In a small, lively village at the foot of the mountain where the Emei Sect was located.

"Sister! Over there, over there! Let's eat at that dumpling shop!"

"Uh, sister?"

"You're older than me, so you're my sister, right!"

Su Yeohyang pointed her finger with a bright smile and an excited voice.

Cheon Suhye, who had come down the mountain with her in a daze, shook her head and let out a deep sigh.

"Isn't this more of an inn than a dumpling shop?"

"If they sell dumplings, it's a dumpling shop! The dumplings here are amazing!"

The two entered a large inn located at the entrance of the village.

Perhaps because it was lunchtime, the inn was bustling with people.

"Fortunately, there's a seat!"

The two barely managed to find a seat inside the inn.

As soon as they found a seat, Su Yeohyang raised her hand with all her might.

"Mister, dumplings here!"

"Oh, Yeohyang is here!"

The inn owner, with a kind-looking impression, recognized Su Yeohyang and greeted her warmly.

But Su Yeohyang puffed out her cheeks at the inn owner's words.

"No, my name is not Yeohyang, it's Hyang."

"Your master, Jihwa Shinni, calls you Yeohyang, right? Then it's Yeohyang, right."

"Forget it! Dumplings! Double the usual amount since there are two of us today!"

"Double?"

At the word 'double', the inn owner's eyes widened, and he turned his eyes towards Cheon Suhye.

"You seem to be Yeohyang's companion, but is double okay?"

Although the inn owner's reaction was somewhat strange, Cheon Suhye, thinking 'what could be so special?', maintained her sternness on the outside and silently nodded her head.

"Here! The dumplings are here!"

And a moment later, Cheon Suhye regretted it intensely.

The inn owner and the waiter, struggling, placed a mountain of dumplings, which seemed to be more than her own body, on their table.

Cheon Suhye stared blankly at Su Yeohyang with trembling pupils.

"Even if you look at me like that, it's half and half! I can't give you more!"

Su Yeohyang pulled half of the dumplings in front of her and sent a wary gaze.

It was a momentum like a wild boar growling in front of its food.

"I won't take them from you."

Cheon Suhye let out a deep sigh and stared at the mountain of dumplings in front of her in a daze.

'It's okay to leave some, right?'

Looking at Su Yeohyang, who was stuffing dumplings into her mouth combatively in front of her, it was an atmosphere where it seemed a big deal would happen if she left some, but Cheon Suhye, thinking so, put the dumpling in front of her into her mouth.

And.

"!"

Cheon Suhye's eyes shot open at the harmony of the meat juice spreading in her mouth, the scent of the vegetables that blended with it, and the dumpling skin that wrapped everything.

Since Cheon Suhye had wandered around as a ronin, she had tasted various foods here and there.

However, it was the first time she had such delicious dumplings.

"It's a taste that even the plum blossoms of Mount Hua would admire."

"What? Mount Hua all of a sudden?"

"Ahem. Since I'm from a village near Mount Hua..."

Cheon Suhye, as if she had never been dazed by the mountain of dumplings, stuffed dumplings into her mouth without a break, just like Su Yeohyang in front of her.

Although it was delicious to just bite and eat the dumplings, the scent and the meat juice that spread when she stuffed her mouth full were truly like the delicacies of the world.

And so, Cheon Suhye, who had been stuffing her mouth with a lot of dumplings.

"Ugh? Benefactor Tang and Brother... Sister Hwaryeong?"

At Su Yeohyang's words, she turned her head, following her gaze.

And there, were Tang Yuhwa and Zhuge Hwaryeong.

Although Cheon Suhye was going crazy with embarrassment inside, with the technique of quickly swallowing food that had been honed through her life as a ronin, she quickly pushed all the dumplings in her mouth down her throat.

In that process, she could not fully feel the taste of the dumplings, and on top of that, although her eyes teared up a little at the pain of forcibly pushing the not-yet-chewed food down her throat, it was better than showing a clumsy appearance with her cheeks puffed up.

Even if it was Su Yeohyang, she would die before she showed it to Tang Yuhwa, with whom she had had a power struggle over her relationship with Baek Yoonjun, and Zhuge Hwaryeong, who sent a gaze as if she knew everything from behind.

"What a coincidence."

Cheon Suhye, having pushed all the dumplings in her mouth down her throat, said, looking at the two with a nonchalant expression.

However, her composure was broken by Zhuge Hwaryeong carefully speaking, as if she were embarrassed.

"Excuse me... Great Hero Cheon. You have some dumpling filling on your cheek."

Cheon Suhye, without showing any agitation as much as possible, wiped her cheek, mobilizing all the mysteries of the martial arts she had learned.

In that process, she consumed a considerable amount of internal energy.

And so, at present.

Tang Yuhwa and Zhuge Hwaryeong had joined them.

