Chapter 460: An Irreversible Relationship

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Huan Hou and Cho-hui’s complexions changed simultaneously.

Silence.

It was unbelievable.

They say the former Grand Marshal Bai Chu, who had long been thought dead, had returned alive and well.

Crossing a gap of more than two years……

In that midst, the light of emotions dwelling in both people’s wavering pupils was quite different.

In Huan Hou’s eyes dwelt disbelief, in Cho-hui’s eyes dwelt joy.

Choi Oh-eop’s voice broke that brief silence again.

“As you know, the personnel supervising entry and exit of the capital are personally acquainted with the late General Bai.”

It meant that without needing to go separately to verify, he was definitely the real former Grand Marshal Bai Chu.

Cho-hui, choked up at the unexpected good news, shouted.

“What are you doing? You must quickly bring him inside!”

Thus, just as she was about to hurriedly take a step.

“Halt!”

When Huan Hou burst out in a loud voice, not only Cho-hui but even Choi Oh-eop beside her flinched.

That summoned heavy silence once again.

“Oh-eop, wait outside.”

As the command fell like a cold wind, Choi Oh-eop quickly paid his respects and disappeared outside the gate.

Following that, Huan Hou spoke to the women of courtesan origin.

“You lot also go inside the house and stay there. If you dare peek around…… You won’t avoid disaster.”

Before his razor-sharp gaze, the terrified women had no choice but to withdraw.

Meanwhile, the frozen Cho-hui was gripped by an ominous feeling seeing his attitude.

As expected.

“Insolent.”

Thus Huan Hou unhesitatingly revealed his anger.

“Don’t show me your back so carelessly. Don’t be happy that Cho has returned alive either.”

His voice, leaking out quietly, even seemed thickly laden with killing intent.

At those words, Cho-hui also flared up in anger.

“How can you act like this! Why did you change so much! Have you forgotten that he’s a close friend who shared life and death!”

Thereupon Huan Hou’s attitude became even colder.

“Who do you think you are daring to raise your voice? Did you hear what I said earlier?”

“……!”

Words flashing through the frozen Cho-hui’s mind.

-I plan to soon carry out a purge and place new people in all key positions of the palace. All those demoted, all those remaining here, beheaded…… Must be sent to Bai Chu’s side.

Huan Hou’s words were sincere.

Just looking at his current attitude made it perfectly clear.

That meant he could kill Bai Chu, who had returned alive, again.

“Recognize the reality you face, your position. Hui.”

“Your majesty…… Surely you don’t intend to harm him again……!”

Instantly, a cold sneer formed on Huan Hou’s lips.

“Hut. Why, now that you’re thinking about your beloved’s safety, are you afraid?”

“……!”

“I’ve already done it once, would I not be able to do it twice?”

At that sound, Cho-hui was rendered completely speechless.

PADULPADUL.

Both hands trembled like aspen leaves.

She felt as if cold was seeping through her whole body.

Along with that, a dizzying vertigo plagued her mind.

She immediately sensed it.

That Huan Hou could kill Bai Chu without any hesitation……

DUGEUNDUGEUN, DUGEUNDUGEUN.

Her small heart felt as if it would burst from the enormous fear.

Huan Hou continued his cold words, paying no heed to that.

“Do you want to save him? Then…… I’ll give you a choice.”

Cho-hui, hearing those words, felt her fear in her heart grow even larger.

“Wh…… What……?”

“I’ll test you. Using Cho’s return……”

“……!”

“Tonight I’ll hold a banquet celebrating Cho’s return. And you shall welcome him with a beautiful dance. When that’s over…… In a place where all can see and hear, I will say this. That I shall take you as my consort.”

“Ah…… Your majesty, Please……!”

“Of course, you may refuse my intention. Instead, many people including Cho will pay the price. Namely, the ministers who are purge candidates, that is.”

Such was Huan Hou’s voice, dripping with determination.

