Lady of YeonSung 14 (The Storm) part 2
The fire wasn’t large.
However, there was a faint scent of oil.
Garan threw a piece of burnt fabric onto the floor. While the blaze itself had been short and fierce, it barely did any harm to its surroundings. It only produced a great amount of smoke. The reason for this was discovered shortly. It was because it had been lit with oil.
Dan SoYeon…
Garan groaned out her name in his heart.
Did she do this? Was she still looking for the Heukra? Why? Why here in this house?
When his secret room had been burned down, the bamboo shards and the textbook on magic had disappeared with it. Was it her doing? He suddenly recalled what SoYeon had mumbled as she examined the bamboo shards.
“I can’t tell if this is Woon or Seol.”
Woon or Seol.
Garan turned around and looked at his brother-in-law. His name was Seol Joon. His family originated from the northern province. The one who had been with Muyeo when they were about to be attacked by the Heukra. Why didn’t he realize this sooner?
“Duke HyoEun.”
At his call, his brother-in-law’s bright face turned around to look at him.
“Yes, Your Highness?”
“I believe you have something to tell me.”
“Excuse me?”
His eyes blinked innocently just like Muyeo’s. Had he been tricked by those eyes? In actuality, this man was incredibly meticulous and precise.
This was a man who had persuaded the empress to give Muyeo to him as his wife. This man had given his whole body and heart to his woman for the past four years.
He pretended not to know anything, but his deepest thoughts were impossible to see. In this case, Duke HyoEun was a man who was equal to Garan.
“Why was there a fire? Here and back at CheongRyu Hall?”
“That is…”
“Tell me. I’m on your side, am I not?”
At these words, Duke HyoEun’s expression became even more awkward.
“I understand. Please wait a moment.”
He sent away the servants. Then he took Garan to the wall on the other side of the room.
“Actually, my house carries a lot of secrets.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“It has a lot of basements and secret passageways.”
“How extraordinary.”
Garan replied lightheartedly, but he was actually about to lose his mind with rage. This had something to do with Muyeo. Why didn’t anyone tell him?
“Because it’s something that would bring harm to Your Highness and the princess…”
“Tell me why you’re working hand in hand with the Heukra before I snap your neck.”
“Your Highness, it’s not the Heukra.”
Duke HyoEun’s face grew pale.
“Not the Heukra?”
“That is…”
Garan had never seen him so distressed before. He grabbed his throat. Finally, Duke HyoEun barely managed to get the words out of his mouth.
“It’s Her Highness the Guibin, Your Highness.”
The guibin?
Garan glared at Duke HyoEun in disbelief. What bullshit was this? What did this have to do with his dead mother?
Suddenly, Garan froze. He lowered his hand and whispered in a strained voice.
“Are you telling me… that my mother is alive?”
Seol Joon nodded.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
A chilly breeze blew in the narrow passageway. The darkness was thick like ink. How could they keep someone in a place like this?
Garan grit his teeth as he followed his brother-in-law. The passageway was narrow and it was filled with the smell of smoke. Judging from all the other passageways connected to this one, it seemed that there were many exits one could use to escape this building.
They finally reached a small staircase and began to descend. They made their way towards the main room. When Garan saw the door, his heart began to race inside his chest. His mother! His mother was alive!
Even though this fact would cause a lot of problems for him in the future, he was still incredibly happy. The happiness was a hundred, no, a thousand times greater than any hardship that came his way. He missed her. He had never expressed this sentiment, and at times, he had even hated her with a passion, but he always missed her.
The door finally opened. Duke HyoEun and Garan entered the dimly lit room. Suddenly, Duke HyoEun gasped in bewilderment. The curtained bed, the meal set up on the table, or the flickering light of the lantern… None of it was there.
The room was empty.
The person who had been living there was nowhere to be seen.
Garan couldn’t even see the shadow of the person he had been hoping to see. Garan’s fierce eyes gazed at Duke HyoEun’s shocked face before looking around the room. His eyes traveled to the ceiling. The circular hole in the ceiling was definitely the hole of a bamboo tree.
The carriage door opened as quick as lightning. Yujo was already sitting inside. As if expecting this rude interruption, Yujo looked at the man who had opened the door with an indifferent expression. Outside, she could hear the various servants calling out to him like chirping birds.
“What did you do?”
His voice was as cold as ice.
Yujo looked back at him with a chilly expression and asked back.
“What do you mean…?”
“I know you did this.”
“Your Highness, this is not proper.”
“Tell me!”
Yujo didn’t move a muscle. If he had a sword in hand, he would have stabbed her with it by now. But even if he did this, would he be able to find the guibin who had vanished?
