Chapter – 07
The scene she rushed to with a pale face was horrific.
The house that had always welcomed her was destroyed without a trace.
And her daughter. Her beloved Doa.
Not even her body could be found.
“Mom, where are you going?”
“I’m going to catch the bad people. Our Doa can stay alone, right?”
“Nooo. Take me with you too! Please?”
“Why is our Doa acting like this?”
Looking at the blood-soaked ruins of the house, she recalled her daughter’s last moments.
Her daughter, who rarely cried and was usually well-behaved, had unusually clung to Joo Sohee’s leg that day, whining.
“I have a scary feeling. I want to stay with you, Mom. Please?”
“Mom will be back after just ten nights of sleep. There are lots of your cousins here, so have fun playing and I’ll be back before you know it. I promise.”
“Waaah, nooo!”
In the end, Joo Sohee had to hold and comfort her daughter until she cried herself to sleep. Then, while she slept, she left home to track the traces of the Blood Cult.
She couldn’t believe it.
She had tried to suppress the Blood Cult’s forces for the sake of the children who would one day grow up and enter the martial world.
Children whose skin was still soft.
Children who reached out with sparkling eyes and chubby little hands. Her five-year-old daughter, who still smelled faintly of milk when hugged.
For Joo Sohee, who had endured a blood-soaked childhood, the family she built afterward held special meaning. The happiness she felt when her own child softly whispered “I love you, Mom” while hugging her was beyond compare.
And yet that child had disappeared.
Perhaps she had died.
Alone, without her mother or father beside her, in terrible pain and loneliness.
Joo Sohee newly realized she was capable of letting out such a horrifying scream. Blood vessels burst around her eyes, and red tears streamed down her cheeks.
It was so severe that even Paeng Baek, drowning in grief himself, had to shout to calm her. But she couldn’t hear him.
“M-Mom… does that mean we can’t see Doa anymore…?”
Joo Sohee only came back to her senses after screaming without drinking even a sip of water for seven days and nights, when she heard the fragile voice of her twelve-year-old son.
“Uwaaah, Mom!”
The boy, whose voice had not yet changed due to his late growth, clung to his broken mother and cried. He was the child she still had to protect, too young to truly understand his sister’s death.
From that day on, Joo Sohee began moving again.
The happiness she once had was gone. The colorful world she had seen turned gray again, just like when she lived in the imperial palace.
She felt no freedom at all.
Joo Sohee became far more ruthless and merciless in punishing evil than before.
She lived like a puppet, devoid of will. The only reason she didn’t die was because she feared leaving her remaining son motherless.
Given that, it was only natural that when she reunited with the daughter she thought dead, her love became overwhelmingly heavy.
Especially since during their first encounter she had nearly killed her precious daughter without recognizing her. If she had realized even a little later, she might have been reunited with her daughter’s corpse.
Killed by her own hands.
It was a fear like someone squeezing her heart.
Terrified more than she had been at any time since losing her daughter, Joo Sohee forced herself to breathe as she treated her dying child.
After several days, her daughter opened her eyes.
Despite her pale face, she had grown into a truly beautiful young girl.
Seeing the scars covering her body, Joo Sohee could only imagine the hardships she must have endured. Her heart felt like it was being torn into thousands of pieces, but she forced herself to remain composed so the amnesiac girl wouldn’t become anxious.
But she couldn’t hide the overflowing affection.
Her daughter’s awkward and uncomfortable behavior made her heart ache, yet at the same time she was so lovely.
So very lovely.
A daughter she would cherish more than her own eyes.
Her daughter. Her beloved daughter.
And now.
Lying beside her daughter, Joo Sohee couldn’t believe the situation. Instead of sleeping, she simply watched her sleeping daughter endlessly.
Sometimes, when it became too quiet, she would place her finger under the girl’s straight nose.
Because she couldn’t believe it.
Because she was too happy.
So happy she wondered if she was even allowed to feel this much joy.
After several hours passed—
“Mm… you’re already awake?”
Early morning.
Her daughter’s face, lying beside her, reflected in Joo Sohee’s soft eyes.
Gentle eyes. A delicate nose. Red, moist lips. A youthful face.
Her breath caught.
From the guilt of having her daughter’s peaceful, loving childhood stolen away.
From the sorrow and regret of not watching her grow.
From the overwhelming joy of finding her again at last.
They say when emotions grow too large, words cannot express them.
Joo Sohee was the same. All she could do was breathe sharply and repeatedly without saying a word.
Meanwhile, Doa—now called Dori—tilted her head at the silent Joo Sohee.
“Mother?”
She’s alive.
Her precious other half was alive before her eyes.
The magical moment broke. Joo Sohee answered with a sharp breath.
“Yes. Did you sleep well?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll be leaving around this evening, so you may sleep a little longer. In the meantime, I…”
Before she could finish, there was a knock on the door. After patting Dori, Joo Sohee stepped outside, where a man in martial attire delivered a message.
“Um… the Supreme Elder of the Eon family wishes to meet the Sword Emperor.”
“Hah.”
Joo Sohee let out a dry laugh.
“No matter how eager he is, knocking on someone’s door this early without even sending word first. When people get old, they lose their morning sleep and have nothing better to do.”
“Heh. For someone from the Paeng family, your tongue is quite sharp.”
A man who looked to be in his early thirties walked out from behind her.
His title was Corpse Ghost (Sigwi).
He was Eon Yeonhyeok, Supreme Elder of the Eon family and one of the Ten Martial Masters of the martial world.
“One should be gentle in front of elders to be loved, Sword Emperor.”
“Instead of asking others to be gentle, you should manage your son. When a clan lord cares only about chasing women, it reflects poorly on families like ours.”
“…I lose. Let’s stop there.”
Having started an argument only to lose immediately, Eon Yeonhyeok admitted defeat.
Joo Sohee was the youngest among the Ten Martial Masters. However, she possessed a background no one could ignore.
Princess Seoyeong.
There was no martial artist who didn’t know her bloodline. The emperor himself—armed with cannons, arrows, and armies—was her elder brother.
Her title Sword Emperor came from the same reason.
In an era when imperial authority was at its peak, even the Shaolin abbot, ranked among the Five Supreme Masters, was only called Venerable. Yet Joo Sohee, ranked slightly below, bore the title Emperor because of her imperial lineage.
Of course, her own martial prowess had already surpassed his for over ten years.
‘Even the Sword Emperor, who had no connection to martial arts as a child, turned out like this… but that brat Tae-hyuk… tsk.’
Thinking of his son while looking at Joo Sohee, Eon Yeonhyeok clicked his tongue internally.
After the great war between the orthodox and unorthodox factions long ago, he had lost all his capable sons.
His only remaining choice had been his youngest, who lacked martial talent, making him uneasy even after passing the clan leadership to him.
That clan head had numerous illegitimate children, not to mention concubines, due to his uncontrolled lust.
‘At least I got one decent grandson out of it.’
Unlike his father, his eldest grandson Eon Mu-hyeok showed no interest in women from a young age. Even at the age when most boys awakened to romance, he shut himself in his room and trained constantly.
Because of that, Eon Yeonhyeok held great love and expectations for him.
At the same time, he was a little worried.
‘Everything’s good, but that boy never meets women. It would be nice to match him with a proper noble lady… hmm.’
Well, raising children rarely went as planned.
Shaking his head, Eon Yeonhyeok finally spoke.
“I heard from Mu-hyeok that you found your daughter. Congratulations. Truly.”
