"Even now, I would be willing to let it pass generously. Won't you speak?"
"…"
Tang So-wol stared at me intently, waiting for an answer. I opened my mouth for a moment, but what flowed out was not words — only a faint groan.
That was only natural. The shadows cast by the moonlight and the sorrowful smile on her lips made the Tang So-wol before me resemble the woman from my previous life… the woman I had loved, far too closely.
Tang So-wol waited for a reply for a while, but in the end, seeing that I could not say anything, she lowered her head deeply.
Her loose hair fell over her face. Tang So-wol, whose expression I could not read, continued in a quiet voice.
"Do you know something? I rather like you, young hero Cheon."
"…"
"At first, I wondered if you were a strange person… but the more I watched you, the more I found things to learn from you. I liked that you were younger than me, and honestly, your face was quite to my taste. Yes. No matter what anyone says, being with you is enjoyable. I imagine it will continue to be that way for a long time."
Having said that, Tang So-wol turned to face me completely and lifted her head.
Her skin, though dark against the backlight, was flawless. Her eyes trembled slightly, but they did not avoid my gaze.
The person here was not the Poison Lady Tang So-wol, who had weathered countless trials. It was Tang So-wol at the age of twenty, just taking her first steps as a martial artist, nervous before the momentous event of marriage.
"I had been feeling a sense of dissonance for a while now. When we were conversing, there were times when your gaze, young hero, would drift toward the empty air, or when you would suddenly look at me with a distant, wistful expression."
"…"
"I had hoped it was simply a misunderstanding. But it was not."
Tang So-wol barely managed to lift the corners of her mouth. It was a bitter smile.
"Still, I do rather like you, young hero. So let me change my question a little."
Tang So-wol reached out one hand and cupped my cheek. As if telling me not to turn my head away, to look at her now.
"Young hero Cheon. What do you think of me? Just as I do, do you also look forward to this marriage?"
Her voice carried a hint of unease. Only then could I open my mouth.
"…Of course I look forward to it too."
Before the regression. I clearly remember the promise we made on a moonless night. And how that promise came to an end.
It was nothing more than a lingering attachment, so of course I would look forward to it.
But that is not all.
"It is true that I was seeing someone else through you. But that person no longer exists in this world."
Until now, I had brushed it aside, telling myself they were the same person at heart, but now I know. The Tang So-wol of now and the Tang So-wol of my previous life are different.
It would be impossible to see the Tang So-wol I loved again. Only now have I decided to accept that fact. However.
"However, that does not mean I cannot see you, Tang So-wol."
After spending close to two months together, I have come to realize. I am simply drawn to the person named Tang So-wol.
Even if, for some reason, she were to regress once more and I were to meet a Tang So-wol who no longer even has her current memories—or conversely, even if I were to lose my memories of my previous life and meet her by chance from a blank slate.
I would surely circle around Tang So-wol blindly, like a moth drawn to a flame.
"So please, don't be too anxious. I hope you'll look forward to the betrothal ceremony to come. …Just as I do."
"Ah."
Tang So-wol, still frozen with her hands cupping my cheeks. She seemed to want to say something, her lips moving soundlessly, and only after a long while did she continue.
"I really am a simple woman, aren't I? To have my heart soften so easily over just a few words like this. …But waiting quietly inside the young hero's heart for me to grow isn't really my style."
Squish.
Tang So-wol stretched my cheeks, still held in her hands, pulling them outward. As I dazedly let her do as she pleased, her eyes, tinged with a faint green energy, curved into crescent moons.
"From now on, I'm going to seduce you, young hero."
"What does that mean?"
"Literally. If you fall for me, young hero, it won't be because time passed and you forgot someone else. It'll simply be because you succumbed to my seduction."
"…"
She released my cheeks, which had gone slack with disbelief, and raised her index finger with a flick!
"Young hero Cheon, you're about to be poisoned. By me, that is."
A bold declaration, if ever there was one. Even she seemed aware of it, her ears burning red to the tips, yet she neither averted her gaze nor lowered her outstretched finger.
I stared blankly at her for a moment, then nodded. Only then did Tang So-wol rise from her seat with a satisfied expression.
"Then let's leave it at that. I did sneak in here, after all, so I can't stay long."
"Hmm. I suppose so. Even if we're to be betrothed, it wouldn't do for word to get out that you were slipping in and out of a man's room in the dead of night."
"…When you put it that way, you make it sound like I've done something strange."
Tang So-wol pouted her lips, then suddenly grabbed my hand and brought it to her mouth. And then—
"Chomp."
She bit my finger. Not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to leave teeth marks and sting slightly.
"…What are you doing?"
"If I'm going to be misunderstood, it'd be a shame not to actually do something strange."
"…"
I stared at her with a dumbfounded, wry expression for a moment. Before long, Tang So-wol giggled and added an explanation.
"Of course, it wasn't just a simple bite. I've just applied the poison of the Ssangduseokcheok to the young hero."
"Poison, you say?"
It didn't seem like there was anything wrong with calling it poison. After all, there was no way Tang So-wol would harm me, so it was only natural.
Still, feeling a bit concerned, I brought the finger she had just bitten to my nose, and Tang So-wol flinched in alarm, pushing my hand away.
"Why are you smelling it!?"
"Nothing. You said it was poison, so I got a little worried."
"It won't smell of anything if you just sniff it like that, so stop it."
"I only didn't get a close enough whiff—there was definitely a scent to it, though."
"Don't worry, it's not the scent of poison!"
