Chapter 150
Namgung Yo sent Namgung Hwi in first, then entered after him and gave a light nod.
“Excuse us, Captain. Oh my, Master Beopgong is here as well.”
“Well now, look who it is. It’s Yo.”
At the irreverent voice, Namgung Yo turned her head, and her brow creased slightly. She looked at Beopgong with exasperation as he lay in the corner of the tent, chewing on a willow branch.
“You have not changed. I see you still cannot give up your hair, Master.”
“Of course not. Without hair, I don’t look right. Anyway, it has been a while. Is that your brother? The Heir Apparent?”
Beopgong, who had been waving a hand while lying down, lazily pushed himself up.
His manners made it hard to believe he was a disciple of Buddhism, but Namgung Hwi did not let it show and offered a courteous clasped-fist salute.
“This junior of the martial world, Namgung Hwi, greets the seniors of the martial world.”
At his impeccable etiquette, perfect enough that there was nothing to criticize, Beopgong grinned and pulled the twig he had been using as a toothpick from his mouth.
“Well now, I finally get to meet the famed Namgung Heir Apparent. Pale little thing like you must be popular with the young ladies. Hey, Namgung brat. How old are you?”
“Beopgong. Young though he may be, he is the Heir Apparent. Mind your manners,” Dam Cheon said.
Beopgong shrugged.
“Brother, really. Raising kids so their necks stiffen with pride from an early age is the fastest way to ruin them. There should be adults who treat them like children so they can breathe. If kids can’t act like kids when they’re young, a knot forms in their chest, you know? Then they grow old and act like children because they never learned to act their age.”
“I am not curious about your philosophy. Separate public and private matters while carrying out a mission.”
“Yes, yes, Captain.”
Beopgong looked sulky at the cold reply, then asked again in an exaggeratedly formal tone.
“Forgive this humble monk’s rudeness. Might this one ask what age the Namgung Heir Apparent has reac—ow! That hurt!”
“Just shut up. I apologize on his behalf.”
Dam Cheon struck Beopgong across the back of the head and apologized with an expressionless face. Namgung Hwi answered calmly.
“It is all right. I am fifteen.”
“Oh, fifteen? Around the same age as the Tang Clan brat, then. Or not? Was she older?”
In that instant, Namgung Yo’s eyes sharpened. Namgung Hwi asked without meaning to.
“The Tang Clan brat?”
“Yeah. There’s one little brat who sings at me for Minor Restoration Pills every time she sees me. Maybe it’s because she’s the Poison King’s disciple, but for someone who looks so gentle, she’s vicious.”
Namgung Hwi’s expression turned subtle. Among Tang Clan children his age who were being taught by the Poison King, there was only one person.
Namgung Hwi shook his head as he remembered the girl the Poison King had cherished so dearly while keeping a wary, displeased eye on him.
“...She is not a vicious child.”
She was a child who had smiled and brushed it off as nothing even when a maid wounded her face.
At his protective tone, Beopgong tilted his head.
“Huh. You know the Tang Clan brat?”
“......”
“Well, the clans do interact often, so I suppose you might. Since they neglected the child enough to hand her over to the Alliance as a suspect, I thought they would never have let her join such gatherings either. Perhaps that wasn’t the case? Truly, the affairs of great clans make no sense.”
Beopgong muttered while rubbing his chin, his face sour. Confusion stirred in Namgung Hwi’s blue eyes.
“Handed her... over to the Alliance as a suspect? What does that mean? What happened to Sohae?”
“Master Beopgong.”
Namgung Yo cut in and shot him a look, but Beopgong answered without minding her.
“The sort of bad thing that can happen to a kid who loses her protector and gets kicked out of her home.”
Loses her protector?
At the words he had never imagined, Namgung Hwi’s lips trembled. He raised his voice and urgently asked again.
“Please tell me exactly. Sohae was kicked out of her home? What do you mean by that?”
“That kid was mistaken for a Demonic Sect member and chased by the Alliance. She was investigated at the main headquarters not long ago.”
“Chased by the Alliance? Do you mean there was a wanted order?”
“Yeah. It’s settled now. The wanted order was lifted, and she went on her way. From how shocked you are, you must know her well. Is she a friend of yours, our kid?”
Beopgong seemed to ask something, but Namgung Hwi could no longer hear properly. He gripped his sword so tightly the back of his hand turned white.
Then the reason she had not sent a reply even after the year changed was...
She had not ignored him on purpose. She had been unable to answer.
How could she send a letter when she was being pursued with her life under threat?
His heart dropped. Pale-faced and breathing roughly, he bolted out of the tent.
“Hwi? Hwi! Where are you going!”
Even at Namgung Yo’s call, Namgung Hwi did not look back. He left the camp and began running toward Yueyang’s streets.
The taste of blood rose from his lips, which he had been chewing at. He felt as if he would go mad from how pathetic he was, having not grown at all in two years.
You stupid bastard. You knew nothing and got disappointed all on your own. What was that worthless pride worth, turning your back without even asking why?
Like a fool, he had repeated the same mistake. Again, he had judged on his own and misunderstood.
There could have been circumstances. He had not even considered what situation that child might be in...
Red Thunder, who had hurried after him in a panic, shouted with a near scream.
“Heir Apparent! Where are you going all of a sudden! You must return!”
