“I will give you a chance to change sides.”
The expression of the heads of the house changed at my words. Such an offer was such an unexpected out for them.
Considering my relationship with my own family, the supposed grabbing of power wouldn’t be smooth, but since I had offered my hand, their thoughts must have slightly changed.
-Will they actually take it?
Short Sword asked. It was hard to guess what I was thinking.
Ha Jang-gyun, the head of the troops, who had his hands on the sword, opened his mouth.
“Does the young master know what he is talking about?”
“I am sure I said it right.”
“What kind of behavior does the person who inherits the blood of the great family of Ikyang So do?”
It was funny that he was talking about dignity now. I didn’t really know that he cared about what I did.
“Ahh. You made such a disrespectful remark that doesn’t suit the status of a vassal of this family. But you did, was it alright for you to say that? How about just taking my side?”
Speak out openly if you want.
If I had to turn around and say there, there is no better word than the true expression of selfishness that men like Jin Ki-hyun or Yang Mun-seok hid.
“You… I hope you do not mean that you want us to support your bid to be the representative of the family in the tournament.”
I nodded my head at the words of Ha Jin-gyun.
“If it is the representative position, there is no reason to come to us. You can take this up with the lord.”
As expected, the final decision-maker was the lord of the family. They could voice their opinions, but at the end of the day, everything was moved by the Lord’s will.
At that time, Yang Mun-seok spoke,
“No, are you talking about the seat of the successor?”
I smiled at the question.
Yang Mun-seok, Jin ki-hyuk, and Gam Woo-moon were unable to hold their expressions.
Looking at this, it was clear that these men were definitely pushing the children of the official wife.
On the other hand, the face of Mok San-young, was different,
-They see you
Wasn’t this on purpose?
Of course, just because some of them were good to me, didn’t mean that they could be trusted.
They could be viewed as neutral. In their minds, they must already be thinking over the proposal I had made.
Would the descendent of the Southern Heavenly Swordsman function well as the successor? Or was So Young-hyun more suitable?
As the atmosphere turned strange Ha Jang-gyun said,
“The successor has already been decided, so are you trying to mess with the workings of the family?”
A sharp man.
He managed to realize my innermost feelings. The seat of a successor wasn’t given but earned.
“If the current successor’s skills are insufficient, isn’t it something we can reconsider?”
The second hall head, Jin Ki-hyun rushed in,
“It is a no. Didn’t the lord already tell you? The eldest Young Master is known to be a mastermind…”
“I know that if more than half of the vassals raise an objection even the lord will have to reconsider his decision right?”
At those words, Jin Ki-hyun went silent.
I was a member of this family too and I understood how the family works.
If five people, or more than half of the heads of house raise an objection, then the Lord would have to reconsider the topic of succession. Just then, Yang Mun-seok mentioned,
“The Lord has to think about the relationship with the Jo family too.”
He couldn’t speak out to me, so he decided to appeal to the other vassals.
How scared must he be to bring up the family of the Madame?
“Hearing you say those words, it seems like the Jo family is taking the relationship with me too lightly.”
The Jo family was definitely a prestigious sect. However, was that title higher than the Southern Heavenly Swordsman whose name resounded over the entirety of the central plains?
Yang Mun-seok looked shocked,
“I-I did not mean it like that.”
“Ah, is that so? I was concerned that the heads of the two families were ignoring my teacher. Well, I am glad.”
Yang Mun-seok’s expression was distorted by my words.
There were a lot of people who tried to use their heads to outthink people, to twist their words against them, even the Murim Alliance was no stranger to this either.
And I was a spy for around eight years and even I had to use my head to take advantage of situations.
Ha Jang-gyun, said to me,
“… what all happened to you in this one year’s worth of time?”
“What do you mean by that?”
He looked puzzled at my appearance, which had once been slumped and subservient.
Actually, my former self would probably have been equally amazed. Just a year ago, I couldn’t even raise my head in front of them, but now I was leading them by the nose, I was outmaneuvering the experienced vassals of the family.