Cho-hui’s slender body continuously trembled.

‘Ah……!’

Inwardly, she cursed heaven.

If she’d known this would happen, she should have left the palace long ago and lived……

“Now Cho’s fate depends on your answer. Don’t think these words are cruel. My heart too…… Has been through cruel times, being thoroughly ignored all this while.”

It was truly a fallacy entrapped by twisted obsessive love.

But Cho-hui couldn’t bring herself to refute.

Thinking that if she spoke further here, he might truly kill Bai Chu……

Her eyes, welling up with tears, she bit her red lips hard.

There was no other way.

Only an either-or crossroads existed.

Yes, what could be done?

She must first somehow save her beloved.

Also, the innocent people too……

It was a trick of fate far too cruel for one woman to bear.

Huan Hou, as if enjoying it, wore a smile and moved his steps.

“Agonize over it in the time remaining. I’ll send word later.”

At the TAK! Sound of the door closing, Cho-hui’s heart crumbled.

“Bai Chu……! Sob…… Sob Sob…… I’m sorry.”

* * *

The banquet hall was hastily prepared by imperial command.

On the ramparts surrounding the plaza, flags were planted.

As if flaunting Emperor Huan Hou’s majesty and power.

And at the banquet tables on all four sides of the plaza sat numerous civil and military officials.

Cho-hui stood atop a large stage placed in the center, quietly gazing at the large door.

She was waiting for the appearance of the man she loved, Bai Chu.

Before long, one man stepped in with an escort.

Simultaneously, the gathered crowd stirred.

The appearance of former Grand Marshal Bai Chu.

As he soon took a seat directly facing the large stage.

“This Sovereign is truly joyful! Isn’t the close friend we thought dead returned like this! Now, everyone raise your wine cups high!”

At Huan Hou’s shout from the dais, all high and low officials raised the cups sloshing with wine high above their heads.

“To my precious friend, first let me offer a cup congratulating your return!”

Thus Huan Hou and everyone in the hall drained their wine cups at once, and immediately after.

Dung, dung, dung, dung… Ttaralang, ttarang, ttaralang… Ppiirit, ppirit, ppiirit…

The performance of musicians who had brought various instruments began.

Immediately after, female dancers surrounded Cho-hui at the center of the stage and displayed one brief dance, enlivening the banquet mood.

However, Bai Chu himself didn’t even touch his wine cup.

He merely sat quietly with his gaze fixed only on the stage in front.

The sight of Cho-hui as the dancers departed and her field of vision cleared… She saw the face of her beloved seated in front and felt as if her heart would burst.

‘Bai Chu!’

On the other hand, she also keenly felt the sharp gaze of Huan Hou boring into her back.

Her pretty lips hidden by a face veil kept moving restlessly due to feelings complexly entangled.

Soon she barely steadied her mind and, bathed in moonlight that felt particularly mournful tonight, danced a dance for Bai Chu.

She put care into each hand gesture, each footstep, wanting to look more beautiful than ever before.

Like the splendid fluttering of a butterfly’s wings, every movement captivated everyone seated surrounding the stage.

Exclamations great and small leaked out from here and there.

Two feet stepping and spinning in circles on the ground, two hands moving gently and drawing graceful lines, and in accordance with that, long jet-black hair constantly swaying as if billowing……

In that midst, her transparent gauze dress spread wide and then drooped repeatedly, stealing the breath of the viewers.

Right then.

Cho-hui recalled in her mind the words Huan Hou had said before she went on stage.

-I want a bewitching dance. So that any man can’t help but lose control…… Make Bai Chu see it clearly! If you want to save him.

She who had been stamping the ground in spirals making circles let out a HOHOHO! One clear, bright laugh, then slightly loosened the front of her transparent gauze dress to reveal her round shoulder line.

Deep sorrow hid within that deliberate coquettishness.

Did Bai Chu also sense that?

