Chapter 30

* * *
I smoothed the wrinkles out of the front of my clothes, fixed my hair, and walked out of the room. As I left Whiteguard Hall, walking neither slowly nor fast, someone came up behind me and grabbed me. “How did you do that?”
“Do what?” I said, playing dumb. I’d happened to meet Seok Gayak’s eyes right after I qi-spoke to the twins. They’d gone ballistic afterward, so he must’ve caught on. But how was he going to prove anything? I held my head up with confidence.
Gayak looked at me with narrow eyes and said, “May I check your pulse?”
“Sure.”
After a quick check of my pulse, his face was stricken with confusion. “You definitely don’t have any inner qi. But just now, that was absolutely... How did you do it?”
The answer was simple. What I’d used hadn’t been inner qi at all.
It would’ve been great if my qi center had healed in the time since, letting me build an inner qi storage, but that wasn’t the case. My ability to use qi-speak was a remnant of my desperate struggles to learn martial arts in my past life. Driven by the determination to accomplish my goal, I read whatever I could get my hands on-even forbidden books. And it was in one of those very books that I discovered how to draw upon innate force instead of inner qi.
Innate force referred to the energy you were born with, your essential life force. It was much more powerful than the inner qi gathered through self-cultivation, and it was said that those who came to master martial arts would also naturally learn to control their innate force as well.
But no one ever used it, for a very simple reason: innate force equaled life force. Once you used it all up, you were sure to die. And I had just used it to qi-speak.
“You...!” Gayak’s eyes suddenly widened. Feeling a familiar itch at the bottom of my nose, I gently swiped a finger under it and sighed. A nosebleed after qi-speaking once...
It had been a minimal amount. I barely used any innate force, just enough that I could recover it naturally over time. But even that seemed to have been too much for my body.
I dug around in my clothes before recalling that Gayak had used my handkerchief. Just as I was about to stem the blood with my sleeve, a hand approached my face and squeezed down on the upper part of my nose. It belonged to Gayak, who was using the sleeve of his other arm to carefully wipe away the bleeding. I tried to push him away, saying I could do it myself, but he held on tight and refused to budge. “This is a side effect of your qi-speaking, isn’t it?”
“What are you talking about?” Why was this kid so sharp? I played dumb again, but it didn’t seem to work.
Gayak said softly, “I’ll have to ask Imperial Physician Seok for a revitalizer.”
* * *
Inside his study in Whiteguard Hall, Baengri Paehyuk spoke as he sat down on his foxglove wood chair. “Place that over here, and you, sit.”
The servant who’d followed him in placed the potted peony on the table before leaving. Another servant came in with teacups and a teapot, but Lord Baengri made a face at the sight. “You think I want hot tea right now? Go fetch some cold water!” The first servant who had placed the peony on the table came back with some ice water, which Paehyuk gulped down as if to cool the anger boiling inside him.
Euigang, who sat across from his father, asked, “Are you all right?”
“And if I’m not? Haven’t I told you to handle your guests yourself?” Paehyuk raged. He knew that Namgoong Wan had already accepted his invitation to the banquet, so there was nothing Euigang could have done, but he couldn’t help his anger.
“I’m sorry to have inconvenienced you.” His son merely offered a calm apology, not even trying to defend himself, and filled his father’s teacup.
Paehyuk sighed deeply and picked it up. “Let’s just wait and see what Euiran decides.”
Euigang seemed to argue with himself for a moment before asking, “Are you really going to send Ak away?”
“You’re worrying about Ak right now?” His father demanded.
“He’s still a child.”
Paehyuk placed his untouched cup down roughly. The hot tea spilled over his hands, but he paid it no attention. “He should know that he’s only gotten off this easy thanks to being my own flesh and blood! How dare a child of Soh insult a child of Baengri?”
Their young age was a problem in itself. If they were already this unruly, what terrors would they be as adults with the full power of the Baengri clan behind them? Not to mention, it was all fine and understandable that twins born in the same hour on the same day would help and get along with each other, but...
“Not once have I discriminated between them, not once have I begrudged those children anything from food to clothing to training, even the spiritual medicines of the Baengri clan! And this is how they repay my kindness?”
Perhaps because it was because they’d been inseparable from birth, but the two thought of themselves as their whole world and looked down on everyone else, even the Baengri clan itself! It was only a peony this time, but who knew what would be next? If they were to cause even bigger trouble, it would all be over. At the very least, they had to be separated. Since they were still young, they could be reformed slowly through proper discipline.
