Chapter 10

10 times. Why did you do that?

Baeck Miju, frowning, approached her eldest son Yeonmubak and whispered,

“Is cousin Yeon usually like this?”

Yeonmubak nodded.

Miju’s face contorted at her son’s reaction.

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

Despite feeling as if her insides were being turned upside down, Miju had to hold back.

On the other hand, Namgung Yeon entered the inner courtyard without hesitation, as if she were the owner of the house.

She stood in front of the small room where Yeon Jechaha used to stay, relying on her past memories.

Then, she turned sharply and glared at Baeck Miju.

Miju felt a pang of guilt but put on a forced smile.

“Yes. That’s Jechaha’s room.”

It was true that the room had been used by Yeon Jechaha over ten years ago.

Of course, no one had used it since then. The room had always been empty since Jechaha was six years old.

She had locked Jechaha in the storage room but never used his room for any other purpose.

Namgung Yeon took off her shoes on the stepping stones and entered Jechaha’s room.

Namgung Cheon quickly explained to his aunt,

“It seems she’s trying to find where the youngest has gone. If Yeon is interested, there’s nothing she can’t solve. She’ll find the youngest soon.”

“……”

Baeck Miju snorted inwardly.

‘Ha! She won’t know where that kid went just by searching a room that’s been empty for ten years. Is she some kind of powerful shaman or something?’

After about an hour,

Namgung Yeon came out with a blank expression.

She put on her shoes on the stepping stones again.

This time, Baeck Miju, who had been watching, stepped forward.

“Cousin, if you know where Jechaha went, could you tell me? I’ve been...”

Before Miju could finish, Namgung Yeon passed by her as if she weren’t there.

Namgung Yeon’s attitude, which completely ignored her, made Miju’s face contort. There’s a limit to how much one can ignore someone, and Namgung Yeon had gone beyond that.

Just as Miju, feeling indignant, was about to say something,

Namgung Yeon crossed the courtyard like the wind and left through the front gate.

Stunned, Baeck Miju stood there, and Namgung Cheon bowed and said,

“It seems Yeon has some urgent business. I’ll leave now too. Aunt, I hope you live a long and healthy life. Junior, I’m going first.”

Taken aback by the sudden farewell, Baeck Miju could only blink.

After a ten-year absence, the esteemed guests had come and were leaving immediately.

Moreover, with the younger one leaving abruptly, the elder one hurriedly finished the farewell.

This was something that should not happen according to her common sense.

Even if Namgung Cheon scolded and made his sister kneel, it wouldn’t be satisfying. What kind of bizarre thing was this?

However, Yeonmubak, instead of trying to stop them, bowed deeply as if it were natural.

“Senior, I won’t see you off far. Please take care on your journey. We’ll meet again in the martial world. When you need help, please let the Namgung family know.”

“Sure, we’re not strangers. After ten years of sharing meals, there’s a bond. If you need help, let us know anytime. We’ll come no matter how far.”

Baeck Miju was somewhat pleased with the farewell between her eldest son Yeonmubak and Namgung Cheon.

This was normal.

It was impolite for someone who had come to pay respects after ten years to only look into Jechaha’s room and then leave abruptly.

As Namgung Cheon moved, the Yeon family gathered at the front gate again.

However, Baeck Miju, whose pride was greatly hurt, sat on the veranda and didn’t move.

A while later, her eldest son Yeonmubak returned after seeing them off.

“Mubak, are they gone?”

“Yes. I came back after seeing the carriage turn the corner of the alley.”

Baeck Miju asked sharply,

“Is she always like that?”

The curse slipped out as soon as she heard that the carriage had turned the corner of the alley.

A bitter smile appeared on Yeonmubak’s face.

“Mother, it’s fortunate that she stopped. There’s nothing she can’t solve once she gets involved.”

“Is she that amazing? A mute?”

“It’s not that she can’t, but that she doesn’t often. In Namjilryeongsung, her nickname is ‘Flower Heart Reader’ because she can read people’s minds.”

“Ha! Nonsense. One can know the depths of a ten-foot river, but not the depths of a one-foot heart.”

“It’s not always like that. I’ve seen her read people’s minds several times in the Namgung family. There’s even a saying, ‘You can deceive a ghost, but not the Flower Heart Reader.’”

“Just a show.”

Baeck Miju thought her son was also deceived.

“I was surprised when she sneered earlier. She exuded the same killing aura as when she cuts someone down. Mother, did the youngest really run away?”

“Why? Do you think I killed that lowly one?”

“If you had, she wouldn’t have left. What happened to the youngest?”

Thanks to ten years of education in a prestigious family, Yeonmubak respectfully called his younger brother the youngest.

Baeck Miju, though displeased, didn’t scold him for being mature after not seeing him for ten years.

“He ran away.”

“Really?”

Yeonmubak asked his younger siblings.

“What do you think? Did Jechaha really run away?”

Yeon Seungbak and Yeon Seolju, feeling a pang of conscience, nodded. However, since Jechaha had indeed run away, they felt justified.

Yeon Seungbak nodded.

“Really. The house was in an uproar when he ran away.”

Only then did Yeonmubak let out a long sigh of relief.

