“Would you like to test it?”
Gulp.
Jilin Governor-General Xianyu Hyeong-bi swallowed dryly, the sound seemingly loud in the sudden silence.
Was it truth? Or was it a lie?
If the Grand Young Master truly intended to overwhelm her, was there any reason to rely on a story of such opaque veracity? Perhaps he was merely bluffing because he lacked a sharp, tangible fact with which to cut her.
Don’t lie. Such cheap bluffs won’t work on me.
Several times, those accusatory words climbed to the tip of her tongue, only to be swallowed back down.
“…Grand Young Master.”
In the end, she chose retreat.
“Isn’t this an opportunity arranged with difficulty so we can get to know each other?”
Forcing a smile onto her stiffened face, she placed a hand over her heart and bowed her head slightly.
“I will apologize once again for my rudeness toward the Northern Great General. Please, appease your anger.”
***
“Xianyu Hyeong-bi,” Grand Strategist Sima had said.
“If you intimidate her, she will bow her head in front of you.“
The Dread King’s aide had asked, “That sounds as though she will harbor other thoughts behind your back. Is that so?“
Sima nodded, his eyes never leaving the Dread King. “Precisely.“
He raised his hand, curving his wrist like the head of a coiled snake.
“Her pride will be greatly damaged by the experience of intimidation. If that happens, she will harbor even more venom, like a provoked viper.“
“Then, what must be done?“
“Dominate.”
Sima asserted the word with absolute conviction.
“You must show a difference in power so absolute that she cannot even spare a thought for her pride.“
***
“Grand Young Master.”
Lifting her bowed head, she met his gaze.
“Now, wouldn’t it be beneficial for both of us to make use of this opportunity?”
As she spoke, Jilin Governor-General Xianyu Hyeong-bi’s eyes glistened, wet and sharp like the eyes of a venomous snake.
To think a Governor-General must go this far for a mere word…
Unseen, she lightly bit her lower lip. She felt as though she were performing a precarious tightrope act, balancing over a precipice without a net.
The Grand Young Master looked at her from across the desk, his fingers interlaced, his expression unreadable.
Will he forgive me, or not?
Suppressing the surge of anxiety, she waited. Finally, the Grand Young Master’s lips parted.
“…I will accept your apology, Governor-General.”
The tone was arrogant. The attitude, haughty.
“Thank you.”
Xianyu Hyeong-bi smiled brightly, feigning relief.
“Then, shall we get to the main point? First, I, Jilin Governor-General Xianyu Hyeong-bi, am an official loyal to His Imperial Majesty. Therefore…”
Though her lips fluttered with professions of goodwill, her heart was already tilting toward the other side.
I must meet the Dread King.
She spooled out pleasing words, presenting her most charming expression.
“…Therefore, the Jilin Governor-General’s Office is ready to cooperate with the Grand Young Master as much as you wish. So…”
She shook out her pipe and pulled her chair closer, leaning in as if to focus entirely on him.
They said Grand Strategist Sima from the Martial Righteous Alliance is on that side.
She calculated rapidly. Northern Barbarians. I know little of the savages of the North, but if it is Grand Strategist Sima, conversation will surely be possible.
Deals could always be made with those one could talk to. Sima’s contact had indicated they would be waiting at the Dragon Pool Pavilion on the Songhua River. The Dread King accepting the Sword Clan’s Third Young Master as an ally was an excellent judgment.
“…Thus, if you adhere to the points mentioned earlier, the Jilin Governor-General’s Office, as it has done until now, will spare no effort and cooperation for the benefit of the Central Plains Empire—”
“Jilin Governor-General.”
The Grand Young Master, fingers still interlaced and face expressionless, cut her off.
“It seems you are too hasty.”
“Pardon…?”
The corners of her mouth, forced into a smile, trembled.
Looking at her face, the Grand Young Master spoke softly. “Did I say I would establish a cooperative relationship with you?”
Humiliation and rage exploded within her.
Xianyu Hyeong-bi sprang up from her seat, her face turning crimson.
Crash!
Her chair toppled backward.
“The Grand Young Master does not seem to want a good relationship with the Jilin Governor-General’s Office at all…!”
Here in the North, the one lacking allies was him. The one in need was him.
“If so.” She raised a trembling hand to cover her face with her cloth veil. “There is no need for us to waste each other’s time any longer.”
Watching this, Moyong Ho felt restless, though he dared not show it.
The Grand Young Master simply watched the Jilin Governor-General prepare to leave. His face was so dreadfully void of emotion that it felt unfamiliar, almost alien.
Having fully prepared her exit, the Jilin Governor-General offered a parting shot.
“Then, farewell.” She added briefly, “The Grand Young Master would do well to learn some manners.”
The moment she grabbed the tent entrance flap—
“Manners…?”
From behind came the Grand Young Master’s chillingly low voice.
“Was it not you who failed to observe manners first, Governor-General?”
“Me…?”
Veins bulged on the hand gripping the fabric. Through her veil as she turned, her eyes were bloodshot with rage.
