By Zephyria 
HF 35
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Wi Yeon-gang even entertained the absurd thought that he might have incurred the wrath of the ice dragon for killing the previous Palace Master.
In that instant, the extreme yin energy clinging to Wi Yeon-gang’s hands was entirely absorbed by the man. It was the heavenly ice polar dragon who had taught the first Palace Master of the ice palace the ice art. If so, the only being capable of stripping away this energy would also be an ice dragon.
Had his wife and child not been beside him, he might have raged in denial of the reality that he had become a being less than an ant, but he had things to protect. Wi Yeon-gang prostrated himself flat on the floor.
As the man raised his hand, the blizzard took shape and transformed into a sharp blade. Just then, the cry of a newborn baby rang out. With a flinch, the ice sword that had been about to fly toward Wi Yeon-gang stopped in its tracks. Wi Yeon-gang hurriedly shouted.
“O Heavenly Ice Polar Dragon! I do not care if I die! But my wife and child are innocent! If you must take a life…!”
“Where is Wi Tae-hwang?”
Wi Tae-hwang…? At the frost-laden question, Wi Yeon-gang snapped his head up. Then, the man tilted his head as if puzzled and reached out. A blizzard swirled around Wi Yeon-gang’s body, lifting him up and drawing him toward the man. The man peered into the face of Wi Yeon-gang, who was bound helplessly by the blizzard.
Wi Yeon-gang likewise looked closer at the man. He had thought it was the heavenly ice polar dragon, but the man was like a pristine mountain of eternal snow. What was the point of ice arts? This beautiful man himself was the embodiment of all yin properties.
“Where is Wi So-hwon?”
However, the whispering voice was closer to humidity than frost energy. Wi Yeon-gang’s face grew wretched as the baby’s cries gradually subsided. His child was dying, and his wife had already lost consciousness, exposed to the extreme frost energy.
“The former Palace Master and the Young Palace Master… are no longer of this world.”
“Why?”
“I… I killed them. I could no longer stand their behavior, bringing a wind of blood to the North Sea, so I killed them. It is all my sin.”
At that moment, the swirling blizzard simultaneously settled onto the floor. Along with it, Wi Yeon-gang’s body dropped to the ground. As the baby’s cries grew so faint it seemed as if their breath was failing, the pure-white man cast his gaze toward the bed.
Watching the man slowly approach the child, Wi Yeon-gang cried out desperately.
“No, no…”
Since he, the Palace Master, was trapped in ice, he could not move a single limb. However, the man was drawing the frost energy that had enveloped the child and wife back into himself. He withdrew all the energy he had spread throughout his body and blasted the blizzard out of the bedchamber all at once.
Soon, a face revealed behind scattering white hair was shedding endless tears. The transparent tears rolling down his cheeks turned into tiny ice beads and fell to the floor. The man did not say a word, nor did he sob; he simply let out a sorrow so deep it was heartbreaking.
* * *
Wi Yeon-gang, who had been keeping his eyes tightly shut, opened them.
On the day the man appeared, not only the bedchamber but the entire vast expanse of the ice palace had frozen over.
At first, Wi Yeon-gang was wary of the man who had slept for over a month. He didn’t even dare think of harming him. The man might have been an ice dragon, and even if he were another entity, he was someone with the power to devastate the North Sea.
However, because the man had not harmed his wife and child, he hoped for a shred of human kindness. Contrary to his own tension, the man, upon waking, began with an apology. He first apologized for nearly killing the child and wife.
And the man introduced himself as Wi Ho-yeon. That day, Wi Yeon-gang learned that Wi Ho-yeon, whom he thought had died, had returned alive from the underground cave where human elixirs were made.
Since then, Ho-yeon had never released that kind of energy again, but Wi Yeon-gang could guess. He had likely encountered the ice dragon, which had been nothing more than a legend, in the depths of that underground cave.
Wi Ho-yeon had been trapped in the cave for so long that it was hard to believe he was alive. If not for the grace of the ice dragon, he would have long since become bleached bones, so Wi Yeon-gang could only view it that way. However, Ho-yeon never uttered a word about what he had experienced.
Ho-yeon likely wanted to personally kill the previous Palace Master, who had murdered all his kin and thrown him into the underground cave. Wi Yeon-gang could fathom a fraction of those feelings upon seeing Ho-yeon’s hollow gaze at the time.
Even after regaining his senses, Ho-yeon remained secluded for a while in the quarters Wi Yeon-gang had provided. After some time had passed, he said he would leave the palace, but Wi Yeon-gang stopped him.
