Parting 2 – Departing Alone
It was a declaration: they would leave at once.
Everyone who had assumed they would rest a day and depart the next let out sighs for their own reasons.
Lee Sogun looked at her brother, Lee Sojeong.
She wanted to go with him, yet as he had said, she could not bring trouble upon their household.
In her mind, the Ak-yang Lee family would already face difficulty because her elder sister was now the daughter-in-law of the Jin estate.
For a fleeting moment, she thought that going along now might not make things any worse.
But her brother quietly dissuaded her.
Soun was right.
Jang Jimin rose first with a curt expression and returned to her room.
The remaining three could not meet Soun's eyes.
"Please don't look so grim.
I will see this through.
I may not like it, but if it must be done, then it must be done.
Do not worry too much.
I am more skilled than you think.
There are very few in this world who could truly endanger me.
Probably.
Well… perhaps who knows.
Haha, am I being too arrogant?"
While Soun deliberately rambled on, Jang Jimin returned.
She had changed into black martial attire and carried a bundle about the same size as his, along with a sword.
She seemed not to acknowledge Cheonsan-gaek at all.
She neither sought his permission nor offered a farewell.
Were they truly not husband and wife?
"Are you certain?
Are you certain you can leave like this?"
Soun asked Jang Jimin, glancing at Cheonsan-gaek.
Cheonsan-gaek's gaze was fixed upon the grain of the table and did not move.
There must have been a reason he could not step forward.
Matters between people were hard to understand.
Matters of men and women were harder still.
Jang Jimin answered only with a nod.
Soun felt it was not right to leave without a word.
"Even if there are things you do not wish to say, we who do not often have the chance to speak should still speak.
In my view, once a person departs, there are many times when you never see them again.
Better to speak now than to regret it later.
If we leave tonight, we may never meet again.
Is there not an old verse—'Once a brave man departs, he does not return' (將士一去不復還)?
I do not know what circumstances bind Cheonsan, but that is what I think.
I will step aside for a moment."
(The line means that once a valiant man sets out, he does not return. It comes from the "Song of the Yi River" (易水歌), sung by the assassin Jing Ke of the state of Yan as he departed to attempt the assassination of the First Emperor of Qin.)
Soun picked up his sword and bundle and stood.
The air felt more charged than before a battle.
Sojeong and Sojin rose as well.
No one could know what lay between the two of them.
It might have been something trivial, yet such trifles could create vast differences.
Emotions have that power.
They alter relationships.
"I will wait in front of the stables.
No more than half a shijin."
Soun went downstairs and waited, hoping she would not come out.
He did not measure the time.
He intended to leave after a short while regardless.
He believed it was right to honor the heart that had wished to follow him.
To drag someone along against their better judgment was not the way of a gentleman.
Lee Sojin, who had followed him, asked,
"Weren't those two husband and wife?"
Lee Sojeong tilted his head.
They had traveled together, yet knew none of the details.
He had thought perhaps they were senior and junior, or perhaps a married pair, or perhaps merely guardian and ward.
"I thought they were married.
Weren't they?"
"If there's a reason… what could it be?"
Soun cut off their swelling curiosity.
Excessive interest in another's bond was not courteous.
It only led to idle gossip.
If one respected another's decision, silence was better.
What meaning was there in asking, "Why did you part?"
What answer could truly suffice?
"Too much curiosity is discourtesy.
Please forget it for now.
Pretend you do not know."
Soun took hold of the reins at once.
The horse, which had been meant to rest for the night, widened its eyes and snorted.
The others would stay behind, but it alone must go again, and it turned its head back as if sensing the unfairness.
"What is this?
Didn't you say you would wait half a shijin, Lord Benefactor?"
Lee Sojeong stepped in front of him.
"I said so, but I never intended to wait.
If I take her with me, Cheonsan-gaek would be too heartbroken.
I may be blunt, but I understand at least that much.
This is something I can do alone."
"But Sister will come out.
Would that not be deceiving her?"
"Deceiving her?
It seems there is something between those two.
If they can live well, that is enough.
I never meant to wait in the first place."
Soun mounted his horse alone.
He believed that the decisions of one's life were best made alone.
Dragging others along was small-minded.
Lee Sojin cried out.
To her, this felt like the end.
If he left like this, they might never meet again.
On this vast continent, even repeated promises could fail to bring people together.
And perhaps the boy would die.
"Then what is your sense of justice, my lord?
Sister Jimin wishes to go with you.
If she comes out, what will you say?"
Soun smiled gently from atop the horse.
"Well, that might be troublesome.
Better to avoid explaining than to explain, wouldn't you say?
Tell her I returned to my room.
Say you did not know.
Heh. Hehehe."
He kicked the horse into motion.
He believed he must go alone, leaving them all behind.
It was his fight.
No one else could fight it for him.
One's own war must be waged by oneself.
Without looking back, he rode like the wind through the dark road toward the imperial capital.
They had said it was a night's distance away.
Though it was his first time on that road, all he needed to do was follow the main highway north.