Chapter 80

“Hyuk, don’t talk nonsense.”
It had only been seven years, but seeing the deep wrinkles on his face made Namgung Hyuk’s heart grow weak. As the years passed, he became stronger, but his mother in front of him became weaker. It began to show on his skin.
Even so, he decided that he had to stick to his guns.
“It’s for the family name.”
“…….”
When Namgung-hyuk looks at Dangmi-yeon, who is averting her gaze, Dangmi-yeon bites her lip, knowing that it’s not, that she can strengthen her weakening heart.
“How could I have raised you!”
“I don’t understand that love.”
“But you won’t leave me!”
“You have a bigger bowl than me, how could I not leave you?”
“Profit!”
Tang Miyan clutched the plate on the table, her hands tightening as if she were about to throw it in frustration. Nam Gung-hyeok watched her reaction with a frown.
“I know you’ve been watching me for a long time, and I know you have expectations that my mother has built up.”
“But how can you.”
“……I thought I was the vessel that would become the patriarch.”
“You are a worthy vessel now. You have many followers, and you have no idea the dominance I have created here, in Anhui.”
“Of what use is that, Mother?”
Tang Miyan’s mouth fell open at those words. She never thought she would hear such words from her own son. It made her doubt her ears.
“What good are all the forces you have created for me? They follow you, not me.”
“Ah, no. They naturally follow you…….”
“Mother, I apologize for interrupting you, but would you please listen to my story?”
At Nam Gung-hyuk’s calm response, and the fact that he was willing to speak up and tell her something for the first time, Dang Mi-yeon straightened her posture, sat down, and put down the plate she was holding. It seemed she had to.
“Before we went to the Yangtze River, do you remember the fight I lost at the sword festival?”
“……remember every time. That’s why you…….”
“That’s not why I couldn’t compete or what happened to me. Even if I had won and begged my father to let me become a cowherd, he wouldn’t have granted my request.”
At that, Tang Miyan was about to say that it couldn’t be true, but Namgung Hyuk didn’t hesitate to continue.
“Anyway, I lost the sword tournament. It was the first bitter defeat of my life, but somehow I didn’t feel bad.”
Recalling the moment, Nam Gung-hyuk wondered to himself what was so funny. Tang Mi-yeon wanted to stop the story from going where she didn’t want it to go, but she couldn’t stop her son from speaking so sincerely.
Then the following words came out of Namgung Hyuk’s mouth.
“If that’s the path you want to take, then you should take it, but if your steps are not voluntary, but instead are motivated by other people, then there is no point. It is not the way of the emperor, but only the way of a dark lord. It will only make you a scarecrow of foolishness. ”
“He said it was a dark lord, neither a saint nor a king, but for some reason I couldn’t think of anything to refute him.”
“…… Hyuk-ah.”
“Mother.”
This is Namgung Hyuk, who led the front line at the Yangtze River, facing countless enemies. His scars and wounds had already turned to calluses on his body, a testament to the harshness of the battle he had fought.
“When you walk the path of the emperor, you will encounter many ridiculous situations. Whenever you do, remember who I am now. ”
“It was not anyone else, ……No, it was what you said that saved me. It was my mother who thought of me, and I couldn’t understand why that memory made me stand up straight.”
At Nam Gung-hyuk’s words, Dang Mi-yeon realized that he was no longer the son in her grasp.
“But then I realized that your behavior was different from mine. As soon as he arrived, he jumped in, telling me how much he’d grown his sword. How could he speak so confidently after seven years of seeing me, after the bitter defeat he inflicted on me in the Sword Council.”
Nam Gung-hyeok chuckled softly at the absurdity of the memory, but he didn’t seem to feel bad at all.
“We lost again, and again, and again, and again. The eyes of the people who were pointing fingers at us as losers suddenly became friendly. Not only me, but also Gali changed.”
Third Duke Namgunggal, who competed as a grandmaster, also found that his relationship with Grand Duke Namgungban became like that of any other brother.
“It was a mysterious power,” he said, ‘and we went from resenting each other for no reason to having a bone to pick with each other.’ …….
“It felt ……good.”
Tang Miyan replied to Nam Gung-hyuk’s inability to finish his sentence, and Nam Gung-hyuk responded with a smile. His grown-up son was talking to him so casually. It made him feel both bittersweet and proud.
He was upset that his son had already left his hands, but the three letters Nam Gung-hyeok, his grown son, made him feel proud in his heart. His dead eyes now sparkled with life.
“I understand what …… means. This mother still has the power to discern that much.”
“Mother.”
“I will have no further part in what you wish to do.”
“Mother…….”
“It’s okay. I already knew it.”
