Princess Dohwa
Eun Hwaran's father had always said the same thing.
Sangyu-in, Inyu-sang.
Business, in the end, is about the people you leave behind—so chase promising talent rather than the profit right in front of your nose.
Those were the parting words of a great merchant respected by countless others. After his sudden death she had been so buried under cash shortages that the saying never quite landed… until now. Only now did she feel she finally understood what he had meant.
"What a peculiar child."
She tapped the corner of her mouth with her folding fan as she quietly watched the boy directing grown men with absolute confidence.
One capable little brat had taken a creaking business and almost put it back on a proper course. The sericulture operation was now humming with life and sailing smoothly. Thanks to him, even the Eunseong Merchant Group could breathe a little easier—though the escort problem still remained, of course.
"So this is why Father told me to gather talented people."
Eun Hwaran muttered the words under her breath. Someone answered her monologue.
"My lady, you must not take that child in."
It was Manager Jin, who had been racing around lately trying to secure financing.
"And why is that?"
"Because Elder Hwang has already taken him as a disciple. If we poach him, it would be pure ingratitude, would it not?"
"Mmm."
Eun Hwaran, who had let greed get ahead of her for a moment, nodded in reluctant understanding. She stared at the boy the way one stares at a fruit one is not allowed to eat.
"Still, it's a shame. Raise him properly and he'd make the perfect next Chief Escort."
He was not even fifteen yet, and already he handled people with real skill. He won trust through action rather than words, never skimped on advice, and drew out efficiency with well-placed praise. On top of that he possessed monstrous strength, and his talent for martial arts had already been verified by the old master. He was a ready-made future Chief Escort if ever there was one.
"Weaving uncles, take these too."
Dan Mujin expertly wound the silk threads he had teased out with a broom onto spindles and handed them over to the weavers.
"Oh, thank you, young master."
The weavers, who had been interlacing warp and weft, accepted the spindles with bright faces. Eun Hwaran and Manager Jin watched the scene in silence. She covered her mouth with her fan and laid out the speculation she had been nursing for some time.
"As I thought… he must be a child of the Haomu Gate who used to raise Milyang silkworms, right?"
"Yes. That would explain it."
Only that organization could account for such detailed sericulture knowledge. The Haomu Gate—a sect formed by the lowest of the low. Where the sunlit world had groups like the Eunseong Merchant Group, the shadows had them.
"Come to think of it, didn't their Beijing branch get smashed not long ago?"
They had fretted over that incident themselves. No wonder Elder Hwang had told them not to ask about his disciple's identity. The pieces clicked together a little too neatly. They said the Haomu Gate, along with the Beggar Sect, was a crucible of information and intelligence. Finding a pearl gleaming on a sandbar must feel something like this. Eun Hwaran's interest only sharpened as she watched Mujin.
"We should bring him over after all."
"Absolutely not. Snap out of it."
"Ugh."
Manager Jin spoke with absolute firmness, just in case she actually did something stupid.
"The previous master always said, 'Know kindness and repay kindness.'"
"I know. I'm his daughter."
She had heard it until her ears were worn thin. You could not repay with enmity a man who offered to help for free. Looking regretful, Eun Hwaran snapped her fan shut with a soft clack.
"So, Manager Jin—you're busy. What brings you to the silkworm house?"
A simple report could have been sent through a messenger. The fact that he had come in person meant something troublesome had cropped up. And she was right. Manager Jin smoothly produced a letter stamped with a golden toad seal.
"Again?"
"Again."
Did the man never tire of this? She rubbed her throbbing forehead as she took the letter.
"The contents are a little different this time, though."
"Oh? How so?"
"He says he will send the fourth young master in person, so we should talk."
"…"
A persistent bastard. When she had politely refused the marriage talk, he had shoved the proposal right under her nose as if to say stalling would get her nowhere. He seemed genuinely determined to do something about the Eunseong Merchant Group. Eun Hwaran let out a long, weary sigh.
"Haa."
"Hut! Hap! Heup!"
Under the scorching afternoon sun I threw myself into Seonpungbo training outside the silkworm house. They had kicked me out for raising dust inside.
