Triumphant Return
Word that the First Young Master was returning to the main house began to spread the very moment he stepped into his carriage.
That was how closely every soul in the Luoyang Sword Family had been watching Yeon So-hyeon’s every move since the dawn victory.
Near the main gate of the Luoyang Sword Family, a throng had gathered simply to catch sight of him, and the air was thick with nothing but talk of the First Young Master.
“…So His Highness the First Young Master…”
“…the First Young Master…”
“I heard that last night the First Young Master went into the Agency headquarters himself.”
Warriors who normally paid him no mind at all were now chattering without pause.
“It’s only a rumor, but they say he and the Sword Venerable alone cleaned out the entire Agency stronghold…”
“…Surely that’s exaggeration.”
Guests who had come on other business and found themselves stranded, or who had arrived at first light because of the chaos, traded endless opinions about a Luoyang Sword Family on the brink of upheaval.
“…This affair may overturn the entire order of the Luoyang Sword Family.”
“I expected some shock, but as far as that?”
“Of course. This is far more than the First Young Master simply restoring order after last night’s turmoil.”
“…True enough.”
“What the First Young Master faced last night—indirectly—was every single person who had opposed him.”
Even in one corner stood a cluster of men in official robes: the vice-governor of Luoyang and other top-ranking bureaucrats. Unable to mingle with the family, they stood isolated like sacks of borrowed grain. After vanishing completely during the crisis, they had chosen the Luoyang Sword Family over the central offices, waiting here for the First Young Master. Their motives were so transparent that the onlookers could only snicker.
Yet even those officials drew fewer stares than the men standing in the very front rank.
The elders of the Luoyang Sword Family.
“…You were unharmed last night?”
“Thanks to you, nothing of note.”
Those same high-nosed, famously immovable men had all, as if by prior agreement, gathered at the main gate.
Truly, seas have turned to mulberry fields.
It was the most exact description of the First Young Master’s transformed stature.
…Still, many faces are missing.
They did not mean those away on duty. Overnight, the highest ranks who had obstructed the Supreme Operations Committee had simply vanished without a trace.
…They could not have fled like ghosts.
Most likely…
…most of them have been taken.
A neutral elder wiped cold sweat from his brow.
If the rumors are true, that bloody purge of years past was the First Young Master’s work as well.
That was the end of the transmitted whispers. As though by prior pact, they spoke no further, only struggling to hide their unsettled faces. Seasoned as they were in the Luoyang Sword Family’s political arena—said to rival the imperial court itself—they could not begin to guess how the family would now turn.
Among them stood the Elder Council Head.
“So even the Elder Council Head has come?”
The so-called Little Giant, a solidly built old man, scowled inwardly and turned.
“…The First Young Master returns after laboring through the night. Is it not proper to show one’s face?”
“Is that so?”
The man who chuckled at the reply was an elder of the present family and former sect master of Jeomchang.
“A man of the Elder Council Head’s station would hardly learn only now that the First Young Master toiled all night…”
This was the same former sect master who had once taken Yeon So-hyeon’s hand and handed over the Third Young Master’s intelligence. He continued with open sarcasm.
“Nor would he only now learn of the chaos that swept Luoyang. Yet here he appears only after everything is finished.”
Last night the Elder Council of the Luoyang Sword Family, for all its fame and power, had been nowhere to be found. While Luoyang itself burned, the elders had splintered into factions for their own political gain; some had even aided the corrupt Yeon bloodline, blinding and obstructing the Supreme Operations Committee. Only the elders of the War Department had, once the order came, voted to commit troops—and that had been the whole of it.
“…Strange words, coming from a sect master who belonged to the Third Young Master’s camp.”
As the Elder Council Head said, the conduct of the elders aligned with the Second and Third Young Masters had been even worse. Half the Second Young Master’s elders—the chief architects of the chaos—were already under arrest, while the Third’s had fanned the flames like men stoking a burning house. Now every one of them faced investigation by the Central Inspectorate.
“Heh heh. So my fellow elders made a mess of things.”
“Come now, pretending ignorance—”
The former sect master of Jeomchang cut him off with perfect calm.
“I am presently under warning and in self-reflection. I know nothing of it. Last night I remained at home.”
The Elder Council Head’s mouth snapped shut. It was true: for withdrawing without orders from the Yongbongjihoe Arena construction site, the former sect master had been ordered into seclusion by the Third Young Master’s Military Department.
“Well, of course the Elder Council Head had much to ponder.”
Having thoroughly scraped the man’s nerves, the former sect master of Jeomchang slipped away into the crowd with a parting shot.
“This old man merely frets for the future of the Elder Council and offers a word of grandmotherly caution. Give it some thought, if only once.”
“Oh? Elder Hwang has come out as well?”
“Ah, Sect Master. A pleasure.”
Watching that detestable back as the man calmly struck up conversation with others, the Elder Council Head clenched his teeth where no one could see.
