The Poisoned Daughter
The Musin Yeongneung Festival had concluded without incident.
The first to bring strange news to Namgung Hwiyul was his eldest son, Namgung Jin.
“Father.”
“As I mentioned before, there is that person from the Mount Hua Sect whom I came to know through a certain connection.”
“Yes, I know of him. Why bring him up all of a sudden?”
The patriarch of the Namgung Family, Namgung Hwiyul, stroked the pine tree carefully tended in the flower bed.
“He has come to visit us in person.”
“Come to visit? What business does he have here?”
Namgung Jin’s expression was grave beyond measure.
“Well… it was so sudden, and so disjointed, that I hardly know how much of it to believe.”
Namgung Hwiyul’s hand, which had been caressing the pine, went still.
“Speak.”
“He says the movements of an unidentified armed group have begun to be detected with alarming speed. They are still investigating, but the activity started precisely when the Namgung Family departed for Musin Yeongneung. And now, he says, they are rapidly massing and advancing in this direction. And…”
Namgung Jin hesitated to the very end, unsure whether he should utter the next words.
Namgung Hwiyul’s brow furrowed.
“You have come this far—what are you hesitating for? Speak at once.”
“He estimates that the group is the Blood Cult.”
Namgung Hwiyul’s deep-set eyes held their silence.
After a brief pause, the patriarch of the Namgung Family opened his mouth.
“The Blood Cult would gain nothing by doing such a thing.”
“I think the same. But that man is so stubborn. I have never seen him speak with such force. He says we must prepare for the worst, and that he came to deliver the warning.”
“…Hmm.”
Stroking his white beard, the Namgung patriarch sank once more into thought.
Unlike the Nine Great Sects, power in a great family was concentrated in the patriarch. Of course, even a patriarch could not wield absolute authority; when the collective will of the family stood against him, he had no choice but to yield. Yet there was no denying that his will carried the greatest weight.
“If a man who finds everything bothersome has come in person to say this much, there must be reason to it. My throat is dry.”
At Namgung Hwiyul’s gesture, a maidservant respectfully poured a cup of tea and offered it.
Sipping the tea, Namgung Hwiyul spoke.
“I shall meet him myself. Where is he now—”
“Patriarch!”
The door nearly burst from its hinges as a servant came tumbling in as if rolling across the floor.
Under ordinary circumstances, such a thing would never have happened.
Namgung Jin stepped forward and barked,
“Do you know where you are? What is the meaning of this!”
“T-t-terrible news! You must come outside at once!”
“Terrible news?!”
The servant’s face was deathly pale as he cried out.
“T-the young lady! Young Lady Sogyo has been brought in poisoned!”
Clatter.
The cup in Namgung Hwiyul’s hand slipped and shattered against the floor.
Outside was pandemonium.
“Hah… hah… hah…!”
It was a wounded beast.
There was not a single uninjured place on its body. Even at a glance, eight broken arrow shafts were buried in its flesh. Two swords still jutted from it, dangling loosely. Its clothes were torn to rags.
Yet one thing alone remained untouched: the black bundle cradled against its chest.
It laid the swaddling cloth down before them.
Inside lay Namgung Sogyo, cold sweat beading on her skin, poisoned.
Half out of its mind, it shouted,
“A-a physician!”
“W-we have already sent for one—he will be here any moment! So please, calm yourself!”
Everyone shrank back.
Bloodshot veins stood out in my eyes.
“Bring the physician at once!”
Boom!
A tremendous roar made everyone flinch.
The Namgung warriors who had been leveling their spears in wary readiness went pale with shock.
“Bring the physician this instant! Every second counts!”
“J-just a moment!”
In the distance, a physician came running in frantic haste.
“…!”
The moment I spotted him, I kicked off the ground.
Crash!
“Uwaaah!”
In a single breath I vaulted over the heads of countless warriors. I stepped on spear tips, on heads, scattering blood as I advanced.
It was as if I were carving a path of blood through the sky and marching along it.
“W-what terrifying lightness skill!”
“There was a master of this caliber in the Namgung Family?!”
The physician, who had looked no larger than an ant in the distance, suddenly appeared right before his eyes and sat down hard in terror.
I thrust Namgung Sogyo toward him.
“Hurry—there is no time!”
“A-all right!”
Even so, the physician proved worthy of his post as exclusive physician to one of the Five Great Families. The moment a patient was before him, his expression changed.
Flutter-flutter!
In an instant he checked every pulse and vital point, then began rapid emergency treatment with the needles he had brought.
“How long since she was poisoned?”
“Less than half a shichen! No—it has to be!”
“…From there to the Namgung estate is a full three days’ walk on foot.”
Someone behind me muttered in bewilderment.
Gasping for breath, I continued,
“I still do not know what poison it is! So please!”
