Several days have passed.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly.
After the personnel reshuffling initiated by Jahwayun, the left law faction Hyuk Yeonbo remained silent, like a tiger with its claws pulled out, not showing any official resistance.
On the surface, the sect was more stable than ever.
‘Perhaps the councilor’s words were just a baseless worry.’
Jahwayun leaned back slightly on the throne, resting her chin on her hand while listening to the calm report coming from Geumgang, and briefly thought that way.
Jahwayun was fundamentally clever and intelligent. Therefore, she kept the councilor’s warning in mind.
‘Is the left law faction someone who will simply step down like this?’
She had never forgotten, not for a moment.
Thus, with a sense of doubt, she continued to keep a careful eye on the movements of the left law faction.
However, for several days, what he showed was no different from that of a defeated person who had resigned themselves to everything.
The councilor’s warning might have simply been excessive worry. Indeed, her actions had been right.
It was at that moment.
– Kwang!
The heavy door of the Cheonma Hall burst open violently, and a bloodied lower warrior staggered in.
“J, Jizun! There’s a crisis!”
“What is this commotion! Speak with reason and do not lose your temper.”
Geumgang, who was guarding the throne, snapped at him with a stern face.
Geumgang shouted, “We had a clash with the Changcheon Alliance! Our side has suffered significant damage!”
What the warrior timidly presented with trembling hands was a torn piece of the Changcheon Alliance’s flag, depicting a blue sky and white clouds.
Jahwayun sprang to her feet. She had clearly ordered that meaningless skirmishes with the righteous faction be avoided.
But why?
Her voice, as cold as ice, sliced through the air of the Cheonma Hall.
“Who drew their sword first?”
To her chilling question, the warrior could barely lift his head and muttered in an almost crawling voice.
“… It was us.”
“……”
With those words, silence descended upon the Cheonma Hall.
***
A meeting was convened.
Seated on the throne, Jahwayun felt a terrible fatigue as she looked at the ten demons lined up before her and the defeated soldiers with their heads bowed behind them. Inside her, anger surged.
“Didn’t I clearly say?”
– Avoid meaningless battles.
This was Jahwayun’s command.
She was weary. An all-out war with the Changcheon Alliance was something neither side wanted. Even if we win, the sect would suffer irreversible damage.
Emotions clouding her judgment were even less something a ruler like Jahwayun should entertain.
At that moment, Geumgang’s report solidified her resolution.
“The Changcheon Alliance is still showing no movement.”
Although she understood that emotions were running high between the two factions…
Then, she was ready to consider it as if it didn’t happen this time.
But then, the left law faction spoke up.
“Shouldn’t we enact a one-for-a-hundred punishment?”
At his words, the eyes of several demons who had been yearning for revenge flashed.
“If we bow our heads first to the righteous faction, the sect’s prestige will plummet, and in the future, they will look down on us even further.”
With a sorrowful expression but a strong voice, he continued.
“Now is the time to reaffirm the sect’s dignity with blood under the name of the Heavenly Demon, Jizun!”
Jahwayun understood the current situation.
If the root of the problem lay with the righteous faction, then it was only right to seek revenge.
Every war has a justification. A war without justification leads the sect to ruin. However, that justification currently lay with the Changcheon Alliance.
It was clear that our sect had been the first to attack. Even having suffered damage, it was the Changcheon Alliance that remained silent, waiting.
“……”
But look at their eyes.
Jahwayun glanced around. There were ten demons and congregation members in the conference room.
Their gazes were fiercely consumed with rage.
Much had changed since coming into this world, yet their essence remained unchanged.
They were, fundamentally, demons.
They did not want a rational ruler. Nor did they want rational judgment.
They wanted only the demonic law of “blood for blood.” The justification of who started first did not matter.
As Jahwayun appeared to be troubled, at that moment, Hyuk Yeonbo did not miss the chance.
A serpentine, cunning smile spread across his lips.
He turned to the other ten demons and, affecting a pitiful tone, spoke as if feigning concern for the nation’s future.
“Don’t you see? The future that awaits our sect if we remain silent like this.”
He sighed and continued. His voice was filled with heartfelt sadness.
“We will be branded as dogs wagging their tails to the righteous faction.”
His incitement reignited the fierce looks of the other demons.
Hyuk Yeonbo finally looked at Jahwayun sitting on the throne and delivered the decisive blow.
“If we are not careful, our Heavenly Demon sect will become the plaything of those righteous faction scoundrels.”
He concluded his remarks and slowly knelt on one knee before all the demons, bowing his head dramatically.
“Please… restore the fallen prestige of our sect!”
To the outside world, it may have seemed like the fervent advice of a loyal subject.
Yet, Hyuk Yeonbo knew her well.
She, inheriting the blood of her predecessors, was clever and cool-headed, someone who would never jeopardize the larger cause due to personal emotions.
Hence, she would never choose war.
Hyuk Yeonbo sneered internally.
‘Everyone is watching. Your brothers and soldiers have returned, bleeding.’
‘Yet, you hesitate to seek revenge? Is this truly the ruler we have?’
And at that moment, I will use that woman’s weakness to pull in the enraged demons and complete this justification of rebellion.
Even if, by chance, that woman were to lose her reason and declare war, it wouldn’t matter.
It would be even better.
The immense damage the sect would incur from a war without justification.
Placing all that responsibility on the tyrant’s blunders under the influence of the heart demon would suffice.
No matter which choice she makes, the scales have already tilted.
That young Heavenly Demon has no place to escape.
***
It was a peaceful afternoon.