“Not the Grand Young Master, but me? I lack manners?” With anger rising to the crown of her head, she let out a hollow laugh. “Ha…! What kind of nonsensical accusation is—!”
“First.”
The Grand Young Master unclasped his hands.
“Hiding a master and bringing them into the meeting place.”
Xianyu Hyeong-bi’s eyes grew as large as lanterns.
In the moment when a startled Moyong Ho reflexively grabbed his sword hilt, the Grand Young Master flicked a single finger.
Thwack—!
There was no precursor of gathering internal energy, nor any form of preparation.
“Kugh…!”
It was almost heavenly luck that the master on the Jilin Governor-General’s side, who had been completely suppressing her presence, managed to block that force with her arm.
That technique—flicking a finger to strike across the void and intercept an opponent—was unmistakable.
Shaolin Temple. Seventy-Two Supreme Arts.
Divine Finger Flicking Art.
“W-Wait a moment!” Waving her hand toward the rising Grand Young Master, Xianyu Hyeong-bi shouted, “She is my guard!”
“Guard? That’s possible.” The Grand Young Master curled his finger again. “However,” he sneered, “if she’s a guard, you should have announced her presence and sought permission first. Why was she hiding?”
“That is…!”
She was speechless.
Why was she hiding her presence? Because she wouldn’t be caught. No—because she thought she couldn’t be caught.
Her guard, Eun-yeong, was a master with exceptional proficiency in concealment. No matter how excellent the Grand Young Master’s martial arts were, she believed detection was impossible. And a master whose existence remained unrevealed held a tremendous advantage in unexpected situations.
“It is a misunderstanding, Grand Young Master…!”
“Misunderstanding?”
Thwack—!
The Grand Young Master’s finger flicked once more.
The jaw of Eun-yeong, who had been secretly trying to grip the handle of her small knife, was instantly dislocated.
“……!”
“Stop it! Eun-yeong!”
Xianyu Hyeong-bi blocked Eun-yeong’s path and shouted, “I ask for mercy from the Grand Young Master as well!”
She had to stop this. Secretly joining hands with the Sword Clan’s Third Young Master on the Dread King’s side was one thing; having a life-or-death showdown with the Grand Young Master here was a completely different catastrophe.
“I never hid a master with any bad intent or ulterior motive! This is strictly—”
“Bad intent? Ulterior motive?”
The Grand Young Master laughed coldly, cutting her off. “Do you mean assassination?”
“Never, I had no such int—”
“That matters not.”
The Grand Young Master’s gaze bore down on them. “Since any assassination attempt is useless against me anyway.”
“T-Then—!”
“I told you.”
The presence of the Grand Young Master, though not particularly tall in stature, seemed to expand until it filled the entire tent.
“Those who were rude to this Grand Young Master have all died.”
Crack.
He cracked his knuckles. The sound echoed like their own necks snapping.
“Just now…!” Xianyu Hyeong-bi screamed. “Did you not say it mattered not, Grand Young Master?! Then why…?!”
To the woman cornered enough that she could not even finish her sentence, the Grand Young Master spoke.
“Yang O-dan tried to deceive me in front and strike me in the back.”
It was the story she had heard just moments ago—the test.
“W-What does that have to do with me—?!”
“Dragon Pool Pavilion on the Songhua River.”
Xianyu Hyeong-bi’s eyes widened to the point of tearing.
“You agreed to make contact with Grand Strategist Sima’s person there?”
It was a statement that shocked even Moyong Ho, who knew nothing of the Golden-Eyed Goddess or her all-seeing eyes.
“…T-That is!”
Xianyu Hyeong-bi felt as if she were being strangled while standing.
Is it time to make up an excuse? Is it time to deny it to the end? Or…?
The Grand Young Master’s eyes, looking into hers, appeared abyssal black, as if holes had been punched through reality. They were eyes looking at an object, not a person.
If she lied here, and if he realized even that… what would happen to her?
“Xianyu Hyeong-bi.”
He called her name in a low voice.
“You should have treated me not as the Grand Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Clan, but as the proxy of His Imperial Majesty.”
She had only shown respect befitting a clan heir. She had not treated him as the Emperor’s Subjugation Commander.
“Without appointment or notice, you tried to enjoy an advantage with a surprise visit.”
His curled fingers gradually rose.
“You even hid a master and entered without seeking permission.”
Those fingers pointed at Xianyu Hyeong-bi and the broken guard, Eun-yeong.
“And behind my back, defying the will of His Imperial Majesty, you resolved to join hands with a mere usurper.”
Normally, she was someone who would talk endlessly even if gagged. She was someone who would deny the truth to the bitter end unless presented with undeniable proof.
“Governor-General. Do you have a defense?”
Unseen from behind, Eun-yeong tugged on her sleeve twice, sharply. It was a signal: If you want to escape, we can force a breakout.
But.
In this moment alone.
She trusted her senses. She had to trust them.
“My lord, Grand Young Master…!”
Finally, the honorific ‘Lord’ was attached to her address.
Thud.
The sound of her kneeling on the spot echoed unusually loudly.
“Just once!”
Thud!
“Just once, more!”
She banged her forehead against the floor.
“Please give me a chance…!”