Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Contempt
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“Can I take a look at that?”
All eyes in the room turned toward the voice coming from the direction of the shattered window.
“Out of the way.”
Yeon So-hyeon and the Life-Seizing Ghost Sword climbed through the window frame into the room.
Amid the concentrated stares, Yeon So-hyeon brushed the wood chips and such from his clothes.
“Young Master, let me help you.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Jeong-a had approached unnoticed and began carefully helping Yeon So-hyeon with attentive hands.
Once Jeong-a had finished straightening even his clothes, Yeon So-hyeon tilted his head.
“What are you doing? Hand it over.”
The bewilderment on the faces of the Black Bone Faction members turned to anger.
“Who the hell are you?!”
One of the martial artists standing behind Geumju bellowed.
His shout, infused with internal energy, reverberated through the room.
“……Aigoo, my ears.”
Yeon So-hyeon scratched his ear with a clownish expression and continued.
“Can’t you tell from these clothes?”
He pointed to the Life-Seizing Ghost Sword’s attire, drawing everyone’s gaze to the man.
Though the stares should have been burdensome, the Life-Seizing Ghost Sword stood calmly, meeting them head-on.
“……A Sword Clan guard?”
“Hmm…”
Everyone’s expressions grew subtle.
The Sword Clan was a name anyone in Luoyang had to fear, but a mere guard?
That might impress ordinary folk, but they were Luoyang’s infamous outlaws.
Yeon So-hyeon shook his head.
“Be careful. This guy might look like just a guard in these clothes, but he’s an incredible master.”
The subtle gazes shifted back to the Life-Seizing Ghost Sword.
Someone burst into laughter at the sight of the middle-aged man, who didn’t even look like an ordinary martial artist, let alone a master.
“Pfft.”
That set off the entire Black Bone Faction into raucous laughter.
“A master, huh? A master.”
“If that guy’s a master, then I’m the best in the world!”
Geumju didn’t join the laughter but eyed Yeon So-hyeon suspiciously.
“……”
He looked utterly unremarkable, but the man’s brazen confidence left her unable to act rashly for the moment.
“……Tch.”
Smacking his lips, Yeon So-hyeon ordered the Life-Seizing Ghost Sword.
“This won’t do. Go get it.”
“……Understood.”
As the Life-Seizing Ghost Sword stepped forward once, the laughter ceased.
Murderous intent flickered in their eyes.
When he took two more steps, the three martial artists around Geumju prepared to strike in unison.
By the third set of steps, the Sword Clan Bronze Token in Geumju’s hand was now in the Life-Seizing Ghost Sword’s.
“……?”
Geumju, who had been holding it herself, was the most shocked.
She’d only felt a slight breeze ruffle her hair, and suddenly the token she’d gripped was in his hand.
The same thought flashed through everyone’s minds.
‘A master…!’
A heavy, chilling silence descended upon the room.
“Hmm.”
Ignoring the stunned onlookers, Yeon So-hyeon examined the Sword Clan Bronze Token in his hand from every angle.
Jeong-a asked cautiously.
“Young Master, is it genuine?”
Yeon So-hyeon nodded.
“Yeah, it’s real.”
A dark shadow crossed his eyes as he stared at the token.
“In the past, the Sword Clan Bronze Token was a pledge given to benefactors who had bestowed great favors upon the Sword Clan—a vow to repay that grace anytime, anywhere.”
His voice was subdued.
“If a benefactor holding the bronze token faced danger, the Sword Clan’s people would rush there, no matter the place.”
The token in his hand glinted in the sunlight.
“And they would wield their swords alongside that benefactor, even unto death.”
“It was a symbol of absolute trust.”
It was Se-ah’s voice; she had risen from her seat unnoticed.
Having already guessed Yeon So-hyeon’s identity from Jeong-a’s behavior, she couldn’t bear to remain seated in his presence.
Yeon So-hyeon glanced at Se-ah and nodded.
“……Yeah.”
A bitter smile tugged at his lips.
“But now, it’s just a trinket handed off to business partners.”
He lightly tossed the Sword Clan Bronze Token toward Geumju.
Geumju snatched it out of the air with a smack and narrowed her eyes at Yeon So-hyeon.
“As you said, it’s just a trinket, but it’s also proof of safety from the Sword Clan’s blind blades, isn’t it?”
Her words clearly took into account the supposed ‘Sword Clan master’ standing behind Yeon So-hyeon.
“That’s true.”
Yeon So-hyeon nodded readily.
“Ignoring the Sword Clan Bronze Token and acting freely would shatter the trust the Sword Clan has built up.”
A smile crept onto Geumju’s lips.
“If you had real power within the Sword Clan, you might smooth it over somehow, but that’s not likely, is it?”
Yeon So-hyeon shrugged in agreement.
Geumju spoke with conviction.
“You must be that famed Swordless One.”
A thick sneer curled her lips as she uttered the derogatory title ‘Swordless One.’
“Yeah, I’m Yeon So-hyeon.”
No sooner had Yeon So-hyeon finished speaking than Geumju burst into laughter.
It was laughter that seemed to choke her.
After laughing for a good while, she wiped the tears from her eyes and opened her mouth.
“Ah, I was scared shitless. You look all crumpled up.”
Her gaze turned to Yeon So-hyeon.
That downward gaze carried clear contempt.
“What brings a lord who wastes away playing at immortality, letting his sword hand rot, to a place like this?”
Jeong-a’s delicate brows twitched at her arrogant words.
“It’s nothing much. My maid had business with the pavilion master here.”
Yeon So-hyeon remained nonchalant.
