Chapter 130

Namgung Mu Baek closed his eyes. They wouldn’t open. No, unable to open them was the right word. Kneeling before him, begging for forgiveness.
“Go.”
He was a reluctant man himself. Whenever he looked at An Bai and Tang Miyan in front of him, his left cheek throbbed repeatedly.
Ignoring it, Nan Gongmu Bai calmly asked.
“What’s wrong?”
He opened his mouth to avoid her gaze. It had been a long time since they had looked in and out, and now it was uncomfortable to look at.
“I’m sure you don’t want to see my face.”
“You shouldn’t have come so soon. The séance is not over yet.”
“……I wanted to be loved.”
Nangong Mubai’s eyebrows twitched at that.
“I was desperate to be loved. The whole world knows that ours was a arranged marriage, but I thought it would be different.”
These are the first words Tang Miyan speaks, and Namgung Mu Baek is hearing them for the first time in the thirty years he’s been with her.
“I was so confident, and I tried so hard to make you my man. I went to Anhui, I tried to become the woman you wanted me to be, and I tried everything I could to act like it, but it didn’t work. Your eyes were elsewhere.”
It was jealousy, it was envy, it was struggle, and it was misdirected.
“Why did you not look at me, why not me…… why did you look at someone other than me?”
Namgung Mu Bai looked at Tang Miyan, who was sobbing on the floor.
“…….”
“If it wasn’t for that bitch……! If it wasn’t for that bitch, I thought you would come back to me, I knew it.”
Tang Miyan was not impatient. She thought it would be easy to overpower Ms. Ahn, who had welcomed her into her home, for she was a master of poison and had the power to slowly drive her to her death without anyone noticing.
But she was mistaken.
Even when Mr. An was ill, she never looked at him.
When Mr. An was in pain, he didn’t look at her, and when he married Mo Yong’er, he didn’t look at Tang Miyan. And then there’s Mr. Pang and Mr. Bai.
Abandoned on a remote island.
Falling off a cliff.
The infinite sense of loss drove her to drive Mr. An to death, and she treated the world with malice and hostility, intent on making sure that the next head of the family would be my son.
Her feelings for the Southern Palace and her father-in-law had long since faded.
But.
But why.
“Why didn’t you do something to me when you knew, when I looked so pitiful?”
“…….”
An unspoken affirmation.
Looking at Namgung Mu-baek who didn’t speak, Dang Mi-yeon had a pitiful expression. Namgung’s words that everyone knew echoed in her head.
“Did you really want to see her beating herself up like that, feeling like she was abandoned by the world?”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“Was it him, or were you trying to take advantage of my fault to ask for something from the Tang family, or was it Mr. An, or was it Mr. Baek, who resembles that bitch, that you were trying to make him your mistress, or was it…….”
“No, I don’t say no!”
A resolute and unwavering voice.
At that sound, Tang Miyan’s eyes trembled and she glared at the Namgung Mu Bai. His eyes reflected her humble appearance, unlike her glamorous appearance. Her cheeks were sunken from days of starvation, and the corners of her eyes were puffy from crying so much.
Still, the venom on her retinas refused to go away.
“It’s my fault.”
Namgung Mu Bai’s words vanished like smoke. What replaced the volatilized, melted poison was a cloudy, rising water.
Transparent drops trickled down her cheeks, and a slow, steady sobbing filled the governor’s office.
“I am sorry for my indifference, for my wrongdoing, for what I have brought upon you.”
It took a long time. It had taken so long for them to face each other like this.
It was love.
It was jealousy.
It was a tragedy between a man and a woman.
Someone died because of it.
Misunderstandings led to misunderstandings.
And in the end, resentment took root in their children.
Seeing her nakedness beneath the splendor for the first time, Namgung Mu Bai was about to reach out for her hand. He thought that was the next step, but Tang Miyan had other ideas.
“A friend of mine is in Amishan.”
“Mrs. Tang.”
“I haven’t heard you called Mrs. Tang in a long time.”
“…….”
“Gaga.”
Gaga.
That’s the name Tang Mi-yeon used to call Namgung Mu-baek when she was in her prime.
“I’ll pay for this.”
Pay for what?
Namgung Mu Baek’s eyes fluttered.
“Pay for what?”
I don’t know what you mean by retribution.
However, Nan Gong Mu Bai was speechless at Tang Miyan’s next words.
“Mr. An, and Nan Gongban.”
“……!”
“You gave me a wound that can never be washed away, so who am I to be here as a stranger?”
It wasn’t just words. The blade she had brought with her, a sack of halberds, shone brightly in the moonlight.
What was he going to do with it?
In front of the Namgung Mu Baek who was about to open his mouth to ask, Tang Miyan boldly moved her hand.
A spatula, a spatula.
It was none other than Tang Miyan’s hair that was cut off. Her long, shiny hair was suddenly short and disheveled, but she didn’t seem to care.
“If anyone asks where you’ve gone, tell them you’ve returned to your family. That I was resentful because I didn’t see my son become a lord.”
“Why do you have to say that?”
“Only then will it be fair.”
Nan Gong Mu Bai gulped in air.
My, and the meaning of the word fair.
“Hyuk-yi had me, and Gal-yi had Mo-yong, but Ban-yi didn’t have a shield, a reliable shade. Maybe that’s why he grew up earlier than Hyuk and Gali. It’s only fair to Ban-yi that my ugly self remains ugly.”
Tang Miyan’s mind was made up. For a long time, or a short time, Tang Miyan reflected. Her footsteps were rosy red and opaque like a path of thorns, worthy of the name Poisonous Flower.
