time he was conscious in the body of the Grand Duke.
From the Sword Branch Society, to the Green Front in Shandong, to the work here in the North Sea.
None of it has been easy.
I just did the best I could.
* * *
Oh, God.
I’m dying.
Please kill me, please kill me.
The tune echoed here and there.
After a day of whipping, there was nothing left of my body. After spending all day sorting poisonous herbs, my fingertips were frozen and I couldn’t do my job.
One of them was Guan Guo, who was born in the bitter cold and lived a life of begging for a living, but never once did he forget his pride as a Simani.
But to think that his life would end here, on an iceberg in an ice palace frozen even colder than the bitter cold.
Qi shuddered.
“Mr. Zhao, did you see that man? He stood up to the countrymen and ordered us around as if he were a lord.”
“He’s so fleshy! How disgusting to watch!”
“To say the least. We haven’t seen him in years!”
Each of them sang a tune and cursed at Mr. Zhao, who had been captured by the Ice Bow Nation.
Jab, jab, jab.
Someone walked through the ice and pushed his way into the room where they were staying.
“Is everyone all right?”
It was Mr. Cho, the man who had just abandoned all ties to make a good living for himself.
It was Mr. Cho.
“Holy shit, where the hell are we?”
“Get the hell out of here!”
“You’re a disgrace to the North Sea!”
Simmani and the herbalists grinded their teeth and tried to get closer to Mr. Zhao.
“……Don’t do that.”
A man stepped between them, his body covered in blood. It was Guan Guo.
“Guan Guo, what’s wrong with you!”
“You know our hearts best, don’t stop us!”
Seeing the anger in each of their chewed-up words, Guan Seng sighed.
“Mr. Zhao doesn’t owe them anything, he’s just trying to save us.”
At that, the Simanis and the herbalist opened their mouths to ask what he was talking about. Guan Shuang turned and looked at Mr. Zhao with a stern face.
“Mr. Zhao has already found what they want.”
“What do they want……?”
The Simmanys looked at Mr. Zhao in unison.
“The ten thousand ginseng. What they want.”