The Nanny's Interest
“You did well.”
Yoo Eunhyeon held out his hand toward the returning Ju Yu-ryeon. She skipped lightly toward him as if hopping into a leap and seized his hand tightly for all to see.
Su Hwa-seon approached as well and wordlessly drew Ju Yu-ryeon into a light embrace.
“You’ve worked hard. At this rate you seem like quite the reliable daughter, yet U-hui is far too greedy.”
“Right? When you meet Mom later, please tell her that for sure.”
Ju Yu-ryeon nodded with exaggerated fuss, and Yoo Eunhyeon, watching her, spoke.
“Still, it looks like your opponent wasn’t easy. You seem to have some internal injuries, so circulate your energy first.”
“Well, becoming the heir of a great sect like Chukhobang isn’t something that just falls into your lap. He’s still a bit young, and my provocations landed properly, so winning this easily was about right.”
“That almost sounds like you would have won even more easily if it had been a real fight instead of a spar.”
“It still wouldn’t have been easy, but at least I don’t think I would have gotten hurt.”
At Ju Yu-ryeon’s words, Yoo Eunhyeon looked at her with a thoroughly fed-up expression. But only for a moment. As if this was no time to play along with jokes, he soon wiped the look from his face and turned his gaze away.
And rightly so—the contest was not yet fully over. They had only just claimed a single victory. When Yoo Eunhyeon turned his head toward the opposing side, Seong Jung-hyeok stepped forward a pace, Ho Won-jik’s injuries apparently already tended to, and addressed him.
“Who will come out next?”
“You decide the next order first.”
Yoo Eunhyeon did not care who his opponent might be, yet if possible he wanted to go last.
A clean sweep would be ideal, of course, but if they lost the next match the burden resting on the final bout would grow far too heavy. He had no desire to dump that weight onto Su Hwa-seon.
Eoheolsangong puts too much strain on the body. So it would be better to fight that woman if possible. They’ll probably name Mother over me anyway—she has better odds of winning.
Such calculations settled in Yoo Eunhyeon’s mind.
Of course the veiled woman’s true identity remaining unclear still bothered him, but judging by the positions and the flow of events so far, there was no reason she would not name Su Hwa-seon.
“Very well. Our next is…”
Seong Jung-hyeok nodded and glanced back at the woman behind him. At that, she walked slowly forward.
Seeing her emerge, Yoo Eunhyeon nodded inwardly. Now that the woman had come out, things would proceed as he expected.
“I name Young Hero Yoo Eunhyeon as my opponent.”
The woman who had stepped forward completely removed her face veil and pointed to Yoo Eunhyeon.
“Me?”
The one most shaken by her nomination was none other than Yoo Eunhyeon himself. He had guessed she would come forward, yet he had never imagined her opponent would be him.
He glanced toward where Seong Jung-hyeok stood; the man showed not the slightest sign of surprise. This was clearly no spur-of-the-moment decision.
Come to think of it… this man has been staring at me ever since I first gave my name. Was it for this reason all along?
He reached that conclusion, yet once named there was no backing down. Yoo Eunhyeon deliberately slowed his steps as he advanced and faced the woman who had worn the veil.
“I am Yoo Eunhyeon.”
“Are you the Young Hero Yoo Eunhyeon who has lived his whole life here?”
“That is correct.”
With matters having come to this, Yoo Eunhyeon found himself curious why the woman was taking such interest in him. He answered warily, and she narrowed her eyes slightly before beginning her own introduction.
“I am Cho-yeong. I belong to the Demonic Cult’s Cheonwidae.”
“The Demonic Cult?”
As Cho-yeong’s introduction continued, Yoo Eunhyeon widened his eyes and repeated the words in surprise.
Given that Heokryeon Sanghoe and Chukhobang were involved, he had not failed to suspect some connection to the Demonic Cult—yet he had never imagined a Demonic Cultist would appear in person.
Su Hwa-seon and Ju Yu-ryeon were equally startled and began murmuring among themselves.
“Cheonwidae—isn’t that the Cult Leader’s personal guard?”
“Yes. An elite unit that protects the Cult Leader and his blood kin. They move so secretly that almost nothing is known about them.”
“Then why Cheonwidae of all people? They only move for guard duty or when given specific secret orders, don’t they?”
“Who knows…”
Faced with a situation that felt thoroughly off, Ju Yu-ryeon and Su Hwa-seon narrowed their eyes as well.
The mere fact that a Demonic Cultist had stepped forward in person for a matter like this was already suspicious. That the Cult Leader’s personal guard, the Cheonwidae, had moved was something common sense could scarcely accept.
“As I thought… so it wasn’t the gold vein after all. There was another purpose?”
Ju Yu-ryeon muttered, still unable to make sense of it. Su Hwa-seon, however, gave no answer. Knowing the relationship between Sa Unsik and Yoo Eunhyeon, she had a faint inkling, yet this was no time to speak carelessly.
Just then Cho-yeong, standing before Yoo Eunhyeon, smiled faintly and offered a greeting.
“I never expected we would meet like this, yet I consider it a fortunate turn of events. Young Hero Yoo Eunhyeon has long held my interest.”
