After returning to their quarters, Geom Mugeuk and Han Seol recounted what had happened with Seo Nak to the Drunken Demon and Lee Ahn.
When Geom Mugeuk finished speaking, Han Seol said to Lee Ahn.
"Your suggestion to let the Young Cult Master handle it instead of us was a good one."
She had thought she was being deceived by Geom Mugeuk, but this incident had changed her mind a little.
He might not have been a transcendent being, but he certainly had an extraordinary side.
Geom Mugeuk’s playful gaze turned to Lee Ahn.
"A subordinate who dumps their work on their leader?"
"A good leader is one who knows when to pretend they didn't see that."
"It’s hard, living as a leader."
"It's you who lives a difficult life, Young Cult Master. Other leaders all live easily."
Han Seol still found this kind of conversation unfamiliar.
She was certain that such a casual relationship with a subordinate would surely have major drawbacks.
"Do you know who is closest to Elder Seo?"
At Geom Mugeuk's question, Han Seol answered honestly.
"The closest person to him is the Palace Master."
"Could you arrange a meeting with the Palace Master for tomorrow?"
"I will."
"However, I will go to the meeting alone tomorrow."
"Why?"
Geom Mugeuk gave an unexpected reason.
"Because in the presence of her child, she becomes a parent, not a Palace Master."
Han Seol thought Geom Mugeuk still didn't know about her mother.
"I don't think you need to worry about that."
"There are some things about a parent's heart that a child can never know."
"How would you know a parent's heart, Young Cult Master? You aren't even married."
Geom Mugeuk was not one to be at a loss for words at such a question.
"When you have a parent like my father, you end up studying parenthood diligently. What is a parent!"
Geom Mugeuk saw the Drunken Demon smile at his words.
Everyone feared and was wary of his father, but not as much as the Drunken Demon.
It was a relief that the misunderstanding about his father hating him had been cleared up.
Geom Mugeuk approached the Drunken Demon, who was drinking tea, and sniffed the air around him.
"Young Cult Master, what are you doing?"
"You and tea are such an odd match, I'm just checking. I was wondering if there was wine in the teapot instead of tea."
With those words, Geom Mugeuk poured tea into an empty cup and drank it.
"I think I'm getting drunk. Isn't this wine that tastes like tea?"
"I've found that tea is quite good, the more I drink it."
"Still, you're enduring it well, aren't you?"
"You know, don't you? There's nothing as mysterious as the human body. As if it never drank all that wine, my body is already adapting to tea."
"I don't mean that. I mean you're doing well holding back the urge to go and flip everything over."
The Drunken Demon took a long sip of tea and said.
"I can't hold on for long."
Between the strands of his long, flowing hair, the Drunken Demon’s eyes were colder than ever.
Lee Ahn and Han Seol could tell.
The Drunken Demon wasn't abstaining from wine; he was suppressing his rage.
Geom Mugeuk looked out the window and spoke softly.
At this moment, he was speaking not as a Demon Sovereign, but as an older brother.
"I'll draw them out soon. This place is too beautiful for wicked people to hide in."
Everyone followed Geom Mugeuk's gaze and looked out at the pure white world outside the window for a moment.
Knowing what kind of person the Blood King was, Geom Mugeuk briefly imagined that white world being covered in blood.
But that was fine.
It would soon be covered again with pure white snow.
*
The Ice Palace Master served me tea and refreshments.
"This is the first time I have sat with the successor of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect."
"It is an honor."
"Here, have some."
When I drank the tea without hesitation, the Ice Palace Master gave me a look of surprise.
It meant, 'You are the Young Cult Master, how can you drink without checking for poison?'
"Before coming here, I investigated and studied you, Palace Master."
"And what kind of person was I?"
"You are a wise and brilliant person. Even if half a century passed from now and dementia set in, you are not the kind of person who would poison the Young Cult Master of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect."
The Ice Palace Master smiled faintly.
She understood it was a compliment, implying she looked to be in her twenties or thirties.
"I also did some studying about you."
"What kind of person am I?"
Staring intently at me, the Ice Palace Master replied.
"A person to whom that question cannot be easily answered."
"You've seen correctly. I am not a simple person."
Although I said it like a joke, the Ice Palace Master didn't smile, as if she truly thought so.
"Is there progress in the investigation?"
"Yes, so I went to see Elder Seo yesterday."
"Are you suspecting Elder Seo?"
I slowly drank my tea, creating a momentary pause.
"What do you think, Palace Master?"
"It is an absurd notion."
"There are suspicious circumstances."
"Is that so?"
"And yet you are so calm?"
