Moments and the Present
“The First Young Master is currently visiting the headquarters of Geomga Jeonjang within the main family,” the head steward reported.
The Third Young Mistress and Fourth Young Mistress, already fully prepared, rose from their seats at once.
“We will head to Geomga Jeonjang immediately.”
Yet the head steward, who was meant to see them off, hesitated before continuing.
“However…”
When the twin young mistresses turned their eyes upon him, the steward bowed his head as if ashamed to meet their gaze.
“At this moment, those wearing the red uniforms of the Investigation Department are approaching Geomga Jeonjang.”
Both pairs of eyes widened.
“The Investigation Department…?”
The words had barely left their lips when a messenger from the Luoyang Sword Family’s intelligence bureau came racing into the residence.
“Central Investigation Department forcing entry. At the lead… the First Young Master.”
As the Fourth Young Mistress read the intelligence slip, the head steward spoke with difficulty.
“…It appears the bloodshed has already begun.”
Geomga Jeonjang, main headquarters, front gate.
The headquarters of Geomga Jeonjang was one of the places within the Luoyang Sword Family that saw the greatest number of outsiders come and go. For that very reason, the garden before its main gate had been laid out and maintained to display the power and influence of the foremost family under heaven—a place that never ceased to be spoken of among those who discussed elegance and refinement.
“……”
That front garden now bore a form almost impossible to reconcile with its original appearance. Patches of earth had been torn up as though a giant had raked through them, and blood flung in every direction glistened under the lantern light.
“……”
When they drew breath, the thick reek of blood and the stench of filth that had spilled from corpses stabbed into their nostrils.
“…Ugh!”
“……”
The Third Young Mistress and Fourth Young Mistress felt bile surge and covered their mouths at the same moment. Corpses lay scattered throughout the garden, heads shattered, no distinction among them. Judging by the blood-soaked garments, they were unmistakably warriors of the Luoyang Sword Family. Yet their bodies had been left without the slightest dignity, strewn about like refuse dumped in the streets.
As members of the Luoyang Sword Family themselves, blood and death were not entirely foreign to the sisters. But the sight of warriors left to sprawl in death without honor or ceremony was utterly alien. This was neither a martial contest nor the aftermath of a duel.
The head steward’s voice brushed through their minds. Right now, you two are about to set foot upon a battlefield of a scale you have never experienced.
This place was a battlefield.
The contents of the slip they had seen before departure also rose in memory. Forcing entry. At the lead—the First Young Master.
As if to complete the note’s meaning, the warriors assigned to their escort whispered among themselves.
“…All of them taken down in a single stroke.”
“…Judging by the remaining traces, the large ones were all left by the dead warriors.”
“…Then the First Young Master avoided every one of them and crushed each skull with a single blow?”
“…The rumors weren’t mere exaggeration. His realm seems far from ordinary.”
Without doubt, this horrific scene had been wrought by their eldest brother’s own hands. For an instant the gentle figure from distant memory flickered before them. What sort of person was their eldest brother now? What face did he wear?
“……”
“……”
The two young mistresses could not bring themselves to look straight at the corpses.
“Reporting.”
Escort warriors who had gone ahead to assess the situation returned and reported to the captain of the sisters’ guard.
“At this point the forced suppression is finished, but scattered resistance still remains. The Central Investigation Department is concentrating on the arrest of suspects and the search and seizure.”
“The First Young Master is presumed to be in the annex area at present…”
“Whether Central Investigation Department or Geomga Jeonjang, both sides are extremely on edge. They are not hostile, yet they are in no mood to welcome us either…”
The young mistresses heard every word of the report.
“Young Mistresses. You have heard the situation.”
The captain of their escort addressed the two sisters as they nodded.
“Even under these circumstances, must you still go in?”
No sooner had he spoken than a scream erupted from within the main buildings.
“P-please…! I’ll say anything—just spare my life!”
A member of Geomga Jeonjang, one wrist severed, was being dragged out bound and howling.
“Ah—!”
His feet tangled under the merciless pull of his captors and he toppled. Blood gushed afresh from the barely stilled stump of his wrist.
“Aaaah… Aaaaaaargh!”
He screamed at the sight of his own hand. Whether he had soiled himself or not, a foul stench joined the air as the crotch of his trousers darkened and a yellowish puddle spread across the ground.
“Quiet!”
One of the men in red uniforms escorting him kicked him full in the face without hesitation. The ruthless blow sent the suspect sprawling backward; blood mixed with teeth sprayed in a wet scatter.
“Well done. Quiet at last.”
They roughly sealed the unconscious man’s pressure points to stop the bleeding, then hauled him past the sisters’ party like a sack of goods.
“……”
“……”
Their eyes met the captain’s for an instant, yet the red-uniformed men spoke not a word. The captain and his warriors merely stepped aside; they did not even exchange a nod of greeting. The Third and Fourth Young Mistresses made no move to step forward and demand one either.
“The situation inside will be far worse.”
At the captain’s words the twin sisters’ gazes locked. Whatever resolve they had steeled themselves with, if they failed to meet their eldest brother here and now, they felt they would regret it terribly.
“…We’re going in.”
Hands tightly clasped, they told the captain. He swallowed a sigh and ordered his men.
“We enter now. Leave no blind spots.”
Along the walls of the corridor, handprints painted in someone’s blood stretched in long smears.
“……”
From somewhere far off, shouts and screams echoed down the length of the hallway.
“Do not look left or right.”
Obeying the captain, the escort warriors closed ranks more tightly, blocking the sisters’ side vision. The wide-staring eyes of corpses that had been rolling on the floor were hidden from view.
“Simply watch your feet and walk.”
