170. Friend (1)
Friend (1)
170. Friend (1)
"Heroine Murong is marrying Hero Duanmu? Congratulations. That phrase they use at weddings—'peerless under heaven, beauty beyond compare'—suits the two of you remarkably well."
Son Yeong, sending congratulations at the unexpected news of Murong Rin's marriage.
"A Murong-Duanmu wedding must be so splendid and magnificent, wouldn't it? Lady Murong will look truly beautiful in her bridal attire. The ceremony is at the bride's family home, correct? May I go and watch too?"
Jeong-hyang, who longed for a pretty bride the way Cho-ryeong longed for her princess.
"Inviting Daoist Jeong as a wedding guest would be a bit of a gamble, wouldn't it? The bride's carefully adorned radiance would be dimmed by Daoist Jeong's beauty.
"It should be fine. My wedding must be more splendid and magnificent than anyone else's. To flaunt the friendship between Murong and Yeongsan, I shall invite the entire Yeongsan Sect."
To a martial artist of Liaoning, an invitation from the Murong carried a singular significance. In the past, Cheon Myeong-hwa had desperately wanted to attend Murong Rin's birthday but was cruelly rebuffed. But this was no mere birthday returning every year—invited to a wedding that came but once in a lifetime, the women swelled with tremendous anticipation.
Murong Rin, getting married. I'd known for a while that she'd marry sooner or later to compete for the position of Young Clan Head, but this still left me with a somewhat peculiar feeling. In any case, it was very like Murong Rin. In her nearly year-long time at the Martial Alliance, she hadn't been idle. Unable to be a lead actor at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering herself, she was making that lead actor her husband.
Truly impressive. Duanmu Hwang was probably the Duanmu Clan's sole hope and its secret weapon, unknown to the Martial World. How had she found him and secured an engagement? Even setting aside his martial arts, he was the eldest son of a prestigious clan. Yet because he had been passed over for Young Clan Head, he was perfectly positioned to become a live-in son-in-law. Considering the Duanmu Clan's wealth, he would surely become the hidden trump card that made her Young Clan Head.
"That's quite a sour look on your face, Young Master Baek. Is my announcement that I'm to be wed so very shocking to you?"
Murong Rin, gazing up at me intently with a faint smile. Of course my expression was sour. We had shared our bodies in the past, and she, as a person, fully intended to continue sharing her body with me regardless of whether she married or not.
"You needn't worry. Even if I become someone's wife, nothing whatsoever will change. Duanmu Hwang is..."
Just then, a servant outside the tea room spoke in a respectful voice.
"Young Master. You have guests. The Sect Leader of Mount Tai Sect, an elder, and two disciples have come calling."
The visits were ceaseless. When I went out to the reception hall, there stood the Mount Tai Sect Leader and the elder gentleman. And Gyeong Su-yeon, now wearing Mount Tai's martial uniform, and Novice Nun Suyeon, their faces full of delight as they waited for us. Moreover, for some reason, everyone who had been talking in the tea room had followed me into the reception hall.
"You came all the way from Mount Tai?"
Master appeared across from us. She had foisted almost all the guest-greeting onto me lately, but Mount Tai was the sect of Geo Am, Yeongsan's benefactor, so even Master seemed willing to greet them in person.
"Have you been well, Hero Baek? You said you would visit again, but I could not wait to convey my gratitude, and so I have come to you like this."
The Mount Tai Sect Leader, greeting us with a benevolent smile.
"Yeongsan Sect is a sect with a remarkably large number of female disciples. And every one of them a rare beauty besides—surely Yeongsan itself must be a lovely place."
Master, Jeong-hyang, Son Yeong, Lee Eun-ha, Cho-ryeong, and Murong Rin, who I had no idea why she'd followed along. Truly, the density of beautiful women in the room had become extraordinarily high. But unlike Mount Hua, Yeongsan was not such a scenic neighborhood, and right in front of our sect grounds, a bandit crew had set up shop.
"Master. This is the Sect Leader of Mount Tai Sect and the elder of Mount Tai. After I returned Mount Tai's martial arts as Layman Geo Am had wished, they came all the way here."
"You returned Mount Tai's martial arts? Well done, Yeongmok. Yeongsan is a sect that received a great kindness from the Layman. I am Chae Yeong-ok, Sect Leader of Yeongsan Sect. I am honored to meet the Sect Leader of Mount Tai."
Master, offering a courteous greeting. The four from Mount Tai were visibly startled by her bearing.
"You are the Sect Leader? You are remarkably young."
"This sect suffered a Bloody Calamity, leaving no disciples behind in the sect. Hence, an unworthy woman such as myself has presumed to call herself Sect Leader."