"Great Hero Cheon seems to like dumplings very much."

Cheon Suhye barely managed to hold back the urge to hit the very smooth-looking mouth of Zhuge Hwaryeong.

"The dumplings here are the best in the world. You will know if you try them, Benefactor Zhuge."

Cheon Suhye had been calling Tang Yuhwa and Zhuge Hwaryeong 'Benefactor' since before.

Although she herself would have a fit if she were called 'Benefactor', she was stubbornly and ugly saying it to protect her pride.

It was a very shameless move, similar to Baek Yoonjun, whom she called 'older brother'.

But since the two did not particularly care about the title, it did not seem to have an effect.

"Did you know? Dumplings were actually made by Marquis Wu."

Zhuge Hwaryeong spoke, tapping a dumpling with her chopsticks smoothly.

Although she had hidden her surname before, now that the Zhuge family had joined the alliance, it was a deception she could do by openly using the Zhuge surname.

Although it was a question why she was still cross-dressing even though she was openly using the Zhuge surname, there was no one here who could point that out.

"Come to think of it, why is Brother Hwaryeong cross-dressing?"

There was.

Su Yeohyang, who was strangely unobservant, immediately spat out the question in front of her.

As those words came out, everyone's gaze turned to Zhuge Hwaryeong.

Since it was a matter that everyone had been curious about, although they could not ask openly.

At those gazes, Zhuge Hwaryeong's usual smooth appearance disappeared, and she was rarely flustered.

"If you ask that openly..."

"Ah! Perhaps it's a difficult matter? I'm sorry!"

Although Zhuge Hwaryeong wondered if Su Yeohyang was doing it on purpose and looked at her, since she was mumbling with her mouth full of dumplings and her curious eyes were sparkling, no matter how she looked at it, it was definitely not a sight with any ill intentions.

"Hah..."

Zhuge Hwaryeong let out a sigh as if she were in trouble.

"There was a reason, but now it has become meaningless. It's just a habit."

She stated the truth.

"A habit?"

At Zhuge Hwaryeong's words of 'a habit', Su Yeohyang's eyes sparkled.

She approached Zhuge Hwaryeong ominously with her cheeks puffed up.

"Take it off!"

"What?"

Zhuge Hwaryeong, who was not flustered by most things, was rarely flustered.

"Take it off? Yeohyang-ah... we're inside an inn."

"Ah! I misspoke! Come here!!"

Su Yeohyang stuffed dumplings into her mouth again and then disappeared into a corner of the inn, dragging Zhuge Hwaryeong as if she were kidnapping her.

Thanks to that, Cheon Suhye was suddenly left alone with Tang Yuhwa.

'It's awkward...'

Cheon Suhye was awkward.

The sight of Tang Yuhwa having been on edge with her was still vividly lingering in her mind.

'It's awkward...'

It was the same for Tang Yuhwa.

Although she was annoyed at her claiming to be her master's sworn sister, since it seemed they had a relationship, she couldn't just treat her badly.

The two were awkwardly glancing at each other and were just mumbling with dumplings in their mouths.

Although it was awkward, the dumplings were delicious.

And so, after a long, awkward silence.

"What kind of inn only has dumplings!!"

At the sudden commotion, the two turned their gazes almost at the same time.

There, several nasty-looking strong men, who were presumed to be ruffians, were raising their voices at the inn owner.

"Such a ruffian."

Seeing that sight, Cheon Suhye put her hand on her sword and was about to get up from her seat.

"Wait."

Tang Yuhwa stopped Cheon Suhye.

Cheon Suhye frowned and asked.

"What? Can't you see the ruffian running wild?"

"You shouldn't draw your sword carelessly."

"What?"

"Look."

Tang Yuhwa, without paying attention to Cheon Suhye's annoyed question, just pointed to the noisy scene.

No matter how she looked at it, it just looked like a scene where ruffians were intimidating the owner.

Tang Yuhwa, who had noticed such a thought of Cheon Suhye, quietly opened her mouth.

"Although their voices are loud over there, they've paid properly, they're not punching, and they haven't damaged anything."

At Tang Yuhwa's words, Cheon Suhye turned her eyes to the scene again.

Certainly, as Tang Yuhwa had said, the ruffians were just raising their voices.

"That's not a villain, it's a difficult customer."

"Hah?"

Cheon Suhye took her hand off her sword and sat down, not hiding her annoyed look.

"So you're saying I shouldn't draw my sword because he's not a villain?"

Cheon Suhye's tone changed, and her voice became harsh.

However, Tang Yuhwa just nodded her head as if she didn't care at all.

"Right."

Cheon Suhye became annoyed.

Although she was annoyed at the feeling of following Tang Yuhwa's words, since it didn't seem to be a wrong statement, she couldn't act carelessly.

