Bankruptcy -1
The education that the imperial princesses receive and how they grow.
From childhood, they learn calligraphy, poetry, and painting to build their culture, and they train their bodies with the imperial secret exercises from a young age.
They grow hearing only good things, eating only good things, and learning only good things.
“The kind of person who meets an imperial princess must be a fortunate one, and they must surely know what it means to stand in a position of glory.”
“Indeed.”
He nodded as if he understood, but the middle-aged palace maid had a face that seemed to have many things to say but wouldn’t say them. At that moment, the surroundings suddenly became noisy. Not in the middle of the night, but the palace maids who usually walked quietly and orderly came bustling in.
“What’s the commotion!”
“Palace supervisor! Hurry!”
The middle-aged palace maid had an unpleasant expression, asked for a moment’s understanding, and disappeared. What had happened? Seeing the middle-aged palace maid with a pale face, I instinctively knew it was no ordinary matter.
What kind of event had occurred that the palace maids who boasted of their strictness like the high elf who had possessed them were unable to hide their confusion?
It felt like receiving a notification from the Chief of Staff.
“Um...!”
“Oh, you’re here...! Your... No... um...”
Someone entered the room, and the palace maids all bowed their heads in greeting, and the palace supervisor also stammered.
Two people entered the room.
Were they eunuchs? One was standing behind with a deathly pale face, and the palace maids were bowing to the person standing in front. I didn’t know who it was, but seeing the palace maids of the palace hall bowing so low, it seemed like someone quite high in the imperial palace.
For now, I lightly bowed.
Despite the greeting, the man stared at me fixedly. His expression showed he was very irritated right now, and he was shouting that I was very displeasing.
Um... Is this person related to the royal family? His face was strangely similar to Hyeok Gi-rin, and the palace maids of the palace hall were flustered too, so he was definitely an extraordinary person.
“Welcome!”
“...Ah, yes, welcome. My name is Ho Cheon-an, a wandering warrior from Sichuan.”
“Um! Yes, this one is a eunuch... a eunuch... named Dujak!”
It felt like he was naming himself just now. As someone with experience in creating various aliases, I smelled the rookie scent but pretended not to know. If someone can boldly give an alias in a place where palace maids are watching inside the palace, there must be a reason.
This wasn’t a sudden situation prepared by the palace maids either, but because the palace maids had been doing weird things for the past two days, I was calm enough not to be disturbed by ordinary matters.
It was like being in a state of detachment.
I just decided to appropriately respond to whatever happened in this imperial palace.
“Hah. It seems I unintentionally disturbed the palace hall maids. Originally, it wasn’t my place to come down to the palace hall, but there was an opinion that it would be better for the emperor’s guest to be attended by male eunuchs, so I joined the event of the palace hall as a demonstration.”
“Receiving such care from the eunuch department is truly an honor. Eunuch Dujak...”
“Hahaha, what honor is there. I just wonder if I might have disturbed you.”
“No. I had just finished the education.”
“Oh, that’s good. Would it be possible to have a cup of tea and talk?”
“Of course.”
The palace maids brought tea and withdrew. The person named Dujak sat with me at the table, and the other eunuch stood behind. There was probably a rank among the eunuchs, but the one on the superior side looked at least ten years younger.
“Hmm. So, is the life in the palace hall worthwhile?”
“Yes. As a wandering warrior, how could I receive such treatment? It’s nothing but extremely respectful treatment, and I’m grateful to the palace maids. They are kind, and the food is delicious.”
“Indeed.”
Dujak fell into thought. I looked at such Dujak and the eunuch standing behind. His face looked familiar from somewhere... Sigh. It seems similar to someone, but I can’t remember clearly.
“By any chance, do you have some business with this lord?”
The eunuch who made eye contact spoke to me, and I awkwardly waved my hand.
“Haha, no. It’s just... because his impression was familiar, I looked at him for a moment. Somehow, it seemed like I knew someone.”
“Oh? Is that so? My name is Huigyeong.”
“...Um.”
No name came to mind. While exchanging awkward glances with Huigyeong, Dujak woke from his reverie and said.
“Still, if you’re a martial artist, it wouldn’t be a very frustrating environment, would it?”
“I can’t deny it. I can lightly loosen my body, but since I can’t swing a sword, my hands are itching.”
“Indeed... your hands are itching.”