Chak. Sseureuk. Tak.
A strange footwork that shifted between light and heavy steps. Hwang Geolgae checked my progress every night and, if it was lacking, rained lightning-fast knuckles on my skull. So this was also a struggle for survival.
"Hat!"
Getting beaten half to death over that interrogation business had refined my internal energy control. I could now slice my meager grain of inner power into several pieces and use each one separately.
Whirlwind Steps — energy gathers at the toes and launches the body like an arrow
Chwaak!
I gathered energy at my toes and kicked off the ground. My body shot forward and a cloud of dust billowed behind me. Good thing the workers had made me practice outside.
"Oi, you little brat. You're kicking up dust."
An irritated string of curses drifted over from a distance. A man strode up and fussily patted the front of his silk robes even though the dust hadn't reached him.
"Do you have any idea how hard it was to get this Sichuan silk? If so much as a speck of dust landed on it, you're a dead man."
He had a pale, greasy face and oily brows—looked like the type who hung around pleasure houses all day.
"Young Master Geum Yado, today is a fine day for flower-viewing, is it not? Surely you can overlook a little ruckus raised by a child."
The servant trailing behind him tried to soothe his master. These bastards kept calling me "brat" in a way that was deliberately annoying.
"You lucky little shit… And why is a mewling infant like this even standing in front of such an important enterprise?"
"He must be the child of one of the laborers here. They're probably looking after him nearby."
"Tsk. This is an imperial project, yet the security is soft as wet paper. What can you expect when an unripe girl is playing merchant lord where she doesn't belong?"
"Indeed, sir. Letting sentiment blur public and private business."
"I hear she even rejected my marriage proposal. That arrogant bitch who only has her face going for her…"
What clowns. They had just shown up and were putting on a whole private opera for two. Then the silkworm-house door slid open with a rattle, drawn by the noise outside. A beauty in lotus-fresh silk, her black hair pinned up with a golden hairpin, stepped out.
"Young Master Geum Yado? I distinctly sent a reply refusing your visit."
Her voice was clear and ringing. Geum Yado, who had momentarily lost his wits, recovered and answered.
"I refused the refusal. You are Merchant Lord Eun Hwaran?"
"I am."
"Hah, truly a reputation well earned… The rumor that you are one of the Three Flowers of Beijing was no lie. This Geum Yado is genuinely captivated by a beauty like spring blossoms in full bloom."
He dropped his voice into a cultured register and delivered a polished compliment, looking for all the world like a scholar reciting poetry. To someone who had just heard the real him, the scene was absurd.
"A minute ago you called her an arrogant bitch who only has her face going for her."
That single blurted line stopped Geum Yado's oily flirting dead. Apparently he had never imagined the commoner brat he treated like air would jump into a conversation between important people.
"W-what nonsense. When did I ever say such a thing?"
"I heard you perfectly clearly just now."
I put on the exact expression of someone who had definitely seen (or heard) something. Strangely enough, it made me look like a kid who had overheard everything.
"…You little—! Adults are talking! How dare you make jokes!"
Panic flooded Geum Yado's face. He shot a frantic glance at his servant—the look that said, Shut this brat's mouth somehow.
"Come here! I don't care whose laborer's kid you are—I'll teach you how to respect your elders!"
The servant spread both arms and lunged to grab me and drag me away. I stepped into Seonpungbo and slipped past his lazy grab like water. He clutched empty air and face-planted.
"…You're no ordinary brat!"
At that ruckus, Eunseong people poured out of the silkworm house in a noisy swarm.
"Young Master Geum Yado, what is this I hear? An arrogant bitch who only has her face?"
Eun Hwaran leveled a razor-sharp glare at him. The kind that looked ready to cleave him in half with her eyes if he answered wrong.
"Of course that is nonsense…! If you are truly the lord of a merchant group, you should know whether to believe a child who cannot tell right from wrong or this young master!"
He pointed back and forth between a nobody brat and the fourth young master of Mangeum Money House, pleading injustice. He still seemed to think he could salvage the situation.
"Lord of a merchant group? Earlier you sneered that an unripe girl was playing merchant lord where she doesn't belong."