Though it wasn’t his doing, Wi Yeon-gang, having become the Palace Master, felt a certain debt of guilt toward Ho-yeon. Furthermore, a large part of it was a lingering worry, wanting to keep him close and watch over him.
Afterward, Ho-yeon lived quietly with young children in a secluded place called Eumbyeol Hall. To the point that the worries were meaningless, he focused solely on caring for the children and strove not to attract the attention of others.
Wi Yeon-gang thoroughly hid Wi Ho-yeon’s identity even from his close aides. This was to prevent anyone from knowing he had a connection to the previous Palace Master. Yet, it was ultimately Wi Yeon-gang who sent such a person to the demon sect.
The elders were right. He could never send his own child to the demon sect, so he had to push the back of Wi Ho-yeon, who would be the least suspected outwardly. But that wasn’t the only reason. Wi Yeon-gang believed that Wi Ho-yeon would be safer than anyone else.
Unless the Cult Leader went mad, there was no reason to kill Wi Ho-yeon, and even if a dangerous situation arose, Ho-yeon would be more than capable of preserving his own life.
“In the end, he only makes sacrifices.”
Wi Yeon-gang muttered, unable to erase the guilt lingering within him. If he had been Wi Ho-yeon, he might have gone mad with rage and turned the North Sea Ice Palace into a wasteland, regardless of whether the previous Palace Master was dead or not. He couldn’t even imagine how rotten and decayed the interior beneath Ho-yeon’s snow-field-like appearance must be.
“Palace Master, the Haeun Express has requested an audience.”
The Palace Master was awakened from his reverie by the voice of the Black Tortoise Hall Master, who had rushed in.
“Haeun Express?”
“Yes. An express company from Qinghai.”
That a company from Qinghai had come was truly surprising news. It was marvelous enough that they had safely passed through the lands of foreign tribes, but the North Sea Ice Palace was a group as closed-off as the demon sect.
“Who on earth let them in?”
Wi Yeon-gang seemed enraged that an elder had opened the gates of the North Sea at their own whim.
“They mentioned Wi Ho-yeon.”
The Palace Master immediately rose from his throne. A company from Qinghai, not even from the demon sect, mentioned Wi Ho-yeon? Hoping it was nothing serious, the Palace Master sat back down on his throne.
“Tell them to enter immediately.”
* * *
The Cult Leader’s birthday was now imminent. Ho-yeon, who had been embroidering a dragon, roughly stuck the needle in and pushed it aside, then stepped out into the yard.
At the thatched cottage, there wasn’t much to see in the yard, but here, he found himself looking outside every hour. Ho-yeon threw rounded balls of ground barley—grain powder—to the carp swimming leisurely in the pond.
Though he had given them plenty an hour ago, the carp fought as if it were their first meal. Among them, the carp that opened its mouth the widest had a glint in its eye. Seeing it slap another carp with its tail to devour the grain powder suddenly reminded him of Tae-pyeong.
He hadn’t seen him since the day he entered the demon sect, but the image of him performing the eccentricity of walking on two legs remained vividly in his memory. Splash. Because the pond water splashed up to his face, Ho-yeon wiped his cheek with his forearm.
It had already been well over ten days since he entered the Demonic Shadow Martial House. Since Abok had brought the seven-stringed zither from the thatched cottage on his behalf, Ho-yeon occasionally sat in the pavilion overlooking the pond and played the instrument.
It was a relatively peaceful time. Except for the fact that things were awkward between him and Mu-gyeong.
Of course, Mu-gyeong was the same as usual; the problem was Ho-yeon himself. He couldn’t help it, as the feeling of disappointment wouldn’t fade.
Ho-yeon tapped his chest with his fist, like someone suffering from a heartache.
“Young Master Wi.”
Ho-yeon was not surprised by the voice calling him. He had already noticed someone approaching the annex. Han Hee-ryeong, Mu-gyeong’s mother, was dressed meticulously in her official robes today, as always. Ho-yeon, who had been crouching by the pond, stood up and greeted her.
She greeted him in return and approached the pond. Then, looking at the carp still fighting over the food, she spoke.
“Since Young Master Ho-yeon has raised them so plump, we might as well catch and eat them soon.”
Ho-yeon smiled along at the bland joke.
“Would you like to come inside?”
It didn’t seem like something Ho-yeon, who was indebted to the Demonic Shadow Martial House, should say, but there was no other way to express it.