Chapter 6 "Have you lost your mind?"
Seol-yeong shouted and surged up as if he were about to grab Yeo Il by the collar.
But Yeo Il's eyes remained fixed solely on the maid's face, which had gone pale with shock.
"W-with this foolish head of mine, it is difficult to understand Great Hero's intent. How could you say such a thing…"
"Namgung Soyo had something she entrusted to you until her last moment, didn't she?"
The small hand, smeared with dirt, fumbled at the crystal necklace hanging from her neck.
"You won't be able to accomplish it alone. But if Namgung Soyo is alive, chances to find her birth mother can come at any time."
If fortune favored them, her birth mother might even come looking for her herself.
After briefly returning to the carriage, Yeo Il came back holding the scroll she always kept in her pouch. She sat beside the maid and spread it out on the ground.
"Do you see it?"
"…What is all this?"
"My benefactor's bequests. They are also the reason I travel the rivers and lakes."
The maid craned her neck and read through the writing. Judging by how her expression twisted more and more strangely, she seemed to be suppressing a hollow laugh.
"Then… what you said earlier… Th-these bequests are a little… unusual."
"You can say they look insane. Now, read this part."
The maid's eyes followed Yeo Il's pale finger.
If you meet someone who has lost their parents, grant that person one request. It was a bequest ranked quite high in order.
Yet in truth, Yeo Il had never had the chance to fulfill it. There were many children in the world without parents, but Yeo Il had no eye that could recognize such a person at a glance.
"Then… Great Hero means to follow your benefactor's bequest and grant my request, since I've lost my parents? And that request is to f-find Young Lady Soyo's mother?"
At the careful question, Yeo Il patted the maid's head as she answered.
"So you have lost your parents as well. But the one whose request I will grant is Namgung Soyo. She lost her mother and was abandoned by her father—so that can be called losing them."
"..."
"If you ever suspect my intentions later, you can reveal the truth to the Namgung Clan at any time. I will become a criminal and run off with my tail between my legs."
"…No. I do not doubt your intentions. Great Hero is my lifesaving benefactor, aren't you? And you are also a formidable martial artist who could cut off my neck right now and seize Young Lady Soyo's identity."
As she spoke, the maid gripped Namgung Soyo's hand even tighter.
Then she hesitated for a long time, her eyes full of struggle, before nodding with an expression as if she had made up her mind.
"That's right. Without Young Lady Soyo, I can't do anything… The Namgung Clan won't take me in, and I'll be thrown back onto the streets again."
Complex emotions tangled across her childish face until she looked as if she were about to cry.
Watching quietly for once, Seol-yeong set a hand on his waist and clicked his tongue.
"Hah. So that's the spectacle. You're saying you'll steal the identity of a daughter of a Murim clan? What kind of absurd nonsense is that, noona!"
"You'll only complain about the old man's strange bequests?"
"It's because you're doing something you never do. It's absurd. Since when are you the kind of person who makes this big a mess just to keep a bequest? What will you do when the clan recognizes you?"
"I have her only keepsake from her birth mother. And the only surviving maid will serve me as the real Young Lady. Who would dare question my identity?"
"The assassins you just sent away know Namgung Soyo's face."
"Seol-yeong, who would ever believe the testimony of a mere assassin? The world does not believe those who believe such testimony."
At the firmness in her voice—so unlike before—Seol-yeong shut his mouth.
Yeo Il patted his dissatisfied, twitching expression for a moment. Then the maid's fragile voice caught at Yeo Il.
"If… if Great Hero finds the Young Lady's mother, then after that…"
"I will disappear and go traveling again."
Answering lightly, Yeo Il took the maid's hand and slowly helped her to her feet. From between the small fingers, filthy with dust, the dead woman's hand slipped free like a receding tide.
"Namgung Soyo fulfills what she wanted, and I fulfill that old man's bequest…"
"..."
"And finally, you find a way to live without Namgung Soyo."
Whatever resolve she had hardened herself into—the maid bit her lip so hard it bled, then suddenly slapped Yeo Il's hand away and bowed deeply.
"I understand, Great Hero. I will help you at your side. Please fulfill the wish of our late Young Lady Soyo!"
