A Calculated Collapse
"This is our Chunyangru special glutinous rice wine, served as a complimentary tasting exclusively for our female guests. It's on the house, so please enjoy it without any hesitation! It's quite hot, so be sure to blow on it first!"
She had wondered why they were serving wine she hadn't ordered. Looking around, she noticed that every table with female guests had a flower-shaped cup on it.
Baekri Yeongso carefully lifted the cup and took a sniff. The sweet, rich aroma was exquisite. It was so enticing that even Yeongso, who rarely drank, found her mouth watering.
After a moment's hesitation, she blew on the hot liquid to cool it down, just as the waiter had suggested, and took a sip. Though a bit too sweet, it was incredibly delicious.
Hwa Banya, catching a glimpse of his wife sipping the wine, placed a portion of food onto her plate.
"My lady, you hesitated even when we reached the front door. What was the deciding factor that made you choose to step inside Chunyangru?"
"That is..."
"It certainly wasn't because you suddenly decided to trust my word... It was because of the female guests, wasn't it? Especially that family over there."
Yeongso gave a small nod.
"You probably didn't know, but they aren't a real family. They are actors hired by Chunyangru or Jeokhwa Palace to sit there and eat, pretending to be families. The reason for this is exactly why you crossed our threshold—to put young female guests at ease."
"...You mean they hired them on purpose?"
"Indeed." Banya chewed on a bamboo shoot dish and tilted his head. "Did the head chef take the day off? The flavor is off today."
Hiring actors just to put young female guests at ease? Having heard this, Yeongso could no longer remain as nonchalant as her husband. Suddenly, even the sweet glutinous rice wine she was drinking felt unsettling. Setting her cup down, she stared intently at him.
"We didn't come here just to eat, did we?"
"To get straight to the point, we came to do a good deed. By causing a massive scene that will draw everyone's attention, I plan to trap Hwa Mujin—who has graced the Annex with his presence today—like a rat in a cage. He uses a colorless, odorless aphrodisiac of his own making to cater to the filthy requests of his Annex clients. And before he does, he always serves this special glutinous rice wine as a complimentary tasting, exclusively to the female guests."
Yeongso's gaze instinctively fell to the flower-shaped cup. Banya urged her to keep eating so as not to arouse suspicion, noting that he wasn't finished speaking yet. She felt as if she had been struck on the head with a heavy blow, and he wanted her to keep eating this establishment's food?
"You... you saw me drinking that wine earlier..."
"My love, open wide. Ah."
Before she could refuse, a piece of raw fish dipped in mustard sauce was popped into her mouth. Yeongso had no choice but to chew the fish, glaring at her husband all the while.
"There was nothing wrong with the wine you just drank. They don't drug the drinks of every single female guest. Now, listen closely. In my opinion, to put an end to Hwa Mujin's operations, the authorities must get involved. Since I am currently in a position where I cannot carelessly take lives, only the government office can rectify this situation."
"However," Banya continued, "the rule of non-interference between the government and the martial world exists. Besides, who am I? The notoriously vicious, cold-blooded, and cruel Hwa Banya. The supreme leader of the Unorthodox Path. You are the only person in the entire world who believes I can reform. Even if I were to report him, the authorities wouldn't believe a single word."
Banya fed her another piece of raw fish. Once again, Yeongso had no choice but to accept it. But why is it suddenly so hot in here?
"But if something were to happen to my lady, that changes everything. Because my lovely wife is the cherished flower of the prestigious Baekri Clan. Your eldest brother-in-law is an official in the capital who investigates criminal cases, is he not? Since he was childhood friends with his wife, his affection for his youngest sister-in-law is also quite special. What do you think will happen when word reaches his ears that Baekri Yeongso fell victim to Chunyangru's aphrodisiac?"
Yeongso looked back and forth between the wine and Banya.
"I thought you said there was nothing wrong with this wine?"
"That was true. But in the past tense. It was perfectly fine when it left the kitchen. The aphrodisiac was slipped in while the waiter was bringing the cup over. Just in case you were curious, that waiter is one of my informants."
"You..."