“Got tired of wrecking the Luoyang Sword Clan from the inside, have you? Now you’re wandering outside, tarnishing the family name?”
Se-ah slammed her pipe down on the table with a clack.
“Geumju, watch your words. No matter what anyone says, this man is the Sword Clan’s…”
“The Sword Clan?”
Geumju scoffed.
“To you, this naive young master who knows nothing of the world looks like the Luoyang Sword Clan?”
Jeong-a gritted her teeth at the words.
“……”
But in the end, she couldn’t step forward.
She knew that speaking up with her powerless self would only make her master’s honor an even greater joke.
“Good grief, it’s ridiculous…”
Geumju let out a hollow laugh and swept back her hair.
“Pavilion Master Hyunwol, still haven’t figured it out? What gives me the confidence to act like this?”
She shook the Sword Clan Bronze Token in her hand.
“You see, I’ve got this. It’s not some golden lifeline like the one dangling from a nominal eldest young master of the Luoyang Sword Clan.”
Her voice rang out shrilly.
“I’m no powerless nobody shut out from even the fringes of power! The closest confidant of Second Young Master—one of the true heirs of the Sword Clan—met with me again today…”
As she spoke, Geumju’s gaze lingered on Jeong-a.
“Met with me again today…”
Trailing off, she stroked her chin and alternated looks between Jeong-a and Yeon So-hyeon.
Then, as if realizing something, she pointed at Jeong-a.
“You! You’re that troublesome wench he mentioned!”
“……”
Jeong-a squeezed her eyes shut.
The tip of that finger felt like it pierced the most fragile depths of her soul.
“Ah, what a funny coincidence. I heard about it this morning, and now I meet the very person involved.”
Geumju strode toward Jeong-a.
“……That’s far enough.”
The Life-Seizing Ghost Sword blocked Geumju from getting any closer to Jeong-a.
But before the Sword Clan Bronze Token, that was the extent of what he could do.
“Hey, speak up. Why’d you kick away that golden opportunity to become Second Young Master’s concubine with your own feet and run straight to that Swordless One? Huh?”
Geumju mocked Jeong-a with the eyes of someone observing a bizarre creature.
“No, even if not a concubine, just being a plaything would’ve been better, right? What do you expect to gain trusting a wastrel like this?”
Jeong-a stepped in front of Yeon So-hyeon, blocking Geumju’s pointing finger.
“Don’t insult my master. He’s a noble figure you have no right to casually defile with your mouth.”
Despite Jeong-a’s protest, Geumju just cackled it off.
“A noble figure? Sure, the noblest. He threw away every right he was born with, shirked all responsibility, and lets his own family point fingers at him…”
Blue flames sparked in her eyes.
“Still, he’s far nobler than a base street wench like me.”
Jeong-a met Geumju’s terrifying aura without flinching.
But,
“……”
She had no rebuttal.
Swordless One.
That was a name mocked not just in the Luoyang Sword Clan, but in the vast city of Luoyang itself—even throughout Henan Province.
People knew the Luoyang Sword Clan, hailed as the world’s greatest family, all too well, and thus knew all too well about the family’s recluse, the Swordless One.
While his father, the retired family head, remained bedridden and poured every ounce of strength into upholding the clan, this son was an unfilial shadow with no presence.
A coward.
A weakling.
Had the Luoyang Sword Clan not expanded and flourished even further during his seclusion, Yeon So-hyeon’s name wouldn’t have stopped at mere mockery.
“Nothing to say? If you’ve got anything at all, I’ll listen, so spit it out.”
It infuriated her.
It infuriated her to no end.
Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon—the master she had seen, the one she had chosen to serve—was not like that, she wanted to shout.
She wanted to proclaim loudly about the Yeon So-hyeon she knew.
But any words from her would ring hollow.
It was the first time she had felt this utterly powerless, with no strength to her name.
Even when she had fled the reception hall like a chased rat from the Second and Third Young Masters, she hadn’t felt this impotent.
To feel such searing helplessness from failing to protect her insulted master…
“How about we leave it at that?”
It was Yeon So-hyeon who wrapped an arm around Jeong-a’s shoulders and pulled her back.
“She’s my one and only personal maid, after all.”
He flashed a simple smile.
“……Any more, and even I’ll have to get angry.”
“It stopped being fun ages ago.”
Geumju snorted, suppressing the chill she felt deep down.
Her head had heated up, leading her to mock Yeon So-hyeon.
But the position of Luoyang Sword Clan’s Eldest Young Master was, naturally, an intimidating one even for her.
She turned her gaze to Se-ah.
“Pavilion Master. No matter how much you wander outside begging for help, those safety nets you’re waiting for aren’t coming.”
Far more than the promised one ke had passed.
“You put pressure on them…!”
Geumju shook the Sword Clan Bronze Token at Se-ah, who glared daggers at her.
“This thing’s a real master key.”
Geumju laughed merrily with a cackle and turned toward the door.
“I was planning to carve a solid warning into that body of yours today…”
She glanced back at Yeon So-hyeon.
“But sadly, an interloper showed up, so that’ll have to wait.”
Escorted by her subordinates, she exited through the door, waving over her shoulder.
“Next time I come, that puffed-up eldest young master won’t be able to save you.”
Geumju vanished beyond the door, her subordinates following like an ebbing tide.
“Geumju…”
Se-ah ground her teeth.
And Jeong-a, who had held on through sheer willpower until then, collapsed.
“Eldest Young Master, I’m sorry…”
Yeon So-hyeon caught her falling body, but she had already lost consciousness.
“Jeong-a!”
Se-ah’s urgent cry echoed desperately.