Mission Complete
The protection mission was officially concluded by escorting Yeo I-ryeong to a safe hiding place.
Once that decision had been made, Yeo I-ryeong puffed out her cheeks so far she looked ready to chew the air.
Hiding away in some secret place meant lying low and staying out of sight for the foreseeable future, so of course she was sulking. Anyone would.
Still, there was no other option. After all, it was impossible for her to wander around outside.
Come to think of it, living as the daughter of a wealthy family didn’t look all that wonderful.
Well, then again, that was probably just how women’s lives were in this era.
By that standard, Yeo I-ryeong was living a blessed life.
Before leaving Kaifeng for a safe location, Yeo I-ryeong made it painfully obvious that she wanted one last look around the city.
Once she was shut away in safety, there was no telling when she’d get to come out again, so it was only natural that she’d think that way.
I could hardly blame her for being disappointed.
But Yeo I-ryeong wasn’t that much of a child.
She was being taken into hiding for her own safety. It would be absurd to insist on strolling through Kaifeng first.
She knew that much herself, so she couldn’t quite bring herself to ask outright. She only let it show on her face, and even that was pretty admirable.
“Senior.”
“Speak.”
“Do you have any business in the city?”
At my question, Jeokwol shot me a look that clearly said what nonsense is this?
Then, after glancing at the brightening expression on Yeo I-ryeong’s face, he let out a sigh and said to me,
“This is hardly the time for you to be meddling, is it?”
“I know. That’s why I’m asking you, Senior. If I’m with you, there’s nothing to be afraid of. Right?”
As I said that, I stepped closer to Jeokwol and lightly took hold of his arm with both hands.
I wasn’t sure whether this could be called acting coy, but it was the most I could manage.
Honestly, what was I supposed to do? A cute little voice and acting all adorable were absolutely not an option.
It was a shame to let this excellent face go to waste, but there was nothing I could do about that. The person inside was still a guy.
Fortunately, it seemed to work on Jeokwol.
He stared at me with an expression that said, why is this kid acting like this? then asked through voice transmission,
Why are you going to such lengths for that girl?
It was a fair question. In truth, there was no reason I had to go this far for Yeo I-ryeong.
But if I’d decided to build my reputation, I thought I ought to do it properly.
And if I was thinking that way, there was no better opportunity than this.
I couldn’t use voice transmission, so I just smiled sweetly and looked back at Jeokwol.
Under my gaze, Jeokwol still looked unconvinced, staring at me as if he found the whole thing deeply suspicious.
Finally, he clicked his tongue, looked away, and said, “Do as you please.”
At that answer, Yeo I-ryeong’s face lit up five times brighter than before.
She looked so happy she might just float away.
With that, the decision was made to go into the city, and Yeo I-ryeong busily began preparing for the outing.
She even had her attendants ready in advance.
Watching all that, I couldn’t help worrying a little. Had I done something unnecessary? The thought crossed my mind more than once.
And then it became reality.
Before lunchtime, Yeo I-ryeong took me, Jeokwol, Baek Jin-ah, and Dang Yeong-young into Kaifeng.
Then she threw herself into enjoying the day she’d been given with all her heart.
For one thing, I wasn’t a woman.
Jeokwol, either, had never lived the life of an ordinary young lady.
Baek Jin-ah was no different. She was the Ice Palace’s princess, yes, but the North Sea Ice Palace wasn’t exactly a place of abundance. It wasn’t the sort of place where you could indulge in luxury.
The good thing was that Dang Yeong-young was there.
A woman accustomed to this sort of thing. The only one in our group who could truly match Yeo I-ryeong’s energy.
“Miss Yeo. That fabric shop was better earlier. The one we saw before this one was nicer.”
“Which one? The second? The fifth?”
“The second one. The purple silk.”
“Exactly! I was thinking the same thing! But wasn’t the one we saw fifth pretty good too? That white silk.”
“It was, wasn’t it?”
“Then should we go back to those two?”
“Sure. And while we’re at it, let’s stop by the third place again too. It’s nearby anyway.”
“Good idea!”
...Fine. Wandering around was all well and good, but why were they going back to places they’d already visited? At that point, they could’ve just bought things the first time.
You’ve got plenty of money, so why are you still agonizing over it? Huh? Why did women shop like this?
The funny thing was that Baek Jin-ah didn’t find anything strange about Yeo I-ryeong and Dang Yeong-young’s behavior at all.
If anything, she quietly slipped in and enjoyed browsing along with them.
Seeing that, I realized Baek Jin-ah was a woman through and through.
Maybe she’d just been restraining herself because her environment hadn’t allowed her the chance. Deep down, she probably wanted to do this sort of thing all along.
Unlike Baek Jin-ah, Jeokwol was exactly as he’d been.
His outward expression made it clear he thought all this was a nuisance.
Though, if I was being honest, I wasn’t entirely sure. Maybe inside, he secretly enjoyed shopping like this?
He’d shown some interest in the silk earlier at the fabric shop, after all.
