Where Light Is Bright, Darkness Is Bound to Be Deep

Ji An trembled all through the night.

His brother Ji Un never made it to his room, completely caught up in carrying Prince Hae Won to the royal infirmary and dealing with the aftermath all by himself. It was a relief. He had no desire to show his brother a pathetic display of him weeping and shivering through the night.

The moment morning arrived and his shift ended, Ji An stormed out of the palace, returned home, and verified everything.

The house Ji An had seen in his final moments was a ruined wasteland, its roof tiles shattered and fallen, disorganized footprints tracking everywhere, and grotesque words defacing every single wall. Yet right now, it was a clean, bright place, teeming with an aura of prosperity.

“Third Young Master, you have returned from duty.”

The servants bowed the moment Ji An stepped inside. The courtyard was swept immaculately clean, and the early summer sunlight was brilliant and piercing. He could see the head servant keeping the slaves in line. As was typical for powerful noble families, commoners working as hired hands were rare in Ji An’s household. It was a home comprised mostly of the masters to be served and their slaves.

“Where is Father?”

When Ji An asked, the head servant stared intently at his face. Then, he called out to Ji An’s personal servant, “Chil Seong!” Chil Seong, who had been blinking his eyes while walking over from a corner of the courtyard where he was scrubbing a cauldron to help the maidservants, rushed over immediately upon seeing him.

“Oh, Young Master. Did something happen? Why is your complexion so terribly pale?”

Ji An quietly stared at Chil Seong.

Throughout his entire journey back home, a single thought had dominated his mind. Let us speak to Father and submit a resignation document. And then let us vanish. Never setting foot in this capital again…

The plans he had mapped out in his head instantly went up in flames. Chil Seong. Yes, how could I ever forget you.

Chil Seong, whom he had believed to be a loyal personal servant, turned out to be Prince Hae Won’s lackey. There was no telling exactly when he had become one, but by the time Ji An realized it, the family had already been destroyed. Afterward, Chil Seong became Prince Hae Won’s right-hand man and monitored Ji An. Under the pretext of tending to his former young master again, his treatment was actually closer to abuse.

Chil Seong had persecuted Ji An as if all his past warmth had been an absolute lie. Even during the freezing winter, he wouldn’t bring a single piece of firewood, and he repeatedly went days without providing meals. Ji An hadn’t minded much either. It had already been far too long since he had desired to die.

Ji An didn’t care at all about Chil Seong starving him and causing him to suffer in the cold. However, he could never forgive the fact that this bastard had testified that his father showed signs of participating in the treason.

Even if you are innocent right now, a person’s nature does not change, and you are a bastard fully capable of doing it again.

The moment that thought crossed his mind, Ji An’s gaze turned chillingly cold.

“Young Master?”

He quietly looked around the house. As he fell into thought for a brief moment, he slowly began to walk. Behind him, the head servant found it incredibly strange, so he signaled Chil Seong with a nod to follow, and Chil Seong nodded back before quickly chasing after his young master, who was notorious for being the most eccentric person in the capital.

Even though Ji An knew Chil Seong was following behind him, he simply kept walking in silence. As he did, he scrutinized the faces of the servants he passed. He retraced his thoughts, recalling what had become of them in his memory.

According to his memory, the only one who had shown treacherous behavior was Chil Seong. To put it another way, Chil Seong was the only one who had noticeably betrayed them at the time of the family’s ruin.

Reaching the inner gate that led to the main courtyard, Ji An turned around to face Chil Seong.

“Have you ever seen a ghost?”

When asked, the strapping young servant thapped his chest with his fist.

“Oh my, Young Master. Did you see an illusion because it was dark on your way back home? This servant is right here, so please set your mind at ease. I shall drive away any ghost for you.”

Ji An’s gaze slowly drifted down. Though invisible to Chil Seong’s eyes, a vengeful spirit was slithering up his ankle like a snake. It had answered Ji An’s summons. The moment their eyes met, the spirit grinned with blood-red eyes.

Mages command their spirits until the day they die, but once they pass away, the spirits are purified along with the mage’s mana and can ascend to the heavens. Because of this, the lowlier spirits never refused a mage’s request, desiring to catch a mage’s eye and become bound to them.

Attaching just a single vengeful spirit would be enough to end this bastard’s life.

However, at that very moment, Ji An recalled Prince Hae Won collapsed and covered in blood.

If he was going to kill this servant, he should have killed Prince Hae Won instead. But he hadn’t done so. Because Prince Hae Won was a member of the royal family. He didn’t want this reality-like dream to fall into chaos by killing him.

What Ji An desired was peace. A peace he could enjoy until this brief illusion shattered.

If so, what would be the point of killing this bastard as well? If he had spared Prince Hae Won, would it be anything more than killing someone just because they were easy to kill?

“Be careful, Chil Seong. Certain karmas are bound to attract ghosts.”

Ji An said so and turned his back.

Born as a s*ave, Chil Seong read the silent command not to follow from his young master’s slender back and froze in his tracks. He watched the receding figure of Ji An and spat on the ground.

“Acting like he knows everything just because he’s a scholar. How repulsive.”

As if his past warmth had been a total lie, Chil Seong’s attitude was incredibly coarse. After making sure no one was watching, he kicked the inner gate a few times for no reason before turning around and walking away.

Only a dandelion blooming in the shade beneath the inner gate remained.

Ji An went to visit his father to pay his respects and report his return home. Even though a year had already passed since Ji An returned to the capital, his father could never hide his pride every time Ji An came to offer his morning greetings during this period.

