The Eldest Daughter of the Tang Clan of Sichuan Protects the Family

Chapter 252

As she watched the Main Blood Hall Lord draw closer, So-hwa realized that the heat tickling her skin was the internal energy flowing from him.In his golden eyes lay faint disappointment and disgust.

A hot hand touched the tip of her chin.

"Do you even know what it means to make a vessel?"

The heat, as if warming each meridian one by one, slid down past her nape and brushed her shoulder.

Tuk.

With a light flick of his hand, one thick layer of clothing slipped off.

Tuk.

Another layer of the clothes she wore fell to the floor.

The woman, who had intended to strike his solar plexus should he ask for her body, did not stop his actions.

Unlike that day, there was no rejection in her eyes.

When, as if worked up, he slipped a hand inside her clothes and seized her waist, she only flinched sharply.

It was a reaction obvious enough to show she was unprepared, yet the Main Blood Hall Lord did not withdraw his hand. Rather, it seemed stuck fast to her skin, unable to move.

He stubbornly waited, as though intending to hold out until So-hwa spoke.

But even after a long while, no sound came.

He realized that this time, too, he would have to be the one to retreat. Her stubbornness was even worse than his own.

Yet strangely, he could not bring himself to pull his hand away.

Sarak..

As if reluctant, his hand slid subtly along her waist, and the faint sound of fabric brushing together tickled his ear.

At most, he was merely circling in place, unable to retreat, yet a strange heat spread through his entire body.

Haerak's hand began to creep upward, little by little.

At that moment, So-hwa sensed a faint scent of blood.

The Blood Demon had promised he would not watch, but perhaps he had noticed something amiss and awakened, raising his perception.

As though unwilling to miss even the smallest sound, he was concentrating.

Thus, the nauseating internal energy exuded by the old man grew increasingly distinct.

Min Haerak seemed to sense it as well. His gaze shifted over So-hwa's shoulder.

The internal energy of the Main Blood Hall Lord, as he looked beyond the door, grew even hotter. It seemed he might sweep the cloth aside and go out at any moment.

So-hwa grabbed the back of Haerak's hand as he tried to withdraw. The reaction she got was far stronger than when she had first flinched.

As if his heart had dropped to the floor, the Main Blood Hall Lord jerked violently, his gaze snapping back to her.

Haerak tried to ask why, but no sound came out.

White skin exposed between the layers of clothing filled his vision.

Whether Tang So-hwa was aware of it, he could not tell.

No—perhaps she wasn't. Her gaze had lifted and was fixed on him the entire time.

Beneath the thin fabric, the outline of their interlocked hands was visible. Small but persistent, her hand was pulling at him, preventing him from leaving.

At the motion urging him not to go out, he felt a strange sensation. His stomach tickled.

Startled, he tried to pull his hand away, but the recoil made his fingers slip. In doing so, he brushed against flesh far softer than anything he had felt before.

A shiver ran over his entire body.

A faint line formed between So-hwa's brows. Her eyes widened slightly, as if startled.

At the unfamiliar expression, Haerak felt something snap inside him. Soon, thoughts he had never consciously entertained began to fill his mind.

He wanted to know how completely he could fill those eyes, how wide those red lips could open.

They were not complicated thoughts—just a primal desire to draw closer, to touch.

Before he realized it, he lifted his hand.

Min Haerak traced along her neck, so fragile it seemed it might break with a little pressure, then lowered his head beside his fingers.

So-hwa was startled by the damp sensation against her nape, but she said nothing.

Nor did she push away the Main Blood Hall Lord as he kissed her neck.

His lips rose slowly, as if asking permission.

The intense heat at the end pressed firmly against her chin.

He couldn't go straight to the place he wanted to go and hovered around.

Yet as time passed, his desire did not dissipate. Rather, with each small bite he took, the hunger only deepened.

In the end, he moved to the place where he wanted to stay.

The moment warm breath flowed from red lips separated by no more than the thickness of a sheet of paper, he was drawn in by the heat and pressed his lips to hers.

He had imagined it would be sweet, but the breath he actually swallowed was sweeter than anything else.

Parched, he parted the narrow gap and pushed a little deeper inside.

Their mingled breaths tickled his ear.

The Blood Demon's unpleasant internal energy also grew thicker, yet Haerak could not pull away, sinking instead into fevered bliss.

Then Tang So-hwa bit his lip. When he tried to kiss her again, she turned her head and pressed her lips to his ear.

"The Blood Demon is watching."

"...... I know."

He thought she meant for him to stop, but after swallowing her insufficient breath, she whispered softly,

"I don't know how to deploy an energy barrier, so you do it."

He did not answer. Yet soon, the sound of the sandstorm outside the window vanished, and his ears rang dully.

When So-hwa offered her lips again, he entered them once more.

