Chapter 7
The Cult Leader gave the Marquises a Right of Audience. Thus, every Marquis could use the Right of Audience to meet him at least once a month.
Since it was only once a month, each Marquis used their Right of Audience very carefully. This was because even without using it, they could still see him if they came again at a later, less busy time. Therefore, unless it was a very important matter, the Marquises wouldn't use their Right of Audience and would wait for the next opportunity.
“What does she say it's about?” the Cult Leader asked, looking at his daughter.
Seo Hyo-eun nodded, as if telling him to hurry and go see.
From outside, the reply came that they didn't know what the matter was, and the Cult Leader finally left his seat as if he had no choice.
The Cult Leader, who had gone outside, saw his subordinate.
“Where is the Fourth Demonic Marquis?”
“She is waiting outside the Cult Leader's office.”
“Understood.”
“But, Cult Leader. The Fourth Demonic Marquis has brought a person with her. She didn't bring him as far as the Cult Leader's Hall and had him wait outside, but that person is…”
He hesitated for a moment, then looked at the Cult Leader and spoke.
“It is Cheon Ha-seong.”
“Did you say Cheon Ha-seong? Are you talking about that Head Instructor, the legend of the Martial Arts Academy?”
“Yes, Cult Leader.”
There was hardly anyone in the Divine Cult with some interest in martial arts who did not know his name. Still, not many people knew his face, but the subordinate had seen Cheon Ha-seong with the Cult Leader before, so he remembered his face.
“Are you saying the Fourth Demonic Marquis brought Cheon Ha-seong?”
The Cult Leader's expression contorted gravely.
Various thoughts raced through his mind. The first that came to mind was that the Fourth Demonic Marquis had sought him out because of Cheok Gyo-woon's matter, and the next was the thought that Cheon Ha-seong must have decided to serve Cheok Gyo-woon as his lord.
“That arrogant bastard! The bastard who refused even when I personally told him to join my honor guard has decided to become Cheok Gyo-woon's subordinate! What did the Fourth Demonic Marquis promise him! In his bastardly eyes, does he think Cheok Gyo-woon will become the next Cult Leader!”
As the Cult Leader raged, a tremendous energy was released from his body, causing the atmosphere to swirl.
The subordinate couldn't speak properly and had to endure that stinging killing intent head-on.
The Cult Leader decided he would hear what on earth the Fourth Demonic Marquis had to say and strode forward.
The Fourth Demonic Marquis was waiting in the hallway and saw the Cult Leader approaching. The person she saw was a Cult Leader who looked as if he might destroy everything around him at any moment.
The Fourth Demonic Marquis thought that the Cult Leader must be in a bad mood over some other matter.
‘Have I come at the wrong time? No. It seems he just came from meeting the Young Supreme One. It looks like the rumors I heard weren't false.’
The Fourth Demonic Marquis had planted trustworthy people around the Cult Leader. It wasn't just her; the other Marquises had done the same, so they too must know about Seo Hyo-eun's situation by now.
What they knew differed depending on how deeply their planted spies had infiltrated and how closely they served the Cult Leader.
The reason the Fourth Demonic Marquis had received slightly incorrect information regarding Seo Hyo-eun was also due to an error in interpreting that information.
“Come in!”
The Cult Leader said in a cold voice as he passed by the Fourth Demonic Marquis.
The Fourth Demonic Marquis wondered if she had to suffer such treatment because of Cheon Ha-seong, but since she had already used that precious Right of Audience, she followed him inside.
“What business brings you here?”
The Cult Leader decided to see whether the Fourth Demonic Marquis would speak of Cheon Ha-seong right then and there, or hide it.
However, he hadn't expected the name to come out right from the start.
“Cult Leader, in truth, the Martial Arts Academy's Head Instructor Cheon Ha-seong came to this humble one asking to see you. So I brought him, and he is now waiting outside the Cult Leader's Hall. It seems he was working as a Head Instructor with the Young Supreme One at the Martial Arts Academy, and when she stopped going, he grew worried and asked Gyo-woon for a favor. They say the two were especially close at the Martial Arts Academy.”
“...What did you say?”
The Cult Leader looked at the Fourth Demonic Marquis, wondering what she meant.
Until now, the Cult Leader hadn't known what his daughter had been doing. That was something his daughter had strongly requested of him. Saying she also needed room to breathe, she had asked him not to try and find out what she was doing.
It was a request he could never grant, but she said she would leave for the Central Plains if he didn't listen, so he had no choice. Instead, he decided to assign trustworthy personal bodyguards to his daughter and had reached a compromise where he would not ask them any questions.
Even though he had promised, he was so curious that he wanted to ask them where his daughter was going several times, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, as he felt his trust with his daughter would be broken the moment he did.
But to think she had been acting as a Head Instructor at the Martial Arts Academy.
Seeing the Cult Leader's eyes go wide, the Fourth Demonic Marquis realized he had known nothing.
“Bring him in at once. And Marquis, you may leave now.”
“But Cult Leader, I also…”
“I will consider your Right of Audience unused. I have something I wish to ask Cheon Ha-seong.”
“Understood.”
The Fourth Demonic Marquis stood up as if reluctantly. With this, she felt refreshed by the feeling that she had put even the Cult Leader in her debt.
