Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Joo Ho-jeong
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“......”
Hearing those words from Ho-jeong, Un-yeop once again fell silent.
A thousand times in his heart he insisted that his liege cherished the young castle lord, yet not a single one of those words escaped his lips.
“Puhuhu...”
Seeing Un-yeop’s endlessly complicated expression, Ho-jeong let out a fairly cheerful laugh.
The man couldn’t even utter a single honeyed word.
What an inept, stubborn fellow.
But Ho-jeong didn’t dislike Un-yeop for it.
‘That’s why I can open up to him like this.’
Perhaps his dear father had anticipated as much when assigning Un-yeop as his guard.
What would he say if Father summoned him later and asked about his true feelings?
Imagining Un-yeop’s flustered face, Ho-jeong shrugged his shoulders and spoke again.
“Even so, I went to the trouble of mentioning the emperor to stir up some real trouble, but there’s not a peep about anyone reporting me.”
Ho-jeong had pretended to be drunk in the brothel, boasting everywhere that he was destined to become emperor.
Had it reached the emperor’s ears, it would have been a mad act warranting execution for treason, but since he remained unscathed thus far, it seemed unlikely to happen anytime soon.
‘If anything, the people who heard are keeping it even quieter.’
No one dared say a word even if Ho-jeong spouted such lunacy.
Tyrant Heaven Castle held that much sway these days.
And to those unaware of the circumstances, it sounded like deranged nonsense, but to Ho-jeong, it wasn’t particularly so.
According to his father Joo Do-han’s “plan,” he would truly become emperor someday.
‘Whether I want it or not.’
“Hoo...”
Facing reality once more, Ho-jeong let out a sigh laced with lament, as if his earlier cheer had been a lie.
In the end, all he could do was peck at the bars of his cage and raise a racket.
Even knowing the door would never open, he yearned for a miracle.
“I’m going to sleep. You may go.”
“...Yes.”
When Ho-jeong rolled over and issued the order to leave in a subdued voice, Un-yeop gave a curt reply, extinguished the lamp, and quietly exited the room.
The guest room sank into silence.
Ho-jeong had closed his eyes to sleep, but he soon had to sit up again.
“Young Castle Lord.”
A woman’s voice echoed from within the room.
Snapping his eyes open and turning his head, he saw a slender silhouette illuminated by moonlight.
“You...”
-Kwang!
“Who are you!”
Right then, the room door burst open as if it might shatter, and Un-yeop charged in, thrusting his spear straight at the woman.
“Stop!”
But Un-yeop had no choice but to halt his strike.
Ho-jeong had restrained him.
“Young Castle Lord...?”
Why on earth...?
Bewildered, Un-yeop watched as Ho-jeong nodded toward the extinguished lamp under the moonlight.
Keeping his eyes fixed warily on the mysterious intruder, Un-yeop cautiously lit the lamp.
The lamp illuminated the room brightly.
Thanks to it, a familiar face came into view, and Un-yeop’s eyes widened as he muttered.
“Chil-ji...?”
“I apologize for startling you with this sudden visit, Senior Hero. The matter was so urgent that...”
The identity of the midnight intruder was none other than Chil-ji.
She had ridden nonstop for two days straight after leaving Hefei and arrived in Ankyeong.
Now knowing who she was, Un-yeop berated her harshly.
“What do you think you’re doing! How dare a mere combat squad member sneak into the young castle lord’s quarters!”
It was a grave offense that could easily be mistaken for an assassin’s attempt—nothing to say even if it led to death.
Un-yeop’s anger was only natural.
“I apologize repeatedly. I had no choice but to commit this breach because I urgently need the young castle lord’s assistance.”
“You wench, even then...!”
“Enough.”
Ho-jeong stopped Un-yeop.
When his stern guard looked to him, he warned in a low voice.
“Don’t raise your voice too much. This isn’t Tyrant Heaven Castle.”
The place they were now was the Xue Clan household.
It would do them no good if the clan members overheard the commotion.
At Ho-jeong’s command, Un-yeop lowered his voice, though his face was displeased.
“...I’ll drag this woman out right now.”
“No, let’s hear her story first.”
“Young Castle Lord...!”
“She sneaked in knowing you were by my side. She could have died if things went wrong, and I’m curious why she risked it.”
“But...!”
“Leave us. That’s an order.”
At the low, firm tone, Un-yeop finally bowed his head and stepped back outside.
Now alone in the room.
Ho-jeong grinned at Chil-ji.
“Long time no see. Has it been... half a year or so?”
“It’s been about a year.”
“Already that long?”
On the surface, it was a fairly amicable exchange.
At least, it didn’t seem like one between Tyrant Heaven Castle’s young castle lord and a lowly squad member.
And rightly so, for Chil-ji had served as Ho-jeong’s guard before being assigned to this mission, just like Un-yeop.
