“I’m going to tell everybody the truth!” Kansa shouted out, almost running after him. “There’s no way that a cursed child who was born of two siblings can become the head of the clan! The person who inherits that role must be Shosen’s child. I’d feel so sorry for her otherwise, wouldn’t you?!”
Shin was trying to get away, ignoring Kansa—but now she had caught up to him.
“Since you didn’t come back from the imperial capital, I was certain Ko had taken over as the new heir. But then…I heard Choyo had invited the daughter of a vassal family over, and he said he was officially appointing you as his heir!”
Shin couldn’t help but halt and turn around. “My father said that?”
“Haven’t you heard? He did. It’s unacceptable—so unacceptable that it’s even roused Shosen’s ghost!”
Now it makes sense.
This was why Kansa was claiming to see his mother’s ghost. That being said, it still wasn’t clear whether she was talking nonsense or if she actually convinced herself that it was her.
Shin let out a sigh. “I didn’t see a thing,” he muttered, and opened the door.
But as the door creaked open, it revealed a person standing outside of it. Shin froze. Before he had the chance to work out who it was, a gust of wind rushed past him.
Shin heard someone cry out behind him, sounding more like some sort of monstrous bird. It didn’t register that the cry belonged to Kansa and the man in front of him was his father until Choyo had already rushed past him. Startled, Shin turned around to find Kansa on the ground, with his father pulling his sword out of her chest and proceeding to thrust it into her throat. Kansa’s arms and legs were strewn about in different directions and her chest was stained with blood. The very moment Shin opened the door, his father took the opportunity to stab Kansa in the chest.
“Ahh…”
Shin’s lips quivered, but no sound came out. He had barely moved an inch, and yet he was panting for breath.
“I let her live because I felt sorry for her, and this is what I get for it,” said Choyo. The man’s deep voice was ice-cold and seeping with contempt. “I knew she’d been spouting nonsense, but I’d dismissed it as meaningless gibberish. I should have dealt with her right away—perhaps even when her employer died.”
Shin figured that “employer” was his mother.
Choyo pulled his blade out of Kansa’s throat and turned back toward Shin. Blood spurted into the air out of Kansa’s neck. Her body convulsed, and Shin couldn’t tell whether she was still alive.
When Shin looked into his father’s eyes, he could instantly tell—what Kansa had been saying was the truth.
He shuddered with horror. “Sh-she was lying, wasn’t she, Father?” he asked, seeing if he was mistaken. His voice came out hoarse and shrill. It has to be a lie. It’s too farfetched.
Choyo turned away again and continued into the house. He picked up the brazier and scattered its contents onto the floor. Red coal and ash were strewn about on the floor. Sparks quickly drifted over to one of the curtains that partitioned parts of the house from one another, quickly setting it on fire.
“Why does it have to be a lie?” Choyo said as he gazed into the flames. “Yo is the only person I will ever love. She always has been. If it wasn’t for the Saname curse, she’d still be alive.”
The Saname curse—the curse that caused the youngest daughter of the head of the Saname clan to pass away at the age of fifteen. It was a curse that had plagued the clan for generations. In order to avoid its wrath, the head of the family always adopted a girl younger than his youngest daughter to offer up as a sacrifice.
“Wasn’t there a sacrifice to die in her place…?” Shin asked. “There was, but Yo didn’t discover what her function was until she had turned fifteen and her adoptive sister had died. Unable to bear it, she took the blame and passed away herself—after giving birth to you,” said Choyo.
Fabric piled up on shelves burned ferociously as the flames danced along the walls. Eventually, they reached Kansa’s body and set her ablaze. The repulsive smell made Shin cough. Flame continued to erupt, and smoke filled the room.
Seemingly not in a hurry, Choyo calmly turned around, grabbed Shin’s arm, and pulled him outside. The cold night air was comfortingly cool against his skin, and his breathing returned to normal. Shin turned around and watched the smoke trailing from the gaps in the house’s thatched roof. Flames spewed out of its windows.
Shin stared in silent bewilderment at the burning house, unable to pose any of the questions he wanted to ask his father.
Didn’t Yo die because she had a child?
Did she find the fact that she conceived a forbidden child unbearable?
“You are my and Yo’s precious, only son. Do you know how happy I was when you were born? I can’t fathom anyone but you becoming my heir. Do not let anyone deceive you again,” Choyo said from behind him.
Shin’s knees gave way and he fell to the ground. How strongly had he yearned to hear those words? Wasn’t this what he’d been hoping his father would tell him all this time, but never allowing himself to believe it could actually happen?
I just wish I didn’t have to hear it like this.
Shin dug his nails into the earth. It felt like everything was crumbling underneath his feet. What had he been doing all his life? What had he believed in? He didn’t know what to think or how to live his life anymore.
He let out a lamentable howl.