Ssss—

Thin steam rose in soft coils.

Cheonghae glanced at his superior, Strategist Zhuge, who was calmly sipping tea beyond the drifting steam.

‘...A woman.’

He had confirmed it with his own eyes, yet he still couldn’t believe it.

The Martial Alliance’s strategist.

The Zhuge Clan’s madman.

A Mechanism-Array Design master who, the moment he took the strategist’s seat by the Martial Alliance Lord’s choice, earned the recognition of every sect and clan in the world in a blink.

‘...Was a woman.’

“If you have something you want to say, say it. Don’t stare like that as if it’s a burden.”

At the sharp words, Cheonghae flinched and trembled.

The eyes watching him without a shred of emotion were the same razor-sensitive Strategist Zhuge as always.

“I... apologize if I was rude. I never once imagined the strategist was a woman....”

“Is that a problem?”

“N-no. Not a problem. I was just... surprised, that’s all.”

Without meaning to, Cheonghae checked her mood.

Tap. Tap.

Strategist Zhuge’s slender fingers tapped lightly on the table.

‘Now that I think of her as a woman, they look like a woman’s hands.’

Even before, they had been too elegant for a man’s hands.

Ah—was that rude too?

Strategist Zhuge let out a sigh.

Cheonghae, who had been looking at her hands, startled again and turned his gaze to his teacup.

“I only wanted to avoid a bothersome kind of trouble.”

“...Bothersome trouble?”

Does living as a woman bring that much trouble?

“Still, this is the martial world.”

In the martial world, wasn’t skill what mattered most, whether you were a woman or a child?

“You’re good at saying that.”

Strategist Zhuge gave a small, humorless laugh.

“Woman or child, young or old. ‘You’re treated by skill and never discriminated against’—it’s all just pretty words. In reality, that’s often not how it works.”

“...”

“The Tang Clan does not pass down the family martial arts to women, and Shaolin does not take women as disciples.”

Cheonghae’s brow pinched faintly.

What Strategist Zhuge was saying was something he had never once considered in his life.

He had only thought the Tang Clan and Shaolin were simply developing their arts in the way they chose.

But thinking about it now, wasn’t it true?

Not only the Tang Clan of Sichuan and Shaolin Temple—there were many sects that refused to take women as disciples.

“When the one above you is a woman, they judge with tinted glasses, and if she makes even a small mistake, they sneer, ‘Because she is a woman.’”

“...”

“Even so, can you still say the martial world judges only by skill?”

Cheonghae could not answer easily.

The expression with which Strategist Zhuge asked, the faint smile she wore—it carried a kind of emptiness.

He had been born a man and lived while taking for granted everything placed in his hands.

So he couldn’t open his mouth lightly.

“I only wanted to be judged equally and treated equally.”

When Strategist Zhuge first went out into the martial world, her parents had stopped her.

They told her: if a woman left the clan alone and something dangerous happened, what then?

She knew it was said out of worry, and that it was true in practice.

Yet the words lodged in her chest and would not fade away.

If Zhuge Myeong had been known as a woman, would his name have ruled the world like it did now?

Would people still have praised only his brilliant ability?

‘Even though I know I can never find an answer.’

And yet I still live trapped inside this question, like an Unending Hell.

A bitter smile spread on Strategist Zhuge’s lips.

“To me, the strategist being a woman changes nothing.”

“?”

Strategist Zhuge looked at Cheonghae.

As if he had finished deciding what to say, Cheonghae continued with a tense face.

“I followed the strategist’s will because I respect your knowledge and wisdom, and I will continue to follow it. I was surprised, yes—but nothing will change.”

Man or woman.

What Namgoong Cheonghae had respected and followed did not change.

“I don’t think what the strategist feels is excessive. But if someone as outstanding as you thinks this way, then surely the world will change little by little.”

Nothing stays unchanged.

All change begins with a single step. And if you keep taking that step, before you know it, the scenery around you will have shifted.

“The martial world is changing. I believe you feel that too.”

The Central Plains martial world united to form the Martial Alliance, and the way sects looked at clans was also changing quickly.

Not only that—exchange between small and mid-sized sects, and the recruitment of talent with no sect or clan background.

All of it was Seolhwa’s doing, but in the end, the martial world was changing.

“So it will certainly change. That is what I believe.”

When he finished, Namgoong Cheonghae smiled faintly.

It was a sincere smile with no lie or flattery in it.

Strategist Zhuge watched Cheonghae, posture straight, then let out a small laugh.

‘Changing.’

Yes, many things had changed.

Who could have imagined it?