His father was always proud to have a famous mage for a son. It wasn’t just a regular amount of pride; he would brag about it to the entire neighborhood. Because he would frequently ask his son to cast useless divinations or look into someone’s illness, Ji An had detested it, thinking his father was being materialistic and using his son to show off.

However, everyone except Ji An himself knew that the reasons why the Second Minister of the Ministry of Taxation treasured his third son so dearly—even though he wasn’t the eldest—lay in his deep affection for the boy, who had been sent away to be raised by mages at the tender age of six because of his massive awakening of mana.

The reason Ji An was later able to marry Prince Hae Won was also not because his siblings had knelt on the dew-drenched ground to plead for forgiveness on his behalf, but rather because his father’s paternal love was so immense that he wanted to use that as an excuse to forgive his son.

By the time he realized that, Ji An was already in a state where he couldn’t even stand up. His father had died in prison under a false accusation, and Ji An hadn’t even been able to look for a proper burial site for him.

The moment he saw his father, whom he held such deep sorrow for, Ji An burst into tears.

“An!”

Shim Mu Yeong, who had been sitting properly, approached his son on his knees in surprise. His son couldn’t even lift his head and was sobbing uncontrollably. He had never seen his son weep so sorrowfully in his entire life. Aside from his desperate paternal love, Shim Mu Yeong knew his rude son well—the one who would show up during holidays with an annoyed expression and turn the elders’ stomachs inside out.

“Why, why? Did something happen? No, where did your brother go, leaving you to return all by yourself? Even within the city walls, it is not safe before the sun rises!”

He was also the only son Mu Yeong constantly worried about. The eldest son wouldn’t even step outside the front gate without a personal servant, and the second son possessed such outstanding martial prowess and an uncontrollable fist that if he ever encountered bandits, it was the bandits who had to worry about being completely annihilated.

However, this third son was short, small-statured, didn’t enjoy eating meals, and was so sensitive that he would wake up at the slightest noise. Since he was so small that he was barely a bit taller than his younger sisters, it was impossible not to worry.

Even though Mu Yeong asked in a frantic panic, his son offered no answer and simply kept crying. Suddenly, a thought completely unsuited for the situation crossed Mu Yeong’s mind.

‘I didn’t think he would cry like this even if I were to die.’

His son wept and wept until he could no longer steady his own body.

“Did you kill someone?”

He possessed a temper that would fling a relative’s child into midair just because they spoke a bit unpleasantly. Shim Mu Yeong should have realized by now that there was a massive gap between his image of his son being delicate and the things his son actually pulled off, but paternal love was truly a grand thing.

“Are you hurt somewhere? Hm? Did you injure your head on your way back?”

Ji An gripped his father’s hands, which were holding his shoulders. When he lifted his head, Ji An’s face was completely drenched.

“Father…”

“Yes, it is your father. It is your father, you silly child!”

“I… I caused the family… Father…”

At that moment, the troubles Ji An had caused in the past flashed through Shim Mu Yeong’s mind. Ji An was a son who possessed massive flaws alongside even greater strengths. Seeing him cry like this while mentioning the family and his father, it was clear he had pulled off the worst disaster in history.

“Tell me, hm? You are the son of a minister, so what are you so worried about that you only cry? How can a descendant of the Shim clan have such a weak heart.”

But whatever that disaster might be, this child was his son Ji An. The son whom he couldn’t even hold many times after birth before having to send him away from his embrace. Even though he always grumbled and acted mean, he was also the kind of son who would procure whatever his father needed and handle any task given to him.

“An, hm?”

“Father…”

When Ji An called out to him through his tears and moved his remaining empty hand to envelop Mu Yeong’s hand, Mu Yeong steeled his resolve. Ji An was going to ask for a favor. And it was bound to be a monumental matter. However, how many things could there possibly be in this world that he could not handle?

“Please… please let me submit a resignation document.”

“Yes, and what else?”

Ji An sniffled and shook his head side to side. His hat jolted up and down above his head.

Watching that display, Mu Yeong asked, just in case.

“Are you crying right now because you want to quit your job?”

He knew his son was eccentric, but to think he was blubbering like a child just because he didn’t want to show up for work.

As Mu Yeong stared in utter bewilderment, Ji An suddenly looked at his face and began to wail loudly all over again. Startled out of his wits, Mu Yeong quickly comforted his third son, saying, “Alright, alright, alright, alright.”

“Let us submit the resignation document. If that is what you want, we must submit it. Can you write a letter to your master?”

In the first place, Ji An held a post in the provinces, but he had been dragged to the capital to replace a mage belonging to the Office of Special Advisors who had suddenly entered maternal mourning.

“Yes, I shall write it.”

“Then go quickly and write it this very instant. Since you have become a part of the magical order, you must show even greater loyalty to the King.”

Mu Yeong’s words were phrased in the distinct manner of speech unique to the noble families residing in the capital. To say one must show greater loyalty to the King because they belong to the magical order meant that the King held deep wariness toward those who manifested mana—including mages and healers alike.

Ji An nodded, and just as he was about to excuse himself, he prostrated himself on the floor to bow deeply. Unable to overcome his intense emotions, his body shook violently as he wept again, and Mu Yeong stroked his son’s back while whispering.

“It is alright. Your father is the Second Minister of the Ministry of Taxation, so what could possibly terrify you so? Nothing shall harm you, so you must be dignified like a true man.”

At those words, Ji An ended up letting out a screaming cry.

The light was too bright. The brighter it was, the more Ji An had no choice but to realize with excruciating clarity what kind of darkness he had dragged in to destroy this tender family.