Most of the materials Elder Bang gave me were letters.
They were supposedly letters in which Prince Sekyung issued orders to the Heaven–Changing Path, but reading through them, they were exactly what they looked like on the surface.
Talking about how the roots had to be pulled out, how everything had to be removed without leaving a trace, just like he’d said before…
Pretty brutal.
Was Prince Sekyung always this kind of person?
I set those letters aside for the moment and went through the other documents.
They were reports summarizing what had happened during the subjugation of the Heaven–Changing Path.
Hmm…
They said the Heaven–Changing Path had been hiding in a cave in a forest north of Shandong.
Their numbers were around five hundred.
And with the funds Prince Sekyung was supposedly sending them, they had been expanding at a frightening pace…
But Jiangxi and Shandong are quite a distance apart, so how had he been giving detailed orders by letter every time?
That question stuck in my head, so I dug through the documents…
“There’s nothing.”
“What’s wrong?”
Elder Bang asked me, and I scratched the back of my neck as I answered.
“It’s about these letters. How exactly were they sent back and forth? His Highness Prince Sekyung was in Jiangxi, and the Heaven–Changing Path’s people were in Shandong.”
“Obviously they would’ve sent them by hand. Using carrier pigeons would’ve been too risky.”
Carrier pigeons are fast, but the downside is there’s a high chance the letters get lost along the way.
That’s why you send several pigeons at once.
And if someone intercepted a pigeon and read the contents, that would be a disaster in its own right.
“In that case, there’s something that doesn’t add up.”
At my words, Elder Bang frowned and came closer.
“What part?”
“Look at this letter and this one.”
“This one tells them to just keep watching, and this one says the reply has arrived and that it’s time to cut them down. What about them?”
“Not the contents – look at the dates.”
“Hm?”
“They’re only three days apart. Does that make any sense? Even riding hard on horseback, it’s more than ten days between their base and where His Highness Prince Sekyung was.”
“…!”
At that, Elder Bang’s eyes widened.
Of course, someone at Peak realm or higher could barely pull it off, but it would be brutal even for them.
And would they really waste a precious Peak–level expert or higher just to use them as a courier?
That would be ridiculous.
“Then, these letters…”
“Yes, they’re fabricated.”
“But this handwriting is definitely His Highness Prince Sekyung’s.”
“That’s why I thought it over. And then I found something strange in this letter.”
“Where?”
I pointed to the far right edge of the letter.
“Doesn’t the margin here look odd to you? There’s basically no margin at all.”
I continued.
“His Highness Prince Sekyung wouldn’t write like this just to save paper, so there has to be a reason.”
“Go on.”
“Yes. Look here. Do you see how part of the characters on the right edge have been cut off?”
“…!”
Elder Bang’s eyes went wide again.
“Then, could it be this is…?”
“Yes. This… someone cut the letter.”
That was almost certain.
Otherwise there was no way these marks would be here.
So the question was, what exactly had been written before this part?
“What kind of person is Prince Sekyung?”
“Hmm…”
Elder Bang thought for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“Honestly, I’d have to call him a bit of an eccentric. He was born a member of the imperial family, but he has never once voiced a political opinion… He just enjoys spending all day in the garden tending to his flowers. He’s gentle and warm, the kind of person the imperial clan leans on.”
“That’s it.”
As soon as I heard that, everything in my head fell into place.
“Flowers. What if we assume these letters weren’t about the Heaven–Changing Path at all, but advice about gardening? Doesn’t the whole tone change completely?”
I went on.
“When he says to pull out the roots, he’s probably talking about pulling out weeds by the roots. And the part about removing everything without leaving a trace, just like he said before, would be about that as well.”
“And ‘keep watching as is’ would mean to watch how things grow after sowing, since the letter was sent in the spring.”
My eyes met Elder Bang’s.
A strange exhilaration was rising in his eyes.
“Hahahahaha!”
Elder Bang thumped me hard on the back as he spoke.
“You wonderful kid! You clever thing!”
“Urgh! O–ow, that hurts!”
“Where on earth have you been all this time? If I’d met you a little earlier, I wouldn’t have had to suffer so much.”
I would’ve been the one suffering instead.
And back then, I was pretty sickly too.
Once he’d calmed down a bit, Elder Bang sat down in his chair and brought up another topic.
“Anyway, then who on earth did something like this?”
