Seolhyang.
Ah, I had gotten used to calling her Seolhyang now.
Aside from the name being a little lacking, that was.
“......What is lacking about it? What exactly is lacking?”
Seolhyang spoke as if she found it absurd.
No, what was wrong with Spot?
That one felt warmer and better.
“Can’t we go with Spot?”
“Do you think that would work?”
“What a shame. Finish what you were eating.”
Her chopsticks were still raised, as if she was disappointed she had to stop.
The table was full of food.
It made me wonder how that little body could hold so much.
“......Are you eating more?”
“May I?”
“Innhand. Two more dishes over here.”
“Will you be needing any liquor?”
“No.”
Since I had said I would feed her, I fed her properly.
Honestly, I regretted it a little.
How did she eat this much?
......How much money did I have again?
Fortunately, I could pay.
Unfortunately, I had brought a decent amount with me.
*****
After feeding her, I brought Seolhyang back.
When we returned, the Head Steward was furious.
“Spot, you wretch!”
“Hieek!”
“Where in the world have you been when you should have been working!”
When the Head Steward burst out in anger, Seolhyang flinched and hid behind me.
This was driving me insane.
Aren’t you one of the beings beyond heaven?
Had her temperament really changed because her body had changed?
She had become extremely pathetic.
What was this?
“......Th, that is not it! This one said he would give me food.......”
SMACK!
“Aaagh!”
A switch that had appeared from who knew where struck Seolhyang on the forehead.
Seolhyang clutched her forehead on the spot.
“It, it hurts!”
“How dare you call the young master ‘this one’! You will call him young master this instant!”
“......Young...... master......?”
Despair flashed across Seolhyang’s face.
It was the face of someone whose pride had been thoroughly shattered.
Seeing that was a little fun.
“That’s right. If you’re an attendant, you should address people properly.”
“Grrrrk.......”
“What? Do you want to be called Spot again?”
“......”
At my words, Seolhyang flinched.
“......Young...... Young Master.”
“That’s right, Seolhyang.”
“Seolhyang? Did you give her a name?”
“It seemed necessary. Spot sounds too much like a dog’s name.”
“That is true.”
“Seriously......?”
It really sounded like a dog’s name?
I thought it was just cute.
“Anyway. Please don’t scold her too much. She helped me with something, so I bought her a meal.”
“......Understood. Still, if she is to remain as an attendant of the Bang Family, should she not learn properly?”
“What do we even have......?”
What exactly was there to learn properly?
Our house was not that impressive.
If anything, it was strange that we had a prestigious family signboard at all.
“The ability to endure, be patient, and shoulder everything while brainwashing oneself into believing even that is worthwhile. She must learn that.”
“......”
I slowly swept a hand over my hair.
It was because I could slightly feel the emotions the Head Steward must have felt over the years.
“......I leave her in your hands.”
“Do not worry!”
“W, wait. Where are you going!”
When I tried to quietly slip away, Seolhyang tried to grab me.
“I have something urgent to do. Learn well, Seolhyang.”
“D, don’t go! Wait!”
“You wretch! Speaking informally to the young master again!?”
“Aaaagh!”
I ignored the scream coming from behind me.
Would the day ever come when the Head Steward learned Seolhyang’s true identity?
I could only hope it never did.
*****
After returning to the Bang Family and dropping off Seolhyang, I moved again.
My destination was the back alley of the county town.
The place where the Hao Clan was located.
The moment I approached, I sensed human presence.
The men guarding the front looked at me and stepped aside.
It was as if they had been waiting.
After that, the closed door opened.
The distinctive dim atmosphere inside came into view.
At the center of it sat a woman.
“Hello, our prince.”
She smiled brightly and waved.
Seeing that, I made a sour face.
“Looks like you were waiting.”
“Maybe?”
“You’re really damned sly.”
A sigh came out.
I held it back and sat down in front of her.
“You must have met the headmaster without issue. Judging by your reaction, I mean.”
“Thanks to you.”
“Don’t mention it. I didn’t do anything.”
Her laugh was lilting.
Damn it.
“What do you want?”
I sat and asked.
At my question, the branch chief grinned.
“What do I want? Why ask that all of a sudden?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know. My head already hurts enough.”
The reason I had come to the branch chief was nothing else.
My conversation with Heavenly Fist.
That was the problem.
She had said Seolhyang was of the North Sea bloodline, and that if the Palace Lord found out, something major would happen.
The problem here was—
That woman saw Seolhyang.
When I brought Seolhyang here.
The branch chief had seen her then.
I should have recognized her strange reaction at the time.
I had not paid that much attention.
Because of that—
Things got tangled.
I did not know exactly what kind of person the North Sea Ice Palace Lord was, but judging by Heavenly Fist’s words alone, Seolhyang’s existence would become a problem.
But if Heavenly Fist knew something like this, would the Hao Clan not know?
That woman even knew of Heavenly Fist’s existence.
She had known and deliberately not moved.
Because she did not want Heavenly Fist’s anger.
However—
“The headmaster has a deep ill fate with the North Sea.”
It would become troublesome if that came my way.
Very fucking troublesome.
And yet the branch chief knew all of this, and she also knew of Seolhyang’s existence.
What did that mean?
“What do you want?”
It meant she was someone who could send that information to the North Sea at any time.
Of course, if that happened and the Palace Lord moved, the Hao Clan would have problems too.
