Broken Vows in the Rain

The study of the Namgung Clan Head.

"Sit."

"Father!"

"Did I not tell you to sit?"

Namgung Shin stared at his father, Namgung Yun, as if he could not believe what he was hearing.

"You are the Young Clan Head of the Namgung Clan."

"That is—"

"That office means you have sworn to give everything for the sake of this family."

"Is the Manri Merchant Group not enough?"

"The times have changed."

Namgung Yun spoke with a face of pure ice.

"For this vote on the Martial Alliance Leader, we must have the Jegal Clan's support."

He took a slow sip of his long-cold tea.

"Was that not your grandfather's dearest wish—and the long-held ambition of our house?"

"So you mean to sell me off?"

At those words, one of Namgung Yun's brows climbed.

He fixed his rebellious son with a hard stare and went on.

"Moreover, the match is the eldest daughter of the Jegal Clan—the foremost house of Shandong."

His voice was cold enough to frost the air.

"She is not to be compared with some youngest daughter of the Manri Merchant Group."

Namgung Yun laid a hand on his son's shoulder.

"It will be of great use to you when you become Clan Head. Speak of this no further."

"I cannot accept it."

"The youngest daughter of the Manri Merchant Group can give your future nothing."

"What does that matter—"

"That is what the laws of a clan are for!"

Unable to master his temper, Namgung Yun rose from his seat and jabbed a finger at his son.

"Do you think becoming Young Clan Head settles everything?"

"…"

"Your brothers are sharpening their claws, waiting for you to make a single mistake."

Namgung Yun let out a long breath and sat again.

"What's more, the Manri Merchant Group has already agreed."

"What do you mean ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by that?"

"I hear they mean to expand their business into Jiangsu this time."

"Surely you don't mean So-yeon to the Moyong Clan—"

"I do. The Moyong Clan has sent a marriage proposal to Master Wi Jung-jin of the Manri Merchant Group."

Namgung Shin crumpled to the floor where he stood.

Namgung Yun watched his son a moment, then turned his gaze to the stack of correspondence on the desk.

"It will be easier if you simply tell yourself it was never meant to be."

His words were merciless.

"Leave me."

Namgung Shin walked out with a vacant look on his face.

Long after he had gone, Namgung Yun spoke quietly into the empty room.

"Are you there, Flying Swallow Unit Leader?"

A window slid open, and a figure appeared in the still chamber.

"You summoned me, my lord."

"Keep a close watch on that worthless boy."

"Yes."

"If he attempts anything foolish, report to me at once."

"Understood."

When the Flying Swallow Unit Leader vanished, Namgung Yun rose from his seat as if all strength had left him.

He looked out through the open window and sighed.

The sky beyond was endlessly blue—but the heart of the father who had opposed his son's marriage was full of storm clouds.

"Father!"

"No. I have made myself clear."

"How… how can you…"

"The wedding day is already set for seven nights from now. Go and prepare yourself."

Wi Jung-jin, master of the Manri Merchant Group, shouted to the maids waiting outside.

"Take So-yeon away at once!"

The maids seized the arms of Wi So-yeon, who had collapsed on the floor, and hauled her up.

"Let me go! Let me go! Can you not hear me?"

As they dragged her out, the chief steward entered and spoke to Wi Jung-jin.

"My lord—should we not set a watch on the young lady?"

"The Namgung Clan said they would handle the rest."

"I heard as much, but… is the treatment not a little too cruel?"

At that, Wi Jung-jin sighed.

"Everything has its season. Do you understand?"

He looked at the steward and continued.

"A marriage proposal has come from the Moyong Clan—and they happen to be on poor terms with the Geumsang Money House of Jiangsu."

He bit his lip.

"This is our chance to seize every string of coin in both Anhui and Jiangsu."

"It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but…"

"Affection comes with time. That is the natural way of husband and wife."

Wi Jung-jin drank slowly from his teacup.

"And once she understands she has been cast aside, So-yeon will set her heart down as well."

