Chapter 5 The silence did not last long.
The man in black snapped back to his senses, hurriedly gathering up his hand that had been rolling on the ground as he shouted,
"W-what are you fools doing?! Do you truly think that young girl, whose head-blood hasn't even dried yet, really sent out Sword Aura?!"
It was a bold shout, but the faint tremor clinging to the end of his words only heightened his allies' tension.
"She must have used some trick to deceive our eyes. Cut off that girl's head at once—"
At that moment—
"Quiet!"
A bark infused with internal energy turned the air icy.
The one who appeared and blocked the man in black—who seemed to be the leader—was a middle-aged man with graying hair.
His eyes were sunken deep like caves, yet within them was unmistakable seasoned experience. After repeatedly examining Yeo Il with a sharp gaze, the middle-aged man cupped his fists toward her and asked with impeccable formality,
"I offer my sincere apologies. Those ignorant fools, not knowing proper manners, blocked the path of a great senior."
"Team leader, what are you—"
"Shut up! You're worse than a blind man with open eyes. If you don't want to make this bigger, close your mouth and take care of your wrist."
Yeo Il studied the graying-haired middle-aged man called "team leader" with careful attention.
Despite his small frame, the pressure he gave off was no trifling thing. More than that, even while facing Yeo Il's appearance—one that would easily lure an opponent into carelessness—his eyes showed neither leisurely contempt nor suspicion.
There were not many cases in which a martial artist of that level would address a young woman as "senior."
One of them was reverse aging.
A realm in which a master who attained enlightenment returned to a youthful body.
The assassins, belatedly grasping the situation, swallowed dryly and stiffened.
A young female swordsman—and Sword Aura. Even in their minds, the realm of an absolute master they could not easily encounter must have flashed past.
"To possess such formidable external cultivation at this age… I have rarely seen the like, even in my years. Would Senior grant this ignorant junior the chance to learn Senior's sobriquet?"
The one who answered the respectful request was not Yeo Il, but Seol-yeong.
"Who would ever take assassins like you as juniors."
The team leader's murderous gaze swung toward Seol-yeong, but Seol-yeong did not budge, shielding Yeo Il with his body.
When no words came from Yeo Il, the team leader slowly nodded.
"…So you are in seclusion. Then I will not ask your identity further. If Senior permits, we will quietly withdraw so as not to impede your movements any longer. I promise there will be no mistake like today again. Is that acceptable?"
Only then did Seol-yeong turn his head toward Yeo Il. His eyes pleaded: You're really letting this trash go? I almost died.
Yeo Il quietly shifted her gaze to the carriage sitting alone not far away.
Understanding her intent, Seol-yeong spoke in a displeased tone.
"Leave the carriage."
With a look that asked, Is that enough? Yeo Il tipped her chin toward the young girl trembling behind her. Seol-yeong nodded.
"And that young maid as well."
After a brief silence, the team leader asked Yeo Il in an insinuating tone,
"Do you know who the person inside that carriage is?"
"..."
"You do."
A short exchange of glances passed between the team leader and the man standing directly behind him. Then the team leader lowered his clasped fists and took a step back.
"We will do as you propose. But do not pity Namgung Soyo. She is not someone worth that."
Rather than dwell on the meaning-laden remark, Yeo Il called Seol-yeong and checked his condition.
Seol-yeong grumbled, yet did not swat away Yeo Il's hand as she examined his face. In the meantime, the assassins had withdrawn without a trace.
The maid, who had been watching in terror, wiped at her damp eyes and repeatedly bowed her waist.
"Uuh… th-thank you. Thank you so much for helping us, Great Hero! You saved me and our Young Lady! You are truly our benefactor!"
The maid hurriedly moved her legs and leapt over the fallen tree blocking the carriage.
Seol-yeong followed after her, clearly worried despite himself.
"Y-young Lady! Young Lady! The scoundrels have all retreated! Our benefactor saved us! Are you all righ—"
Yeo Il suddenly stared at the maid and Seol-yeong as they stopped short before the old carriage.
A heartbeat later, the scene in her sight revealed a gruesome tableau stained red.
One, two, three.
Four, if she included the corpse of the woman who appeared to be Namgung Soyo.
One woman and three young girls. Seol-yeong checked their pulses one by one, then shook his head with a dark expression.
"They're all dead. So that's why they withdrew so neatly."
"Seems so."
"…But something is strange. The other maids all died protecting their mistress. How did only this maid escape that disaster and come to us for help? I don't understand."
