Homecoming

A short while later, I was immediately escorted to Father’s office.

Father had watched me with his usual stern expression while the other warriors were present, but the instant everyone left and the office door closed, his face filled with emotion and he rushed toward me.

“Jin! You came back safely! You came back alive! Thank you! Thank you so much!”

Father embraced me with tears in his eyes, showing me an expression I had never seen even once across both of my lives.

No, it was something I had never even imagined.

The feeling of being welcomed home, and Father embracing me with such an expression….

Something hot seemed to surge up from within my chest.

Moreover, Father was not overwhelmed because I had lost weight, but simply because I had returned.

Unlike the countless members of the clan I had encountered on my way to his office.

Every member of the clan I met on the way here had been greatly astonished by how much weight I had lost.

But that was all. None of them seemed pleased by my return itself.

Watching Father sincerely rejoice over my return finally made me feel as though I had truly come home.

Father held me tightly and repeatedly thanked me for a long while. Only after some time did he carefully stroke my face and speak.

“You have lost far too much weight. You have become so thin. Just how much hardship did you endure…?”

Losing weight was desirable for a martial artist, but it seemed Father’s first thought was that I must have suffered greatly.

The pity in his gaze made my chest tighten with emotion once again.

However, I forced myself to smile and said,

“No, Father. I met good people, learned a great deal, and grew considerably. I lost the weight willingly to become a martial artist. I did not suffer all that much.”

“Is that so? Yes, then I am relieved. Truly relieved. You have been through much.”

After saying that, he suddenly looked at me with a distant gaze and murmured,

“Now that you have lost weight… you look exactly like your mother.”

Father slowly examined every part of my face with a gaze so deep, distant, and sorrowful that it seemed he was looking at someone other than me.

Overcome with emotion, I could no longer hold myself back and spoke.

“Father, why did Mother die?”

Father’s eyes shook violently for an instant before his entire body stiffened.

Then he struggled to speak.

“Jin, that was….”

However, when Father saw my serious gaze, he could not bring himself to continue.

And that alone allowed me to become certain.

“As I thought, it was because of First Mother and Second Mother.”

At my confident declaration, Father tightly closed his eyes.

After a moment, he opened them again and spoke as though trying to admonish me.

“Jin, no. Your mother merely….”

However, I shook my head and spoke firmly.

“Father, I am currently living on the front line, where I could die at any moment. I was able to receive leave and come home this time, but there is no guarantee there will be another. So please tell me the truth now. At the very least, do not let me die without even knowing the truth behind Mother’s death.”

It was an extreme measure.

Speaking of my own death in front of Father undoubtedly made me an unfilial son.

But even if I had to go that far, I needed to hear the truth.

Father could no longer continue speaking.

His lips moved soundlessly for a long while before he finally spoke with exhausted eyes.

“…It was my fault. It was all my fault. Back then, I should have given her up. It happened because I could abandon neither the clan nor her.”

Everything he told me afterward was exactly as I had expected.

First Mother and Second Mother tormented our mother as though they wished to devour her, and unable to endure it, Mother gradually weakened and eventually passed away.

After he finished speaking, neither of us could say anything for a while.

A short time later, Father asked me with a heavy expression,

“Do you wish to take revenge?”

The way he asked made it seem as though he would simply nod even if I said I did.

However, I shook my head.

“I now have some understanding of the feelings with which you protected the Seonu Clan. Knowing that, I cannot now say that I will destroy everything you struggled to preserve.”

Father stared at me in surprise.

It appeared to be an answer he had never expected.

However, my response did not end there.

I continued with a fierce gaze like that of a beast.

“But! If there are those who threaten the Seonu Clan you worked so hard to protect, should we not cut them away without mercy?”

Father looked at me questioningly, and I told him what the Yibin branch chief of the Hao Clan had said.

“When I asked the Hao Clan about the Seonu Clan, they described it this way: a three-legged scale barely held upright by a central pillar named Clan Head Seonu Jung. A scale that would immediately collapse if its weight tilted even slightly to one side.”

Father stared at me in shock before eventually letting out a powerless sigh.

“They view us—the Seonu Clan—in such a way? The eyes of the world are far too sharp. It is all… my fault.”

His sigh as he acknowledged my words was filled with deep fatigue and self-reproach.

He had sacrificed so much to protect the clan, yet in the end, it had become nothing more than a place manipulated by outside powers.

However, I had not said this to blame Father.

I shook my head and spoke as though consoling him.

