The Grand Duchess's Surprise Visit
“This... what is it?”
“What do you mean, Your Majesty?”
In the briefest of moments, a whirlwind of emotions crossed her face as she looked at me. Curiosity. Doubt. Denial. Skepticism. Bewilderment.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before... Why aren’t you showing up?”
Tap. Tap.
Still fixing her gaze on me, she muttered something incomprehensible, then suddenly put on a grave expression and began walking toward me.
But in that instant, Jubern silently blocked my path and stepped between her and me.
“Hm? You are...?”
“This servant is Jubern, who has been entrusted with guarding the two of you. I apologize profusely for daring to block the way of His Highness...”
Yeohwarang’s gaze slowly shifted to Jubern because of his intervention.
“Hmm. What day is it today? Not once or twice, but three times in a single day. I’m surprised.”
“...”
Jubern, who had once suffered greatly at the hands of Crow’s Duck, his former master, this time did not act rashly and simply remained silent.
The words “three times” suggested something special about Jubern, not just for me.
From what I knew, Jubern’s Ineung could only be Heukran. Yet the fact that he, like Teraden, was hiding something else...
Yeohwarang narrowed her brows, looking at Jubern with amusement, while Jubern bowed his head and accepted her gaze calmly.
“Enough. You pervert.”
A calm, subdued voice came from nearby.
For a Grand Duchess to be called a pervert—it created an awkward contrast with the title. A momentary silence fell over the surroundings.
Soon, everyone’s heads turned toward the source of the words.
“Oh, Wolhyang!”
There stood Wolhyang, her face as cold and expressionless as ever.
“We pay our respects to the greatest pillar of the continent.”
Contrary to expectations, Yeohwarang ignored us and ran over to her with a cheerful greeting.
Recalling her serious face from moments ago, I realized she was simply a person.
“It’s been so long.”
Yeohwarang approached Wolhyang and pulled one of her arms close to her own body.
Though this familiar act suggested a close bond between the two, Wolhyang furrowed her brows slightly.
“Why are you doing this? Stop clinging to me.”
“What’s wrong? It’s been so long since I could be honest with you.”
Wolhyang looked uncomfortable, but Yeohwarang paid no heed and even draped her arm behind Wolhyang’s shoulder.
“I’m hungry. We should go eat dinner together.”
“I already ate.”
“Really? Then let’s eat again.”
“I don’t want to. Why with you...?”
“Come on, let’s go eat dinner together.”
“...”
Before Wolhyang could finish, Yeohwarang dragged her off with blind insistence.
Wolhyang didn’t resist strongly, so while her expression and words showed reluctance, she didn’t truly hate it.
“What a shame. If it weren’t for that one clan, I would have dragged both of you away and made you my husbands. It’s truly regrettable.”
Yeohwarang swept her gaze over me and Teraden one last time, then left with Wolhyang.
“Teraden, it looks like...?”
“Yeah, I think so. Status window? That’s really unbelievable.”
Teraden stared at the retreating figure of Yeohwarang, his face growing grim as he ruffled his hair vigorously.
After hiding his Plunder Ineung so well, it had been revealed all too easily. That would explain his gloomy mood.
“Lord, are you alright? That crazy old hag...!”
Whoosh!
“Eek...!”
Blanser, who had been chatting with us, suddenly appeared with a gust of wind right in front of him.
“The crazy old hag, you say? Is she referring to my sister-in-law?”
Blanser, drenched in cold sweat from his fright, scratched the back of his head, then quickly calmed down.
“Hehe, no...?”
His eyes lost focus and darted erratically.
“That’s right. Sister-in-law must have misheard.”
“Of course. Hehe.”
“Tsk. Tell Uncle Anhu or something... No. I’ll visit Uncle myself soon, so act normally and don’t worry him.”
“Understood, my lady! Take care!”
Yeohwarang left, clicking her tongue.
Only after confirming she had vanished did Blanser breathe a deep sigh of relief and pat his chest.
“Phew. I was almost sure I wouldn’t see the light of day.”
‘This... what is it?’
‘I’ve never seen anything like this before... Why aren’t you showing up?’
The unexpected meeting with Mirpia yesterday and another with a Grand Duchess today.
All these encounters with them only deepened the mysteries I couldn’t solve.
* * *
Yeohwarang had dragged Wolhyang to a table and they now faced each other across it.
“Here.”
“I’ll drink alone.”
Looking at the bottle Yeohwarang offered, Wolhyang said coolly.
“Aww, it’d be no fun. There’s no one else I can be honest with except you and Ardmelia, so why be like this?”
“...Don’t act pitiful.”
Yeohwarang urged her again, so Wolhyang reluctantly accepted the drink.
“So what brings you here?”
“There are some things I need to discuss with the Emperor. Anyway, where’s Lan?”
“Why are you looking for Lan?”
