It was truly a storm-like meeting.
It was also a meeting that left behind a discomfort akin to swallowing a fruit full of thorns.
[It seems your grandfather always hands you a bomb.]
"...Grandfather?"
I shuddered slightly at Shin Noya's words.
Why does he keep trying to tie me and this Elder together by blood?
We don't have even this much of a resemblance.
Of course, our blood might be mixed, though.
[Moreover, to be entangled with a cursed object again. Your life is truly full of hardships.]
'What kind of scary words are those. I wasn't entangled this time.'
To be exact, I almost got entangled.
For now, I had many questions.
If the Tyrant Sovereign really intended to give me a recommendation letter, why was the content like that?
If he only inserted my name into the recommendation letter the Tyrant Sovereign had written down,
was there really a need to do that?
When the phrase had so much room for misunderstanding.
No matter how you look at it, writing a new one would have been the obvious thing to do.
Of course, recalling the Tyrant Sovereign's personality, this was entirely plausible...
'Did the Tyrant Sovereign originally have a disciple?'
The word "disciple" written in the text—I tried hard to recall because of it, but
at least, it wasn't in my memory.
Among the Three Sovereigns, the only one who had a disciple was the Sword Sovereign.
As for the Heaven Sovereign, since his surname was originally Namgung, it wouldn't be wrong to consider Namgung Jin or Namgung Cheon-jun as his disciples,
but no one had explicitly been pointed out and called a disciple.
This was the same for the Tyrant Sovereign.
Then, did he perhaps want to screw this Elder over?
'...That's entirely possible.'
Considering the usual behavior of this old man, I thought it was entirely plausible.
However, did this Elder really not know the contents of the recommendation letter?
Especially the last sentence; for some reason, it bothered me.
-I used the cursed object well. I will send it through my disciple, so I hope you won't complain too much.
Passing on a cursed object.
It was a familiar phrase, as if I'd experienced it somewhere before.
I recalled the sight of this Elder pushing it off on me, telling me to deliver the cursed object on his behalf when leaving for Mt. Hua.
And, intertwining with that, a certain thought rose up.
"Nah, no way."
With a bad premonition, I urgently rummaged through my clothes.
I pulled out the coin pouch that had been hiding deep inside.
It was what this Elder had given me, calling it pocket money, before leaving for Henan.
The jingling sensation and sound were still the same.
I opened it once in a while when buying snacks for Wi Seol-ah, and it truly was a coin pouch containing pocket money.
[Why are you doing that?]
Shin Noya asked, wondering what kind of behavior this was, but
I silently turned the coin pouch upside down.
Clang-!
The silver coins inside fell with an unpleasant sound.
I only rolled my eyes in the meantime. Only after all the silver coins poured out could I let out a sigh of relief.
[Greenhorn.]
...Yes.
[Did you perhaps think a cursed object was inside there?]
"We can never be too sure."
I've been through it before, so I just thought 'what if.'
I highly doubted it, but thankfully, it seemed it wasn't the case.
Right, no matter how much of a troll this Elder is, this would be a bit much.
He could turn a blind eye and yield the Mt. Hua's cursed object, but
[What do you mean 'he could'! I heard he wagered it while drinking!]
"Why are you getting angry... Ah, I guess you would be."
I often forgot the fact that Shin Noya was the Sect Leader of Mt. Hua.
Anyway.
'I was being too sensitive.'
No matter how much I'd suffered at this Elder's hands, it made no sense that he would have the Alliance's cursed object that the Tyrant Sovereign possessed and handed it to me...
Clink-
The hand I reached out to pick up the silver coins stopped right there.
It was because I felt an imperceptible sensation from the coin pouch in my other hand.
Wondering if there were any remaining silver coins, I opened the pouch and looked inside.
"...Huh?"
Oh....
Thud.
Something caught at my fingertips, so I pulled it out with force.
What came up, along with the thread stuck to the outside, was
"...Haha, fuck this."
A single ring, heavily rusted from however much time had passed.
"Young Master Gu is late. It will start soon."
Dang So-yeol calmly took a sip of tea and brought it up.
Seeing that, Wi Seol-ah, who was standing behind, flinched.
It was because Hong Wa had told her how many poisonous herbs went into that tea.
"I suppose the preparation takes a long time."
Murong Hui-a rested her chin on her hand, scanned her surroundings, and said.
She could feel glances from all directions stealing looks this way.
The Yongbongji meeting banquet always felt like this.
The thick, desire-laden gazes still felt filthy and uncomfortable.
Even so, because all those gazes held a certain utility value, Murong Hui-a just smiled calmly.
She slightly raised the corners of her mouth and delicately changed her expression.
To the most charming face she could make.
When Murong Hui-a smiled, the faces of those who had been secretly watching went half-slack.
"You're still amazing."
Dang So-yeol looked at that and sincerely admired it.
"Miss Dang can do it anytime, too."
I added a slight empty compliment, but it wasn't wrong.
Dang So-yeol was also quite good at utilizing her unique cute and kind charm.
Though Dang So-yeol likely didn't not know that.
"...It's not charming when it doesn't work on the person it needs to work on."
At Dang So-yeol's words, Murong Hui-a seemed to know who she meant.