She just glared at the ruffians with her eyes bloodshot, to see if they would cause any more trouble.

But an opportunity did not easily appear.

The ruffians annoyingly ordered dumplings and then accepted them quietly, and even paid a higher price than the basic price.

"Aish, what kind of inn only has dumplings and no proper alcohol."

The one who seemed to be the leader of the ruffians muttered annoyingly and, holding the dumplings, shouted at the sly-looking ruffian next to him.

"Hey, something to wipe with!"

"Here you go!"

The sly ruffian next to the ruffian leader, who was holding the dumplings, hastily handed over a handkerchief.

Although Cheon Suhye was annoyed at that sight, she wondered why on earth a handkerchief was coming out here.

And that curiosity was soon resolved.

'Th-that outrageous!!'

The ruffian leader, with the handkerchief he had been handed, scrubbed the appetizing gloss flowing on the surface of the dumpling.

The dumpling skin, which was shiny with meat juice, instantly became dry like a parched leather.

Then he put it in his mouth as if nothing had happened.

It was a shocking sight, to the point of wondering if it was okay to cut him down.

'If I cut him down, wouldn't the authorities rule it as not guilty?'

Although Cheon Suhye fiddled with her sword for a moment, since the thought of 'swinging a sword over food is a bit much' stealthily rose, she could not cut him down.

And so, after looking for an opportunity to cut down the ruffians for about an hour, an opportunity finally arose.

A pretty woman who was passing by that table was caught by the ruffians.

"Oh? Such a beautiful lady in a remote place like this?"

Of course, since the ruffians had been relatively quiet, except for raising their voices and wiping the dumplings, they only held her with words.

At that ambiguity, Cheon Suhye repeated putting her hand on her sword and taking it off dozens of times.

"Sister, let's go quickly!"

At that moment, Su Yeohyang approached the woman, linked her arm with hers, and then pulled her away from the ruffians.

The ruffian, seeing that, got annoyed again and raised his voice.

"W-what is that brat!"

"G-Great Hero..."

At that moment, the inn owner carefully approached the ruffians and carefully opened his mouth.

"W-well... that person is the great disciple of the Emei Sect..."

At the inn owner's words, the ruffians' mouths shut.

As if they had never raised their voices, they became quiet, and their pupils began to tremble like an aspen tree.

"A-ahem. W-we ate well."

"L-l-let's go. We have to rest well today."

The ruffians, with creaking movements, headed to the second floor of the inn.

It seemed they were staying here.

"Th-that ambiguous..."

Seeing that, Cheon Suhye gritted her teeth, and her hand, which was holding the sword, was trembling.

In fact, even without swinging her sword, with Cheon Suhye's martial arts, she could have just beaten them up to a certain extent.

However, perhaps because of the power struggle with Tang Yuhwa, she couldn't do such an ambiguous act, and she had only been looking for a chance to swing her sword, but the ruffians had no principles, and their actions were extremely ambiguous.

And so, whether Cheon Suhye's insides were bursting or not, Su Yeohyang approached the table where she was, with her arm linked with the woman's.

"Now, look! Who is it?"

Then she moved her arm as if pushing the woman with whom she had linked her arm forward and asked them.

The woman, who was cowering as if she were very shy, had fine lines, was slender, and was also tall.

On top of that, her facial features were also distinct, and her slightly flushed cheeks, as if she were shy, put the finishing touch.

She was a beauty to whom the word 'peerless' would not be awkward.

Tang Yuhwa was lost in thought, looking at the woman.

Although her outward appearance was not, from the circumstances, the identity of the woman was.

'Junior Sister Hwaryeong?'

Zhuge Hwaryeong, who had disappeared with Su Yeohyang.

What had appeared after that was a woman who was not awkward with the word 'peerless' and whom she had never seen before, and Su Yeohyang.

No matter how she thought about it, the identity of the woman in front of her could only be Zhuge Hwaryeong.

However, Tang Yuhwa had no choice but to correct her thoughts right away.

"Sister, say something too."

"Ugh... uh, e-excuse me..."

Because the woman's voice, unlike Zhuge Hwaryeong's slightly androgynous voice, was a beautiful color, befitting her peerless appearance.

'It's not Junior Sister Hwaryeong? Then who?!'

Tang Yuhwa was plunged into confusion.

It seemed Cheon Suhye was also not very different from Tang Yuhwa.

She stared intently at the woman with her brow furrowed.

"Haha, you don't know."

In the midst of that, Su Yeohyang smiled very annoyingly and meaningfully.

'I want to hit her once.'

'I want to hit her once.'

It was a moment when the thoughts of Tang Yuhwa and Cheon Suhye, who had been bickering, coincided.

"I want to die..."

And the woman at the center of this commotion, as if her face would burst with shame, bowed her head deeply and muttered shyly.

(End of Chapter)