Chapter 109

Under the faint moonlight, I look down at Sososo, who is gazing only at me.

“I am Sima Gongja’s rabbit.”

Such an adorable confession makes my rationality thin.

Just like during the play before, whenever I’m strangely connected to Sososo, it feels like something accelerates.

Wrapping my arms around Sososo’s slender waist, I lean down and press my lips against hers.

“……!!”

Sososo’s eyes widen at the sudden kiss, but soon she slowly closes them and carefully embraces Mantian.

Lifting her heels, we continue the kiss.

As I slightly part my lips, she grabs my clothes, startled, and I find it cute, so I kiss her again.

After a short yet long exchange, our gazes intertwine under the moonlight.

“Namgung Nui, aren’t you dressed as a man? Why are you acting so cute?”

At Mantian’s playful question, Sososo’s face turns bright red.

“I’m sorry… it’s just… I… like you… Sima Gongja… I like you.”

Bowing her head like a rabbit digging a hole, she hides her reddened face against Mantian’s chest.

A natural smile forms at the sight. She really stimulates my protective instincts.

At first, we became close as sworn siblings, thinking I might learn the family’s secret martial arts. I never expected we’d end up liking each other like this.

“I like you… I like you…”

Looking down at Sososo, who whispers her affection after the kiss, I understand Jeoseokcheon’s feelings of sending a rabbit to the moon.

How could I leave such a cute being behind? Of course, I’d take her with me.

‘Hehe… without even realizing she’s been caught by me, she’s given both her martial arts and her heart… I’ll help, trust, and support her many times from now on… hehehe…!!’

…Making that vow, I tightly hug the cute girl in my arms.

Gently, affectionately, I express my love.

***

In the royal chamber of the Deng Empire, the Emperor’s bedroom.

One of the twelve rulers of the heavens, part of the Twelve Heavens.

The Emperor, who carries the blood of the Fire God, Hwacheon.

“The lazy Emperor must awaken. Immediately abolish the law of inviolability of officials and arrest the wicked martial artists?”

Hwaseon, with a face full of fatigue and irritation, threw the petition that came up today.

“Those white-robed scholars! Always so easy with their words!!”

“Your Majesty, please calm your anger. Your health is at risk.”

Seeing this, the Emperor’s mentor, Baekho, with his long white hair hanging down, picked up the petition from the floor and straightened it.

“…And you shouldn’t throw petitions just because you don’t like their content.”

He didn’t forget to teach.

“Those guys don’t know the terror of the martial world. That’s why they speak so easily.”

As if resigned, Hwaseon’s body slumps into the chair.

“Master, I like eating delicious food. I also enjoy the arts. Though I can’t rest often due to work, playing is fun.”

The more he speaks, the more Hwaseon’s face contorts, and his pupils shake.

“…But martial artists are different.”

A hint of fear is visible.

“They are monsters who seek martial arts, the art of killing, over the joys of the world.”

The nightmare of that day, vividly imprinted and unforgettable, resurfaces.

“Spears and swords don’t pierce them… monsters who kill people over a mere bowl of chicken porridge.”

The image of Mujeok Mujeok, who killed the guards like swatting flies and tore his brother to pieces, remains sharp in his mind like a thorn.

“…Truly pathetic.”

Then, along with fear, self-loathing rises, and he lets out a self-deprecating laugh.

Covering his face with both hands, he calls out to his master like a frightened child.

“Master… Emperor Hwagwang, our ancestor, subdued the martial artists and unified the world… but I, his descendant, fear the martial world.”

The Emperor’s lament, filled with sorrow.

If it were the Empress or a concubine beside him, they would have cried with him, and if it were a loyal minister, they would have been indignant at their own inability to ease the Emperor’s worries.

…But no sound of crying or indignation is heard.

“It seems I must teach Your Majesty again.”

Only a stern yet gentle voice echoes.

“One can conquer the world on horseback, but one cannot govern it on horseback.”

After all, Baekho is the Emperor’s mentor, the Grand Tutor. He had to teach.

“The roles of a founding monarch in troubled times and a ruling monarch in peaceful times are different. It’s important to learn from predecessors, but there’s no need to compare.”

Liu Bang, who founded the Han Dynasty, distanced himself from studies and despised scholars in his youth.

“At that time, I thought wrong. After becoming a ruler, I realized that studying is more important than riding horses and wielding swords.”