Dujak gave me a strangely meaningful look. Was this a trap question, and I had stepped on it?
“Haha, even if it’s only at the first-rate level, that’s why daily training is precious. Fortunately, with just qi circulation and diet, I can achieve sufficient success.”
“Huh. Indeed. Your hands itching is only natural. I didn’t mean to blame you.”
“Hahaha, thank you for understanding.”
“Hahaha! Yes, your hands should itch, hahaha!”
Dujak kept repeating that my hands were itching and laughing for some reason. Somehow, a fierce aura like killing intent was felt... Is he going to keep coming?
If he comes, it will be tiring.
While intuiting that the imperial palace life would become more grueling, I sighed inwardly.
“Welcome. Oppa.”
“Sigh. Yes.”
Yu Gyeong looked at Hyeok Gi-rin with pitying eyes. Thinking about Hyeok Gi-rin, who had given her heart to Ho Cheon-an by making excuses about martial arts, but her hands were already itching from the gambling chain, he felt even more sorrowful.
“Why such a worried gaze.”
“No... no.”
“Huh, Oppa. Pour out your heart to this younger sister. Aren’t I your only younger sister.”
“Yu Ya....”
Yu Gyeong’s heart fluttered at the words Hyeok Gi-rin said. Such a child who thinks of others and is kind. But he couldn’t give such a child to a gambler like Ho Cheon-an.
Yu Gyeong hardened his resolve.
“Marriage, good. If it’s connected to the person she likes? Good. No, it’s not all good, but I can acknowledge it. But if it’s with that kind of person...! It’s not! This is abandoning Yu Ya’s misfortune!”
Yu Gyeong recalled Ho Cheon-an for a moment.
He cheats at gambling and later deliberately loses some.
Is this... a job?
He gambles away all the hard-earned money in the gambling hall.
Is this... a hobby?
Just thinking made his head spin! No matter how I thought, I couldn’t imagine Hyeok Gi-rin, who was connected to Ho Cheon-an, achieving a happy future. No matter how I turned the happiness circuit, what I had was just smoke and dust!
After organizing his thoughts, Yu Gyeong opened his mouth.
“Recently, it seems that young ladies of the Cheongga family have fallen into gambling. In addition, the problem of young people falling into gambling recently is serious.”
“Ah, is that so. That’s definitely a big problem.”
“Yes. Gambling is a hundred evils and no benefits! Even if you win money, you’ll be addicted to non-labor income and lose your integrity, and if you lose money, you’ll lose the property accumulated over three generations in just a month. I have a mind to prohibit it by national law.”
“Well... still, prohibiting it by national law is impossible.”
Hyeok Gi-rin smiled bitterly and shook her head, and Yu Gyeong’s eyes flashed. It was a regrettable thing for a pure younger sister giving advice, but now was the opportunity.
“Hah! Advocating for gambling! Sounds like something to punish! I haven’t heard rumors of someone raising an army with gambling, but I’ve heard the story of bankruptcy due to gambling countless times!”
“Um....”
Hyeok Gi-rin mumbled. In fact, the only person Hyeok Gi-rin knew who gambled was Ho Cheon-an, and that Ho Cheon-an earned over a hundred gold coins a day.
I hadn’t heard rumors of people raising an army with gambling, but I had seen it directly. Thinking so, Hyeok Gi-rin smiled bitterly.
“I heard that the person who came with me is a wandering warrior. He said he enjoys gambling quite a bit? Could it be that you also touched gambling?”
“Haha, I learned a few tricks.”
“...What?!”
Yu Gyeong’s voice trembled. That bastard... He sat my innocent younger sister on the gambling table? Sparks flew from Yu Gyeong’s eyes, but Hyeok Gi-rin, unaware of Yu Gyeong’s feelings, reached for the sweets.
The round shape was similar to coins.
“Look!”
Hyeok Gi-rin crossed her hands, and the sweets disappeared cleanly. Yu Gyeong saw this and his eyes widened. Hyeok Gi-rin showed nothing in her hands, then flipped her palms, and the sweets appeared on them.
Although not as passionate as the monks, Hyeok Gi-rin had learned some simple hand skills for the children. Among them, the one she showed to Yu Gyeong was simple coin hiding.
“This is a hand skill I learned from the wandering warrior. If you show it to the children, they’ll be amazed.”
“...Heh.”
