A Prestigious Family's Young Lady Hides Her Clan - 1
"Uh, well..."
｢What's with that reaction?｣
"You actually had a home?"
Asking point-blank, Weren't you an orphan? felt far too blunt, so I tried my best to beat around the bush. I truly, honestly hadn't meant it as an insult. The family section of her student registry had been completely blank, and since she had that rough, street-brawler edge to her, I simply assumed she had grown up on her own.
Despite my somewhat disrespectful question, Jeonghye replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
｢Of course I have a family home.｣
"Family, too?"
｢Isn't that a given?｣
Her nonchalant answer made a wave of guilt wash over me. Had I succumbed to confirmation bias? Just as the remorse began to sting, Jeonghye added another thought.
｢Well... no clue what they think over there, though.｣
"Huh?"
I leaned in at her cryptic tone, but she shut it down immediately.
｢Just go there and you'll see.｣
Jeonghye clearly had no desire to prolong this topic. She made it painfully obvious that going back was the last thing she wanted, yet she was doing it entirely for my sake. I had no right to interrogate her, so I let the matter drop.
At dawn the day after beating Henry senseless, I found myself muttering under my breath.
"At this rate, my absent days are going to overtake my attendance."
｢Probably.｣
Once again, we were standing right in front of the crawlspace hole in the outer fence.
To be fair, sneaking out of an academy setting was practically an everyday occurrence in this genre. In almost every academy web novel I used to read, the protagonists were constantly slipping outside to scavenge artifacts or gather resources. Back then, whenever I read those chapters, I used to leave comments like this:
Now that I had actually possessed someone inside an academy fantasy, I was naturally walking the exact same path. I'm sorry, protagonists of the novels I read. You guys had your own circumstances all along.
After our initial exchange, we had talked a bit more about her family home. Based on my personal conjecture, Jeonghye seemed desperate to avoid getting involved with them again. Even so, it made me wonder: was that really enough reason to leave the family section entirely blank on her official records? Still, that was her personal business, and I didn't want to pry. Jeonghye had already turned a blind eye to plenty of my suspicious antics, after all. Besides, I would have to come clean about a great deal more as time went on, so I wanted to keep our relationship on amicable terms.
As we crawled out through the gap in the fence and headed down toward the bustling downtown area, Jeonghye spoke up.
｢Getting to the estate is actually pretty simple.｣
That came as a surprise. I had braced myself for a long journey. The Academy was situated right in the heart of the Imperial capital—the fantasy equivalent of prime real estate in Seoul. Attending the Academy didn't necessarily mean you lived close to the capital, since plenty of students came all the way from the outer provinces. Yet a small handful of elite students actually had their ancestral homes near the Academy grounds.
Is Jeonghye actually from a wealthy background and dealing with some family drama?
At the time, I assumed it was nothing deeper than that.
｢Carriage coming down the road. Catch that one.｣
"Uh, hey, taxi...! I mean, carriage!"
It was my first time hailing a horse-drawn carriage in my life; usually, it had only ever been cabs. As soon as I climbed aboard, the coachman wearing a brown hat glanced back at me.
"Where can I take you, miss?"
Where to? I asked inward.
｢Tell him to go to the Changgeom Gate.｣
I relayed her words directly to the driver.
"To the Changgeom Gate, please."
"Understood, miss!"
Hearing the destination, the coachman gave an enthusiastic shout and whipped the reins. The horses set into a steady trot.
Still, the Changgeom Gate? Why were we going there? Was one of her family members affiliated with them? There's no way the Changgeom Gate itself is her family home, right...? Lost in those swirling doubts, I closed my eyes.
"I'll tell you after the spar."
That was what Jeonghye had promised right before our match with Henry—that she would explain the reason she had planned to drop out of the Academy. While the coachman drove the carriage along the cobbled avenues, I sank into our shared consciousness and entered the Simsang World. True to her word, Jeonghye had agreed to explain her decision during our ride over.
"If you really don't want to tell me, you don't have to," I offered.
｢Whatever. It's nothing special anyway. Doesn't bother me.｣
Brushing it off as if it were of no consequence, Jeonghye closed her eyes and reached a hand toward the luminous screen in our mental expanse. The moment her fingers touched the surface, her past memories began to ripple outward.
The scenery within Jeonghye's memory materialized into an indoor dueling arena. In the center of the ring, Jeonghye was locked in combat against a girl with vibrant blue hair.
"That girl is..."
｢Marinel. Her mana core is absurdly massive.｣
She was someone I recognized. As one of the girls entangled with Leon's harem in the original novel, she was prominent enough to have had her own character illustration. And right now, Jeonghye was dueling her.
The flow of the match wasn't all that different from the spars I had watched Jeonghye fight before. She swiftly analyzed her opponent's trajectory, circulated the exact proportion of inner qi required to withstand the blows, and systematically countered. It was her signature blueprint for victory, unfolding beat by beat.
As if flaunting her immense magical reserves, Marinel unleashed an unrelenting barrage of high-tier spells. Jeonghye weaved through the torrent, parrying and deflecting the arcane bombardment with measured steps, steadily absorbing the onslaught. Even an ocean of mana had its limits; Marinel eventually began to pant for breath, forced onto her back foot.
Sensing the tide turning in her favor, Jeonghye surged forward like a loose arrow, driving her fist straight toward Marinel's chest.
Yet—
Clang!
Her fist slammed to a dead halt against Marinel's translucent barrier.