With that, she rubbed the back of my hand vigorously with her sleeve. She'd gone to the trouble of applying poison to me, and now she was wiping it off—what was the point of that?
I hadn't said a word, but perhaps she sensed the meaning in my gaze, because Tang So-wol let out a sigh and spoke.
"The Ssangduseokcheok is a spirit beast—a lizard with an extra head instead of a tail. Once it grows to a certain point, one head splits off, and the two become separate lizards."
"Well, that's a curious creature."
"But it doesn't end there. To become a fully mature adult, one of them must devour the other. That's why they smear poison on each other—so they can recognize one another even when far apart."
"So that's what you just applied to me."
"Yes. As long as young hero Cheon doesn't stray too far, I'll be able to tell where you are."
"Can I also sense your location, Tang So-wol?"
"If young hero succeeds in training the poison art and forming a poison core, then it would be possible."
Some martial arts change the very nature of internal energy upon reaching the Transcendent Peak realm. The Blazing Yang Art being able to ignite fire with internal energy alone, or the Yin Cold Arts being able to freeze water, are good examples.
In my case, I had melted killing intent into my internal energy, and I'd heard that those who mastered the poison art united their internal energy with poison energy to transform their Dantian into a poison core.
So I'd have to throw away every martial art I'd learned so far and reach Transcendent Peak through the poison art alone.
"…In other words, it's practically impossible for me."
I stared blankly at my fingers, caught in a strange mood—but only for a moment. A question suddenly occurred to me.
"Wait. You made it sound like anyone who reached that realm through the poison art would be able to sense it."
"Because I mixed my bodily fluids with the poison, I'm the only one who can sense its approximate location even from a distance. But…"
"But?"
"If you're right in front of me, I can tell that I've applied the Ssangduseokcheok poison. That's what it was buried for, after all. Think of it as a sort of territorial marking. I wonder if my father or the clan elders see it as a declaration of my will to be bound to the young hero?"
Tang So-wol said this with a playful smile. She then grabbed the door handle, as if she was truly about to leave this time.
"Well then, young hero Cheon, since you're still a patient, you should rest well. I'll return to my room before the sun rises."
"Hm."
I nodded blankly, and this time she truly left without looking back.
I let out a small laugh as I looked at my hand, where her warmth still lingered.
"Well, that's that."
Moonlight poured down from a cloudless sky. I looked up at the full moon I had once longed for so desperately, then settled into a cross-legged sitting position.
It was Tang So-wol's arrival that had interrupted me—my body had not yet fully recovered from either internal or external injuries.
I had slept enough, so it was time to focus on Qi Circulation again.
The faster I healed, the sooner I could return. And once I was back at the Tang Clan…
With a faint smile, I channeled my internal energy according to the Oral Formula of the Crazy Wolf Life-Stealing Art. The energy that had once been so thick with killing intent felt strangely calm today.
***
"You there. Make sure you lock your door at night."
"Huh?"
The next morning. Perhaps it was because I had been sitting cross-legged all day. As I was taking a brief breather in the open yard to stretch my stiff body, Tang Jincheon appeared out of nowhere and said that.
His gaze was fixed on my fingers. The ones Tang So-wol had applied the Ssangduseokcheok poison to yesterday.
"If you don't, I might accidentally walk into your room."
"…"
So he had already found out that Tang So-wol had stopped by my room yesterday.
At my flinch, Tang Jincheon let out a hearty laugh and clapped me on the shoulder.
"What's the matter? I'm just saying don't rush things. Everything in this world has its proper order, doesn't it?"
"I'm quite fond of keeping proper order myself, so there's no need to worry. But on a different note, how is the interrogation coming along?"
"You're clearly trying to change the subject, but since you say you'll keep the order, I'll let it pass. To give you the conclusion first, it seems it will take a bit of time."
"Pardon?"
How could that be? This is the Tang Clan, after all.
"You look like you don't understand. I can roughly guess what you're thinking. You're surprised that the Tang Clan's interrogation is dragging on, aren't you?"
"Well. To be honest, yes."
This was before Tang So-wol came to be called the Poison Lady. In the Central Plains of this era, the one most knowledgeable about poisons was none other than the Poison King, Tang Jincheon.
And the Tang Clan was a family as skilled in medicine as they were deep in the poison art.
He was surprised, then, that the one who excelled above all others at keeping a person alive while inflicting pain would say that the interrogation would take time.
"Surely you're not holding back mercy in your hands…"
"Not at all. Though the Tang Clan claims to stand with the Orthodox Sects, there's no reason to show leniency to one who tried to kill my child. Besides, you know the Tang Clan's Family Precept well enough."
"Then what's the problem? No matter how strong the will, with your father-in-law's poison, you could make them spit out the truth regardless of their will."
"Hm? You know quite a bit. Most break their will before pain, but sometimes there are those who burn their will in the face of pain. The Demonic Cultists are mostly such stubborn ones. So the important thing isn't breaking the will, but clouding the intellect."
Before the regression, I had seen Tang So-wol interrogate Demonic Cultists right by my side a few times, so I knew it well.
Still, perhaps it wasn't as easy as I thought. Tang Jincheon let out a deep sigh and continued.
"Clouding the intellect with the Mihondok worked well enough, but when I tried to make them reveal the true mastermind behind it all, the seal blocked it."
"Ah."
The Demonic Cult was a mad organization that placed a seal on every single one of its followers.
"In that case, I believe I might be of some help."
Which was precisely why methods to break those seals had been researched so vigorously.