Seol-yeong's eyes turned distinctly colder as he examined the young maid.
Clutching Namgung Soyo's chilled hand, the maid wept silently, her face vacant.
"…Yes. That's true… Ugh. I should've died in the Young Lady's place… I should've stopped her when she accepted death so calmly… Waaah!"
Still unable to dispel his suspicion, Seol-yeong tossed out a single question.
"You're saying your Young Lady didn't even put up the slightest resistance?"
After crying for a long time, the girl fumbled near the back of her neck and produced a necklace tied with a small crystal.
"I-it was because of this necklace… Three days ago, Young Lady Soyo entrusted it to me. She said it was the only thing left from her mother… and asked me to find her mother in her place, since she would die soon."
"Die?"
"Sniff… Young Lady Namgung Soyo already knew, from the moment she left home. She knew she would never return to the main house alive…"
Through the maid's grief-stricken voice, Yeo Il inferred that there was a deeply twisted family history between Namgung Soyo and the Namgung Clan.
Did the Gaju kill his own daughter?
Yeo Il did not bother to voice the thought. This young maid would not know the real answer anyway.
"Ugh! Young Lady deliberately made things louder to draw their attention so I could escape. B-but, Great Hero! Even so, I never imagined it would be such a miserable, empty death… Our Young Lady was the most beautiful person in the world—and the kindest!"
"..."
"S-she shouldn't have died like this. She fed me when I was a beggar on the streets, washed me, and made me into a person—how could someone like her…"
Eyes swollen from tears, the maid widened them as she stroked the heads of the other maids lying as if asleep.
"This older sister too, and that older sister too. They were all orphans the Young Lady took in and cared for like real younger sisters. We were all sisters! The reason my older sisters helped me escape was only because I was the youngest and fastest on my feet! Waaah…"
The maid's claim did not seem false.
When Yeo Il first found the bodies, the three maids had fallen while wrapping Namgung Soyo's body in their arms—still protecting and relying on one another to the very end.
"A-ah… I feel like my heart is tearing apart because the Young Lady is so pitiful. Sniff. The only thing she ever wished for in her life was to find the mother she was separated from as a child… and she couldn't even fulfill that wish, and now… Our Young Lady was driven out as a child and lived outside her whole life—what sin did she ever commit…?"
Her mournful wailing echoed as if it would cover all of Cheonju Mountain.
When the young maid finally cried herself out and began hiccuping, Yeo Il spoke in a gentle, kind voice.
"Namgung Soyo was a good master."
The maid swallowed her snot, her face full of fervent agreement.
"Yes… yes…"
"And her only wish was to find her mother."
"T-that's right, Great Hero."
"Then why was she driven out of the main house?"
The maid stared at Yeo Il as if asking how she could know that, then realized she herself had just said it, and bowed her head deeply.
"I-I don't know. The Young Lady only said it was the sin of an illegitimate daughter who failed to please the Gaju."
The sin of an illegitimate daughter.
As if an illegitimate daughter could have a sin.
While turning it over in her mind, Yeo Il recalled the scroll the old man had left behind.
In fact, on the raggedly torn edge of the scroll, there had been a secret line the old man left for her.
There is a rumor that Salmak's Killing Register is kept within the Namgung Clan.I leave this behind in case it helps you.
And yet to run into the Namgung Clan at this exact pass.
If it is coincidence, it is absurd. If it is inevitability, it is perfectly timed.
After that line, she thought of the jade ring she carried close to her chest.
Salmak's Killing Register.
And the jade ring.
Between those two, there was an old connection Yeo Il could not ignore…
She asked the maid in a coaxing tone,
"Then at what age did Namgung Soyo leave the main house?"
"Pardon? That would be… She said it was ten years before she reached jihak, the age of setting one's mind, so she must have left at five."
"After she left the main house, did the clan's relatives come often?"
"N-no. Her half-siblings were all coldhearted. Not once did they ever come to see the Young Lady, or summon her."
"Then after Namgung Soyo left the main house at five, you mean she never met any relatives at all?"
"Yes… as far as I know… B-but why are you asking that?"
A meaning-laden smile slowly rose at the corner of Yeo Il's lips.
"There is something I would like to propose to you. Will you hear it?"
The maid asked back with a tense expression.
"To… to someone like me, just a mere maid… what could you possibly propose?"
"In place of your dead master, I will become Namgung Soyo."
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