Chapter 37: The Difference in Rank (3)

“Are you leaving?”

“Yes.”

“...Very well. We’ll speak again later.”

The Je Gal siblings bowed and turned away.

Watching them go, Namgung Hyun’s face grew rigid. He had caught the especially hard light in Je Gal Ahyeon’s eyes when she looked at him.

Damn it.

This was all because of Yeon Hojeong. If he hadn’t been disgraced in front of Yeon Hojeong, Je Gal Ahyeon wouldn’t be looking at him like that.

This gathering had done nothing but leave wounds—so deep he’d almost lost his reason.

Grinding his teeth, Namgung Hyun summoned back the look in Je Gal Ahyeon’s eyes.

I wanted to kill him with my own hands.

Regret pricked, but there was a coarse satisfaction too.

The Tang Clan’s poisons came in varieties beyond counting. Some killed before you even knew it; some paralyzed; some inflicted pain alone; some left lasting disability—endless, they said.

He had seen Yeon Hojeong’s skill.

Much as it galled him, Yeon Hojeong’s martial art was worth acknowledging. Even he would have found it hard to overwhelm Chu Seong that thoroughly.

Dog of a bastard. There had to be some ploy.

Chu Seong’s movements when he received those first three forms were clumsy to an absurd degree. No doubt Chu Seong had eased up, trying to be lenient, then slipped when the opponent proved unexpectedly capable.

He’d ask when Chu Seong woke. Why he’d been so careless.

Come to think of it, that was an ambush too.

When Yeon Hojeong subdued Tang Yangseon, he hadn’t won by any normal method either.

Lining them up one by one, what a craven bastard he was. People judged results, not process. That’s why they thought Yeon Hojeong was great.

“Trash. Strutting on scraps of skill...”

The more extreme the circumstance, the more people see only what they want to see.

For the first time in his life, his pride had been cut. His clever mind wouldn’t work.

“Where’s Brother Ming?”

“He left ahead of us.”

“Without a word?”

Namgung Hyun’s face creased.

These people.

Nothing pleased him. Not a single thing.

“Is the cleanup done?”

“Not yet. It should be finished soon.”

“The sun will be down any moment! Finish it—now!”

“Y-yes!”

The servants scrambled.

Two quarters later, with the work wrapped, Namgung Hyun left the manor.

It would take time to travel from Hefei to the Mount Huang region where the Namgung Clan was based.

People often wondered: why had the foremost power in Anhui, the Namgung Clan, planted itself near Mount Huang rather than in the provincial capital, Hefei?

But that was a question asked after the fact. When the Namgung ancestors first chose the site, the Namgung Clan’s influence hadn’t been what it was now.

Of course, things were different today. Namgung eyes were set everywhere across Anhui, and needless to say, all through Hefei.

“We arranged a carriage in advance. Please board.”

When Namgung retainers traveled within Anhui, the finest carriages and boats were provided. Everyone who made their living in Anhui took care not to cross Namgung.

At this level, the privileges were no different from the royals of a small kingdom.

Five days later, Namgung Hyun crossed the river and entered Namgung territory near Mount Huang.

What is this?

Walking the main road, he felt a strange dissonance.

Crowds kept sneaking glances at him.

Not surprising in itself—his escort held three or four great standards marked “Namgung.”

He drew looks on ordinary days, but today was different. People whispered as they glanced, and there was nothing friendly in it.

Namgung Hyun’s face slowly twisted. It soured his mood.

When the party reached the Namgung estate—

“Hyun?”

“Ah, Uncle.”

Namgung Daesan, the Outer Compound Master, approached at a near-run.

A creeping unease rose in Namgung Hyun.

“Has something happened?”

Namgung Daesan asked without preface.

“What have you done?”

“Sir?”

Namgung Daesan struck his chest in exasperation.

“They say you used a murder-by-borrowed-knife scheme to have the Tang heir kill the Yeon Clan’s First Young Master!”

Namgung Hyun’s face went bloodless in an instant.

Was he too shocked? Words slipped out before he knew it.

“H-how did you...?!”

Namgung Daesan’s eyes deepened.

“So... it’s true.”

Only then did Namgung Hyun realize his mistake and clamp his mouth shut.

But everyone who needed to hear had heard already. Even if he denied it, the deed was done.

“The rumor has already spread beyond Anhui in waves. And it’s not some baseless tale—the source is clear, the witnesses certain.”

“T-that’s absurd!”

“Get to the Clan Lord’s hall. Now!”

Scratch—scratch.

The brush slid over rice paper—cautious, yet unhesitating.

As Namgung In painted orchids, the movement of his hand bore a craftsman’s soul. Even the gradations of ink—dark and light—were perfectly judged. His orchid painting had reached a realm.

Namgung Hyun’s mouth felt parched.

His father had been painting for a full two hours. Whatever displeased him, more than twenty sheets had fallen to the floor.

“Mm. At last—something I can bear to look at.”

Lifting the paper, fanning it gently, Namgung In allowed a satisfied light to show on his face.

As the wind dried the ink, he finally spoke.

“Is it true?”

The first words in two hours were brutally direct.

Namgung Hyun swallowed. In the father’s tranquil tone he felt a muted anger.

He had seen this face often enough. He had not expected to be its target.

His father’s anger—received for the first time. He felt himself shrink.

“It is.”

