Love 7
Master, true to her reputation as a peerless expert, quickly steadied the eyes she had widened in shock and examined Ji-ryeon’s appearance in a flash.
Shoes, clothing, hair ornament—and last of all, the broken sword.
She seemed to be checking whether Ji-ryeon’s claim held true by looking at the shoes, the clothes, and the hair ornament.
But the girl had come out dressed in ordinary training clothes, so nothing there could reveal a princess’s station, and her hair was simply pulled back with a single cord; Master could hardly find any mark of rank in that either.
What finally caught Master’s eye was the hilt of the broken sword.
She would never have noticed while Ji-ryeon still gripped it, yet the moment she saw the hilt studded with countless jewels, Master’s throat gave a loud, audible swallow.
Gulp.
After a long silence her lips parted and a single question emerged.
“Is that… truly so? No—is that truly the case?”
Master was thoroughly shaken.
Barely half a watch had passed since Ji-ryeon had resolved to take her as master; the thought that the whole matter might be called off or that she might be cast out made the girl seize the broken blade, press it to her own throat, and cry out.
“If you say this never happened, or if you cast me out—I-I will end my life right here!”
But who was her counterpart?
Abbess of Putuo Temple, and the woman said to stand at the highest peak of swordsmanship among all women—the head of the Sword Pavilion.
Clang!
A single stroke, too swift for Ji-ryeon even to register, and the blade that had been in her hand vanished from her grasp.
She wanted so desperately to learn the sword, to learn a supreme sword art suited to her, to cut sunset, darkness, and moonlight the way Master did—yet the hope she had held for even a moment slipped away.
“Hnnngh… I-I want to learn the sword so badly…”
If only she were not a princess, she could learn to her heart’s content…
The tears that had been dammed up burst forth without restraint.
Master, who had been looking down at her in silence, asked in a quiet voice why she longed for the sword so much.
“Why do you wish to learn the sword so earnestly?”
“Sniff. I don’t know. Ever since I first took up a sword at six… sob… the sword has been everything to me.”
There was no grand reason.
From the day she first gripped a blade at six years old, every thought in Ji-ryeon’s head had been of the sword alone.
Was there anything more joyful than swinging a sword all day long?
Master nodded.
“Then I should like to hear that story.”
Rather than talk of casting her out or pretending nothing had happened, Master asked to hear her tale.
Eyes round, Ji-ryeon began pouring out everything that had happened since she was six, all in a rush.
“So at first I just grabbed the Imperial Guard’s waist…”
When the long story finally ended and dawn was breaking, Master gazed at the rising sun, drew her sword, laid it across Ji-ryeon’s shoulder, and spoke.
“This too is a form of karmic bond… Very well. With talent so outstanding I first wondered whether the Buddha Śākyamuni himself had sent you as my successor; still, I shall accept you as a secular disciple of our temple.
Our temple has never taken secular disciples, yet we shall make an exception.
Though we are said to be uninvolved with officialdom, our temple does not greatly concern itself with the great and small affairs of the murim. Even if your station is that of a princess it should not be… no, it will certainly be a problem, yet I shall somehow bear it. As for the imperial court, I leave that in the princess’s hands.”
At the words that she would be accepted as a secular disciple, Ji-ryeon trembled.
She had obtained the disciple’s place she had craved so desperately.
“Th-thank you! Thank you!”
And so, under the pretext of a hundred-day prayer retreat, she remained at the hermitage and secretly learned the sword from Master every night.
On the day the hundred days ended and she parted from Master—
“Truly remarkable speed. One Hundred Eight Temple Sword, Prajñā Bodhi Sword Art, Great Compassion Thousand Hands Sword, Great Compassion Thousand-Li Sword Control, Seven Absolutes Demon-Subduing Sword Art—to think you could master every form and stance and wield them fluently in a mere hundred days.”
“It is only thanks to Master’s teaching.”
“No. It is because you are exceptional. My one regret is that, as a secular disciple, I cannot transmit the essence of the Sword Pavilion—the Eighty-Four Thousand Bodhi Demon-Subduing Sword Art. A pity.”
“That is…”
Even the arts she had already learned were so formidable; how much more so must be the Eighty-Four Thousand Bodhi Demon-Subduing Sword Art, taught only to the Sword Pavilion’s successor?
On the road home after those hundred days of instruction, Ji-ryeon’s mind was filled with the longing to learn still more from Master and with thoughts of the Eighty-Four Thousand Bodhi Demon-Subduing Sword Art.