“I heard about the circumstances at the time. They said the clan could not have survived without outside assistance. I believe the decision itself was excellent. You simply have not yet driven out those who should have been expelled after we regained our strength.”

“…Drive them out. Yes, I see. That is what I should have done… but it is already too late.”

I smiled and told him,

“No, Father. It is not too late at all. In fact, this may be the most suitable time.”

Father looked at me questioningly in response to my overly confident words.

I grinned at him and said,

“Would you care to hear my plan?”

As Father listened to the explanation that followed, his eyes gradually began to shine clearly.

The members of the Seonu family received a sudden summons from Clan Head Seonu Jung.

They had been summoned to have dinner together.

As the Seonu siblings unexpectedly encountered one another on the way to the main hall, they spoke with displeased expressions.

“Do any of you know what this is about? Dinner together? What sudden whim has come over Father?”

At the eldest, Seonu Seong’s, dissatisfied tone, the second son, Seonu Hyeok, shrugged in agreement.

“How would I know if you do not, Eldest Brother? Dinner together… I cannot even remember the last time we did such a thing.”

The fourth son, Seonu Gi, who had been following behind them, joined the conversation.

“Could it be because the pig returned? I heard he received leave from the front and came back.”

The two older brothers frowned and asked,

“The pig? Do you mean Jin?”

“What? The third brother returned without dying? Does that make any sense?”

Seonu Gi shrugged at their reactions and answered.

“Unbelievable as it sounds, apparently so. They say he lost all his weight and looks like a completely different person.”

“Good grief. That is truly something I never imagined.”

“Indeed. It seems the front line is a more disappointing place than I thought.”

At that moment, their fifth and youngest sister, Seonu Yeonha, who had been following behind Seonu Gi, flinched at those words and stopped walking.

Her complexion had somehow turned pale as well.

Noticing her, the eldest, Seonu Seong, suddenly asked,

“Why do you look so unwell, Yeonha?”

“Y-Yes?!”

“You used to treat Jin kindly because you pitied him, did you not? I thought you would be pleased.”

“N-No. It is not that. I simply feel somewhat unwell today….”

Of everyone there, she was the one most shocked by Seonu Jin’s safe return.

However, the other siblings had no way of knowing that.

The fourth son, Seonu Gi, approached her and asked with concern,

“Oh dear, Yeonha. Where do you feel ill? Have you taken any medicine?”

She quickly blushed, smiled gently, and answered.

“No, Gi-orabeoni. There is no need for you to worry so much….”

It was then.

Someone’s voice suddenly sounded nearby.

“It appears you are all on your way after receiving the Clan Head’s summons?”

It was a clear voice like jade beads rolling across a tray.

The three brothers immediately whipped their heads toward it.

Then they cried out in unison.

“L-Lady Zhuge?!”

A woman stood where their gazes had turned.

She wore sky-blue clothing and possessed such beauty and elegance that she seemed to have descended from the heavens. She was Zhuge Seoyul, the treasured daughter of the Zhuge Clan and the Sword Phoenix.

The moment she appeared, all three brothers rushed toward her with delighted expressions.

Seonu Gi, who had just been worrying over Seonu Yeonha, was no exception.

“My lady! It has been a long time since you came outside!”

“My lady! You are as beautiful as ever today!”

“Will you also be joining us for dinner today?”

Such blatant attention from fully grown young men might have been burdensome, but Zhuge Seoyul seemed accustomed to it. She smiled faintly and answered.

“For some reason, Clan Head Seonu invited both my uncle and me to dinner. We were on our way to the main hall.”

The Zhuge Clan elder standing behind her, Zhuge Jiyong, coughed with a displeased expression.

“Ahem, ahem.”

Although he was unquestionably their senior, the three brothers had rushed only toward Zhuge Seoyul as though he were invisible, which irritated him.

The three brothers, who truly had not noticed him, awkwardly greeted him only then.

“Ah, Great Hero Zhuge, you came as well?”

“Greetings, Great Hero Zhuge.”

“Greetings, Great Hero Zhuge.”

Their greetings could hardly have satisfied him, but Zhuge Jiyong reluctantly gave them a slight nod.

Zhuge Seoyul watched the scene with a faint smile, then suddenly asked them,

“By the way, has something happened? Why did the Clan Head invite all of us to dinner?”

Seonu Gi quickly answered.

“It is probably because the pi—no, because Third Brother returned from the front.”

“Pardon? By Third Brother, you mean….”

At that moment, Seonu Seong, annoyed that Seonu Gi had stolen his chance to answer, hurriedly interrupted.

“You know, the pi—the fat fellow who sparred with Gi before and knocked him unconscious.”

