We soon arrived at the Yeonjun Merchant Group.
"Welcome."
My aunt came out to greet me, and I bowed respectfully.
"Have you been well?"
"I heard what happened. You went to Sichuan to help with the relief efforts this time, didn't you?"
"Yes. I returned not too long ago."
My aunt smiled.
"You worked hard. It must've been exhausting."
"Hahaha. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't."
"It's reassuring to have you around. Come inside. Your uncle should be back soon, and Seon-il and Shina will be returning from the palace before long as well."
"Yes."
I was about to follow her inside when I stopped and asked,
"Aunt, if Princess Shina is returning from the palace as well, does that mean she's at the Imperial Palace right now?"
"That's right."
My aunt nodded.
"His Majesty summoned her."
I was enjoying tea and refreshments in the reception room while catching up with my aunt when my uncle returned first.
"Welcome back, Uncle. How's business?"
"Some of the people you introduced to me introduced me to others in turn, so I've been expanding our business lately."
"I see. I'm glad the Yeonjun Merchant Group keeps growing by the day."
"Hahaha. I'm pleased to hear you say that."
My uncle and I spent some time discussing business.
Before long, Cousin Seon-il and Princess Shina returned.
"Father, Mother. Your son has returned from the palace."
"Father, Mother. I have returned home as well."
"Good. You both worked hard."
After exchanging greetings, my aunt and uncle rose from their seats.
"I have some matters to take care of, so I'll leave you three to talk."
"I have something I need to see to as well."
"Of course. Please go ahead."
Soon, only Cousin Seon-il, Princess Shina, and I remained in the reception room.
Cousin Seon-il spoke first.
"I met with His Majesty today."
"I see."
"I told him we'd be using one of the Eunhae Merchant Group's ships this time. More importantly, are you truly not coming with us?"
I nodded at Cousin Seon-il's question.
"Yes."
"Why not?"
"Because this will be the first time Her Highness sees her parents since her marriage."
I continued.
"It wouldn't be appropriate to mix business into a family reunion like that. I imagine Her Highness intends to do little more than casually mention the matter while she's there. Isn't that right?"
Princess Shina nodded at my question.
"Yes. That's right."
"If I were to go with you as the Deputy Merchant Lord, our intentions would be far too obvious. From His Majesty the King of Maraeseo's perspective, it probably wouldn't leave the best impression."
"That's true. I see your point."
"If the King of Maraeseo wishes to meet me afterward, I can go then."
Cousin Seon-il nodded, while Princess Shina gave me a gentle smile.
"As expected of the Third Young Master."
"I'm not sure what to do with myself when Your Highness praises me so highly."
"I told you, you can call me Cousin-in-law."
"Hahaha. Maybe once I get used to it."
Maybe it was because she was a princess, but calling her Cousin-in-law still felt strangely intimidating.
"I wanted to see you today so we could discuss the trip to Nanjing and so I could ask you to look after us on the way."
Cousin Seon-il would be traveling to Maraeseo Kingdom with Princess Shina this time.
And since the Crown Prince had invited me to accompany him, I would also be traveling with them as far as Nanjing.
It was probably his way of making it clear to everyone that, 'This man is one of mine.'
So it's already decided that the next Emperor is going to work me to the bone too?
Well, even if he hadn't invited me, I would've asked to accompany them anyway.
My aunt had privately asked me to look after Cousin Seon-il and Princess Shina on their journey to Nanjing as well.
I recalled what Princess Shina had said to me before.
"Would you happen to be interested in trade with Maraeseo Kingdom?"
"…!"
"If you'd like, I can speak to my father and help establish a connection."
Then she'd made a request of me in return.
"In that case, make the necessary preparations before the next trade expedition. When the time comes, you can travel to Maraeseo Kingdom with me."
"Excuse me? You're going there yourself?"
"To be precise, I intend to go with my husband. My parents say they'd like to meet him."
That was why I'd originally planned to go as well, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt this simply wasn't the right time.
I told Father what I was thinking, and he immediately made the necessary arrangements.
As it happened, the Eunhae Merchant Group already had another ship under construction.
Its captain was someone recommended to us by the Changhae Merchant Group.
Now that the Changhae Merchant Group had come under the Eunhae Merchant Group, they were trustworthy enough.
Our supervisors had also gone to the Baekbuik Merchant Group to receive training.
I smiled and said,
"You don't need to worry."