“If it has been less than half a shichen, she is still within the window. If you do not know the poison, do you at least know which group used it?! That could help the treatment!”
I hesitated a moment, then made up my mind.
“The Blood Cult.”
“…!”
Silence fell over the crowd as if cold water had been dumped on them.
Even the physician’s hands paused briefly as he stammered,
“What… what did you just say?”
“I do not know the full circumstances either. But as far as I know, the only group that wraps itself head to toe in clothes the color of blood and wields every manner of bizarre weapons and martial arts is the Blood Cult.”
The physician’s mouth fell open.
This was no ordinary matter.
“Y-Young Lady Sogyo…”
I looked back.
Behind me stood the patriarch of the Namgung Family, Namgung Hwiyul.
“T-this is…!”
Those deep-set eyes that had always been so composed and unfathomable were now rigid. His trembling fingertips reached toward Namgung Sogyo’s cheek.
Black needles still protruded from her skin; emergency treatment had been given, yet her cheeks remained bluish from the poison.
“Physician.”
“Yes, Patriarch.”
“I… I have a request.”
The physician had gone deathly pale.
He was alone with the master of one of the five great houses of the martial world. And from that master’s lips had come the word “request.”
“Can you save her?”
“Blood Cult poisons are not the most difficult, and if it has been less than half a shichen there is certainly a chance of success, but one can never entirely rule out the possibility of—”
Ssshhh.
From the shadow of Patriarch Namgung Hwiyul, countless white shadows burst forth.
Baekjao.
The elite shadow guards who devoted their lives to protecting only the patriarch of the Namgung Family from the darkness. They regarded their lord not merely as a charge to protect, but as something greater even than a father, and now they resonated deeply with Namgung Hwiyul’s emotions.
Click.
Swords slid a fraction from their scabbards under their thumbs. From beneath their white masks, two pairs of eyes stared blankly through the physician.
It was the aura of men who would annihilate three generations of his family if he failed to save Namgung Sogyo.
The physician hiccuped.
“N-no, of course I will save her! I will save her without fail! Th-there is no problem! The chance of survival is ten out of ten!”
“T-this is…”
The trembling fingertips stopped just short of Sogyo’s face.
“I never even managed to say I was sorry.”
In the end the hesitant hand never touched her cheek.
Namgung Hwiyul bit his lip and clenched his fist. The fist trembled violently.
“Physician, take the child and treat her at once. Give your duties your utmost.”
“Y-yes! Understood, Patriarch.”
The physician swiftly carried Namgung Sogyo away toward the medical hall.
Flutter, flutter-flutter.
The tallest among the Baekjao pointed at a subordinate and muttered briefly,
“If the young lady’s treatment fails.”
He pointed at the physician, covered his own eyes, then drew a finger across his throat.
The subordinate nodded and immediately followed after the physician.
Namgung Hwiyul spoke toward his back.
“Jin.”
“Yes, Father.”
Namgung Jin bowed respectfully.
“You said that man is still here.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Tell him I wish to see him at once. Say that I now have important matters to discuss.”
“Yes.”
Namgung Jin clasped his fists and vanished.
Thud.
The tension left me.
Whatever had been holding me up disappeared.
My body had long since been exhausted. I had long since surpassed the limits of a body tempered by training. I had been enduring on willpower alone.
On my knees, I gasped like a fish speared and flung onto the shore, on the verge of death.
The warriors surrounding me with leveled spears flinched and tightened their points.
“There are far too many suspicious points about your conduct! First we will take you into custody—!”
At that moment—
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
White shadows enveloped me on all sides like a canopy, shielding me.
The Baekjao.
“What do you think you are doing!”
It was the first time I had ever heard Namgung Hwiyul’s roar shake heaven and earth.
“H-hiiik!”
The warriors all flung down their spears and collapsed to the ground.
“You cannot even thank the benefactor of my daughter, yet you dare point spears at him!”
“P-Patriarch! F-forgive us!”
The shock was even greater for the members of the Namgung Family who had come running late upon hearing the commotion. Some even sank to the ground.
“Our mild-mannered patriarch, shouting like that!”
Several were struck speechless by the words the patriarch had just uttered.
In particular, a middle-aged woman, Namgung Yullyeong, shook her heavy flesh and shrieked,
“Patriarch! Did you just say d-daughter?! Are you in your right mind, shaming the family like this!”
“Aunt Yullyeong!”
A few people, aghast at how far she had gone, tried to stop her, but Namgung Yullyeong had already exploded.
“Patriarch! Some little brat who rolled in from who-knows-where in the marketplace! She could not even sacrifice her body for a political marriage—whether to a pig or an old man—to help the family, and instead got herself cast out for being useless, and you call that thing a daughter?! That I should have to share the family fortune with the likes of her—I will never accept—!”