And the moment she reached the imperial palace she made a single resolve.
By any means, she would become Master’s successor.
“So that is why…”
Creeeak.
Sss?
“Daddy?”
The Princess was still talking animatedly when the sound of the door opening was followed by Bin’s question.
Hwa-eun was outside, yet waiting forever seemed more than the child could bear.
I asked the Princess carefully.
“It looks as though the interruptions will keep coming. Would it be all right if I keep them beside me? I can just move a chair out of the way.”
“Your venomous creatures really do obey you well. Very well. Do so. I doubt the little ones will go about repeating my story.”
When I shifted a chair, the other two followed Bin inside.
The moment Cho and Yo-hwa plastered themselves against me, the Princess gave a soft snort of laughter and continued.
“Where was I?”
“You had just said you were determined to become the successor no matter what.”
“Ah, right. So once I returned to the palace I first informed the Emperor that I had become a secular disciple of Putuo Temple, in order to keep my promise to Master. Other imperial grandchildren keep tutors for their studies; taking a master is no crime.”
A frontal assault?
Being a princess, she simply charged straight ahead with no excuses.
Her words continued.
“At first the Emperor tilted his head a little at the news that I had become a secular disciple in order to learn sword arts, yet after hearing the Imperial Guard commander and seeing my swordsmanship he was greatly pleased…”
“So the fact that the princess has become a secular disciple of a place called Putuo Temple means, ‘The princess’s excellence has been recognized by the murim.’ Is that it?”
“Precisely, Your Majesty. The Nine Great Sects and the other schools of the murim do not accept disciples unless the candidate is outstanding. Moreover Putuo Temple is known as a mysterious school that never takes secular disciples. That they broke their own precepts to accept the princess as one means her talent is that exceptional.”
“Hahaha… Then to Putuo Temple, which has become the princess’s master, I shall bestow a hundred golden ceremonial caps, a thousand seom of grain, and silk—no, since it is a temple, a thousand bolts of broadcloth for the monks’ robes! Not bestow—donate!”
Thus Ji-ryeon was able to repay Master’s kindness, if only a little.
The imperial side had been settled more smoothly than expected. The next morning, with the Imperial Guard commander seated before her for the usual training observation, Ji-ryeon spoke cautiously.
“Commander, there is something I wish to discuss today. Let us share a cup of tea.”
“You have something to say to me, Your Highness?”
“Yes. Concerning Putuo Temple.”
“Ah, I understand.”
Though Master of Putuo Temple had no master of her own, the Imperial Guard commander who had watched over Ji-ryeon for more than ten years since she was six was half a master to her; the only person with whom she could truly discuss such a matter was the one who worried for her in earnest.
“The truth is, Master of Putuo Temple said she even considered making me her successor.”
“S-successor!? Were you not merely a secular disciple!?”
At Ji-ryeon’s words the commander, his hair now pure white, widened his eyes in shock.
As a former man of the murim himself, he knew full well what it meant to be the successor of Putuo Temple.
“No, I am a secular disciple. Only, she said my talent is so fine she wished to make me successor, yet could not because I am a princess, and that she found it regrettable.”
“H-how… You must have been distressed.”
“Yes, terribly…”
Knowing her craving for the sword, the commander’s words drew a nod from Ji-ryeon.
Distressed was putting it mildly.
“But that would mean taking the tonsure and leaving the world, so His Majesty would never permit it…”
At Putuo Temple one need not shave the head and marriage was even allowed if desired, yet it was still leaving the world.
As the commander said, the Emperor who cherished his princess so dearly would never allow her to renounce secular life.
Yet Ji-ryeon had already made up her mind.
She smiled and answered.
“Yes. But I intend to leave home.”
“What!? Cough! Cough!”
Startled by the word, the commander sprayed the tea he had been sipping and broke into a fit of coughing.
Wiping the tea that dribbled into his beard, he asked again.
“F-forgive me, Your Highness. But what on earth do you mean to do!? You yourself know His Majesty will never permit you to leave the world!
If things go wrong it will bring great trouble upon Putuo Temple as well. You will only burden the master you have already taken!”
He seemed to think that if she announced she was leaving the world the Emperor would raise a storm and Putuo Temple would be placed in an awkward position.
But the “leaving home” Ji-ryeon had in mind was not that kind of leaving home.
“When did I ever say I would leave the world? I said I would leave home to marry.”