“Phew! If that’s the case, it’s fortunate. No one can deceive her eyes. You don’t know, but she’s a truly terrifying person. Is that Jechaha’s room?”

“Yeah, brother. But there’s nothing special.”

“Why?”

The clueless Yeon Seolju blurted out Baeck Miju’s secret.

“Jechaha didn’t live there. He lived in the storage room after Father passed away.”

“What?”

Shocked, Yeonmubak rushed into Jechaha’s room without taking off his shoes.

There was only a small bed and a desk.

Although it was clean, there were no signs of anyone living there.

Even with his ordinary eyes, he could see that the “Flower Heart Reader” wouldn’t miss this.

Yeonmubak rushed out and asked again,

“The storage room, the storage room? You mean the one behind the estate?”

Yeon Seolju, as if scolded by Baeck Miju, rubbed her arm and answered,

“...Yeah.”

In an instant, Yeonmubak leaped over the wall like the wind.

He was so urgent that he used his lightness technique.

The Yeon family, including Baeck Miju, rushed to the storage room, wondering what was happening.

Yeonmubak, with a tense face, looked around.

In front of the open storage room door, a chain was broken like a piece of straw.

It seemed someone had already been there.

Judging by the cut, it could only be explained by a master’s sword technique.

It was undoubtedly Namgung Cheon’s work.

His throat went dry.

To lock Jechaha in a storage room?

He could understand if Jechaha were a vicious demon in the martial world. But he was just a six-year-old. Harassing him as a child and raising him like a dog were different matters.

‘Heavens! Could it be?’

If the atmosphere was such that a six-year-old could be locked in a storage room for ten years, he could have been killed.

If that were the case, the Waryong Hall, and he himself, would be crippled before they could even spread their wings.

‘Mother, please...’

He hoped that didn’t happen.

Baeck Miju, who rushed over, said defensively,

“Really. I did lock him, but I didn’t kill him. That lowly one ran away on his own.”

Yeonmubak calmed his racing heart and entered the room.

The small storage room was filled with the smell of filth and mold.

During his ten years of study in the Namgung family, he learned much about the martial world.

A place where someone had died would have ghostly qi, bloodstains, and the smell of death.

Fortunately, the storage room only had a musty smell, with no signs of such things.

At least no one had died here.

‘Ah! Thank goodness.’

Yeonmubak carefully examined the storage room.

Signs of someone living there were visible everywhere.

Worn and torn children’s clothes and a place where he must have curled up to sleep.

When Yeonmubak came out of the storage room, his eyes met Baeck Miju’s.

“...Why did you do that?”

“I didn’t want to see anything related to her. I didn’t want to live under the same roof as that lowly one.”

“Then why didn’t you send him out of the house?”

“I wanted to take revenge on the one who ruined my life and the Waryong Hall.”

Yeonmubak shook his head.

His mother was not in her right mind when it came to the younger mother and Jechaha.

“Senior and Junior have seen this place. What will the Namgung family think of us?”

Actually, Baeck Miju hadn’t planned for the Namgung family to come.

That pretty but air-headed girl remembering Jechaha was unexpected. In a way, it might have been for the best. If they had seen Jechaha in the storage room, things would have been worse.

“Phew! They won’t spread it around. Even if they call me cruel... Since you’re a disciple of the house, they’ll consider their own reputation.”

Yeonmubak looked at the distant mountains with a dazed expression.

She was right.

As a disciple of Sword King Namgung Bok, he wouldn’t spread rumors. But from now on, he and the Waryong Hall would have to be cautious of the Namgung family.

Voluntary obedience and forced submission were different. Yeonmubak was saddened by the reality that his relationship with his respected teacher was in shambles.

***

In the swaying carriage, Namgung Cheon glanced at his sister.

She had exuded killing aura while touring the Waryong Hall, but now she was calm.

Despite his heavy heart.

Thinking of the Waryong Hall now, he saw the small storage room.

“Yeon, are you okay?”

Namgung Yeon, looking out the window, nodded.

Her flawless face showed that she was really fine.

“Do you know where Jechaha went?”

At this, Namgung Yeon shook her head.

Namgung Cheon didn’t ask further.

No matter how well his sister could read people’s minds, she wasn’t a ghost. She could only deduce the situation from expressions and surroundings.

“He’ll be fine wherever he goes... He survived that hell, so he’ll be fine.”

Namgung Yeon closed her eyes in the sunlight shining through the window.

The day she met Yeon Jechaha ten years ago came back to her as vividly as yesterday.

“Mom...”

She shook her head.

Yeon Jechaha, looking like he was about to cry, lowered his head.

She gently held him.

Soon, hot tears fell on her arm.

She wiped his tears with her sleeve.

Did he think they had become close?

Suddenly, Yeon Jechaha took her hand and walked confidently.

Reaching the dog hole, he stuck his head in without hesitation.

His small feet moved away.

Before his feet disappeared, she also crawled through the dog hole.

Yeon Jechaha left the world through the dog hole, just like that time. But this time, he didn’t come back. He left to live as a human.

Namgung Yeon silently cheered for him in her heart.

Take care of yourself.