Chapter 28

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I glanced back at Gayak, who was trailing behind me holding the potted peony in his hands. His eyes curved into crescents as he smiled back at me. I crinkled my nose and snapped my head away, ignoring the silvery sound of his laughter.
After learning that Grandfather was back, I’d told Gayak to go back home, but he’d just kept following me. When I told him again to go home, he merely opened his eyes widely and asked, “Why? I was the one who told you in the first place.”
“You were planning this from the beginning, weren’t you?” I accused.
“Yup, and why not?” He was shamelessly self-assured. “You said you were going to use my gift, right? Then I have a right to see it.”
“Do you even have any idea what I’m going to do?”
“Well... Whatever it is, I don’t think I’ll be disappointed.” He smiled cheekily.
With no time to waste on bickering, I had no choice but to keep walking, ignoring the footsteps behind mine.
From the outside, Whiteguard Hall seemed peaceful and undisturbed. Unfortunately, Gayak had also made it in with me. I thought there was no way they’d let him in! Figuring the guards at the entrance would stop him, I’d planned on ditching him at the door and telling him to stay put instead of trying to argue his way in. But I had no idea he was such a smooth talker! Gayak had convinced the guards to let him through by claiming that, as Imperial Physician Seok’s nephew, he’d been charged with looking after my health and simply had to accompany me wherever I went.
Entered the grounds of Whiteguard Hall, he looked around leisurely as though it were his own house. Passing through the neatly kept gardens, we could already hear Grandfather’s roaring.
I sighed and told him, “You can’t come into the main room.”
“Sure. Even I wouldn’t go that far.”
Jang Seokryang, who’d been guarding the entrance, frowned at us as we approached the building. “Who let you in here, young miss? And who is this boy next to you?”
I bit my lip and said, “He’s Imperial Physician Seok’s nephew, and he came to see me today.”
“My name is Seok Gayak.”
Aide Jang looked frustrated by the situation before him.
I quickly bowed my head in apology. “I’m sorry, I was in a rush and didn’t think before coming here. Seok Gayak only came along because he was worried about me.” Gayak apologized as well, bowing alongside me.
Jang Seokryang said with forced patience, “Even if he is Imperial Physician Seok’s nephew, you shouldn’t bring outsiders into Whiteguard Hall, young miss. Please come back later once you have been granted proper per—”
My grandfather’s enraged voice rang out. “You have three choices.”
Aide Jang took his eyes off me for a moment as he focused on the sound of Grandfather’s voice. I strained my ears to listen in as well.
“Should you choose to leave together, know that neither you nor your children will ever see me again.”
I was shocked by what I’d overheard. Looks like he drew his sword a lot quicker than I thought.
Though my grandfather had presented my aunt with three choices, there was really only one she could choose: to leave Pyo here and take Ak with her to the Soh clan. My aunt would never give up her affiliation with the Baengri clan, so the third option of keeping both her children with her but leaving the clan forever was never even in question. All that was left to decide was whether it was she or her son who would remain, and...
She’ll choose Pyo. What standing would she have left if she couldn’t keep a single child on clan grounds? The only way for her to secure her future influence was to leave Pyo behind, ensuring that he kept his status as a grandchild of Lord Baengri.
This was also all part of Grandfather’s plan. He was thinking that, as Pyo was still young, separating him from the mother spoiling him rotten and subjecting him to strict discipline might allow him to grow into an upstanding young man. How brutal.
Unfortunately… I couldn’t let the situation play out as Grandfather hoped.
I said to Aide Jang, “Isn’t this sort of like the last time?”
“The last time?”
“Grandfather was yelling then, too. Though it’s at someone else this time.”
Jang Seokryang instantly recalled the day Euigang had come to beg for the Divine Decree Suppression Pill. One could say the current situation was similar, but with the roles reversed. That day, Baengri Euigang had weathered Lord Baengri’s wrath thanks to this child. Had that been entirely by coincidence? He swallowed in spite of himself.
At that moment, the child looking up at him blinked innocently and asked, “Aide Jang, may I go in?”
He hesitated, then finally spoke. “Announce the young miss.”
Permission had been granted. As if no conversation had just taken place, the servant standing by the door politely informed those inside, “Lord Baengri, Young Miss Yeon has arrived.”
After a long silence, Baengri Paehyuk declared, “Let her in!”
