Charm
Bringing up engagement out of nowhere like that.
Though she had no idea what had prompted Hong Chilgong to raise the subject, Cheongwol shook her head in pure distaste.
Because she had not revealed that she had originally been a man, the conversation kept spinning in useless circles.
"I have circumstances that make it absolutely—"
"I'm not saying you should actually get engaged."
"Pardon?"
When Cheongwol tilted her head, a faint smile curved Hong Chilgong's lips.
"It may be meddlesome of me, but from where I stand, you have at least a little feeling for that friend of yours."
At once Cheongwol's head drooped again.
"…That simply cannot be."
Yet as if he were piling one misunderstanding atop another, Hong Chilgong wiped the smile away and regarded her with pitying eyes.
"There's a saying that you shouldn't even look at a tree you cannot climb, but if you never even try, you'll live the rest of your life in regret."
"Elder…"
"Of course, since he already has a fiancée, it isn't exactly an honorable thing. Still, didn't you say you grew close to him first? You have every right to convey your heart."
Watching Hong Chilgong play the life-mentor with surprising conviction, Cheongwol reached a firm conclusion.
This beggar.
He had not the slightest intention of listening to a word she said.
"Aren't you curious as well? About the look on your friend's face the moment he learns you have a fiancé."
Only a few days earlier she had become a woman's body, yet she had declared she meant to keep living as a man.
And now he was telling her to announce she had a fiancé.
As confusion clouded Cheongwol's expression, Hong Chilgong pressed on from the side.
"Don't worry about the aftermath. If he harbors no feelings for you, he won't bother asking who it is. Even if he does ask, you can simply say it was nothing."
The suggestion was absurd.
If she followed Hong Chilgong's advice, she would without fail see Seomun Hwi's face twisted with contempt.
And if that happened, remaining even as friends would become impossible, would it not?
In the end she was about to refuse with a short sigh when—
"On the other hand, if he does have feelings, then from that moment the initiative will rest in your hands. Aren't you truly curious? What sort of reaction your friend will show."
"…"
Seomun Hwi.
The one who had been her friend since the days she was a man.
Confirm whether he harbored feelings for her?
The outcome would be as plain as day, and at the end only a bitter sense that she had known it would turn out this way would remain.
Yet why, of all moments, did the memory of his gentle hand stroking her hair so softly upon the bed rise unbidden?
Come to think of it, he had been quite affectionate even when she was a man, but after she became a woman he seemed almost excessively unwilling to leave her side.
She had thought it was merely the joy of a long-awaited reunion.
Could it be…
In that instant it felt as though a heavy stone had dropped into her chest with a dull thud.
It absolutely must not be so.
Regardless of gender, until she finished her revenge she was in no position to give her heart to anyone.
With a stiff face Cheongwol carefully opened her mouth as she looked at Hong Chilgong.
"That will never happen. But…"
Even if by some chance it were true, she had to set it right before it was too late.
If only to keep from wounding him—him of all people.
"I'll do as you say for now, Elder."
The place Seomun Hwi was led to by Dang Sohye's hand turned out to be none other than the training grounds.
She had said they would talk, so what business had brought them here?
Just as he was wondering, she turned and grinned.
"I heard the two of you spar here every day. I didn't take you for the type. Young Master Seomun is quite something."
"…What do you mean by that?"
"It's a plausible excuse for a man and woman to stick close without fretting over others' eyes, isn't it? Mixing hands, bodies brushing near."
Seomun Hwi slightly furrowed his brow and denied her words.
"Cheongwol and I are not in the sort of relationship Lady Dang imagines."
"Is that so? Then this girl misunderstood. Since you cling together from morning till sunset, I thought for certain she was a hidden lover."
As Dang Sohye kept tossing out sarcastic remarks, Seomun Hwi let out a thin sigh.
"If I have offended you, I apologize. As I mentioned before, it has been over two years since I reunited with my friend, so my joy may have been a little excessive."
Even among gatherings of the younger generation he had shown only a stiff demeanor, yet now he immediately admitted fault and bowed his head.
Was it because he feared harm coming to his lover, or was he now trying to fulfill his role as fiancé?
Neither sat well with her.
"…"
Dang Sohye's cold gaze stabbed down onto the top of Seomun Hwi's head.
He was a decent enough man, yet since he already held another woman in his heart there was no need to go this far.
Still, the fact that if she had not been a daughter of the Dang Clan she would never even have drawn a moment's glance soured her mood.
Though the fox-like beauty held a slight edge in looks, she herself possessed more than enough points she could proudly boast of.
So what was she to do?
Even if it meant imposing on the two of them, she had no choice but to prove it herself.
That she was not a woman who deserved such treatment.