"You little shit I'm going to tear apart—!!"
Dan Mujin's special brand of chili-powder chaos had him completely unhinged. Geum Yado finally exploded. Fury shot to the top of his head; he forgot all dignity and charged me with a raised fist. A woman thrust her fan between us and cried out in a sharp voice.
"Young Master Geum Yado! What do you think you're doing to a child—stop this at once!"
Caught off guard by the intervention, he had no choice but to halt his furious charge.
"Merchant Lord Eun Hwaran, don't tell me you actually believe that filthy little brat!"
He raged that no one had ever treated the fourth young master of Mangeum Money House this way. His face said he could not believe he was being handled like this over a mere child.
"Of course I believe him. This child is a core member of our merchant group."
We had a certain relationship, after all. She had already trusted me enough to hand over full authority of the silkworm house once. This guy had no idea of that background, so of course he couldn't understand.
"Young master, our group is currently extremely busy preparing for the imperial examination. So please stop making a spectacle of yourself and leave."
Her tone was polite, but the voice that delivered the expulsion order was ice-cold. The expression on her face made it clear she would never forget the string of insults aimed at her.
"The silkworm master never arrived, did he? You still need our help, don't you?"
When Geum Yado brought up the missing silkworm master, Eun Hwaran's brow twitched once. He pressed again, as if asking whether she would regret this.
"You dare treat me this way? What will you do when you come begging later?"
"…That is also a matter we will handle ourselves. An outsider such as yourself need not interfere further."
The statement cleanly severed every connection, including the marriage talk.
"Hmph. Fine. Let's see how this turns out."
Deciding there was no more possibility left, Geum Yado sneered and turned on his heel. Unfriendly stares from the merchant-group people followed the two of them until they disappeared beyond the gate.
"…Well, that completely burns the bridge with Mangeum Money House, my lady."
Manager Jin had somehow approached and spoken up.
"We were going to refuse him this way anyway. At least now we have a clear justification and less work."
"Well, that's true enough."
Manager Jin nodded briefly in agreement.
"And we have something far more trustworthy than the likes of him."
"…That is certainly true."
After that exchange, both of their gazes swung toward me. Steady. Continuous. Heavy.
"…"
Say something, will you? The sun was setting anyway, so I used training as an excuse and fled the spot.
"Ah."
Crash-crash-crash-!
"That dog-fucking bitch!"
The man with the greasy brows was taking his rage out on the furniture of his office. Expensive Boshan glass ornaments, costly accessories—everything that met his hand went flying and shattered. After a long rampage his anger finally seemed to settle; he planted both arms on the desk and gasped for breath.
"…Has your anger cooled a little, young master?"
The servant offered a cup of water and asked carefully. Normally he needed another two hours of destruction before the fire died, so today felt strange.
"Heh… heh-heh."
Then Geum Yado started laughing. The servant wondered if the man had finally lost his mind.
"…Young master, if it is not too bold, what is so amusing?"
Geum Yado set the cup down with a sharp clack.
"Of course it's funny. I can already see their future."
Hearing that, the servant wondered whether the heavenly eye of clairvoyance had opened after punching through the ceiling of the merchant world. He claimed he could see the future of Eun Hwaran and the Eunseong Merchant Group.
"Eunseong will fail the gold seal. It won't matter how many silkworms they raised or how many bolts of silk they produced."
His voice carried absolute certainty. There had to be a reason.
"Because the official who conducts the gold-seal inspection is one of His people. They stepped into the darkness of the imperial court without knowing a thing."
Of course, in a merchant world where falling behind meant vanishing, they might have stepped in with some resolve. At least the late Spring-Glory Great Merchant Eun Jincheong had. But he had died suddenly, and all that remained was that girl who was little more than a greenhorn.
"So just wait and see…"
When the time came he would make them beg and sob. If they wanted to save the merchant group, they would have no choice. They would beat the ground and regret every word they had spat today.
"And I'll catch that arrogant little brat and work him over too."
He had personally gone and confirmed Eunseong's logistics, headcount, and influence with his own eyes. All of that would have to come into his hands as well. Even after he had slashed their credit with vicious rumors, their wagons still sat piled high with goods, ready to spread across the world. He thought he finally understood a little why his father, Geum Hwangdo, had ordered him to seize the merchant group by any means necessary.
