Proposal and Choice

Beneath that golden palace, they say, wicked demons make their home.

Those were the words Imperial Consort Ma, Princess Dohwa’s mother, had once whispered to her with a bitter look on her face.

As a child, Princess Dohwa had not understood what her mother meant. How could demons dwell in a place watched over by imperial troops in gilded armor, a palace built with careful attention to feng shui and the flow of the Five Elements?

But the years had taught her. The terrifying demons her mother spoke of were simply humans who lusted after power.

So she told me to keep someone trustworthy close—someone who would protect me from those demons.

And because such a person was desperately hard to find amid the whirlpool of power, her mother had also said this: if you ever find one, you must make them yours. Only then could you breathe and survive in a palace crawling with demons and enemies.

Tsssk.

Before her eyes stood a young man slowly peeling away a human-skin mask.

Time had stretched his body into manhood, yet traces of the boy she once knew still lingered on his face—the same boy who had once cut across a mulberry field and left Cheon Su-gong flustered. That boy had returned to her as a troubleshooter.

“Muhong… No. You said it was Dan Mujin, did you not?”

In some secluded chamber after the eunuchs had withdrawn, a boy with more tricks than he knew what to do with had told her to call on him whenever she needed. Back then she had dismissed it as a child’s bravado.

“Yes. I’m Troubleshooter Dan Mujin. The folks in the jianghu also call me the Dog-Beating Dragon.”

He was a grown man now, complete with a proper moniker. She had heard Cheon Su-gong mention it a few times, but seeing him in person was something else entirely.

“Your face from behind the veil comes back to me in fragments. You have grown up well.”

Exceptional skill, a handsome face, and the integrity to keep a promise to the end—he had it all. She thought she finally understood why Cheon Su-gong, for all his habitual tongue-clicking, still summoned this man in a crisis.

“Dan Mujin.”

“Yes, Princess Dohwa.”

He dipped his head briefly at her call.

“Would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you consider working at my side from now on?”

How many years had it been since she made an offer like this of her own accord? Yet at the invitation to serve in the Princess’s Palace, Dan Mujin’s expression took a strange turn. He flicked a glance toward Cheon Su-gong, then answered with a face gone pale.

“Y-you mean… you want me castrated…?”

“…….”

He had clearly misunderstood something rather large. Given that only eunuchs and palace maids could freely enter this wing, his mind had leapt straight in that direction.

“You insolent little—how dare you size me up?”

“Hup—my mistake. Total mistake.”

Cheon Su-gong’s beard quivered with rage at the earlier disrespect. It was a glimpse, however brief, into why the man always sounded so sour whenever this fellow’s name came up.

“Pffft.”

For the first time in ages, Princess Dohwa forgot her dignity and burst out laughing. She clapped a hand over her mouth at once, but her shoulders kept shaking. For a while she simply laughed, setting aside the weight and majesty of the imperial bloodline.

“Hmph. Since Her Highness found it amusing, I shall let it pass this once.”

“Yessir. Much obliged.”

“Do it again and I will make a eunuch of you myself—mark my words.”

“……Hrrk.”

The more she looked at him, the more fascinating and strange he seemed. Everything that came out of his mouth was a fresh shock; his behavior was impossible to predict. On top of that, he possessed an uncanny talent for finishing in an instant the work even the Eastern Depot could not manage.

If she made a man like this her own and kept him close, wouldn’t a ray of warm sunlight fall even on life in this dark, gloomy palace?

Holding that hope, Princess Dohwa spoke again.

“Dan Mujin. There are many ways to work at my side without becoming a eunuch.”

He could enter as an ordinary palace attendant, stay in disguise as he did now, or—though it would require some negotiation—be brought in through the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The point was simple: she would take care of him handsomely if he worked for her alone.

“I am deeply honored and grateful for the offer… but I have circumstances that force me to decline.”

