Rustle—
The first sound always heard in the silent stillness.
Is the sound of turning letters.
Rustle—
I wouldn’t know what was so urgent.
Father was always working, the Patriarch’s office I carefully entered.
Father’s appearance was the same as always.
“I heard you called for me.”
As I spoke, Father finally raised his head, meeting my gaze.
“Right.”
He puts down the letter he was reading.
Then, looking at me, he opened his mouth.
“First of all, you’ve worked hard.”
“Not at all.”
“The punishment placed upon you ends here.”
The first few months of closed-door cultivation ended.
Along with that, the frontline I had left for over a year was now wrapping up.
Thinking about it, calling it a punishment was a bit much, as I was able to build my strength through the process.
In a way, it was right to see it as rather helpful.
‘Could it be... did he intentionally make it that way?’
So, I couldn’t help but suspect.
‘Probably not.’
Well.
Even if closed-door cultivation was that.
The trip to the frontline wouldn’t be.
Father wouldn’t know the fact that I could absorb Demonic Qi.
Sending me to the frontline would indeed be a punishment.
‘It was better than my past life, though.’
In my past life, it wasn’t one year, but two, I think.
Dragged around by Gu Xibi’s hands, rolling through near-death experiences.
That time was truly like hell.
‘...Would it have been much different now?’
To pick out the feeling.
Rather than my body being tired.
‘It was... mentally exhausting.’
In many ways.
I didn’t really want to recall the process.
As I was making a conflicted expression.
Father says to me.
“As long as there are no further issues, you will leave for Anhui in a few days, as stated in the letter.”
Right after lightly ending the conversation, he got straight to the point.
For me, getting straight to the point was better in this uncomfortable atmosphere.
It was his usual personality.
Besides.
Is this for real?
‘Anhui...’
If asked if I’ve been there, once or twice.
That too was a few times in my past life with the status of a demonic cultivator for not-so-good purposes.
‘To think I’d be going to such a place for the purpose of an engagement.’
Life is truly unpredictable.
Of course, now that it’s come to this, I couldn’t run away saying I won’t go.
‘...I could, though.’
To do that, the face of a woman who would be lying down seeking sleep in either my quarters or her own right about now came to mind, making me think I couldn’t.
‘Am I really getting engaged like this?’
An engagement so abruptly in my life.
What in the world....
As a strange feeling rose up with reality slowly creeping in.
“First Madam will also be accompanying you on the trip to Anhui.”
“...What?”
At Father’s words, I inadvertently swallowed a gasp.
First Madam? Madam Mi is going together to Anhui?
“...Why?”
The words popped out before I knew it.
At my questioning, Father rather rarely made a strange expression.
Of course.
Even that was such a subtle difference that one wouldn’t know unless they looked closely.
“Why, you ask. That’s a strange question.”
True.
I spat it out without realizing, but.
Since it was a bloodline’s engagement ceremony where even the Patriarch of the Han Family was accompanying.
It wasn’t particularly strange for Mi Xiaoran, the First Madam and the matriarch of the family by position, to attend.
‘Wait... then.’
At the fleeting thought, I immediately asked Father.
“Is the reason Madam Mi returned to the family, by any chance, because of this?”
“Yes.”
“Ah.”
At Father’s answer, I finally understood the reason Madam Mi returned to the family earlier than in my past life.
It was because of my engagement ceremony.
‘...I didn’t get engaged in my past life.’
Rather than not doing it, my reputation was so disastrous that no engagement offers came.
Recalling it, it felt somewhat bitter.
How badly must I have acted.
For an engagement offer not to come to a prestigious family.
Of course, it wasn’t entirely because of that.
Considering that even Gu Xibi, who was of age to marry long ago, didn’t.
‘...Madam Mi goes together, huh.’
Even if it was for positional reasons.
I thought she might find it awkward.
Of course, it was a bit burdensome for me too.
“That aside.”
“Yes.”
“I heard there was a friction with the Huangbo Clan on the frontline.”
“...Ah.”
I was momentarily flustered by Father’s words.
Where did he hear that?
I thought I kept my mouth shut well.