If a money house was a stagnant lake, a merchant group was a flowing river. If he could hold both Mangeum's golden power and Eunseong's commercial sphere, no one in Beijing's merchant world would be able to stand against him.
"To think that staying single until this age because I was chasing women would turn out so useful."
While his older brothers had settled down and inherited proper businesses, he had spent his youth tearing through brothels and received nothing of real value. Truly, a man's future was impossible to predict.
"Eheheh."
For that reason alone, Geum Yado found he could swallow the insults he had received at the merchant group.
A man in blue official robes walked through a garden where peonies bloomed in lavish profusion. Every time he passed, the neatly dressed maids of the princess's palace bowed low and offered formal greetings to Second-Rank Director Cheon Su-gong.
"Where is Her Highness Princess Dohwa?"
Cheon Su-gong stopped one of the gate guards protecting the vast princess's palace and asked. The guard looked up at him with a puzzled face.
"Her Highness is enjoying tea in her private chambers, as far as I know. What is the matter?"
"I must see her at once. Open the door."
The imperial capital of Beijing was a demon-ridden stage where suspicion ran wild. Martial artists protected themselves with force, but eunuchs who could not do so had to protect themselves with schemes and plots. That was why they stretched their tentacles of information as far as possible and tried to hear everything. Today Cheon Su-gong had received one such ominous piece of intelligence and come running.
To protect a noble person from the filthy power struggles of the imperial palace.
"Even for Director Cheon, arriving without prior notice is…"
"It is urgent. Her Highness will understand."
"…Yes, I understand."
He was a eunuch the princess cherished dearly. Judging that conflict would do no good, the guard withdrew the spear blocking the door. Forgetting ordinary dignity, Cheon Su-gong strode quickly toward the inner chambers.
"I thought something was strange ever since Eun Jincheong collapsed."
The man had been past sixty. They had said it might have been illness, so he had half-believed it, but looking at how things were unfolding, he now wondered whether the late merchant had also been played by the schemes of the imperial clan. He had collapsed the moment Princess Dohwa herself stepped forward to help secure the sericulture rights and open trade—the timing was far too delicate. And then the silkworm master who had never arrived. Someone in the court was clearly plotting to block the princess's expansion of influence and bind her hands and feet.
"Your Highness, Second-Rank Director Cheon Su-gong requests audience. I have come with urgent business and beg forgiveness for the intrusion. May I enter?"
He knocked on the door of the inner chamber and bowed his head as he spoke. A short silence followed beyond the door, as if the sudden visit had startled her.
"I permit it."
A soft voice, yet one steeped in dignity. Cheon Su-gong carefully opened the door. A delicate fragrance of tea filled the room. A woman of noble bearing sat enjoying the tea ceremony, a single tea leaf floating in her cup. The silk of Sichuan gleamed under the sunlight, yet even its five-colored brilliance could not outshine the beauty of its owner. That white, exquisite jade face that stole one's breath no matter how many times one saw it. So this was what they meant by a beauty who could topple a nation.
"I greet Her Highness Princess Dohwa."
He lowered his gaze and bowed deeply to crush the useless thoughts churning inside him.
"Yes, Cheon Su-gong. What urgent matter brings you to seek me so hastily?"
Her eyes curved into crescent moons at the welcome face. The visit was a surprise that badly violated etiquette, yet she did not scold him. She assumed there must be sufficient reason. It was precisely this wise and benevolent nature that made even a eunuch like Cheon Su-gong want to follow her despite her being a woman.
"It grieves me to report, yet the reason for this visit is…"
But the imperial palace surrounding her was a place where suspicion and endless malice bloomed. To protect her purity, someone had to dirty their hands and feet behind the curtain, and Cheon Su-gong had always accepted that duty without flinching.
"…because I have detected an unsettling movement targeting Your Highness and the Eunseong Merchant Group."
At the news that a dagger had been thrown, the white, slender jade hands that had been stirring the teacup went still. Deep concern blossomed on the princess's peony-like face.