Each time the body of the woman he loved sensually spun in circles without rest, his two pupils sank ever darker like the deep sea.

Cho-hui, while continuing her bewitching dance, peeked at his expression and cried out inwardly.

‘Bai Chu, Please forgive me! To save your life…… This is the only way! Forget me now! Only then…… Can everyone live!’

Right then, she saw it.

Bai Chu nodding his head faintly.

Heart to heart.

Yes.

Her heart must have been conveyed.

Even without words exchanged.

That precisely was the power of true love.

In that moment, Cho-hui felt choked up and nearly faltered in her dance.

At that, she changed her dance to fierce movements.

To shake off her heart that threatened to bring forth sorrowful tears.

As the thin gauze dress billowed precariously as if about to slip off, the surrounding men all wore dreamy, entranced expressions.

In that midst, Huan Hou wore a vile smile.

Thinking that Cho-hui’s bewitching dance would stab Bai Chu like a kind of dagger……

At last.

DUNG!

A drumbeat signaling the end sounded briefly.

Simultaneously, Cho-hui’s dance, which had caressed the moonlight and starlight, gently stroked the wind, and even stolen the hearts of all people, also came to a close.

The banquet hall’s atmosphere was quiet.

All that reached the ears of the crowd was only the small sound of Cho-hui’s breathing, SSAEKSAEK.

Soon she neatly arranged her attire and took steps toward the table where Bai Chu was seated.

SASAK, SASAK……

Stopping a couple paces away, Cho-hui gently grasped the face veil covering her face.

“You’ve come.”

Then, as she quietly lifted it, she spoke again.

“It’s me.”

In those short words, truly many things were contained.

Bai Chu also seemed to understand that, answering with a wordless nod in place of reply.

Right then.

CHEOK.

Huan Hou stood up from the dais and proclaimed.

“She will become my wife.”

In that instant, a stirring arose in the hall and swept away the earlier quietness.

Most of those murmuring quietly were people who had connections to Bai Chu in the past.

Conversely, the group who had newly received key positions through Huan Hou’s lead showed a look clearly wary of him who had returned alive.

Meanwhile, Cho-hui, standing face to face, couldn’t say anything.

Right then, Bai Chu suddenly swung his right hand and smashed his own table.

WAJIKKEU!

Everyone startled by his sudden action, at that moment a eunuch on one side let out a shrill cry.

“Huh! His majesty is personally speaking, What kind of senseless act is this!”

When Bai Chu shot a sharp gaze directly at him, the eunuch involuntarily shrunk his neck in fear.

In that solemn atmosphere.

CHEOK, CHEOK, CHEOK……

Huan Hou, striding down from the dais, came to stand close and asked.

“Cho, What did you mean by that act?”

Thereupon Bai Chu paid proper respect and answered.

“This smashed table…… Is teaching us about our relationship.”

“……”

“If I just disappear from here, that will be enough, won’t it?”

“Oho…… Are you sincere?”

“Yes. I realized clearly today. That there’s no place for me……”

Cho-hui, hearing those words, felt as if her heart was being torn apart.

Bai Chu, having scanned the surroundings with his eyes, continued to speak.

“I just…… Hope you’ll support what I need for life going forward. I’ll have nothing more to ask.”

“Of course, your merits are Great, would I refuse that?”

“Within a couple of months…… I’ll leave the capital and go far away to live quietly like a dead mouse.”

“Have you given up your attachment to her?”

Huan Hou asked while deliberately placing his hand CHEOK on Cho-hui’s shoulder.

But Bai Chu, with a silent cupped-fist salute, bid farewell and disappeared outside the banquet hall.

Cho-hui’s two eyes, gazing vacantly at his retreating figure, finally shed tears.

* * *

Ten days passed from then.

While the envoy delegation from a barbarian nation at the border was visiting and Huan Hou along with major ministers were briefly away, a secret meeting between Cho-hui and Bai Chu was arranged.