I had no choice but to ask Chun-il again.
“Are you saying Young Lord Namgoong Yang’s life is in danger because he’s currently a suspect in a murder case?”
“Of course not.”
Right. He wouldn’t have called his life endangered over something like that.
“May I sit?”
“Ah, yes.”
Palgap, who had been sitting beside me, quickly read the room and stood up to offer his seat, and Chun-il sat down next to me.
“Let me explain the background first. Young Lord Namgoong Yang is the son of the Clan Lord’s seventeenth wife.”
He already has seventeen wives? No, considering Young Lord Namgoong Yang’s age, he probably has far more than that.
Before I died, how many wives did I hear the Namgoong Clan Lord had? Around forty?
At any rate, the Namgoong Clan Lord’s womanizing was quite famous.
But only three of them were officially recognized as wives. Everyone else was a concubine.
Because he only grudgingly accepted the women he had touched as wives after they became pregnant.
After all, he couldn’t exactly leave the Clan Lord’s bloodline outside the clan.
Which also meant he had laid hands on far more women than that.
There was even a time when he became the talk of the world for taking a twelve-year-old wife despite being well past sixty.
That aside, I wonder if he even remembers all his wives’ faces.
Chun-il continued.
“However, it seems Young Lord Namgoong Yang’s talent stood out from a very young age.”
“Is that so?”
“As you know, the Namgoong Clan’s foundation is the Rule of the Strong. In other words, the strongest among the Clan Lord’s direct bloodline becomes the next Clan Lord.”
Ah…
I was starting to understand the situation.
“Because Young Lord Namgoong Yang’s martial talent is exceptional, the Clan Lord dotes on him greatly… but that has provoked the competitiveness and jealousy of his other sons.”
“So the other sons are constantly watching for a chance to kill him?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
So that was why Young Lord Namgoong Yang had spent my previous life obsessing over pointless little hobbies.
If he revealed even more of his talent and ended up killed, his mother would obviously grieve, and she would almost certainly be driven out of the Namgoong Clan.
To be honest, the only reason Namgoong Yang’s mother can live in the Namgoong Clan right now is because she gave birth to him.
So if Namgoong Yang dies, she’ll no longer have any value, and they’ll clearly toss her a little money before kicking her out.
Hah. Why are there so many clans I can’t stand…?
Hearing that story suddenly made me think of Young Lord Mun Ju-seong of the Deukhaeng Merchant Group.
He was the seventeenth son of the Deukhaeng Merchant Lord, wasn’t he?
Hmm. What is it with the number seventeen…?
Is he running the inn properly these days? I should stop by sometime.
Anyway, I could see why Namgoong Yang had asked me to keep his realm a secret.
If it became known that he was a Peak martial artist, his life would become even more exhausting than it already was.
Honestly…
To think he had talent but lived in an environment where he couldn’t even use it.
Talent?
At the sudden thought, I asked Chun-il.
“How talented is Young Lord Namgoong Yang in poetry and prose?”
“Terrible.”
“Pardon?”
“Even if he entered, he would probably be eliminated in the first round.”
Now that I think about it…
Young Lord Namgoong Yang hadn’t seemed especially disappointed that he couldn’t participate in the poetry and prose competition.
Then… was the poetry and prose competition merely an excuse to come to Beijing?
Members of the Namgoong Clan couldn’t leave Anhui without the Clan Lord’s permission, after all.
If so, the undisclosed events of last night must be the true reason he came to Beijing.
“Is there anything connecting Young Lord Namgoong Yang to Beijing?”
“Connecting him…”
“Or anything connected to the Namgoong Clan would be fine too.”
After thinking for a moment, Chun-il answered.
“Ah, now that you mention it, that person is in Beijing.”
“By that person, you mean?”
“The former Clan Lord’s younger brother, who was expelled from the Namgoong Clan.”
.
.
.
A short while later.
After finishing the dinner gathering at Yeoji Pavilion, which also served as my meeting with Chun-il, I returned to the Beijing Branch.
“Young Master, it’s time for bed.”
“I still have work to do…”
At my words, Palgap said.
“I’ll wake you early tomorrow morning, so I think you should sleep now. Whether you sleep now and wake up early or sleep late and wake up at your usual time, isn’t the amount of time you can work the same?”
“…”
I had nothing to say to that.
I obediently washed up, changed into my sleeping clothes, and lay down on the bed.
“Phew!”
Palgap blew out the lamp and left.
Lying on the bed, I thought over what Chun-il had told me today.
