The Supreme Operations Council.

The moment the arrest warrant from the highest decision-making body in the Luoyang Sword Clan was revealed, a chorus of awkward throat-clearing rippled through the hall.

“Hmph… hmph.”

“Ahem.”

The elders who had, just moments before, been standing tall to block the Central Inspectorate and defend the council’s authority, now began to shuffle backward reluctantly. They knew they had to get out of the way, but having “face” to consider, they couldn’t bear the shame of stepping aside so cleanly after all their initial bluster. But Dokgo Ya-yeon, the Head of the Central Inspectorate, was not a woman to wait patiently for them to sort out their pride.

“Then.”

Her white hair scattered as she strode forward, pushing firmly through the hesitating elders.

“H-Hey!”

Flabbergasted and bewildered, the elders who were physically pushed aside didn’t even have time to formulate a protest before her frosty command cut through the air.

“All units. Begin execution.”

“By your command!”

Awaiting the order, the red-clothed agents of the Central Inspectorate poured over the threshold of the Council of Elders like a breaking wave.

“Begin the search!”

To avoid incurring the personal grudges of the powerful elders, the agents wore red masks that obscured their faces.

“How insolent…!”

“Where do you think you are, barging in like this?!”

Doors were flung open one after another, and the enraged shouts of elders echoed from various chambers. Yet, not one of them dared to physically obstruct the Central Inspectorate while it was executing a direct order from the Supreme Operations Council.

“The reserve team outside will seal the Council of Elders building. Ensure the criminal does not dare to escape.”

“By your command!”

But the sight of these non-elders storming through the sacred halls, trampling on the council’s authority as they pleased, was something no elder could watch with a peaceful heart.

“Head of the Central Inspectorate.”

“Speak.”

The elder from the Third Young Master’s faction, the first one who had tried to block Dokgo Ya-yeon, glared at her.

“…That evidence you claim to possess. I’m not sure who provided it to you, but…” The elder’s voice trembled with rage, humiliation, and the sting of repeated defeats throughout the day. “It had better be flawless. There had better not be… not even a single, minuscule flaw.”

His gaze was sharp enough to skewer her alive.

“Because the Council of Elders will not forget the shame and contempt it has been forced to endure from the Central Inspectorate today.”

Dokgo Ya-yeon could feel it. The elders who had slunk back to the corners were still there, their eyes fixed on her. The situation forced them to remain spectators, but she was keenly aware of the power they wielded—the respect they commanded in the Luoyang Sword Clan, in the capital, and throughout the entire Central Plains.

It was a situation where feeling fear would be perfectly natural.

Have I earned their personal grudge?

A direct collision. An antagonistic relationship with the Council of Elders of the Luoyang Sword Clan. In the past, this was a scenario she would have done anything to avoid.

“Ehem.”

But now… she was no longer afraid.

“My, my. Who dares to threaten the Main Clan’s inspection agency?”

A new voice, arriving from nowhere, shattered the tense silence.

“Well, I never. If it isn’t the elders of the Main Clan!”

It was a voice that was beyond calm; it was slyly innocent, teasing, and tinged with an arrogance that seemed to mock the elders themselves.

“Oh, dear! Can it be? Are the elders of the Main Clan… threatening the head of the Main Clan’s inspection agency?”

Who in this place did not know the owner of that voice?

“…Grand Young Master!”

The elders, who had only shuffled and hesitated at the sight of a warrant from the Supreme Operations Council, now parted like an ebbing tide, as if they had been burned.

“People who call themselves elders of the Main Clan,” Yeon So-hyeon continued, “are you not aware that such an act is a grievous crime?” He made an exaggerated motion of looking around the now-widening circle.

The elders who had scattered from his path now actively fled from his gaze.

“…Ahem. I just remembered an urgent matter.”

“…I shall accompany you.”

They vanished, retreating into the corridors.

At the sight, Dokgo Ya-yeon found herself clicking her tongue in astonishment.

As expected of the Grand Young Master…

As an outsider to the council, she didn’t know the precise details of what had transpired here today or how events had unfolded.

But seeing this… I know without seeing, and I understand without hearing.

Only a few shichen had passed since the Grand Young Master had first set foot in the Council of Elders. And yet, he was already, completely, overwhelming them.

“Tsk. Honestly,” Yeon So-hyeon said, shrugging as if flabbergasted as he stood in the now-empty entrance. “How embarrassing for me, to have everyone just leave without a word.”

His expression, however, told a different story. A smirking grin was plastered on his face, revealing his internal satisfaction.

“…Head of the Central Inspectorate.”

The last remaining elder from the Third Young Master’s faction spoke to Dokgo Ya-yeon in a low voice.

“Do not think you will be safe in the Grand Young Master’s shadow forever.”

“The Grand Young Master’s shadow?” Despite the killing intent in his voice, she lifted her eyes—their pale, white pupils as unmoving as glass—and directly met the elder’s gaze. “I’m not sure what you mean, Elder…” she replied, her voice precise and clear. “The Central Inspectorate has always maintained its political neutrality.”

