Chapter 20

“Oh, looks like I dropped it,” said Pyo.
“Whoopsies, too bad. Why didn’t you hand it over more carefully? Hurry up and give him another one,” said Wuak, snickering.
Sighing, I held out another flower from the box.
Pyo once again pretended to accept it before dropping it on the ground. Two peony flowers lay crumpled on the ground, trampled under his feet. “Looks like you have another one. Give it to me.”
There was only one flower left in the box. I let my fake smile drop and wordlessly stared at the twins.
“What? It was just an accident. You got a problem?”
“He’s right. It was just an accident.”
Couldn’t they feel it? A fierce, threatening aura was emanating from behind me, where Namgoong Wan was standing. Stepping in front of Lord Wan before he could intervene, I slammed the box shut.
“Why you—”
I cut off Wuak and handed Pyo the box. “Here.”
“Wh-what?” Pyo looked like he didn’t know what to make of my offer.
“Take it. You said you wanted to give it to Riri, right? Since it’s in the box, now you won’t step on it even if you drop it.”
Pyo opened and closed his mouth for a moment, trying to figure out what to say, before snatching the box from my hands.
“Hmph! Should’ve done that from the beginning. Lost two whole flowers because of you. Let’s go!” Pyo scurried through the front gate.
Wuak and Myung followed suit, but as he walked by, Myung stopped for a moment. “You’re a good kid, Yeon,” he said with a light laugh, patting me on the shoulder before passing through the gate.
Silence followed. Then a low voice above my head forced out through gritted teeth, “Unbelievable.”
I glanced at Lord Wan.
“Why did you stop me?” he asked.
“Weren’t you trying to hide your identity?” I replied.
The moment Lord Wan intervened, he would have had to reveal himself, since there was no way some unnamed stranger could rebuke the direct descendants of the Baengri clan.
“Plus...” I sighed and knelt near the trampled peonies. “It was a losing battle.”
Lord Wan tilted his head as though he were awaiting an explanation.
I curled my lip. “I was outnumbered. There were three of them. Imagine what would have happened if I’d refused.” I spoke as nonchalantly as possible, but I couldn’t help the tinge of sadness in my voice. “I would’ve been the selfish girl who wouldn’t even share flowers with her cousins.” I paused, then continued. “If I got mad because they’d stepped on the flowers... I would’ve been a spiteful brat making a fuss over an innocent mistake.”
“Those weren’t mistakes.”
“But if those three said that they were accidents, what would people believe?”
I spoke from experience. It had happened countless times in my previous life. No one... No one had ever believed me.
“What kind of—!”
The sound of approaching hooves cut Lord Wan off mid-shout. A familiar voice followed. “Yeon? What are you doing here?”
“Father!” I ran to him just as he jumped lightly down from his saddle. As he lifted me with ease, I could smell the faint scent of medicinal herbs on his robes.
What’s with the herbs? Father looked puzzled as I sniffed at his shirt. I smiled sheepishly, embarrassed that he had caught me in the act.
“Why haven’t you gone inside? Where is Eondu? And why is your hair undone?”
“I was waiting for you!” I cried out.
“Me?” Father’s eyes widened with slight surprise before a gentle smile spread across his face. The warmth in his smile caught me off-guard, even though I saw him every day. “Where is Eondu? Why is your hair like this?” he asked again, stroking a hand through my hair.
“There’s a guest for you, Father!” I said instead of answering his questions.
“A guest?” He tilted his head away from me and spotted Lord Wan.
“You!” My father was stunned. Looking between the two of us, he whispered, “Yeon, do you know who this is?”
I shook my head obliviously. “No, but the invitation was in your handwriting, so I could tell he was your guest.”
“Then why didn’t you both go inside?”
“I’d like to know as well,” Lord Wan said contemptuously, stroking the rim of his hat. “It seems the gatekeepers couldn’t recognize the handwriting, but a six-year-old child could.”
The gatekeepers had been avoiding making eye contact with my father since his arrival, and now their faces turned deathly pale at Lord Wan’s words.
Father took in the situation and turned toward them to ask, “What does he mean?”
The gatekeepers who’d been mocking Lord Wan and me just moments before stood silent, as though their lips had been glued shut. Was there anything more difficult than admitting to one’s wrongdoings?
Father urged them again. “Why is no one answering me?”
The gatekeepers could disregard my authority, but they couldn’t treat my father the same way. One of the gatekeepers finally began to stammer out, “W-well... We couldn’t let an unidentifiable stranger into the residence, and so we h-had to stop him.”
“An... unidentifiable stranger?” Father’s brow furrowed in anger. Just as he was about to interrogate the gatekeeper further, Lord Wan stepped forward.
“Enough,” he said, slowly taking off his bamboo hat. At least one of the gatekeepers seemed to recognize him, as the fear on his face was replaced by utter despair. “How could my lowly self expect to enter the heavenly gates of the Baengri clan so easily?”
Lord Wan twisted his lips as he took out his identification plaque. “Namgoong Wan, of the Namgoong clan. Might I now be permitted to enter?” He stared down the gatekeepers coolly, letting the bamboo hat in his hands fall to the ground, then in one quick motion kicked the lip of the hat.
Whack.
One of the gatekeepers covered his face with his hands as he fell. It was the one who’d been most insulting toward Lord Wan. The now misshapen hat rolled around in front of the collapsed gatekeeper.
Holy sh*t! I gave him a ten for technique, a ten for artistry, and a perfect score overall.
* * *
“Young Miss Yeon...”
“Ugh...”
“Miss, wake up! Don’t you remember that you asked me to wake you?”
“Mm... Ah!”
It had been an eventful outing—too eventful. I’d thought that I’d recovered enough, but my body said otherwise, and I’d fallen asleep almost immediately once I returned to my room. Now I see why I was pulled from class early...
Under Eondu’s direction, a maid wiped down my face with a washcloth dipped in warm water and raised a comb to my hair, but I jumped down from my chair to escape her hands. “Later. We have somewhere to go first!”
Footsteps full of energy, I left the room with Eondu in tow, but I was soon staggering on my feet and yawning.
“That was too far. How could you hit someone with your hat that way? I’ve never seen such a rude—”
“He ought to count himself lucky that it stopped at—”
The voices of the two men grew louder as I neared Father’s room.
“As the deputy head, you’re a leader of your clan now. You can’t just go around assaulting—”
“Are you saying I have to pander to others’ expectations now?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Didn’t you? Oh, then again, it’s obvious you’d have to side with the gatekeepers of your own clan.”
Father didn’t answer.
“No? Nothing else to say? They insulted me, and I only repaid my debt!”
Wham!
Someone slammed down on what sounded like a table.
Oh geez, here we go. I knew they were going to end up fighting. Just as I’d expected, Father and Lord Wan were in the middle of an argument. Eondu, who’d been trailing behind me, was at a loss for what to do.
I waved my arm to catch his attention. “Bring us some tea and snacks.”
By now, Eondu had realized that his young miss was no ordinary six-year-old child. “Then... I’ll leave it in your hands.” Relieved, he bowed and made himself scarce.

Chapter end