"Ah, and one more thing…"
Cousin Seon-il pulled an envelope from inside his robe and handed it to me.
"His Majesty asked me to give this to you."
I accepted it.
Written across the front were the words, [To Be Opened by the Recipient Only / Open When You Are Alone].
"Thank you for delivering it."
After parting ways with Cousin Seon-il and his wife, I returned to the Beijing Branch.
I washed up and headed to my quarters.
Whew. Today was fairly exhausting too.
I'd really like to just fall asleep like this, but…
With a bitter smile, I sat on the bed and pulled out the envelope Cousin Seon-il had given me.
Riiip.
Then I unfolded the letter inside.
"…"
Crinkle.
Before I realized it, my grip had tightened around the letter, crumpling the secret imperial order.
Thank goodness His Majesty sent this through Cousin Seon-il.
Judging by the instruction to read it alone, he'd probably anticipated a reaction like this.
Otherwise, someone might've accused me of disrespecting the Emperor.
.
.
.
The next morning.
We finished our preparations.
"Be careful on your journey."
"I will."
"Take good care of Seon-il and his wife too. And look after Deputy Merchant Lord Seong as well."
"Got it."
"Have a safe trip."
Young Lady Seohyang would remain in Beijing and handle my work while I was away.
After saying our goodbyes, we headed for the Imperial Palace.
The preparations for departure were already in full swing outside.
As I approached, several people who knew me greeted me.
The Eunhae Merchant Group's Eunpoong Division members and supervisors immediately began discussing various details with them.
Just then, a group emerged from the Imperial Palace.
It was the Crown Prince's party, which included Cousin Seon-il and Princess Shina.
We respectfully paid our respects.
"Then I'll be relying on you until we reach Nanjing."
"I will serve Your Highness with all my loyalty, even at the cost of my life."
With that, the final preparations were completed, and we departed for Nanjing.
.
.
.
The journey from Beijing to Nanjing was an extremely comfortable one.
The imperial roads were well maintained, and bandits were almost nonexistent.
It was one of the empire's most important routes, so the authorities took great care in keeping it secure.
Despite the relaxed atmosphere, however, I had a rather serious problem on my mind.
It was because of the secret imperial order His Majesty had privately sent me yesterday.
And its contents were…
"Why do you look so troubled, Young Master?"
"Hm?"
Palgap came over and sat down beside the campfire.
"Would you like some tea?"
"Yeah."
I'd been wanting some tea anyway. As expected of Palgap.
"Here you are."
"Thanks."
I took a sip and slowly looked around.
Then I spotted one of the eunuchs staying close to the Crown Prince and fixed my gaze on him.
He was the person named in the secret imperial order.
His Majesty had commanded me to kill that eunuch, A-jeong, and disguise it as an accident if he showed any sign of trying to worm his way into the Crown Prince's confidence.
Seriously, Your Majesty.
What am I, your personal fixer?
I'm not an assassin.
Even as I grumbled inwardly, I recalled what His Majesty had written at the end of the order.
He said that if I investigated A-jeong, I'd understand why he'd given me such an order.
Well, I happened to know someone perfectly suited for that sort of work.
"Escort Guard Jin Yu, I have a favor to ask."
"Of course. What do you need?"
"Do you see that eunuch over there? The one with the mole on his chin and the mustache curled up on either side of his nose."
"Ah, yes. I see him."
"I'd like you to keep an eye on him. He doesn't seem particularly weak, so be careful."
"Understood."
I'd never seen that eunuch, A-jeong, even once despite all the times I'd gone in and out of the Imperial Palace.
And since His Majesty hadn't told me anything else about him, I had absolutely no information to work with.
He probably wanted me to investigate the man myself without any preconceived notions.
"Palgap."
"Yes."
"Find out everything you can about that eunuch named A-jeong."
"Understood."
.
.
.
About two days passed.
"Young Master. I found out about him."
"You did?"
"Yes."
Palgap began telling me what he'd learned about A-jeong.
A-jeong was forty-five years old this year.
Apparently, he'd entered the Imperial Palace when he was very young.
His father had cut off the boy's manhood when he was only seven years old and handed him over to the palace.
"They say he's a rather ambitious man. That's why he was fairly active in the Eastern Depot for quite some time."
In just two days, Palgap had uncovered a surprising amount of detailed information.
"…And apparently, he's quite shrewd as well. He even managed to survive the last purge of the eunuchs."
"I see."
Palgap really was exceptionally talented when it came to gathering information.
