Geom Mugeuk and Hanseol returned to their residence and recounted the events to Chwima and Ian.

When Geom Mugeuk finished speaking, Hanseol said to Ian,
“The idea to leave this to the Little Pill Master instead of handling it ourselves was a wise decision.”

She had thought Geom Mugeuk was deceiving her, but this incident slightly changed her view. Even if he wasn’t a transcendent being, there was clearly something extraordinary about him.

Geom Mugeuk glanced at Ian with a teasing look.
“A subordinate dumping work on the leader?”

“Sometimes a good leader just lets things slide.”

“It’s tough, being a leader.”

“The Little Pill Master lives a tough life. Other leaders live easy.”

Hanseol still found this kind of conversation strange. She was certain that having such a casual relationship between leader and subordinate would bring serious side effects.

“Do you know who is closest to Elder Seo?”

Geom Mugeuk asked, and Hanseol honestly answered,
“The closest is the Palace Master.”

“Could you arrange a meeting with the Palace Master tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

“However, I will go alone to that meeting.”

“Why?”

Geom Mugeuk gave an unexpected reason:
“A parent becomes a parent when their child is present, not just the Palace Master.”

Hanseol thought Geom Mugeuk still didn’t fully know her mother.

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

“There are feelings of parents that children will never understand.”

“How does the Little Pill Master know what a parent feels? You’re not even married yet.”

Geom Mugeuk was not the type to give a weak answer.
“If you have a father like mine, you study what it means to be a parent. What is a parent?”

Geom Mugeuk noticed Chwima smiling at his words. Everyone feared and cared about their father, but not Chwima. At least she had resolved the misunderstanding that her father disliked her.

Approaching Chwima who was drinking tea, Geom Mugeuk sniffed the air.
“Little Pill Master, what are you doing?”

“I’m checking because tea doesn’t suit Chwima. Wondering if the kettle has alcohol instead of tea.”

With that, he poured tea into an empty cup and drank it.

“Feels like I’m getting drunk. Isn’t this tea-flavored liquor?”

“I’ve come to like tea by drinking it.”

“You’re enduring it well, though?”

“You know? There’s nothing as mysterious as the human body. It’s adapting as if I never drank alcohol.”

“That’s not what I mean. I mean you’re enduring the urge to just flip everything over.”

Chwima sipped her tea and said,
“Can’t hold it long.”

Through her long hair, Chwima’s eyes were icy cold.

Ian and Hanseol understood: Chwima wasn’t restraining from drinking, but from anger.

Geom Mugeuk looked out the window and quietly said, addressing Ian as his brother, not the Palace Master.
“I’ll draw them out soon. This place is too beautiful for villains to hide.”

Everyone followed Geom Mugeuk’s gaze, looking out at the white world outside.

Knowing what kind of figure the Blood King was, Geom Mugeuk briefly imagined that white world stained with blood.

But that was okay.

Soon it would be covered with white snow again.

The Palace Master treated me with refreshments.

“It’s the first time sitting with the heir of the Cheonma Sect.”

“An honor.”

“Here, drink up.”

When I drank without hesitation, the Palace Master gave a surprised look—as if wondering how a Little Pill Master could drink without testing for poison.

“I studied about you before coming.”

“What kind of person am I?”

“Smart and clever. Even if dementia comes after fifty years, you wouldn’t poison the Little Pill Master from the Cheonma Sect.”

The Palace Master smiled faintly, acknowledging it as a compliment implying I looked to be in my twenties or thirties.

“I also studied you a bit.”

“What kind of person am I?”

Looking at me steadily, the Palace Master said,
“You’re not an easy person to answer that question about.”

“Well observed. I’m not an easy person.”

Though I joked, the Palace Master didn’t smile as if it were a joke.

“Any progress in the investigation?”

“Yes, so yesterday we visited Elder Seo.”

“Do you suspect Elder Seo?”

