🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter : 18
Bang!
As the door slammed shut and the room fell silent, Namgung Gyu scolded in a stern voice.
“Hyeju, I told you to keep a low profile for a while. What kind of disgrace was that?”
“But Father, it’s so unfair! That bitch Namgung Yeonhwa devoured Seonyu oppa—who everyone liked so much—and took his place, yet she’s been strutting around backed by the Three Spirits!”
Hyeju, who had been sobbing with her face buried in her hands, lifted her head.
“And now she even gets to pick a marriage partner anyone would envy! This is… this is just too much!”
“An enviable match? You mean the Daejeong Merchant Guild? It’s decent enough, but not to the point you should envy it.”
“Father… not the Daejeong Guild. Young Master Yoo. Do you know how many academy students admire him?”
Within the Martial Alliance, where the brilliance of the Three Spirits made it hard for others to stand out…
He was a young man who had just crossed from boyhood into youth—radiant with energy and vitality—handsome and kind as well.
Unlike heirs of massive powers like Cheongryong Division Leader Moon Jeong-myeong or Vermilion Bird Division Leader Jegal Hyeon-su, he wasn’t from an overwhelming faction, which made him seem more approachable and less intimidating.
And yet—yet Namgung Yeonhwa had snatched him away!
“I… if I couldn’t end up with one of the Three Spirits, I was planning to try something with Young Master Yoo later.”
Namgung Gyu felt his insides twist, but seeing his daughter continue to sob, his heart ached.
What does my daughter lack compared to Namgung Yeonhwa?
He felt as though this was all because he had been born a secondary son, making his own daughter a secondary-line child as well.
“Father, can’t this marriage be broken?”
As Namgung Hyeju clung to him pleadingly, Namgung Gyu shook his head.
The entire Martial Alliance already knew that Yoo Geon-myeong and Namgung Yeonhwa’s marriage had been finalized.
Details had even spread—that they would first hold the engagement ceremony and marry in a couple of years once things stabilized.
If the marriage proposal had been rejected from the start, that would be one thing.
But now, if they tried to break it—
“The Daejeong Merchant Guild won’t stay quiet.”
“What could a mere merchant guild possibly do to the Namgung Clan?”
“Do you know how great a price Yoo Geon-myeong, the guild’s heir, paid to make this engagement happen?”
“…I heard.”
The scale had been astonishing—beyond belief.
“And didn’t the elders even try to call it off despite that?”
“They did. But it wasn’t because the conditions were lacking. In truth, the terms were overflowing—only the Three Spirits could have offered anything better than the Daejeong Guild.”
That was why suspicions that Yoo Geon-myeong had staged a fake proposal with Yeonhwa disappeared.
No matter how one calculated what Yeonhwa had—or might have—she could never match the price Yoo Geon-myeong was paying the Namgung Clan upfront.
He’d have to be crazy… or truly sincere to do something like that.
And since Yoo Geon-myeong wasn’t insane, the latter had to be true.
“If we break the engagement, the guild will reveal the terms they offered. What do you think the Alliance will say about us then?”
People would whisper that the Namgung Clan broke faith despite such generous conditions—and would start digging frantically to see who could possibly offer even more.
The clan’s reputation would fall to the ground, and it would become a decision worse than doing nothing.
“Couldn’t the Three Spirits be backing her? Maybe that bitch Yeonhwa went crying to them, asking what she’d do if we refused. The Three Spirits do tend to take her side no matter what…”
“That’s unlikely. When the proposal was finalized and the Three Spirits realized it was real, they went to Yeonhwa and caused quite a commotion.”
“The Three Spirits opposed the marriage?”
“It seems not all three felt the same.”
“Then when Young Master Yoo said he’d proceed with the marriage with the Three Spirits’ help, he was just bluffing? Ha—so he can be cheeky too.”
Namgung Hyeju twisted her body playfully, then swallowed dryly.
“Anyway, if that’s true, couldn’t the Three Spirits step in and break the engagement? Even if just one of them is serious, it could work!”
“Well… not long after the disturbance between them and Yeonhwa, the Three Spirits sent word they wanted to visit the Namgung estate separately, without going through her.”