Her sheer, unadulterated confidence made the elder’s face twitch. Before he could retort, she pressed her advantage.

“And, as for the evidence you mentioned earlier…” She continued, “I have already taken measures so that any elder of the Main Clan may visit the Supreme Operations Council’s Administrative Pavilion to confirm the evidence at their leisure. Therefore…” She clasped her hands and gave a perfectly polite bow.

“I would be most grateful if you would direct any further inquiries to that office.”

With those final words, she firmly pushed past the elder’s shoulder and walked into the depths of the Council of Elders, following the Grand Young Master.

The elder from the Third Young Master’s faction could only stand there, his fists clenched, glaring at their retreating backs. At this moment, there was nothing he could do.

The resplendent corridors of the Council of Elders were utterly deserted; not so much as an ant could be seen.

The elders had all holed themselves up in their lounges and meeting rooms, claiming they needed to formulate counter-strategies or hold conferences. Dokgo Ya-yeon, however, knew these were nothing but excuses. They simply wanted to avoid the discomfort of crossing paths with the agents of the Central Inspectorate.

And, more than that, the person they most wished to avoid was right here.

The Grand Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon.

“Strolling through the mighty Council of Elders like this,” he said suddenly, breaking the silence. “Isn’t it refreshing to your core?”

The question, as if he had read her very thoughts, made her lift her striking white eyes to the back of the man walking ahead of her.

Whether she answered or not, he continued, his back still to her.

“Until now, the Council of Elders has never once been cooperative with your investigations, have they?”

She hesitated for a moment before “meekly” opening her mouth and saying, “That is correct. And, to be frank, the elders—they were always the biggest obstacle.”

The Central Inspectorate, as its name and reputation suggest, only intervened in significant cases. These cases, inevitably, involved powerful figures, primarily the elders.

“Indeed, it must have been so,” Yeon So-hyeon replied, chuckling lightly at her weary admission. “But isn’t it laughable?”

She thought she understood what he meant, but she didn’t want to be the one to say it.

“…What do you mean, sir?”

Yeon So-hyeon glanced back at her, then faced forward again, his voice now a telepathic message.

[When you were alone, struggling to maintain your noble ideals of political neutrality… trying to be the righteous head of an inspection agency… a proper investigation was impossible, wasn’t it?]

Dokgo Ya-yeon listened silently as his words articulated her deepest frustrations, one by one.

[But now that you’ve drawn close to this power called the ‘Grand Young Master,’ rather…]

He gestured to the empty, silent corridor.

[…you’re able to stride into the very nerve center of power and do your job without the slightest hesitation. Isn’t that right?]

Instead of answering, she bit her lip.

This was the great contradiction she was facing. If she had rigidly stuck to her original principles and rules, she would never have been able to solve the case surrounding the Treasury Director. She wouldn’t have even been able to properly touch it.

And even if, by some miracle, she had begun an investigation…

…only the innocent Treasury Director would have been cut down, and the case would have been buried then and there.

It was a colossal, suffocating paradox.

“Continue to struggle with it.”

At first, she thought he might be mocking her. But when he stopped and turned around, his face was utterly serious, prompting her to speak.

“…Aren’t you going to provide the answer, as you always do, Grand Young Master?”

After all, wasn’t that what he did best?

“No.”

But unexpectedly, Yeon So-hyeon shook his head. “The answer to that contradiction isn’t something that can be defined in a few sentences. It is…” His piercing gaze, so upright and intense, locked onto hers. “That constant struggle. That anguish you are forced to confront anew in every new situation.”

Yeon So-hyeon tapped his own temple.

“The answer is not in the result of the judgment, but in the process of agonizing over it.”

In that moment, Dokgo Ya-yeon understood. She finally understood how the Grand Young Master could order such machinations to save the Treasury Director, yet still possess a gaze that was so unwaveringly upright.

…The Grand Young Master never justifies or rationalizes his own actions.

The Grand Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon, had never once made an excuse. He claimed it was a “necessary choice,” that he “had no other way,” or that it was “unavoidable.” His upright and confident eyes reflected his unwavering acceptance of all his judgments and actions.

“Grand Young Master.”

“Hmm?”

Dokgo Ya-yeon, the Head of the Central Inspectorate, called out to him, then sent her reply via a telepathic message.

[…I believe I have chosen my lord well.]

From her, who was always so endlessly, resolutely blunt, this surprise attack of a statement made Yeon So-hyeon whip his head around.

“…Good.”

As he turned back and began to walk, Dokgo Ya-yeon smiled to herself and asked, “Grand Young Master. Where are we going now?”

“Aren’t you here to catch the Treasury Vice Director?”

Dokgo Ya-yeon’s eyes widened slightly.

“…Do you know where he’s hiding?”

“No. But…”

Without looking back, Yeon So-hyeon raised a finger and tapped the side of his nose.

“I can smell him.”

He smiled, a small, cold smile.

“He gives off a very… delicious… scent.”