Last night he could have moved at any moment. He had not. He had simply waited in silence for the Supreme Operations Committee’s decision, then quietly assisted its execution from behind the scenes.
Do not interfere.
Do not involve yourself.
See and act as if you have not seen; hear and act as if you have not heard.
Those had been the words of the family’s senior elders. At the time he had found it baffling—why speak to the Elder Council Head as though lecturing a junior?—and had even felt resentment. Now, at last, he was beginning to understand.
“The First Young Master of the main family arrives!”
No one had given the order, yet the entire gathering fell as silent as a grave. Every posture straightened; every gaze locked on the main gate. The Elder Council Head’s was among them.
Clack. Clack.
In that hush, only the clear sound of footsteps remained—footsteps without hesitation, filled only with absolute confidence. The moment Yeon So-hyeon, First Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family, appeared in the center of the great avenue, every person present held their breath without realizing it.
Do you know why a house as vast as ours has no clear rules for succession?
Black outer robe streaming in the wind, attended by no retinue, Yeon So-hyeon overwhelmed them all with nothing more than his stride. Watching him, the Elder Council Head heard the Senate Chief’s voice rise unbidden in his mind.
This house belongs to the Yeon. And in every generation, among the direct bloodline, there has always been one who is the genuine article—of a different caliber entirely. That is why this Yeon family has never needed rules for choosing an heir.
Why had he not known before? Why had he failed to see? The answer was simple.
A man does not truly know until he has seen, lived, and felt it with his own eyes.
While those who had gathered out of inescapable curiosity bowed their heads without meaning to, while those who had come merely to glimpse Yeon So-hyeon’s face amid the chaos of the main house dared not even look upon it straight, while countless throats forgot how to breathe freely, the Elder Council Head suddenly understood.
At present, this house has no succession problem.
He felt, with vivid force, the full weight of those words. The shock was equal to the sudden enlightenment he had known when he broke through a wall—something that deserved the name of awakening.
“I greet the First Young Master of the main family.”
Thus he was the first, swifter than any other, to offer formal courtesy to the First Young Master who was just then passing before him.
“…Elder Council Head.”
Yeon So-hyeon recognized him and halted.
“I heard you labored hard last night assisting the Supreme Operations Committee.”
The tone was that of a superior praising a subordinate.
“You honor me too highly.”
Ordinarily the Elder Council Head would have bristled. Now no such feeling arose.
“It was only the duty I was bound to perform.”
He showed still greater humility to the seventeen-year-old youth.
“Rather, it is Your Highness the First Young Master who has toiled, personally restoring order to Luoyang’s chaos.”
With the most solemn bearing he brought both hands together and bowed to Yeon So-hyeon.
“I congratulate you on your victory, First Young Master.”
In the very heart of a Luoyang Sword Family that still did not know which way to turn, for the highest authority of the Elder Council to offer the First Young Master congratulations on “victory”—what did that signify? Those steeped in reason and politics grasped it with clear logic; those who valued the martial over the civil simply felt it in their bones.
“My thanks.”
That was the whole of the exchange. As Yeon So-hyeon resumed his walk, the Elder Council Head bowed long and deeply toward his retreating back.
“F-First Young Master!”
Someone burst through the crowd into the front rank and cried out.
“I greet the First Young Master of the main family!”
“The Head of the Medical Arts Academy.”
Yeon So-hyeon acknowledged him.
“I congratulate you on your victory!”
Hastily straightening robes disheveled by the press of bodies, the man rushed on.
“It may be premature to speak of it now, but if at any time you would grace the Medical Arts Academy with your presence and instruction, I would be most grateful!”
The words tumbled out in a single breath, as though he feared Yeon So-hyeon might simply walk on. A cold bead of sweat traced the Academy Head’s cheek as he waited for the answer.
Yeon So-hyeon’s lips parted.
“I heard that the physicians of the Medical Arts Academy followed my mother’s teachings during the disturbance at the Yongbongjihoe Arena.”
It had been a small matter, yet Yeon So-hyeon remembered.
“I shall make an official visit to the Medical Arts Academy before long.”
“Th-thank you…!”
Beaming, the Academy Head hurried to add,
“Is there anything Your Highness requires…?”
“Ah. Yes.”
Yeon So-hyeon nodded.
“Might I ask the Academy to send support to the House of Compassion, which is currently tending the wounded?”
“Of course…!”
And that was only the beginning.
“First Young Master…!”
“First Young Master, please…!”
Those who had merely watched the chaos for cues now, without exception, began to surge toward Yeon So-hyeon.
“Hey! Don’t shove!”
“You’re the one—!”
Like a breaking wave they pressed in, desperate at least to register their faces or claim a moment of acquaintance. There was no longer any need to seize his line in some crude fashion. Neither was there anyone left who still regarded Yeon So-hyeon as a weak heir.
Now Yeon So-hyeon stood, in name and in truth, as the First Young Master of the Sword Family.