“It was nothing.”
It really was nothing.
Just smashed the eldest brother of the Huangbo bloodline and made him kneel.
And exposed the younger brother’s desire to throw them into a Patriarch war, right?
‘That’s nothing.’
When it comes to me.
Exterminating the entire family is the basics.
And arguing over whether to destroy the Central Plains or not?
Just becoming the Patriarch or not makes it nothing, right.
Yeah! Of course.
Father, hearing my answer, looked into my eyes for a moment.
“Right.”
He answered briefly and didn’t bring it up anymore.
As always, it meant that was enough.
‘...Not asking further makes it even scarier.’
It’s been like that since before.
As long as I didn’t cause an accident crossing a certain line.
Father would often just let it pass, thinking ‘I guess that’s how it is.’
Of course, the moment I crossed the line by Father’s standards, I’d be smashed to pieces, so I tried to keep it at least.
...Or not? I don’t think I particularly kept it.
Anyway.
After this.
Dropping by the merchant guild related to the Gu family.
Or basic education I had to receive as a bloodline member, I heard about trivial schedules.
“...And regarding the subsequent schedule, hear it from the Chief Steward.”
“Yes.”
The crucial matters were eventually.
Going to Anhui and holding the engagement ceremony.
And Madam Mi goes along too.
That seemed to be the extent of it.
Since Father’s order to leave had fallen.
The moment I was about to slip away.
“...Patriarch.”
“Hmm?”
I remembered I had to ask about what happened on the frontline.
The bead the ancestor left behind.
The beast evaluated it as a seed.
Along with the warning that if the seed bloomed, something big would happen.
This.
‘Does Father know?’
I was curious about that.
“I’m talking about the bead in the center.”
“Right.”
“Do you know what that is, Patriarch?”
Halt.
Father’s hand, which heard my question, momentarily stopped.
His gaze was still directed at me.
His deep red eyes shining exceptionally, making me want to avert my eyes without realizing.
“Why do you ask that?”
“...I’m curious what it is.”
Did he fall into thought at the sudden question.
Father, who took a brief silence, opened his mouth to me again after a fleeting moment.
“It is something you do not need to know yet.”
Spitting the words firmly, he turned his gaze back to the letters.
In a way, it was a truly firm refusal, but.
In the midst of it all, Father’s words still lingered in my ears.
‘Yet... he says.’
If he says I don’t need to know yet.
That means I’ll know someday.
If my prediction isn’t wrong, it seemed Father knew what that bead was.
‘I don’t know if he knows it as a seed, like what that guy said, though.’
At least I could tell that the bead had some meaning.
The problem is.
‘He won’t answer even if I ask more.’
Even if I persistently cling here to find out somehow.
My head might get burnt by Father’s hand.
‘...At least I need to protect my hair.’
The Divine Doctor said before that even if everything else is fixed, hair falling out or getting burnt can’t be fixed.
“...Then, Patriarch.”
“Do you still have business?”
“What about Xuefeng?”
This was another matter.
Whether it was a question Father didn’t expect, his eyes widened slightly.
“Xuefeng?”
“I mean, what should we do about the contract with her if I go to Anhui.”
We agreed to give her heat once every certain period.
Xuefeng’s constitution doesn’t work unless it’s my heat.
Actually, Father and Gu Xibi tried too.
But they only felt the heat for a moment.
It seemed they couldn’t drive away the cold energy remaining in her body or inside her.
‘Then in the end, is this also an aftermath of the Demonic Heaven Absorbing Art?’
It seemed too certain to say it wasn’t.
Even the cold energy that took Xuefeng’s life in my past life.
The Demonic Heaven Absorbing Art seemed to be able to swallow it up effortlessly.
‘If I had a question, it was only whether I was taking her energy, or if the heat really just eliminated the cold energy.’
To say I was taking her energy.
Seeing as there wasn’t any particular feeling near my dantian.
That didn’t seem to be the case either.
Regarding my question, Father quickly brought up an answer.
“I’ve already finished talking with the Murong family.”
“Yes? When?”
To say the talk was finished, I hadn’t heard particularly from Murong Xiya.