The former Namgoong Clan Lord’s younger brother…
Then he would be the Murim Alliance Leader’s younger brother, and Young Lord Namgoong Yang’s granduncle.
Ah!
I remembered hearing about him in my previous life.
His name was Namgoong Yeon.
I didn’t know the details, but apparently he had committed a grave crime too serious to overlook and was expelled from the clan.
And naturally, his martial arts had also been crippled. In other words, his dantian had been destroyed.
He was driven out like that, but I heard he lived in Beijing until he died of old age.
The fact that he’s still alive means…
Hmm?
Then he lived quite a long life for someone whose dantian was destroyed, didn’t he?
Martial artists often live longer than ordinary people because they cultivate internal power.
But once their internal power is destroyed, the aftereffects weaken them, and they die sooner.
Considering that, Elder Namgoong Yeon’s longevity is strange.
Does he have some special method?
In any case, if Young Lord Namgoong Yang met Elder Namgoong Yeon last night, I could understand why he had been keeping his mouth firmly shut.
Meeting a clan criminal!
That alone would be enough to earn him severe punishment, and he wouldn’t even be able to argue.
This seems the most likely. Should I poke at it once?
The next morning.
After breakfast, just as I was about to go out, Warrior Jin Yeong came looking for me.
“It is good to see you, Jin Yeong. Good morning.”
“Yes, good morning.”
“But for you to visit so early in the morning… has something happened?”
At my question, he nodded.
“The Namgoong Clan has sent someone.”
“What? The Namgoong Clan?”
“Yes. The Namgoong Clan has sent the Clan Lord’s younger brother as their representative, and he will probably arrive around tomorrow.”
Well, Namgoong Yang might be an illegitimate son, but he was still a member of the Namgoong Clan and one of the children the current Clan Lord favored.
That being the case, it made sense for them to send someone directly to handle the matter.
Then Warrior Jin Yeong would be the one to deal with him.
It wasn’t the Namgoong Clan Lord himself, only his younger brother, so there was no need for anyone higher than Warrior Jin Yeong to step in.
“So, how are things progressing?”
“I will organize the situation and come report to you this afternoon.”
“Understood.”
I hurried straight to the Magistrate’s Office.
There wasn’t much time.
Soon, I arrived at the Magistrate’s Office and headed directly to the underground prison.
“Young Lord Namgoong Yang.”
“Handsome Young Hero. You’ve come again.”
Since I had no time to waste, I went straight to the point.
— Did you meet Elder Namgoong Yeon?
“…!”
At my Voice Transmission, his face stiffened.
Yes. So that was the answer!
— And the real reason you came to Beijing was to meet him, wasn’t it? The poetry and prose competition was only an excuse.
“…”
Seeing him bite his lip, I clicked my tongue and shook my head.
“Tsk, tsk.”
“…?”
I let out a sigh.
— If you show your emotions that easily, how do you expect to survive in the Namgoong Clan?
— That’s… true.
I explained the situation to him.
“Tomorrow, someone from the Namgoong Clan is supposed to arrive.”
“Pardon?”
“I heard the Namgoong Clan Lord’s younger brother is coming.”
At my words, he grabbed the bars and sent me a Voice Transmission.
— P-please, I’m begging you! Please never tell him about that!
I quietly looked at him, then asked.
— Then tell me why you met him.
— That is…
— If you will not tell me even that, I have no choice but to reveal all of your secrets. We cannot punish an innocent man, can we?
“…”
After hesitating for a moment, he nodded.
— All right.
— For reference, I am a merchant. That means I’m very skilled at telling whether something is true or false.
I smiled brightly.
— So don’t even think about lying to me from the start. I have a truly awful temper, and if you do, I really will expose everything.
At my words, he flinched and began trembling.
Hmm? Why is he suddenly acting like that?
Young Lord Namgoong Yang sent a Voice Transmission.
— In truth, the reason my granduncle was removed from the family registry was because he was accused of slaughtering the residents of a nearby village at the time. But I know he was framed.
He explained what happened back then.
When Young Lord Namgoong Yang was still young and his talent had yet to bloom, his granduncle had apparently been a place where he could breathe.
And as he learned martial arts from him, his skills improved by leaps and bounds, until he even began receiving the clan’s expectations.
It seemed they weren’t officially master and disciple, but unofficially, that was what they had been.
Then one day, Elder Namgoong Yeon was identified as the culprit who slaughtered the residents of a nearby village, and a trial was held within the clan.
Worried about him, Young Lord Namgoong Yang secretly visited the underground prison where Elder Namgoong Yeon was being held.
