Chapter 49 - Preparation (4)
『 Translator – Divinity 』
"I-Is this true?"
"I found it in the magistrate's room at the county office."
At my answer, Namgung Hyeon's face was painted with clear fury.
Miss Seol, her face hardening, took the letter and read it, her eyes widening.
"Oh my god...!"
Her slender fingers, holding the letter, started to tremble.
Miss Seol's face, which had always been gentle and composed since we first met, was now contorted with anger.
"H-how could they do such a lawless thing...!"
It was obvious what part they were angry about.
It was probably about how they were going to hand over the Namgung family's assets to the magistrate.
"To think they would fabricate the land survey report and frame us for tax evasion...!"
Indeed.
The method to seize the Namgung family's assets.
It was to fabricate the land survey report and frame the Namgung family for tax evasion.
I waved the book I had brought, the fabricated land register, and said,
"Considering they even prepared a fabricated land register in advance, they were probably planning to act immediately after the Namgung family lost the duel tournament and was expelled from Hefei."
Actually, there was still one unsolved mystery surrounding the incidents that had occurred in the Namgung family.
The assassination of the head steward.
To be precise, the question was, "Why" did they kill the head steward?
If their intention was to frame him for embezzling funds from the armory for gambling, there was no need to kill him.
They could have targeted the head of the Namgung Armory, or even killed the leader of the Namgung Escort Agency who leaked information to Jo Un-chil and framed him.
That would have been more convenient in many ways, as it wouldn't have caused as much of a stir.
So the question was, was it worth the risk of killing the head steward, who was in charge of the Namgung family's administrative affairs?
"...So there was a reason for killing Head Steward Im."
I nodded at Miss Seol's grave words.
"With the head steward, who would have reported the land survey results to the county office, gone during such a chaotic time, their response would naturally be delayed. They were probably planning to finish cleaning up the mess in that time."
Namgung Hyeon, with a confused look, refuted my words.
"Even if the head steward is dead, he wasn't the only one handling the family's administrative affairs. How could they do that?"
"That's something we'll have to find out when we return to the estate."
"Yes? Return to the estate... Don't tell me?"
Namgung Hyeon's face turned serious as he immediately grasped my meaning.
"...Do you think there's a traitor within the family?"
"I hope not, but there's already a precedent with the escort leader who betrayed the family because of gambling debts."
"...That's..."
Namgung Hyeon trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.
He fell silent, lost in thought.
He was probably praying inwardly that there wasn't a traitor.
Of course, I was skeptical.
These were people who had meticulously planned the downfall of the Namgung family for a year.
They even fabricated the land register to seize the Namgung family's assets, so would they really not have planted a traitor within the family?
It would be stranger if there wasn't one.
Although I was inwardly certain, I didn't say it out loud.
I wasn't tactless enough to say such a thing in front of someone already in distress.
"Gaga..."
With Miss Seol's worried voice, silence fell over the carriage.
***
"You said you found a way. What do you mean?"
Cheol-u was not just confused but dumbfounded by Chil-ji's sudden statement.
She had been acting friendly towards the woman who came with the Namgung young master, and now she suddenly found a way?
Under Cheol-u's bewildered gaze, Chil-ji looked at the spot where the Namgung young master and his companion had left.
"Do you know who that woman next to the Namgung young master was?"
"...She introduced herself. Seol-yak-bing of the Seol family."
And something about being the most beautiful woman in Anhui?
Indeed, she was quite a beauty.
The most beautiful woman he had ever seen was this suspicious woman standing before him, and Yak-bing was comparable to her.
But what was so important about that now?
Chil-ji sighed inwardly as she looked at Cheol-u, who seemed to be missing something crucial, and spoke.
"On the surface, that's all she is. But from our Paecheon Fortress's perspective, she has another identity."
"What is it?"
"She's the Young Master's fiancée."
"...What?"
Chil-ji shrugged at Cheol-u's dumbfounded expression at her shocking answer.
"To be precise, she's just one of the many candidates for his concubine."
"W-Wait... what are you talking about? Didn't you just say she was the Namgung young master's fiancée?"
Chil-ji explained the situation to the bewildered Cheol-u.
Cheol-u, hearing that the head of the Seol family, Seol-yak-bing's father, had unilaterally broken off the engagement with the Namgung family, immediately understood the situation and frowned.
"Tsk. He used his own daughter for his ambition."
"Yes. It seems Young Miss Seol-yak-bing defied her father's wishes and came to the Namgung family on her own."
"That's... bold."