And I did have a grip on their necks as well.
“I always feel this, but you really are quick on the uptake. It saves us from having useless conversations.”
“I just don’t need the time or effort it takes to go in circles. So don’t annoy me and say it.”
What did she want in order to keep her mouth shut?
I intended to hear her demand.
“But anything involving your father is impossible.”
“How firm. I could want that, you know.”
“If you want it, I’ll give it to you. But I don’t think that’s what you want.”
Ahaha—
The branch chief laughed.
“You’re smart. I like you. Do you remember what I said when we first met?”
“I refuse.”
“Still so firm. It makes me want you even more.”
“Get to the point quickly. I’m busy.”
“Pretending to be busy—”
What the branch chief had said to me several years ago.
You. Want to work with me?
Before she started calling me that shitty title, “our prince,” that was the job she had offered me.
Join the Hao Clan.
Telling the blood of a prestigious orthodox family to enter an intelligence network of the unorthodox faction.
I had wondered what kind of nonsense that was.
And she had even meant it sincerely.
I’ll make you the Hao Clan Leader.
I had been disgusted by those words.
She herself was only a branch chief, so how did she intend to make me Hao Clan Leader?
The statement had been absurd.
But later, when I looked into it—
She was someone who could do it.
Someone who could make it possible if she wanted.
Even now, if she wanted to become the leader, she was an existence capable enough to do so.
That was the kind of woman she was.
The fact that she was currently buried in Liaoning County was because she had another reason, not because she had settled down here.
“Tell me what you’re demanding. Let me hear what it is.”
“Well. It isn’t anything big.”
The branch chief slowly crossed her legs.
“You have a few days left before you return to Henan, don’t you?”
So she had finished calculating that much too.
“......More or less.”
“Before that, I’d like you to do one thing for me—”
“What is it?”
“The Mo Yong Family is handling a matter soon.”
“Rejected.”
“......Huh?”
I refused before even hearing the rest.
At my words, the branch chief’s expression wrinkled.
“How do you know what it is, refusing before you even hear it?”
“It’s difficult if it harms them. Give me something else.”
“Who said I’d harm them?”
“Then you won’t?”
“What do you take me for?”
“A seed of the unorthodox faction.”
“......”
“Why are you making that wounded face? Don’t act.”
“Ah, is it obvious?”
The branch chief chuckled.
Of course it was obvious.
“So, what do you need to do with the Mo Yong Family?”
If it was not harming them, what did she want?
When I asked in doubt—
“This time, the Mo Yong Family will be working with an escort agency for a trade run. The escort agency will probably be the Jincheong Escort Agency.”
“And?”
“There is cargo inside. And that cargo will likely.......”
The woman looked at me, smiled broadly, and spoke.
“Be targeted by Green Forest bandits.”
“......!”
My eyes widened at the branch chief’s words.
The Green Forest was coming out?
Here?
“What do you mean, Green Forest? They shouldn’t have been doing that kind of thing for quite some time.”
The orthodox faction.
Among them, after the Green Forest had been thoroughly beaten down by the Sword Saint, most of the things they used to do had been stopped.
Plundering, of course, and many other activities had entered a situation where they could no longer exert force.
And suddenly, Green Forest bandits?
In the past, it would not have been strange.
Right now, it was strange.
“Why?”
“Who knows. What the Mo Yong Family is trying to entrust to the merchant caravan. The important thing is that Green Forest bandits are targeting it. And here...... if it is the Green Forest.”
The woman pointed a fingertip at me.
“It means it is information our prince might rather like.”
“......”
“How about it? Not bad, right?”
“......I don’t know.”
If she was asking whether it was bad, then as information, it was very good.
But there was a problem here.
“What do you want from me in this?”
What did she want from me after giving me information of that level?
Right now, all she had done was give me information beneficial to me.
She had not even mentioned what would be needed to keep her mouth shut.
So when I asked what was necessary for this matter—
“What we need is nothing else.”
The branch chief grinned.
It was a beautiful and bewitching smile, yet somehow cold.
“I need members of the Hao Clan to participate in that merchant journey. Help me.”
“You? You just said this wouldn’t harm me—”
“I said it would not harm our prince, and that we would not harm the Mo Yong Family’s work. We will not interfere in the escort run itself at all.”
“What is that supposed to—”
“Just let us follow along. In the process, I even gave our prince information that will be useful, didn’t I?”
“Why do you need to go that far?”
“Oh my.”
The branch chief half-covered her face with a fan.
Seeing that, I frowned.
“As if I would tell you?”
“That’s what I thought.”
It was a useless question.
If she had intended to tell me that, she would not have made a request like this.
“Will you grant it?”
“......”
I swept back my hair.
The escort run.
The matter with the Green Forest bandits.
I recalled the North Sea matter as well.
“I’ll try first.”
I had to try, at least.
Since I was already entangled with the Hao Clan.
The problem was that I had stupidly handed them one of my weaknesses.
I’ll attempt to clean it up.
As I was thinking that—
“Ah, right.”
The branch chief spoke to me.
“I’ll be personally participating in this schedule too.”
“......What?”
The branch chief was participating personally?
At those words, my eyes widened.
What this meant was—
......This is no ordinary matter, is it?
The Hao Clan’s evil ghost was moving.
That meant it was not only important to the Hao Clan.
The matter itself was extremely important.
Very much so.