One warrior nudged an ownerless arm aside with his boot.
“……”
The Third and Fourth Young Mistresses lifted their hems slightly and stepped carefully, trying to avoid the blood that had seeped into every crack of the floor. Yet even that proved futile; their long skirts had already soaked up blood from somewhere and hung heavy.
“Good. Let’s see if you still refuse to speak properly after this, you bitch.”
Voices thick with murderous intent bounced along the long corridor.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
Desperate screams seemed to cling stickily to their ears.
“Urgh?!”
The stench of blood had grown so overpowering that even with their sense of smell half-deadened it still made their heads swim.
“Stop! Stoooop!”
Just as the endless screams made them want to clap their hands over their ears and sink to the floor of the corridor that seemed without end, a scout came running.
“The First Young Master is ahead.”
They had no time to prepare their hearts. The moment they rounded the corner of the corridor, the escort warriors parted, and the First Young Master stood before them.
His outer robe of black silk thread was soaked with blood, reflecting the red lantern light. Dried blood caked his hands; fresh crimson spatter had reached up under his face and stained the plain white under-robe beneath the black silk.
“……”
Their gazes met his.
And they thought: the one standing there is a figure terribly, utterly strange.
Yet the courtesy drilled into them as members of a great house moved them by reflex.
“Eldest Brother…”
“It has been a long time.”
Yeon So-hyeon’s expression as he looked upon them was… complicated, impossible to pin down. It seemed anxious, yet also glad. His lips tried to form a smile and twisted instead. His eyes steadied only to tremble. Whether his brow was furrowed in difficulty or drawn tight with aching tenderness, they could not tell.
“Brother…?”
At the Third Young Mistress Yeon Da-eun’s voice he seemed to start and come to himself.
“…Yes.”
His voice shook, rough as though he had not spoken in decades.
“…It has been a long time.”
And in that moment they felt the hearts that had been hammering with unease suddenly ease. That voice. Those eyes. The unreadable expression had been the same mixture of anxiety, gladness, and longing that they themselves felt. They realized they must be wearing the very same face as their eldest brother before them.
“Truly… it has been so long…”
And so, when he called them by the childhood names of long ago—
“Eun-ah, Hye-ah.”
—they could smile brightly.
“Yes, Brother.”
It was a natural smile that rose from the deepest place in their hearts, without a shred of falsehood.
“Ah…”
And because of that, when he began to open his arms and then hesitated, flustered by the clotted dried blood, they could step toward him first.
“Me…”
As they drew near, the faint tremor in the fists he held clenched was so clear that their chests ached. Their eldest brother was far taller and broader than before, yet somehow he still seemed the small child of those days.
At that sight something rose unbidden: the eldest brother who had laughed and splashed with them in the stream of memory; the eldest brother who had sat them on his knees and told them old stories; the eldest brother who had always greeted them with open joy. They were not without points of contact with him. Those memories had simply been so small, so woven into everyday life, that they had forgotten them until now.
“Do you not resent this brother of yours?”
And so they could take the hands he tried to hide without the slightest hesitation. The twin sisters each clasped one of Yeon So-hyeon’s hands and nodded.
“We don’t resent you at all.”
Yeon Da-eun felt her eldest brother’s hand give a great shudder at her words. His hand was large and warm. Then Yeon Da-hye, tears trembling on her lashes, shot her twin sister a sideways look for no good reason.
“…Liar. You were always grumbling and blaming Eldest Brother.”
“Hey…!”
Yeon Da-eun, likewise with tears welling, flushed scarlet and cried out.
“You idiot! Why would you say that now?!”
“If you’re glad, just say you’re glad. Lying for no reason is just unsightly.”
They looked up at him in startled eyes when the hands they held gave a violent jolt.
“Hahahahaha…”
He was laughing—laughing as though he found it endlessly delightful, thoroughly joyful. Without realizing it they, too, burst into loud peals of laughter after him. The corridor, which had fallen quiet as if sensing the mood, rang with the laughter of the siblings.
A rear garden of Geomga Jeonjang.
While the escort warriors of the Third and Fourth Young Mistresses maintained a tight perimeter at a distance, the siblings stood together.
“If Eldest Brother intends to do that…”
“We want to help you too, Eldest Brother.”
At the girls’ brazen words Yeon So-hyeon found himself momentarily speechless.
“……”
What should he say? That it was dangerous, that protecting them was his role? Or that he must give permission even while watching them leap straight into danger? These children were not like the Fourth Young Master Yeon Bi, born and bred amid blood and slaughter. He could not use them as he did the Fourth Young Master. Nor was the power of their maternal Ha family great enough within the Luoyang Sword Family to keep them safely protected. Even his peerless strategic brilliance was of little use in a situation like this.
What would Father have said in a moment like this…?
Feeling the two girls still tightly holding his hands and pouring warmth into them, he opened his mouth.
“…Will you not regret it?”
They nodded without the slightest hesitation.
“If we hadn’t come here today…”
The Fourth Young Mistress Yeon Da-hye spoke while looking at her elder sister. The Third Young Mistress Yeon Da-eun smiled at her younger sister and continued.
“If we hadn’t met Eldest Brother because of that, we would have regretted it instead.”
They looked at Yeon So-hyeon and spoke together.
“We will not regret it.”
Yeon So-hyeon closed his eyes for a moment and settled his heart.
“Very well…”
He spoke the answer his father would have given.
“Go ahead. Do whatever you wish to your hearts’ content.”
He opened his eyes and smiled. Even if plain danger lay ahead. Even if some mighty power sought to strike at them.
“This brother of yours will see to it that no one can lay a hand on you.”