"…I intend to use that Wish Fist now."
Saying this, Seomun Hwa-rin entered my room. She wasn't wearing her usual martial robes, but rather somewhat thinner clothing.
Her truly provocative attire left me momentarily speechless.
Seomun Hwa-rin was no different, and a heavy silence wrapped around the room. …However, this was not a stillness accompanied by awkwardness.
It was closer to the air thick with tension just before something was about to happen.
They say that when you lose your sight, your ears and nose become sharper. I don't know if it works on the same principle, but having lost my words, both I and Seomun Hwa-rin began to feel our five senses sharpen to an extreme degree.
A faint fragrance lingered at the tip of my nose. It wasn't a real flower—it must be the scent emanating from Seomun Hwa-rin's body after undergoing Bone-Exchange Rebirth.
The scent of her body was the same as before my regression and now—unchanged. It brought a strange sensation, tense yet reassuring. Within it, I could hear a faint sound of breathing.
Her breathing was irregular, as if she were thoroughly tense. That was why it sounded slightly like panting—it was surely Seomun Hwa-rin's breath.
It wasn't close enough to hear her breathing, but… with the keen senses of a Harmony Realm Martial Artist sharpened to the extreme, it felt as if it were right at my ear.
The lock on my heart loosened. To steady myself, I deliberately ignored the fragrance and the sound. …I shouldn't have done that.
As my senses became further restricted, my mind began to focus on my vision.
It wasn't martial attire, but loose clothing comfortable for movement. The ease of it seemed prepared for sleep… but the fabric was too thin to be called simple sleepwear.
The sun had set, the world had darkened, and the pale moonlight streaming through the window was dimmer than the red glow of the lamp burning within the room.
Seomun Hwa-rin's clothes, catching the light from relatively close by… faintly revealed the skin beneath.
Of course, it wasn't to the point of revealing skin. It was just enough to clearly show the shape of her body beneath the loose-fitting clothes.
It was because Tang So-wol's poison pouch, nurtured by her Poison Spirit Constitution and a life of good food and rest, and Seol Ri-hyang's mass of Yin Energy, born of her Pure Yin Constitution, were both so overwhelming.
Looking at her this way, Seomun Hwa-rin wasn't that lacking either. At the very least, it was clear she was a woman.
…If I were to collide with her strongly, it would hurt.
"Ah."
The sudden memory of Seomun Hwa-rin's ribs. Many things had happened, but it had been less than a day, so the memory was vivid.
Thanks to that, I came to my senses and shook my head. Then, Seomun Hwa-rin, as if having gone through the same process as me, shook her head with a slightly dazed expression.
I casually lowered my gaze, and I too had loosened my clothes for comfort, holed up in the corner of the room.
I straightened my collar, which had slipped down to my shoulders, and spoke.
"Where are you looking?"
"Ah, I wasn't looking at anything! But you—what exactly were you looking at?!"
"I was, of course, looking at Senior Seomun Hwa-rin."
"Euk! You were looking at this lady…?"
"Yes."
"…How do I look to you, then?"
"…"
It was a question that sounded like nothing at all. But I could tell from her solemn expression and the way she gulped nervously that something was up.
Seomun Hwa-rin had come here with her mind fully made up.
I shrugged my shoulders, doing my best to hide my inner turmoil as I continued speaking.
"You look cold. It's spring now, I know, but the weather hasn't fully warmed up yet, so perhaps you should wear something thicker. You're not getting any younger, and it would be a real problem if you caught a chill."
Seomun Hwa-rin flinched at the mention of her age, but that was all. Instead of jumping up and shouting at me not to tease her as she usually did, she took a cautious step closer.
Then, with her light and graceful hand movements, she placed one hand over her chest and spoke.
"Then you can just warm me up."
"…"
Seomun Hwa-rin closed the distance so I couldn't laugh it off. There was nowhere left to retreat.
So I let out a short sigh and asked.
"Hoo. Is that your wish, Senior Seomun Hwa-rin?"
"If I said it was, what would you do?"
"I'm sorry to say this to you, Senior Seomun Hwa-rin, but is there no other wish you'd like to make?"
"…"
At my tactful refusal, Seomun Hwa-rin's body flinched for a moment.
After being frozen for a long while, she looked up at me with stiff, creaking movements.
"…Have you grown disillusioned?"
"Pardon?"
Seomun Hwa-rin, who had been approaching so eagerly just moments ago, suddenly turned sullen.
Perhaps the courage she had mustered had run dry, she continued in a voice that grew smaller and smaller.
"Is it not a sight to see me throwing myself at you when you already have a betrothed? And Hyang-i is to become your concubine as well, even if she hasn't been formally brought in yet… It is simply laughable."
"Yes, well."
"Furthermore, as you said a moment ago, I am considerably older as well. Do you remember? That I had originally intended to take you in as an adopted son."
"That did happen at one point, but…"
Seomun Hwa-rin, her heart broken by the rejection moments ago and her lukewarm attitude now, slumped her shoulders with a deeply gloomy expression.
"Yes. It's only natural that you would be disillusioned with me. I apologize. I'll be taking my leave now—get some rest."
Having managed to take a single step closer, Seomun Hwa-rin turned and trudged away.
Unlike Tang So-wol, who naturally claimed the spot beside me the moment I came to my senses, or Seol Ri-hyang, who gritted her teeth and crawled her way to my side, she gave up quickly. I could guess the reason.
She must have agonized over whether she even had the right to do this in the first place. Then she'd used the wish technique as an excuse to muster her courage, but my reaction had been too ambiguous, so she'd simply resigned herself.
