Chapter 22
Contempt
“Could I take a look at that?”
At the voice that came from the direction of the shattered window, everyone’s gaze gathered there.
“Hup.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon and the gatekeeper stepped over the window frame and entered.
While everyone’s attention was fixed on him, Yeon Sang-hyeon dusted off the bits of wood and such that had stuck to his body.
“Young Master, I will help you.”
“Mm, thanks.”
Jeong-ah, who had approached before anyone knew it, helped Yeon Sang-hyeon with careful hands.
After Jeong-ah had even finished straightening out his clothes, Yeon Sang-hyeon tilted his head.
“What are you doing? Hand that over.”
The bewilderment on the faces of the Skull Gang members changed into anger.
“Who the hell are you?!”
One of the martial artists standing behind Golden Spider shouted.
The roar, filled with internal energy, rang loudly through the room.
“…Good grief, my ears.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon picked at his ear in an obnoxious manner and continued.
“Can’t you tell by looking at these clothes?”
When Yeon Sang-hyeon pointed at the gatekeeper’s uniform, everyone’s gaze turned to the gatekeeper.
One might have found that gaze burdensome, but the gatekeeper stood calmly and faced it.
“…A guard from the Sword House?”
“Hmm…”
Everyone’s expressions turned subtle.
The Sword House was a name that anyone in Luoyang could not help but fear, but a mere guard?
That might have meant something among ordinary commoners, but were they not notorious outlaws of Luoyang?
Yeon Sang-hyeon shook his head.
“Be careful. He may be dressed like that, but this friend here is an incredible expert.”
Everyone’s subtle gazes turned toward the guard.
At the sight of a middle-aged man whose presence did not even seem like that of an ordinary martial artist, let alone an expert, someone burst into laughter.
Then, as if on cue, every member of the Skull Gang broke into noisy laughter.
“An expert, he says. An expert.”
“If that bastard is an expert, then I’m the greatest under heaven!”
Golden Spider did not laugh along with them, but she, too, was looking at Yeon Sang-hyeon with suspicious eyes.
He did not look like much, but because he had appeared so boldly, she could not decide what to do right away.
“…Tsk.”
“This won’t do. Go bring it here.”
“…As you command.”
When the gatekeeper took one step forward, all the laughter ceased.
Killing intent rose in their eyes.
And when he took two steps forward, the three martial artists around Golden Spider prepared to act at once.
When he took the next three steps, the Sword House Steel Plaque that had been in Golden Spider’s hand was now in the gatekeeper’s hand.
“…?!”
The one most shocked was Golden Spider, who had been holding it herself.
She had only felt as though a breeze had lightly stirred her hair, yet before she knew it, the Sword House Steel Plaque she had been holding had passed into the other man’s hand.
At that moment, the same thought flashed through everyone’s mind.
‘An expert…!’
A heavy, chilly silence settled over the room.
“Hmm.”
Whether the others were shocked or not, Yeon Sang-hyeon turned the Sword House Steel Plaque this way and that in his hand.
Jeong-ah asked cautiously.
“Young Master, is it genuine?”
Yeon Sang-hyeon nodded.
“It is. It’s real.”
A gloomy look appeared in his eyes as he gazed at the Sword House Steel Plaque.
“In the past, the Sword House Steel Plaque was a token of an oath given to a benefactor who had shown kindness to the Sword House. It was a promise that the debt would be repaid anytime, anywhere.”
His voice had sunk low.
“When a benefactor bearing the plaque was in danger, the people of the Sword House rushed to that place, no matter where it was.”
The Sword House Steel Plaque in his hand glittered in the sunlight.
“And they crossed blades alongside that benefactor, without even fearing death.”
“It was a symbol of boundless trust.”
It was Se-ah ’s voice. At some point, she had risen from her seat.
Having already realized Yeon Sang-hyeon’s identity from Jeong-ah’s actions, she could not dare remain seated before him.
Yeon Sang-hyeon glanced briefly atSe-ah and nodded.
