Geom Mugeuk rose from the bed.
“We see each other often these days.”
At Geom Mugeuk's words, Seo Nak stood blankly for a moment before speaking softly.
“There seems to have been some mistake.”
Unlike when he had forcefully pushed his way in earlier, he was now calm.
“It seems someone is trying to put Elder Seo in a difficult position with false information.”
‘That's you!’
Seo Nak felt his temper about to flare.
‘This is not like me.’
Ever since getting entangled with the Young Cult Master, I haven't been able to control my emotions lately.
It was the same when I stormed into this place.
I should have checked under the covers more calmly and politely.
And even if I had seen him in the bed, I shouldn't have been so surprised.
“I apologize for the discourtesy.”
Seo Nak controlled his emotions by showing proper courtesy.
“This is not something that can be concluded with a simple apology. I will formally protest today's events at the Palace Master’s Hall.”
“Do as you wish.”
Seo Nak left the room with the martial artists he had brought.
Once they left, Lee Ahn shouted at Geom Mugeuk.
“When on earth did you get here?”
“A little while ago. When you were opening the door for Elder Seo.”
“Through the window?”
Geom Mugeuk nodded.
Lee Ahn looked at the Drunken Demon.
‘Aigoo, just like a brother, you knew he was here but pretended not to!’
Lee Ahn sighed in relief, sweeping a hand over her chest.
“Ahh! You surprised me! I thought my heart was going to explode earlier.”
The Drunken Demon responded to her words.
“He was probably clinging to the window, waiting to make your heart explode. He came in at just the right time to surprise you.”
At the Drunken Demon's joke, Lee Ahn nodded in agreement.
“Of course, he's the type to hang on through a blizzard just to surprise someone. Fine, since you surprised us like this, I assume you achieved something while you were out?”
It was a remark meant to push back at Geom Mugeuk.
“I found the one behind it all.”
Lee Ahn let out a shriek of 'Aigoo!' She was even more surprised than when she had lifted the covers earlier.
“Really?”
“I was lucky.”
“You really are the greatest under heaven at surprising people!”
Geom Mugeuk had secretly infiltrated the Northern Blood Sect and saw Han Seol meeting with Yang Seok.
While everyone was focused on that meeting, he planned to investigate the interior of the Northern Blood Sect.
But then he saw an escort martial artist who had come with Yang Seok leave his post.
It wasn't a normal occurrence, so he followed him and witnessed him using Blood Arts on a serving maid.
He acted as if he were taking care of her, then instantly cast the Blood Arts, making it impossible to help even if he had wanted to.
“Who was it?”
“The head of security for the heir of the Northern Blood Sect.”
The Drunken Demon and Lee Ahn nodded with grim faces.
As expected, the villains were hiding in the most unexpected places.
“So you deliberately revealed your identity to him?”
Earlier, Seo Nak had been certain that Geom Mugeuk was not here.
Indeed, Geom Mugeuk nodded.
“I wanted to gauge his level of martial arts mastery, and also to confirm whether the Northern Blood Sect and Elder Seo were connected.”
“And you confirmed both?”
Geom Mugeuk nodded.
“One more thing. Our confinement here will also be over. Since Seo Nak showed great discourtesy to the Young Cult Master of the Divine Sect, it gives the Ice Palace Master a reason to release us.”
Lee Ahn asked Geom Mugeuk with a blank face.
“Do you know what I think at times like this?”
“What do you think?”
“Ah! How fortunate it is that I am on the Young Master's side! How fortunate that I am not your enemy!”
Do you know what I think? How fortunate it is that you are here by my side, looking so bright.
“I was so surprised, my heart has gotten stronger thanks to you.”
Now, Geom Mugeuk looked at the Drunken Demon.
He was silently gazing out the window.
What is he thinking about? Wine? Or the deceased brewer? Or Yeo Bin, whom he left behind?
But it was all wrong.
Right now, the Drunken Demon was thinking about Geom Mugeuk.
How can he be so brilliant? How can he handle things without ever being flustered?
If Geom Mugeuk wasn't here, he would have had to handle everything himself, but could he have produced such a result? He was once again having the thought, after a long time, that even though Geom Mugeuk was his younger brother, he felt like an older one.
“Brother.”
I'm not your brother.
You might as well call me younger brother.
With such silly thoughts, he looked back at Geom Mugeuk.
From the mouth of his older-brother-like younger brother came the words he had been so eagerly awaiting.
“The time has finally come to have a drinking party.”
Returning to the Ice Palace, Han Seol headed for the Palace Master’s Hall.
“I came for tea.”
She had said she would come for tea after she returned, but the Ice Palace Master hadn't expected her to come visit her right upon returning, so she was flustered.
“Come here.”
Han Seol sat at the tea table set up in the Palace Master’s Hall, and the Ice Palace Master prepared the tea herself.
“I’ll prepare it.”
“It's fine, just sit.”
