Chapter 177
Chapter 177
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 177
Chapter Title: Return Journey (4)
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Ju Tae asked as if he couldn’t understand.
“If we let those bastards live and send them back, they’ll bring their gang!”
“There won’t be such a thing.”
Yi Hwan thrust the sword in his hand into the ground.
Thud!
“We’ve hinted that we’re targeting the Empress, so they’re more likely just to leave. In a situation where they don’t even know who we are, would they dare attack us after we crushed the ones they trusted?”
Go Mi agreed with Yi Hwan’s words.
“That’s right. Moreover, this is Zhao Kingdom territory, so as the Great Prince said, the Empress is more likely to prioritize her safety.”
“Then, did you deliberately mention the Empress to them?”
“Yes. Ambitious people always play it safe until they seize what they want. Especially the Empress, who dreams of power beyond even the Emperor.”
Everyone nodded in agreement with Yi Hwan’s confident tone.
Yi Hwan checked his dantian. The pain that had vanished was faintly returning. It seemed his internal injuries had worsened from overexerting himself in an imperfect state.
But it had been an unavoidable choice.
To make the Empress feel a real sense of crisis and send her straight into Yeon Kingdom, he had no choice but to demonstrate overwhelming power. If he hadn’t crushed them, as everyone feared, she would have rallied the survivors to hunt him down.
“Check your injuries first.”
“Yes.”
The clash ended in short order.
An outsider might call it a one-sided victory for Yi Hwan’s side, but the truth was far from it. The enemy had been formidable, and in the fight, everyone except Yi Hwan had sustained minor wounds.
Rip!
Cheol Mu-ok and Ju Tae tore robes from the dead and bandaged their injuries.
Yi Hwan turned to Go Mi.
She bore no external wounds, but she too had suffered light internal injuries.
Hwa Ryeong was in the same boat. In fact, her condition was the worst. Fearing her identity would be exposed, she hadn’t been able to unleash her full martial arts and had taken light cuts alongside internal injuries.
Pa Pa tended to her.
“Bear with the heat.”
Hwa Ryeong grimaced in pain as Pa Pa’s qi flowed into her, but she didn’t forget her gratitude.
“Thank you, Granny.”
“It was a dire spot, yet you hid your skills to the end. Remarkable for one so young.”
“If my cover blew, I couldn’t help the Great Prince anymore, so I gritted my teeth and held on. Did I do good?”
“You did good. Very good.”
A smile tugged at Pa Pa’s lips.
She often spoke carelessly and bent etiquette at times, but Pa Pa took to Hwa Ryeong.
Her sect had once harbored a disciple cut from the same cloth—one she’d treasured like a jewel. That disciple had lost his life helping Jo Gwang escape.
‘There’s a kid here just like you.’
Meanwhile, the two yellow-robed men stared in shock.
‘What the hell are these people...’
They had faced the Empress’s escorts firsthand and knew their fearsome strength all too well. Yet Yi Hwan’s group had dispatched them in mere moments.
What stunned them more: they’d slain eight without losing a single soul.
The yellow-robed men couldn’t tear their eyes from Yi Hwan, the group’s leader.
‘What in the world is that man’s identity?’
Then Yi Hwan issued orders to Cheol Mu-ok and Ju Tae.
“You two—head separately to the Crown Prince’s Palace and the Golden Army. Spread word of my survival. And make it clear: until I step forward myself, no one hears a thing.”
“Understood.”
Yi Hwan gave a few more orders after that.
Moments later, Cheol Mu-ok and Ju Tae departed first, and the group resumed their journey.
* * *
The survivors who had barely escaped knelt before the Empress.
She furrowed her brow.
“Failure?”
“The foes were masters far beyond our grasp. Forgive us!”
“So they all perished, and only you two slunk back alive?”
“......Yes.”
The leader slammed his forehead to the earth and cried out.
Thud!
“Those weren’t the same gang that hit us before. They’re gunning for Your Majesty. Who knows where more lurk—please cross the mountains at once!”
“A different gang?”
“Yes, exactly!”
The leader spoke of the two yellow-robed men Yi Hwan’s group had captured. In truth, they had charged in assuming Yi Hwan’s crew were allies of the yellow-robes, only to meet this fate.
The Empress had believed the same and ordered their extermination while waiting here at leisure. For only two to crawl back was infuriating.
‘Masters these fools couldn’t handle.’
The new enemy sowed more chaos in her mind than the loss of eight men.
That was when it happened.
“Forgive this servant who failed to guard Your Majesty to the end! Achieve the great cause of a mighty empire!”
The leader raised his hand to his temple, intent on atoning with suicide for his failure.
Slap!
His head snapped to the side.
“Who gave you leave to die on your whim!”
“......!”
“Your reckoning comes at the palace. Now lead!”
“Yes!”
As the group readied to move out, the Empress stared westward, her gaze turning cold.
‘Besides the Crown Prince’s Palace, another faction after me?’
She was dead certain this was the Crown Prince’s work. On her return, she’d deploy her ultimate hidden card—even if it meant her final stand—to settle things with the Crown Prince’s Palace once and for all.
‘Could it be......’
A face flashed in her mind.
But she shook her head at once.
‘No. That child would never.’
It was Yi Seong-ji she pictured—drenched in blood at the Palace of Illusory Flowers, blaming her before turning away. His eyes from that day still haunted her at times.