Even if he hadn’t said it out loud, I’d seen the way his eyes lingered.
Still, Jeokwol was a woman, so it wasn’t exactly strange for her to act like this.
Even so, her gaze always drifted around me.
That much was certain. I was Jeokwol’s top priority. Yeo I-ryeong was just a bonus.
Now that she knew that masked Hua Realm expert was after me, it made sense that she’d be like this.
But that still left one thing I couldn’t understand.
Why me? Why target me instead of Yeo I-ryeong?
From the way things looked, it felt like they’d used Yeo I-ryeong’s birthday as an excuse to come after me.
And they were the ones who’d incited the people who came for Yeo I-ryeong, too.
Had I done something wrong? I couldn’t think of anything.
Honestly, I hadn’t done anything to earn a grudge, had I?
What had I even done since coming out into the jianghu?
“Senior.”
“What is it?”
“Do you think the Jiang River Water Bandits have a lot of masters?”
“Why are you suddenly bringing up those water bandits?”
“Ah, well. I did once capture the deputy chief of the Jiang River Water Bandits...”
And so I told him about Jeoksen Ilgoe Gwak So-hwan.
Right—I also needed to go collect that bounty. He probably hadn’t returned yet, had he? It was still a bit early to have gone already, wasn’t it?
“And you think that’s why the Jiang River Water Bandits came after you?”
“They’re the only people I can think of who’d have a grudge big enough to target me.”
“Tch. Don’t talk nonsense. There’s no way a bunch of lowly bandits could have that kind of skill.”
“Oh. Is that so?”
“Of course. Why would someone with that level of skill bother living as a bandit in the first place?”
Come to think of it, that made sense.
A Hua Realm master wasn’t some nobody. Even if a bandit like that existed, he’d be living high and mighty as a boss somewhere, not running around personally doing the dirty work.
“Then I’ve got nothing to go on... Hmm.”
“Hmph. Don’t try to understand the filthy thoughts that fill men’s heads.”
Jeokwol’s face hardened with clear disgust for men as she said that.
Really... I wonder what happened to make her like this?
Anyway, Yeo I-ryeong’s final round of shopping ended well.
Come to think of it, calling it her final shopping trip made the whole thing sound bizarre. Like some last supper or something.
The next day, we escorted a carriage bound for a place a day’s journey away.
But Yeo I-ryeong wasn’t actually in that carriage. There was only a double made to look like her.
After escorting the decoy back, the next day we returned to the Murim Alliance and formally reported the mission as complete.
Then that night, we secretly left Kaifeng for real, this time taking the true Yeo I-ryeong with us.
It was a bit troublesome, but still, this much was only proper.
Besides, it had already been arranged in advance, so there wasn’t anything difficult about it.
“We can... meet again next time, can’t we? I hope we do.”
As we were about to leave after seeing Yeo I-ryeong off, the young lady said that while looking at us with a face heavy with regret.
“I’ll hope for that too.”
When I said that, Yeo I-ryeong bowed her head politely in farewell.
Watching her, I felt a little sorry for her.
What crime had that young lady ever committed? Would there ever be a day when she could live freely?
In any case, after our parting we returned to Kaifeng, and only then could we finally bring the mission to a proper close.
* * *
Jeokwol, having been falsely branded a shameless criminal by Jeokwol, thought her own situation was laughable.
It was absurd. Her plan had been perfect.
That was why she still couldn’t understand it. Why had she failed?
What’s more, the condition of her arms was a disaster.
Both arms were broken, leaving her unable to move freely at all.
And worst of all, she couldn’t even go back looking like this.
Jeokwol had spent a long time in the Sado Alliance.
Which meant she had plenty of enemies. No—plenty wasn’t enough. She had a huge number of them.
If she showed herself in public with both arms broken, it would be no different from shouting, “Please kill me.”
So there was nothing Jeokwol could do. She would have to hide as though dead until her arms healed.
Jeokwol looked at her arms, painfully immobilized by splints, and thought it over carefully.
What on earth was that woman? How could she be like that?
She was suspicious to the core.
Her appearance was almost identical to the Ice Palace’s princess. And on top of that, her martial arts were the same.
Most of all, the fact that Jeokwol’s pressure point strikes had no effect, and that she carried that absurdly heavy sword, had bothered him.
That ridiculous, overwhelmingly powerful single strike.
No matter how he thought about it, something was off. That woman wasn’t just some ordinary girl. She had to be a terrifying master scheming behind the scenes.
But why would such a woman serve as escort for the Manjin Merchant Guild?
Could the Manjin Merchant Guild be involved in this as well?
There was no other explanation.
And it had to be that way. That woman had to be an extraordinary master involved in some incredible conspiracy.
Only then would the blame for his failure be lessened.
With that thought, he forced his badly functioning arms into motion and wrote a report to the Sado Alliance Lord.
The woman who had attacked the Tae family estate was dangerous, he wrote. Something ominous was happening.
He exaggerated everything he had experienced beyond recognition.