“What!? Leave home—gasp! Y-you mean to hold a wedding ceremony?”
Exactly so. What Ji-ryeon meant was not renouncing the world for the Buddhist path, but the leaving of home that meant marriage.
She had her reasons for considering a wedding.
Master’s Putuo Temple stood on Mount Putuo of the Zhoushan Archipelago in Zhejiang Province.
To reach it one had to take a boat from Hangzhou. Her plan was to seat a husband in the provincial capital of Zhejiang, slip back and forth to Mount Putuo, and once the man died, use the excuse of mourning to enter the Buddhist path and flow into Putuo Temple.
History held quite a few cases of princesses who, grieving the loss of a husband, devoted themselves to Buddhism.
“It would be a wedding, yes, but a fake wedding, if you like. So what I ask is—could you find me a man who will die young? Someone with an incurable disease, perhaps?”
At Ji-ryeon’s words the white of the Imperial Guard commander’s hair seemed to turn even whiter.
“So the Imperial Guard commander managed, by some miracle, to dig up a man who not only suffered an incurable disease but also possessed the talent of a eunuch—is that it?”
“Th-the second condition was not something I wanted. The general insisted that even if things went wrong my chastity must remain beyond suspicion, so he deliberately brought such a man…”
“In any case, why are you here instead of Hangzhou? You said you wanted to go to Hangzhou.”
“Ah! From here on is the most important part!”
Hearing the tale, I realized the Princess was a woman thoroughly, hopelessly mad for the sword.
She had even gone so far as a fake marriage just to learn sword arts.
No wonder the governor earlier had not dared utter the single word “Love Bug” in front of his wife.
While I shook my head inwardly, the Princess’s explanation continued.
“As my husband, I asked the Emperor for the post of Zhejiang Provincial Governor. For the first time His Majesty refused my request. Hangzhou in Zhejiang is a trading port where a great deal of money changes hands; the ministers covet it as well, so they opposed entrusting the post to Bin-ak, who has no experience.
Still, His Majesty could not simply reject my plea, so he said that if we first build merit in Akyang he would grant it even over the ministers’ objections.
He told us to accumulate merit here for two or three years. But that would mean I cannot see Master all that time, wouldn’t it?
So the reason I insist something must be done is to resolve the swarm of bl—er, black insects, and with that achievement to petition the Emperor once more to appoint us to Zhejiang.”
“Ah. Now I more or less understand.”
The story had been long, yet I finally had the gist.
In short, the Princess was in a fake marriage, and the groom was a man with an incurable disease who would not live long.
Desperate for Master’s teachings, she needed some way to reach Hangzhou as soon as possible; that required a great achievement, and the Love Bugs that had swarmed in at just the right moment were the perfect opportunity—solve them, then request of the Emperor that the reward be a transfer to Zhejiang.
“You’ll help, won’t you? Our targets differ, but I am mad for the sword and you for venomous creatures, so we can understand each other, can’t we?”
So that was what she had meant when she said we would understand each other.
No, I don’t understand at all…
While I wore a thoroughly dumbfounded expression at the whole affair, the Princess, watching my face, clapped her hands.
“Ah! That’s it! Young hero, do you like only venomous creatures? What about spirit beasts?”
“Spirit beasts?”
“Yes. If you help me with this matter, I might be able to give you one.”
“What kind of spirit beast?”
My ears pricked at the words.
The Princess smiled.
“Something like a fire carp, I think… I haven’t seen it myself, so I cannot say for certain. Master only wrote of it in a letter.”
“A fire carp?”
Shaaaa!?
A fire carp is a carp.
At the word, Yeondu shot out of my robes.
She stared at me with round eyes.
And no wonder—once we looked into it, this little one turned out not to be eating fire carps merely because she was hungry, but out of some kind of habit.
The elders of the family and I had already guessed that, like Cho, she had become the Flying Divine Snake by consuming fire-carp inner cores and was continuing to eat them for that reason. Which meant this could be the chance for Yeondu to return to her magnificent form.
I answered with a smile.
“Your words that the princess and I would understand each other like old friends seem truly apt. I understand completely. How is it that we are so alike? Are we twins, perhaps?”
“R-right!? I knew it! Then what should we do?”
“Let’s feed them to the governor!”
“Feed them?”
“In a book I once read, when locusts swarmed, the king of a certain country swallowed a locust and told them not to torment his people but to devour his own entrails instead. Let’s do that!”
Which king was that again? Solomon?
My general knowledge was a bit weak.