Jeonghye had once mentioned that the durability of an energy barrier was dictated by the volume of one's dantian or the size of their mana core. The Jeonghye of back then, who had yet to absorb the celestial dragon pearl, simply could not breach that shield. No, she had likely known better than anyone that her strike could never shatter it.
Even so, she didn't stop.
Boom! Crash! Bam! THUD!
The violent recoil of the barrier tore into her knuckles, shattering her skin until blood splattered the air, but Jeonghye threw punch after punch without pause. The feral, possessed fury carved into her expression laid bare everything she was feeling. It was only when Instructor Zaphia stepped in to physically restrain her that the spar ended, the official result recorded as Marinel's victory.
｢So yeah. That's the story. Pretty boring, huh?｣
"..."
As I struggled to find the right words, Jeonghye continued in a detached, matter-of-fact tone.
｢Staying at the Academy wasn't going to magically make my dantian grow larger. No matter what I did, my ceiling was already set in stone from birth. That's why I was going to quit.｣
I had no idea how to comfort her. I couldn't pretend to fathom the depth of that despair. Sensing my gloomy hesitation, Jeonghye gave a dry chuckle.
｢Don't look at me like a soaked dog. Besides, thanks to you, none of that matters anymore, right?｣
Even though I had practically hijacked her physical vessel, she was the one offering me reassurance.
"...Yeah. Things are completely different now."
I chose to accept her quiet grace. Just as our conversation wound down—
"We've arrived, miss!"
The coachman's call pulled my awareness back from the Simsang World. I paid the fare and stepped down from the carriage, feeling a sharp pang in my chest. That had eaten up almost the last of my pocket money.
"Aren't we broke now?"
｢We'll figure out a way back. It won't be an issue.｣
Jeonghye and I stood together before the grand gates of the Changgeom Gate. Looming ahead was an awe-inspiring estate, designed in an imposing Eastern fortress style. Guarding the main threshold were sentries clad in full armor, heavy swords resting at their hips.
"So, what are we supposed to do now?"
｢Just walk straight up to the gate.｣
Right up to the gate? That felt a bit intimidating. Still, she obviously knew this place better than I did. Swallowing my nerves, I headed toward the entrance.
As the distance closed, the guard on duty narrowed his eyes, his gaze locking firmly onto me. He was giving off pure, unadulterated hostility. My stomach began to tie itself in knots.
"Shouldn't we stop here?"
｢Keep marching forward.｣
Jeonghye brushed my worries aside without a second thought. Fine, orders are orders. I kept walking toward the threshold until—
"Halt."
The guard thrust out an armored gauntlet, speaking in a firm, unyielding voice.
"This is the sovereign domain of the Changgeom Gate. Outsiders without prior clearance may neither enter nor linger near the grounds—"
Though cloaked in formal protocol, his message was simple: Get lost.
"Hey, what now?" I whispered.
｢...Well, this is a bust.｣
Even Jeonghye seemed caught off guard. Wait, had she genuinely not planned how we were supposed to get inside? While the guard continued his rehearsed lecture, another voice interrupted.
"Alright, time for the shift change."
An elderly man emerged from the guardhouse behind him. The sentry, who had been speaking so passionately moments ago, snapped to attention and gestured toward us.
"Yes, understood, Elder. However, regarding the trespasser before us, what should we do with—"
The old man cut him off mid-sentence. His eyes went wide as he turned toward me, his voice brimming with sudden warmth.
"Wait... is that not Young Lady Jeonghye?!"
"...?"
｢Hah, the old man's still kicking.｣
My brain failed to process the scene unfolding before me. Young Lady? An elder who was clearly high-ranking within the sect was addressing Jeonghye like an honored mistress?
"Do you have any idea how deeply we've worried for you?! This old man couldn't even swallow his meals in peace, wondering—"
Oblivious to my utterly bewildered expression, the elder poured out his grievances in an emotional tirade. Then, catching himself, he shook his head vigorously.
"Ah, what am I doing rambling on out here! Come, come, you must step inside at once..."
Just like that, I was ushered straight past the main gates of the Changgeom Gate without meeting a single shred of resistance.
"Hey."
｢What?｣
"Just who in the world are you really?"
I interrogated her in our mindscape, but Jeonghye clamped her mouth shut, looking entirely disinclined to answer. Completely unaware of the internal drama, the elder led the way, his voice tinged with excitement.
"The Family Head has undoubtedly been waiting for your return as well, Young Lady."
｢Like hell they have,｣ Jeonghye spat bitterly.
Knowing nothing about her past, I had no room to speak, so I quietly kept pace behind the old man. But as we crossed the inner courtyard—
"Well, well. What do we have here?"
A crisp, high-pitched voice echoed across the stone corridor.
"You stormed out of this house like you'd never set foot here again, and yet here you are crawling back?"
I turned around to find a young woman with jet-black hair and striking blue eyes. I didn't know who she was, but she clearly bore no fondness for Jeonghye, her tone drenched in dripping sarcasm. Yet the very first thought that struck me when I laid eyes on her was—
Hey, why does she look so much like you?
Her facial features were a near mirror image of Jeonghye's own.
Hey! Say something. Who is she?
Under my relentless badgering, Jeonghye finally let out a resigned sigh.
｢...Her name is Jung Ah-yeon. The official successor of the Changgeom Gate. And—｣
"Have you finally realized your proper place, Sister?"
｢—she's my younger sister.｣