After becoming a ruler, he acknowledged the importance of learning and advised his son to study hard.

A hero doesn’t need to study, but a leader must.

Contrasting with his beautiful appearance, Baekho’s mouth flows with straightforward advice.

“The Emperor’s role is to govern, not to wield swords and train to become stronger.”

His pale blue eyes, which should protect the Emperor with his life, turn to his precious disciple.

“Above all, the Emperor is busy.”

Waking up at dawn, washing his body clean.

Briefly checking the day’s agenda before starting the morning council, he attends to state affairs.

Climate, natural disasters, river repairs, land reclamation, road construction, crop yields, local prices, border tribe raids, military issues, standing army operations, petitions against wrong laws, and so on.

At this time, truly diverse and massive tasks pour in.

Of course, law revisions and minor tasks are handled by ministers, but the final approver is the Emperor.

Whether this is the right law or a law to fill someone’s pockets.

When a petition to impeach an official comes up, whether it’s slander due to political strife.

How the policies he enacts will affect the people’s lives.

He must pay close attention and verify.

There’s no time to waste on personal martial arts.

“Your Majesty, the intangible energy from the sword, the body that spears and swords cannot pierce, floating in the air…”

As a bodyguard since the previous Emperor, Baekho has also trained in martial arts all his life.

Known as one of the top ten masters in the martial world, the Heavenly Strategist, and the Central Plains’ top swordsman.

“Do not be swayed or frightened by trivial skills. Even if a master in the martial world goes berserk, only hundreds or thousands may die.”

Dismissing the existence of martial arts, he educates the Emperor to bear more responsibility as the Son of Heaven.

“If the Emperor neglects state affairs and goes berserk, enacting wrong policies, tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of people will suffer and die.”

“Your disciple… has erred.”

…And then, seeing the dejected disciple who has been cared for since toddling, his heart softens.

“My words were harsh.”

Immediately, he apologizes with a bow.

Unconsciously approaching, as he used to comfort the sniffling Hwaseon in childhood.

“Your Majesty, you are doing well enough now.”

Carefully embracing, he gently pats his back and whispers affectionately.

“Your Majesty, do you remember the story I told you when you were young?”

“I remember. When my brother bullied the duck in the garden, and I fought him for the first time and got beaten, crying…”

Hwaseon nodded. Baekho told many stories, but in such situations, only one story came out.

“The story of Mencius and King Xuan of Qi.”

King Xuan of Qi, during the Spring and Autumn period, one day.

Saw an ox being led to the slaughterhouse for a sacrificial offering.

The ox, intuitively realizing it would die, struggled and cried pitifully.

Feeling too sorry for the ox, King Xuan said.

“Let it go. It’s too pitiful, trembling in fear.”

“Huh? Then what will we offer for the sacrifice?”

“Uh… so… offer a sheep! Offer a sheep as a sacrifice!”

Is the ox pitiful, but the sheep not? The people thought King Xuan acted so to save money since sheep were cheaper than oxen.

This incident made King Xuan the laughingstock of the nation.

…And in that situation, Mencius came to see King Xuan.

Mencius, who spoke of revolution, saying if a king doesn’t act like a king, it’s okay to overthrow him.

King Xuan was nervous about meeting Mencius.

But Mencius praised King Xuan for sparing the ox, saying he had the qualities of a virtuous ruler.

“One who doesn’t pity even an ox in sight, how could they pity the unseen distant people?”

Mencius considered the most necessary virtue for benevolent governance as the heart to pity and help others.

The heart of compassion.

Thus, he believed King Xuan, who pitied the ox, had the qualities of a virtuous ruler.

“Correct.”

At the disciple’s remembering answer, a smile forms on Baekho’s face.

“Your Majesty possesses the qualities Mencius spoke of. What a ruler needs is not the bravery of a common man but a heart that pities the people.”

As a minister of Deng, holding such thoughts may be disloyal.

But it was fortunate that it was Hwabong, not Hwaseon, who died during Mujeok Mujeok’s attack.

It’s not just because he cherishes his disciple.

‘Outwardly,’ Hwabong was filial, bold, and manly.

But recalling the childhood of Hwabong and Hwaseon, a gloomy light appears in Baekho’s eyes.

Behind the scenes, he bullied those clearly weaker than himself and found pleasure in it.

A trash devoid of any compassion.