Na Manor (1)

On the first day she returned to Na Manor, after meeting Madam Min, Na Seoyu ended up spending the next two full days doing nothing—just sitting blankly in her room, waiting.

And now, today, Madam Min had finally summoned Na Seoyu again.

It was the first summons in two days since she had treated Seoyu like she didn’t exist.

When they met again, Na Seoyu looked noticeably haggard despite it being only two days later.

It seemed her mental anguish had been severe.

Madam Min glanced at her, smirked faintly for a moment, then put on a stern expression and spoke.

“Will you not even greet your younger brother?”

At those words, Na Seoyu looked at the young man seated beside Madam Min.

A young man who resembled Madam Min, watching her with an arrogant, mocking smile—this was Na Seoyu’s half-brother, Na Seohwang.

The younger brother did not greet his older sister first; instead, the older sister was expected to bow and greet the younger brother.

No one present found this strange.

Because this was how it had always been.

Na Seoyu forced a smile and greeted him.

“Seohwang… How have you been?”

No answer came back.

Na Seohwang only looked at her with a contemptuous smile.

When he didn’t respond at all, Madam Min continued, as if that were perfectly natural.

“So, have you thought about your marriage?”

The reason she had left Na Seoyu alone for the past two days was to break her.

Having watched Seoyu for many years, Madam Min knew that, given her personality, the longer she was left alone, the more crushed by guilt she would feel.

And now that Na Seoyu was no longer a child, she also understood very well what Madam Min wanted.

So with a heavy heart, she forced herself to answer.

“No. I do not wish to enter such a marriage.”

Silence fell over the room.

Madam Min and Na Seohwang stared coldly at the bowed Seoyu.

After a moment, Madam Min quietly opened her mouth.

“I see. So you intend to cling to your selfish desires to the very end. Very well, if that is how you feel, it can’t be helped. You may leave.”

Na Seoyu rose with difficulty, bowed her head, and left the room.

Madam Min and Na Seohwang watched her go with icy eyes.

A short time after she left, Na Seohwang asked his mother:

“Why did you just send her away? Shouldn’t you have slapped her like before and given her a proper scolding?”

Madam Min ground her teeth and replied.

“You think I wanted to let her go? I wanted to grab that girl by the hair this instant. But don’t forget she’s someone who has served on the frontlines. When I saw her eyes last time, they were… not ordinary. Sharp—like those of a high-level martial master. It would do us no good to lay hands on her carelessly.”

Na Seohwang snorted.

“Hmph! As if that wench could really have become a first-rate expert. And even if she had—so what? We could just hire martial artists and subdue her. You really have become timid.”

To soothe her disgruntled son, Madam Min spoke in a gentle, coaxing tone.

“In matters like this, it is more important to break the heart than to break the body. We must wait until she bows her own head.”

Na Seohwang suddenly exploded.

“It’s already been two days and she still hasn’t! What if she keeps being stubborn and just goes back to the frontlines? You’ve already sent a marriage proposal to Wounding Manor—are you going to tell them it’s cancelled?!”

That was a shocking revelation.

The two of them had already sent a proposal to Wounding Manor before even speaking to Na Seoyu.

Madam Min smiled viciously as she answered.

“Hmph! Don’t worry about that. Does a stronger cultivation make a person any less foolish? That stupid girl would never do something like that. Just you wait. After leaving her alone a few more days, she’ll come crawling to me and beg. She’ll say she’ll accept the marriage, so please let her see her father. You know better than anyone how stupid she is.”

“Hmph! She is stupidly soft-hearted. She’s pretty enough, too. If we didn’t share blood, I’d have rather taken her for myself than give her away.”

As Na Seohwang clicked his tongue regretfully, Madam Min scolded him in a half-serious tone.

“Now, now! You’ll soon be Lord of Na Manor—how can you set your sights on such a lowly girl? You need a woman who can raise you to a higher position.”

But as they were talking, neither mother nor son had the slightest idea.

They did not know that someone was eavesdropping on their conversation from atop the roof of their room, using sound-transmission techniques.

Listening in from the roof, Seonu Jin finally muttered:

“I rushed here like mad, worried there would be iron ghosts, and there aren’t any—only two beasts.”

From the roof where he lay hidden, Seonu Jin caught sight of a figure walking weakly back to her room.

The back of the only woman he had loved across two lifetimes—Na Seoyu.

For the first time in a long while, Seonu Jin felt a blazing killing intent rise within him toward human beings.

Na Seoyu sat alone in her room again, lost in thought.

Madam Min’s intentions were obvious.

She was once again using Father and Na Manor as hostages to control her—this time as a tool for a political marriage.

The problem was that, even knowing this, Seoyu had no way to respond.

“Father…”

She was terribly worried about her father, bedridden and unable to move.

If she could at least know how his condition truly was—or if that was impossible, if she could at least see his face once—her heart wouldn’t feel quite so shattered.

Na Seoyu felt as if she would go mad with worry.