"Unworthy? Are not all of your disciples, Sect Leader, outstanding martial artists? If any sect leader is unworthy, it would be I."
"Sect Leader. That is enough. If the Sect Leader keeps calling herself unworthy, then what am I to become—I, who pressed the office of sect leader upon you?
"And Sect Leader of Yeongsan. I am the one who was a powerless old man, able only to watch helplessly as the great sect bequeathed by our masters, Mount Tai Sect, crumbled day by day. But now, Mount Tai has gained these disciples who will brighten its future. Surely Yeongsan is the same. The worth of a sect leader or elder in a sect does not lie in the strength of their martial arts. I cannot know what happened in Yeongsan Sect's past, but the Yeongsan of today shines so brilliantly. Please, Sect Leader, withdraw your words."
Warm and congenial words were exchanged. What a relief. The two elders were good people. If the guests Master had taken the trouble to greet in the reception hall had been scum like Peng Il-su, she would have been deeply flustered.
"Heh. Seeing you act like that truly makes the Yeongsan Sect Leader look like a young granddaughter. Since elders like my grandfather absolutely melt for a cute granddaughter, dealing with the Alliance's elders must be wonderfully easy for you."
Murong Rin, looking at Master and letting loose a discourteous remark. She was a formidable person, but conservative old men would shudder and bristle at the mere mention of the name Beautiful Madness. Politicking was her specialty, and she seemed a touch nettled that Master, without employing any guile whatsoever, had blended so effortlessly with these elders she'd just met for the first time.
"Are you a martial artist of the Murong, young lady? I am aware of the greatness of the Murong, but such words are discourteous to the sect leader of an entire sect."
The Mount Tai Sect Leader, offering a gentle reproof.
"It is quite all right. Lady Murong is my disciple Yeongmok's oldest friend. A master is as a parent, so I attach no great significance to the words of a young lady who is as my son's friend."
A master was like a parent, and these were her son's friends. Just as expected of Master. After holing up in the Great Clarity Palace all this time, she had resolved to distance herself completely from her identity as a woman while she remained at the Martial Alliance. Seeing Master act that way, Gyeong Su-yeon quietly spoke up.
"Just as I heard from Young Master Baek, the Sect Leader is a kind person. But one thing is incorrect. The oldest friend who has spent the longest time with Young Master Baek is not Heroine Murong Rin. It is I."
Gyeong Su-yeon, seated quietly and looking at Murong Rin. Murong Rin looked down wordlessly at Gyeong Su-yeon.
"Was it so?
"Yeongmok, please see to your friends. I will remain here and converse with the Sect Leader."
Murong Rin was a typhoon of a person. She was helpful at times, but with her here, conversation would be difficult—Master was conveying to me that I should take Murong Rin and leave the reception hall. When I ultimately walked out, my senior sisters and two friends came trailing after me in a little procession.
"Young Master Baek. Is that child over there a martial artist of Yeongsan Sect as well?"
Novice Nun Suyeon, asking me with the familiarity of close siblings despite having met me only once.
"Yes. My immediate senior sister, Senior Sister Cho-ryeong. Senior Sister inherited Layman Geo Am's true techniques, so she is no outsider to Mount Tai Sect either."
At those words, Novice Nun Suyeon's eyes sparkled as she approached Cho-ryeong.
"You inherited my forebear's martial arts? The Layman is my forebear. Let us be close friends."
The large-framed Novice Nun Suyeon could have seemed intimidating to the small Cho-ryeong, but Cho-ryeong—perhaps already accustomed to the builds of men like me or the White Tiger Sect members—grasped Novice Nun Suyeon's hands tightly with her usual smile. Novice Nun Suyeon, utterly beside herself at how adorable she found Cho-ryeong. As I thought. Cho-ryeong definitely emitted pheromones that enchanted Buddhist nuns.
The Mount Tai Sect Leader and elder were certainly Buddhists as well, but they had not formally taken refuge. Novice Nun Suyeon, however, was a person who would become a full bhikkhuni the moment her novice training ended. Perhaps it was because of that, or perhaps because of the dormant Geo Am genes within her, but she had been unable to take her eyes off Cho-ryeong since the reception hall.
The Murong estate was exceedingly spacious. When we entered a different reception hall from the one we usually used, Cho-ryeong took Novice Nun Suyeon and vanished somewhere, and the other senior sisters, sensing something strange in the atmosphere, also departed somewhere, leaving only Gyeong Su-yeon and Murong Rin in the reception hall. Just the two friends remained.
"This is the first time we've met face to face, isn't it? They called you the greatest beauty in Jilin, but you're not nearly as pretty as I expected?"