“More than that, shouldn’t we be asking why they chose to frame His Highness Prince Sekyung in the first place?”
“That’s true as well.”
“It might be simpler than it looks. If letters are going back and forth within three days, it means the real recipient has to be somewhere inside Jiangxi.”
“We’ll have to send people to Jiangxi.”
.
.
.
After finishing my talk with Elder Bang, I left the imperial palace.
“You waited a long time, didn’t you?”
“Not at all.”
“We haven’t been waiting that long.”
At Palgap and the escorts’ answers, I scratched the back of my neck. No matter what they said, they’d been waiting a long time.
“Are you heading back to your quarters now, Young Master?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded.
“By the way, Palgap, why is the moon so bright tonight?”
“Young Master, that’s not the moon, that’s the sun.”
“…”
Feeling oddly embarrassed, I quietly turned my head away.
So basically, I’d stayed up all night in the palace.
Still, it had been a meaningful night. I’d found the decisive evidence to clear Prince Sekyung of the charges pinned on him.
Elder Bang would take care of the rest.
He was more than capable.
.
.
.
After that, my days became hectic again.
With summer slowly approaching, it was about time to release a new Windcraft Fan.
I also launched a new chair with a curved backrest so your lower back wouldn’t hurt even if you sat for a long time.
Before putting it on the market, we tested it inside the merchant group first, and the reviews were overwhelmingly positive.
Everyone said it kept their posture straight, so it wasn’t tiring even if they sat for a long time.
Hmm, at this rate, expanding into furniture might not be a bad idea.
And in the evenings, I resumed learning the Imperial Palace Martial Art from Warrior Jin Yeong.
He was incredibly busy, so he only came once every three days to teach me the Imperial Palace Martial Art, but thanks to that I could keep up with how things related to Prince Sekyung were progressing.
“The people who went to Jiangxi this time dug up some new information. By the way, do you happen to know the Myeonggeol Merchant Group?”
“I do.”
“I see. Apparently, there was conflict with them.”
Myeonggeol Merchant Group.
How could I ever forget that name?
In my last life, they were the ones who refused to give me the medicinal ingredients I needed to cure the senior supervisor’s illness.
And there had been conflict with them?
“I heard the Myeonggeol Merchant Group is rather rough and reckless. As they’ve been expanding their power, people have been sacrificed, and their reputation is quite infamous. So His Highness Prince Sekyung said a word about it.”
How had Prince Sekyung known I needed those herbs in my previous life?
It was because he’d had his eye on the Myeonggeol Merchant Group.
And there was one important thing.
When I dealt with the Myeonggeol Merchant Group in my past life, I learned something crucial – the Murim Alliance was backing them.
That had only made me even angrier.
They had the supposedly upright and honorable Murim Alliance behind them, yet they still acted that despicably.
Anyway, if the Myeonggeol Merchant Group moved like that, then framing Prince Sekyung had to be the Murim Alliance’s intention.
Why was something happening now that hadn’t in my previous life?
The answer was simple.
While they were building up their power through the Myeonggeol Merchant Group, Prince Sekyung must have gotten in their way.
So they tried to use this chance to tie Prince Sekyung to treason and get rid of him.
Wow…
Filthy, terrifying bastards.
All this was happening because something had changed from my previous life…
Now that they’d crossed my path, there was no way I was letting them get away.
“Um, Jin Yeong. So you’re saying the Myeonggeol Merchant Group slandered His Highness Prince Sekyung?”
“It’s highly likely, but it’s not certain yet.”
“In that case, there has to be someone behind them.”
“Hm?”
“How could a mere merchant group have the guts to pull something like that?”
“That’s true.”
“And there must be evidence. For example… one of the Myeonggeol Merchant Group’s martial artists actually belonging to a different faction.”
The Murim Alliance always plants its own warriors in any organization connected to it.
Just giving them that much of a hint would be enough for them to grab the tail.
.
.
.
A few days passed after that.
I was spending the day as usual when it happened.
It would be the Sixth Month soon.
Fortunately, this year’s barley crop hadn’t flopped, so that usual hungry stretch before the barley harvest wasn’t too harsh.
But the autumn harvest this year would still be poor.
“Young Master! Young Master!”
Just then, Palgap came running in a hurry.
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
“Warrior Jin Yeong has arrived.”
What? Today wasn’t one of the days I was supposed to learn the Imperial Palace Martial Art.
