PATTER.

The chips of stone falling to the side really got on my nerves.

And that ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) wall that looked like it could go down any second—what about that.

It looked plenty thick, but right now it seemed like a light tap would topple it.

While I watched it and couldn’t help feeling uneasy—

CRRRRACK.

The white arm that had punched into the wall moved.

She pulled her hand out of the wall like it was nothing.

Tap, tap.

Then with the other hand she lightly brushed off the dust.

The wall, thankfully, didn’t collapse, but it was now something you’d hesitate to keep calling a wall.

“......”

While I stared at that—

“...I told you not to call me that. Why do you keep not listening?”

The culprit who did that to the wall spoke to me in a displeased voice.

“Do I really have to fold your tongue up for you?”

“...That just now was a mistake.”

Murong Yeongsun had always loathed her own name to an extreme.

But what can I do—it’s her name.

“Hmph.”

Murong Yeongsun snorted and gave me a sidelong glare.

Her gaze was still as sharp as ever.

[Well now.]

Watching quietly, Yoo Cheongil spoke like he’d found something curious.

[What a fiery-tempered girl.]

I couldn’t tell if that was admiration or an insult.

Probably both.

[If it’s Murong... that’s the blood of the Star-Heaven Sword.]

By Star-Heaven Sword, he likely meant the former Clan Head.

“Murong Baek, Star-Heaven Sword.”

Father to the current Murong Clan Head—one of the Five Kings Under Heaven—and a master who’d retired and would be spending his time in Liaoning now.

[Pretty as she is, it seems she didn’t take after that icy fellow too much. Good thing. Cluck, cluck.]

I’d never seen the Star-Heaven Sword, so I couldn’t say, but I could agree with the “icy” part.

“...The people of that house all had to be carved cold, didn’t they.”

The Murong Clan Head, of course, and Murong Yeongsun right in front of me, too.

If the people of the Tang looked fierce—

The people of the Murong were famous for looking cold.

Just meeting their eyes made you feel like you’d freeze.

Especially Murong Yeongsun’s eyes.

“...Scares me to death, really.”

The face is the face, but the temper is vicious.

As I looked at Murong Yeongsun with a grimace, she held the letter out to me again.

“Here.”

“......”

It was like she’d decided to pretend what just happened never happened. Her eyes said it: bring it up and you won’t like what happens.

Seeing that, I took the letter. Confirming it, Murong Yeongsun gave a faint smile, then suddenly turned her back and spoke.

“Then, see you later?”

“...Huh?”

Leaving? I blinked, thrown.

Maybe my reaction was strange, because Murong Yeongsun let out a little laugh.

“Why? Want me to grab you again?”

“No...”

I hated the idea of being grabbed.

Leaving that aside, it was baffling that she’d come all this way to find me and then leave.

Why come at all, then? As I stared at her strangely—

“Don’t worry. I’m not thinking of letting you go.”

“...What?”

“I’m just sending you off comfortably because there’s no need to bother.”

That smile was scary.

The thorns behind that pretty smile had terrified me so much before, and seeing them again now made it worse.

“Either way, you won’t be running anymore.”

Gooseflesh ran down my spine.

Because I could feel all too well the emotion packed into that lilting voice.

“See you later.”

With that, Murong Yeongsun took a single step—

SWISH—!

—and vanished from right before my eyes.

“Huh...”

Confirming that, I slid down the wall and sat.

“We’re screwed...”

I muttered the thought under my breath. There was nothing else to say.

Right then—

“Young Master Bang...!”

Tang Yeran and other martial men came down the alley.

They saw me slumped and I watched Tang Yeran startle and hurry over.

“A—I’m fine... ugh.”

I tried to act fine, but I ended up shaking the arm wrapped in bandages without meaning to.

Anyway—

Nothing was going my way.

****

While the Tang Clan’s martial men closed in on Bang Sungyeon to get the situation under control—

Up on a rooftop, Murong Yeongsun crouched slightly and watched.

In particular, she watched Bang Sungyeon, who was being helped up by Tang Yeran.

“......”

As she watched, a cross-shaped vein rose on Murong Yeongsun’s brow.

“That thing...?”

Who dared lay a hand on whose body? She clenched her teeth for a second. She wanted to drop down between them and lash out, but she barely held it in.

Because over the past few years she’d learned something for certain.

“The raccoon scares easily.”

A clever raccoon scares easily. So if you get too close or feel even a little threatening, he’ll hide himself in a flash.

So she had to endure.

“It’ll be a problem if he runs again this time.”

She’d finally found him and grabbed him.

He must not run even here. Who knew what trick that clever human would use to disappear this time.

So she was gritting her teeth and enduring.

Then—

—My lady.

A voice touched her ear. Hearing it, Murong Yeongsun rose carefully.

“Yes.”

—Are you sure you’re all right?

“About what?”

—Young Master Bang... Lady Poison Blossom seems...

“Yes. I can see it.”

Murong Yeongsun cut him off. She didn’t particularly want to hear it.

She didn’t need to. She could see it.

Unlike that clever-acting, stupid raccoon, Murong Yeongsun read a room very fast.

Poison Blossom Tang Yeran. The look in that wench’s eyes when she saw Bang Sungyeon was off.

It was obvious at a glance.

“Tsk.”

Already wagging your tail, huh.