He pressed a hand to his brow.

"Speak of this no more. My head already aches."

"Yes, my lord."

At that same hour, Wi So-yeon was weeping bitterly in her room.

Coo-coo-coo-coo—

Outside came the sound of a bird.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

The persistent knocking at the window finally drew her to open it.

"You…?"

The messenger bird was unmistakably one of the Namgung Clan's.

She checked that no one was near, then sent the bird away again.

Closing the window, she untied the letter that had hung from its leg and opened it.

The hand was Namgung Shin's without question.

Without a moment's hesitation, she began ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to pack.

From that day, Namgung Shin and Wi So-yeon began to act their parts.

Namgung Shin told his father he would go through with the wedding. Wi So-yeon wore nothing but a bright face and let the days pass.

The appointed day drew near.

Namgung Shin packed a traveling bundle, gathered every silver tael he had saved, and tucked them into the pouch at his waist.

He muttered to himself.

"Yes. If we come back with a child, Father won't be able to refuse us."

He climbed through the window and slipped from his quarters in the brief window of the guards' shift change.

Wall after wall he vaulted.

Only a little farther and he would be outside the Namgung estate.

Then a quiet voice spoke behind him.

"Where are you going, Young Clan Head?"

Shhhhing—

Instead of answering, Namgung Shin drew his sword.

Blue edge-light gathered along the blade.

"Put up your sword."

"Flying Swallow Unit Leader…"

"The Clan Head will be here shortly."

"When… since when did you know?"

Wheee—

The Flying Swallow Unit Leader answered only with a whistle.

Moments later, the very messenger bird Namgung Shin had used settled on the man's shoulder.

"You forgot that every messenger bird of the Namgung Clan is under my charge."

"I bought a new one. It had only just—"

"I expected as much. I dusted the new birds with Manri Tracking Fragrance beforehand."

The corner of the Flying Swallow Unit Leader's mouth curved up.

"Which is how I read the Young Clan Head's letter before Lady Wi ever saw it."

Torches flared on every side. The Azure Vault Unit appeared with them—and at their head stood the Clan Head of the Namgung, Namgung Yun.

"You worthless boy…"

"Father!"

Namgung Yun did not answer. Instead he looked past his son to the great gate standing well clear of the wall Namgung Shin had meant to cross.

"Open the gate."

"Yes, my lord."

The Azure Vault Unit threw the gates wide.

"Go."

"…"

"Why do you not leave?"

"I will return."

"No. Do not return. Not ever."

Namgung Yun's eyes were merciless.

"You have just chosen to cast aside ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the name of Namgung—and the office of Young Clan Head!"

The absolute voice of the Namgung Clan Head rolled through the night.

"Get out!"

Under that unflinching roar, Namgung Shin could not make himself move.

Clang—

His sword slipped from nerveless fingers and struck the ground.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Rain began to fall from the night sky.

Bitter rainwater tracked down Namgung Shin's cheeks.

After a stretch of silence, Namgung Yun spoke again.

"Your talent with the blade, and the cleverness you have shown until now—I value them too much. Today's affair will be as if it never was."

He turned his back without another glance.

"Enter closed-door training and remain there until the day before you leave for the Jegal Clan."

Namgung Shin sank to his knees.

"Aaaaaaaaah!"

Shame at a self that could cast nothing aside.

The vow he had failed to keep for the woman he loved tore through his chest like a hooked blade.

High on a rock above the valley, Wi So-yeon clutched her traveling bundle to her breast and stamped her feet.

The rain only grew heavier.

She watched the path he had always taken and nothing else.

"Why isn't he coming?"

The promised hour had long since passed.

Her clothes were already soaked through.

"He will come. He will. He has to."

She gripped the lily pendant Namgung Shin had given her until her knuckles whitened.

Storm clouds buried the morning sun. She shook violently in the cold.

"Shin… why won't you come…"

Then footsteps sounded on the mountain path.