It was a direct order from Castle Lord Joo Do-han, and even Ho-jeong didn’t know the reason.
‘The New Wood Corps is shrouded in secrets from the start.’
The New Wood Corps that Chil-ji belonged to was a peculiar unit.
Established after Joo Do-han became castle lord, alongside the Dark Heaven Corps and Blood Light Corps, its members’ numbers and missions were all cloaked in mystery.
Even Ho-jeong, the young castle lord, knew only two members of the New Wood Corps.
And one of them was the woman before him.
“So? What’s this help you need after showing up for the first time in a whole year?”
“Before that, there’s something I must tell you.”
Chil-ji informed him that his fiancée, Seol Yak-bing, was currently in Hefei—of all places, at the Nangong Clan.
“Huh?”
Ho-jeong let out an exclamation mixed half with incredulity and half with surprise.
He’d thought she was holed up in her room refusing the marriage, but she’d already slipped out of the clan?
“...Impressive. I wasn’t all that interested before, but now I suddenly want to meet her.”
“Will you come to Hefei, then? I’ll escort you.”
The immediate response came as if she’d been waiting.
Ho-jeong narrowed his eyes.
“So the ‘help’ requires me to go all the way to Hefei?”
“...Allow me to explain the situation.”
Chil-ji recounted the unexpected events that had unfolded in Hefei amid her mission.
The sudden death of the Heavenly Light Corps leader and how it had thrown everything into chaos.
“The martial tournament went ahead as planned, but we lost our force to face the Nangong patriarch. So...”
“You’re not asking me to compete in the tournament myself, so you want to borrow Senior Hero as a guard.”
“...Yes.”
Chil-ji nodded gravely.
Ho-jeong regarded her for a moment before chuckling softly.
“You’ve been by my side for nine years... nearly ten, right? You were assigned as my guard right after Father became castle lord and the New Wood Corps was formed.”
“That’s correct.”
Ten years.
A truly long time.
“Time enough for mountains to change. You’ve watched me all that time, so you know, don’t you? I’m not on board with Father’s plan. No, I hate it so much I want to derail it.”
“......”
“And you want someone like me to aid the Nangong Clan’s downfall—the very start of that plan? Why should I?”
Even as Ho-jeong voiced his refusal, Chil-ji’s expression remained unchanged.
She had anticipated his rejection.
Yet she had come anyway, which meant...
“You must have something to pique my interest. Don’t play games—just spit it out. What is it?”
“...You’re already in my head.”
Shaking her head slowly, Chil-ji began to speak.
During the interrogation of the thugs under Jo Un-chil, she had heard what sounded like bluster.
“In investigating the Heavenly Light Corps leader’s death, I heard something strange.”
“Strange story?”
“Yes. It came from one of the thugs present at the scene of his death.”
She planned to persuade him with mere thug testimony?
Ho-jeong’s eyes twitched slightly, but he decided to hear her out.
“And?”
“The thugs said the masked figure who killed the Heavenly Light Corps leader and five members moved in a profoundly mysterious way. Flitting about like a ghost.”
“......”
“They said it was just like something out of a street-side novel.”
Ho-jeong fell silent at Chil-ji’s words.
Unable to read his reaction, she shrugged.
“Honestly, it sounded utterly far-fetched to me. Maybe the man’s mind was wandering as his life hung by a thread.”
“Then why tell me that story?”
“I judged that you, Young Castle Lord, might see it differently.”
Ho-jeong inwardly clicked his tongue at Chil-ji’s evasive reply.
She claimed he was in her head, but to him, it was the opposite.
She knew exactly what to say to keep him from staying still.
‘Nothing’s changed. Not her appearance, nor her knack for reading people’s hearts.’
As mentioned, the time he had spent under Chil-ji’s protection was nearly ten years.
Ten years.
In that span, from a boy lost in fantasies to a youth awakened to reality, she stood before him unchanged, as if defying time itself.
And Ho-jeong found it utterly chilling.
His instincts had constantly warned him. This woman was different.
Not just superior in martial arts.
Something more fundamental.
Over the past nine years, keeping her close while ignoring those instincts had been quite the ordeal.
‘Though it’s let us chat amicably on the surface.’
“What do you think of the story?”
“......”
And now this chilling woman was luring him out.
With a tale he couldn’t help but bite at.
‘Like the whisper of a demon.’
Ho-jeong wrestled internally.
The boy still lingering in his heart clamored at him.
The boy’s pull was faint, yet he felt his resolve shake like never before.
Perhaps sensing it, Chil-ji smiled faintly and rose.
“It was too sudden, after all. I’ll give you time to think. I’ll come again tomorrow at this hour.”
“...Fine.”
A day’s reprieve was granted, but both Ho-jeong and Chil-ji knew what his answer would be.
The next night.
Chil-ji sneaked back into the Xue Clan household with a satisfied smile.
And the night after, a lavish carriage departed Ankyeong for Hefei.