"Because it is an impossible thing."
The Ice Palace Master did not hide the fact that she trusted Seo Nak more than anyone.
"You still haven't properly answered my question."
It was also a question demanding that I state my thoughts directly.
"I am suspicious of him."
"The reason?"
"It's just a feeling."
Because for the hidden forces to threaten you, Palace Master, it would have to be someone of Elder Seo's standing.
"So you're saying there's no direct evidence."
I admitted it with a smile.
"Why would Elder Seo have killed the brewer?"
"I don't know either."
"He is not that kind of person."
She stated it firmly once more, but I could feel it.
There was a hint of distrust hidden within that belief.
If she truly trusted Seo Nak, she would have stopped the investigation right now.
There is another reason she allowed me to stay in the Ice Palace and investigate the case.
'What is it that you truly want?'
I sense a secret hidden deep within her eyes, something more than just finding the culprit who killed the brewer.
This time, I tried to gauge the Ice Palace Master's feelings by mentioning the Northern Blood Sect.
"I believe the Northern Blood Sect is also involved in this incident."
Even though the Northern Blood Sect was mentioned, she showed no particular agitation.
"Did you expect this?"
"Because their second son got involved with you all."
"You know that he is dead, don't you?"
Of course, the Ice Palace Master knew.
"I heard he was so shocked by the kidnapping that he took his own life."
"Do you believe that?"
She drank her tea instead of answering.
"What do you think? Of the kind of person who would kill their own child for their ambition."
"I am of that kind as well. A person for whom the Ice Palace is more important than my child."
Her reply was self-deprecating, yet provocative.
"It seems I have studied you wrongly, Palace Master. The Palace Master I studied is someone who cherishes her daughter more than anyone."
The Ice Palace Master stared at me.
Her eyes asked how I could possibly know that.
I may not know anything else, but I know one thing for certain.
How much you love your daughter.
Even if you haven't been able to express it properly until now, and even seem unaware of your own feelings.
"Well, that's alright."
I brought up someone who works well and is understood in any situation.
"Because my father would be the same."
As expected, the Ice Palace Master smiled faintly.
She too must know well what kind of person the current Heavenly Demon is.
And what I wanted to say was this.
"Both my father and you, Palace Master, are thinking about it the wrong way."
At the unexpected words, the Ice Palace Master showed a hint of surprise.
She probably never expected me to say that not only she, but the Heavenly Demon himself was thinking wrongly.
"In what way?"
I first said to her the words I had always wanted to say to my father someday.
"I want to tell you not to live a life where you sacrifice everything for the organization, only to look back and find no one there."
"!"
"A life spent running for the sake of those behind you. So you ran, looking only forward. 'How could you do this to me?' A life filled with such laments. You must look back. Much more often, much more frequently than you think is enough. Because cruelly, seven or eight times out of ten, they won't even know you looked back. Because they also have to look behind themselves."
I gave her a polite bow and rose from my seat.
"I wanted to say that it is time for you to look back at your daughter. Fortunately, it seems she is still standing behind you."
*
The next day, I went to see the Ice Palace Master again.
"What is it today?"
"I came again today because I was worried I was too rude yesterday."
"You told me to talk to my daughter, and yet you've come again."
Fortunately, she didn't seem angry about yesterday's events.
The matter of her daughter must be an important issue for her as well.
"You haven't called for your daughter yet, have you?"
The Ice Palace Master could not answer.
If she were the kind of person who could look back just because someone told her to, she would have been living while looking back in the first place.
"I know that such things are not easily done after being told just once."
"So? Does that mean you'll keep coming until I do?"
"That is my intention."
"What is the reason for this?"
I do it for the sake of both of them, but there is another reason.
It was because of Seo Nak.
He would be watching my meetings with the Ice Palace Master.
Meeting her yesterday, and again today.
What if I meet her again tomorrow?
Given his obsessive personality, I surmise that he pursues a certain perfection or order in human relationships as well.
The Young Cult Master of the Demon Sect, who has clearly shown his suspicion, meets with the Ice Palace Master every day? This would surely be something that shakes his sense of order.
I need to quickly find out what role he plays in this matter.
Whether he is just a kind elder with an obsessive personality, or their hands and feet, or the body itself.
"What other reason could there be? It is because I wish for the Young Palace Master's well-being. If it hadn't been for the Young Palace Master, I wouldn't even be here. And I wouldn't have been able to see you so often, Palace Master. Since you've studied me, you must know. That I truly enjoy getting along with the younger generation. I am a person who even dances with them."
No matter how hard she tries to figure me out, it won't be easy.
