The Fox's Gambit
After finishing the cleanup, they boarded the carriage once more.
The traces of the dead wanderers had been thoroughly erased, and the unconscious Jongli Hyeok was left by the roadside.
Since the memories of the attendants—except for Jegal So-dam—had also been meticulously wiped, only two people in the world now remembered the ambush.
Seomun Hwan lounged lazily inside the carriage as if nothing had happened, but Jegal So-dam sat rigidly, still tense.
Seeing her like that, Seomun Hwan chuckled.
“Relax. You’ll get a stiff neck sitting like that.”
“H-how could I? After seeing something like that…”
Jegal So-dam’s voice still trembled.
Even his martial prowess alone was enough to make one shudder, but through her Heavenly Eye, Jegal So-dam had glimpsed what lay beyond.
The figure of the Phantom Demon from his past life, imprinted upon the soul across time and space.
No wonder people called him the greatest of all ages.
Of course, even the Heavenly Eye couldn’t uncover the secret of reincarnation itself.
“So?”
“Yes?”
“Is that all you have to ask? You looked like you had a few more questions.”
Jegal So-dam had asked Seomun Hwan two questions in total.
One was about the swordsmanship skill he had just acquired, and the other was the basis for what had seemed like a reckless provocation.
There were many more things she was curious about, but after witnessing Seomun Hwan’s martial arts, it felt as if all other thoughts had been blown away.
“No, nothing else.”
As Seomun Hwan was about to close his eyes, Jegal So-dam hurriedly spoke up as if she had just remembered.
“Just one! I’ll only ask one more.”
“Go ahead.”
Seomun Hwan answered lazily with his eyes closed.
“It’s about Jongli Hyeok. Hangzhou isn’t exactly a small place.”
One of Seomun Hwan’s eyes cracked open.
“The market alone is crowded with thousands upon thousands of people. How could he have blocked our path at that exact moment, in that exact spot?”
It wasn’t a simple suspicion—it was a precise analysis.
“The chance of it being a coincidence is extremely low. Especially since they had prepared the Sleeping Bomb Squad so thoroughly. It means Jongli Hyeok knew our movements exactly.”
“……So?”
“Someone leaked the information. From the inside.”
Seomun Hwan opened his eyes.
His deep, languid gaze turned toward Jegal So-dam.
“So what are you trying to say?”
“……Well, you see……”
As Jegal So-dam trailed off meaningfully, Seomun Hwan snorted.
“Hah! As expected of the Jegal Clan. Not bad. That was the real question. The talk about the sword and the sparring was just the opening.”
“It’s a rather sensitive topic, after all.”
Jegal So-dam swallowed hard before asking very carefully.
“Did you plan all of this, Young Master?”
The reason Jegal So-dam had phrased it so indirectly was because she suspected Seomun Hwan had orchestrated everything.
In a way, it was only natural.
Because the only one who benefited from the incident was Seomun Hwan.
“What? You think I’d stoop to such a cheap scheme?”
“……Didn’t you?”
“I merely picked up a pumpkin that rolled my way. Someone else set the stage.”
When Jegal So-dam saw Seomun Hwan’s expression, her face filled with surprise.
“You knew? Not just that there was a spy, but who it was.”
“Who do you take me for? Of course I know.”
“Will you tell me? Who is it?”
“Well……”
An unexpected name came from Seomun Hwan’s lips.
“Dang Mi-ju. That bold young lady, I suppose.”
It was also Dang Mi-ju who had first suggested they tour the market.
She had wandered around as if captivated by rare items, naturally guiding the group.
Looking back now, it had all been a meticulously laid plan.
“What?! That peerless beauty?”
Jegal So-dam jumped in shock, completely caught off guard.
“That can’t be. After winning the sparring matches one after another, she was the first to speak up for you. She even praised you with all sorts of flowery words.”
“Foxes always dig multiple burrows. If the best plan fails, they move on to the next.”
“B-but why? What does she stand to gain?”
“Who knows? I can’t say for sure, but I can make a guess. At the very least, one of two things was certain. Either the Heavenly Dragon’s fall, or the collapse of the next Jongnam Sect leader.”
He had known she was an ambitious woman.
But he hadn’t expected her to scheme on such a grand scale.
“If Namgung Cheon-hwi falls, what benefit would she get?”
“Maybe she was in love with the Heavenly Dragon.”
“Th-that’s ridiculous. If she loved him, why would she do something like that?”
“Hey, Jegal. Use that head of yours a little more.”
Seomun Hwan clicked his tongue and spoke as if lecturing her.
“If Namgung Cheon-hwi truly becomes the head of the Namgung Clan, he can’t marry into the Dang Clan as a live-in son-in-law.”
“……Ah!”
That was certainly true.
If Namgung Cheon-hwi became the family head, there was no way he could be with Dang Mi-ju.
There were only two options.
Either Namgung Cheon-hwi stepped down from his position as Young Family Head himself, or he was stripped of it due to some scandal.
“Don’t tell me…… that’s it?”
“In my opinion, it was also that young lady who gave Jongli Hyeok the Sleeping Bomb Squad. Otherwise, how would that idiot have gotten his hands on something so dangerous?”
Jongli Hyeok hadn’t even known the exact side effects of the Sleeping Bomb Squad.
That was why he had recklessly overused his power and collapsed so pathetically.
Was that also part of the plan?
Jegal So-dam rubbed her arms as if she had goosebumps.
“D-did she really do all this for love?”
“Who knows? Honestly, she doesn’t seem like the type to cause trouble just because of love.”
Jegal So-dam gave him an incredulous look.
“……What? That’s not what you said earlier.”
“I was just mentioning one possibility. Besides, even if Jongli Hyeok took the Sleeping Bomb Squad, he probably wouldn’t have beaten Namgung Cheon-hwi.”
