〈 Episode 589 〉 The Little Princess of the Northern Sea Ice Palace.
A small room on the upper floor of the merchant guild.
A place that looked somewhat cramped even for several people to enter.
Yet no fewer than five or six individuals were packed inside that narrow space.
A thin pallet laid out.
Toward it, Lady Mi stood in brief, formal salute.
“I am Hyoran of the Mi family, who oversees this Baekhwa Merchant Guild. I greet the Young Princess of the Ice Palace.”
When Lady Mi spoke thus, the one on the bed smiled faintly.
“Oh my, you don’t have to treat me like that. You can be more comfortable.”
A tomboy.
No, an innocent child… no. The Little Princess of the Northern Sea waved her hands at Lady Mi.
At that—
“You cannot. My Lady, how could you say such things to one from the Central Plains?”
The figure standing behind spoke out.
“Wherever you go, you must receive the treatment befitting your station. Especially in a foreign place such as this.”
He seemed to be a bodyguard.
The aura with which he spoke was considerable. He felt to be effortlessly beyond the Peak realm, at the very least.
Then, was the one beside him also a bodyguard? There was one more figure dressed similarly to the man.
No doubt he was a bodyguard as well.
At the bodyguard’s words, the Little Princess showed a slightly troubled expression.
“Ubeom… this isn’t even our land. How could I possibly receive greater courtesy than this? I even caused an accident, you know?”
I had no idea what she was saying so confidently.
Srruk.
The Little Princess carefully changed her posture and sat up. To pay respects to the other party.
“My La—!”
At this, the bodyguard seemed startled and tried to stop her, but the Little Princess’s words came first.
“My name is Yuri. I’m called the Fourth Star of the Northern Sea. Thank you for welcoming me here.”
White hair swayed as she lightly bowed her head.
She immediately raised her head and smiled slightly.
“I didn’t think we’d meet like this… hehe.”
I suppose not.
She must not have expected to be caught after running away and end up meeting like this.
“This is a bit awkward. Oh dear.”
Yuri scratched the back of her head and spoke.
At those words, silence fell.
Because no one else opened their mouth.
Several seconds passed like that.
After a brief moment, the one who broke the silence was Lady Mi once again.
“I express my gratitude once more for your esteemed presence visiting the Central Plains…”
“Hehe, what are you saying.”
“However, there is something I wish to ask first.”
“What is it?”
“Before we speak of welcoming you, I wish to hear how you attempted to flee.”
“Ahh.”
The reason she had disappeared after slipping past the bodyguards earlier.
It seemed Lady Mi wanted to hear that part.
“Perhaps the guild’s guidance was not to your liking?”
“That’s not it.”
“Then I wish to know why you acted as such.”
As Lady Mi calmly continued, Yuri answered with a slight smile.
“I just wanted to look around.”
“Look around… you say?”
“Yes.”
At an answer simpler than expected, even Lady Mi failed to manage her expression.
What kind of answer was that even supposed to be…
Yet Yuri’s expression as she spoke was sincere.
“I really wanted to come to the Central Plains. Especially to Henan, where the Martial Alliance is! I thought I’d never get to go in my entire life. So now that I’d actually come, I just couldn’t help myself.”
Her face, innocent and smiling, was brimming with excitement.
“So I wanted to see the Martial Alliance too… and that famous Shaolin Temple.”
“…Thus, you are saying you fled?”
“I’m sorry about that. But I felt like if I came here, I wouldn’t be able to go outside. And I would have been right.”
Hearing Yuri’s words, I raised a question inwardly.
‘She can’t leave once she arrives at the merchant guild?’
It was strange how she spoke with such conviction.
“So… since it’s already like this. Can’t I just look around for today…”
“You cannot.”
Lady Mi cut off Yuri’s words resolutely.
“The Central Plains are more dangerous than you think, my lady.”
“Aww… but just one day…”
“We have been requested to provide safe protection during your stay in the Central Plains. It is dangerous enough for you to go outside carelessly, and furthermore…”
Lady Mi’s eyes narrowed slightly as they rested on Yuri.
“If I recall what the Ice Palace requested of us on your behalf, it is something we cannot permit even more.”
“…Mnnn.”
At the resolute words, Yuri let out a groan.
I really couldn’t understand her, no matter how many times I looked at her.
‘How does someone who looks like that act so foolish?’
Looking like Moyeong Huia meant she was a cold beauty who radiated a chilly atmosphere.
Perhaps because of her hair, that girl named Yuri even looked colder in bearing than Moyeong Huia.
How could her behavior and manner of speech differ so much from her appearance?
‘So why was I called here, anyway?’
As I was quietly watching this still incomprehensible situation—
“But…! That person hasn’t arrived yet either.”
“My lady…? Whatever do you mean…”
“The Red Feather of the Central Plains!”
…What feather? Everyone was forced to make strange expressions at Yuri’s shout.
“Won’t things only progress when that person arrives?”
At that bizarre epithet, Lady Mi’s brows furrowed.
Red Feather? What kind of person was that?
It was a title she had never heard before.
‘Seems Lady Mi doesn’t know either.’
While Lady Mi was pondering with a furrowed brow—
“Ah?”
As if realizing something, she looked toward me.
What? Why look at me?