The answer that came back was, unbelievably, a refusal. She had never been turned down when she extended her hand like this, and her face fell in a way that was hard to miss. Beside her, Cheon Su-gong glared at Dan Mujin with a look that said, Has this fool lost his mind?

“Mm… Why refuse?”

Dan Mujin scratched at his temple as if the explanation were difficult.

“I have a disease where I die if I stay in one place too long… So for now, it’s for the sake of extending my lifespan.”

He had to keep roaming around as a troubleshooter, helping people wherever he went.

“……?”

Princess Dohwa tilted her head, wondering what on earth he was talking about. Was there really such a disease in the world? Even as the thought crossed her mind, her sharp intellect arrived at a conclusion: this was simply his personal method of refusal.

“With demons swarming the imperial family as they are, it would be a great comfort to have someone like you at my side.”

Even when she mentioned generous compensation, his eyes only wavered for a moment before he shook his head in embarrassment. Yes—of course. Upright talent like this could not be bought with money. Which only made him more desirable.

“I can’t stay permanently, but as I said before, if you call for me when you need me, I’ll come running anytime.”

Not as her subordinate—but as a troubleshooter answering a client’s call. Having just refused a princess of the blood, he was now asking her to keep hiring him as a customer.

“Heh. How bold. And yet I find I cannot bring myself to dislike it. Why is that?”

A faint smile touched her lips as she echoed the words she had spoken long ago in that secluded chamber. It was the same sales pitch as before, only now she could no longer dismiss it as a child’s empty talk.

“If I call for you, can you promise to set everything else aside and come running first?”

Rumors that the Crown Prince’s life hung by a thread were sweeping the palace. The moment he breathed his last, a storm of no small magnitude would break over these walls. When that day came, even eating and dressing would require caution—and she would need his ability to sense killing intent, and his nerve, more than ever.

“I’ll do my best.”

Even on the brink of death, this man would not give a firm guarantee. One might almost call him composed. Most people, asked face-to-face by a princess, would have been flustered enough to say yes.

“Very well. I shall trust in your best efforts. For now, that is enough.”

She chose not to press further and content herself with that. Conversation had taught her he was not a man who moved when shoved or pulled.

I can simply bestow favors on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him over time until he has no choice but to become mine.

Some bonds took time to finish. It was a pity she could not claim him at once, but she decided not to rush.

“Take this.”

From her robes Princess Dohwa drew a slender jade hairpin and held it out to Dan Mujin. She had never worn it herself—it was a gift from her mother, meant for the day she one day married.

“Princess. That hairpin is…”

Cheon Su-gong’s brows lifted in mild surprise. Dan Mujin accepted the pin with a dazed look.

“I give it because you saved my life. Should you ever need the power of the imperial family, come to the palace and present this.”

In the Central Plains—especially in Beijing—the authority of the imperial house was nothing short of absolute. With that hairpin, no ordinary official would dare treat the man carelessly.

“Whoa, something this fine…?”

When Cheon Su-gong eyed it with open regret, the man promptly tucked the pin into his robes. Princess Dohwa had just given him a quiet lesson in the advantages of imperial favor.

“Of course, the compensation Cheon Su-gong promised will also be paid. I have instructed that it be especially generous.”

At the mention of rightful pay, Dan Mujin’s face brightened in a distinctly calculating way. He rubbed his hands together like a palace servant waiting on payday, wondering just how much it would be. Looking at him like that, she could not quite tell whether he loved money or not.

“Still, it feels like I earned this a little too easily…”

He muttered something under his breath—then, as if a thought had shifted midstream, he looked past the gold-laden chests the eunuchs had brought and fixed his gaze steadily on her.

“Um…”

“What is it?”

“About the reward. Would it be possible for you to grant a different request instead of money?”

A request other than gold. Did he mean to borrow the authority or power of the imperial house?

“Is there… something you desire?”

If it were within her power, Princess Dohwa was prepared to grant nearly anything. The greater the debt she placed on him, the more tightly his heart would be bound to her.

“……Would a request like this even be possible?”

