🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter : 30
Yeonhwa recalled why the Senior Elder had brought Namgung Hyechan to her.
The moment she remembered Namgung Hyeju’s sharp, piercing voice from that morning, she immediately came to a conclusion.
“It seems you’re having trouble communicating with Samryeong.”
“Exactly. I don’t understand why he keeps pushing us away. Unless someone interfered in the middle…”
Namgung Gyu seemed to have pegged Yeonhwa as the culprit.
To Yeonhwa, it was nothing short of laughable.
“You think I have no influence over Samryeong. And yet, you make such a request?”
“Still, you’re better than someone who has never even made contact with us. If you had accompanied Hyechan, the next Grand Soju, and introduced him properly to Samryeong, would this have happened?”
Yeonhwa clicked her tongue inwardly.
‘He’d be visible enough even a step away.’
They were wrong.
The problem was never Yeonhwa herself.
The truth…
Samryeong despised the Namgung family, and the Namgung family constantly grumbled, “Why won’t he help us spread our wings?”
And Yeonhwa had poured all her energy into preventing a complete breakdown between the two sides.
So what did she get in return?
Both Samryeong and the Namgung family resented and insulted her!
‘I didn’t do it because I wanted to.’
She had been the only one in that position from the start, so naturally, it fell to her.
Yet Yeonhwa had done it sincerely.
She had considered that personal loss was nothing if it was for everyone else.
Now, in hindsight, it seemed like a pointless effort.
If someone wanted to put another person in her place, Yeonhwa had no reason to object.
‘But that’s entirely different from going to Samryeong to make a request for Namgung Hyechan.’
She couldn’t know whether Samryeong needed an intermediary other than her, and if she were the one to take the matter first, she would have to negotiate with him.
Then she would have to reveal her cards and sacrifice herself.
Was there any need to do that?
No.
Yeonhwa spoke to Namgung Gyu and Namgung Hyechan.
“Do what you want. I won’t stop you. But I have no intention of helping, nor the ability to, so handle it yourselves. And don’t blame me for it. Understood?”
“You…!”
Namgung Hyechan lunged forward but froze at Yeonhwa’s cold gaze, meeting her eyes without flinching.
His body remembered being scolded by Yeonhwa and the support squad on the ship during joint training.
Since then, no matter what he did, he never felt excited and always had a sinking feeling inside.
“I need to rest, so I’ll be leaving. Oh, and now that I think of it…”
Yeonhwa stopped mid-motion as if she remembered something, turning to the two men who were glaring at her as if they wanted to kill her.
“This morning, Hyeju came and said something similar. It seems even internally, opinions aren’t unified.”
After dropping that thorn to stir trouble, Yeonhwa left the hall with Yoo Geonmyeong.
“Father! Hyeju? Didn’t you say you would leave this matter to me?”
“I had thought I persuaded her well, but I didn’t expect Hyeju to act this way.”
He had both a troublesome son and a troublesome daughter.
Namgung Gyu frowned deeply, frustrated.
Inwardly, he resented Yeonhwa for having to bring up the matter in front of Hyechan.
“Let’s go for now. I’ll handle everything, so don’t worry.”
Namgung Gyu calmed Hyechan and took him away.
Those who had been slowing down to secretly watch the confrontation between the Senior Elder and Namgung Yeonhwa quickly picked up their pace.
They had more work waiting for them next.
The day after Namgung Yeonhwa’s engagement ceremony, no one could stop Tak Museong from departing.
Right before leaving, Tak Museong visited Mo Yongyunhwan.
“We can’t leave the Oryong squad behind just because they’re slow. They have to contribute to this mission too.”
Tak Museong replied to Mo Yongyunhwan’s request.
“I won’t leave them behind intentionally.”
“Use them a bit more. I told them to follow at the risk of death, so at least they won’t be a burden.”
“…Alright. Then I have something to tell you before I go.”
“You?”
Mo Yongyunhwan raised his eyes from his tea, surprised.
He could tell Tak Museong was about to say something, but Tak Museong wasn’t the type to care.
“I heard Yeonhwa wants to join the Inspection Squad.”
“How do you know that?”
He had no interest in internal matters of the Martial Alliance, but he knew everything about Yeonhwa.
“I saw the application where she expressed her wish to join.”
“Hmm… yes. That’s true.”
“What will you do?”
“Although the Inspection Squad has the right to involve itself in all matters of the Martial Alliance, it hasn’t been able to assert proper power due to pressure from the factions.”
Moreover, the squad members themselves are often people pushed aside by factions or without backing, wasting their time.
In other words, it’s the opposite of the elite Guardian Squad where the most capable late-stage martial artists gather.
“I don’t know what that girl is thinking trying to join, but there’s no need to give her an opening.”
“Leave her be.”
“What?”
“Let Yeonhwa do what she wants. If she causes problems in the Inspection Squad, you can handle it, right?”
“You’re the one who always stopped her, constrained her, and suffocated her. And now you say this?”
Mo Yongyunhwan rubbed his dark-circled eyes, trying to stay focused.
He didn’t distrust himself, but this time he almost wondered if he had misheard.
“I think I made a mistake.”
“A mistake?”
“Yes. When Yeonhwa was young, training at Muryoung Hall with swordsmanship was enough. As she grew, studying at the Martial Academy also seemed sufficient. Before she became an adult, I thought Hyunmu Stage and Uichang would be sufficient playgrounds for her.”
But the girl grew rapidly and, upon reaching adulthood, felt confined by Hyunmu Stage and the Martial Alliance at Uichang.
“So, Museong, you mean… the girl is upset because her cage is too small, so you plan to give her a bigger cage?”
“A cage, yes. That’s a good way to put it.”
It suited perfectly and he liked it.
She wouldn’t be able to leave, but she wouldn’t get hurt either.
A black flame seemed to ignite in Tak Museong’s gray eyes.
Seeing that, Mo Yongyunhwan remembered Yang Eui-jun’s words from yesterday and sighed.
“You all are really something else.”
“You all? What about Eui-jun?”
“There’s a reason.”
He waved off mentioning any nonsense Eui-jun said about Yeonhwa.
Returning to the conversation, he asked,
“So, you’re saying we should let her join the Inspection Squad and move around the safe north near Uichang?”
“That’s right.”
“If we leave her unchecked, the north where the Inspection Squad and Martial Alliance are will eventually feel cramped, right?”
The girl would push her limits endlessly.
Unlike Mo Yongyunhwan’s frustration, Tak Museong seemed to accept Yeonhwa’s new tendencies in his own way.
“By then, she’ll have a bit more room to play.”
“…Push the battleground with the Demonic Sect south, and expand the northern space?”
Tak Museong nodded.
“Eventually, she’ll swallow the Demonic Sect, and the whole world will become her cage. She won’t even realize she’s confined. Only then will she stop feeling trapped and finally fold her wings to rest.”
Tak Museong looked at his fingertips, as if this was the last branch of the world where the girl should rest.
“I didn’t know what it meant for a child to grow, become an adult, and then a woman. Somehow, it makes me angry.”
Tak Museong’s quiet murmur clung heavily to Mo Yongyunhwan.
“I’m leaving. Take care of Yeonhwa.”
After saying what he needed, Tak Museong disappeared in a flash, leaving Mo Yongyunhwan alone.
Mo Yongyunhwan gripped the teacup before him tightly, lowering his gaze.
The clear green tea would normally be soothing to the eyes…
But now, it felt like a mirror reflecting himself.
Did he really need to know what expression his face held in the green surface?
“All of this is for the greater good.”
Instead of staring at the tea, Mo Yongyunhwan lifted the cup to his lips.