The servant opened the door and held the indigo-colored door blind aside for me. The first thing I saw when I entered the room was the sight of the twins, whose faces were covered with tears, and my aunt, who was bent over weeping at my father’s feet. Then I met Myung’s eyes, which seemed to be asking me why did you come here?
“Whiteguard Hall may as well be your living room now, the way you come and go as you please,” Grandfather said angrily. “You even dared to bring in an unauthorized outsider!”
Though Gayak hadn’t come into the main room, he couldn’t escape Grandfather’s qi sense. Under Grandfather’s fierce gaze, I accepted the peony sapling Gayak held out, and was surprised by its unexpected weight. Why is this so heavy...? Gayak was carrying it like it didn’t weigh a thing!
Just as I was crossing over the threshold, I staggered under the burden of the pot in my hands. Father and Grandfather both flinched, and even Gayak seemed concerned that I might fall. Having accidentally grabbed everyone’s attention, I was finally able to put the peony down in the center of the room. Those who’d been watching on with worry let out a sigh of relief, but there was another onlooker who showed a very different reaction.
Aunt Euiran’s bloodshot eyes were full of rage and blame. When our eyes met, I edged behind Myung as if hiding from her. Even kneeling, he was tall enough to cover a six-year-old child. He looked at me with a baffled expression, clearly wondering why I was suddenly acting this way, and I pulled at his sleeve as if asking him for help.
Myung had been about to shove me off but jerked when he met Aunt Euiran’s vicious glare. He immediately straightened his back and concealed me from her line of sight. All this happened in the blink of an eye. His near-instinctive snap judgment was the correct answer: Grandfather’s eyes softened ever so slightly when he saw Myung shield me from Aunt Euiran.
“You!” Aunt shouted in disbelief as she saw Myung move as if to protect me from her. “Baengri Myung, you, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Aunt Euiran, please calm down.”
She puffed and blew in shock at his reply.
I knew it. Myung was the incredibly opportunistic type. All he cared about was his own welfare, and he’d always choose whichever side was most advantageous for him at that moment, like how he pretended to shield me from Aunt Euiran just now in hopes of hearing even a word less of Grandfather’s scolding.
Staring at the back of his head, I thought, This can’t end at just kicking Aunt Euiran out. If Pyo pretended to have come to his senses under Grandfather’s guardianship and Aunt Euiran lay low and pretended to have learned her lesson, he’d call her back at some point. After all, it wasn’t like he’d said he’d stop her from returning forever.
Even though Grandfather was the Baengri clan head, he couldn’t completely disregard Grandmother’s enduring authority over the estate. So long as Grandmother was around, my aunt’s return was an inevitability that would happen in the next two, maybe three years at the earliest. Then I’d be eight? No, nine? And as soon as she returned, she’d unsheathe the claws she’d been sharpening with Father and me in mind. I can’t let that happen.
But for the sake of my plans... I couldn’t be the one to drive out Aunt Euiran and the twins. It had to be Baengri Myung. He would be the one to banish them, not me.
Now well out of patience, Aunt Euiran yelled, “Myung! Have you lost your mind? Move aside! Are you really taking that girl’s side in front of me?”
“Baengri Euiran!”
Grandfather bellowed, but it wasn’t enough to stop Aunt Euiran now. “Baengri Yeon, how dare you show your face before m—!” She froze mid-shriek and crumpled, her eyes rolling into the back of her head.
“Mom!”
“Euiran!”
The twins and Uncle Euimook cried out in surprise.
“She seemed quite overwrought, so I stepped in.”
It was only then that I realized what had happened. Did Father just... knock her out? I hadn’t even seen him do it.
Father’s unconcerned expression, as if nothing special had occurred, was deeply unfamiliar to me. No, well, come to think of it... That’s his usual self, really.
Grandfather waved him off in irritation. Leave her. She still hasn’t come to her senses! Tsk. Euigang— No, Euimook, take her back to her room.”
“Yes, Father.” Uncle Euimook picked Aunt Euiran up carefully and left.
“Mom! Mom!”
The surprised twins got up to chase after her, but Grandfather bellowed, “Who told you to get up?” The two jolted with fear and immediately fell to their knees once more.
Grandfather looked at them with contempt and turned back to me. His eyes were as fierce as ever. “Now, what are you doing here?”

Chapter end