Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Beggars' Sect
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“Young master, don't you have something else you should say first?”
“…Something first?”
Is there?
Nothing came to mind, so I tilted my head. Chu Ha-ryeong let out a long sigh.
“Huuuuh…”
“…….”
In that instant, her sigh sounded like a dragon's roar.
Instinctively, I realized I had to choose my words carefully right now.
One wrong move, and I might touch the dragon's reverse scale…!
“…Young Master Goon Ja-seong.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“Regarding last night, don't you have anything to say to me?”
Last night? What are you… Oh.
-It's because I don't want to part from you, young master… That's why I asked to do it together…
Chu Ha-ryeong's small voice from under the bright moonlight came back to me.
Damn it… I'd completely forgotten about it at some point!
I looked at Chu Ha-ryeong with trembling eyes.
Her pupils were already unfocused.
That was the sign she was on the verge of extreme fury.
I-I have to handle this right…!
Screw up, and she won't say a word to me for a whole month.
B-but what do I even say?
She said she didn't want to part from me, so should I just say I don't want to part either?
No, too half-hearted. She'd see right through that I forgot all about it.
Tell her the truth, that I'd forgotten? Hell no, she'd try to kill me.
Or play dumb and bolt… Yeah, worst case, worst case.
Every kind of thought swirled through my head, appearing and vanishing over and over.
I was trying my hardest not to let it show on my face when suddenly Chu Ha-ryeong's face caught my eye.
“…….”
Her magnificently blooming beauty, nearing thirty years old, was steeped in melancholy.
The moment I saw that depressed expression, every thought in my head scattered at once, and words tumbled out on their own.
“We're not going to part.”
“…Huh?”
Her eyes widened slightly.
Staring straight at her face, dyed red by the sunset glow, I pressed on.
“We're not going to part. No matter what hardships or crises come our way, we'll never part. I promise.”
Chu Ha-ryeong's icy expression began to melt away bit by bit.
Was the sunset glow intensifying, or did her face flush even deeper red?
“From here on out too, I'll stay by your side.”
“…….”
I had no idea what possessed me to say all that. Chu Ha-ryeong clamped her lips shut tight.
Then she abruptly whipped around, turning her back to me.
“Uh… Chu Ha-ryeong?”
Was she still mad? It didn't feel like it, though?
I tilted my head, watching for her reaction, when a tiny voice, barely above a whisper, reached me.
“…Got it.”
Got it? Got what? Does that mean she's over it?
I waited for whatever came next.
But she didn't say another word—she just slipped straight into her room.
Watching her back vanish from sight, all I could do was gape like a fish before finally mumbling.
“W-wait, you can't just… leave like that…?”
I hadn't even gotten a chance to bring up Joo Ho-jeong, and Chu Ha-ryeong had already gone into her room.
“.......”
By the time the sunset glow had faded away.
I was left standing alone in the courtyard.
-Whiiing
As if by magic, a single gust of wind brushed past me.
*
“Mm~ hmm.”
“…Miss?”
Having finished today's training and returned to the room, Yoo Seol's eyes went wide at the sight of Chu Ha-ryeong humming a tune.
Humming? The miss?
The Chu Ha-ryeong that Yoo Seol knew was a woman of icy temperament who almost never showed her emotions.
And lately, she'd been troubled by something—barely sleeping a wink and sighing all the time.
‘She didn't seem to sleep at all last night either.’
And now, suddenly, humming?
She rubbed both eyes with her hands and dug into her ears with her pinky finger, but that beautiful hum kept drifting out.
“Mm~ Oh? You're back?”
Only then did Chu Ha-ryeong notice Yoo Seol had entered the room and turned to greet her.
The pleasant humming came to a natural stop.
Yoo Seol opened her mouth, feeling an odd twinge of regret.
“Are your worries over?”
“Hm? When did I ever have worries?”
“......."
Yes. Every day for the past few days.
Yoo Seol stared in bewilderment, but Chu Ha-ryeong brushed it off without a care and changed the subject.
“Dinner's almost ready. Go wash up.”
“…Understood.”
She had no idea what was going on, but it seemed Chu Ha-ryeong's worries had finally been resolved.
If they were resolved, that was all that mattered.
Thinking simply, Yoo Seol left the room and headed for the bathhouse.
The moment Yoo Seol stepped out, the humming started up again.
As Chu Ha-ryeong began to hum once more, Goon Ja-seong's final words from earlier replayed in her mind.
-From here on out too, I'll stay by your side.
“…Hmph.”
Chu Ha-ryeong bit down desperately on her lip.
If she didn't, the muscles around her mouth would start moving on their own, and laughter would burst out.
Her emotions weren't obeying her will.
Over ten years of mental discipline felt like a complete waste.
-Thump thump
She pressed a hand to her chest and was startled by how hard her heart was pounding.
Somehow, the beats seemed to be growing stronger with every passing moment.
“…I probably won't sleep well tonight either.”
No, before that—what was she supposed to do about facing Goon Ja-seong's face?