Puzzled, I headed to the reception room.
As if he’d been waiting only for me, Warrior Jin Yeong rose to his feet.
“Hurry and get ready.”
“Sorry?”
“His Majesty the Emperor has summoned you.”
.
.
.
A short while later,
I was on my way to the imperial palace with Warrior Jin Yeong.
On the way, he roughly filled me in on the situation.
“So you’re saying the force behind it all was the Murim Alliance?”
At my question, Warrior Jin Yeong nodded.
“That’s right.”
Just as I’d thought.
“The Murim Alliance looked into it and it seems one of the clans under them was responsible.”
Them cutting off the tail was just as I’d expected.
But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Even if they only kept cutting off tails one by one, their power would still weaken.
“Anyway, His Excellency the Minister of Justice told His Majesty that you were a great help in this matter.”
“Ah…”
So that’s why I was being summoned like this.
Before long, we arrived at His Majesty’s study, and I went in alone.
Then I paid my respects to the Emperor.
“Raise your head.”
“Your grace is more than I deserve.”
I lifted my head and saw that, instead of a eunuch, someone else was standing beside the Emperor.
Hm?
The face looked strangely familiar…
“I am Prince Sekyung.”
“Ah!”
I hurriedly offered the proper salute for a member of the imperial family.
“I was curious about you, so I asked His Majesty to let me meet you.”
He went on.
“Thanks to you, I was able to clear my name. If it hadn’t been for you… phew, it’s terrifying just thinking about it.”
At those words, the Emperor nodded.
“I feel the same.”
Looking at me, the Emperor continued.
“This time, thanks to you, I didn’t lose someone precious to me. I’m grateful.”
“This humble subject did nothing worth mentioning. I was simply fortunate.”
I did my best to downplay my contribution.
Why?
Because if I wasn’t careful, the Emperor might say, “From now on, come work in the palace.”
And Elder Bang’s eyes on me hadn’t exactly been normal, either.
“You don’t need to be that modest. Thanks to you, my life and my household’s lives were saved.”
Prince Sekyung spoke in a firm, upright tone.
“I won’t forget this favor.”
“…”
All I’d done was repay the grace he’d shown me in my previous life, yet Prince Sekyung was the one saying he’d repay me.
I lifted my head and looked at him.
Compared to my previous life, Prince Sekyung’s gaze was much steadier. It seemed he’d gone through a lot and gained insight from this incident.
Yeah, having someone like this on my side could only be a good thing.
I decided to take it in the best way.
“It seems you have things to discuss, so I’ll step out first.”
“Let’s have a cup of tea together later.”
“All right.”
With that, Prince Sekyung left the Emperor’s study first.
It seemed he’d come just to thank me.
“I heard from the Minister of Justice that you were the one who insisted on taking part in the investigation first.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
I quickly answered the Emperor’s question.
“Why?”
“I just… wanted to be sure. If a rebellion case involves a member of the imperial family, countless people will shed blood. If it were a mistake, I wanted to make sure it was corrected.”
I couldn’t exactly say that I’d met Prince Sekyung in my previous life and knew he would never do such a thing.
“In any case, thank you.”
As he said that, the Emperor’s eyes softened.
Huh?
Did he just smile? He really smiled, right?
I almost wondered if I’d imagined it.
“Prince Sekyung – my older cousin – was someone who gave a lot of strength to me when I was lonely.”
“…”
“Thanks to you, I was able to avoid making a huge mistake. I’m grateful.”
“Not at all. This humble subject merely…”
“I won’t forget this matter either. So I’ll grant you one request.”
A chance to ask the Emperor for a favor!
It was an incredible opportunity.
“Then you may go for now.”
“This humble subject will take his leave.”
With that, I withdrew from the Emperor’s presence and walked through the palace with Warrior Jin Yeong, who had been waiting at the door.
“Ah, by the way, what happened to the Myeonggeol Merchant Group?”
“They dared to slander a member of the imperial family. Do you think they’d come out unscathed?”
And just like that, the settling of my grudges and debts from my past life wrapped up neatly.
I even picked up a few extra benefits on the side.
–TL Notes–
Tired of seeing Ads? Then please support me on Patreon! Any tier of subscription will make it so you won’t get any ads!
If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at patreon.com/InsanityTheGame
Join my Discord! https://discord.gg/BWaP3AHHpt