Tang Miyan is a beautiful, poisonous, and thorny woman. Moreover, she is the matriarch of the Sichuan Tang family, a family that is said to be the closest to its own blood and family.
Such a woman caused Namgung Hyuk to worry, but it was only concern. A smile tugged at the corners of her beautiful mouth. Her eyes, usually cold, were as warm as her gaze as she looked at him.
“I apologize. I thought you were still a child, but you’re so grown up now. I overlooked you. I thought you still needed my arms.”
“I still need my mother’s arms.”
“……You’ve already put all your bisu away and you’re only now cleaning it up. Hoho.”
Tang Miyan’s smile was very similar to Nam Gung-hyuk’s, and the heated rivalry that Nam Gung-sega had drawn was somehow dying down.
* * *
“So what?”
“You made us this way, so you have to take responsibility.”
I looked at the two of them in disbelief. When had I ever been so compliant?
“I don’t know, but you’ve already lied to your mother and pretended to be with her, so take responsibility.”
“Huh, right. Who wants to pretend?”
“I’ll take it as a sign of increased rivalry.”
At that, I pressed my temples together. What the hell.
“Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”
At my words, Namgung-hyeok and Namgung-gal look at each other. They’re so handsome.
Sharp features, calm eyes, pursed lips, and upturned noses.
With their tall stature and dense muscles showing through their shirts, they could have been brothers.
“Because I realized.”
“What, that you need to get out of your skirt?”
The words made them both blush. I guess they realize their mistakes. For two humans who had tormented me so much in my previous life, I somehow didn’t hate them, because I knew why.
“Anyway, it’s nice to hear you say that.”
It was true. Namgunggal, whose eyes were arrogant and haughty, and Namgunghyuk, who always looked at me with an emotionless gaze, were somehow full of light and clear. They seemed to have realized a lot.
“…… Huh. I don’t think Gaju will be too happy about this. You didn’t spend seven years on the battlefield for this.”
“Not the kind of family we’re going to build.”
“That’s right, you thought about it, you’ve been doing this, and now you’re changing your mind.”
The two brothers kissed, and I felt I had no choice. I told them to get some Wufeng herb from Yunnan and some Bai Nianhua rice from Jiangjiang.
But I looked at them and opened my mouth.
“I must leave again.”
“Where?”
“Take us with you.”
I shook my head at their words. There was no point in looking at me when they had their own things to do.
“Come on, brothers.”
“…….”
“Do not assume that I have become a lord, though it may come to that in time, for you were all born of the king’s stock.”
“That’s…….”
“Do not limit yourselves. The moment you define limits, you cease to grow. I will continue to move forward. Fortunately, the South Palace is now stable. I’m sure it’s because you’ve purged it of the elements that would make it sick.”
“Right.”
Namgung Hyuk and Namgungal nod. It was the most peaceful they’d felt since they’d woken up and taken on the surname Namgung. Unnervingly so.
“We must be strong for later. We are not the ones who are pretending to be with the hordes of the Black Sea in the name of Namgung.”
Indeed, the Southern Palace is the most active of the Six Great Houses.
The Green Forest, the Great Wall, and the Yangtze.
What can I say, it was the Southern Palace that was showing its strength in the face of all three groups.
“Each has performed well, but we have not yet been able to break through. You must further refine your Heavenly Wind and explore the Heavenly Thunder, and Gali must refine his Spear and Rainbow Sword and reach the level of what Spear and Martial Arts means.”
I pounced on their shortcomings. Of course, I didn’t stop there. I unwrapped the furoshiki from my bosom.
“What is this?”
“You know it when you see it.”
“It’s only …… seconds long, but it contains the aura of extreme yin.”
Namgung Hyuk and Namgungal couldn’t take their eyes off of it, these were the three roots of the Ten Thousand Year Ginseng.
“I got it through a chance encounter. It will be too much energy. Luckily, the Southern Palace’s Heavenly Thunder King God is a yang energy, so we’ll be able to keep it in balance.”
I hadn’t expected to be the one to bring out the ginseng for these two, but it wasn’t like I was going to keep it to myself.
But it seemed like a good investment. The Namgungsegae family was not something that could be led by a single person.
That was the weight, the majesty, and the dignity of the Sixth House.
It was the weight, the majesty, and the dignity of a sixth generation.
I was going to erase my debts to these two men, shackling them to the family name of Namgung for all eternity, and forever imprinting the existence of my country after them.
As a case in point, the two of them couldn’t take their eyes off Seolsam’s aura.
“Eat, and I’ll do you a favor.”
Thunderbolts generated by the aura of the Thunderclan crackled in my hands, and I rose to my feet, about to face the enormous aura of the two Ten Thousand Year Seals.
Gulp-!