Dang Sohye slipped the outer robe from her shoulders and looked at Seomun Hwi.
"Forget it, then. Do it with me once as well. A spar with no ulterior motives."
She had thought they only resembled each other in face, yet even their unpredictable behavior was alike.
"How could I draw a sword against my fiancée—"
—Whish!
Just as Seomun Hwi was about to voice his refusal, before the words could finish, her palm flared crimson.
It was a surprise strike, yet because it was meant only to signal the start of the spar he nimbly shifted his feet and dodged without difficulty.
The problem was what followed.
Like lotus blossoms layering one, then two in the air, they unfurled and closed upon him.
The Dang Clan's mysterious palm technique that made red lotuses bloom in successive layers.
He hastily twisted his shoulder on a diagonal to deflect the first layer, then lightly pushed the second aside with the back of his hand.
"Lady Dang. Please calm yourself a little first."
He tried to halt her in the brief gap when she stepped back, yet instead the tip of her sleeve rippled like a wave and gathered into a single point.
"This time it would be wiser not to try striking it down, but to block it."
A third lotus distinctly different from those before.
It was too late to dodge, and as she said too much to strike away, so he had no choice but to draw his sword.
—Bang!
Though it only met the palm of her hand, the blade surface shuddered violently.
The shock the sword failed to fully absorb raced up his wrist and began to resonate through his entire body.
"…"
Seomun Hwi looked at the trembling sword and at Dang Sohye, who had already prepared her next form and waited for him.
If she was going this far, continuing to avoid the spar would rather be an insult to her as a martial artist.
Steeling himself, he raised his sword into a ready stance, and Dang Sohye's lips curved upward.
"Have you finally found a little will to spar with me?"
Seomun Hwi narrowed his eyes and gave a slight nod.
"I have shown a pathetic side. From this moment I will give my all so as not to tarnish Lady Dang's honor."
The instant the words left him, a sharp aura so intense it made her whole body tingle filled the air.
Gazing at the one who had raised that aura, Dang Sohye swallowed dryly.
…You don't have to go that far.
"Hah… huff…"
Dang Sohye lay on the training-ground floor, gasping for breath.
She was still beautiful, yet the attire she always kept so carefully neat was thoroughly disheveled.
She had clearly watched the two of them finish their spars smiling and walk away unharmed, so how had this come to pass?
"Are you all right?"
This time the reverse of before, Seomun Hwi looked down at Dang Sohye.
She barely lifted her heavy arm and pointed at him with one finger.
"With your lover… hah… you go easy…"
Her breathing was too rough to make out clearly, yet he roughly understood what she meant to say.
Seomun Hwi smiled and dropped down beside her.
"The one who goes easy is not me, but Cheongwol."
Dang Sohye's eyes flew wide.
Going easy in a spar against Seomun Hwi, said to stand foremost among the younger generation.
That meant Cheongwol was a martial artist several moves ahead of him, did it not?
When she slightly raised her head and looked at him with an expression of disbelief, Seomun Hwi shook his head slightly as if driving the point home.
"I am not inventing it. If Cheongwol were to properly display her martial arts, I wonder whether I could even last ten exchanges."
At those words Dang Sohye finally closed her eyes in resignation.
If her martial arts were that outstanding as well, there remained nothing left with which she could compare.
Of course there was the massive prestige of the Sichuan Dang Clan, yet would it not be too cowardly to bring that forward?
She had to prove that Dang Sohye as an individual was a woman who did not pale beside Cheongwol.
Now that her breathing had slowly steadied, she let out a deep breath.
"…When you get to know her, she's a woman you can't help but like. Lady Cheongwol."
She had lost.
She had seen countless peer women of famous clans, yet never once had she thought herself lacking compared to them.
To make someone like her feel so high a wall.
The first taste of defeat left a refreshing yet bitter aftertaste in her mouth.
"That's right. Anyone who speaks with Cheongwol would end up that way."
Seomun Hwi also smiled faintly in agreement.
"…Of course, to me she will always remain a precious friend."
Even in this situation trying to the end to hide his affection.
Feeling a little peeved, Dang Sohye mustered every last scrap of strength and lunged at Seomun Hwi.
"Lady Dang!"
He could easily have pushed her away, yet that would have been no different from flinging the exhausted Dang Sohye to the ground.
Thanks to that she was able to climb atop him without much resistance.
Then, planting her palms on the man's solid upper body, she leaned her head down toward the flustered him.
"Young Clan Head. No—Young Master Seomun Hwi. Don't provoke me too much. Her face may be better than Lady Cheongwol's…"
Dang Sohye's eyes curved with alluring charm.
"As a woman, I'm several moves ahead."