She turned toward them with the last of her hope.

But Namgung Shin was not there—only the chief steward and a party of maids.

The steward spoke in a low voice.

"The master says you may return whenever your heart changes."

He left the maids behind and turned away, adding as he went:

"I am told Young Master Namgung has already entered closed-door training of his own free will."

He finished the cut.

"Begging the Namgung Clan Head's pardon for his own foolish crime, no less."

At those words, the legs that had held her so stubbornly gave way.

Thud—

"Hic— hic—"

She wept without restraint.

When at last the tears ran dry, Wi So-yeon tore the pendant from her throat.

She raised her arm to hurl it into the valley—and could not bring herself to do it.

So Wi So-yeon was carried home to the Manri Merchant Group on the backs of her maids.

When Namgung Shin had finished the whole tale, tears stood in his eyes.

"It is nothing but a worthless scrap of the past."

He repeated it as if to soothe himself.

"Lady Wi—no. Lady Moyong—went to the Moyong Clan as a bride. She will have lived well enough, I am sure."

Yeong-hwa, who had listened with intent care, drew a handful of rice from his pouch and scattered it across the floor.

He studied the shapes of the grains with careful fingers, then closed his eyes.

A moment later he spoke.

"Clan Head."

"What is it, Taoist Yeong-hwa?"

"I cannot read the fates of those I have never seen. But those I have looked upon, I can roughly grasp."

Yeong-hwa forced the words out.

"The husband of Lady Wi—the Clan Head of the Moyong—his destiny is a savage one."

He went on slowly.

"A destiny drowning in greed."

At that, the Namgung Clan Head's eyes widened.

"It means a fate that never rests content with what it holds, and spends a lifetime coveting what belongs to others."

"You mean…"

Yeong-hwa glanced about, then lowered his voice.

"Likely that includes women as well."

Pity crossed the boy's face.

"After that day, Clan Head Namgung cut off every thought of the Moyong Clan, did you not?"

"What good is clutching a past that is nothing but regret?"

The Namgung Clan Head wiped his eyes on his sleeve.

"One can only forget, and let go."

Yeong-hwa's voice turned bitter.

"The spouse-fate of the Moyong Clan Head is cruel."

"And if that is so?"

"Then there will have been much friction with Lady Wi."

Finished, Yeong-hwa lifted his gaze to the thick red moon.

"An unhappy present has a way of calling a happy past more sharply to mind."

He walked toward the torch stand.

In his hands he held the strips of cloth the strange men had worn bound about their brows, gathered into a bundle.

Yeong-hwa's mouth curved. He eased his sword a finger's breadth from its scabbard and set his thumb to the edge.

Blood welled from his thumb.

He cast the cloths onto the torch stand and flicked the blood from his thumb across them.

"If you meant to carve meat that was not yours, you pay the price."

Yeong-hwa closed his eyes and began to chant the mantra.

Whooooooosh—

The instant the last syllable left his lips, the flames of the torch stand leapt up in a mad, roaring blaze.

A look of grim satisfaction crossed Yeong-hwa's face.

"For a good while they won't even dream of sleeping—not with pain like a burn crawling over them."

When Yeong-hwa returned, Hyeonsong asked,

"What now?"

"We make the culprit walk out of his own accord."

Yeong-hwa turned to Namgung Shin.

"Clan Head—what if you gave your consent to the Second Young Master's marriage?"

"That is…"

"One must not repeat the mistakes of the past, must one?"

At Yeong-hwa's words, the Namgung Clan Head could not hide the bitterness that crossed his face.

"True enough. At least that second boy of mine had courage."

Namgung Shin looked up at the night sky with a hollow expression.

"In those days I did not even have the steel to throw everything away and run."

Then something like resolve settled on his features, and he looked at Yeong-hwa.

"Taoist Yeong-hwa—I would hear your plan for what comes next."

At that, Yeong-hwa smiled, bright and sharp.

"I have been waiting for those very words."