Of course she knew very well that Madam Min was holding her father and Na Manor hostage to threaten her.

And that she must not give in.

But…

‘Mother has taken Father and Na Manor hostage. Against someone like that… what can I possibly do?’

She genuinely didn’t know.

For her, the safety of her family and her father’s wellbeing were the most important values in life.

Because of that, the option of resisting Madam Min and causing upheaval in the family simply did not exist for her.

In the end, Na Seoyu whispered in despair:

“Do I really… have to get married?”

She even began to think that maybe it would be better to accept the marriage, just as Madam Min said, and at least be allowed to see Father.

But…

“Captain… what should I do?”

The image of Seol Pung, so vivid in her heart, made it impossible for her to accept this.

Marrying another man instead of him—that was something she could not even imagine.

Yet at the same time, the fact that she was unable to see her father because of her feelings for Captain Seol Pung filled her with guilt—made her wonder if she really was as selfish as Madam Min claimed.

She felt unbearably suffocated and confused.

To protect my family, I must sacrifice myself.

Even though she was a grown woman now, it was still nearly impossible to break free of the idea that Madam Min had drilled into her since childhood, almost like brainwashing.

While Na Seoyu continued to wrestle with her thoughts, another day drew to a close.

It was already the third day.

Then—

Knock, knock.

Someone knocked on her door.

Na Seoyu flinched in surprise.

Probably by Madam Min’s order, no one in Na Manor had tried to speak to her or even come near her.

And yet someone was knocking at this hour?

“Who is it?”

Opening the door as she asked, Na Seoyu was startled.

Because the person standing there was someone she had never imagined she would see here.

“Seonu Jin?!”

Seonu Jin brought a finger to his lips and gave her a gentle smile, signaling for silence.

Then he slipped into her room.

Na Seoyu whispered in a small trembling voice:

“Seonu Jin, what is going on?!”

“Well, you see…”

Seonu Jin told her about the three iron fiends whose trail had been lost near the Fifteenth Division, and how that was why he had rushed over ahead of everyone else.

When he finished, Na Seoyu smiled faintly.

“So you came to save me. Thank you, Seonu Jin.”

Her warm smile made him smile as well.

“It’s nothing. If you might be in danger, of course I had to come.”

The two of them smiled at each other for a moment.

And Na Seoyu noticed that something about Seonu Jin felt different.

No, he was definitely different.

Because if this were the old Seonu Jin, when she smiled and looked at him, he would certainly have flinched in panic and looked away first.

But now he didn’t.

Instead, he calmly met her gaze with a deep, steady look.

So in the end, she was the one who flushed and had to look away.

This was the first time anything like that had happened since Seonu Jin joined the Seventh Squad.

Flustered, Na Seoyu hurriedly changed the subject.

“Um, but now that you’ve confirmed there are no iron ghosts here… are you going back?”

Seonu Jin smiled again.

The way she blushed and avoided his eyes seemed unbearably cute to him.

Though Seonu Jin didn’t realize, this was exactly how Na Seoyu had always felt while watching him.

“No. They might just not have arrived yet, so I need to stay a while longer. And… there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Tell me… something?”

Looking puzzled, Na Seoyu waited, and Seonu Jin spoke firmly.

“Your father is not unconscious.”

For a moment, she didn’t understand what he meant.

“…What?”

Seonu Jin explained.

“It seems he really can’t move his body, but his mind is perfectly clear. In fact, he was asking if there hadn’t been any letters from you—it sounded like he misses you very much.”

“…What…?”

Tears welled in Na Seoyu’s eyes.

After arriving, Seonu Jin had hidden himself and checked every corner of Na Manor.

He had trailed Madam Min and confirmed the room where Lord Na lay.

He had even heard the manor lord asking anxiously if there had been any letters from his daughter.

Hearing that, Na Seoyu covered her mouth with her hand, choking back a sob.

“That can’t be…”

Her eyes were shaking with a storm of emotions.

Relief that her father was conscious.

Rage toward Madam Min.

Gratitude toward Seonu Jin.

Smiling gently at her, Seonu Jin asked:

“So… shall we go see him now?”

“…What?”

“I mean your father. If we go now, we’ll be able to slip in quietly and meet him.”

To sneak in and meet him in secret—

This was something Na Seoyu’s way of thinking had never allowed until now.

“But… Mother said he had to stay completely at rest.”

Seonu Jin shook his head.

“You still believe that? From what I heard, he’s heartbroken that you haven’t come. I’d say seeing your face would do more for his strength than anything. And surely you’re not seriously thinking of only meeting him after you agree to that woman’s marriage plan, are you?”

Na Seoyu instantly realized that he was right.

If her father’s health was not truly at risk from seeing her, then there was no reason to care about Madam Min’s words at all.

Her expression finally brightened, clear and resolute.

“You’re right. I never needed to care about that in the first place. I should go to him right now.”

Seeing her spirits lift, Seonu Jin grinned.

“Then let’s go.”

They quietly leapt up onto the roofs of Na Manor.

