As expected.

Tang Hwa-rin looked at Kang Yun-ho’s troubled face. He must have deliberately avoided bringing up the topic of his childhood friend until they parted.

She understood. He already had enough to deal with because of her condition as a Poisoned One. Having to say a painful goodbye—he wouldn’t have wanted to burden himself further with his childhood friend’s issue.

Yun-ho always put on a smiling face, acting like he’d shoulder every problem himself so others wouldn’t have to worry. But Tang Hwa-rin couldn’t bear to ignore the matter of his friend closer than a brother.

It might not have been right to poke at a scar right in front of someone she cared for—but knowing about his wound and still turning away would be just as wrong.

“You never told the Clan Lord about her, did you?”

The failed Poisoned One. The Tang Clan Lord’s illegitimate child. Kang Yun-ho’s friend closer than a brother. Yun-ho had hidden her story in order to pass himself off as the Clan Lord’s false illegitimate son.

“There’s no way I could tell him.”

Kang Yun-ho spoke with an expression trying hard to suppress sorrow.

To save Hwa-rin, Kang Yun-ho’s friend closer than a brother had to become someone no one could ever know existed. She wished he would grieve and be angry about it, but instead, Tang Hwa-rin’s face darkened with guilt.

“I’m sorry.”

Tang Hwa-rin said it with a genuinely remorseful look.

“It couldn’t be helped. You don’t need to feel bad.”

You? But you are going to feel bad.

Tang Hwa-rin couldn’t bring herself to say it.

His expression looked calm. But inside, it must be festering. He’s a man who acts well. He was just pretending to be fine so that I would feel reassured.

If he’d really wanted to avoid it, he would’ve buried it in the corner of his heart forever.

Kang Yun-ho’s friend closer than a brother. His first love. Tang Hwa-rin had desperately hoped to take her place—but she hadn’t wanted it to end like this.

Even as she felt the joy of promising to reunite with Kang Yun-ho, that truth remained in her chest, burning with unbearable guilt.

Until just yesterday.

Tang Hwa-rin decided to confess something unbelievable, a strange experience that had erased that guilt.

“I had a dream last night.”

“A dream?”

“A mischievous, upright-looking little girl appeared in it.”

A girl she didn’t know. A child who, given five more years, could make any man’s heart flutter.

It was a face she had never seen before, and yet it somehow felt familiar. No wonder. Ever since meeting Yun-ho, Tang Hwa-rin had constantly been imagining and wondering about her, keeping her in a corner of her heart.

“...”

Yun-ho’s eyes widened in surprise—as if he knew who Hwa-rin was talking about.

She looked at her lover with deep affection, as if passing along the gaze she’d received in that dream.

“She said thank you. And told me not to make things harder for you like she did.”

Tang Hwa-rin had cried her heart out in front of her. Her guilt and debt had weighed down so heavily.

Are you happy you lived thanks to me? I’ll never even be known by my own father—does that make you happy? Don’t try to take my man. How dare you become happy from my death—I’ll curse you.

She could’ve lashed out like that—but instead, she thanked Tang Hwa-rin.

Those words had crushed her completely.

When Tang Hwa-rin cried, the girl asked why she was crying and smiled as if relieved. She kept saying thank you. And that face—so like the man she had taken—made Tang Hwa-rin cry even harder.

“Hwa-rin.”

“If there’s ever someone at Daseogak you truly want to make yours, don’t hold back.”

“Hwa-rin. I told you before.”

Had she misunderstood again, thinking he meant to marry someone else? Kang Yun-ho spoke in a firm tone.

“What are you saying. I’m not telling you to marry another woman.”

Tang Hwa-rin replied with a proud, composed expression.

“Then?”

“My place is by your side. I’m just saying I’ll allow an empty spot next to me.”

Tang Hwa-rin smiled faintly as she looked at the confused Kang Yun-ho.

Was that really his childhood friend? Or maybe it was her guilt that made her dream about the girl.

No—it hadn’t been just a dream. She must have truly appeared to her.

If it had been her, she would’ve done the same.

She meant, don’t make Yun-ho suffer, right?

She could understand her words. Yun-ho had suffered for over ten years after losing her. And now, he might suffer another ten years waiting for Tang Hwa-rin.

Because of Yun-ho and her, Tang Hwa-rin could now stand here. She could be embraced by him and feel his warmth. If she was going to take him by using that girl’s death, then she should at least not make him suffer like she had.

She didn’t want anyone else beside him. But she hated making him suffer even more.

“What the hell is that.”

Kang Yun-ho said, looking completely clueless.

“It’s just one of those things.”

She had no intention of giving permission to just anyone. As his woman—and as someone acting on her behalf—she would judge strictly.

“This is the paperwork I prepared. Take it.”

Tang Hwa-rin handed over the documents.

“Daseogak property transfer deed? Hwa-rin, Daseogak belongs to your grandfather.”

“I’ll be living at the Tang Clan to train. If any legal issues or disputes arise regarding ownership, you’re just the store manager and won’t be able to do anything. That’s why you’ll need it.”

“But still, Hwa-rin—”

“Ten years from now, it’ll be ours anyway. Th-think of it as me giving part of my dowry early.”

Tang Hwa-rin lowered her head shyly as she said it.

“Well... that’s true.”

“And Yun-ho.”

Tang Hwa-rin looked up and gazed at Kang Yun-ho’s side.

That spot beside him had always been hers. She could lend it temporarily. But she didn’t want to lose it.

How could she make sure it wasn’t taken?

She had to make him think of her constantly. That was why she was transferring Daseogak. If he stayed there and kept working, he’d keep thinking of her. But that alone wasn’t enough.