It seemed that depending on how she utilized this card from now on, she could get ahead of the other Marquises and help her family.
The task of calling Cheon Ha-seong was carried out by a warrior who had received the Fourth Demonic Marquis's order.
A moment later, Cheon Ha-seong entered, and the Fourth Demonic Marquis gave him a meaningful look as she left the Cult Leader's Hall. However, Cheon Ha-seong merely showed his respect with a bow of his head and walked past.
‘So inflexible.’
But that personality didn't seem all that bad either. It was a strange thing.
Cheon Ha-seong passed through the hallway almost at a run, and the numerous guard warriors protecting the Cult Leader's Hall stared at him with curious eyes.
The name Cheon Ha-seong was widely known even among them. There might have been those who didn't know his face, but there was no one who didn't know his name.
They were surprised at the fact that they were seeing Cheon Ha-seong, and also surprised at the fact that Cheon Ha-seong, who had completely disappeared from people's stories as if living in seclusion, had suddenly appeared.
Without even realizing how people were looking at him, Cheon Ha-seong hurriedly arrived in front of the Cult Leader's office.
“I am Cheon Ha-seong, a Head Instructor of the Martial Arts Academy. Please allow me to see the Cult Leader.”
He spoke in an unwavering voice. Although he had used his lightness skill to get there, his breathing was not disturbed in the slightest. However, perhaps because he was nervous, his face was full of anxiety.
Anyone who had known Cheon Ha-seong for a long time would have known that something which rarely happens had occurred.
When the warrior guarding the door opened it for him, Cheon Ha-seong strode inside. He still thought Seo Hyo-eun was being held captive, so he couldn't delay for even a moment.
“Cheon Ha-seong, Head Instructor of the Martial Arts Academy, greets the Cult Leader.”
The moment he saw the Cult Leader, Cheon Ha-seong paid his respects before him.
He was the Cult Leader, the highest authority of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. Most people of the Divine Cult held a heartfelt respect for him. It might be different for those who dreamed of rebellion or coveted his position, but those who lived normally would not feel otherwise.
Cheon Ha-seong, too, had held unwavering trust and respect for the Cult Leader, the center of the Divine Cult, until now. However, those were merely his feelings before he heard from Cheok Gyo-woon how the Cult Leader had treated Seo Hyo-eun.
The Cult Leader's emotions had been extremely complicated ever since he heard that Cheon Ha-seong had come. So he had been thinking a lot about how he should treat him. However, he had never imagined that the Cheon Ha-seong who came inside would show hostile feelings towards him.
Looking at his expression, wasn't it as if he himself had committed some great wrong against him?
Before he could even ask what had happened, Cheon Ha-seong spoke first.
“I have heard the gist of the matter, Cult Leader. I heard that the Palace-Guarding Sand inscribed on the Young Supreme One's arm has disappeared, and that because of it, you became very angry with her.”
He did not reveal that he had heard it from Cheok Gyo-woon. Even if Cheok Gyo-woon hadn't spoken with good intentions from the start, it was a clear fact that he had helped him nonetheless. He couldn't let harm come to such a person. So, even if the Cult Leader were to ask who he heard it from, he had no intention of telling him.
The Cult Leader looked at Cheon Ha-seong with interest. He was curious about other things as well, but what piqued his curiosity the most was Cheon Ha-seong's expression.
If it were him, he felt he would never be able to make such a face in this situation. But wasn't this guy daring to harbor anger in his presence?
“I heard that you locked up the Young Supreme One, gave her no food, and harmed her with your martial arts, Cult Leader. All of that is because of me, so I ask that you withdraw your anger towards the Young Supreme One and release that anger upon me. It is a punishment that I should rightly receive.”
“What?”
The Cult Leader couldn't understand what Cheon Ha-seong was saying right now.
“Tell me in detail from where and from whom you heard such things to come here acting like this.”
Cheon Ha-seong looked at the Cult Leader, but he could not say everything he was demanding.
“Please forgive me for being unable to reveal that name, Cult Leader.”
Now the Cult Leader's interest was piqued in a different sense. There was no one who could dare speak to him in this manner.
“And what will you do if I say that I will not forgive you?”
“Even so, I cannot tell you, Cult Leader.”
“What will you do if that bastard lied to you to use you? Must I not know the bastard who dared to do such a thing in order to punish him?”
“If such a thing is revealed, I can punish him myself.”
The Cult Leader burst into maniacal laughter.
He didn't know how the story had been passed on, but the person who could say such things couldn't be ordinary. A person who could know such a story would have to be someone very high up, even among the Divine Cult's leadership.
And yet, here he was, saying he would punish that person himself.
The Cult Leader decided to first listen in detail to what Cheon Ha-seong had heard that made him misunderstand and make such a face.
“Tell me everything you heard, you bastard, without leaving a single thing out.”
“Yes, Cult Leader.”
From then on, Cheon Ha-seong relayed every word he had heard.
As he listened to the story, an unusual light appeared in the Cult Leader's eyes. And he realized why such a misunderstanding had occurred. But that wasn't what was important anyway.
It was clear that Cheon Ha-seong was misunderstanding, but he felt there was no reason for him to clear up the misunderstanding of such an insignificant person.