Avoiding the eyes of the manor’s guards as they moved across the rooftops was no challenge at all for Seonu Jin—or for Na Seoyu, who had long trained in movement arts alongside him.

On the way, Na Seoyu suddenly sent him a transmitted voice.

— Seonu Jin, you seem a little different.

Seonu Jin smiled.

It seemed even Na Seoyu could sense that his mindset had changed.

Feeling slightly proud, he asked with a bit of expectation:

— Me? How am I different?

She hesitated, then answered.

— Hmm… Before, you felt like a cute son. Now you feel like… a properly grown-up son?

— Urk.

So he was still a son, apparently.

It left a bitter taste in his mouth, but he decided to focus on the progress.

At least she’d dropped the word “cute,” right?

The two soon reached Lord Na’s room.

There were two guards at the door, but they were already dozing off.

Seonu Jin silently approached and pressed their acupoints.

They would have no memory of when they had fallen asleep.

With a heart about to burst, Na Seoyu carefully slid the door open and stepped inside.

On the bed lay a middle-aged man with a gaunt face, fast asleep under the covers.

“Father…”

Tears immediately spilled from Na Seoyu’s eyes.

Her father looked so worn and frail that she could not hold them back.

She spoke softly, not wanting to wake him, and sat by his side—but the manor lord woke at the slightest sound.

The moment his eyes opened, he called for his daughter.

“Seoyu? Seoyu, is that you?”

His voice was desperate, as if he had been searching for her even in his dreams.

Na Seoyu, weeping, called back to him in a choked voice.

“Father…”

The gaunt face of Lord Na brightened at once.

“Seoyu! It’s really you, Seoyu! Truly you! This isn’t a dream—you’re really here!”

“Father!”

The two of them clung to each other and sobbed.

Their voices were so raw and full of feeling that even Seonu Jin, standing guard outside the door, felt his own eyes grow hot.

The father who had been searching for his daughter even in his sleep.

The daughter who had been too afraid of causing him distress to even attempt to see him.

Both their hearts were overflowing.

For a moment, Seonu Jin missed his own father back at the Seonu Clan.

After a long time of wordless weeping, father and daughter were finally able to speak.

Lord Na gazed at his daughter with aching tenderness and asked:

“Your step-mother said there were circumstances keeping you from coming. Has that business been settled now?”

Unable to bring herself to tell him the truth, Seoyu answered with a shadowed expression.

“…Because of certain circumstances, I had to come secretly, without telling Mother. Could you please keep my visit a secret from her?”

Lord Na watched her for a moment, then asked with a darkened face:

“Did… my wife prevent you from seeing me?”

Hearing her father voice a truth she had never dared to speak, Seoyu could not answer immediately.

Lord Na let out a long sigh.

“So it was that. Only now, bedridden, do I finally see that viper’s true nature.”

It seemed he, too, had begun to sense something was wrong recently.

He gripped Seoyu’s hand tightly and said:

“She has been blinding me all this time. Only after being confined to this bed did I realize it. When I think of how hard it must have been for you all these years… I can begin to guess. My kind girl—no doubt you kept silent because you didn’t want to worry me.”

“N-no, Father, I just, I just…”

Though she tried to deny it, tears poured down her face.

Now that her father had finally understood her heart, she could no longer hold them back.

Lord Na, also in tears, asked again:

“Seoyu, was it also a lie that you insisted on going to the frontlines?”

“Hk…”

Seoyu clapped a hand over her mouth as a sob broke free.

Three years ago, because of Madam Min, she had been forced to go to the front instead of her younger brother.

At the time, Madam Min had told Lord Na that Seoyu herself was stubbornly insisting on going to the frontlines.

He had been furious, but Madam Min had cleverly wedged herself between them, never giving them a chance to talk directly—and so they had never learned each other’s true intentions.

Seoyu had believed all this time that her father had agreed she should go instead of her younger brother, the heir to Na Manor.

But that had not been true.

Now, at last, both understood how it had really been.

Again, their tears flowed.

“I am sorry, so sorry… My good daughter, Seoyu!”

“No, Father. Please don’t say that.”

After they cried together for another long while, Lord Na asked:

“Then the letter saying you wished to marry into Wounding Manor—that, too, was false?”

A few days earlier, Madam Min had brought him a letter from Seoyu.

In it, she supposedly said she wanted to marry someone from Wounding Manor and asked him to arrange it.

Seoyu shook her head firmly.

“No. I never sent such a letter, Father.”

Lord Na let out another deep sigh.

“So it was a forged letter, imitating your handwriting… I did not see it.”

A letter that only asked him to marry her into Wounding Manor without even trying to come see him…

At the time, Lord Na had been deeply disappointed.

But that, too, had been a lie.

He held his daughter’s hand tightly and said:

“Seoyu, you must marry the man you love. Na Manor, and this father, are nothing you need to worry about. If you have no such man, then you can simply live with me.”

Hearing his words, overflowing with love, Seoyu nodded through her tears.

“Y-yes. I understand, Father.”