THWCS 18

Chapter 18

Yeong-won immediately brought up what she had wanted to say, and Yi-shin’s gaze fell on her at once.

“Did you pick it up?”

At his reaction—one eyebrow raised—Yeong-won gave a faint smile.

“Yes. But I’m not sure if I should call this a problem… things have become a bit troublesome.”

“What do you mean?”

Yeong-won slipped her hand into her sleeve and took out the jade plaque, no longer a broken half but now perfectly whole, and showed it to Yi-shin.

“It’s… stuck together, I suppose. I don’t know why it happened, but it suddenly turned into this.”

Yi-shin’s gaze settled on the jade plaque resting in her palm.

She wondered if he might know the reason behind its sudden change.

But contrary to her expectations, his brows twisted with puzzlement.

He didn’t seem to know either.

“Where did you pick it up?”

“At that place with all the piles of rocks yesterday.”

It felt strangely embarrassing to admit she had returned to that place, so Yeong-won answered in a small voice.

Did you throw away my warning about running around anywhere like it’s nothing?

His cold, sharp eyes looking down at her seemed to say exactly that.

“I thought it would be fine since it was daytime. I had no intention of following any strangers, either.”

“Hmph.”

Yi-shin ignored her discomfort and turned his gaze back to the jade.

He couldn’t figure out why it had suddenly changed shape.

Although he was the head of the Geom clan, he was not, like the other members, someone born and raised on Jejado.

His roots lay far away—in a desolate northern land of Gangan-hyeon, in a small place called Gamul Village, infamous for its barrenness.

One day, a middle-aged man whose body clearly showed signs of illness suddenly appeared claiming to be his biological father—and passed down to him the position of clan head of the Geom family.

To the people who upheld the thousand-year-old pillar that was the Geom clan, it was a bolt out of the blue.

Even the children who had been raised from birth as prospective clan heads—trained in the duties, culture, and studies of the Geom family—saw him, who had rolled in from who-knew-where, as an enemy.

Because to them, he was nothing more than an outsider.

A bastard who had spent the first fifteen years of his life somewhere out in the world no one knew of.

He knew little about the deeper matters of the Geom clan, nor did he possess the enthusiasm to properly learn.

He merely did what he had agreed to upon accepting the position of clan head.

For this reason, though reluctant, the only people he could ask about the jade plaque were the elders of the Geom clan.

Yi-shin reached for the jade plaque in Yeong-won’s hand.

But realizing his intention, she quickly grabbed the other end and held it firmly.

“What are you planning to do?”

“I’m going to find out what happened to it.”

He answered while trying to pull the jade plaque out of her grasp.

But Yeong-won did not loosen her hold.

“I will go with you. This half belongs to me, doesn’t it?”

“Are you bargaining with the Geom clan’s property now?”

When he asked with a mocking tone, Yeong-won hesitated for a moment before lifting her chin with forced boldness.

But Yi-shin had already noticed her ears turning noticeably red with embarrassment.

“This was also something my father left behind.”

A keepsake, huh.

Yi-shin lowered his gaze to look at her face.

When he realized who the beggar sitting in Seonwondang’s main hall had been yesterday, he had wondered whether Ha Sun-yang might no longer be alive.

And soon after, Elder Mok told him that Ha Haeng-su had indeed passed away.

“There must be more keepsakes than this.”

Who was Ha Sun-yang?

A wealthy merchant whose name was known even in the capital city of the nation, Hanseongbu.

They say even when a rich family collapses, their wealth lasts three generations.

Whatever hardship Yeong-won was facing, where could all that fortune have gone?

But Yi-shin’s thoughts faltered at her next words.

“No. Only this jade plaque… and a map showing the location of Jejado. That’s all that was left. This is everything.”

Yi-shin raised an eyebrow.

Yeong-won’s voice trembled slightly at the end.

In her clear eyes—eyes that seemed naïve to the ways of the world—burned fierce anger and sorrow.

Yi-shin almost asked, What do you mean? but managed to swallow the words.

A strong instinct told him that knowing would only be troublesome.

He removed his gaze from her and let go of the jade plaque.

“Follow me.”

As he took a step forward, Yeong-won’s voice came from behind.

“Soraeya, go back to Maewon first.”

Then the light sound of footsteps quickly followed after him.

After a few steps—her footsteps sped up, and the hem of her hydrangea-colored skirt fluttered beside him.

She had come to walk at his side.

“Clan head, I have something I want to ask.”

“Don’t. Ask.”

Before she could speak, Yi-shin cut her off cleanly.

But as if she knew he would answer that way, Yeong-won pressed on anyway.

“Do all those who bear the Geom surname have the ability to command ghosts like you do?”

Yi-shin came to a slow stop.

Yeong-won also halted.

“Or… are you the only one capable of commanding them?”

Yi-shin answered her expectant question with an expression that was almost—almost—a smile.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You couldn’t possibly not know.”

“I don’t.”

At his half-hearted reply, Yeong-won stared stubbornly at him with mistrustful eyes.

“The first day I saw you, you were leading hundreds—no, maybe thousands—of ghosts. And just last night, you used the bell hanging from your sword hilt to summon ghosts. You made them confront that one called Eodukshini.”

Yi-shin tugged the corner of his lips faintly.

He had thought she was just an ignorant lady sheltered in the inner quarters—but she could deduce things surprisingly well.

It seemed Ha Sun-yang had not raised a mere delicate flower after all.

“What are you trying to say?”

“If… no, not if—let’s say I wanted to borrow your special ability. How would I do that?”

“…What?”

For a moment, Yi-shin thought he had misheard and unconsciously leaned closer to her.

Startled, Yeong-won instinctively leaned back from the sudden closeness—

When a voice rang out nearby:

“Sung-yong came back from the academy yesterday and ran into those outsiders in the market.”

“Really? Was he badly hurt?”

“He said he got a few bruises. But this is bad. Jejado is falling apart more and more each day.”

“This is all because of the clan head. At this rate, the thousand-year legacy of the Geom clan might fall to ruin.”

“If only he had become clan head ten years ago…”

“‘He’? You mean the one personally trained by the former clan head?”

Yeong-won froze rigidly at the disgruntled voices approaching from nearby.

Soon the owners of those voices turned the corner ahead and appeared.

They were boys of about sixteen or seventeen, wearing black yugeon hats with ear flaps pointed like a bird’s beak.

When they saw Yi-shin, their faces instantly went pale—as though they had seen a ghost—and they stumbled backward.

One boy’s legs gave out and he dropped to one knee before scrambling back up in panic.

“C-Clan… Clan Head!”

“P-Peace be upon you, sir!”

“W-We must hurry to the academy now, so we’ll take our leave!”

Yi-shin said nothing.

He merely looked at them calmly.

But the two boys fled like people who had come face-to-face with death, tripping over each other to escape.

Yeong-won watched their retreating backs with confusion, as though she herself had just seen ghosts.

After spending several days with Yi-shin, she knew he emanated an intense, intimidating presence.

But to be that terrified of him?

Judging from their conversation, the boys must be members of the Geom clan.

And Yi-shin was their clan head.

So why did they avoid him like a plague?

While Yeong-won stood dazed, Yi-shin had already turned away and begun striding ahead again.

She had to almost run to catch up.

Naturally, there was no chance to bring up the matter of “borrowing his ghost-summoning ability” again.