That a warrior of a clan, not a sect, would become the sky of the martial world.

That a single young and delicate woman of a clan would overturn the world.

Namgoong Seolhwa.

What she had achieved was never merely the gift of regression.

She was someone born to soar high, someone who inherited the blood of a sky that would encompass the world.

Regression was only a small wing granted to her after a life spent crouched low.

‘When she took off her mask, I decided.’

Make that woman my lord.

Swear loyalty to that woman who defies and twists fate, unlike myself.

That was my choice.

‘I complained again for no reason.’

Strategist Zhuge gave a light laugh.

Realizing again that her worries were, in truth, nothing at all, she felt a little hollow.

Yet somehow her heart felt lighter.

“So, what brings you here?”

“Ah.”

Cheonghae pulled over the stack of papers he had set to one side of the table and spread them out in order.

What he had brought was part of the Mechanism-Array Design meant to block intruders from entering the Namgoong Clan.

“While the strategist is staying here in Namgoong, there is something I wanted to ask.”

Strategist Zhuge was the person with the # Nоvеlight # greatest understanding of Mechanism-Array Designs.

Cheonghae meant to use this chance to seek advice on his home clan’s designs.

“Have you heard from the Martial Alliance Lord when we will return to the Martial Alliance?”

Reading through the documents Cheonghae had laid out, Strategist Zhuge answered.

“He said he will leave in two days.”

“In two days....”

“Isn’t there joyous news in the Namgoong Clan? A celebration is better with many people. The Martial Alliance Lord said he wishes to do so as well.”

Cheonghae’s eyes rounded.

For a moment his gaze trembled slightly. At Strategist Zhuge’s next question, he hurriedly checked the papers again.

A quiet smile spread at the corner of his mouth.

****

For the first time in a long while, Hefei’s streets overflowed with life.

Children ran wild through the roads, each clutching a bulging pouch of snacks, and the adults’ faces were full of bright, excited smiles.

“Where did that rice come from? Everyone’s carrying some.”

“Go to the Namgoong Clan! They’re handing it out right out front!”

“The Namgoong Clan? For free? Why?”

“Aren’t you from Hefei? The Namgoong Clan always hands things out whenever there’s a celebration! It’s a celebration, a celebration!”

“A celebration...?”

The man stared at the bustling street with a bewildered expression.

The road, filled with laughter from young and old alike, was as lively as a festival.

“I don’t know if it’s right to be this happy when the Central Plains are in turmoil.”

Chor Yeon, straightening Seop Mugwang’s robes, lowered her brows.

Seop Mugwang answered with a small laugh.

“So what. You grieve what you should grieve, and rejoice what you should rejoice. Human life is joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure. There’s no rule that only sad things happen, and no rule that only happy things happen either.”

Chor Yeon’s eyes widened as she looked up at him.

At her strange gaze, Seop Mugwang cocked a brow.

“What.”

“You can say things like that? That’s a surprisingly sharp line for you, Unit Lord.”

“...What?”

“I’m done!”

Having finished tidying him, Chor Yeon whammed! his chest.

Seop Mugwang let out a groan and doubled over.

“Anyway! Go clap hard! There aren’t even horns or drums, so shouldn’t the applause at least be loud?”

“Y-you....”

“I have to go check on the physician so I can’t go, so you have to clap for me too, got it?”

Chor Yeon giggled and slapped his back pat-pat.

Seop Mugwang yelped like it hurt and fled the room as if running for his life.

****

Today was the day the Namgoong Clan would announce its new Young Clan Lord.

The one to rise as Young Clan Lord was Namgoong Ung, the second young master of Namgoong Cheonghae.

Because the ceremony was being held amid chaos, there was no boisterous music and no lavish decorations.

Instead, Namgoong distributed grain and food to Hefei’s good commoners, spreading the joyful news across the entire city.

Thus the world would know Namgoong Ung as the Namgoong Clan’s Young Clan Lord.

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP—!!

The announcement was held in Heavenly Tiger Hall.

Starting with Namgoong Cheongun, the Namgoong Clan Lord, all direct-line members of the clan, elders, the Council of Elders, hall lords, and even the martial force unit—

Everyone gathered in Heavenly Tiger Hall to celebrate Namgoong Ung, and Supreme Clan Lord Namgoong Mucheon, who was also the Martial Alliance Lord, was present as well.

Even after all rites ended, Namgoong Ung continued to receive endless congratulations from those in Heavenly Tiger Hall.

And finally, when the attendants withdrew one by one and the hall grew a little quieter—

Seolhwa, who had been sitting silently among the direct line waiting her turn, rose and approached him.