"By the way, how did you even find all of this out?"
"Some of it I learned by asking around, and some of it I just overheard while hiding nearby."
That made sense…
If even a Transcendent expert couldn't detect him, there was no way ordinary people stood a chance.
Around noon, Escort Guard Jin Yu approached me with his own report.
"So far, I haven't noticed anything particularly suspicious."
"Is that so?"
I thought for a moment before saying,
"I'll tell you what Palgap found out. Let me know if anything stands out to you."
"Understood."
I began relaying the information Palgap had gathered.
"Wait."
Escort Guard Jin Yu raised a hand, stopping me.
"Did you just say he was the only survivor of an incident in Dunhyang County, Jiangsu?"
"Yes. That's right."
I nodded.
"According to what Palgap found, the Eastern Depot received information that a group of rebels was operating in Jiangsu, so five of its agents were sent to investigate. Their identities were exposed along the way, though, and… well, apparently A-jeong was the only one who survived."
"Mm… That can't be right. I know about what happened back then. The Murim Alliance was the organization supporting that operation."
Escort Guard Jin Yu continued with a grave expression.
"One of the Eastern Depot agents was secretly loyal to the Murim Alliance. Thanks to the information he leaked, they were able to prevent the entire affair from being exposed."
"What?"
"And I heard that man survived and continued serving as a eunuch afterward."
Hold on.
If what Escort Guard Jin Yu said was true, then the only man who survived that incident was the one loyal to the Alliance.
Which meant that A-jeong wasn't loyal to the Emperor at all. He was loyal to the Murim Alliance.
And if a man like that was staying at the Crown Prince's side, his purpose was obvious.
They planned to influence the Crown Prince and steer him wherever they wanted once he took the throne.
Damn it… Now I understood why His Majesty had given me that order.
He had no concrete evidence strong enough to remove A-jeong openly.
On the surface, A-jeong was a loyal servant of the Imperial Family who had distinguished himself through meritorious service.
If His Majesty executed a man like that without a proper charge, it could shake the loyalty of both the eunuchs and the Eastern Depot.
In other words, His Majesty wanted me to eliminate him while making it look like an accident, minimizing any unrest while simultaneously sending a warning to the Murim Alliance.
And at the same time, this was another test for me.
He wanted to see just how far my abilities extended.
Whew. I didn't particularly enjoy dancing to the Emperor's tune, but I didn't have much choice.
From my perspective, A-jeong needed to disappear anyway.
Otherwise, he could interfere with my plans to turn the Eunhae Merchant Group into the greatest merchant group under heaven and take my revenge on the Murim Alliance.
Especially if the Crown Prince ended up dancing to their tune. That would make things extremely troublesome for me.
.
.
.
Several days passed.
During that time, I continued having Escort Guard Jin Yu watch A-jeong.
At the same time, I kept thinking about how I could get rid of him while making his death look like an accident.
Then, one day, A-jeong came to find me.
"Are you Deputy Merchant Lord Eun Seo-ho?"
"Yes, I am."
"His Highness the Crown Prince has summoned you."
What could he want?
I headed to the Crown Prince's tent and respectfully paid my respects.
"This humble merchant, Eun Seo-ho, greets His Highness the Crown Prince."
"I've heard there's a place nearby with truly spectacular scenery. Do you know anything about it?"
Ah, come to think of it, the mountains around here were quite beautiful.
"Yes, Your Highness. I know the area."
"Excellent. Since we're stopping here to rest anyway, I'd like to take a look. Would you mind guiding me there?"
"Of course. I would be honored to guide Your Highness."
At my reply, the Crown Prince rose and said,
"Come to think of it, this reminds me of when you saved me in Sichuan after the earthquake caused that landslide."
"That was nothing more than a stroke of heavenly fortune."
At that moment, the Crown Prince gave me a meaningful look.
"I can only hope that same heavenly fortune favors us again this time."
At his words, I stared at him and blinked.
Huh?
That just now…
I had a feeling I knew exactly what he meant.
And I suddenly understood why he'd chosen this particular moment to ask about a place with spectacular scenery.
Beautiful mountain scenery also tended to mean treacherous terrain.
The kind where one wrong step could send someone plunging to their death from a cliff thousands of feet below.
Seriously, Your Majesty.
You said you were worried because the Crown Prince was too gentle?
What part of this man is gentle?
I suppose it's true after all – a tiger doesn't father a dog.
–TL Notes–
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