The Sleeping Bomb Squad only temporarily boosted one’s internal energy. It didn’t raise one’s level of martial arts.
Even if Namgung Cheon-hwi was still young, he hadn’t looked like someone who would lose to Jongli Hyeok in a sparring match.
“……Then what’s the other possibility?”
“That would be……”
The most likely hypothesis remained.
If the target hadn’t been Namgung Cheon-hwi or Jongli Hyeok……
Was it me?
Come to think of it, he had heard that it was also thanks to Dang Mi-ju’s strong recommendation that he had been allowed to take the Yongbong Gathering’s test.
Thinking about it, simply defeating Dang Mun-yeong in a spar and being the heir of the fallen Kunlun wasn’t enough to warrant an invitation to the Yongbong Gathering.
Did that young lady move things along personally?
He had thought everyone involved was just a bunch of greenhorns, but Dang Mi-ju’s thoughts were hard to read.
Then again, that was how the children of the Tang Clan had always been.
They might not match the Jegal Clan, but when it came to schemes and plots, they were second to none.
Was everything a stage prepared for me? To elevate me? Why?
His connection with Dang Mi-ju was nothing more than a thing of the past.
What reason did she have to plan all this so meticulously for his sake?
“Hmm.”
Seomun Hwan crossed his arms and gazed at the western sky.
* * *
The carriage heading toward Sichuan did not slow down.
Inside the carriage, quieter than a home and sturdier than a watchtower, the silk-decorated interior was calmer and more orderly than anyone else.
Though Dang Mi-ju wore a simple, elegant robe, it only made her beauty stand out even more vividly.
Her smoothly arranged jade-like hair and her captivating red lips.
And in her eyes burned a clearer flame of thought than ever before.
The carriage swayed, but she did not.
At this moment, she was not merely the young lady of the Sichuan Tang Clan—she was an independent will moving toward a single purpose.
Just then, a martial artist approached from outside the carriage and carefully knocked on the door.
“Young Lady, I have something to report.”
“Speak.”
Her voice was gentle, yet it carried an undeniable force.
“Seomun Hwan of the Seomun Clan clashed with Jongli Hyeok. It seems Jongli Hyeok hired wanderers to ambush him.”
Dang Mi-ju’s eyebrows twitched ever so slightly.
“And the result?”
“There were no direct witnesses, but…… there were signs of a large-scale battle in the surrounding area. Upon investigation, the hired wanderers appear to have lost the fight, and Seomun Hwan seems to have escaped safely.”
Dang Mi-ju nodded quietly.
“Just as I thought.”
A smile that wasn’t quite a smile played on her lips.
This entire flow was exactly what she had intended.
It was a plan to make the name Seomun Hwan stand out even more, allowing a greater flame to burn because of Jongli Hyeok’s reckless pride.
But even within all her calculations, there had been one variable.
Seomun Hwan had been too strong.
Jongli Hyeok had lost his will to fight far too easily, and the side effects of the Sleeping Bomb Squad had been less severe than expected.
That was why he had still had the mental leeway to hire wanderers.
If things had gone according to plan, Jongli Hyeok should have been carried away unconscious.
If he had spent a fortune hiring wanderers, it could have been dangerous—but Seomun Hwan had pulled it off once again, as if to show off.
“Understood. You may leave.”
“Yes.”
Dang Mi-ju once again turned her thoughts in the quiet darkness of the carriage.
He’s strong. Unnaturally strong.
Until now, she had thought Namgung Cheon-hwi was undoubtedly the greatest among the rising stars, but now her mind had changed.
It’s not just his martial prowess—his mind is extraordinary as well.
At first, she had merely seen Seomun Hwan as a tool.
The third young master of the Seomun Clan.
Someone with enough martial skill to easily defeat his second brother.
The symbolic value of being the heir of the fallen Kunlun.
But at some point, things had shifted.
The moment his sword tore through the air.
The moment she met those eyes that revealed a depth no one else could invade, Dang Mi-ju had unconsciously taken a step back.
He’s truly dangerous.
Every man she had seen until now had been predictable and simple.
No matter how refined they pretended to be, in the end, they were nothing more than beasts blinded by desire.
Dang Mi-ju knew how to handle such men using her beauty.
But Seomun Hwan was different.
He knew everything, yet acted as if he knew nothing.
Those eyes did not belong to a beast—they belonged to someone who tamed beasts.
Dang Mi-ju suddenly opened the carriage window and looked outside.
The eastern sky.
The place where he would be.
“Just what are you……?”
An indescribable emotion lingered on her lips.
Was it curiosity? Caution? Or perhaps……
She stopped speaking and looked up at the sky.
In the sunset that was turning red, she pictured someone’s figure and, without realizing it, smiled.
* * *
“Young Master! We’ve arrived home!”
As always, Deokheum’s voice woke him from his sleep.
When he opened his eyes, they had already reached the main gate of the Seomun Clan.
“Haaam! We’re finally here?”
The Yongbong Gathering hadn’t been a long trip, but a lot had happened.
They had fought one battle after another, big and small, and there had been unexpected encounters as well.
“As expected, leaving home is nothing but trouble.”
The Yongbong Gathering had been as dull as expected, but it hadn’t been without its rewards.
Hadn’t he picked up the owner of the Heavenly Eye off the street?
As soon as they returned home, Seomun Hwan took care of Jegal So-dam.
“She’s going to be part of the household from now on. Make sure she washes up and change her into clean clothes.”
“Yes. Understood, Young Master.”
“W-wait a moment!”
A flustered Jegal So-dam was dragged away by the servants. Seomun Hwan turned around and asked,
“Where are Father and Mother?”
The moment he finished speaking, someone came running from afar in a hurry.
“My son!”