After looking at me briefly, Lady Mi quickly shifted her gaze back to Yuri.
“My lady. Could that be…”
“Since the matter can only proceed when he arrives anyway… then I can look around until then, right? Even for a moment—”
Yuri’s eyes, which had been about to throw a full-blown tantrum, left Lady Mi and looked toward me in the back.
“Huh?”
Then she pointed straight at me with her finger.
“You…! The one who hit me!”
When Yuri suddenly said that, the bodyguards in the back reacted.
The already cramped room became mired in an unnecessary tension.
“Hit…?”
I could feel the bodyguard’s eyes growing increasingly brutal.
Ah, this isn’t good.
“No, that’s not it. The situation was just a bit…”
The moment I tried to hurriedly make an excuse—
“What was I supposed to do at times like this. Ah, right.”
Yuri suddenly began changing her sitting posture.
She got on her knees and placed her hands together properly—all while looking at me.
What was she doing now?
While I was briefly flustered by the strange behavior—
“Excuse me.”
She spoke to me.
“I…”
Her voice had somehow changed too. Should I say it felt like she was awkwardly imitating a man’s voice?
No, that was exactly it.
Why was that woman suddenly using such a voice?
In the moment such a question arose—
Yuri spoke to me.
“Would it be alright if I married you?”
“…?”
The atmosphere rapidly chilled.
Not even voices, let alone breathing, could be heard.
My thoughts stopped.
Probably for about one second.
Was that the problem?
“What is this crazy bitch saying?”
Without realizing it, I couldn’t hold back and spat it out.
Rough words I hadn’t spoken in a long time.
“Huk…”
I heard Moyeong Huia swallow her breath beside me.
Yeah, I wanted to cover my mouth too.
Cold sweat trickled down at the words I’d blurted out without thinking.
Then.
“Wow.”
Yuri reacted to the curse.
“He cursed! Wow!”
A completely unexpected reaction burst out.
“Oh my, he called me a crazy bitch. How interesting! That wasn’t the answer I wanted, but it’s so refreshing that I like it?”
“…”
“Ha, could you do it one more time? It’s my first time ever hearing a curse.”
At those words, I unknowingly widened the distance between us slightly.
She really did seem to be an actual crazy bitch.
This was troublesome.
‘Even for me, I don’t want to deal with someone truly insane.’
She already looked similar to Moyeong Huia, which made things awkward enough, and with a personality like that too, she had become even more annoying.
Yeah, to put it simply, that was it.
A person I didn’t want to get involved with.
That thing from the Northern Sea was the type of person least compatible with me.
As I was thinking of fleeing first given the difficult situation—
“Hey.”
The bodyguard behind Yuri called out to stop me.
Woom.
My dantian suddenly reacted.
Feeling that, I looked at the opponent.
“Barbarian. What did you just say to my Lady?”
“Barbarian?”
That was certainly a unique form of address. It was a word I had never heard anywhere.
I’d heard delinquent, vagabond, even crazy bastard. But barbarian? That’s fresh.
“To utter such insolence…! The Central Plains dogs are nothing but petty trash, exactly as I heard.”
His choice of words was pretty fucked up. That thought crossed my mind.
Energy mixed with his growling voice.
“How dare you utter such words without knowing who this person is?”
“Didn’t she introduce herself?”
“Shut your mouth!”
You were the one who asked.
He asks and then gets annoyed.
“A worthless wretch like you. Daring to spew insolence at a Star of the Northern Sea…! You should be grateful she even came to find you!”
“Uh, Ubeom. Isn’t that going a bit too far…?”
“Please stay still. I shall make these people understand my Lady’s standing.”
“You don’t have to…!”
Yuri urgently tried to stop him, but
Ubeom, as if he had no intention of listening, took a step forward.
At the same time, his hand moved toward the sword tied at his waist.
“I shall show you what the sword of the Northern Sea is.”
Srrchk—!
The moment he tried to grab and draw it—
Thud—!
He had to freeze in place, unable to draw his sword.
Just before drawing his blade,
the sharp tip of a dagger was already touching his neck.
“Don’t move.”
Drip.
Blood trickled slightly from his neck.
“This bitch…?”
The one who had suppressed Ubeom was, surprisingly, Dang Soyeol.
Dang Soyeol had moved at some point and was threatening Ubeom with a dagger.
Perhaps he was bewildered by the unexpected situation,
for his eyes began darting around.
Watching that, I spoke.
“Three times.”
Then the gazes gathered.
The Little Princess.
Lady Mi.
Moyeong Huia.
Even the bastard called Ubeom was looking at me.
“First, I let it slide when you ran your fucking mouth at Lady Mi.”
I spoke in the kindest voice I could manage.
“Second, I let your bullshit to me go.”
At this, he seemed unable to understand, his expression distorting.
“Lastly, I even let you try to draw your blade.”
It didn’t matter if he understood or not.
“I’m really not in a good mood today.”
I spoke while looking at Ubeom.
“But I’ve already endured three times?”
I said with a light smile.
“You say one more word here, you. You really die.”
There won’t be a next time.
Thinking so, I looked at him.
Then.
“What are you saying now…”
Unable to overcome his pride, he spat out a word.
I’d been worried he wouldn’t speak, so that was a relief.
Along with that thought,
my hand was already touching the bastard’s neck.