— There, I heard the truth from my granduncle. He said he had discovered the place while chasing someone from the Unorthodox Sect. And that the reason he went there was because he had fallen into a trap.
— Then he was falsely accused?
— Yes.
He continued.
— But my granduncle told me I had to keep that truth to myself. He said that if I ever spoke of it, I would not be able to avoid ending up just like him.
“…”
— And my granduncle told me to visit him before he died, if I could. He said there was something he absolutely had to pass on to me.
— So you went to see him?
— Yes. But I cannot tell you what my granduncle passed on to me.
— Understood.
When I accepted that so readily, his eyes widened instead.
— Why are you looking at me like that?
— I thought you would ask several more times, at least…
I gave a faint laugh.
— Asking about a secret passed between master and disciple would go against the martial world’s code, wouldn’t it?
At my words, he scratched his cheek.
— Thank you.
In any case, this meant I couldn’t use that matter as evidence.
Hah. Is this just as His Majesty said?
I inwardly sighed and looked at him.
What filled his bright, shining eyes were hope and a passion for life.
From what I heard in my previous life, he devoted himself to useless hobbies and showed no enthusiasm for anything, until the Namgoong Clan Lord eventually gave up on him.
Could it be that in my previous life, he had no way of coming to Beijing and ultimately failed to meet Elder Namgoong Yeon?
And perhaps he became discouraged by his situation, exhausted by his brothers’ constant checks against him, and lost his passion.
But now, something had changed from my previous life.
I had planned the poetry and prose competition for Poet Song Rok, and this time, it was being held for the entire empire.
Anyway, at this level, he seemed to have fairly good potential among the Namgoong Clan’s people.
And putting a member of the Namgoong Clan in my debt wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Even if he was an illegitimate son whose life was being threatened by his own brothers, he had that sort of talent and that sort of look in his eyes.
Moreover, the clear Qi I felt from him was enough to lift my mood without me realizing it.
A talent worth looking forward to.
— Young Lord Namgoong Yang.
— Ah, yes.
— Would you like to make a deal with me?
Namgoong Yang let out a sigh.
He couldn’t understand how the situation had ended up like this. But the situation was not entirely bad for him.
Because he was able to remain alone in the underground prison, he had time to organize what his granduncle, Namgoong Yeon, had passed down to him.
And his granduncle had warned him again and again.
“You must not trust your grandfather.”
His grandfather was the former Namgoong Clan Lord and the current Murim Alliance Leader.
Namgoong Yang couldn’t understand why he was being told not to trust a man who was also the spiritual pillar of the Orthodox Sect martial world, so he asked the reason. But Namgoong Yeon only sighed and said,
“Just this once, do not ask why.”
Namgoong Yang could not ask any further.
For some reason, he felt that he truly shouldn’t.
‘Anyway… how exactly does he plan to resolve this?’
He looked toward the place where Eun Seo-ho had been standing until moments ago.
‘He really is a strange person.’
Somehow, Eun Seo-ho knew about what had happened that night, the very thing he had wanted to keep secret.
In truth, Namgoong Yang had intended to lie to him about what happened with Namgoong Yeon.
But Eun Seo-ho’s warning had sent chills down his spine.
And he instinctively realized it.
If he ignored Eun Seo-ho’s words, he would pay an enormous price.
So he told the truth.
Honestly, he had thought Eun Seo-ho would press him even about what Namgoong Yeon had passed on to him.
But Eun Seo-ho did not.
He simply proposed a deal.
“I will make sure you are acquitted and released.”
“Are you planning to talk about that, by any chance?”
“No. I’m saying I’ll make sure you’re acquitted and released while keeping that a secret.”
“Is that possible?”
“Of course. But this is a deal. That means you must also carry out what I want.”
“Wh-what do you want?”
“You will help me when I ask for your help.”
“Is that truly all?”
“Yes.”
“…”
“The person your clan dispatched arrives tomorrow, and you wouldn’t want him to see you in such an unsightly state, would you?”
“O-of course not.”
In the end, faced with that offer, he had no choice but to place his handprint on the contract Eun Seo-ho wrote and presented to him right there.
How many hours had passed since then?
Before he knew it, the sun was setting. At that moment, a jailer approached him and said,
“Young Lord Namgoong Yang. Come out.”
“Pardon?”
“Your innocence has been proven. Congratulations.”
He couldn’t understand how only a few hours had passed since signing that contract, and yet he was already being acquitted and released.
As he came out of the underground prison in a daze, Eun Seo-ho greeted him warmly.
“You’ve been through a lot.”
For some reason, that gentle smile made his body tremble on its own.
–TL Notes–
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