Cheol-u was inwardly impressed by Seol-yak-bing's actions.
At least she was more like a true martial artist than her father, who was just trying to use his own daughter.
He nodded, then tilted his head in confusion.
Wait, but what did that have to do with them?
As he looked at Chil-ji with that question in mind, her lips curled into a small smile.
"The important thing is that the Young Master is currently in Anqing."
"What? The Young Master?"
Chil-ji nodded as she saw Cheol-u's surprised reaction.
"Yes. I don't know what he's thinking, but he came to see Seol-yak-bing and then decided to stay there. It seems the head of the Seol family is hiding the fact that his daughter ran away and buying time."
Chil-ji, accurately guessing the situation of the Seol family, stood up.
"Since they've asked for fifteen days, we have some time as well. I'll go to Anqing and bring the Young Master here."
He came to see the most beautiful woman in Anhui and ended up staying there. If she informed him of her location, he would probably come to Hefei.
That's what Chil-ji thought.
"Don't tell me you're planning to ask the Young Master to participate in the duel tournament?"
"...What nonsense are you talking about?"
Chil-ji looked at Cheol-u with a dumbfounded expression at his ridiculous question.
Cheol-u, feeling offended, jumped to his feet and retorted,
"Then why are you bringing the Young Master here?"
"Sigh... Have you forgotten who's with him?"
"With the Young Master...?"
Cheol-u pondered Chil-ji's words for a moment, then his eyes widened.
So he finally understood.
Chil-ji nodded.
"Yes. Cho Un-yeop, the Flashing Spear, one of the Fortress Lord's Four Guardians. I intend to ask him to participate in the duel tournament."
Cho Un-yeop, the Flashing Spear, was renowned as the fastest spearman in the current murim.
He was clearly a more skilled martial artist than Sa Gong-chan, the Heavenly Radiance Squad Leader.
If they could get his help, all their problems would be solved.
However,
"How are you going to persuade him? There's no way he would abandon his mission to protect the Young Master."
Cho Un-yeop's loyalty to the Fortress Lord was well-known throughout Paecheon Fortress.
It was unimaginable that he would abandon his mission to protect the Young Master, a mission personally assigned by the Fortress Lord.
"I'll find a way. Deputy Leader, please keep the Heavenly Radiance Squad and the lower-ranking warriors in line until I return."
"...Alright."
Chil-ji didn't explain her method in detail.
But seeing her confidently declare that she would find a way, Cheol-u simply nodded without a word.
'She's a woman who gets things done, no matter what.'
Ah, there he goes again with those thoughts.
Cheol-u grumbled, displeased with himself for thinking highly of Chil-ji.
Chil-ji, turning her gaze away from him, looked past the awkwardly seated magistrate at the lower-ranking official standing there awkwardly.
"Excuse me, could you come with me for a moment?"
"Yes? Ah, yes..."
Chil-ji left the meeting hall with the official and led him to a secluded area.
The official was bewildered, unable to process the situation where an incredibly beautiful woman he had never seen before was taking him to a secluded place.
He blushed, embarrassed by whatever thoughts were running through his mind, and then his mind went blank as he saw the red light in Chil-ji's eyes.
A sweet voice pierced his ears as he stood there dazed.
"That man you guided, was there anything suspicious about him?"
It was a voice so sweet that he wanted to answer any question she asked.
The official obediently answered, following his heart.
"No... there wasn't..."
"...Did he try to bribe you with money? Did anything like that happen?"
"Nothing like that happened..."
"......"
Chil-ji frowned at the official's answer.
'...Nothing happened?'
She had been suspicious of his sudden stomachache, but was it really just a stomachache?
Chil-ji's intuition whispered otherwise, but reality contradicted her intuition.
It was a misunderstanding born from a combination of her ignorance about pressure points and overconfidence in her own abilities.
Chil-ji, unaware of this, had no choice but to accept reality.
"...I understand. And please forget everything that happened when you entered the meeting hall earlier."
"Yes... I understand..."
The red light in Chil-ji's eyes disappeared, and she immediately left.
Anqing was a two-day journey on horseback, even at full speed.
And that was assuming she was traveling alone with all her might.
The journey back to Hefei with the Young Master would naturally take longer.
Considering that, fifteen days wasn't a very long time.
Chil-ji hurriedly left.
The official, who had been standing there with a dazed expression, suddenly came to his senses.
"Uh, where am I...? What was I doing...?"
As Chil-ji had instructed, he had forgotten all his memories from the meeting hall.
He was simply bewildered, unable to remember why he was standing there.