Ah, I didn’t go see her.
Right, since returning to the family, I hadn’t properly seen Murong Xiya even once.
“How has it been decided?”
“Heh...”
Father, who was about to answer the question, turned his head and briefly examined outside the window.
Wondering if something was there, I also briefly looked in the same direction.
But outside there were only bushes, nothing particularly visible.
“...Hear the rest outside, it seems they are waiting for you anyway.”
“Yes? Who is waiting for me...”
The Chief Steward?
Father sent a glance as if he had no more to say.
It meant don’t waste more time and get out quickly.
At that glance, eventually, I paid appropriate respects to Father and moved my steps out of the Patriarch’s office.
And then.
‘Hey.’
I called the guy who would be sleeping inside.
[Grr?]
As if it heard being called, I immediately felt a sensation like something moving deep within my dantian.
I had told it to just sleep since there would be nothing to eat for a while if we returned to the family.
It seemed it really was sleeping.
I found out while spending time beside it.
This guy listened better than I thought.
Should I say it feels like raising a real puppy.
Of course, that’s that.
The main point wasn’t this.
‘When are you going to wake up the Old Man?’
[Grr...?]
‘It’s already been over a year.’
For this guy to converse with me like this and absorb qi a little more easily.
Old Man Shen had to sleep even for a short while.
The period of such a contract woven while having a conversation in the closed-door cultivation room was one year.
And now, it was a point where a year and several months had passed.
‘Don’t pretend you don’t know, the period has already passed, you know it too.’
[...Grrr.]
‘Wake up quickly, I have something to ask the Old Man.’
The thing I had to ask Old Man Shen.
It was about the bead I saw on the frontline.
The Old Man was a figure who was active not long after the Demonic Realm Gate opened.
And a person who directly experienced the Blood Calamity caused by the Blood Demon.
Since he was a figure active in the past to that extent.
‘Wouldn’t he know about the bead too?’
I thought.
Actually, since he was a person from too far in the past, he didn’t seem to know much about the Martial Arts Alliance or the Gu family.
But you never know.
More than anything.
I was starting to miss the irritation the Old Man used to show a little.
[...Grr.]
Without giving an answer to my question.
The guy lets out a small cry and gradually erases its presence.
This movement was clearly to fall back asleep.
‘Where are you going again... hey, hey!’
It should have heard my urging.
The guy didn’t give an answer and.
Disappeared back into the silence.
Look at this bastard.
Is it telling me to slit its belly?
Doesn’t it know I’m an expert at slitting other people’s bellies?’
Or maybe not.
I could slit it and then even burn it up.
‘If you don’t want that, come out while I’m still speaking nicely...’
“You’re here.”
Stop.
My steps, walking with irritation, stopped at the voice I heard.
It was because I heard an unexpected voice.
Moreover, it was a familiar voice, so I turned my head to look straight ahead.
In front, the Chief Steward was standing.
The voice was a woman’s, not the Chief Steward’s.
The surroundings, which I thought were a passageway leading outside, had already come out without me noticing.
It seemed I couldn’t properly observe because I was thinking about something else.
The Chief Steward took a small bow as soon as he met me.
At this, I slightly nodded and.
Immediately looked behind the Chief Steward.
Because the owner of the voice was there.
Moreover, not just one but two familiar figures could be seen.
“Why are you guys here?”
At my question, the woman in front flicks her hair back slightly and answers.
“...We were supposed to meet again. But you weren’t showing up...”
The one answering while flicking her hair back was Murong Xiya, whom I met earlier in the day.
And the other one.
“...Rice... to eat... together.”
As if it was natural, it was Nangong Biya.
The two were secretly exchanging glances.
Perhaps because both originally had cold-looking faces.
Or because they didn’t like each other.
The atmosphere wasn’t very good.
Should I say I was unconsciously stroking my own arm.
‘Why is it so cold when it’s summer?’
A body that doesn’t easily feel the cold.
Was feeling cold energy in the middle of summer.
“So you were waiting here?”
...
“It just happened...”
I felt like I finally understood why Father was looking out the window.
Most of the family was an area where Father’s qi sense stretched.
