Hebei Peng Family (2)
With a soft flutter of wings, the owl that had flown to the Blood Sect branch swept in through the window the moment the sun set.
Tied to the owl’s leg was a scrap of paper from the Blood Sect. On it was written a single line.
We failed. Be careful not to let your identity be exposed.
Hyeolmae, the Blood Sect assassin, stuffed the confirmed scrap into her mouth and swallowed it with a grimace, erasing the evidence. She ran back through her mind, checking whether she had left any suspicious trace.
The woman whose identity she had stolen for her disguise had been dissolved with Bone-Melting Powder. Even the woman’s parents had been placed under Seoponsul so they truly believed Hyeolmae was their own child. There was nothing left to doubt her. The information she had luckily overheard was already known to many inside the Murim Alliance, so she had no real worry.
Thinking it was time to sleep, she began to undo the knots of her outer robe—
Tinkle.
The little bell connected to the Alliance Leader’s quarters began to ring. The old man never troubled his subordinates without reason. Wondering what it could be, Hyeolmae retied the knots she had just loosened and hurried to his room.
“Alliance Leader, what is the matter?”
She called from outside. The old man’s voice answered from within.
“Could you prepare a cup of West Mountain White Dew for me?”
“Understood, Alliance Leader.”
At the request for tea in the middle of the night, a smile rose on Hyeolmae’s face.
The reason she had infiltrated the Murim Alliance was simple: to turn the Alliance Leader into a puppet.
After the Blood Sect’s great chaos, the Sect had fled to the Great Yue Kingdom, pursued by every martial artist of the Central Plains. There they had gnawed at the kingdom, growing their strength by draining pure blood from the small border villages they sacrificed. Thirty years had passed. Inside the Sect the dominant voice now cried that it was time to return to the Central Plains. To do so, they needed to blind the eyes of the Murim Alliance that stood at the peak of the Central Plains martial world—the very people who hated them as sworn enemies.
Thus her mission had been to become the Alliance Leader’s personal maid and place him under Seoponsul. To control, from behind, Ju Joong-hak—the man who would charge at any Blood Sect member with bloodshot eyes.
Of course, casting Seoponsul on a master of his level was never easy. So she had used Face-Changing Art to recreate, as closely as possible, the face of the old man’s wife from thirty years ago, drawn from an elder’s memories. And she had been mixing Dream-Soul Drug—a poison that slowly eroded a person’s reason without their noticing—into the West Mountain White Dew she served him. All of it was to lower his guard until she could slip the soul art into the cracks.
Because the old man rarely asked her alone for tea, the dosing had been slow. Yet tonight he had called for it by himself in the dark. The smile on her lips only grew. She would be able to feed him as much of the drug-laced tea as he wanted.
Hyeolmae hurried to the small room beside the Alliance Leader’s hall, lit the brazier, and heated the water. She steeped a full measure of the drug-dried West Mountain White Dew and carried the cup inside.
Clink.
“I have brought the West Mountain White Dew, Alliance Leader.”
Warm steam curled from the cup she set before him. As she began to withdraw, his voice stopped her.
“You look like her…”
“Pardon?”
“Come closer.”
At the summons she felt a surge of triumph, though she wore a carefully bashful expression.
“H-how could I…”
“Stay still.”
She stepped near, still playing the shy maid. The Alliance Leader rose, took her wrist with one hand, and brought the other to the back of her head. Slowly he drew his face toward hers.
“Ugh…”
Hyeolmae squeezed her eyes shut as if embarrassed, rejoicing inwardly that even an old man was still a man. She thought she might complete her mission far sooner than expected. After all, Seoponsul depended on how far the target’s reason had crumbled and how open his heart was to the caster.
Yet something was wrong. She waited with closed eyes long past the moment their lips should have met. When she carefully cracked her lids open, a cold whisper brushed her ear.
“I can smell the filthy blood of the Blood Sect on you.”
“!”
Hyeolmae’s eyes flew wide in shock. But a scorching torrent of energy poured from the hand at the back of her skull. Her eyes rolled white. An instant later Murim Alliance warriors burst into the room.
“The Strategist said he would bring something interesting. Gag her so she cannot take her own life, and throw her in the dungeon.”
“Yes, Alliance Leader!”
The warriors seized the unconscious Hyeolmae by the hair and dragged her away toward the Murim Alliance dungeon.
“Dang Hwa-eun of the Sichuan Tang Family greets the Lord of the Hebei Peng Family.”
“I greet the Lord of the Hebei Peng Family.”
The people from the so-called Hebei Peng Family stood in front of Gujin Gate looking for all the world like thugs come to collect daily protection money. At our greetings, the one who most resembled a bandit chief stepped forward with a booming laugh.
“Kahahaha! Well if it isn’t Young Lady Hwa-eun!”
“It has been a long time.”
“Indeed it has. Last I saw you, you were this high. And who’s the lad beside you?”
Curious about the person standing next to Noona, he looked me over. I quickly clasped my fists again and answered.
“Yes, already five years. Beside me is—”
“A pleasure to meet you, Lord of the Hebei Peng Family. I am Wi So-ryong, Young Lady Hwa-eun’s betrothed.”
“Oh! Betrothed!?”
At the word “betrothed” the Peng Family lord strode right up and began inspecting me from every angle. Then he gave a light flick of his knuckles right against my most important place, nodded, and spoke.
“Guhk!”
“I was wondering because you still look so young, but down below you’re man enough. In a few more years you’ll be something to look forward to. Kahaha.”
