Chapter: 01
There was the stench of acrid smoke and the smell of blood.
Haena was curled up tightly inside a small closet.
Through the crack of the closed door, she could see a black and red scene of chaos.
“Execute the traitors!”
“Don’t let a single one escape!”
The thunderous commands echoed throughout the enormous mansion.
The sound of running footsteps.
The chilling sounds of blades and screams could be heard without pause.
Boom, boom!
Heavy tremors shook the ground. It must have been the sound of those who had lost their lives collapsing.
“H, huh…”
Haena tightly covered her mouth with her small hands.
She felt like the sobs that had burst out would escape her lips.
The Yeon Clan was the greatest merchant family in Cheonmangguk. Despite being a family of merchants, they possessed wealth and influence greater than most noble houses.
Everyone had said that the Yeon family would continue its prosperity for over a hundred years.
Yet now, the Yeon household was collapsing, engulfed by blades and flames.
No one had expected the fall of the Yeon family.
But Haena had always known that a day like this would come.
Haena had grown up in the Yeon household since the moment she was born.
Although she was merely a lowly maidservant, she knew what kind of place the family she had spent her entire life in truly was.
The head of the Yeon Clan, Yeon Gi-mun, was a man consumed by greed. He had multiplied the fortune he inherited several times over and even established trade routes with foreign countries, yet he was still unsatisfied.
Eventually, he began coveting things that were forbidden.
The nobles of Cheonmangguk inherited the power of the heavens.
The proof of that was the Cheonin (天人), one of whom was born in each noble family.
The Cheonin were born possessing the power of the stars worshipped by their respective families.
The strength of that power determined the status of a family.
Naturally, the Yeon family, being a merchant household, had never produced a Cheonin.
Therefore, Yeon Gi-mun decided to create a Cheonin himself.
Beneath the grand mansion that had been built like a royal palace, a basement as vast as the mansion itself was secretly constructed.
Yeon Gi-mun’s plan had begun even before Haena was born.
Under the excuse of taking in orphaned children with nowhere to go, he gathered children, and those children died one after another from endless experiments conducted in the basement of the Yeon mansion.
Haena was a maid assigned to the basement.
She was an orphan with no family connections, and since she had grown up in the Yeon household from birth, there was no concern about information leaking out.
From the moment she was able to walk and speak properly, Haena was sent underground.
And there, she witnessed everything that happened.
Listening to the screams and pleas of children every day, Haena worked there.
She knew that what she was doing was wrong. But she had no choice.
Even servants with high positions, like the chief steward, were carried out as corpses if they rebelled against the family head.
Haena was only an eight-year-old maid.
If she refused orders, she would die. If she tried to escape, she would die.
Haena did not want to die. So she pretended not to see everything that happened in that basement.
But she was always afraid.
Because if one committed a sin, punishment would surely follow.
The solemn heavens must have been watching everything.
They knew what the Yeon family had done, and what Haena had done.
And today, the royal soldiers stormed into the Yeon mansion.
People fell beneath merciless blades.
Those who tried to flee outside were killed by the soldiers surrounding the mansion, and those who hid inside died in the raging flames.
It was an utterly ruthless act, as if they intended not to let even a single rat survive.
Soon, those blades would be pointed at Haena’s neck as well.
‘This is heavenly punishment.’
Haena swallowed her tears and thought.
She was young, but she knew what was right and wrong.
No, perhaps because she was young, she understood it even more clearly.
And yet she had pretended not to know.
Because she wanted to live.
Today, Haena would die.
It was the punishment she deserved.
But…
“Ugh… hic…”
Haena buried her face into her knees and cried.
She was scared.
Shamelessly, she wanted to live. She did not want to die.
Step. Step.
At that moment, she heard footsteps.
Haena forgot even her crying and froze, her face turning pale as she held her breath.
The footsteps were getting closer.
They were clearly approaching the closet.
‘Please… please just pass by.’
Haena clenched both hands tightly and prayed with all her heart.
The sound of her pounding heart seemed unbearably loud.
A brief silence fell.
However, before Haena could even release a sigh of relief, the door suddenly flew open.
Bang!
The closed door was torn away effortlessly.
The darkness around her brightened, and the screams and smell of blood became even clearer.