She couldn't not know.
She had seen Dang So-yeol being so openly aggressive about it.
"...Your unique taste is still the same."
She wondered what was so good about that scary-looking boy that Dang So-yeol chased after him.
'He was a peculiar person, though.'
It was her first time meeting someone whose gaze toward her was so indifferent.
The boy of the Gu family, even without saying it out loud, put up a large wall in front of him,
emitting a feeling that told her not to cross over to him.
'Is it because a woman like that is beside him?'
Murong Hui-a shifted her gaze elsewhere.
To the woman who was handling most of the pouring attention.
'Namgung Bi-a... I think that was her name.'
A bloodline of the Namgung family, and the older sister of the Thunder Dragon.
She was someone Murong Hui-a was seeing for the first time.
Even though she had interacted quite a bit with the Namgung family, she had never heard anything except the fact that he had a sister.
'She's beautiful.'
Just as the Thunder Dragon's handsome looks didn't come from nowhere, his sister was the same.
She had no complaints about having her attention stolen.
Because she had a beautiful appearance worthy of it.
Although there was some jealousy, she didn't have the luxury to entertain such petty thoughts.
Murong Hui-a carefully spoke to Namgung Bi-a.
"I don't see Miss Namgung's younger brother either."
At Murong Hui-a's words, Namgung Bi-a moved her hazy eyes.
"...He'll be here soon."
"Pardon?"
How should she put it, her face looked much more tired than before to Murong Hui-a.
'He'll be here soon?'
Since they were siblings, she wondered if they had contacted each other separately.
'It really isn't easy.'
Murong Hui-a let out a breath unknowingly.
Lately, she had tried her best to get close to Namgung Bi-a, but she was a person she couldn't figure out at all.
She rarely changed her expression, and aside from training, she spent all her time either with her fiancé, or in the back with her servant and Dang So-yeol. It was a monotonous life of sleeping and such.
'What a waste, even with that face.'
In a way, she looked busy, but strictly speaking, it was a relaxed life.
For Murong Hui-a, it was truly something to be envious of.
'I don't have time.'
She lacked the time to strive to raise her realm as a martial artist, and the time to express her emotions and love someone.
'Where is the Thunder Dragon.'
Therefore, she needed to gain the Thunder Dragon's cooperation even a little faster.
Along with the help of the Namgung family, of course.
Namgung Bi-a quietly looked at Murong Hui-a like that.
Then, she quietly asked Wi Seol-ah, who was standing behind.
"...Do your legs... not hurt...?"
"Hmm?"
"Want to sit...?"
It seemed she was concerned about Wi Seol-ah, who was standing behind the empty seat.
"Sister, I told you earlier, but that's not okay."
Dang So-yeol sighed at Namgung Bi-a's words and said.
"But..."
"I understand your feelings, Sister, but in this situation, making a servant sit at the table itself isn't a good look for Young Master Gu."
The usual Gu Yang-cheon wouldn't care, sitting together or eating meals whether it was Wi Seol-ah, a servant, or a guard.
But at least for this current seat, that shouldn't happen.
"...Yeah."
When Gu Yang-cheon was brought up, Namgung Bi-a eventually accepted it as if she had no choice.
So it seemed she would nod along to whatever was said as long as Gu Yang-cheon's name came up.
'For a person to change that much.'
In just a few months, Namgung Bi-a had become much brighter and talked more.
Recalling that it was solely because of Gu Yang-cheon, she thought it was fortunate, yet felt bitter.
Dang So-yeol stared only at the banquet hall entrance and pouted her lips.
"When is he really coming..."
She was a little worried about Gu Yang-cheon, who said he'd be a bit late.
Because he seemed to be too late.
"The fortunate thing is that the Alliance Lord is also late..."
It seemed he was a bit delayed on schedule.
Thanks to that, it seemed they avoided the mishap of Gu Yang-cheon entering after the banquet had started.
"It's peculiar that the Alliance Lord is late as well."
When Murong Hui-a suddenly spoke, Dang So-yeol also nodded in agreement.
The Alliance Lord always came out and brought up the conversation right around when the banquet started.
The Alliance Lord had never been late for this.
Rather, he would appear a little earlier.
Since it was a gathering of the bloodlines of the prestigious families and sects that made up the Orthodox Faction, the Alliance Lord also couldn't afford to be late.
"Did something come up..."
"He'll probably be here soon."
Dang So-yeol slightly frowned at the voice that interrupted.
It was because it was someone approaching, not a person already at the table.
With slightly sharp eyes, Dang So-yeol turned her gaze toward the person who had cut off her words.
At the end of her gaze, a boy was smiling awkwardly.
He was a handsome young master with a gentle appearance and a smiling face with slightly drooping eyes.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt... but a familiar topic came up."
"Before you speak to us, I'd like you to introduce yourself first."
Even at Dang So-yeol's somewhat prickly tone, the boy's smile didn't fade.
The boy offered a slight bow at Dang So-yeol's words and introduced himself in a polite tone.
"I apologize for showing behavior that goes somewhat against etiquette. I am..."
At the boy's words, it felt as if a wind was blowing from somewhere.
"My name is Jang Seon-yeon."
A very cold wind, that is.