TLSWF 03

Chapter: 03

The Palace of Cheonmang Kingdom.

Only two people were present in the vast grand hall.

The king, Tae Mujin, sat lazily upon the throne, while Yul Seowan stood silently in the center of the hall, facing him.

“Now it’s finally a little better. Just what kind of tonic medicine do those people brew and drink that makes their voices so loud?”

Mujin frowned with his golden eyes and pressed his temples.

The officials had just finished making a loud commotion and left, but his head was still ringing from the noise.

The crime of daring to disturb the king’s mood was enough to warrant death.

However, the cause of it all simply stood there quietly, showing no sign of asking for forgiveness.

Seeing her like that, the king, who had become annoyed, spoke to Seowan.

“What do you think, Tamrang? It seems everything would become peaceful if only you would bend your will.”

“I apologize, Your Majesty. But I cannot do that.”

Yet the answer he received was merely the same stiff response he had heard several times before.

Mujin clicked his tongue while furrowing his elegant brow.

He was a very practical king.

Therefore, no matter how much the officials talked about the origins of the Tamrang Star Lord, he did not even blink.

To Mujin, Seowan was both a loyal subject and a useful sword.

She was an extremely powerful celestial being and obeyed the king’s commands absolutely.

Because she had personally annihilated the entire Yul family, there was no faction left that could stand on her side, making her the perfect person to use as the royal family’s sword.

Mujin himself recognized Seowan as the Tamrang Star Lord and granted her the position of Grand General along with countless riches.

Unlike the celestial beings of the Seven Star families who constantly tried to challenge him, Seowan had always remained loyal.

‘And yet someone like that caused such a huge incident.’

Even thinking about it again gave him a headache. Mujin narrowed his eyes and looked at Seowan.

What the Yeon family had done had crossed the line.

They attempted to artificially create celestial beings, kidnapping countless children in the process, and even the Fourth Prince had become involved.

The entire family had to be exterminated.

No one belonging to the Yeon family could be allowed to live.

And yet the Tamrang Star Lord, whom he had sent to capture them, had brought back some young maid instead.

If she had been a child imprisoned underground, that would have been another matter, but that girl had grown up and worked in the Yeon family her entire life.

In the worst case, she could have been an illegitimate child that the Yeon family had secretly raised.

And yet Seowan was asking him to spare that child.

‘And the reason is absolutely ridiculous.’

Mujin rested his chin on his hand with dissatisfaction.

She said the girl was her half-sister. A child she herself had abandoned at the Yeon family when she was young.

To protect the family of a traitor for such a reason.

Mujin found it deeply displeasing.

“I never knew Tamrang possessed such strong family affection.”

“That is not the case. I simply have responsibility for that child.”

Seowan calmly replied to his sarcastic remark.

The king still wore an expression of disbelief.

It was understandable.

The person who had massacred the Yul family the moment she became the Tamrang Star Lord was now stepping forward to save her half-sister.

Naturally, the entire court was thrown into chaos.

Some claimed that even if she was blood-related, they could not allow the descendant of a traitor to remain alive. Others even questioned whether the Tamrang Star Lord herself had actually been involved in the Yeon family’s rebellion.

“The Fourth Prince still hasn’t awakened.”

The king’s previously light voice became slightly lower.

“Even considering your achievements, there is a limit to how much I can overlook. If the Fourth Prince never wakes up, they will see this rebellion as something even greater.”

Unlike other families, where only one celestial being existed per household, all members of the royal family who inherited the power of the sun were born as celestial beings.

The Fourth Prince had been pushed aside because his power was weaker compared to other members of the royal family, but that did not change the fact that he was both a celestial being and royalty.

“I know.”

Even so, Seowan did not change her decision.

No matter what sacrifice she had to make, she intended to take Haena in.

It was not because she had suddenly been moved by the bond of blood, nor because she pitied the child. Such reasons were meaningless.

What was received must be repaid, and what was taken must be reclaimed.

That was the principle Seowan had always lived by and protected.

It was the reason she had slaughtered the Yul family.

It was also the reason she had remained loyal to the king.

Haena.

That child was Seowan’s mistake.

Seowan lowered her gaze. A time buried deep within her memories from long ago came back to her.

At sixteen years old, when Seowan heard that her mother was pregnant, she answered without hesitation.

“Get rid of it.”

Smack!

The reply that came back was not words, but a burning pain.

Seowan turned her head, which had been knocked to the side, and looked at her mother.

“You cruel little demon! How dare you say something like that to your pregnant mother?”

Her mother, who had once been the capital’s greatest entertainer in her youth, was still beautiful even after passing the age of forty.

“Do you even know what kind of child this is? This child belongs to the Gok family. That prestigious family!”

Despite her aching cheek, Seowan let out a small laugh.