But.
“Kaga, don’t pity me, though, because I don’t consider my life to be over even after this.”
With nothing to show for it, she thought of Nam Goong-hyeok, the man she’d been talking to, the son she’d never known.
“He told me how great he’s grown up, and how he’s so much better than me. That’s enough for me, so.”
Tang Miyan reached out and grasped the rough hand of the Southern Palace Master.
“Patriarch of the Southern Palace, it’s not enough for you to be the most reliable father-in-law, you must also open your heart to the children. That’s my last request, especially for Ban. It’s not your fault.”
To embrace Dang Mi-yeon.
To protect the Southern Palace from Tang Miyan.
As the patriarch of the family, to protect the many servants.
He fought to defend the Namgung Mu Baek amongst the countless guiros. Only then did Tang Miyan feel it.
Only now did Tang Miyan realize how lonely his fight had been.
* * *
“Wu Liangsu Buddha.”
I wondered if he was playing with them in pairs, or if he was ignoring them.
He was a laughingstock. How easy it is for two brothers, both of them, to come to enlightenment when confronted with themselves.
“You think I’m just a rock in the road,” I said, ”and you can’t help but notice how they leap up a notch when they see me.”
“Well, I’d like to say thank you, old man.”
Hmmm, I see the second one is not like the first one, who has no spine.
“Come. I’ll show you what you’ve accomplished.”
“Thank you. Then I will not refuse.”
The spirit of an emperor.
The grandeur of an emperor who energizes his troops.
The sword of an emperor at the tip of his sword, ready to slice and dice.
The victor who faces it.
It was the third time he had to face the South Palace.
The first was a sword that had been perfected.
The second faced a sword that raced without end.
The third faced a sword that had been polished with determination, passion, and emotion.
“Namgung Mu Baek, Namgung Ban, and Namgung Hyuk. Come, good. I will remember your three names.”
Kwangseung’s mind began to engrave the name of the third member of the Namgung family, Namgung Hyuk.
He would do the same.
Hwarrrrrrr!
The tip of the sword in his hand blazed with a red sunset and blue clouds.
The Qingyun Red River Sword.
Even if it was called a sword, it was still not enough to face the Southern Palace’s Emperor Sword Formation.
It appeared in front of Nangong Hyuk after the Southern Palace.
“……!”
“Are you afraid?”
Nam Gung-hyeok shook his head as if he wasn’t, and then a smile spread across his face.
“Of course not.”
For some reason, I recognize Nam Goong-ban’s face, his face, and his image. It’s like they’re brothers.
“It’s just.”
“Just?”
“I’m fortunate to be here to show you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am.”
Boom!
Hwarrrrrrr! Kwaaaaang!
In an instant, the world comes to a standstill, and the emperor’s aura descends upon the Qingyun Red River Sword.
“The Southern Palace.”
I’m glad I can show it.
“I am the Southern Palace, senior.”
It seems like all the Namgungs are so desperate to show themselves, huh?
His eyes shone with a semi-elastic force that made his palms tingle.
The Qingyun Red River Sword is a symbol of harmony. The Emperor’s Invincible Sword River, which disrupted that harmony, was pressing down as if it wanted to control the entire unarmed field.
“You little brat.
You’re already claiming this place as your territory and trying to control it.
The corners of his mouth twitched, and for some reason, he felt good.
Quang! Kwao!
With each blow, the Qingyun Red River Sword’s sword energy was drawn in, drawn in, drawn in. It was as if he had fought for a long time in the Yangtze River, and his sword and aura were imbued with the spirit of fighting in the water, dispersing his opponent’s blood and hindering his breathing.
“This is why I will not be able to stand.”
If I let my guard down, I’ll lose face. Even if he didn’t give it his all, he’d be a fool if he continued to be a champion and a household name.
Quang! Kwaang! Kwagagagagang!
Seven times in a row, the azure sword steel slowly fell down, leaving behind an afterimage. The aura of the sword steel was so strong, it seemed like it would eat away at Qingyun’s aura.
One.
“Good enough. And good.”
This is where Kwangseung is,
He didn’t come up here just to look down on you from a position of seniority.
In order to maintain the Qingyun Red River Sword, he felt his Dan Qi, which flowed like the Yangtze River, draining away.
Boom!
I shake off the momentum.
* * *
He was out of breath. It was encouraging to melt the enlightenment and carve it into the tip of his sword, but he could feel his limitations quickly approaching.
It was premature to train for the Emperor’s Invincible Sword.
His body trembled like an aspen tree, and the tips of his hands and feet grew cold from lack of circulation.
He could feel the blue glow of his sword rapidly fading as his strength was depleted.
Perhaps, one last sword strike would be the last.
But that’s okay.
I didn’t come close to winning.
I couldn’t compete with my brother, Namgungban.
It’s a shame, but I’ll use this Fengyun Jie to improve myself.
And.
The woman who met his gaze, and the gaze that met his gaze, pressed down on the bamboo stalk and disappeared into the crowd.
The realization of approaching the Emperor’s Invincible Sword River, and the end of it, the dissolution of the emotional connection with the woman who had disappeared, made him feel that the Sima in his heart had disappeared. And she would probably leave now. She would leave for a long time and return to atone.
Instinctively, he was glad rather than sad. It was as if she had returned to someone she knew.
“Mother.”
And the aura of Kwangseung, which had gradually fallen away, clashed with Namgunghyuk’s aura.
Kwaang!