"Don't detoxify it." Seeing Yeongso pretend to pat her chest while secretly reaching to press her acupoints, Banya quickly stopped her.
"Times have changed, and it's rare for martial artists to fall victim to aphrodisiacs nowadays. They can easily circulate their inner qi to expel the drug. But, my lady, ordinary young women who do not know martial arts have no choice but to suffer. This is our chance to save them."
"But still... this is underhanded..."
"You are right. No matter how many thousands of sins Hwa Mujin has committed, he is technically innocent in this specific instance. However, if you fall victim to the drug now, we can save those who would otherwise only leave the Annex in a coffin. The Thousand Death Alliance will cover all their medical expenses."
Banya added that, by his estimate, there were likely around a hundred women trapped in the Annex. If anything, there would be more, certainly not fewer.
A hundred women! Yeongso's eyes wavered. Was her own conscience more precious than a hundred innocent lives?
Yeongso knew better than anyone what kind of man the current Palace Master of Jeokhwa Palace, Hwa Mujin, truly was. When she had been in mourning clothes, the eyes that swept over her had been filled with filthy, repulsive lust. The only reason she had escaped his clutches during her three years of mourning was entirely due to her martial arts.
"There is one thing you forgot, Alliance Leader. The world believes I cannot perform martial arts. But in truth, my condition is far worse. I was born with the Nine Yin Blocked Meridians and barely survived. And for someone like me..."
Yeongso slowly lowered her hand from her acupoints.
"Ingesting a potent aphrodisiac doesn't just make my body run hot."
The energy of the aphrodisiac, which she had been suppressing until now, instantly surged through her entire body. In the next moment, Yeongso deliberately coughed up a dramatic spray of fresh blood and collapsed.
Clang! At the loud sound of shattering dishes, the nearby patrons whipped their heads around.
A physician, summoned in a rush, delivered his diagnosis.
"Your lady has been poisoned with an aphrodisiac. If she were a martial artist, she could expel the drug's energy on her own, but unfortunately, she is not..."
The physician cast a cautious glance at Banya.
"There is no choice but for her husband to assist her."
"An aphrodisiac?" Banya grabbed Hwa Mujin by the collar.
"How dare this bastard try to harm a descendant of the prestigious Baekri Clan, a family that produced an Empress during her great-grandfather's generation?!"
"This is absurd. Do you have any proof that I did it?" Hwa Mujin snorted.
"And normally, shouldn't you be asking, 'How dare you try to harm the wife of the Alliance Leader of the Thousand Death Alliance?' Why are you bringing up your wife's imperial ancestors now?"
To Hwa Mujin, the fact that Yeongso's ancestor was an Empress meant absolutely nothing. However, the Magistrate of Nagan, who had arrived with a troop of government soldiers, felt entirely different.
Meanwhile, lying on the bed behind drawn curtains, Yeongso fought with all her might to keep from writhing. There were still people in the room. Even Hwa Mujin, whom she utterly loathed, was present. She refused to let that man hear her feverish moans.
But it hurts so much...
Her skin, her mucous membranes, and even her hair felt hyper-sensitive. If Banya were to reach out and slowly stroke her hair right now, she would undoubtedly let slip a plaintive moan.
She might even writhe like a wanton woman, desperately craving his touch, thinking, Please, touch me just a little more.
I must endure. At least until this matter is settled and those people leave the room.
Her erect, pale-pink nipples brushed lightly against the soft fabric of her undergarments. At the ticklish wave of pleasure that instantly rippled through her, Yeongso held her breath.
It's agonizing... I'd rather just lose consciousness.
As it turned out, Yeongso wasn't the only one who wished to faint rather than face this situation. The magistrate, a man in his fifties, was trying to break up the brawling Alliance Leader of Cheonsaryeon and Palace Master of Jeokhwa Palace with words alone.
Both men were notorious figures of the Unorthodox Path. They held the laws of the land in utter contempt. To them, taking a life was as simple as breathing. If he rashly tried to physically intervene, magistrate or not, he might find himself blasted thirty yards away.
I should never have been entangled with these bastards in the first place. Of all people, why did Hwa Mujin have to lay a finger on Baekri Yeongso? Tsk!