The movements that had approached so cautiously before were now urgent and deep, to the point he could not recall the earlier restraint.

Heat, hot enough to feel as if clothes might burn away, surged between them.

Clearly, the sounds filling the room had grown louder than before, and their internal energy was leaping wildly. Yet there was no trace of blood scent, nor any sense of the foreign internal energy the Blood Demon carried.

He could not tell whether the Blood Demon had truly withdrawn in keeping with his promise, or whether Haerak's energy barrier was simply that solid.

"I'm suspicious by nature......"

"I know."

Haerak cut her off and kissed her again.

"I got his promise that he wouldn't listen, but whether he truly keeps it—"

As she turned her head, a small laugh burrowed into her ear.

"You're deceiving internal energy with internal energy. How would he know?"

Pressing his lips to her small ear, he stroked her hair.

"It's not a matter of skill. Opposing waves interfere with each other—unless that old geezer is a god, he can't know what's happening in here."

At that, So-hwa placed her hand on his shoulder and pushed him away completely.

Only then did Min Haerak sense something amiss. As his eyes narrowed, Tang So-hwa pressed a warm piece of metal into his hand.

It did not take Haerak long to understand the situation.

As he tried to inspect the piece of Cold Iron in his hand with the other, So-hwa reached out.

His body, heightened in sensitivity, reacted strongly to that slight contact. Unaware of it, So-hwa went further still, wrapping his fingers so he would not drop the Cold Iron.

"Min Doyu left for the North Sea Ice Palace today. They'll strike the Ice Palace Sect and Jin Yin Mountain to lure the Blood Demon, so in roughly three days, the Blood Demon will return to Jin Yin Mountain."

"......."

"When the Blood Demon goes back to Jin Yin Mountain, let's return to the Central Plains then."

“So, that’s what this was about?”

When the Main Blood Hall Lord let out a sigh, So-hwa closed her mouth.

She was not unaware of what he was feeling.

If she had abruptly told him to deploy an energy barrier, the Blood Demon would have grown suspicious, so it could not be helped.

She felt sorry for having made a fool of him, but she did not have confidence that Haerak could deceive the Blood Demon.

It was not a wrong choice. Even she, who had been determined to deceive him, had almost forgotten the situation and been swept up by pleasure for a moment. It would probably have fooled the Blood Demon perfectly.

Still, uncharacteristically for her, So-hwa apologized even as she believed she had been right.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. It just makes it more miserable."

Haerak let out a hollow laugh and placed a hand on her face. The fingers that moved as if wiping around her lips withdrew quickly.

"And there's nothing for you to be sorry about. I boasted that I knew what kind of person you were, then lost my head—this one's on me."

"I wanted to tell you quickly."

Before she could finish, her mouth was blocked.

After a brief kiss, the Main Blood Hall Lord spoke in a voice as though nothing had happened.

"Don't say you did it for me. If you do, Blood Demon or not, I'll take this all the way right here, so it'd be better to stop."

He said it like a joke, but it sounded sincere.

He still did not retreat, bent slightly to meet her gaze.

So-hwa knew that deceiving and using someone's feelings—especially feigning affection—was not right.

She also was not irresponsible enough to exploit another's feelings while intoxicated by a momentary heat.

Even so, it wasn't that she felt nothing at this moment.

A feeling too calm to call pleasure, yet too heavy to brush off like a passing breeze, filled her mind.

Whatever it was she felt now, she had no room to measure her own emotions. She believed such luxury was a privilege only the strong possessed.

On the other hand, the man before her had advised her to have leisure if she wanted to eliminate the Blood Demon. Not to become desperate, but to erase him. That was the only way to endure.

When she did not respond, he asked whether, if he bought her time, she might be willing to think differently.

So-hwa knew well why Haerak—who had been lukewarm about reclaiming the Solar Palace—was here.

The countless holes covering his upper body filled her dark eyes.

The time he had bought her, in the end, allowed her to think differently.

So-hwa moved both hands resting on Haerak's shoulders. In response, the man who had matched her height drew a little closer.

Embracing Haerak's shoulders, So-hwa hesitated, then spoke.

"...... What I said earlier wasn't sincere. The part about creating something I've never seen or possessed, just to protect what I have now."

"That's a relief."

"As you said, I've never once thought of handing my family over to the Blood Demon just so I could survive. Probably most people wouldn't."

A sound that was hard to tell whether it was a scoff or a hollow laugh tickled her ears.

As if to emphasize her sincerity, So-hwa repeated herself.

"I think there should no longer be any lives that exist for the Blood Demon."

"I agree."

"So, after the Blood Demon is gone......."

She wasn't sure she was allowed to say this, but the words slipped out of her mouth like wind leaking through a window crack.

"If, at that time, things aren't different from now...... let's think about what comes next."