I slowly sipped tea and paused.

“What do you think?”

“Absurd.”

“There are suspicious circumstances.”

“Is that so?”

“Yet you remain calm.”

The Palace Master did not hide her trust in Seo Nak more than anyone else.

“You haven’t properly answered my question yet.”

It was a direct question to express her thoughts.

“I’m suspicious.”

“Why?”

“Just a feeling.”

If the mastermind threatens the Palace Master, it must be someone like Elder Seo.

“No direct evidence, then?”

I smiled and admitted,
“Why would Elder Seo kill the Wonju?”

“I don’t know either.”

“He’s not that kind of person.”

She reaffirmed this, but I sensed some distrust buried in that belief. If she truly trusted Seo Nak, she would have stopped the investigation immediately.

There was another reason why she let me stay in Binggung and allowed the investigation.

“What do you truly want?”

I felt a secret deeply hidden beneath the snow, beyond simply finding the culprit who killed the Wonju.

This time, I tried to probe the Palace Master’s heart through the Blood Gate.

“I think Bukhyeolmun is also involved in this.”

Though Bukhyeolmun was mentioned, she showed no sign of disturbance.

“Did you expect that?”

“The second son got tangled up with you all.”

“You know he died, right?”

Of course, the Palace Master knew.

“Shocked by the kidnapping, he committed suicide.”

“Do you believe that?”

She didn’t answer, just drank tea.

“What do you think of those who kill their own children for their desires?”

“I’m that kind too. Binggung is more important than my children.”

Her answer was both self-deprecating and provocative.

“I must have studied the Palace Master wrong. The one I studied is someone who cherishes her daughter more than anyone.”

The Palace Master looked at me sharply—as if asking how I knew that.

One thing I was certain of was how much she loved her daughter.

Though she seemed unable to express it properly or even understand it herself.

“Well, that’s fine.”

I brought someone who works well with anyone, under any circumstance.

“My father would be like that too.”

Sure enough, the Palace Master smiled faintly. She must know well what kind of person Cheonma is.

What I wanted to say was this.

“Both your father and you have the wrong idea.”

She looked slightly surprised at my unexpected words. She probably didn’t expect me to say her and Cheonma both misunderstood.

“In what way?”

I first said to her what I’ve wanted to say to my father someday.

“Don’t live a life sacrificing everything for the organization only to find no one behind you.”

“!”

“It’s a life running for those behind you. You run forward, but how can you do this? A life sighing in regret. You must look back. Much more often and much more than you think you should. Seven or eight times out of ten, you don’t even realize you looked back. Because they too must look back.”

I bowed politely and stood.

“I want to tell you it’s time to look back at your daughter. Luckily, she still seems to be standing behind you.”

The next day, I visited the Palace Master again.

“What brings you today?”

“I worried I was too rude yesterday, so I came again.”

“You told your daughter to talk, yet here you are again.”

Fortunately, she didn’t seem angry about yesterday. The daughter issue must be important even to her.

“You haven’t called your daughter yet?”

The Palace Master didn’t answer. If she were someone who could just call and have her come, she’d already have done so.

“I know it’s not easy to fix such things with one talk.”

“So? You mean you’ll keep coming until it’s done?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Why?”

There were reasons both for them and another reason.

It was Seo Nak. He must be watching my meetings with the Palace Master.

I met her yesterday, again today, and if I come tomorrow?

Considering his obsessive personality, I guessed he pursued perfection and order in relationships.

The Demon Sect’s Little Pill Master, who clearly showed suspicion toward him, meets the Palace Master daily? That would certainly disturb his order.

I had to find out what role he played in this matter. Was he just a servant elder with OCD, or their hands and feet, or the very head?

“Isn’t there another reason? You want the Little Pill Master to succeed. Without him, I couldn’t even be here, nor meet the Palace Master this often. You’ve studied me well; you know I really enjoy mingling with late bloomers. I even dance with them.”