“Although it’s a hand skill used in gambling, it’s a matter of how you use it. When Ho Cheon-an gave sweets to the children of the Jeomchang Sect...”
Hyeok Gi-rin told about Ho Cheon-an’s magic performance, and Yu Gyeong clenched his fists and barely managed to control his expression while listening.
However, only one thought was swirling in Yu Gyeong’s mind.
“This guy... He dares to teach my younger sister the cheating skills of the gambling table...!”
He should have noticed from the fact that he taught gambling techniques to the monks in Jeomchang Sect, but he never thought that he would reach out to Hyeok Gi-rin too.
This gambling crazy!
“Yu Ya!”
Yu Gyeong couldn’t hold back and raised his voice. Hyeok Gi-rin, who was explaining how the children were guided by Ho Cheon-an’s sweets disappearing, was startled and closed her mouth.
“How can you advocate for gambling techniques! Have you forgotten the saying ‘proximity to the black makes one black’? If you get close to the black thing, you get stained black, so if you get close to the wicked techniques of deceiving others on the gambling table, what will you do!”
“...Oppa. So, I was just explaining the correct use just now.”
“Even if that’s not the case, does the black thing become white! Cultivating such a skill itself is approaching gambling, so one day you will be severely punished!”
The eyes of Hyeok Gi-rin and Yu Gyeong met. The previously cheerful atmosphere had completely disappeared, and only a heavy gaze remained as they looked at each other.
“Be careful of that wandering warrior named Ho! Since he’s deeply immersed in gambling, one day he’ll go bankrupt on the gambling table and be severely punished!”
“Sigh.”
Hyeok Gi-rin laughed in disbelief. That Ho Cheon-an... going bankrupt on the gambling table?
“There will be no danger for Ho Cheon-an on the gambling table. He’s a person who can restrain himself well. I trust Ho Cheon-an enough.”
Hyeok Gi-rin couldn’t even imagine Ho Cheon-an losing on the gambling table. He’s a person who earns a hundred gold coins a day, and he has a technique that even a peak expert at the profound realm can’t see through.
The part that needs to be restrained is outside of gambling. If he’s worried about getting into trouble with the opponent who gets angry if he takes too much, then it’s a worry.
“Hahaha...!”
Yu Gyeong, who read Hyeok Gi-rin’s absolute trust in Ho Cheon-an, grabbed the back of his neck.
Since he had rolled on the gambling table for a long time, it was only natural that he was skilled in gambling to some extent. Rather, seeing him pull out gambling in various situations, he acknowledged that his gambling skills were excellent.
However, Ho Cheon-an’s problem was not his gambling skills. The fact that he gambled until he went bankrupt every day for five years was the problem. Habits are hard to change. Looking at his recent actions, he seemed to be practicing martial arts diligently, but if an opportunity opens to practice in Jeomchang Sect, everyone would practice martial arts diligently!
Seeing Ho Cheon-an, who had said his hands were itching because he wanted to gamble, but then changed the subject to martial arts practice, Yu Gyeong felt like his stomach was bursting.
“That guy named Ho Cheon-an is a guy who will ruin his life with gambling one day!”
Yu Gyeong, whose thoughts went that far, was startled.
If Ho Cheon-an commits a major accident with gambling, and if Hyeok Gi-rin learns about such behavior of Ho Cheon-an?
Would her affection drop completely? At least, she wouldn’t send absolute trust like now.
“Sigh... Yes. Sorry for raising my voice so casually.”
“...No. Oppa. I was rude too.”
“No. The wandering warrior from Sichuan named Ho Cheon-an is also your acquaintance, and I didn’t consider your position. That person must have shown you enough trust.”
“I’m glad you understand.”
In the awkward atmosphere, the siblings drank tea as if they had made a promise. They praised the tea’s aroma and the taste of the sweets.
However, in Yu Gyeong’s mind, a plan was gradually being established on how to deal with Ho Cheon-an.
“Huh, today the moon is really beautiful.”
“Indeed. Watching the moon while sharing tea and sweets on a night like this is a different kind of luck. I should thank Yu Ya.”
While praising the moon, Yu Gyeong’s thoughts deepened.
“Hah, today the moon is really beautiful.”
“Indeed. Watching the moon while sharing tea and sweets on a night like this is a different kind of luck. I should thank Yu Ya.”
While praising the moon, Yu Gyeong’s thoughts deepened.