“That is right! He knocked Gi unconscious and then collapsed from exhaustion himself. It was truly hilarious. Was it not, Gi?”

As the two brothers tried desperately to expose Seonu Gi’s humiliation and demean him in front of Zhuge Seoyul, Seonu Gi’s face turned crimson with rage, while Zhuge Seoyul secretly sighed at how pathetic they were.

There was also someone watching the entire scene with a gaze filled with more venomous resentment than anyone else.

It was Seonu Yeonha, who had been treated as though she did not exist from the moment Zhuge Seoyul appeared.

Seonu Yeonha’s tightly clenched fists trembled as she glared at them.

‘Zhuge Seoyul, I will never, ever forgive you!’

However, Zhuge Seoyul, who had become the object of Seonu Yeonha’s hatred, merely glanced at her and offered a relaxed smile.

The hatred of the still-young Seonu Yeonha, who was merely the fifth child of the Seonu Clan, was nothing but laughable to Zhuge Seoyul.

She tolerated her only because there was something she wanted from the Seonu Clan. Once that matter was resolved, she was confident she could ensure the girl never looked at her that way again.

And that was not all.

She intended never again to exchange another word with the pathetic men of the Seonu Clan, who were as irritating as flies.

‘Yes, once that matter is resolved.’

However, that matter showed no sign of being resolved.

Zhuge Seoyul smiled appropriately at the Seonu brothers while inwardly grinding her teeth.

‘If only I can somehow obtain the Seonu Thirteen Swords….’

The reason she had returned to the Seonu Clan after sparring with numerous martial families was precisely because of the Seonu Thirteen Swords.

The Zhuge Clan lacked a martial art worthy of representing the family.

They possessed outstanding secret arts in formations, mechanisms, military strategy, and many other fields, but martial arts alone were the one area in which they lacked anything worthy of displaying to the martial world.

That had long been the Zhuge Clan’s shame and was also the limitation preventing them from being counted among the Five Great Clans.

Therefore, when Zhuge Seoyul appeared with martial talent rarely seen in the Zhuge Clan’s history, Clan Head Zhuge Jigang resolved to obtain an exceptional martial art for her sake.

That was also the true reason Zhuge Seoyul had used the connections of Zhuge Jigang, the Martial Alliance’s strategist, to travel among numerous martial families and spar with them.

It was to acquire any exceptional martial art that caught her eye.

The martial art that caught her eye was the Seonu Thirteen Swords.

“Welcome, Great Hero Zhuge. And welcome, Lady Zhuge.”

As Zhuge Seoyul looked at the unusually bright smile of Clan Head Seonu Jung, who had come to greet them before the main hall, she recalled what had happened back then.

Eight months earlier, when she had been about to return home after being disappointed by the poor abilities of the Seonu brothers, Clan Head Seonu Jung had personally demonstrated the Seonu Thirteen Swords as an apology for his sons’ inadequate skills.

At the time, he had executed with ease, almost as though dancing, the forms his sons had been unable to perform properly.

And it had been….

‘Utterly fantastical. Almost mystical.’

It had been astonishing enough when he linked together the First Flash of the Divine Responding Wing through the third form to properly demonstrate the techniques his sons had used.

But the form called the Realm of Phantom Swords that he briefly displayed at the end was truly….

The moment Zhuge Seoyul saw that fantastical phantom sword art, it completely stole her heart.

She had decided at that moment.

This was it.

This was the sword art the Zhuge Clan needed to possess.

However, when Zhuge Jiyong cautiously suggested that they would pay any price if Seonu Jung would transmit the Seonu Thirteen Swords to them, Seonu Jung merely smiled and replied,

‘If Lady Zhuge becomes a daughter-in-law of the Seonu Clan, perhaps I could teach it to her.’

Although phrased indirectly, it amounted to an absolute refusal.

It was unthinkable for Zhuge Seoyul—the treasured daughter of the Zhuge Clan and a celebrated phoenix of the martial world—to become the daughter-in-law of the Seonu Clan, which was merely one of the Eight Houses of Guizhou.

At the time, Zhuge Seoyul had no choice but to swallow her disappointment and leave the Seonu Clan.

However, several months later, she had been forced to return.

No other sword art satisfied Zhuge Seoyul’s eyes anymore.

Now that they had returned, they intended to use even underhanded methods if necessary.

First, they would somehow attempt to persuade Seonu Jung. If he remained stubborn, they would try to persuade his heir. Failing even that, they intended to recruit whichever of his sons lost the succession struggle.