“You…”
His eyes were bloodshot. It strangely looked like the man was holding back his tears. Yujo was frozen in her seat as she looked into his eyes.
“How can you do this to me?”
He whispered.
“If you knew me at all, how could you do this?”
Your Highness! You mustn’t do this! The eunuchs continued to cry out. Yujo grit her teeth. She needed to look at him in confusion. As if she didn’t know what he was talking about. Think about Brother. If she grew weak in front of this man, that meant that she would be throwing away Brother Yuha. She would be throwing away Yeha!
Her clenched hands began to hurt. Yujo didn’t say a word. She couldn’t move, and she had to endure it in silence. She couldn’t even let him hear her breathe. In the end, she had thrust a blade into the Red King’s heart. Aah, she should have just killed him with that arrow…
If only that were the case… Then you and I wouldn’t have to look at each other like this.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I don’t know what you mean.”
He didn’t say anything in reply. He merely glared at her. She sat in the darkness of the carriage with the red curtains drawn.
She was still beautiful. And he hated her more than anything.
“I’m going to kill you.”
He whispered.
“If you hurt her, I’ll kill you. No matter what.”
Yujo’s red lips smiled crookedly. She thought it was an amazing revenge. If she could only save Brother Yuha and Yeha, she would pay the price for her sins by dying by his hand.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
She answered curtly and turned her head away.
Some things couldn’t be helped.
Bang! The door closed. The uproar outside began to fade away. The carriage began to move once again, and this time, Yujo didn’t cry. She had no right to cry. Blood began to pool in the palms of her hands.
“What happened?”
Yujo asked the beautiful woman who was taking off her black veiled hat.
Jewol turned his head and looked at her. This man who had always been praised for his looks transformed into an enchanting beauty whenever he disguised himself as a woman. With his inky black eyes and red lips, he was a peerless beauty who sucked out the souls of men.
Human beauty is only skin deep.
Yujo laughed inside. Did he hide the nastiness underneath such beauty?
“I took her to the Misan Temple in the Haemo Mountains. But…”
He frowned.
“Her body was too weak. The effects of the poison caused her to lose her memory, and she isn’t able to speak.”
“All right.”
Yujo didn’t want to hear any more. Now was not the time to be shaken by human emotions. The important thing now was to move forward one step at a time.
“We must never hand her over to the Crown Prince.”
“Do you think we can fool his eyes?”
“We must.”
They needed to fool him. For now, they needed to assure him that they had the guibin. While he wasn’t a careless man, he had been searching for the guibin for a long time.
“What about the seal?”
“I have no idea. She’s not in her right mind, and she can’t speak either, so…”
Jewol seemed to be at a loss.
“We must find the three-legged crow’s seal.”
They needed to find the three-legged crow’s seal in order to make a deal for Brother Yeha’s return.
“Do you think we can make a fake?”
“No. The Crown Prince already has the nine families’ seals in his possession. He’ll know we were lying once he places them all together.”
“The deal was to find the guibin. That was it.”
“So? Do you really think he’ll hand Yeha back over to us once we give him the guibin? Don’t you know how he is?”
“If only we knew what it looked like!”
Yujo spoke as she ground her teeth. They didn’t know what it could look like at all. All they knew was that it had the pattern of Paran on it.
Yujo lowered her head and held it in her hands. The guibin would have kept it near her at all times. In a place where she could keep her eyes on it.
“The guibin’s waistband.”
Yujo whispered as she looked at Jewol.
“Don’t you have the guibin’s waistband?”
“Yeah.”
Jewol hurried over to a box and took it out. He held it up to her, and Yujo quickly took it. She carefully observed it. She checked to see if there was anything pinned to it. However, there was nothing suspicious about it.
“Where did you get this waistband?”
Jewol looked at her awkwardly.
“Actually, I stole it from her grave.”
“What? Why did you do that?”
“Didn’t you say that we need to lure the prey out of its den? This is the same thing. I shocked the Nine Families into moving the guibin.”
Yujo gave Jewol a dumbfounded look before shaking her head.
“But something’s strange.”
“What is?”
“Don’t women’s waistbands have sapphires on them?”
“Yeah.”
A waistband couldn’t freely carry any design or jewels as its owner pleased.
“But there are rubies on this one.”
Jewol took a look at the guibin’s waistband. She was right. There were rubies on it. And they were of incredibly good quality…
Jewol’s face began to stiffen, but Yujo didn’t notice. She observed the waistband for a little while longer.
“For now, please take good care of the guibin.”
In the end, she took his mother away.
Yujo’s hand tightened on the waistband. I’m sorry. She couldn’t even say those words. She tightly closed her eyes. A cold gust of wind rattled the windows.