As long as the things she is convinced are lies are my truths.
"Have you ever felt like you've lost your way?"
What is he trying to say now, bringing this up? The Ice Palace Master shook her head, that very feeling written all over her face.
"I feel it often. I felt it yesterday as well, as I was leaving after seeing you, Palace Master. Who was I to say such arrogant things to you? In the first place, I only followed the Drunken Demon to the Northern Sea because I wanted to spend time with him."
I bowed my head politely to her.
"I apologize for my arrogance yesterday."
After staring at me silently for a moment, she asked.
"Did you say you're abstaining from drinking?"
"Yes, a vow of abstinence out of loyalty."
"When does it end?"
I knew she was suggesting we have a drink together.
"It won't be long now."
Of course, I added a decisive final word.
"If you would trust me, Palace Master."
*
Seo Nak made his move on the evening of the third consecutive day that Geom Mugeuk visited the Palace Master's Hall.
"Welcome, Elder."
"I was just passing by."
From the time the Ice Palace Master was the Young Palace Master until now, Seo Nak had always been polite to her.
Seo Nak immediately stated the reason for his visit.
"I have heard the news that you are meeting with the Young Cult Master of the Demon Sect frequently."
"He has come to see me for three days straight."
Seo Nak asked cautiously.
"Someone like the Young Cult Master would not act without reason. What did his intentions seem to be?"
By using the word 'intentions', he revealed his feelings about Geom Mugeuk.
"He told me to get along with my daughter."
Seo Nak waited for her next words.
He felt that surely couldn't be all.
"For three days, that's mostly what we talked about."
Seo Nak could not believe it.
'Is the Palace Master deceiving me?'
It was only natural for him to think that.
The Geom Mugeuk who had confronted him was seasoned for his age.
Every word he threw had thorns and bones.
But he came for three days just to tell her to get along with Han Seol? It was hard to believe.
"As you well know, demonic practitioners are not to be trusted."
"I don't trust them either."
If you don't trust them, why did you call them here?
Swallowing the words that rose to his throat, Seo Nak said.
"Whatever the Young Cult Master's intentions are, I think it would be best to send him away as soon as possible."
And he added forcefully.
"For the sake of the Ice Palace."
Then, the Ice Palace Master said softly.
"You say it's for the sake of the Ice Palace again."
Seo Nak flinched and was about to ask what she meant by that when the Ice Palace Master spoke first.
"You are right. It's not good for demonic practitioners to stay in the palace for long. I will tell the Young Cult Master to handle this case within a time limit."
Although she obediently followed his suggestion, Seo Nak noticed that the Ice Palace Master was different from usual.
She was strangely different in some way.
The Ice Palace Master had always stood at the distance and place she had set.
And at this moment, he felt it.
That she was standing just a little askew from her original position.
"This is all for the sake of the Ice Palace."
Seo Nak left those words behind and descended from the Palace Master's Hall.
As he walked down the stairs, he recalled what the Ice Palace Master had said earlier.
—You say it's for the sake of the Ice Palace again.
Again? What was she referring to? It was a phrase he used like a habit, so he couldn't tell which instance she meant.
As he came down from the Palace Master's Hall, Seo Nak ran into Geom Mugeuk at the entrance.
"Elder Seo?"
"Young Cult Master."
The two faced each other and exchanged greetings.
"Are you on your way from seeing the Palace Master?"
"That's right. And you?"
He had shown a side of himself he didn't need to, but Seo Nak remained calm.
"I also came to see the Palace Master. If I had come a little earlier, we could have seen her together. What a shame."
"I hear you've been visiting her often these days."
"Opportunities to learn from the Palace Master's profound insight are rare."
"Then go on and have your talk."
"After seeing the Palace Master, I plan to go to the Northern Blood Sect."
At the mention of the Northern Blood Sect, Seo Nak, who had been turning away, stopped in his tracks.
"Why the Northern Blood Sect?"
"They have lost their son, so their grief must be great. I must go and offer my condolences."
"You are quite kind, Young Cult Master."
Seo Nak did not believe he was going to offer condolences.
He felt uneasy.
Geom Mugeuk was going around here and there, disturbing his surroundings.
"Then I will see you again next time."
As Geom Mugeuk bent his upper body to cup his fist, Seo Nak saw it.
A single letter sticking out from inside Geom Mugeuk's robes.
'Could it be? The letter that supposedly said the brewer gave me the Incense Snow Ice Wine?'
Geom Mugeuk saw it.
The face that had always smiled benevolently in any situation, hardening for the first time.
His order had begun to crumble.