So Paehyuk believed. His attention strayed to the potted peony the servant had left on the table. “The child who brought this, he’s Imperial Physician Seok’s nephew, Seok Gayak?”
“Yes.”
“There isn’t anything wrong with the boy, correct?”
“Pardon?” Euigang asked, perplexed.
His father cleared his throat before speaking. “He’s Yeon’s first friend, isn’t he? Children are more easily influenced by their friends than you’d think. Is he of good character, is his family— You know what, never mind.”
Euigang seemed clueless as to what he was trying to say. It would be both easier and far less frustrating to just investigate the matter himself.
“So what did you come for?” Paehyuk asked.
His son was silent for a moment before he spoke. “I’m thinking of taking Yeon along for a short visit to the Namgoong clan.”
“What?”
* * *
Euimook’s wife, Shim Sochung, was referred to as Young Madam or as Lady Shim. She was gentle and demure in character, if rather too soft-hearted to serve as the mistress of a martial clan. For this reason, Lord Baengri had been reluctant to permit Euimook to wed her, but he’d eventually given way in the face of Son Danhu’s determination to make it happen.
Now Lady Shim was crying endlessly, pressing her sleeves against her eyes to wipe away her tears. “Oh, my Myung, what are we to do? Just look how swollen your hands are.”
“I’m fine, Mother. Grandfather was furious, and I’m lucky to have gotten off this light.” But Myung’s words of consolation only drew more tears from his mother’s eyes.
A light glimmered in the darkness outside the door, growing closer and closer until Euimook finally entered holding a lamp. “Myung, how are your hands?”
“They’re fine.”
Covering her face with her sleeves, Lady Shim rose as her husband entered. Myung tried to stand as well, but his mother stopped him. “Don’t get up. Just lie down and rest. I-I’m going to go ask Mother for some medicine.”
“As you wish.”
Once she left, Myung turned to his father. “That took you a while. Was Grandfather very angry with you as well?”
“Who are you worrying about right now? Look after yourself first. And I’m late because of something else.”
“Something else?”
“Euigang says he’ll be going to the Namgoong clan with his daughter.” Euimook sat down, tidying his robe.
“Uncle Euigang, going to the Namgoong clan, with Yeon?” Myung asked in disbelief.
“Yes.”
“What, in her condition?”
“Father gave his permission, and apparently they’ll be leaving in a few days once they finish their preparations,” Euimook replied.
“Why are they going there all of sudden?”
“I didn’t hear the details, but I think it’s to separate her from Ak and Pyo for a while. No more questions. Let me see your hands.”
Myung’s expression sank as he held out his hands before his father. Here he was, worried about how he’d ever face Namgoong Wan again, while Yeon was heading to the Namgoong clan compound with him. He cycled through regret, then envy, and then anger. “I’ll have to meet with Yeon before they leave.”
Frowning reflexively, Euimook asked, “Her? Why?”
“I need to ask her to put in a good word with Deputy Head Namgoong for me.”
“You think she would? Stop speaking nonsense.”
“It’s worth a try.”
Euimook scoffed, but Myung was unfazed. Realizing his son was sincere, Euimook asked, “You’re really going to go meet her?”
“Yes, why not? She’s family, after all.”
“Family?” Euimook was shocked by the meaning underlying his son’s words.
Myung casually continued, “Judging by today, the twins have nothing on Yeon.”
Euimook involuntarily checked his surroundings and scolded, “Myung! What are you saying? I know you must be disappointed about today, but stop those foolish thoughts.”
Gritting his teeth at his father’s words, Myung pulled himself up to sit formally facing his father. “Father, I’m only telling you this now, but do you have any idea what happened when Pyo, Ak, Yeon, and I were left all alone? Ak grabbed Yeon by the collar all of a sudden and tried to attack her!”
“What?” This was the first Euimook had heard of this.
Myung clenched his jaw as he recalled that moment. Ak had grabbed Yeon by the collar first, then Pyo had pounced on her after. It was only fortunate that Gayak had been there at the time. Had Myung been alone, it would have been difficult to stop the twins by himself.
And if Yeon taken a hit then...
The thought alone sent shivers down Myung’s spine.

Chapter end