Yuseon Woo sipped a cup of coffee while reading an article on the monitor.
[Breaking News] Heavenly Demon Sect and Changcheon Alliance clash in a large-scale armed conflict near the DMZ… numerous injuries reported.]
“Wow….”
After a few days of silence, the Heavenly Demon Sect finally attacked the Changcheon Alliance. Though labeled as a conflict due to accidental friction, everyone knew it wasn’t so.
‘So, this is how it’s done.’
The left law faction presented Jahwayun with a choice.
To start a war and suffer significant damage, becoming an incompetent ruler.
Or to remain silent, becoming a weak ruler.
The situation turned into one where she could neither initiate war nor refrain from it.
Neither option was easy.
She was in a bind.
Yuseon Woo took a hot sip of his coffee. The bitter taste lingered in his mouth.
“What are you planning to do?”
Clearly, there was a method provided.
“Heavenly Demon.”
Yuseon Woo quietly smiled.
And at that moment in the Cheonma Hall.
Jahwayun’s face was expressionless. She was astute.
No choice could allow her to avoid responsibility.
Moreover, she clearly realized that the left law faction had finally revealed its fangs towards her.
Hyuk Yeonbo’s actions were a fleeting desire for power.
A moment of recklessness that would return after a warning.
But that was wrong.
The councilor’s words were right.
It wasn’t over.
The moment she recognized that fact, Jahwayun was engulfed by a sudden sense of loneliness.
The left law faction pressing her and the demons clamoring for vengeance. Even Geumgang could not help her.
At that moment, she felt she was completely alone in this world.
In her mind, a voice resonated.
‘Councilor.’
He already knew everything.
From the betrayal of the left law faction to seeing through this entire situation.
And there was another phrase he had left her.
‘He who stands at the highest point can trust no one entirely; sometimes even those cherished must be doubted.’
‘To protect oneself, one must become an object of fear rather than an object of love.’
That was the only answer for Jahwayun, trapped at this dead-end.
Yes.
Why had she been struggling with such a simple truth?
A loved ruler is unnecessary.
There is no need for a Jizun who is understood.
She would cast off such foolish attachments.
He told her to let go.
To become an object of fear is the true essence of a ruler.
In Jahwayun’s hollow eyes, once again, a cold flame ignited.
And.
‘If war cannot be avoided, it would be advantageous to start quickly.’
He told her to rapidly initiate the unavoidable war.
Jahwayun rose from her throne.
And, addressing all the demons observing her, she declared with a voice that echoed through the entire Cheonma Hall.
“Ten demons, heed my command.”
At her words, two of the ten demons, aside from the left law faction and the hidden lord, Sword Demon Heukun and Blood Demon Gwangmyeong, bowed their heads simultaneously.
“There is one who has disturbed the sect’s laws, deceived me, and led fellow believers to their doom.”
She looked down at the left law faction with contempt.
Then, she issued a command that overturned everyone’s expectations.
“Immediately bring before me the head of that accomplice who conspired with him to disrupt the sect.”
The left law faction’s shoulders trembled.
This was not the anticipated flow. The situation was… turning strangely.
The hidden lord Mu Won-hyeon’s face, who had been with Hyuk Yeonbo, went pale.
However, both could not deny the command. Denying something here would be no different from admitting to treason.
At that very moment when everyone was just watching each other, unable to move recklessly.
Until now, as if oblivious to all this, a burly man who had been with his eyes closed stood up silently.
Sword Demon Heukun spoke a single word.
“Obeying my lord.”
He reached for the sword at his waist, though no one saw him grip the hilt.
A flash.
– Swoosh.
There was no chance to even scream.
His head, along with a spray of blood, soared into the air.
The last thing the hidden lord likely saw was his own body.
– Thud.
The headless body collapsed to the ground.
Finally, grasping the situation, the left law faction shouted in shock and anger.
“What… What is this! Jahwayun, you!”
Everything had been exposed.
Now there was no way out.
It was just at that moment when the left law faction was gathering all its power to explode.
“It’s the Heavenly Demon.”
Jahwayun simply extended her hand towards him.
Five slender fingers mimicked the motion of grasping something in the air.
“From your filthy mouth… a name worthy of being bestowed does not exist.”
There was no sound or sign of disturbance.
Then, the left law faction’s body twisted grotesquely as if squeezed by an invisible giant’s hand….
– Crack, snap.
It was split precisely in half.
The two halves of the corpse fell limply to the ground, staining the floor of the Cheonma Hall with blood.
Sword Demon Heukun wiped the blood from his blade against the fallen hidden lord’s clothing carelessly.
Then he turned toward the throne.
For the first time, he looked up at the young ruler on the throne with eyes filled with reverence.
He had only shown the bare minimum of courtesy to her as the daughter of his predecessor and a minor noble; he had never acknowledged her as a ruler.
But not anymore.
He knelt on one knee and bowed his head deeply.
Sword Demon asked in a voice that was rough yet clearer than ever, mixed with the sound of metal.
“What does it feel like to walk the path of dominance, Jizun?”
In his voice, unwavering loyalty was evident.
“While you walk that path, please wield this old sword as you see fit.”
At those words, Jahwayun slowly turned her head.
Her gaze fell upon the other demons, who were now frozen.
The blind rage they had once held towards the Changcheon Alliance had completely vanished.
And in that void was filled with raw and pure emotion.
Fear.
That alone was abundant.
‘So this was it.’
Not a loved ruler.
‘Councilor.’
To become an object of fear.
The way for a ruler to protect themselves.
Once again…
He was right.