The Ice Palace Master began to brew the tea herself.
While she did, Han Seol silently watched her mother's back.
She wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come out.
Should she ask what kind of tea it was? Or should she bring up the matter of the Northern Blood Sect first? Or should she at least talk about the weather?
They had spent so long exchanging only official words that she had no idea what to say.
She thought that speaking was similar to martial arts.
Just as having a great form in your head is useless if your body hasn't mastered it, no matter how earnest your heart is, the words won't come out if they aren't on your lips.
It was a moment when she keenly felt that words are spoken not with the head or the heart, but with the mouth.
In the meantime, the Ice Palace Master finished brewing the tea and brought it over.
“How is the tea?”
“It is good.”
The conversation did not continue, and only an awkward silence flowed between them.
The Ice Palace Master felt just as awkward.
What should she say to her daughter? The Ice Palace Master was also pondering something she had never thought about in her entire life.
And so, the two of them just silently drank their tea.
They say you can tell a truly close relationship by how comfortable the silence is, and by that measure, the two of them still had a long way to go.
It was a suffocating silence that made one wonder what they would have done without the tea in front of them.
But even so, the Ice Palace Master did not want to break the silence with just any words.
In a way, she rather liked this awkwardness.
It felt like the beginning of a new relationship.
It was Han Seol who broke the long silence.
“Palace Master, between a heartless person and a kind person, who do you think survives longer?”
It was a sudden question, but she answered it first.
“The heartless person.”
At that, Han Seol smiled faintly.
“Your answer is the same as mine.”
“Wouldn't any martial artist think the same?”
“Lee Ahn, who came with the Young Cult Master, said otherwise. She said she thinks kind people survive longer.”
Lee Ahn.
For some reason, she was a child who had caught her eye when they first met.
“I was just curious. About what the Palace Master was thinking.”
Was it because of that question? For the first time, the Ice Palace Master spoke the words that were in her heart.
“I wanted to raise you to be strong. A child who would not waver even in the fiercest north wind.”
The tea in the cup Han Seol was holding trembled once, sending ripples across its surface.
So? How am I now? In Mother's eyes, have I grown into such a child?
After talking with her daughter, the Ice Palace Master finally understood.
Her effort to create this meeting and the words she spoke just now were not because of a sudden change of heart, nor because of Geom Mugeuk.
Her own instincts had known.
That if things continued this way, she would lose her daughter.
That she had already almost lost her.
She had just been looking away, using the excuse of being busy with work.
That if things went on, she would be nothing more than the Palace Master who passes down the Ice Palace, not a mother.
Perhaps she had been living with the thought that it might already be too late.
Desperately looking away, not wanting to confirm it.
Then, Geom Mugeuk appeared.
His words, that she would still be standing behind her, had flown into her heart, and eventually, she had come to this very moment.
And she truly wanted to say this.
It was a little embarrassing, but she truly wanted to say it to her daughter.
“You have grown well into such a child.”
Silence flowed.
It was just a single phrase.
But Han Seol felt as if a part of the ice wall that had been frozen solid in her heart had shattered and come crashing down.
The barrier was still enormous, but there was significance in the fact that it had cracked for the first time.
Han Seol finished the tea she was holding and set down the cup.
“Next time, I will prepare it for you.”
If you want to have a drinking party at someone else's house, you need the owner's permission.
“You seem to be in a good mood.”
At my words, the Ice Palace Master smiled faintly.
“My daughter came to visit.”
The Ice Palace Master's expression told him how the meeting had gone.
“Congratulations.”
“It is thanks to you.”
“I only offered words; it was you, Palace Master, who turned around.”
The Ice Palace Master felt a great sense of gratitude towards Geom Mugeuk.
Now she understood.
The unbelievable movements of the heart described in the reports about Geom Mugeuk.
“But what should I do? I may have to ruin this good mood of yours, Palace Master.”
“What is it?”
Geom Mugeuk said seriously.
“I intend to deal with Elder Seo. Please grant me permission.”
At the shocking statement, the Ice Palace Master said nothing.
It seemed she might have anticipated things would turn out this way.
“I saw a master using Blood Arts in the Northern Blood Sect.”
At the words 'Blood Arts,' the Ice Palace Master's eyes gleamed coldly.
As far as she knew, there were no masters in the Northern Sea who used Blood Qi.
In other words, it meant some conspiracy was underway in the Northern Blood Sect.
“He was connected to Elder Seo.”
“Evidence?”
“There is none.”
“So you intend to kill an elder of the Ice Palace based on circumstantial evidence alone?”
“I believe this is enough. We must judge by adding the few mistakes and lies Elder Seo has made before.”
The fact that he had deceived even the Ice Palace Master until the very end about asking the deceased brewer to make Incense Snow Ice Wine was decisive.
In that process, the Ice Palace Master had also seen another side of Seo Nak.
“We will not be able to find more definitive evidence from them. They are all far too cunning for that. Even if we took the time to find it, it would already be too late by then.”