So he must have immediately recognized who the people lingering in front of the door were.
Leaving Nangong Biya aside.
I didn’t know Murong Xiya would be doing this too.
I looked at Murong Xiya and said with a sigh mixed in my voice.
“Even so, what are you going to do waiting outside like this. A kid who even hates bugs.”
“...I’m sorry. I saw Young Lady Nangong and without realizing...”
Perhaps she was embarrassed herself, Murong Xiya, who answered with a slightly flushed face.
Suddenly stopped talking and looked straight at me.
It was a somewhat strange gaze.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“...How do you know I hate bugs, Young Master Gu?”
“...Huh?”
Oh no.
I made a mistake.
I hastily brought up words as if making an excuse, but.
“...Should I say you just look like you’d hate them?”
“That’s the first time I’ve heard that?”
‘Of course.’
It didn’t seem to work.
Well, who would easily think a kid with such a cold face would be startled by bugs.
‘I didn’t know either.’
It wasn’t that I particularly wanted to know.
In my past life, the demonic beast I happened to run into was insect-type.
And Murong Xiya, who was much stronger than me, happened to break down at that time.
It was because of the memory of me having to roll through deadly hardships.
After finishing the job, when I asked why she suddenly threw a fit.
Murong Xiya, with a face full of guilt.
Crying that she absolutely couldn’t do bugs, that crying face came to mind, so I was semi-forcibly made to know.
‘...While her own family raises moths.’
The fact that the Murong Family runs a business using moth-type demonic beasts was widely known throughout the Central Plains.
Yet, the precious daughter of that very family loathes bugs, it was truly a curious thing.
“Let’s just say I just came to know.”
“...How could you just know that...”
The moment Murong Xiya took a step closer.
A hand reached out and pulled me.
Losing my balance and falling backward.
Along with a soft touch, a white arm wrapped around me.
“...That’s far enough...”
It was Nangong Biya’s hand, which had approached at some unknown time.
...Sword Dance Empress:
Looking at Nangong Biya, who had drawn a line as if not allowing any further approach.
Murong Xiya slightly frowned.
I could see the situation turning to shit.
I urgently tried to send a gaze for help to the Chief Steward nearby, but.
“Hohoho...”
The quick-witted Chief Steward had already slipped far away with a laugh.
‘...He’s abandoning me and leaving?’
Is this the survival instinct of someone who has worked as a Chief Steward in the family for decades?
It’s too fast, even if it’s fast.
At that time.
Zzzt—
A thrilling sensation rose from the figure I was held by.
It was because lightning energy could be felt from Nangong Biya.
Along with that.
I momentarily felt a cold touch brushing against my forearm.
This seemed to be Murong Xiya’s cold energy.
The two made the atmosphere gradually sharper like cats with their fur standing on end.
If I left them alone, I, caught in the middle, would be crushed.
So, I eventually had to use a move.
Bang—!
“...!”
“Ugh!”
With a clap of hands infused with internal qi.
Wind pressure blew, clearing the surrounding air.
Such an action required a high-level application of internal qi that was tiring enough.
I didn’t know I’d use it for a situation like this of all things....
I looked at the women who were flinching and continued speaking.
“That’s enough, the Patriarch is watching from behind.”
“Ugh—”
As if they came to their senses only at my words.
They slowly returned to their original expressions.
This was strictly the Patriarch’s quarters.
It was also the place where Father’s qi sense was thickest.
So he was probably watching whatever actions we were taking.
Murong Xiya, whose eyes were open to these kinds of matters.
Perhaps she belatedly realized what she had just done.
Her expression had become quite gloomy.
Of course, Nangong Biya was the same.
Seeing that, I carefully spat out words.
“Let’s not do this here. First... let’s eat.”
It was something I brought up remembering that Nangong Biya came to eat together.
The two also nodded, perhaps being mindful of me for now.
‘...I should drag them out first.’
Was it because of the atmosphere.
I brought it up because I thought I shouldn’t do this here right now and should go out in my urgency.
The choice of taking these two to eat.
Just how foolish of a choice it was.
I would realize in less than a shichen.