“It was something to welcome as the Young Master has grown up to be a disciple of Southern Heavenly Swordsman. But I cannot understand why you are causing this riot… what are you planning?”
The reason he reacted like this was simple.
Because I was looking into their eyes and making them tremble, and this should be a first for them.
In the past, they only spoke how they wanted to, and would ignore my whole experience; but not anymore, and I said,
“Ahh. I apologize, I was rude in front of the head.”
And I looked behind and said,
“I thought a few minutes could be given, but let’s wait and see.”
‘…?!’
At my words, Ha Jang-gyun frowned and looked back.
Not just him, everyone expressed their doubts. They were trying to find out who had sent me their support through Voice Transmission.
Chak!
And I bowed to them and said,
“I have fully expressed my intentions and achieved my purpose here, even if it is in a small way, so I will step back. I think you know where I am staying. We are always open to visits, so please do come.”
“Yes.”
The door was opened up by Cho Sung-won who was guarding it.
We were leaving and the vassals were still looking at each other, confused.
As I came out of the inner hall, Short Sword asked me,
-Who is going to side with you?
I smiled at her question.
‘No one.’
-What?
No single person had sent me a voice transmission in the room. It just seemed like I had trembled my throat to give them that impression.
-Puahahaha. So you messed with them?
Short Sword who didn’t know people could be deceived like this was laughing.
This was my own method to make people agitated, a skill I learned as a spy. When there were a large number of people with unknown allegiances, making your throat tremble like you were sending a message would cause the biggest ripple.
A wave of doubt and suspicion like now.
-So that was the purpose
Of course.
Did you think that I would try to covet the place of successor? How many humiliations have I suffered in the meantime, and do I want to be their successor?
The purpose was simply to create a ripple, causing them to doubt each other.
“Sahyung.”
Sima Young called me.
When I looked at the place where she was looking, there was someone who was running inside.
It was So Ik-heon, who was the lord of the family.
Since it was in the same direction as the hall, we were bound to meet each other. And I nodded my head,
“What are you here for?”
Apparently, he came in a hurry after receiving information from the servants. I smiled,
“Whatever do you mean?”
Soo Ik-heon, who had a frown on his face, went to the inner hall without a word. It looked like he was figuring out what to do.
As he entered the inner hall Sima Young spoke like she didn’t understand,
“Is that man really the father of sahyung?”
“Right”
“Then I don’t understand why he is so cold.”
“That is what I want to know.”
Actually, I wasn’t too curious. I no longer considered him to be a blood relation.
What kind of person will be considered a father after he acts this cold?
Sima Young was about to say something comforting, but she went silent. That was how kind she was.
“Thanks.”
“Uh?”
Sima Young blinked at my words.
Anyway, I had achieved my goal here so I could head back to the guest room and wait for Yong-yong.
Since the lord was here, that child too… huh?
“Isn’t that the sister of sahyung?”
As Sima Young said, So Yong-yong was walking toward the hall with tumbling feet.
And someone was following her. A young man with dark eyes wearing a sword around his waist and a stronger build than expected was walking in front of Yong-yong.
“What are you doing?”
“Miss. Let us talk for a moment.”
“I said I had nothing more to say”
Just listening to the conversation it was clear Yong-yong didn’t like this.
And I soon found out why.
“I have no intention of coming under the Young Lord as your woman. Isn’t the conversation already over? The Lord too….”
“Didn’t the Lord say that we need to discuss this slowly?”
“This is a conversation between those who will be involved and I spoke. Sigh. I do not want to talk anymore.”
Yong-yong tried to pass but a man with thick eyelids blocked her.
The guy with thick eyelids looked bad, but the rest of this so-called ‘Young Master’ appearance was quite normal.
“Because you are feisty I like you even more.”
“Ha!”
Yong-yong started to move.
She didn’t seem the kind to like this, and I had no reason to just simply watch, and so I moved–
“Uh?”
It was Sima Young. She ran faster than me to Yong-yong’s side.
