Ti flowed equally for everyone.
For the barbarian worried about today’s al, and for the widow living only to die, ti flowed just the sa.
A month from now, it would have been one year since the tragedy at the Moyong Family’s wedding.
The news Moyong Sang-ah had so desperately awaited had finally arrived.
“Are you talking about the matter of sending soone to Joseon?”
Moyong Sang-ah had secretly ordered the leader of Changbongdae to dispatch soone to Joseon.
The purpose was to uncover information about the Kang family mbers involved in treason and the fate of the deceased Kang Yun-ho.
“Yes. That news just arrived a little while ago.”
The leader of Changbongdae looked at Moyong Sang-ah with worried eyes.
His changed master.
He believed that his master needed to change to beco the family head, but he had not wished for her to beco this ruthless.
Nearly a year since that day. Why had she changed like this? Now, he too understood the reason.
Kang Yun-ho.
The trendous guilt she felt towards that reckless man had changed her. No, it was not just guilt. The fiery emotions shared between them during that short ti must have transford her into an irreversible state.
“It’s news we’ve been waiting for a long ti. Please report quickly.”
The leader of Changbongdae, concealing his troubled feelings, decided it was better to report. Regardless of the shock it might bring, it was the news his master had been eager to hear.
The leader of Changbongdae began to report.
“As known, all the male mbers of the Kang family were executed for treason.”
The calamity that befell the Kang family for their involvent in treason did not end with the family head and his three generations.
All relatives working in the Kang family’s business enterprises were deed guilty by the Joseon court, under the logic that they all participated in treason.
Like the man Moyong Sang-ah had killed not long ago, even if they weren’t rely related by blood but were practically strangers, then all the male mbers of the Kang family were beheaded.
Annihilation.
The place once known as the Kang family village has now been reduced to nothing but ruins.
“…What about the Kang family won who beca slaves?”
It’s still too early to give up.
Moyong Sang-ah, suppressing the urge to close her eyes at the grim outco of her actions, inquired about the fate of the female mbers of the Kang family.
It might not even serve as a minor act of atonent, but she wanted to take care of his remaining family. To achieve this, she had instructed her people sent to Joseon to secretly rescue his family mbers who had been enslaved.
“There are not many who survived.”
“What do you an? Weren’t the won spared from execution?”
“It was known that the Kang family originally had few descendants. Coupled with the ordeal of the family’s treason, enduring severe physical and ntal trauma, becoming slaves and being sent off to the provinces to die as outcasts, or turning to prostitution to survive the humiliation rather than taking their own lives, there were countless won.”
“But, there must still be so who survived.”
“Fortunately, so distant relatives of Master Kang Yun-ho, who did not endure much hardship, are alive. However, upon learning that the Moyong Family wanted to take them in, everyone outright refused help.”
Moyong Sang-ah’s accusation of treason.
Regardless of whether the Kang family’s treason was real or fabricated, no woman from the Kang family would accept help from the one who reported the treason.
“Who did you send to Joseon? To ntion the Moyong Family’s na. Have you given it any thought?”
She questioned the Changbongdae leader with a trace of anger over the absurd report from those who went to Joseon.
“I’m sorry. It was my oversight.”
Moyong Sang-ah looked at the Changbongdae leader, who bowed his head, and suppressed her anger.
She was not in a position to be angry at anyone.
Everything was her fault; whom was there to bla?
Incompetent woman. The lord has bestowed such irrepayable grace, yet she, the incompetent one, fails to properly care for his remaining family.
Moyong Sang-ah forcefully pushed away the sticky feeling of powerlessness invading her heart, pondering another way to care for the lord’s family for a mont.
“…… There must be people who owe a great debt to the Kang family. Create a separate business entity in Joseon with those people at its core, and have that business rescue the Kang family won who beca slaves.”
If they refused the hands of a dirty sinner, they could help them so they did not see those hands.
If those who owed a debt of gratitude to the Kang family took care of the won who beca slaves, they would surely take great care of them.
“I will implent it imdiately.”
“It doesn’t matter if it costs a fortune. Do whatever it takes. Please bring them and care for them without lacking anything.”
It might be just a re consolation to herself.