When Yeohwarang asked about Lan, Wolhyang, who had been about to sip her drink, suddenly glared at her with eyes like a sparrow’s.
“I just wanted to see your face. Lan is amazing, right? And I have something to discuss with you.”
Clang!
Yeohwarang’s playful remark shattered Wolhyang’s glass in her hands.
Shatter—!
The spilled alcohol froze solid in mid-air before it could reach the table.
“You...!”
“Just kidding. If I mention Lan, you react like this. I can’t even joke with you. Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on Lan because of you.”
A terrifying aura emanated from Wolhyang, but Yeohwarang laughed it off lightly.
“What do you mean ‘have something to discuss’? Tell me. I’ll pass it on to Lan.”
Wolhyang, usually as blunt as ice, reacted strongly to such a question. It was rare, no matter how related to Lan.
Amused by her reaction, Yeohwarang giggled, downed her drink, and wiped her mouth.
“Before that, what is the other Ineung of the kid who had Hwigwang?”
“I was told it was Seolbyeok by someone else.”
‘Hng. They simply removed an ability to steal others’ Ineung and claimed it was the ability to eliminate Ineung. Makes sense. No one would believe such nonsense anyway.’
“There was another interesting human besides the children of that clan. Who is the man who was said to be guarding that clan?”
Chew... chew...
Yeohwarang slowly nodded and picked up a piece of side dish with her chopsticks.
“It was a man who saved those children when the Seo-Wangdo was attacked long ago. He became Lan’s subordinate because of that incident.”
“So does Lan know his Ineung?”
“He knows he handles water Ineung.”
“Really? Then tell me instead. The man is hiding something interesting, so keep an eye on him... Ah, and most importantly, the boy with the ponytail.”
A boy with a ponytail was definitely Haru.
Since Lan had shown great interest in Haru, Wolhyang had also developed some curiosity about him.
“...Why?”
“I can’t see him.”
“What?”
Yeohwarang’s incomprehensible words made Wolhyang’s already cold expression even colder.
“Nothing registers. His Ineung doesn’t respond. Usual strong people break status windows with tricks or illusions, but for him, my Ineung doesn’t work at all. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen this.”
Yeohwarang’s Ineung, like any Grand Duchess, only produced things outside the norm.
And Wolhyang, who had fought her to the brink of death, knew this well.
The fact that such words came from her mouth made Wolhyang nod heavily, taking it seriously.
“...I understand. I’ll pass it on to Lan.”
“Good. By the way, has Lan still not...?”
“What do you mean ‘still not...’?”
“What else? You’re making a dumb face like this. Lan still hasn’t...?”
“Kyaaah!!”
Crash!
Shocked by the awkward question, Wolhyang suddenly overturned the table in panic.
Watching Wolhyang, who blushed and fidgeted when the topic turned to Lan, chew her side dish, Yeohwarang soon resigned herself.
‘Tsk, this one isn’t normal either.’
* * *
The next morning after the unsettling meeting with the Grand Duchess.
At an early hour before breakfast was even ready, Teraden and I hurried toward the main building of the National Academy together.
We were heading there to submit the registration for today’s quests.
With the announcement of successful applicants for the first stage of the Danju Selection scheduled for mid-next month, the main Danju Selection would begin immediately after. We needed to earn registration fees through quests first.
The atmosphere at the National Academy during the break was quite different from the previous semester.
While it had felt empty, desolate, and lonely before, many students were still present this time, enjoying their break.
This was likely because the announcement of Danju Selection passers was still far away.
Those still here were probably waiting for the results like me and also planning to earn registration fees through quests.
“Hey, the quests say we should take Maru with us and send the remaining two separately.”
Teraden pointed out as I scanned the quest bulletin board from the top.
“If we send just the two of them, they’ll definitely fight. It would be better to take one each.”
“We can’t leave them like that forever. People with bad relations end up getting close by fighting. It should be fine. Probably.”
Teraden was right.
Since Junior had been with us constantly since the Okjeo incident, and his relationship with Blanser was still strained.
This was likely because Junior didn’t want to lose to Blanser.
Anyway, I should trust Teraden’s opinion this time.
“Hmm, then it would be better to set the difficulty to easy ones even if they’re far away. We can finish quickly and return. If we finish on the way, we can come back right away.”
“Yeah. We can’t handle normal quests with just the two of them anyway. Most remaining quests are either too easy or too hard—except those, it’s a total wipeout.”
Teraden pointed to several places on the board.
Even though it was early morning, there weren’t many remaining quests.
After excluding a few too easy or too difficult ones, most had already been accepted.
“Then, taking into account their possible failure, we need to prepare five registrations.”
“Let’s pick quests that reward at least two gold ingots as compensation.”
After discussing with Teraden, we selected two quests to complete. Then we headed to the cafeteria for breakfast.