“The Miss said she doesn’t like you, so why are you chasing her?”
“Ah?”
Yong-yong looked at Sima Young a bit puzzled. And then Sima Young said something with her eyes.
The young man felt offended by this sight and said with a stiff face,
“I am the son of the Uipyong Jo family. With what right are you intervening between us?”
“Us? Since when did it turn into us for you?”
Yong-yong asked the guy who had just revealed his identity.
-Do you know him?
Of course I knew him.
The Uipyong Jo family was known for their bladed combat skills.
These three families, the Jo family of the Madame; the Akan Gu family, and my own, were known to be the warrior families representing the Gangseosong area.
And I remember from the past that one of the children looked at Yong-yong at a feast and asked for her, and the marriage happened later.
-Ugh. She marries him?
No.
I remember Yong-yong saying no to the marriage as she liked a leader of the Murim Alliance Phoenix Troops. And she didn’t get married because she had an affair with him.
Even though Yong-yong was angry, the guy, Jo Sang-nam spoke,
“How is it that we don’t have a relationship between us? We will be married. I do not know about you, but I don’t….”
“Can you stop?”
At that time, Sima Young grabbed Yong-yong’s hand and interlocked their hands.
“Like this.”
Sima Young smiled. Was her good-looking man face because of the mask? Yong-yong smiled,
At this, Jo Sang-nam looked shocked,
“Are you throwing away the position of being my wife for this one?”
This one?
He went from speaking about marriage to talking about throwing away the position of wife, this guy looked to be a lost cause.
“I was trying to accept you as a wife due to the request of the madame, but all because of that parasitic older …”
Slap!
Before he could even finish, Sima Young slapped him.
“Ha! Did you just slap me?”
“Why? Upset that a parasite like me slapped you? I kind of lost control because of your cheap words.”
“You!”
Slap!
“Kuak!”
Jo Sang-nam turned his head. Sima Young scorned him,
“You are so slow.”
“You bastard, you must really want to die!”
As if the anger was rising high, Jo Sang-nam tried to draw his blade but I shouted,
“If you pull the blade out, I will consider you a threat to my sister and my sajae.”
The guy turned his head and his thick eyelids looked at me. I think I understood why Sima Young slapped him.
“Ha! You trash of Yulang county!”
Judging from his reaction he must have heard of me. Actually, as soon as the Lord arrived, he went to receive the other guests so he shouldn’t have heard too, well, it didn’t matter.
Jo Sang-nam shook his head,
“You and your parasitic sajae…”
And he went silent.
And I figured out the reason as I looked at So Ik-heon coming back.
“L-Lord So.”
The guy got flustered and took his hand off his blade.
He seemed terrified that the Lord was looking angry
-He is staring so terrifyingly.
As Short Sword said, the guy was actually staring at me. It looked like I had done something.
As he came over, Jo Sang-nam was spoken to,
“Young lord Jo.”
“Yes.”
“There is going to be a feast, so please don’t do this here and have ample rest.”
“Y-Yes.”
He was a lucky guy who decided to walk away. If the Lord hadn’t intervened he would have been humiliated here.
When Jo Sang-nam left, So Ik-heon looked at me,
“Follow me.”
Yong-yong, Sima Young, and Jo Sung-won looked worried but I told them to go and rest.
This moment of time had come sooner than I thought.
There was no need to wait until the feast.
The place where the Lord brought me to was the training room dedicated for him alone and he sent all his guards out as he locked the door behind them.
It was a situation where there were just the two of us. What was he going to do?
But as soon as So Ik-heon locked the door, he pulled out his sword from its sheath.
Srng!
A sword with a blue pattern.
It was the Blue Decree Sword that symbolized the family.
I didn’t think he would pull this.
“Is this what you want to say?”
In response to my question, So Ik-heon pointed his sword,
“From now on, if you tell me a lie, the sword of mine will not forgive you.”
“It seems like you planned for this.”
The sword over talks.
Disappointing, but then came unexpected words,
“You became a member of the Blood Sect?”
‘…!?’