They say when the body grows distant, the heart does too.

She had to carve herself into his memory.

If she gave him an experience no other woman could ever offer, he would think of her again and again in the future—even in the same kind of situation.

So...

Tang Hwa-rin swallowed hard and carefully lowered the fabric on both her shoulders.

“Hwa-rin?”

Just like before, his eyes widened. Tang Hwa-rin’s mind briefly flashed with all the times she’d struggled. He really was slow. How many times had she worked up the courage only to fail? But this wasn’t seduction.

She was already his woman.

What she was about to do now—was to engrave her existence into his memory.

Tang Hwa-rin. Even the dark fabric that had stood between them was now removed.

“Yun-ho. Do you... want to touch my chest?”

Faced with the overwhelming sight before him, Kang Yun-ho had absolutely no intention of declining.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

------------

“He’s boarding the carriage. Vice Pavilion Head.”

Tang Baek-ho, the Lord of the Tang Clan, watched from afar as Kang Yun-ho boarded the carriage to leave the Sichuan Tang Clan, and spoke to the Vice Pavilion Head standing behind him.

“Yes.”

“Isn’t it ironic? I abandoned what I loved to obtain the clan. But that boy is abandoning everything and leaving for the sake of the one he loves.”

He had cast aside his right to be the next Tang Clan Lord, the chance to be recognized as a legitimate heir—and now, his own son # Nоvеlight # was leaving the Tang Clan.

“You simply did what you had to do.”

“Which is why it remains a regret all the more.”

The Vice Pavilion Head said nothing for a moment, silently watching the Tang Clan Lord gaze at the carriage with a face full of sorrow.

“Will you be all right not seeing him off?”

The Vice Pavilion Head cautiously asked the Tang Clan Lord, his voice quiet.

“We’ve already said everything that could be said between father and son. What of the Young Lord?”

There had been those who, knowing they would be punished, still foamed at the mouth to bite into Kang Yun-ho. If the safety of the firstborn and the peace of the Sichuan Tang Clan were to be preserved, such pain had to be endured.

“Thanks to that child’s treatment, the poison within the Young Lord’s body has been entirely removed. Even his organs, damaged by the poison, have mostly recovered. With about a year of rest, he should have no problem regaining his martial arts.”

“That is fortunate.”

“But... there is a concern.”

“A concern?”

“Due to prolonged exposure to poison, there may be issues regarding his future ability to bear children.”

In the process of healing Tang Hwa-rin, most of the Young Lord’s organs had been restored. However, the one who had poisoned the Young Lord was none other than Tang Geo-ho—who had hoped to seize the position of Tang Clan Lord.

Even if the Young Lord recovered, Tang Geo-ho had precisely calculated the dosage to render him unfit to be heir.

“Hoo... That bastard Tang Geo-ho wanted the Clan Lord seat that badly?”

The Tang Clan Lord let out a deep sigh.

“We’ll have to monitor the situation over time, but if it does affect succession...”

The Vice Pavilion Head trailed off, thinking of another potential successor who sat within that carriage.

“As long as I live, I have no intention of replacing the Young Lord.”

“I have been unworthy.”

The Vice Pavilion Head bowed his head low in immediate apology.

The Tang Clan Lord looked at him for a while, then turned his gaze back to the distant carriage through the window and quietly spoke so he could hear.

“In my grandson’s generation... things may change.”

“...What do you mean?”

“By then, someone in the clan will inevitably look upon the child born between a perfect Poisoned One and my own bloodline.”

A child born between the Tang Clan Lord’s illegitimate son and a perfected Poisoned One. If the Young Lord could not produce an heir, someone in the Sichuan Tang Clan would inevitably look to that child.

“I’ll leave the guards escorting him to remain stationed nearby.”

The Vice Pavilion Head smiled slightly as he replied.

“He’ll refuse for now. But if that boy ever needs help, assist him without hesitation. Even the Elders' Council won’t be able to say anything if the Tang Clan’s direct line is ever threatened.”

“Understood.”

“Don’t go shouting ‘Understood’ like that just because you like what you heard.”

The two of them, having finally closed the book on a 20-year-old heartache, smiled at each other once more as old friends.

*********

“Is there something wrong with your hand? If you’re injured or in pain, I can take a look.”

As I kept blankly staring at my hand, someone from the Tang Clan spoke to me in a worried tone.

“No issue.”

“Is that so? You’ve been looking at your hand and clenching and unclenching it for some time—I thought perhaps you were hurt.”

“I just experienced something in my life that could be counted on one hand in terms of value.”

Yeah. I’m glad I stayed alive.

“...Excuse me?”

“It’s just... one of those things.”

I opened the carriage window and looked out at the receding Sichuan Tang Clan.

It had been a long journey.

The Poisoned One, Tang Hwa-rin.

The failed Poisoned One. Her ruined skin. A woman who might have lived her whole life in agony and died hating the world—no longer existed in this world.

Now, at the Tang Clan, there was only a Poisoned One continuing her training, preparing for the day of our reunion.

A success with regrets? Or a failure too precious to forget?

However one chose to frame it, what mattered was that hope remained. It wasn’t a farewell without promise—it was a goodbye with the promise of reunion.

No matter how I looked at it, the sorrow and lingering grief of parting wouldn’t fade easily.

“I’ll have to get even more famous.”

To reunite with Hwa-rin even faster.

So I’d never have to let go of the women who came into my arms again.

So I’d be able to save heroines trapped in tragic fates.

Let’s go back. To Daseogak in Yichang.