Just as his final words replayed again, and she was cupping her face with both hands—
-Chu Ha-ryeong? You in there?
“Y-young Master Goon?!”
Wh-what? Why is he here all of a sudden?
We just parted ways, and it's too soon.
Does he still have more to say?
-I'll stay by your side.
D-does he mean to follow up on that…?
‘What on earth is he going to say…!'
For a moment, a jumble of thoughts tangled in her head, pulling at each other like a tug-of-war.
Each one insisting it was right, yanking back and forth until the mess grew even worse.
-Uh… bad timing right now? Should I come back later?
At Goon Ja-seong's next words, Chu Ha-ryeong immediately kicked those thoughts far, far away.
“N-no, come in.”
She forced herself to calm her mind and body, then opened the door.
Goon Ja-seong stepped inside with a small cough.
Awkward expression, eyes darting this way and that, unable to settle.
He looked exactly like someone who had come with something awkward and difficult to bring up.
Chu Ha-ryeong ignored the tangled thoughts crawling back up and asked, suppressing the tremor in her voice.
“So, what is it? Do you have more to talk about?”
“…Yeah. Something I couldn't say earlier…”
What could it be, this thing he couldn't say earlier?
Feeling her heart pound even harder, Chu Ha-ryeong waited for Goon Ja-seong's words.
After a brief silence, Goon Ja-seong's lips slowly parted.
But what came out was something Chu Ha-ryeong never could have expected.
“…What did you say?”
“The Young Fortress Lord of Tyrant Heaven Fortress, Joo Ho-jeong… he's here in Hefei right now.”
Chu Ha-ryeong's mind went blank white upon hearing Goon Ja-seong's words.
Who was here? Joo Ho-jeong?
-Eek! What if you keep getting hurt every day?
-Ehehe…
That innocent laugh came to mind.
Back in her childhood, when the inside of Tyrant Heaven Fortress had been her whole world, she had one friend.
A boy older than her who was always scraping himself up here and there, then sneaking over to beg for treatment.
He had been Chu Ha-ryeong's first friend, transcending their four-year age gap—and now, he was the son of her enemy.
That man was here in Hefei.
Chu Ha-ryeong's face naturally grew complicated.
*
At around the time Goon Ja-seong was telling Chu Ha-ryeong about Joo Ho-jeong.
The subject of their conversation himself, Joo Ho-jeong, was thoroughly drunk, being supported by his escorts as he staggered out of Flower Moon Pavilion.
“Hahaha. Pavilion Master, that Princess Yuan… truly the finest wine of my life. Wouldn't trade it for all the gold in the world.”
“Glad it pleased you.”
Flower Moon Pavilion's Pavilion Master saw Joo Ho-jeong off with polite deference.
Joo Ho-jeong waved his hand drunkenly at the Pavilion Master, who bowed his head. Once he was out of sight, the Pavilion Master sneaked a glance at his retreating figure.
A woman had appeared silently behind the Pavilion Master and asked.
“Shall we tail him?”
The Pavilion Master shook his head at the question.
“No need to stir up trouble where there isn't any.”
They had other motives, sure—but on the surface, they'd offered up Princess Yuan as a bribe and fawned over him.
It was an indirect way of signaling that the Beggars' Sect had no intention of defying Tyrant Heaven Fortress.
Chasing after him now would only arouse suspicion. That was the worst move.
Lady Yeo said nothing more and accepted the Pavilion Master's judgment, then continued with her next report.
“That guy from earlier today is hiding out near Flower Moon Pavilion.”
That guy from earlier today.
The Pavilion Master immediately knew who Lady Yeo meant.
The audacious bastard who'd tried to rape Yeji right in the Beggars' Sect branch, Flower Moon Pavilion.
“…He still hasn't learned his lesson.”
The Pavilion Master muttered coldly, then followed up with a question.
“Are we sure he was exiled from Tyrant Heaven Fortress?”
“Yes. We haven't confirmed his dantian is destroyed yet, but his movements are definitely off from usual.”
Even after reaching the end of his life as a martial artist, he still couldn't pull himself together.
‘…No. Maybe that's exactly why he's lost all reason and lashing out.’
The way he'd so casually laid hands on Yeji, he must have fancied himself some big shot warrior of Tyrant Heaven Fortress.
But now that grand self of his had fallen because of a mere courtesan, so of course he'd want revenge.
At least, that's how he'd see it.
“Any chance he's targeting the Young Fortress Lord?”
“No reports of him making a move so far, so probably not. He's after little Yeji, I'd say.”
“…Filthy cur.”
Strictly speaking, the bastard had ended up that way because of the Young Fortress Lord's punishment.
Yet he didn't even dare go after the Young Fortress Lord and was targeting the defenseless Yeji instead?
That wasn't revenge. It was just venting his spleen.
Judging there was no room for even a shred of sympathy, the Pavilion Master turned and headed back into Flower Moon Pavilion.
“And the Sect Leader?”
“Already on the move. No reason to hold back against someone exiled from Tyrant Heaven Fortress.”