“I have to meet her!”
“Pardon? What do you mean? Who do you intend to meet?”
“She was in Yueyang! She was definitely here!”
After shouting, he ignored Red Thunder and ran until his breath rose to his throat.
But there was no one on the street where he had seen Tang Sohae.
The two-horse carriage she had climbed down from and the green hem fluttering in the wind were still vivid in his mind, yet nothing remained on the empty street.
Namgung Hwi stood as if nailed in place and looked around, then soon began wandering the street, following the traces of carriage wheels.
Horrified by the sight of his master acting like a madman, Red Thunder tried to stop him.
“Why on earth are you doing this! Heir Apparent, think about why you came to Yueyang! Surely you are not acting like this after hearing about the Tang girl...!”
Red Thunder, who had been shouting at the top of his lungs as he followed, hurriedly shut his mouth. Namgung Hwi had roughly drawn his sword and was pointing the tip at him.
Damn it. I misspoke.
He swallowed and watched Namgung Hwi’s expression.
“Heir Apparent. Please calm yourself.”
“...You knew what that child was going through.”
“T-That is...”
“Though you served as my guard for eight years, not once were you ever truly my person. I have been played for a fool.”
Namgung Hwi, understanding the situation in an instant, ground his teeth.
Red Thunder had already known. Considering the way Beopgong’s words had been stopped, Namgung Yo must have known the circumstances as well.
There was only one person who could silence his guard and siblings alike and cut off information.
His father. The Clan Head, Namgung Sang.
Namgung Hwi’s eyes churned like rough waves as he trembled with betrayal. At that ominous force, Red Thunder hurriedly poured out excuses.
“That is not so, Heir Apparent. Please do not doubt my loyalty. I merely obeyed the Clan Head’s order...!”
“Loyalty to my father, you mean? Then again, I am the fool for only now realizing that your master is not me, but my father.”
“Heir Apparent, please quell your anger. The Clan Head did it for your sake.”
“For my sake... Do you truly think covering my eyes and ears and turning me into a frog in a well is for my sake?”
“......”
Namgung Hwi smiled bitterly and tightened his hand around his sword.
“If that child was mistaken for a Demonic Sect member, then it must mean there are signs of the Demonic Sect becoming active. And the Alliance setting out on a river-bandit suppression at this time must be related to an unusual political situation. Yet I have heard nothing.”
“Heir Apparent...”
“What a magnificent feeling. I feel like the greatest fool under heaven. Did Father want to set up a puppet who moved according to his will, rather than an heir to carry on the Namgung Clan?”
“T-That is not true, Heir Apparent! The Clan Head’s intention was...”
“Spare me the excuses. I have no intention of keeping a guard beside me who covers my eyes and ears.”
“Heir Apparent, this subordinate was wrong!”
Red Thunder dropped to his knees and prostrated himself in apology, but Namgung Hwi’s expression did not soften.
“Even so, I suppose I cannot dispose of Father’s man as I please. Red Thunder, return to Anhui.”
“If you are disappointed in me, I will humbly accept it, Heir Apparent. But you must not go like this. At the very least, you must remain in place until the suppression force’s mission is complete.”
“I do not care.”
“You intend to throw everything aside like this and go searching for Miss Tang? Come to your senses! If you get carried away and ruin matters, Heir Apparent, it will not help Miss Tang in the slightest!”
Frustrated, Red Thunder struck his chest. As if telling him to say more, Namgung Hwi lifted Red Thunder’s chin with the tip of his sword.
“Do you think people will curse the Heir Apparent if the Heir Apparent goes astray? No. Unless they have two lives, they will not. Insulting the Heir Apparent is the same as insulting Namgung. Naturally, innocent Miss Tang will become the target instead.”
“What did she do wrong!”
“Exactly. She did nothing wrong, yet simply because the Heir Apparent holds her in his heart, she will suffer for it. Do you want to see her pointed at and blamed as an illegitimate child who seduced Namgung’s eldest son and stopped him from doing his duty?”
“......”
“I know this does not sit well with you. I know your feelings have been wounded. But think of it as taking one step back for the sake of advancing two steps. For now, you must return, Heir Apparent. When the suppression is over, go to escort her then. This Red Thunder will follow you.”
Namgung Hwi’s lips moved faintly, and his face twisted into a mess. The blade laid against Red Thunder’s throat dug into his skin, and a line of fresh blood trickled down.
“...Red Thunder.”
“Yes, Heir Apparent.”
“If you want that neck to remain attached, you will have to take responsibility for your words.”
“Of course. Have I ever lied to you, Heir Apparent?”
“Often.”
Suppressing his anger with difficulty, Namgung Hwi calmed his breathing, then slashed his sword viciously through the air. At the rough sword strike, the ground split in half, leaving a deep crack.
With a face that looked as if he might cry at any moment, he glared down at the ground, trembled, then turned away.
“We return.”
Namgung Hwi’s eyes blazed as he gave the order.
Red Thunder wiped the drops of blood from his throat and rose, swallowing a sigh.
The boy who had revered and followed his father as if he were the heavens would never trust his father again.
He would try to challenge the world of the father who had betrayed faith and loyalty.
You misjudged this time, Clan Head. It could have ended as a youthful first love, but you have set fire to that young heart...
He looked at his master’s back with troubled eyes, then followed silently.