Speaking with extreme care, Dan Mujin began to explain a favor that could only be settled within the imperial palace. And at the name of a certain existence that left his lips, Princess Dohwa’s eyes flew wide.

“……!”

My master, Hwang Geolgae, had been right.

This imperial palace was a truly terrifying place—where people tried to poison members of the royal family, or turn perfectly healthy men into eunuchs, and worse. And once the Crown Prince died, the atmosphere was only going to get uglier.

So I had turned down Princess Dohwa’s offer to work in the Princess’s Palace, and a few days later I was finally getting out of there. The place was about to become a silent battlefield. Stick around any longer and I might end up committing murder without even meaning to. I still had an entire Central Plains to roam, stacking up good deeds by solving people’s problems—I could not afford to waste the time.

“Well then—off to work myself to the bone.”

I left the palace through the same gate I had entered by, ignoring the golden-armored gatekeepers who glared at me like I had spoiled their lunch.

But outside the entrance stood a face that had no business being there. Hwang Geolgae, a heavy bundle on his back, was staring straight at me and Dang Yeohye as we tried to leave.

“Hup.”

That look in his eyes… it was the look of an orphanage director regarding a thoroughly disobedient little brat.

“……Look at this damn kid.”

We froze halfway out of the palace, caught in an awkward half-crouch—like someone had just walked in on an affair.

“Mujin! See you at the office!”

Sensing something was seriously off, Dang Yeohye waved and bolted first. What an ungrateful sister.

“Finally caught you red-handed, you little bastard.”

Normally he just lounged around the merchant group drinking. What wind had blown him all the way out here?

I stared at Hwang Geolgae as if I could not believe he was real.

“Eun Hwaran told me. Out of nowhere the Princess’s Palace started praising her sworn little brother and handing out rewards. Said she was completely baffled. That was when I put it together.”

“…….”

So while I had spent a few days in the palace entertaining the princess’s offer, imperial favor had also been showered on Eun Hwaran—who was widely known to be close to me. Shoot the horse to catch the general, was that it?

“Ahaha… As expected of Master. Your talent for gathering intelligence is outstanding—truly worthy of a former Beggar Sect man.”

I tossed out awkward praise, but Hwang Geolgae just kept stomping closer, a murderous blue light kindling in the hollows of his eyes.

“Uh, Master?”

“…….”

He drew the sword at his waist and, without a word, began to raise a long blade of pure blue Sword Force. Even the last time he had gone on a rampage promising to fix my attitude, the atmosphere had not been this bad.

“Master, why… aren’t you saying anything?”

“Because talking doesn’t work on you.”

As if he had only just realized it, he shifted the tip of his sword toward me with a deadly serious face. The same bristling killing intent as when I had deliberately provoked him before.

Back then I had thrown myself into the grind trying to break through to the Transcendental Peak Realm and grasp that line—and I had gotten precious little out of it since. I really did not want to go through that hell again.

“Master, stop! Halt! Freeze!”

“You never listen ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to me. Why should this old man listen to you?”

For a hungover wreck who usually just flopped around all day, he was suddenly far too logical and on-point. He was definitely furious for real.

“Look at this!”

So I stopped talking and pulled from my robes a scroll stamped with the imperial seal.

“What’s that?”

“The thing Master has always fretted over in one corner of his heart.”

Catching the poisoner this time had not been all that hard. Sensing killing intent came easily to me, the culprit’s martial arts were nothing special, and Dang Yeohye’s help had been enormous. So when Princess Dohwa offered mountains of gold and jewels, taking it all felt wrong. Better, I thought, to use the chance to skyrocket my progress in the Seongun Simbeop instead.

And that was how the object now in my hand had come to me—an Imperial Decree.

Shrrr.

I unrolled the scroll and read out what was written there.

“From now on, Beggar Sect people can come and go in the capital, Master.”

“……!!”

And with that, the footsteps of Hwang Geolgae—who had been charging in for the kill—jerked to a stop.