So this was what Noona had meant when she said not to expect formality or etiquette. The lord of the Peng Family was apparently this kind of character—blunt, informal, and just a little rude. I was still a bit flustered, but the “something to look forward to” part was a compliment from one man to another, so I offered my thanks. A man’s shoulders can’t help but broaden at praise like that.
Heh. Only a man knows another man, after all.
“Thank you for the compliment, Lord of the Peng Family.”
When I smiled and thanked him, his eyes went round. Then he laughed even louder and clapped me on the shoulder as though I had thoroughly pleased him.
“Hm? Kahaha! You’re different from those precious young masters of other families. You even know how to accept thanks properly. Good. I’m Paeng Mu-hwan, lord of the Peng Family.”
Watching us, Noona’s face flushed red as she turned to him.
“Th-then, did you come all the way from distant Hebei to help with the matter that befell our family? How did you arrive so quickly?”
Hebei sat at the opposite diagonal corner of the Central Plains map. Even as I thought how fast they must have traveled, Paeng Mu-hwan tilted his head as though the whole subject were news to him.
“Hm? Something that befell your family? What happened to the Tang Family?”
He asked with a face that knew nothing of the events in Sichuan. Noona tilted her head right back and asked the obvious question—then why had he come to the Tang Family at all?
“Did you not hear that a Blood Sect elder attacked our family? Then what brings you to the Tang Family?”
“What!? The Blood Sect!?”
Again he reacted as if hearing it for the first time. The instant the words “Blood Sect” left her mouth, he rolled up both sleeves and roared at the warriors lined up behind him like a bandit king—without ever answering Noona’s question about why they had come.
“Where the hell are those Blood Sect bastards!? It’s been ages since those blood-sucking dogs showed their faces—this Paeng Mu-hwan can’t just sit still! Boys, time to limber up after a long while! Uwahahaha!”
“Understood, Family Lord!”
“Lead the way!”
They had clearly come for some other purpose, yet the moment they heard “Blood Sect” every Peng Family man spat on his palms and looked ready for a fight. Noona answered in flustered haste.
“Th-the Blood Sect elder has already been executed, Lord Paeng.”
The fire drained from Paeng Mu-hwan’s face. He smacked his lips in disappointment.
“Eh… Aigoo, looks like we arrived too late. Should’ve come a little earlier. Tch. Missed all the fun. Whose fault was it we were delayed?”
“You yourself said we should take our time, Family Lord…”
“Ah, did I?”
“Then… if not for the Blood Sect, what brings you to our Tang Family…?”
Only when Noona pressed him did Paeng Mu-hwan realize he had never stated his actual business. He slapped his own forehead with his palm.
“Aigoo. I never said, did I? Truth is, I came hoping to ask the Tang Family for a bit of help.”
“Help, you say?”
Just then the elders who had heard that the Peng Family lord stood at Gujin Gate came rushing out.
“Well now, what brings the lord of the Peng Family?”
“Lord Paeng, don’t tell me you heard about the Blood Sect and raced all the way here?”
My father-in-law and Strategist Jegal Hu both wore expressions of surprise. Paeng Mu-hwan clasped his fists in greeting.
“Paeng Mu-hwan greets the lord of the Tang Family. Hm? The Strategist is here as well? It’s been a while.”
“Yes, it has—but how did you come so far from Hebei so quickly?”
“Even with a message from Hebei, that distance shouldn’t be covered this fast. How?”
At their questions Paeng Mu-hwan glanced over his shoulder and ordered the warriors he had brought.
“Bring her. She needs to greet the elders properly.”
One warrior stepped forward, walked up beside the family lord, and squatted while speaking toward his own back.
“Young Miss, time to come down. The Family Lord says we’ve arrived and you should get off.”
“Young Miss?”
“Young Miss?”
At the word, Noona, I, Father-in-law, and even the Strategist all blinked. A soft patting sound came from the warrior’s back, followed by a high, sharp little voice.
“My legs hurt…”
Two little dumpling buns of hair peeked over the warrior’s shoulder. Then a girl of about six or seven, hair tied in twin dumpling knots and a piece of candy clutched in her hand, climbed down and walked forward. Jet-black hair, round eyes, a face so cute I wanted to pinch her cheeks—she licked the candy once, noticed every adult staring at her, hastily hid the sweet up her sleeve, and bowed with tiny clasped fists.
“Hello. I’m Paeng Yeong-yeong of the Peng Family. Pweased to meet you.”
Then came the words from Paeng Mu-hwan that left every one of us wearing an expression of pure disbelief.
“She’s my daughter.”
“What!?”
“His daughter, you say!?”
The bandit-looking man and the fairy-like child did not match in the slightest. In my previous life I would have been tempted to demand a paternity test. It was like an orc in a fantasy novel showing up with an elf and calling her his daughter. Everyone stared at him in open doubt.
Paeng Mu-hwan scratched his head.
“We look a lot alike, so people always give us that exact look. Kahaha.”
I had thought he was merely lacking in manners. Turns out he also lacked a conscience. Noona shot me a look that said this was simply impossible—a look begging for agreement.
I completely agree, Noona.
If only I could send a voice transmission, I would have. The next moment he lifted his daughter onto his shoulder and made his request of Father-in-law.
“My girl’s a bit unwell. I brought her hoping you might take a look at her.”
“Your daughter is unwell?”
The child looked perfectly healthy, so everyone again stared in disbelief. I, however, had a fairly good idea what was wrong. The girl had already pulled the candy back out of her sleeve and was licking it nonstop. The sight practically screamed childhood diabetes.
Isn’t that childhood diabetes?