“What? Really? That’s incredibly rare, isn’t it?”
“Not rare—unprecedented. But soon after, once the marriage became a settled fact and was announced to the whole Alliance, they canceled the visit.”
Did that mean the Three Spirits had accepted the marriage after all?
Nothing was certain, and it was maddening.
Namgung Hyeju stomped her feet irritably.
“It’s so frustrating not knowing what’s going on with the Three Spirits. It’s a huge weakness that two forces as closely bonded as them and the Namgung Clan only have a single point of connection!”
Though his daughter was shallow and prone to tantrums, she occasionally struck the core like this.
“That’s true. But things will be different from now on.”
Many in the Namgung Clan believed the Three Spirits cherished Yeonhwa only because of Namgung Seonyu.
So once she married and left the clan as an outsider, they expected that attention to shift fully toward the Namgung Clan itself.
The Grand Elder and his faction were among those people.
They had long suspected Yeonhwa of standing between the Three Spirits and the Namgung Clan, gaining private benefits from both sides—and had been waiting for the day they could take her place.
And finally…!
“Your brother now has a chance to make up for his past mistakes and earn merit!”
“That’s good, right? What about me? Don’t I get anything? Give me something too! Why does oppa always get the good stuff first?”
“Would your brother and I ever forget you? All you have to do is wait quietly—why are you so impatient?”
After warning her not to cause needless trouble that might drag both her and Namgung Hyechan into scandal, Namgung Gyu turned to leave.
Watching her father’s back, Namgung Hyeju’s eyes narrowed fiercely.
If my brother can have it, I can have it too—whatever it is!
No matter what anyone said, she was truly her father’s daughter.
And so perhaps it was inevitable that she would make the same wrong choices.
“I never thought the young lady was the type to value only love. Still… how could a legitimate daughter of one of the Five Great Families end up with someone from the White Tiger Unit?”
“What’s wrong with the White Tiger Unit? Strictly speaking, didn’t Lord Jaeryeong come from there too?”
“No.”
“Yes, he did!”
“No. The three of the Three Spirits and the late Young Master Namgung had nothing left to learn at the academy, so they went up to the Alliance early as an exception. The four of them took on independent missions and roamed the world together.”
“Really?”
The young man, who hadn’t known that, scratched his cheek and shrugged.
“Didn’t know. But if they had stayed, they would’ve belonged to the White Tiger Unit, right? Talents from the merchant world and escort agencies all go there.”
It was an awkward point—neither easy to deny nor confirm.
“Ah, whatever. Who cares! Why are we arguing over this? While we’re bickering, that White Tiger Unit guy has already charmed the most precious lady in the Martial Alliance.”
“Ha… I thought she’d at least find a fiancé within the Five Great Families, if not the Nine Sects. If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve tried too.”
“You?”
“What’s wrong with me!”
Similar teasing and gossip echoed throughout the Martial Alliance and the academy.
And there was one group that absolutely hated it.
“Marriage? Damn it.”
“What happens to us now?”
The Black Tortoise Unit members.
Yeonhwa genuinely couldn’t understand what was happening.
She looked at the Black Tortoise Unit members who had formed a circle around her and asked,
“So you’re saying that if, after the engagement ceremony, I step down as Black Tortoise Division Leader—or even if I keep my position but lose the support Lord Muryeong currently gives me, and Young Master Yoo doesn’t provide the same level of backing—then I have to compensate you?”
Seriously?
She had been handling administrative work inside the Black Tortoise Hall when they urgently summoned her—only to spout this nonsense.
But the Black Tortoise members remained brazen.
“That’s correct. Do you know how difficult our situation at the academy has been because of you? And now we’re expected to stand in the center of another conflict! Don’t you feel any guilt toward us? We’re just claiming our rightful compensation!”
Yeonhwa didn’t think their accusations were justified, but she couldn’t deny she bore some moral responsibility.
At least… until just a moment ago.
But now… well.
I tried to stop others from hitting them. Looks like the day has come when I have to do it myself.
Maybe that’s just how the world works.
When something is lacking, you fill it in.
When it overflows, eventually you have to cut it back and shape it properly.
