A Suitable Night for a Capture
Banya immediately dismissed his fleeting impulse. I'll probably just hear her babbling nonsense again, begging me to pull her up because she's scared. Hearing those words might actually cause Hwa Banya's qi to flow backward this time. Banya ordered Ma Ryun to seal the well again. At this, Yeongso furrowed her delicate brow.
"Then what will become of that maidservant?"
"According to the rules of Cheonsaryeon, anyone caught attempting to assassinate a superior will have their tendons severed and be thrown into the dungeon."
Yeongso's mouth slowly parted. She was likely worrying about how to safely smuggle a runaway servant out of Cheonsaryeon. Banya wanted to snap at her to stop wasting time here and just ascend to heaven already. Though she had claimed she couldn't become an immortal in this lifetime because she had killed her husband, judging by Seowangmo's attitude, the Queen Mother of the West would probably pass Baekri Yeongso in a heartbeat if she just acted a little cute. The goddess had practically doted on her, not knowing what to do with herself.
"That young lady earlier... she said she was being blackmailed. That was why she apologized to me..."
"My lady."
"Yes?"
"An assassin must be captured. The higher-ups of Jeokhwa Palace will never let a pawn who failed their mission live. If we let her out of Cheonsaryeon, she will be dead before she even turns into the nearest alley."
"So," Banya added, "next time, let's just use martial arts, hm?"
Yeongso poured the tea with a soft trickle. The clear, delicate aroma of green tea drifted through the air. As she politely offered the teacup with both hands to her husband, whom she hadn't seen in two days, Banya smiled faintly and reached for it.
"But... why didn't you help me earlier?"
Since she refused to let go of her end, Banya couldn't take the cup.
"Oh? Did you ask for my help?"
"Of course. Our eyes met."
"Did they?"
"I called out to the Renju so desperately."
"Ah, is that so?" Banya replied shamelessly. "Your voice must have been too quiet for me to hear."
"The situation earlier... surely wasn't something to be judged by sound alone."
Banya still hadn't received the teacup. He stared intently at his wife, whose eyebrows were knitted in distress.
"Why are you suddenly looking at me like that?"
"If I had known you were such an eloquent speaker, I would have had you deliver the speech at the Cheonsaryeon assembly."
"In the year I died, that is," Banya added, his eyes flashing with a strange glint. "If any idiot dared to ask why the Renju-buin was speaking out of turn, I would have blown his head off right then and there. Ah, what a delightful sight that would have been."
What on earth is this man talking about? Yeongso snatched her hand back from the teacup. Banya chuckled softly and savored the aroma of the tea.
"Ah, right. If my lady were the one to act, you would have driven a needle into his skull. Lopping heads off is more of the Heavenly Killing Star's style."
"Can we please stop talking about heads?"
"Why? Does it prick your conscience?"
Banya feigned surprise at his own words.
"Prick... Ah, is that another needle reference? I truly cannot escape these needles, can I?"
Yeongso clenched her fists tightly inside her sleeves. It was incredibly difficult not to glare at her husband. How could anyone be this exasperating!
"But I asked for help... I definitely called for you..."
"On the contrary, I would like to ask you: why should I have helped you?"
Yeongso doubted her ears.
"Because I was being attacked by an assassin...!"
"Then let me ask you one more thing. Was the target ever in actual danger?"
Yeongso's mouth fell open, but she couldn't find any words to reply and closed it again. No. I can't back down here. I still have to protest.
"That... but your wife was being attacked..."
"Yes or no. Answer with only one of the two. Were you in a dangerous situation?"
How petty. Hwa Banya was the pettiest man she had ever met in her life.
"No..."
"Do you know how pale that poor maidservant turned the moment she saw me and the Heavenly Killing Star?" Banya clicked his tongue. "She came all this way to do an assassin's job; we should at least let her swing her sword a few times. If she got caught by the Alliance Leader of Cheonsaryeon the moment she started, she wouldn't have been able to save face when reporting back."
Although she hated to admit it, her husband's words made a strange sort of sense.
"I suppose so. I was short-sighted."
Hearing this, Banya paused. His expression turned slightly odd as he muttered to himself, wondering if she had actually agreed with his ridiculous logic. Did I say something wrong?
"In any case, to capture that woman alive, there must be no witnesses at the scene."
"But it would also be out of character for me to take no action when my 'helpless' wife is attacked."
Banya explained that Jeokhwa Palace, who sent the assassin, would become suspicious.
"I will assign some guards to you. About... twenty of them."
"Pardon?"
"From now on, we will test all your food and tea for poison. We'll have your maid open every door first, under the pretext that a trap might fire hidden weapons. We will make as much of a fuss as possible. But only within the inner courtyard."
"I see what you mean. We are deceiving not just the assassin, but the spy as well."
"Yes. That way, once things are settled, the spy will report everything back to Jeokhwa Palace exactly as we want."
'Hwa Banya surprisingly didn't order an immediate arrest. It seems he intends to capture the assassin himself without a single scratch, only to torture her for a very long time.'
Yeongso could easily picture how the spy would babble to their superiors. She nodded slowly.
"Since she failed to kill me, the assassin will seek out the spy within Cheonsaryeon. After making an intermediate report, they will plan their next attack."
"Without a doubt, she will come to your bedchamber tonight."
"Hmm."
"In that sense, sharing a bed tonight would be..."
Yeongso raised her hand to cut Banya off.
"It would be better to execute the capture operation tomorrow, not tonight. This morning, I saw one of the elderly maids in the inner courtyard sighing as she applied a warm compress to her knee. I've observed her for three years, and her knees are more accurate than anything else."
Whenever that elderly maid's knees began to throb, it rained the next day without fail.
"If it were going to rain heavily, she would have been in severe pain, but since it wasn't that bad, it seems we'll have a moderate drizzle. Which means..."
"The night sky will be suitably dark."
Yeongso smiled. "We can capture her in a darker setting. There is no reason to insist on tonight when the full moon is shining so brightly."
"That is true. But in my opinion, with your skills, my lady, you could succeed even in broad daylight. Without anyone noticing, at that."
After all, didn't I die in the middle of the day? Banya added.
At this, Yeongso mumbled in a small, dejected voice, asking if he could please stop talking about the day he died.
"Tomorrow night, I will simply run away just like I did today."
"Good heavens, deceiving people yet again."
"You must come to help me tomorrow night. Understood? You must."
Banya couldn't understand why Yeongso went to such lengths to hide her martial arts skills. Suddenly, he remembered testing her on the way to Chunyangru. It was a bait he had thrown out carelessly, thinking, There's no way she'll bite, but in that brief moment, his wife's eyes had wavered.
Could she really have learned unorthodox martial arts?
Banya's eyes narrowed. *No, that's impossible. What kind of insane Sapa master would take the youngest daughter of the Baekri Clan as a disciple? And the Baekri Clan would never be crazy enough to let a Sapa martial artist into their estate. I know their elders—they are notorious for being hypocritical, obnoxious, and stubborn old fools.*
Even if their child's life were on the line, those bastards would rather abandon the child than bring in a Sapa master.
I'm letting my mind wander. Banya pushed the hypothesis to the back of his mind.
"Very well. I give you my word."
Only then did Yeongso look relieved, pouring fresh tea into her husband's empty cup. Just then, something caught Banya's eye.
What did she write so diligently on that paper?
It was a bit far, but not so far that he couldn't read the characters at all.
Preparing for...
Things to do as the Renju-buin
He wondered what she was preparing for. Generating a breeze so faint his wife wouldn't notice, Banya slid aside the paper covering the document.