1 — Prologue

“Kill them all. No one must ever know it was our doing. Erase every trace. However, do not touch the bride’s family. She is to become our Mistress.”

“Yes!”

“Let’s go! Kill them!”

Hands gripping gleaming swords began to slash through the air, preparing for the bloodbath about to unfold.

“Aaahhh!”

“Kyahhh!”

A hellish scene of carnage erupted. The bloody storm that swept through the Neung Family on the outskirts of Seon-yeong, Cheonghae Province, was merciless and brutal.

It just so happened to be the wedding day of the youngest son, Neung Je-gwon, so the townsfolk had gathered in droves, joined by many from the bride’s side as well.

The men in black masks and black night garments swung their flashing blades, drunk on blood, as if intent on annihilating everything alive.

In an instant, silence fell. No more screams, no more sounds of blades cutting through flesh. In the center of the large manor yard, now drenched red with blood, about a dozen people huddled together, trembling in terror.

Thud.

At that moment, one of the masked men threw something in front of the survivors.

“Ahhh!”

A woman screamed and turned her head away. She wore a beautiful crimson bridal gown.

“This is the groom. He’s only twelve years old.”

What had been thrown was Neung Je-gwon, the groom—and the last surviving member of the Neung Family.

“What shall we do with him?”

“Twelve years old? Tsk tsk, why try to marry so young, only to shorten your life? If he hadn’t set his heart on marrying, his family wouldn’t have been wiped out.”

“Indeed.”

“There is no need to draw the blade again once it has already reaped lives. Sell him as a slave in Xinjiang. Make sure he never sets foot on Central Plains soil again.”

“Understood!”

The young Neung Je-gwon, unconscious, was carried away by a masked man to an unknown fate.

The leader of the masked men turned his gaze toward the bride’s family, who trembled in fear.

“Do you understand now? That hastening the marriage was useless?”

“……!”

“Your daughter will never escape his hand. The moment anyone becomes entangled, tragedies like today will repeat. Today was only a warning, so only that boy’s family met misfortune. But if this happens again, your own family will not be spared.”

“Ah… I understand.”

The man clutching the bride tightly in his arms responded with a trembling voice.

“I’ll say it once more—three years. In three years, our Lord will propose. If you show even the slightest hint of suspicion until then…!”

The masked man shot a sharp glare at the survivors.

They nodded frantically, barely able to breathe.

The masked men vanished, and so too did the bride and her family. Not even the barking of dogs was heard in the village. They had reduced not only the Neung manor but the entire village to ruins.

Then, at some point, the masked men reappeared one by one in the silent village.

“It seems there are truly no survivors. Not a trace remains.”

“Set fire. Burn down every house. Burn the corpses as well. Erase every trace.”

“Yes!”

Crackle, crackle.

Flames engulfed every building in the village. The raging fire burned for three days and nights, only dying down when nothing was left to consume.

Rustle.

In the empty ruins, something suddenly stirred.

At one spot in the manor—once called the garden—a large garden stone slowly shifted aside.

And from beneath, a face gradually emerged.

It was Neung Je-gang, three years older than the groom, Neung Je-gwon.

Standing in the middle of the ruins, he clutched his head and wailed.

“Aaaaahhh!”

His scream, steeped in blood-soaked vengeance, echoed long into the sky of Cheonghae.