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Chapter 298

The curse of So Wuryeong was the very foundation of this plan.

It was something that must never be undone, and it must never have been allowed to be broken in this way.

If her curse were undone, the entire scheme the Four Great Clans had prepared—stripping away So Wuryeong’s rights and position—would collapse.

At that moment, the Grandmaster of the covert unit raised his hand.

Something was wrong.

Was the curse… being undone?

It had to be stopped immediately.

Even if they had to break in with brute force, they must prevent the curse from being lifted.

But just as he was about to issue the order—

He froze.

A chilling aura wrapped around his entire body, locking him in place.

A bead of cold sweat slid down his cheek.

He was the Grandmaster of the covert unit, a man whose strength was said to rival that of a Sword Master.

And yet, the pressure pressing down on him was so suffocating that he couldn’t so much as move a finger.

Never in his life had he experienced anything like this.

In the pitch-black forest, he suddenly felt that behind the branch he was standing on… someone was watching him with a pair of glowing blue eyes, their gaze cold and suffocating.

And when his trembling head finally turned toward it—

He saw him.

The very target who had moments ago been with So Wuryeong and the blue-haired woman.

The grey-haired foreigner, Leon, staring at him in silence with an emotionless expression.

“Enjoying the show? Want to watch it together?”

When had he gotten behind him?!

In a scene ripped straight from a nightmare, the Grandmaster tried desperately to move.

But his body wouldn’t budge—as if glued in place.

It wasn’t some physical restraint. It was the sheer terror seizing his muscles and freezing them solid.

Reflexively, he sent out the signal to summon his covert operatives.

But no response came.

Instead—thud! splat!

Sounds of bodies hitting the ground rang out one after another.

The hidden operatives, a dozen or more, fell to the forest floor one by one, unable even to scream before blood sprayed from them.

“Th-this… impossible…”

“One mouth is enough.”

Leon’s indifferent words told the Grandmaster everything.

He was the only survivor—and only because Leon chose him to be.

A body trained to perfection, his martial will forged into iron—and yet, he had been neutralized in an instant.

By a boy who didn’t even look twenty?

It was absurd.

And yet, staring at the boy, he couldn’t even begin to guess what Leon really was.

Moments later, Leon dragged the immobilized man toward where So Wuryeong was.

“Y-young Master?! Who is that?!”

So Wuryeong cried out in shock.

“Oh, just a spectator.”.

“A… spectator?”

“Never mind that. How’s your body?”

“Wh-what?”

Suddenly, the weight crushing her entire being lifted.

Her eyes went wide.

Through her blurry vision, the Grandmaster saw it too.

So Wuryeong—whose appearance should have been disfigured and grotesque under the curse—had returned to her original, beautiful self.

Something was wrong.

Terribly wrong.

There were monsters here.

Two of them, lodged within the Four Heavens Clans—monsters capable of shattering the balance of power across the entire Eastern Continent in an instant.

Only then did he recall the rumors.

That Leon had thrown a man sky-high with his bare hands.

It should have been dismissed as absurd.

But if such a rumor spread, perhaps he should have suspected something sooner.

Too late now.

‘Y-young Master…! These people… something’s terribly wrong… Our plan will… collapse…’

The words rattled in his throat, but never made it out.

His consciousness dimmed.

“The curse… it’s really… gone…”

So Wuryeong, holding up a mirror to see her reflection, looked dumbfounded.

The curse that had tormented her for so long had vanished so effortlessly.

And as she stared blankly, Lispa Elde murmured softly:

“If only it had been her true soul who received such salvation… not this imitation.”

Her voice carried bitter sorrow.

* * *

The signs of So Wuryeong’s curse hadn’t appeared that long ago.

Because the Four Heavens Clan had strong natural resistance to things like curses, no one thought a member like her could ever be afflicted.

Then, one morning, it began.

Her face changed.

Skin warped, flesh twisted.

The woman once hailed as the Flower of the Eastern Continent became a hideous monster overnight.

When reports reached the clan head, he was gravely alarmed.

He summoned the most trusted healers in secret.

They tried everything to break the curse.

Every method failed.

The cause was incomprehensible, the symptoms defied logic.

In the end, the clan head admitted there was no solution.

So Wuryeong, in despair, did everything she could to hide her face.

She wore an skin mask modeled after her original features—so obsessively that it became almost pathological.

But knowing she could never even show her real face to Dan Ryeong, the man she cherished, she withered inside day by day.

Outwardly, she pretended to be strong.

But within, she was rotting alive.

And when news came of Dan Ryeong’s death, her world collapsed entirely.

The heirship of the clan meant nothing anymore.

If life was only suffering, perhaps it would be better to end it herself before the world discovered her condition.

Such thoughts plagued her.

Her torment reached its peak during the banquet.

Somehow, the vile man Gu Hwan discovered her secret and tried to tear off her mask.

Only then did she realize who had cursed her.

But by then it was already too late.

If she wanted relief, she would have to accept whatever demands he made.

She herself refused.