…How foolish.
I sprang to my feet and embraced Seomun Hwa-rin from behind as she grabbed the door handle. Lightly, as if merely draping my arms over those small shoulders and the nape of her neck.
"Euh…?"
"What nonsense is that supposed to be?"
"Guh. W-well, anyone would make a sound like that if you suddenly hugged them like that."
"No, that's not what I'm talking about."
I slowly backed away, pulling Seomun Hwa-rin away from the door. Then I released my arms from around her and grabbed her shoulders, turning her to face me.
"I was asking why you'd say something so foolish as claiming I'm disillusioned with you, Senior Seomun Hwa-rin."
"Euh?"
Seomun Hwa-rin blinked, then cautiously tilted her head.
"But didn't you say you couldn't grant my wish?"
"That's right."
"…Didn't you say you couldn't hold this one?"
"You understood correctly."
"It seems this one hasn't misheard, then."
I shook my head at Seomun Hwa-rin, who had grasped at a straw and grasped it firmly.
"Who in this world would nod along if someone barged in so abruptly? Everything in this world has its proper order."
"H-However, you said it yourself! That you would grant this one whatever she wished! If you said that, then surely you must have hated the idea enough to go back on your word!"
"What are you saying? How could I possibly dislike you, Senior Seomun Hwa-rin? Of course, I was a little surprised…"
Before the regression, Seomun Hwa-rin was my benefactor and my teacher. But I know the words she left behind.
When I called her teacher, her voice carried a mix of wistfulness and relief, and she murmured that it wasn't bad at all.
Moreover, this life's Seomun Hwa-rin often failed to hide her emotions.
There was no one around me easier to read than Seomun Hwa-rin, so how could I not know what kind of eyes she looked at me with?
It was just that I hadn't approached her first and pretended not to notice.
And that was only natural—after all, I was a man with a betrothed. I had to mind Tang So-wol's feelings, and after Seol Ri-hyang, I thought perhaps Seomun Hwa-rin might be fine as well… but I hadn't received a definite answer.
"Above all, I hope Senior Seomun Hwa-rin doesn't feel too constrained by me."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"It's a simple story."
Seomun Hwa-rin had hidden her identity and stepped back into the martial world to reclaim a new life, to reclaim the happiness she had lost.
And not long after she appeared, I caught her right away. After that, she'd been sticking by my side the whole time.
I don't regret getting involved. I know all too well how helpless she had become before the regression, and how even that resignation had been a source of grief for her.
So I think things are far better now. But.
"Isn't Senior Seomun Hwa-rin giving me her heart no different from a hatchling just out of its egg following its mother? Perhaps there might be a better choice out there. That thought…"
"That's nothing but nonsense."
A cold and resolute tone, as if she were slightly angered.
Seomun Hwa-rin, who had been pulled toward me moments ago, now pushed me back firmly, step by step.
Each time I took a step back, she took a step forward, until my heel caught on the bed and I came to a stop.
But Seomun Hwa-rin did not relent. She pushed me again, seating me on the bed, and then climbed atop me.
She tried to glare at me, putting force into the corners of her eyes. It wasn't threatening, but the sincerity in her gaze was unmistakable.
"I met you far too quickly, that is certain. In most of what I have seen and experienced since returning to this world, you have had a hand in it. …However, I am not the sort of woman who would come wearing such clothes in the dead of night for that reason alone."
"That is…"
"Enough. Answer me once more."
Having said that much, Seomun Hwa-rin looked straight at me.
With eyes so transparent that the affection within them was visible.
"My wish is to rebuild the Seomun Clan together with you. Will you grant it?"
"…"
Seomun Hwa-rin huffed, throwing out her unadorned question. As I kept my mouth shut for a moment, old memories flickered through my mind.
How, not long after I had joined the Black Alliance without ever fixing my temper, I had been demoted to the Iron Blood Faction.
Seomun Hwa-rin had extended her hand to me first, even when I was still full of stubbornness and sulkiness.
She taught me the ways of a human being when I was closer to a beast than a person, having learned nothing. She taught me how not to hate the world, and she shared her own martial art with me.
Even at the moment she closed her eyes, she wished only to remain a single flower to me.
I could not bring myself to do so, but the kindness and teachings that Seomun Hwa-rin had shown me still remained deep within my chest.
And in this life, it was not much different.
I had been turning away with all sorts of excuses, but when I looked into the very bottom of my heart, the answer was always simple, as it had always been.
I wished that new flowers would bloom again from the tree that had withered long ago.
I wished that green sprouts would grow from the ashes that had burned completely.
I wished that Seomun Hwa-rin would be happy, as she had wished for herself.
And…
I wished that I, and no one else, could make it so.
After organizing my thoughts, I carefully opened my mouth.
"I can't."
"…"
In an instant, the light vanished from Seomun Hwa-rin's eyes. Hastily wrapping my arm around her waist, I continued.
"Not right now, that is."
"…So you're saying it'll be possible later?"
"Yes. I actually have two prior engagements already."
"Ah."
Only then did something occur to Seomun Hwa-rin, and she leaned in to whisper at his ear.
"By any chance, with So-wol or Hyang-i… that is… have you not yet…?"
"That is how it stands."
"Th-then there's no helping it. So how far are you allowed to go?"
"Hm. Up to a kiss."
Gulp.
Seomun Hwa-rin swallowed once, then continued in a voice dripping with blatant anticipation.
"And where exactly would you kiss…?"
"I'll leave it to Senior Seomun Hwa-rin's discretion."
I curled the corners of my mouth into a grin.
And Seomun Hwa-rin drew a little closer.