"Heroine Murong is exactly as I heard. We are, indeed, meeting for the first time, are we not?"
What... what was this? This completely unexpected atmosphere? Murong Rin had a bitchy personality, but Gyeong Su-yeon was a woman exceedingly accustomed to dealing with such tantrums. Naturally, I'd thought she would laugh off Murong Rin's temper with gentle composure...
"You may not be as pretty as I heard, but it seems you're not as stupid as I heard either. Those informants in Jilin. I'll have to cut their throats."
"That I have changed is a story from after I left Jilin and came to the Central Plains. How can you blame those innocent informants for not knowing that?"
Their gazes clashed, taut and sharp. I had no idea what was going on, so I decided to remain still.
"Young Master Baek. Do you realize Lady Gyeong is far more like a true denizen of the Martial World than you are? That woman has a perfectly clear grasp of her current position. If she were Gyeong Su-yeon of the Gyeongse Sect, she would not have dared even to meet my eyes; but as she is now, no longer of the Gyeongse Sect but the Head Disciple of Mount Tai Sect, she knows that while she is by no means my superior, she has absolutely no need to bow her head to me. You've got yourself quite a clever friend."
Was this mockery? A compliment?
"But I do find it pleasing to see Heroine Murong's unvarying demeanor. Young Master Baek, too, is now no longer Baek Eun-hyeok of the Baek Clan Estate, but the peerless expert Yeongmok of Yeongsan Sect—how do you manage to keep that attitude? I broke out in a cold sweat earlier. Had the Yeongsan Sect Leader genuinely lost her temper with you on that spot, you would have created the worst possible enemy right under your nose in Liaoning, to say nothing of the relationship with Yeongsan you have so carefully cultivated."
"That must be the difference between you and me. If you'd given her character the slightest thought, you'd know she'd let it pass magnanimously. And Young Master Baek, too—he knows better than anyone that I'm this kind of bitch, and yet he still calls me his friend. Do you know why? You are merely an obedient woman. You have done nothing at all for Young Master Baek and Yeongsan Sect—rather, you have only received great kindness. I, on the other hand, am discourteous, but I am someone of use to them. That is the difference between you and me."
My mouth was bone dry.
"Of use, you say?"
"Warning them of Heuk Cheon-gyeon's attack. Sending them a noble clan's renowned steed that even a thousand taels of gold could not buy. Lending the Murong estate to Yeongsan Sect when they had no manor of their own. And what do you have? Coming by now and then to let him fondle your cunt? Taking Young Master Baek's penis into your mouth to relieve his lust? I've already done that too. I suck better than you. Unlike you, I've already shared Young Master Baek's bed as well. Just what can you offer?"
The sharpest words Murong Rin had spoken since our reunion. Could it be that her discourtesy to Master earlier had been nothing more than a lead-in to broach this very conversation with Gyeong Su-yeon? Now that we had met again, perhaps because I had gained strength, or perhaps because Yeongsan Sect had become a great asset to her future plans, she had been exceptionally sweet—unbefitting the title Beautiful Madness. But the moment she saw Gyeong Su-yeon, she reverted to the Beautiful Madness of the past, which made me suspect Gyeong Su-yeon had prodded something precious of Murong Rin's.
"What a vulgar conversation. What can I offer, you ask? I can offer my virginity. Not a filthy body passed among countless men, but my clean body, which knows no other man but Young Master Baek."
The strange thing was, Gyeong Su-yeon was the same. Just two days ago, she had expressed a small contentment, saying she would be happy even in a maidservant's position. No matter that Mount Tai Sect was no trifling sect that could simply walk into this western ward, her words and actions alone could sour relations with a top-tier noble clan like the Murong, so why was she striking back so fiercely?
"For years, Young Master Baek toyed with your body, but in the end he never took it, did he? Yet that same Young Master Baek hungered after my body like a beast in the space of a single night. You must be brimming with confidence because Young Master Baek is a little fond of you. Gyeong Su-yeon. Do you not realize that, as a woman, you are nonetheless my inferior?"
"I wish I could return those same words to you. Young Master Baek is no innocent virgin who doesn't know women. But because he knows how precious a woman's chastity is, he protected me. You mustn't delude yourself into mistaking the mere fact that you've lain with him for a woman's superiority. Women who have copulated with Young Master Baek overflow even in Jilin Snowflower Pavilion. Is it not rather you, Heroine Murong, who is brimming with confidence because the generous Young Master Baek is still holding back out of regard for long-standing affection?"
M-murderous. Gyeong Su-yeon. This woman, the very epitome of obedience, could direct such a glare at Murong Rin of all people?! No, but wait—these two weren't even my lovers like my senior sisters, so why were their hackles so violently raised?