A moment of silence passed.
I gave her enough time to think.
“The opponent the Palace Master must be concerned with now is not Elder Seo. You have known him for a long time, so he may be your biggest concern, but he is merely an arm attached to the torso. What you must be concerned with is the head and the torso.”
The decisive words that moved her were these.
“I am not the one making this decision.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was your bad premonition that called us here, Palace Master. I am telling you that your intuition was correct.”
Finally, the Ice Palace Master made her decision.
It did not take very long.
“I will deal with Elder Seo myself.”
“Of course, you must. However, regarding the matter of Elder Seo, I hope you will give the Drunken Demon the first opportunity.”
Judging by the circumstances, it was highly likely that the person who killed the brewer of the Hundred Wines Snow Courtyard was Elder Seo.
There was one more moment of deliberation, and this time too, the decision was swift.
“I will permit the drinking party. However, invite me as well.”
Seo Nak was arranging the ornaments in the great hall.
Whenever his mind was cluttered, he would take out all the ornaments and rearrange them.
He lined them up precisely again.
When he arranged them in a line without a single hair's breadth of error, there was a pleasure that came from that perfection.
As he was absorbed in this for some time, he heard the sound of the great hall's door opening behind him.
The sound of the door opening was different from usual.
Normally, there should have been a report from a subordinate that someone had come to visit before the door opened.
But for the door to open on its own like that meant an uninvited guest had arrived.
The subordinates guarding outside must have all been subdued.
Without turning back, Seo Nak spoke.
“Wait just a moment. I’m almost done.”
Only after arranging the very last one perfectly in line did Seo Nak turn around.
The person staring at him in the great hall was none other than the Drunken Demon.
The moment his eyes met the Drunken Demon's, he knew instinctively.
‘He has come to kill me.’
Seo Nak sat at the table used for receiving guests.
“Thank you for waiting. Now, let’s sit.”
The Drunken Demon sat in the seat across from him.
Seo Nak placed one of the cups on the table in front of himself, and the other in the seat opposite.
“Perhaps it’s because I’m tired from working, but my throat is dry. Would you give me a drink?”
The Drunken Demon lifted the Blood Dew Wine hanging at his waist and opened the stopper.
The fragrant scent of Ice Wine spread out.
It was the Ice Wine the brewer had made before she died.
The Drunken Demon took a deep breath of the wine's aroma, then poured it into the cup in front of him.
But he did not pour any for Seo Nak.
The Drunken Demon drank alone.
It was the first time he had drunk in a very long time.
As the intoxication spread through his body, he closed his eyes gently and made a pleasant expression.
Drinking the Ice Wine, a longing for the brewer welled up inside him.
Even though he closed his eyes right in front of him, Seo Nak could not attack him.
The aura of intoxication rising around his body shimmered as if it were alive.
Slowly opening his eyes, the Drunken Demon asked.
“Why did you kill her?”
The Drunken Demon poured the second cup into his own cup as well.
Seo Nak fiddled with the empty cup in front of him and said.
“You could at least ask after giving me a drink. You have no heart.”
Even in this situation, Seo Nak showed no fear at all.
“You are confident you can kill me, aren't you?”
The Drunken Demon neither affirmed nor denied, only staring at him silently.
“That’s because you’ve grown complacent. I was the same. In this Northern Sea, there was no opponent who could make me tense.”
Seo Nak, who had lived with a carefree smile, began to show his true colors.
He revealed his true aura.
The aura that radiated from him was so cold and intense it seemed it could freeze the entire world.
He was a greater master than his known skills suggested.
“Becoming complacent is a frightening thing. You are a Demon Sovereign, so you must have lived achieving whatever you wanted, right? You probably defeated enemies you shouldn't have been able to beat. Winning again and again. When in fact, your opponents were consumed not by you, but by the fear of the Demon Sect.”
The Drunken Demon was completely unfazed by Seo Nak's aura.
He drank another cup of wine.
Before long, the Drunken Demon's intoxication had settled around them like a fog.
“I am the one drinking, but you are the one spouting nonsense.”
At the Drunken Demon's composure, Seo Nak bared his teeth and laughed.
The man who always wore a kind smile now laughed like a beast baring its fangs.
“That woman was weak. It should have ended after she secretly made it for me, but she kept feeling guilty about it. One day, she came to me and said she thought she should tell the Palace Master the truth. Is your curiosity satisfied now?”
To that, the Drunken Demon gave an unexpected answer.
“I was not curious at all. The reason people like us kill good people is obvious, isn't it? It must be for some trivial and selfish reason.”
“Then why did you ask?”
It was right then, as Seo Nak was making a face of incomprehension.
A voice was heard from behind him.
“I said I was curious.”
The person who walked through the thick fog and sat down was the Ice Palace Master.
She stared at Seo Nak and asked calmly.
“Was that, too, for the sake of the Ice Palace?”