At that moment, a dark shadow fell over the child.
With her head lowered, Haena saw black boots.
Trembling, Haena slowly raised her head. The moment her eyes met the dark navy-blue eyes before her, her face turned deathly pale.
‘The Lord of the Tamrang Star…!’
Blood was tangled in the woman’s tied-up ash-gray hair.
Blood dripped from her pure white face.
Among the stars of Cheonmangguk, the Seven Stars were the greatest.
Among them, the first was Tamrang (貪狼), and she was the Cheonin of the Yul Clan who possessed its power.
One of the seven who had been granted the title of Star Lord, and the ruthless blade of the royal family.
The Tamrang Star was powerful by nature.
Yet the current generation’s Cheonin, Yul Seo-wan, was someone who had spread her infamous reputation throughout the entire nation.
A hunting dog that obeyed every command of the royal family.
A cold-blooded person who showed no mercy regardless of who her opponent was.
A monster who personally slaughtered even members of her own Yul Clan by her own hand.
If it had been another soldier, perhaps Haena could have begged for mercy.
But the person standing before her now was the Lord of the Tamrang Star, Yul Seo-wan.
Haena could not even cry anymore.
Drop.
A single tear gathered at the corner of her eye and fell.
“……”
Closing her eyes, Haena trembled as she waited for the death that would soon come.
But no matter how long she waited, there was no pain.
“H, huh?!”
Haena cautiously opened her eyes and was startled.
Seo-wan had approached right in front of her.
A pale face covered with dried, dark red blood stared silently at Haena.
After looking at her for a moment, Seo-wan grabbed the child’s arm and pulled her out of the closet.
“Hic.”
Too shocked and frightened to resist, Haena was dragged out helplessly.
Seo-wan had already straightened herself and was looking down at the child.
“General. So you were here. We have rescued all the children who were imprisoned underground.”
At that moment, a soldier approached Seo-wan.
“We captured the family head, Yeon Gi-mun, and escorted him to the palace. His family members were executed immediately. However, there was no young maid named Haena among those listed in the servant records, so we assumed she was inside the burning buildings…”
The frightening words poured out one after another. The soldier glanced down at Haena.
“So this is her.”
His gaze was as sharp as a gleaming blade. Haena trembled without realizing it.
All servants of the Yeon family wore brown clothing embroidered with a cloud pattern.
Naturally, the same pattern was embroidered on the clothes Haena was wearing.
“P-please… please spare me.”
Haena collapsed onto the floor, clasping her hands together in prayer.
Her pleading voice and tightly folded hands were both trembling.
Seo-wan’s gaze turned toward Haena once more.
The desperate sunset-colored eyes and the emotionless blue eyes met.
“Do you want to live?”
Haena frantically nodded.
Even though she thought there was no way she would be spared, she still wanted to grasp even the smallest hope.
“Then I shall grant that wish.”
But an unbelievable answer came back.
The moment Haena raised her head in shock, the child’s body was suddenly lifted into the air.
‘Huh?’
Slowly, Haena realized what had happened to her.
A rough hand was holding onto her back. Beneath her stomach, she could feel hard armor.
Seo-wan had lifted Haena into her arms.
Although it was more like she had placed the child over her shoulder as if carrying a sack.
“Are there any other survivors besides this child?”
The cold voice sounded closer than before.
The soldier also seemed confused, and after a brief silence, his answer came.
“No. However, as I mentioned, that maid child…”
“Check once more whether the corpse is truly the person listed in the records. When this matter is finished, we return.”
“But General. That child is also a member of the Yeon family.”
Seo-wan remained silent for a moment.
However, the hand holding Haena’s back did not move.
“I will take her with me. Report the same to His Majesty as well. I will personally meet with His Majesty and take responsibility for this matter.”
Haena could not believe the words she heard clearly beside her ear.
She felt like Seo-wan might throw her onto the ground at any moment.
Haena tightly grabbed the collar of Seo-wan’s clothes with her small hands.
Seo-wan continued holding the child and walked out of the mansion with large strides.
The acrid smoke and the smell of blood gradually faded away.
Tears poured from Haena’s tightly shut eyes.
She was alive.
Shamelessly, she was so happy about it.