“…That’s right.”
A bitter smile formed on his lips.
“Though now, it has become nothing more than a mere token entrusted to business partners.”
He lightly tossed the Sword House Steel Plaque toward Golden Spider.
Golden Spider caught the plaque in midair with a tap and spoke to Yeon Sang-hyeon with faintly narrowed eyes.
“As you said, it may be nothing more than a mere token, but it is also proof that guarantees safety from the Sword House’s blind blade. Is it not?”
Her words were clearly spoken with the “Sword House expert” standing behind Yeon Sang-hyeon in mind.
“That is true.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon readily nodded.
“If someone ignored the Sword House Steel Plaque and acted however they pleased, the trust that the Sword House has built up until now would collapse.”
A smile appeared on Golden Spider’s lips.
“If one had power within the Sword House, one might somehow smooth things over, but that would be difficult, wouldn’t it?”
Yeon Sang-hyeon shrugged as if in agreement.
Golden Spider spoke with certainty.
“You must be the famous Swordless One.”
A deep sneer hung on Golden Spider’s lips as she uttered the derogatory title “Swordless One.”
“That’s right. I am Yeon Sang-hyeon.”
No sooner had Yeon Sang-hyeon finished speaking than Golden Spider burst into laughter.
It was laughter so intense she seemed about to lose her breath.
After laughing like that for quite some time, she wiped away the tears gathered at the corners of her eyes from laughing too much and opened her mouth.
“Ah, damn, I got scared for nothing. You nearly ruined my style.”
Her gaze turned to Yeon Sang-hyeon.
There was unmistakable contempt in the way she looked down on him.
“What brings someone who is said to spend his days playing at being an immortal and letting his axe handle rot all the way here?”
At her words, which were full of nothing but mockery, Jeong-ah’s fine brow twitched.
“Nothing much. My maid had some business with the Pavilion Master here.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon remained calm.
“Have you grown tired of ruining the Luoyang Sword House from within? Are you now planning to wander outside and smear the Sword House’s name as well?”
Se-ah struck the table with her pipe.
“Golden Spider, you had better watch your mouth. No matter what anyone says, he is the Sword House’s—”
“The Sword House?”
Golden Spider snorted.
“Does this sheltered young master, who knows nothing of the world, look like the Luoyang Sword House to you?”
At those words, Jeong-ah clenched her teeth.
But in the end, she could not step forward.
If someone as powerless as her stepped forward, she would not restore her master’s honor. She would only make him an even greater laughingstock.
“Good grief, this is absurd…”
Golden Spider burst into hollow laughter and swept back her hair.
“Pavilion Master of the Dark Moon, do you still not understand? Do you not know what I’m trusting in to act like this?”
She shook the Sword House Steel Plaque in her hand.
“The line I’ve caught, you see, is a golden cord that can’t even be compared to some eldest young master of the Luoyang Sword House in name only.”
Her voice rose sharply.
“I’m saying it isn’t some incompetent who can’t even reach the fringes of real power! A closest aide of the Second Young Master, one of the proper heirs of the Sword House, met with me today as well…”
As she spoke, Golden Spider’s gaze lingered on Jeong-ah.
“Met with me today as well, you see…”
Trailing off, she stroked her chin and looked back and forth between Jeong-ah and Yeon Sang-hyeon.
Then, as if she had soon realized something, she pointed at Jeong-ah.
“You! You’re that troublesome girl he mentioned!”
Jeong-ah squeezed her eyes shut.
The tip of that finger felt as if it had pierced even the most fragile part of her soul.
“Ah, what an amusing coincidence. I heard about this just this morning, and now I run into the person herself.”
Golden Spider strode toward Jeong-ah.
“…That is far enough.”
The gatekeeper blocked Golden Spider from approaching Jeong-ah any closer.
But in front of the Sword House Steel Plaque, that was all he could do.
“Hey, why don’t you tell me? Why did you kick away that golden opportunity with your own feet—the chance that you might even have become the Second Young Master’s concubine—and of all places, go to that Swordless One? Hm?”