A lie wouldn’t pass anyway. No—this wasn’t a moment for lying.

Namgung In’s gaze went deep.

Disappointment was plain.

“I did not send you to the younger-generation gathering because the main line had no one else. Even if not the eldest, there are many children as bright as you—or brighter.”

The words carved into his chest. Namgung Hyun’s face went pale.

“Even so, I sent you. Because you wanted to go. And, yes, because I acknowledged you.”

“...”

“It is hard for a man to be acknowledged by another. Yet disappointment is instant. You know that as well as anyone.”

Only then did Namgung In turn his eyes to his son.

“I found it admirable that you wanted to mend things with the Yeon Clan. I trusted you wouldn’t overreach. So I let you go. I did not expect you to draw steel.”

“...”

“Use men well, and they call it the art of employing talent. Use them poorly, and it’s chicanery. I thought you had the measure at least to shield your own name. Was my eye wrong?”

A thin line of blood welled from Namgung Hyun’s lip. He had bitten it without knowing.

Namgung In’s eyes flashed keen.

“I trust my judgment. My own blood would not make such a senseless mistake. So why did this outcome occur?”

“...”

“There are three reasons it could be. Something rattled your composure. Or the boy named Yeon Hojeong’s stratagems overwhelmed you.”

“...!”

“Or both.”

Blood traced Namgung Hyun’s eyes.

Even if they were stratagems, he didn’t want to concede Yeon Hojeong surpassed him.

Namgung In saw his son’s tremor. Beneath the anger and disappointment, a faint pity colored his gaze.

“Was it because of the Je Gal clan’s eldest daughter?”

Startled, Namgung Hyun looked up at his father.

Namgung In said, “Sensing something amiss, I had a full account taken of what happened there.”

“...”

“Did you like the Je Gal eldest so much?”

“I—I...”

“As I thought.”

Severity entered Namgung In’s eyes.

“They say a man’s greatest pitfall is the allurement of women. You are to guard against it your whole life—and guard again. Yet for the sake of that one unruly heart you let matters reach this state?”

“...I apologize.”

Namgung In clicked his tongue.

“I have sent a matchmaker to Clan Lord Je Gal.”

“Sir?!”

“You may not be the eldest, but you are not a child any house would call lacking. Je Gal’s heir will inherit the clan; a daughter, at least, they can part with.”

“F-father...”

Emotion surged in Namgung Hyun’s throat.

Even as he scolded him harshly, his father had sent a matchmaker for his sake. That much, his father was looking out for him.

“Before I am your father, I am Clan Lord. In consideration of what you have done for the clan, I will overlook this mistake.”

“Thank you.”

“Do not hope for too much. The Je Gal eldest will be nothing more than a whetstone to hone you. That child will not be my daughter-in-law—she will merely be your wife.”

Cold words. He stated calmly that he would not recognize his son’s wife as a daughter-in-law.

But for Namgung Hyun, it was enough.

Seeing his son’s flushed face, Namgung In clicked his tongue again.

“Go now.”

Namgung Hyun lifted his head.

Glimpsing a corner of his father’s mind, he had already steadied. Despite the flush, his eyes had recovered their former cool.

Namgung In nodded inwardly. That was the look he wanted to see.

“How do you intend to handle this matter?” Namgung Hyun asked.

“Why? Do you mean to take the field yourself?”

“...”

“Stay out of it. Nothing is more unsightly than gnawing on a failure.”

“But, Father—”

“Also.”

Namgung In’s face went remote.

“I hear this boy Yeon Hojeong is formidable in both pen and sword. From what I’ve gathered these past days, he is not an opponent you can handle.”

A muscle jumped in Namgung Hyun’s cheek. His wounded pride flinched again.

But he set his expression at once. This was his father. He could not show anything more unseemly.

At last satisfaction colored Namgung In’s features.

“Seeing the opponent rightly is the beginning of progress. Only now have you taken a step.”

“I lost once. I will not lose twice.”

“I know. All the same, stay out of this one. For a time, temper body and mind.”

Even ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ this much guidance was something to be grateful for.

Namgung Hyun bowed from the waist.

“Understood. Then I will take my leave.”

“You’ve had a long journey. Rest well.”

After sending his son away, Namgung In leaned back in his chair.

“Just past the age of twenty—hot blood is hard to help.”

Truly, no younger brother ever equals the elder. His firstborn hadn’t behaved like that at that age.

Not only that. The firstborn’s nature—and his talent for martial arts—were both exceptional. What Namgung In had grasped in his thirties, the elder son had grasped before twenty. There was no need to speak of talent.

When the firstborn emerged from closed cultivation, the world would be astonished.

Namgung In spoke.

“Chief Steward Cheon.”

A moment later, a sturdily built middle-aged man entered the Clan Lord’s hall.

“You called, my lord.”

Namgung In looked toward the window.

The deep crimson of sunset was unusually beautiful.

“At this point, the pot is heated enough.”

“...”

“Spread the word of what Sanghwa did. All of it.”

“Are you certain that’s wise?”

“Ugly or not, we need to suture the wound. From what I saw just now, the son shows more signs of maturity than that harum-scarum daughter.”

“...As you command.”

Sunset bled into Namgung In’s eyes, staining them red.

“The Yeon Clan of Green Mountain... I thought them merely a house singular in martial arts. But the Clan Lord—and his son—are no ordinary men.”