“You know me?”
“I do. Though not very well. I hope this opportunity will let me learn a great deal more about you.”
As she spoke and continued smiling, Cho-yeong’s eyes held a strangely deep light. Outwardly she looked like nothing more than a weathered old woman, yet a thin chill seeped from one corner of her gaze.
“I do not know you.”
“There is no need for you to know me. I came to this affair merely as an observer, after all.”
Cho-yeong cut herself off there and slowly approached Yoo Eunhyeon. When she had drawn close enough to be nearly face-to-face, she curved her lips into a crescent-moon smile and whispered in a low voice.
“I came on the young lady’s request, just in case… I never thought I would actually meet you.”
“……Young lady?”
At the words “young lady,” something clicked for Yoo Eunhyeon and his eyes flashed. In the Demonic Cult, the only person who could be called “young lady” was Sa Yeo-un.
Sensing that he had understood, Cho-yeong let out a small laugh.
“As I thought—you are the one.”
Then, as if steadying her breath, she swallowed and asked again in a quiet voice.
“Yes. I am the young lady’s escort and the nanny who has watched over her since childhood. Since she has no mother, I have served in that place. And yet… I have heard that recently you have grown rather close to that child. That you have incurred no small debt to her as well.”
“Ha, hahaha…”
Only then did Yoo Eunhyeon understand. Why Cho-yeong had been watching him the entire time as if observing him. Moreover, she had just openly called herself the nanny. In that case, her curiosity toward him was only natural.
“In this old woman’s eyes the young lady still looks like nothing more than a little girl, yet the master is already discussing marriage… The thought of sending her away already tears this old heart to pieces.”
Cho-yeong clutched at her chest with exaggerated gestures and lamented, then soon gave a small, dry cough.
But only for a moment. She returned at once to a neat posture as if nothing had happened.
“Yet it is not as though there is no method.”
The gleam that flashed between her wrinkles was far too sharp, and for that reason all the more chilling.
Seeing it, Yoo Eunhyeon felt a nameless anxiety slowly tightening around his throat.
“If I simply follow the young lady’s orders as commanded… everything will return to its proper place.”
Cho-yeong lightly exhaled a sigh as she finished speaking, yet in that instant cold sweat trickled down Yoo Eunhyeon’s back. He could tell without needing any further explanation what her “solution” meant.
—There’s one way, you know. Just kill that marriage candidate Father picked out. If he’s dead and gone, even Father can’t force the marriage.
Eliminating the other party. Quite literally the surest and most decisive method of all.
“I trust Young Hero will understand the young lady’s grand design as well.”
At Cho-yeong’s words Yoo Eunhyeon drew a heavy breath and raised his voice.
“Th-this spar is lost if you kill, you know!”
Unable to hide his fluster, Yoo Eunhyeon spoke thus, and Cho-yeong briefly lifted her eyes.
Then she slowly drew up the corners of her deeply wrinkled mouth. That distinctive crescent-moon smile of hers.
“For the young lady’s sake I would not mind killing you and losing. I am only an observer, after all. Even if I lose, the responsible party—the Vice Leader of Chukhobang—will take the blame.”
At those words Yoo Eunhyeon took another step back. Cho-yeong closed the distance he had opened and whispered thickly once more.
“But before that… I am also extremely curious about you, Young Hero. I simply cannot understand what about you so captivated our master that he would entrust the young lady to you. It is driving me mad with curiosity.”
Her gaze slowly swept over Yoo Eunhyeon.
“Such is the heart of an old woman. Unless I see with my own eyes and experience it myself, I simply cannot let it go.”
The final words were soft, yet their true meaning was anything but light.
In the end Yoo Eunhyeon slowly steadied his breath and drew up his energy toward Cho-yeong. He had already sensed that this was a fight he could not avoid.
The bewilderment that had flickered across his face moments earlier vanished, replaced only by a coldly settled resolve.
“What on earth were they talking about?”
Ju Yu-ryeon, who had been watching the scene blankly from behind, soon asked Su Hwa-seon with a worried face.
“I wonder. He is not usually like that…”
“It is strange. There is no way he would talk that long with a stranger without our noticing.”
“Perhaps… they are not strangers after all.”
Su Hwa-seon narrowed her eyes as if something had occurred to her.
In truth, Cho-yeong’s blatant show of familiarity had been suspicious from the start. Moreover, considering everything Yoo Eunhyeon had gone through before arriving at Uiseon Suga, it was reasonable to believe that people on both the Demonic Cult and Cheonmumaeng sides already knew of his existence.
Above all, Yoo Eunhyeon was a man directly entangled with the Thousand-Year Dark Demon and the Twin Sages of Sword and Blade.
The possibility that his name had become known was by no means low.
“Something feels off… huh?”
Ju Yu-ryeon frowned and muttered, then lifted her head.
“At least it looks like they are going to fight.”
She still did not fully grasp the situation, yet the moment both of them lowered their stances at the same time she abandoned further thought.
She steadied her breath as if shaking off stray thoughts and focused her gaze on the spar about to unfold before her eyes.