“Huh? An escort?”
At that moment, Seol Yeong, who had been dozing off in a corner of the room, wiped his mouth and sat up.
“Yaaawn… By escort, you mean Ak Hyung has arrived?”
“Probably. But the timing isn’t great. I’ll have to leave the clan for a while.”
As she stared at the paper in her hand, Yeo Il handed some money to Chang-a and said.
“Go to the market and buy twenty candied hawthorns. If anyone asks why you’re buying so many all of a sudden, say that Lady Soyou is leaving for Hubei to search for her mother, and she wants to eat as many as she can before she goes.”
“Ah… Yes! Understood!”
Chang-a looked curious about this “Ak Hyung,” but she simply nodded and left the room.
Once the young maid was gone, Seol Yeong turned to Yeo Il and asked.
“Are you planning to summon Ak Hyung to Hubei? Wouldn’t it be easier for him to return here and meet us?”
“If he has too much free time, he’ll just wander around under some excuse. He would only end up delaying the meeting.”
“It wouldn’t be the end of the world if he was a little late though, would it?”
“True, but… we’ve been apart for over a hundred days.”
Scratching his chin, Seol Yeong stretched and scoffed.
“If someone overheard that, they would think you two are some star-crossed lovers who can’t spend even a hundred days apart. Which isn’t the case at all.”
Yeo Il didn’t reply, she simply tore the letter into pieces.
As always, it felt wasteful. The handwriting was so exquisite, so refined that even someone like Yeo Il, who hadn’t had much formal education, could feel the intellect behind it.
She had first met the man known as Ak Hyung during the time she had lived with the old man.
She could still remember his first impression.
A refined gentleman draped in sleek black robes—clearly no ordinary man. It was hard to believe he was associated with the old man, who was practically a beggar.
[Yeo Il! Yeo Il, you brat. Remember this well, again and again. That boy must never be let out into the world. If he can’t be controlled, kill him.]
After a series of incidents, Ak came to live under the same roof as them. The old man had been extremely wary of him.
[He’s a Heaven-Slaying Star who never became a Heaven-Destroying Star. Had he been raised under righteous light, he might’ve become someone exceptional but fate won’t allow it. That’s all I can tell you. If anything ever happens—cut off his head. You must remember that.]
The old man passed away not even half a year later, making that warning his first and perhaps most important will.
It was better to keep Ak within sight.
And frankly, Yeo Il found that more comfortable, too.
Of course, she hadn’t shared the full details with Seol Yeong.
By about noon, Yeo Il left the room with Seol Yeong and Chang-a, following the servant sent by Namgung Jeokmyeong.
However, the method was rather secretive.
They weren’t allowed to board the carriage until they’d left the clan grounds and reached the vicinity of Giyunru.
“For the journey to Hubei, you’ll be traveling incognito in case of any emergencies. Lord Jeokmyeong said it’s a necessary precaution for your safety, Lady Soyou.”
“Safety, my ass,”
Seol Yeong muttered with a deep scowl.
So this “promise” was just traveling in disguise?
Not as grand as she expected.
As she climbed into the carriage, Yeo Il asked before the door closed.
“Didn’t Lord Huimyeong say he’d be traveling with me? What’s going on with that?”
“He’ll depart half a day later and join you at a designated location.”
The servant handed Seol Yeong a piece of paper and left. It was a map detailing the route to the rendezvous point.
“So now I’m the coachman too? What a joke. And this place still calls itself one of the Five Great Clans…”
The carriage began moving, and once they were far from the main road, Seol Yeong spoke up.
“No matter how I look at it, it seems like they’re planning to quietly get rid of you during this trip.”
Chang-a, who had been doing embroidery, looked up with a frightened face.
“W-what? Shouldn’t we get out now and run away?!”
Yeo Il leaned back comfortably against the carriage wall with her eyes closed, and replied in a calm voice.
“If they try to kill me, I’ll just have to survive and come back.”
“B-but, young lady… what if the talk about relatives in Hubei is just a lie…?”
“Chang-a.”
The girl, fidgeting nervously, answered sullenly.
“Y-yes, young lady…?”
“Who do I look like to you?”
“Huh? You’re… the daughter of the Great Namgung Clan, Lady Namgung Soyou.”
“That’s right. And the only thing Lady Namgung Soyou desires is to find traces of her mother.”
“…”
“If there’s even the slightest chance of that—she must pursue it. That’s her duty. Understand?”
There was a long silence, and then Chang-a nodded, her face a little firmer than before.
“Yes, you’re right, young lady. I’ll remember that. I’ll never forget it.”
And so, the carriage continued on its way toward its destination. The very next day, it encountered an assassin near the base of Mount Cheonju.
[Just wait quietly with your neck ready, Namgung Soyou! I’ll come back from hell just to get you!]
Late that night—after burying the assassin who had left that curse behind—the carriage arrived in Hubei and stopped in front of a pavilion aglow with deep red lanterns.
The building looked like a floating lotus leaf over a small lake. The signboard read: Garden of Drunken Fragrance.
“It’s been half a year since we came here. I remember we made quite a bit of money last time.”
As Seol Yeong said, this was the first place they had visited after coming down the mountain. The reason was simple.
“I wonder if my sister’s here.”
Yeo Il, enjoying the night breeze through the open carriage window, replied leisurely.
“We’ll see.”
They were here to meet Seol Yeong’s older sister—Seol Seorin.
The carriage moved slowly and quietly, as if to avoid waking the deeply sleeping Chang-a.
She hadn’t even stirred when they encountered the assassin at Mount Cheonju. Clearly, the journey had been exhausting for her young body.
Though the gates were wide open, no one came to greet them for quite a while. Laughter and the sound of a pipa floated from nearby, but still no one came out. It felt like the carriage had arrived as an uninvited guest.
Then, Seol Yeong lit a signal flare and sent it into the night sky.
After about fifteen minutes—
A young girl came scurrying from behind a pillar and asked Seol Yeong.
“What brings you here?”
“I came to see the mistress.”
“She is currently away. Do you have an appointment?”
“Just tell her Seol Yeong is here. She’ll know.”
“Seol Yeong, Seol Yeong… Please wait a moment.”
After repeating the name, the girl disappeared.
Not long after, a woman dressed in a crimson robe embroidered with golden thread approached with quiet steps.
Holding a red lantern, she stood before the carriage and gazed intently at Seol Yeong’s face before smiling mysteriously.
Uncomfortable with her stare, Seol Yeong raised an eyebrow and barked.
“Is there something you’d like to say?”
The woman finally placed her hand on her chest and bowed in apology.
“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I’ve only heard of you, never met you in person, so I got a little curious.”
“You’ve heard of me?”
Seol Yeong’s expression darkened.
“And what exactly has the mistress been saying about me?”
The woman in red answered quickly.
“Oh, of course.”
“What did she say?”
“That you’re not used to women and painfully shy, so we should gather as many beauties as possible to overwhelm you until you run away.”
“What?!”
Seol Yeong’s face turned bright red.
“Seol Seorin… That older sister of mine, always pulling crap like this!”
“But.”
The woman tilted her head and glanced at Yeo Il through the carriage window, smiling like a blooming flower.
“Now that I see her… I think the mistress was only teasing us. In front of someone this stunning, what use are dozens of beauties? They’d just be pebbles scattered in a flower garden.”