‘Can I swear it’s not him? No rule says the boy lacks ambition.’
Flash!
Her eyes hardened with ruthless chill.
‘The throne is the Second Prince’s—by right, by heaven’s decree. Dare defy it, and even you... I’ll show no mercy.’
The Empress had one fatal flaw: suspicion, once planted, never uprooted. Hwa Ryeong had suffered most from it. The Empress, of course, remained oblivious.
“Your Majesty, we must go.”
* * *
Crown Prince’s Palace, Yeon Kingdom.
Crown Prince Yi So’s face turned to stone. Gwan Ji-baek sat before him, face etched with sorrow, as he continued his report.
“We’ve scoured every network, but the Great Prince’s trail remains cold.”
Yi So clenched his eyes shut.
Yi Hwan’s vanishing act had left him sleepless with dread. Despite unleashing every spy in Zhao, this was the fifth report of failure.
His sliver of hope shattered, plunging him into despair.
Even word of Zhao’s cataclysmic quake—cancelling the martial conference amid horrific devastation—fell on deaf ears.
“Don’t lose faith, Your Highness. The Great Prince is unmatched in strength. He’ll return to you in his full glory.”
Gwan Ji-baek’s words rang hollow. With nothing but faith and waiting left, Yi So swallowed his anguish and shifted topics.
“We’ll dispatch envoys to Zhao. Enemy or not, an unprecedented calamity demands basic decorum.”
“Ministers selected?”
“Heads of the Six Ministries, at least.”
“Doubt they’ll volunteer. They’ve cowered through the Empress’s schemes, each man for himself.”
“Then we force them.”
Resolve gleamed in Yi So’s eyes. Gwan Ji-baek bowed.
“Understood. Preparations at once.”
“Ji-baek.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Yi So locked eyes with him.
“Find the youngest’s trail, whatever it takes. Clear?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
As Gwan Ji-baek rose to leave, a general entered.
“Her Majesty the Empress has crossed our western border into our lands.”
“No word on the youngest?”
“......No.”
Yi So’s face darkened anew—until another general strode in.
“Your Highness, the Great Prince’s herald has arrived.”
“What?”
Yi So and Gwan Ji-baek traded stunned glances. Cheol Mu-ok followed the general in and bowed to Yi So.
“I come before Your Highness.”
“Where is he—the youngest, no, the Great Prince!”
[Clear the room first, Your Highness.]
At Cheol Mu-ok’s sound transmission, Yi So signaled the two generals—save Gwan Ji-baek—to withdraw. Once gone, Cheol Mu-ok revealed Yi Hwan’s survival.
“The Great Prince is unharmed. But due to circumstances, keep it secret until he acts.”
“He’s truly safe?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Haah!”
Yi So collapsed into his chair, head lolling back. Gwan Ji-baek beamed with joy and pressed Cheol Mu-ok.
“When do we see him?”
“No date given.”
Yi So asked.
“Any wounds?”
“None. The Great Prince and all with him are safe.”
“That’s all that matters. Ha ha!”
Yi So laughed at last. Cheol Mu-ok, witnessing it, knew without doubt.
‘His Highness cherishes my lord from the heart.’
* * *
Word of the Empress’s return reached Gong Ya-un’s ears too.
In a lakeside pavilion, sipping tea with aides, he received the report of her safe entry into Yeon territory and curved his lips in a knowing smile.
“By now, she’s seething. Suspicion will arrow straight to the Crown Prince’s Palace—now the real drama unfolds.”
“Won’t she suspect us?”
“Unlikely. Folks fixate on the nearest threat first. The Empress will zero in on the Crown Prince’s Palace.”
“Then we sit back and profit as fishermen.”
“That’s why we fed those fine youths to the fire. For them, we ensure the Empress and Crown Prince’s Palace tear into each other fiercer still.”
“The Elder’s personal hand will make it so.”
Clink.
Gong Ya-un sipped his tea, brow subtly creasing.
“Still, we need the Fourth Prince’s fate confirmed swiftly...”
“Gone dark since entering Zhao. Subordinates suspect the Empress or Southwest King’s hidden play.”
“The script we all saw coming. He walked into Southwest King’s trap anyway—if he’s dead, whose fault? Tsk tsk.”
“With the Fourth Prince gone, Crown Prince’s Palace loses the Golden Army. Benefit to her? To us?”
“However it falls, axing a rival like him is our win. Public thinks him soft—he wasn’t. You saw it: that haughty poise before our lord, utterly unbowed.”
Gong Ya-un raised his cup to his lips.
Clink.
His gaze drifted to the forest across the lake—home to Third Prince Yi Seong-ji’s seclusion annex. Recalling Yi Seong-ji before he shut himself away, Gong Ya-un smiled vaguely.
‘Two ambushes lit our lord’s ambition ablaze. Thanks to Empress and Yi Hwan for clearing the grand plot’s biggest snag? Heh heh.’
Whoosh!
Clink!
A sudden gale roared through like a tempest, toppling the teacup. Tea soaked Gong Ya-un’s robe.
His slit eyes twisted faintly. An unnamed dread washed over him.
“I’ll fetch a cloth.”
“No need. Clothes change easy. To my quarters.”
Gong Ya-un headed off. After a few paces, a branch snapped free and plummeted toward him.
Crack!
Rustle!
He sidestepped effortlessly, but stared at the fallen branch with chilled eyes.
‘What ill portent is this?’