“Shut that filthy mouth of yours!”
Namgung Yullyeong’s face went white as paper.
“P-Patriarch… what are you saying to me, whom you have always regarded so fondly…”
“I told you to shut that filthy mouth! Is there nothing in that dirty, vulgar head of yours but money, prestige, and face?! Is there not even a speck of humanity left in you!”
It was the first time any member of the Namgung Family had ever seen Namgung Hwiyul so enraged.
“I believed that at least your hearts for the family were genuine. That is why I tolerated everything. Even when, in my absence, you arbitrarily pushed forward a political marriage for the fourth child! Even when, after the engagement was broken, you decided to unilaterally cast her out and make her bear the blame for the family’s loss of face! Out of respect for you, I let it pass. But looking at you today, I see not a single person here—only pigs bloated with greed!”
No one dared even breathe.
Within the Namgung Family, the patriarch’s word was law. Even if he took a sword in his hand and ran someone through on the spot, there would be no one to hold him accountable.
“I will ask only once. I have a suspicion about the spark that ignited today’s events. I did not want to believe it. But now that this has happened, suspicion has become certainty. I will interrogate you here and now!”
The courtyard stirred.
“It was a family shame, so I tried not to make an issue of it, but I can no longer stand by and watch. Who was it that arbitrarily pushed forward and led the political marriage with the Hwangbo Family? No—I will let that pass. In the end I myself did not make a great issue of it. The problem is what came after.”
“…!”
The wobbling cheek-flesh of Namgung Yullyeong, still sitting on the ground, went beyond pale; cold sweat beaded on it as it turned a deathly, ashen hue.
“There is a rumor that after the engagement was broken, when her value had fallen, someone secretly tried to sell this child off as a courtesan to outside forces including the Blood Cult. Is that rumor true?”
No one could lie to a patriarch whose gaze was as sharp as frost. No retainer would dare demand evidence from a patriarch who was already interrogating with certainty.
“If it is true, who was the ringleader? Before I personally investigate, if anyone knows even a little, confess it at once.”
Even in ordinary times, Patriarch Namgung Hwiyul’s authority had been formidable. His will was the only issue; already the family was riddled with people who served as his hands, feet, and eyes. If he wished to uncover something, hiding any fact was impossible.
Everyone scrambled to confess.
They wanted to live.
Every hand pointed to a single person.
“N-no!”
At the end of those pointing fingers stood the middle-aged woman, Namgung Yullyeong.
Deathly pale, she stumbled backward, crying out,
“I am wronged! I only did it for the family! That fox of a girl!”
The deep folds of her cheeks trembled violently.
“C-children!”
With a lurch, Jao burst from her shadow. They drew their swords and formed a wall in front of her.
“Th-that… has she gone mad!”
Everyone was appalled.
Even the Jao standing before her wore expressions of infinite discomfort. Yet the shadow guards of the Namgung Family had a duty to prioritize the protection of their assigned charge above all else; they had no choice but to answer her call for protection no matter what.
“Y-you lot think you’re so clean! Just wait! Patriarch, I am wronged! I am wronged, I tell you! Stay back! Come any closer and I’ll kill you all! Children!”
Everyone recoiled in confusion, putting distance between them.
The drawn blades of the Jao trembled minutely as they were leveled threateningly toward the members of the Namgung Family. Yet the eyes of the Jao themselves looked more tormented than anyone else’s.
From behind their protection, Namgung Yullyeong soon twisted her face into a vicious expression and shouted,
“Patriarch! If you are still deceived by that fox and truly mean to cast out someone who has devoted her entire body to the family, you will regret it bitterly, so cool your head and—!”
“At once!”
That day, the members of the Namgung Family beheld for the first time their patriarch so thoroughly enraged.
“Drag that vile woman out of here! Now!”
“We receive your command.”
From every direction, white ink-like figures cascaded forth like waterfalls.
The entire force of the Namgung Baekjao began to assemble.
“Stand aside.”
Thud!
A Baekjao, empty-handed, strode up to a Jao and roughly shoved him in the chest.
The Jao staggered backward.
“C-children! What are you doing! You have to protect me!”
“G-Great Aunt… even we, against those who are our direct superiors within the same organization…”
The Jao shook his head with a look that said there was nothing he could do. Yet mixed into that gaze was a trace of relief that things had turned out this way.
“N-no! Stay away! If you come—!”
She pulled a silver dagger from her robes.
Namgung Yullyeong, driven by pure malice, screamed,
“I’ll kill myself—!”
“I forbid it.”
A Baekjao’s hand blurred.
In the blink of an eye her fingers were broken and the silver dagger was snatched away.
Namgung Yullyeong shrieked,
“Aagh, my hand…!”
Crack!
A white-gloved fist slammed squarely into her face.