That thought wasn’t for Tang Yeran; it was for Bang Sungyeon.

“Honestly.”

That annoyingly handsome face was the problem.

If only a good half of it had been decently scraped away, there’d have been fewer incidents like this.

“Should’ve done it earlier?”

It was a savage thought, but Murong Yeongsun was half-serious.

A handsome face? Nice to look at. It’s just—

“I should’ve made it so no one else would know.”

By now, to Murong Yeongsun, Bang Sungyeon’s face wasn’t that important.

...Or was it?

“Handsome is nice.”

Better handsome than ugly. The problem was that because of that handsome face other women kept sidling up.

“In Liaoning it was easy to handle.”

Once he slipped out of her grasp, the bees kept swarming.

Look.

“I let him go for a moment and already a big bee’s buzzing.”

If it were moderate, fine. But to Murong Yeongsun’s eye, Tang Yeran was a big bee.

“Hmmm.”

Red ears and slightly colored cheeks.

Seeing Tang Yeran look at Bang Sungyeon in that state—

“Hmph.”

She gave a short reaction and simply turned her back.

—My lady...?

At that, the man sounded briefly puzzled.

“You don’t need to worry.”

Murong Yeongsun had already returned to her original expression.

Tang Yeran?

She’s pretty. You can tell at a glance.

Her house is good, too. If it were Namgung I wouldn’t be that wary, but the Sichuan Tang is a bit different.

As for temperament, I haven’t spoken with her enough to know—

“Doesn’t seem nasty.”

She didn’t seem like a rough-edged person.

Which is why—

Which is why she’s easy to spin.

“With that kind of feel, she won’t hold.”

Someone like that had no chance of withstanding a man named Bang Sungyeon.

So there was no need to look deeply.

Besides, things were already annoying; dragging Tang Yeran into it would make it harder.

The problem was the matter in Henan before coming to Sichuan.

“...That rotten wench.”

Murong Yeongsun cursed inwardly.

She recalled the “mistake” she’d made when she’d headed to the Blue Moon Sect to find Bang Sungyeon.

Yes, it was a mistake.

If not for that—

“I wouldn’t have given that woman a chance to make a move.”

Grit.

Moon Dancer.

A rising next-generation prospect of the Blue Moon Sect.

Thinking of her, Murong Yeongsun curled her fist.

“Annoying” was a word meant for people like that.

At least to Murong Yeongsun, Tang Yeran didn’t rank very high.

“So go on and try.”

Even if she flew for a hundred days, Tang Yeran wouldn’t be able to handle him.

Certain of that, Murong Yeongsun stepped out again.

****

We returned to the Tang Clan.

The first thing I did on arrival wasn’t anything else—it was to unfold the letter Murong Yeongsun had given me.

Ordinarily I would have done something else first, but knowing who this letter was from made that impossible.

Sender: Bang Cheonho.

The three characters of my father’s name—a father too shameful to show anywhere.

“......”

Seeing that, I tensed up and unfolded the needlessly ornate letter.

A familiar hand came into view.

[My precious son. Are you well.]

[The father you respect is doing well.]

[I’m eating well and shitting well. I’m so healthy that even my constipation—]

Skkrrt.

“......”

I barely stopped myself from tearing the letter I’d opened.

Damn it, I almost ripped it without thinking. I held in a sigh and read on.

[Wait. Don’t tear it.]

As if he knew exactly what I’d do, the reaction was already written there.

[If you’re reading this now, you’ve probably met the Murong young lady.]

[So you’re probably furious.]

[But your father had his reasons.]

Reasons? What reasons.

What reasons could there be to sell off your son. Let’s hear it, I thought.

[Honestly, for that much money, you would’ve sold yourself too...]

You rotten excuse for a human.

So in the end he sold his son for money.

My head throbbed.

“What am I supposed to do with this man.”

This is a father?

Of all things, selling your son for money—how does that make sense.

And—

“To my former fiancée.”

Not even a current fiancée—we’d already broken the engagement ages ago, and he sold his son to her? No one sane would do that.

Thinking of that, I pinched my brow.

Right, it was my mistake.

“I forgot that my father is a madman.”

There’s no way that guy is normal.

What did I trust?

If I trusted anything...

“It wasn’t my father. I trusted her father.”

The Murong Clan Head. That’s who I trusted.

“...These bastards, both of them.”

I was about to lose my mind.

Grinding my teeth, I forced myself to keep reading.

What followed was basically nothing of note.

I’m doing well. Are you.

The house is a mess. Hurry up and succeed and come back.

Come back?

Pointless lines went on and on, and I was starting to wonder if I should really tear it when—

“...Huh?”

I stopped the hand about to rip. Not for anything else—the problem was what was written near the end.

[Oh, right, and.]

[Your older sister sent a letter to the house.]

[She said she sent one to you too. I wonder if you got it.]

[If you did, just send one letter home.]

“...Eh?”

My older sister.

The smart bloodline who escaped the house before me.

News about her.

“All of a sudden?”

Why bring up my sister out of nowhere? While I was puzzling over the out-of-the-blue news—

Knock, knock.

I sensed someone outside the door.

—Pardon the intrusion.

—The Clan Head has said he is arranging a seat. If it is not discourteous, we came to ask if you intend to attend.

Hearing that, I folded the letter for the moment.

Looked like the Poison King had finally finished his work.