But her clan’s head was different.

For the sake of breaking her curse, he would pay any price.

And yet—

That same curse, the one that had gnawed at her day after day, was now gone.

So easily.

It should have been joyous.

The family crisis averted before it began, her suffering ended.

And yet—

The person with whom she should have shared this joy was already gone.

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And knowing how much pain she had endured, only for it to be undone so lightly, filled her heart with grief.

While she gathered her emotions alone, Lispa Elde and Leon bound the unconscious grandmaster of the covert corps and exchanged words.

“I once heard from Cheon Ryeong and Hwa Ryeong that, long ago, the Four Heavens Clan had one of its greatest rights taken away by the Muyeol Clan.”

“Cheon Ryeong and Hwa Ryeong?”

“Ah. The siblings of the Four Heavens Clan who are staying at the Cascadia estate.”

In truth, in the original history, the current head of the Four Heavens Clan must have surrendered those rights to the Muyeol Clan in exchange for breaking Lady So Wuryeong’s curse. Read full story at novelFɪre.net

Of course, five hundred years is too long to call it a direct cause.

But judging from what Cheon Ryeong and Hwa Ryeong had told them, it was clear that this incident had played a significant part.

A tragic matter indeed.

“Even if we restore things a hundred times over here, reality has already come to pass.”

“You don’t need to remind me of that. It just makes me feel worse.”

Whatever happened here would never affect reality.

This was nothing more than a fragment of what had once been.

That was how the original history flowed.

At the banquet, when So Wuryeong was struck by Gu Hwan’s demonic beast and her face mask was torn away, she was forced to reveal her grotesquely twisted appearance before everyone present.

Naturally, shocked and devastated, she shut herself away in her room.

The Four Heavens Clan lost all its contenders.

Rumors spread like wildfire, bringing disgrace upon the clan.

In the end, the clan head made a deal with the Muyeol Clan to protect So Wuryeong.

That was the recorded history, the path that should have unfolded—but here, the Muyeol Clan’s plans had all fallen apart.

“In the main tournament, Gu Hwan will probably try the same trick again to strip So Wuryeong’s mask.”

But what now?

Even if he splashed that special drug directly on her bare face, it would have no effect anymore.

“And what do we do with this guy?”

“Do whatever you like. Either way, once we leave, this world will just reset.”

Suppressing her bitterness, she stretched with a sigh.

“Still, thanks for humoring my stubbornness. And just one warning—whatever we’ve discussed here, you must never breathe a word of it to the people of this world…”

“I won’t.”

That much wasn’t difficult.

Leon smirked faintly.

Lispa Elde, with her strong empathy, must have desperately wished to set right such a pitiful tale.

Even if, given they were being hunted by Eve, this entire effort was meaningless, if these small and troublesome deeds eased her heart even a little, then it was worth it.

She smiled, her mood visibly lifted.

“Ah… If it weren’t for that damned Luna, I really might have tried to seduce you.”

“Really? If I hadn’t met Luna, I might have thought about it for a moment. Shame, isn’t it?”

“Then what if we just got rid of Luna Basilin?”

“Would you stop spouting nonsense, you crazy woman.”

“Ahahaha!”

Lispa Elde’s gaze lingered on him with a strangely persistent intensity.

* * *

The main tournament was essentially a contest of power among the great clans.

Of course, there would be two victors from the preliminaries, but in truth, the odds of them accomplishing anything within the branch meeting were close to none.

Thus, the main tournament was always about one thing: which clan was stronger, and which one held the advantage.

Each clan typically fielded two participants.

The rules of the tournament were simple—a knockout system.

But since each clan had two fighters, every matchup involved two rounds, continuing into a “winner-stays-on” format.

A slightly unusual arrangement, but that was the way of it.

Originally, the Four Heavens Clan had planned for So Wuryeong and Dan Ryeong to participate.

But Dan Ryeong perished protecting others, and the clan head was forced to send another in his place.

Word had it that the replacement was one of the candidates for minor clan head, but judging from his skill, expectations were low.

Far more people than in the preliminaries had gathered to watch.

Not just common folk, but figures from the clans and even elder-level powerhouses were among the audience.

Turning his head, he spotted Lispa Elde watching him while leisurely indulging in food.

She pretended otherwise, but her appetite was greater than he’d thought.

Normally, as a main tournament participant, he should have been paired with another finalist.

But to the thoroughly prepared clans, the presence of some outsider from a minor force was an unwelcome intrusion.

Because of that, one of the scheduled finalists abruptly declared forfeiture and withdrew.

While every other clan had two-person teams, he alone stood without a partner.

It was an odd situation, but oddly enough, he found it liberating.

The participants from the great clans, too, seemed to be watching the proceedings from the sidelines.

Then, from a lavish VIP seat overlooking the arena, he met the gaze of Gu Hwan.

The man’s expression twisted faintly.

He had sent an assassin to kill him—but here he was, alive and well, while his assassin had vanished without a word.

No wonder the man looked unsettled.

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