She could not help but find her foolish mother, who had not changed even with age, ridiculous.

Her mother had been a lowly dancer. During the day, she sold songs and dances, and at night, she sold her body.

Like many men, Seowan’s father had whispered sweet lies to a woman he had spent only one night with.

I am the head of the Yul family, the Tamrang Star Lord. I will surely bring you into my family as my second wife.

After leaving those words behind, the man departed.

Leaving Seowan behind in her mother’s womb.

Her mother had firmly believed his words and given birth to Seowan, but he never returned.

Her mother was beautiful, but there were countless beautiful women in the world.

After childbirth ruined her body, she fell from the bottom to an even lower place.

She resented Seowan’s father and hated Seowan.

‘You useless girl. The reason I live like this is all because of you!’

As if she could not survive otherwise, she blamed Seowan every single day.

She placed the reason for her poverty onto her child, while at the same time wanting compensation.

From the moment she was old enough, Seowan worked at anything she could.

Whenever she brought home money, her mother would shout.

‘You could only earn this much? You lazy girl. Do you know how much effort I put into raising you?’

At first, Seowan was afraid of her mother.

Then she became angry.

And eventually, she grew completely sick of her.

But to repeat the same thing again?

Wasn’t that truly absurd?

“This child is different from someone like you. This is a precious child. Once I give birth to this child, that person will take me to the Gok family.”

Her mother murmured dreamily while caressing her stomach.

Unlike the collapsing house, she wore silk clothes and jewelry that did not suit her circumstances.

There could be no more ridiculous spectacle than this.

Seowan stared coldly at her mother.

There was no way a cheap entertainer like her mother could have received such a precious guest.

Even if it were true, a noble family would never accept the child of a lowly dancer.

In the end, it would only mean another useless mouth to feed.

Seowan quietly muttered a curse.

Her mother sitting inside the house.

And the child who would soon be born.

The thought of having to work herself to the bone to feed them was horrifying.

In the end, her mother did not get rid of the child.

However, contrary to Seowan’s expectations, they remained only two people.

Her mother died.

They said it was because she had lost too much blood during childbirth.

The face that had always been twisted like an evil spirit only softened after death’s pale shadow covered it.

After finishing her mother’s funeral, Seowan looked at the newborn baby in her arms.

Strangely enough, the child resembled Seowan, not her mother or father.

Looking at the blood relative who looked like herself, Seowan thought:

Why do I have to raise this child?

She had finally escaped the terrible bond called her mother.

And now she was supposed to take on that burden again?

Seowan did not want to take responsibility for the child.

Raising this newborn would only make her situation worse than it already was.

Seowan knew very well how people who thought like her raised children.

A useless burden.

The thing that ruined my life.

A lazy, worthless, bad thing.

One person who had grown up like that was already enough.

When thirty-seven days had passed and the baby’s once-red face had become pale and clear, Seowan sold her dead mother’s silk clothes and jewelry.

Then she spent all the money she had to make clothes and a blanket for the baby.

That was all Seowan could give her half-sister.

A heartless and lowly person who abandoned her own blood could not even give the child a proper name.

Seowan wrapped the baby, dressed in fine clothes, in a silk blanket.

Then, before dawn had even broken, she carried the child out into the streets.

The sleeping baby did not fuss.

Seowan placed the child in front of the gate of the Yeon family estate, a wealthy merchant household.

Wrapped in a silk blanket, the child might be adopted as a daughter if she was lucky. Even if she became a servant, she would not starve.

After putting the child down, Seowan left.

The baby began to cry, but she did not look back.

Seowan lived while forgetting the blood relative she would never see again.

She stubbornly continued her miserable and dreadful life, killing many people just to survive.

She learned that her mother’s words had been true and no longer had to go hungry.

So, in order to continue living that way, she followed orders.

When she went to the Yeon family estate as part of those orders, Seowan felt a strange sense of familiarity.

When she found the child inside the chaotic halls, that feeling became a memory.

The moment she saw the child’s face after she raised her head, Seowan realized everything at once.

“P-please… please save me.”

A thin body.

Rough, worn hands.

A fragile voice mixed with desperate sobs.

All of it was her mistake.

Every sin the child confessed with her own mouth was Seowan’s sin.

Because she was the one who had made the child live that way.

Haena’s face came to mind.

A child who looked exactly like her, yet was different.

Round eyes and orange-colored irises.

A pure gaze without even a single trace of malice.

Seowan had planned to tell the child the truth.

Haena had the right to know.

“Thank you……”

She remembered the small voice that had murmured those words while resting on her shoulder.

Seowan’s gaze sank.

She bowed deeply to the king.

“I will take my leave of the palace.”

After learning the entire truth, what kind of eyes would the child look at her with?