Lady of YeonSung (Lisrene)

Chapter 13

They cleared the objects off the table and made enough space for the bamboo slip. Of course, Joohyun didn't bring her bamboo shards, but she could clearly imagine them in her head as she filled in the missing parts of the bamboo slip.

She placed the bamboo shards in her memory onto the bamboo slip that he had given her.

"What a pity. What am I supposed to be looking at?"

"I thought you weren't able to read the language of Paran in the first place."

Joohyun said as she raised her head. Joohyun got her answer as the man angrily crossed his arms. Even if all the shards were in place, he wouldn't be able to figure out the words written on them.

"Stop acting arrogant."

"Hmph."

"Also..."

Suddenly, he brought his face up close to hers.

"Just how old are you?"

"What?"

"Even if we don't reveal our names to each other, from what I can tell, you're obviously younger than me. Yet you continue to talk to me informally, and it's getting annoying."

Ah, that's right. But still... Recalling what had happened at the ChiHwaRu, Joohyun didn't want to change her manner of speech now. No, actually, wasn't he the one who talked down to her first?

"Then you should also speak formally to me."

"Once you find out who I really am, you'll regret it."

She didn't want to meet this independent official after today anyway.

Joohyun stared at him coldly before turning her eyes back to the bamboo slip.

"You're bothering me, so be quiet."

"What did you say?"

"Hmph."

"Ha, that's rich."

As the man was bristling with rage, Joohyun raised her hand at him.

"Wait."

I need to focus. Joohyun dug through her memories and began to match the bamboo shards with the bamboo slip. She finally managed to match the shards around the symbol of the three-legged crow. Her heart began to race.

"I was right."

"Why? What do you see?"

The surrounding names of the nine families of the northern province were slowly revealed. The victims who had burned to death were Lee, Baek, Yang, Geum, Myung, Seo, Moon, Hwan, and... She couldn't tell what the ninth one was.

What is this? Woon(雲)? Seol(雪)? The character seemed similar to both, so it was confusing.

Joohyun frowned.

"What is it? You can't tell?"

At his teasing voice, Joohyun glared at him. He merely grinned back at her. Joohyun began to explain.

"This bamboo slip is an ancient Paran document. Paran was a divine land, so it revolved around a shrine and a priestess. In other words, the priestess acted as the queen."

"I already knew that."

"The bamboo slip contains the names of the nine families that protected the priestess, and it matches up with the victims, who were originally from the northern province."

The man's expression turned grave.

"Are you saying that there's still a family that hasn't been attacked by the Heukra?"