It was a day Seol-yeong's sigh could bore through the earth.
In the middle of a bustling main street crowded with passersby, an old carriage came to a stop.
Inside, Yeo Il watched the lively scene for a moment, then called the young maid seated beside her.
"Chang-a."
"Yes, Young Lady."
Namgung Soyo's maid, Chang-a, looked up at Yeo Il awkwardly. Her face was tense in a way that felt excessive.
"Is that the shop said to have been selling tanghulu here for seventy years?"
"S-seventy years? I… I'm not sure."
"Well, what difference does it make whose tanghulu it is. Go buy three, and also gather the information we discussed earlier. You may eat one of them."
"Me too? Really? Thank you, Young Lady! I'll go right away!"
Yeo Il quietly watched the round back of Chang-a's head as she took the travel money and ran off, delighted.
For the past two days, Chang-a had cried nonstop, but starting this morning she had begun showing a slightly more composed demeanor. Perhaps because the Namgung Clan's main house was now close at hand, her face held many thoughts.
The moment Chang-a hurried away, a displeased voice came from the driver's seat.
"I still don't understand, noona."
"You mean, Young Lady."
At Yeo Il's correction, Seol-yeong's eyebrow twitched.
"Yes, yes—damned Young Lady Namgung Soyo…"
Yeo Il swallowed a laugh and replied.
"So the sulky one finally speaks. If you ask what you don't understand, I will listen."
Yeo Il had already finished preparing to return to the clan as Namgung Soyo.
She had changed into clothes appropriately faded for someone of reduced standing, let her long hair down neatly, and even created a fresh wound on her left arm to draw the Gaju's sympathy.
Lastly, she had arranged for the bodies of Namgung Soyo and her maids to be buried in a suitable place through Seol-yeong's sibling living near Cheonju Mountain.
With this much, she should be able to pass a few days without raising major suspicion.
So what was the problem?
"Why are you doing this to this extent?"
"Hmm."
So that was what he was taking issue with.
"N-no—Young Lady may be compassionate, but I know she isn't the sort to get tangled in something this big. You did bring up your benefactor's bequests, but over a single bequest you're going to steal some woman's identity—no, the identity of a daughter of the Namgung Clan. Does that make any sense? There are countless people in the world who've lost their parents!"
Perhaps afraid his words might leak, Seol-yeong leaned his face toward the carriage window and whispered in discontent.
Watching his posture, Yeo Il clicked her tongue briefly.
"Living as people do, there are days you set your heart and help someone unfortunate. Like you said, I am simply acting on compassion and stepping forward."
But the one in front of her wore a face that did not take her scolding to heart at all. Instead, he asked again with eyes that looked as if he had caught a good lead.
"You have another motive, don't you?"
"Of course not."
"Hah. How dangerous is this motive?"
"I said there isn't one."
"I'm not worried about your safety, Young Lady, but you never know what will happen. Tell me what motive you have. Then I can rest easier."
"I told you there isn't one."
In truth, there was.
Yes—because of the Killing Register said to exist in the Namgung Clan. But Yeo Il had no intention of telling Seol-yeong that.
Seol-yeong did not know that her past was tightly bound to Salmak.
Even if Salmak had suddenly vanished years ago, Seol-yeong's safety was already threatened enough simply by being connected to Yeo Il.
She did not want to give him any further leverage. It was her own way of consideration.
Just then, she spotted Chang-a running back energetically, so Yeo Il lightly waved her right hand, sending Seol-yeong back to the driver's seat.
Not great.
The tanghulu she tasted for the first time was just so-so.
Whether Chang-a had simply chosen a mediocre one, or tanghulu itself was originally nothing more than a vaguely sweet-and-sour snack, she did not know—but she doubted she would buy it again.
A bequest, and it's nothing more than sugar candy. That ill-natured, insane old man.
Either way, that took care of one important errand.
While feeding the remaining tanghulu to Chang-a and listening to the information she had gathered, the carriage suddenly came to a stop.
At this point, there was only one reason Seol-yeong would halt the carriage.
"We've arrived at the Namgung Clan."
"Ghk."
Just as Chang-a swallowed the hawthorn fruit she had been chewing, a man's voice sounded from outside the carriage.
"Who goes there?"
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