章 17: Chapter 17:A Story Begins
The Stars were shining beautifully in the sky. The stars in the sky shone with different colors of dots, it was crystal clear without any clouds or fog obstructing it. The Crescent Moon hung in the sky. There was a beautiful waterfall flowing near a beautiful garden with blue and pink flowers. There was not much distance between the garden and the lake. In fact, it could even be said that the flowers were growing at the side of the lake. The lake was extending into the horizon, reflecting the crescent moon in it.
There were yellow lights, the size of a dot in the air, and were rising from the lake. But they were only perceivable in the night and were not lighting the scene, as if they wanted to avoid giving their light to the world around them. They didn't light anything around them. In fact, if these yellow lights were brought close to a person's hand, there would be no reflection of light on the hands.
Yang Zhai was standing near the garden, watching the beautiful scene unfold in front of him. Even though he had seen this scene many times in the past years he had been here: he would still get mesmerized by this every time he saw this.
"Suffering is permanent, obscure, and dark, And shares the nature of infinity."1
Yang Zhai said while in a daze. No matter how many times he sees this site, he always gets in a daze at the beauty of nature.
"Nice couplet, I didn't know that you were also well-versed in poetry. This is something new to me." Cho Byeol came from behind and stood next to Yang Zhai.
"It's not poetry, just some lines said by someone from my hometown" Yang Zhai didn't look toward Cho Byeol and only kept looking in front of him. She was also looking at the scene, truly impressed by it.
Time passed by, and the two of them kept on looking at the scene. There was no sound except for the cicadas and crickets. It was as if a piece of beautiful music was being played.
After a while, Cho Byeol broke the silence,
"It's beautiful, but you said that it was dangerous to come out at night, as a Rank 5 beast comes out at this time of the night, right?" She did not look toward Yang Zhai and asked while looking straight.
"I half lied, it does not come out every night, but only two nights in seven days, and tonight is not the time. And most importantly, the beast is afraid of yellow lights in the air, so it does not come here at all. It is a relatively safe place"
"Why did you lie to us on the day we appeared here?"
"Because I could see that you guys were troubled, so I thought it was better if you stayed here, and also there was the factor of the flowers being stolen. Why, are you angry?"
"What did you take us for?! Why would we steal your flowers?!" Cho Byeol folded her hands into fists, pouting while looking at Yang Zhai, her cheeks were red and swelled.
Yang Zhai looked at her cute face dazedly, then he suddenly laughed lightly with his hand on his face in a fist shape.
When Cho Byeol saw this, she was embarrassed and hurriedly corrected her behavior and stood straight, looking again towards the sky, and said.
"Well, I'm not angry, instead I'm happy that you lied to us, or we might have tried to run away at that time. Because of your lie, we were able to rest and get a good friend. And you did this for our good, why would I be angry with you?! And besides, you're a nice guy, I don't mind staying with you for a few more years"
When Yang Zhai heard her, he looked at her, who was also looking at him. They kept staring into each other eyes, not knowing what to say.
When Yang Zhai heard this, he remembered a memory of his past and thought to himself:A friend huh,…
"Thank you," Cho Byeol said
"Why?"
"I heard about what you did to get the medicine for me, and how you risked your life and took care of me in the past month. I'm really truly thankful for what you did" she said this while still looking into Yang Zhai's eyes
"Don't need to fret over something so small. You said it yourself that we're friends, and as a friend, it was my duty to take care of you right" Yang Zhai smiled when he looked at Cho Byeol's serious face and said.
Cho Byeol was stunned when he heard Yang Zhai. After a while, she smiled and said.
"Huh,… Right. You're right about that,"
"But truly, I never thought that I would be able to trust anyone else in my life besides Bae Ah and my father, before meeting you."
"Bae Ah already told me that she told you everything about my mom and that traitor Dong-Min" Cho Byeol's voice dulled and sadness and anger could be felt in her voice.
"Yeah, I am truly sorry for what happened to you, it was tragic"
"You don't need to apologize, it's not like you did anything wrong or anything else." Cho Byeol shook her head and said.
"Anyway, how are you feeling now," Yang Zhai changed the topic.
"Fine, even my aperture is showing signs of improvement now. It was a wise decision to stay with you back then instead of running, I'm truly happy,"
"Not just me, even Bae Ah is happy here, even though she didn't say it: I can see in her eyes that she is truly happy here. Thank you once again for giving me myself back, I am truly grateful to you," Cho Byeol said excitedly, it could be seen that she was truly happy.
"It looks like you guys are enjoying your time here, then you also won't mind staying here forever, right," Yang Zhai said after seeing how happy Cho Byeol was.
"No, we can't stay here forever, we still need to go back to our clan. After all, that is my home and there is someone who is waiting for me"
"That's right, your father. I almost forgot about that, you do need to go back. And here I was thinking that you could be my prisoners for a few more years. Well, nothing can be done about that, I can always find new prisoners, haha" Yang Zhai started teasing Cho Byeol and laughed lightly. He was truly amazed by her innocence, even though he had been living with her for some time now, he had not seen her make such a cute expression before. It seemed that she was truly opening herself to him now, and was starting to feel comfortable around him.
It was also good for her, she could finally trust someone other than her father and Bae Ah again. It would, if not fully, at least slightly lighten her heart. Yang Zhai thought to himself
"You, …" Cho Byeol pouted again with her right index finger pointed at Yang Zhai. She could not believe this man. How could he say something like this?!! He made it seem like they were his prisoners. Was he for real?
"Sigh, whatever," She sighed, not wanting to bicker with him. He could say whatever he wanted to. After all, they were forced to stay here.
"But truly though, do you really not want to stay here forever? I believe Bae Ah told you about the things I told her as well. If I am right—which I think I am— there can be a traitor or even more in your clan. You can go meet him after you become strong enough to handle yourself again, until then you can stay here." Yang Zhai's expression turned serious when he talked about this, being careful with his words not to say something hurtful.
"That is precisely the reason I can't stay here and need to go back. That traitor can do anything. Right now, my whole clan is in danger, I have to do something about the traitor. At the very least I need to inform the clan about this if nothing more." Cho Byeol mused for a while before answering. She knew what she needed to do.
"But you can't do anything for now, so just recuperate and stay here for a few more years and rest your body properly." Yang Zhai said.
"Sigh, don't worry, I know my own limits. I know that if I go now, I won't be able to do anything about the traitor, it might even alert him and make him cautious of us. Therefore, I'm going to stay here."
Cho Byeol sighed and said, she knew that going to the clan right now will not be beneficial to anyone, it might even put everyone in the clan including her life in danger.
"While you're at it, you might as well enjoy your life while you're here. It is unknown if you'll be able to do that after you return to your clan." Yang Zhai said while smiling.
"And it is already past midnight, you should go back to the cave and get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be interesting, hahaha" Yang Zhai laughed loudly. It almost looked like an evil laugh.
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1: Said by William Wordsworth
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