It was not the fresh recklessness of youth, nor an immature fantasy. Even if it were, it would not matter. A child’s recklessness makes people frown, and the muttered dreams of one who has nothing invite ridicule, but Yun Jong right now is neither a child nor someone with nothing.
The sect leaders could not say anything. Not even Hyeon Jong. Because they knew that what they had done was too shabby to lay blunt words upon a resolve that was hot yet cold, like a well-forged blade.
“Yun Jong...”
In the end, it was Baek Cheon who opened his mouth. But he too only moved his lips briefly before stopping. I understand how you feel, but now is not the time to be stubborn.
He had meant to say those words, and he still thought he should say them. But he could not bring himself to do it. How much suppressed fury had Yun Jong swallowed while hearing those same words over and over?
And now, when he himself tried to say those words to Yun Jong, his lips would not part. He did not know whether he had matured, or whether he had become able to see what he had never noticed before. At the very least, he hoped it was not the fear born of gaining much and having much to protect.