She knew better than anyone that no amount of gold or treasure can fill the hole in the heart of a woman who has lost her love. But that didn’t an she can ignore the family of her lord.
Even if it’s a hypocrite’s pretense, she must do everything possible.
Moyong Sang-ah discussed deeply with the Changbongdae leader on how to care for the remaining family of her lord.
“Yes. Then, as you said, I will proceed.”
“Wasn’t there sothing else you asked the people sent to Joseon to find out? How did that go?”
If they brought news today, they must have brought that news as well.
The two reasons for sending people to Joseon.
Why Moyong Sang-ah occasionally urged the Changbongdae leader for news from those sent to Joseon.
Moyong Sang-ah, trying to calm her trembling heart, pretended to be calm and waited for the Changbongdae leader to bring up the other story.
“Are you asking where Master Kang Yun-ho is buried?”
The Changbongdae leader looked up at his master, who was hastening the report.
He could already sense his master’s emotions fluctuating at the re ntion of the Kang family. Should he even deliver this news?
“Yes. Didn’t I ask you to find out where he was buried?”
Sotis, a strong blow feels less painful if one has already been hit by a weaker one.
Hoping that the previous story would soften the blow for his master, the Changbongdae leader opened his mouth.
“Originally, Master Kang was buried in the family’s ancestral grave.”
The fake body of Kang Yun-ho, who died in Yodong Castle, was not embald as planned. By the ti it arrived in Joseon, it was already reeking of decay.
An official from the Joseon court, dispatched to the Kang family’s hotown for identification, scowled, barely checked if the face matched, and then had him buried in the Kang family’s ancestral grave.
“If he was buried, are you saying he is not anymore?”
A bad premonition flashed through Moyong Sang-ah’s mind.
The calm facade she had maintained now changed to an anxious look.
The Changbongdae leader, unable to bear the emotions his master would have after the report, avoided her gaze and spoke.
“Recently, he was subjected to dismbernt of the corpse after exhumation.”
“Dis, dismbernt after exhumation? Why would he be subjected to that!”
Moyong Sang-ah asked in horror.
Dismbernt of the corpse after exhumation.
A punishnt involving digging up a grave, pulling out the corpse, and cutting it into pieces.
Touching a corpse was considered a severe punishnt even in the logic of a Confucian state, so one must have committed a very grave cri to be subjected to this punishnt even after death.
Even if Kang Yun-ho was supposed to die for treason, there was no reason for him to be subjected to dismbernt after exhumation.
“There was talk in the Joseon court that the punishnt for the great traitor Kang Yun-ho was too lenient. Eventually, as they pursued additional charges, one was added, leading to the exhumation and dismbernt of his already decayed corpse.”
“What on earth did my lord do to have his corpse desecrated like this!”
“The charge is conspiracy. He was falsely accused of attempting to bring in foreign forces by marrying into a foreign family.”
The cri of betraying the country and secretly colluding with another country to plot rebellion was one of the worst cris, categorized alongside treason in Joseon.
The Kang family attempted to commit treason. Moreover, Kang Yun-ho himself tried to directly involve foreign forces.
Although the Moyong Family was rewarded for exposing the man’s treason, it does not absolve Kang Yun-ho of his cri. He deserved his punishnt.
Thus, the charges against Kang Yun-ho were finalized.
In addition to the cri of internal rebellion and treason, the cri of conspiracy was also added.
This was why Kang Yun-ho was subjected to dismbernt after being exhud.
“Is it because of ?”
“The dismbered corpse, left unattended for fear of implicating others in treason, was eventually collected by soone one night and vanished.”
The Changbongdae leader could not confirm Moyong Sang-ah’s trembling words. He calmly continued with the facts to conclude the report.
“Even in death, even in death… it’s because of …”
Was there any endeavor more noble than saving a woman in crisis?
A hero who risked his life for her sake.
In life, he was killed by the villainess he tried to save,
And in death, even his pure intentions were desecrated.
The grave ant for his rest was disturbed, and the whereabouts of his dismbered body beca a mystery.
All because of her.
Everything was all because of her.
Moyong Sang-ah’s mind went blank for a mont.
“Lady! Lady! Please co to your senses! Where is the physician!!!”
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