No matter how hard you try to understand me, it won’t be easy. Your truths are my lies.

“Have you ever felt lost?”

Why bring this up? The Palace Master shook her head with the feeling clearly on her face.

“I often do. Even after seeing the Palace Master yesterday, I wondered what right I had to say such things. I originally came to the North Sea to be with Chwima.”

I bowed politely.

“Sorry for my rudeness yesterday.”

After a moment, she asked,
“You said you’re abstaining from alcohol?”

“Yes, a pledge of loyalty.”

“When will it end?”

I knew she meant to have a drink together.

“Not long now.”

Of course, I added the crucial phrase.

“If the Palace Master trusts me.”

Seo Nak moved the moment Geom Mugeuk visited the Palace Master three days in a row.

“Welcome, Elder.”

“Passing by.”

Since she became the Little Palace Master, Seo «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» Nak had always been polite to her.

He stated his business right away.

“I heard you meet the Demon Sect Little Pill Master often.”

“I came for three days straight.”

Seo Nak cautiously asked,
“If you’re a Little Pill Master, you don’t move without purpose. What do you think his intentions are?”

Using the word “intentions,” he revealed how he felt about Geom Mugeuk.

“He said to get along better with your daughter.”

Seo Nak waited for more. Surely that wasn’t all.

“For three days, that was mostly the topic.”

Seo Nak couldn’t believe it.

‘Is the Palace Master deceiving me?’

Of course, he thought that. Geom Mugeuk’s maturity belied his age. Every sharp comment contained barbs and bones.

But coming three days just to say get along with Hanseol? Hard to believe.

“You know very well that demonic martial artists can’t be trusted.”

“I don’t trust them either.”

Then why did you bring them in?

Swallowing his words, Seo Nak said,
“Regardless of the Little Pill Master’s intentions, it’d be best to send him away quickly.”

And he added with emphasis,
“For Binggung’s sake.”

Then the Palace Master said quietly,
“You keep saying it’s for Binggung.”

Seo Nak flinched and was about to ask what she meant, but the Palace Master spoke first.

“That’s right. It’s not good for the demonic martial artists to stay long in the palace. Tell the Little Pill Master to finish this case within a deadline.”

Seo Nak complied, but noticed the Palace Master was different from usual—somehow subtly off.

The Palace Master always stood at the distance and place she set. Now he sensed she stood slightly askew from her usual spot.

“This is all for the sake of Binggung.”

Seo Nak left the palace, recalling the Palace Master’s words.

―You keep saying it’s for Binggung.

When? He couldn’t tell. It was a phrase she habitually used, so he didn’t know which time she meant.

At the palace entrance, Seo Nak met Geom Mugeuk.

“Elder Seo?”

“Little Pill Master.”

They greeted each other.

“Are you coming from the Palace Master?”

“Yes. And you?”

Although he didn’t need to show it, Seo Nak remained composed.

“I came to see the Palace Master too. If I had come earlier, we could have met together. What a shame.”

“I heard you’ve been visiting often.”

“Opportunities to learn from the Palace Master’s insight aren’t common.”

“Then talk while you’re here.”

“After seeing the Palace Master, I’m going to Bukhyeolmun.”

Seo Nak stopped at the mention of Bukhyeolmun.

“Why Bukhyeolmun?”

“Losing the heir must be devastating. We need to go and offer condolences.”

“You’re very kind to the Little Pill Master.”

Seo Nak didn’t believe the claim of condolence.

He was upset. Geom Mugeuk wandered around, disturbing his order.

“Well then, until next time.”

As Geom Mugeuk bowed with a fist salute, Seo Nak noticed a letter sticking out from his clothes.

‘Could it be? The letter where the Wonju said he gave Hyangseol Bingju to me?’

Geom Mugeuk saw for the first time Seo Nak’s usually kind face harden.

His order was beginning to collapse.