Golden Spider mocked Jeong-ah with eyes that seemed to be looking at a strange animal.
“No, even if not a concubine, even if you became nothing more than a plaything, wouldn’t that still have been better? What do you think you can accomplish by relying on a wastrel like this?”
Jeong-ah stepped in front of Golden Spider as she pointed at Yeon Sang-hyeon.
“Do not insult my master. He is a noble person whom someone like you does not dare speak of so carelessly.”
Even at her protest, Golden Spider merely burst into cackling laughter.
“A noble person? Yes, he certainly is noble beyond measure. He threw away every right he was born with, abandoned his responsibilities, and even while being pointed at by the people of his own family…”
Blue flames flashed in her eyes.
“He must still be far nobler than a lowborn street bitch with no roots like me.”
Jeong-ah did not look away, even before Golden Spider’s terrifying pressure. She stared directly at her.
But…
But there was no protest she could make.
The Swordless One.
That was a name often mocked in the Luoyang Sword House, in the great city of Luoyang, and even across all of Henan Province.
Just as people knew all too well the name of the Luoyang Sword House, called the greatest family under heaven, they also knew all too well the name of the Swordless One, the recluse of that family.
While his father, the Grand Patriarch, shut himself away on his sickbed and still poured all his strength into sustaining the family, he was the unfilial son with no presence at all.
A coward.
A weakling.
If the Luoyang Sword House had not expanded its power and developed even further while he remained in seclusion, Yeon Sang-hyeon’s name would not have merely ended at being mocked.
“You have nothing to say, do you? If you do have anything to say, I’ll listen, so go on.”
It was frustrating.
So terribly frustrating.
She wanted to shout that the Eldest Young Master Yeon Sang-hyeon—the master she had seen, the master she had chosen to serve—was not like that.
She wanted to raise her voice and declare the Yeon Sang-hyeon she knew.
But no matter what she said, her words would surely ring hollow.
It was the first time she had ever felt so powerless.
Even when she had been driven out of the reception hall as if chased by the Second Young Master and the Third Young Master, she had not felt this powerless.
Yet now, unable to stop her master from being insulted, she felt helplessness cut into her so deeply.
“How about stopping there?”
The one who wrapped an arm around Jeong-ah’s shoulders and turned her back was Yeon Sang-hyeon.
“She is still my one and only personal maid.”
He gave an innocent smile.
“…If you keep going, I’ll have no choice but to get angry, you know?”
“It was already no fun.”
Golden Spider snorted, but she forced down the chill she felt in one corner of her heart.
In the heat of the moment, she had mocked Yeon Sang-hyeon.
But the position of Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword House was naturally a status that weighed heavily even on her.
She turned her gaze toSe-ah and said,
“Pavilion Master, no matter how hard you look outside, the safeguards you’re waiting for won’t come.”
The one gakSe-ah had mentioned had already passed long ago.
“You put pressure on them…!”
Golden Spider once again shook the Sword House Steel Plaque in her hand at Se-ah , who was glaring at her.
“I’m telling you, this thing is practically a master key.”
Cackling pleasantly, Golden Spider turned and walked toward the door.
“I was originally planning to carve a firm warning into that body of yours today…”
She glanced back at Yeon Sang-hyeon.
“Unfortunately, a meddler appeared, so it seems that much will be difficult.”
As she left through the door under the protection of her subordinates, she waved a hand behind her.
“The next time I come, that pathetic Eldest Young Master won’t be able to save you.”
Golden Spider disappeared beyond the door, and her subordinates also followed her out of the building as if the tide were receding.
“Golden Spider…”
Se-ah ground her teeth.
And then Jeong-ah, who had been holding on through sheer willpower until then, collapsed.
“Eldest Young Master, I’m sorry…”
Yeon Sang-hyeon caught her body, but she had already lost consciousness.
“Jeong-ah!”
Se-ah’s urgent voice rang out sharply.