WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

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◈ Raised by a Ruthless Swordsman ◈

Chapter 38: Half True, Half False

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“Rest easy. As soon as word reaches us from Yeongpa, I will let you know without delay.”

I thanked Chae Wol and turned away.

Chae Ryeon stepped closer at just the right moment. A sweet plum-blossom fragrance drifted from her.

“I’ll show you the way. This way, please.”

With a graceful bow, Chae Ryeon led on.

Her figure as she walked ahead was lovely indeed. Her slender waist swayed lightly with each step, and the hair spilling over her narrow shoulders gleamed in the lantern light. Her skirts rustled around her ankles with each step, suiting her well.

She truly was beautiful. Even after living like a beast in the mountains for ten years, it seemed I still had eyes enough to recognize that.

We went down one flight of stairs after another.

We crossed a noisy corridor filled with laughter and music spilling from the rooms, then descended another staircase and left the main building. At once, the sounds seemed far behind us.

Turning inward with the main building at our backs, we found a narrow path running along the water. Hidden beneath the building’s shadow, it would have been difficult to see from outside.

The lantern light did not reach this far. Dry reeds stood as high as a person along one side of the path, rustling softly, while cold air drifted over from the black water beyond them.

As I watched Chae Ryeon’s back ahead of me, the face she had worn at the drinking table kept returning to mind. The face that had complained of her misfortunes in a nasal voice, pouting her lips as she called me heartless.

In the end, I could not help saying something.

“Where did you learn that skill of yours? You can shake someone’s heart so completely.”

Chae Ryeon stopped and turned around.

“Oh my, is that a compliment?”

Her eyes widened, then mischief quickly touched her lips.

“I only did what I always do.”

Then she tilted her head and stepped closer.

“But it seems you were shaken a little too, Young Master.”

“…That’s not what I meant.”

“Weren’t you?”

Chae Ryeon narrowed her eyes. They curved into crescents, as though she knew everything.

“When I was talking about Shaoxing, the corners of your eyes turned red for a moment.”

That struck home. It seemed she had noticed how sorry I had felt for her while listening to that tale.

“That was only because your story was so pitiful…”

“Oh my.”

Chae Ryeon covered her mouth and laughed brightly.

“That only means you are easier to shake. The softer a person’s heart is, the more dangerous this world becomes for them.”

Perhaps she was pleased with how thoroughly she had teased me, because her laughter would not fade. I was clearly the one who had been caught out, yet somehow, looking at her smiling face made me lose the will to argue.

Everyone in this household had a talent for rolling people around in their palms. Chae Ryeon’s eyes seemed to study my face for a moment, then she smiled and turned to walk again.

After we followed the reed-lined path for some time, a long wall emerged from the darkness ahead.

Beyond the wall, which stood taller than a person, several roofs sat shoulder to shoulder within the enclosure.

The place was larger than I had expected. Separate from the pavilion that received guests, it seemed quite a few members of the household lived and ate here.

Two men stood guard before the tightly closed gate.

They looked nothing like the gatekeepers at the main building. Their clothes were not neatly starched, nor was their hair carefully combed back.

They wore dark cotton clothes carelessly, and one had a long scar carved into his forearm. The other had the unmistakable look of someone hardened by the streets. Crude single-edged sabres hung at both their waists.

Yet when Chae Ryeon approached, both men bowed in unison.

“You have returned.”

I had thought she was merely a girl who handled drink and music. Yet scarred, fierce-looking men bowed before her.

So this was Haomun. It was stranger than I had imagined.

Acknowledging their greeting, Chae Ryeon spoke lightly.

“We have a guest, so take a good look at him.”

“Yes.”

The men gave short replies and moved aside. Their practiced responses and Chae Ryeon’s practiced manner of giving orders made it seem this was no day-or-two affair.

I followed Chae Ryeon through the gate.

The compound was more spacious than it had appeared. Several buildings surrounded a courtyard, though most were dark with their lights out.

Only one large building at the very back, facing the courtyard, was brightly lit. Its eaves and pillars had been carefully crafted, setting it apart from the surrounding buildings.

Was that where Chae Wol lived?

Chae Ryeon passed the large building and led me toward a detached house standing apart at one edge of the courtyard. It lay some distance from the large building.

She stepped inside, opened a room at the far end, and invited me in. It was a simple but tidy room, furnished with bedding and an oil lamp.

“You may stay here. There is an attendant in the next room, so call whenever you need anything.”

After explaining everything so sweetly, she quietly looked at me. I stared back, wondering whether she had more to say, but her gaze lingered strangely long.

Only then did Chae Ryeon purse her lips in mock disappointment.

“After I have attended to you so devotedly, you still will not give me your affection.”

Good grief.

Instead of answering, I waved my hand dismissively. I had no intention of falling for another one of her tricks. At my indifferent expression, Chae Ryeon laughed.

“You’re not falling for it.”

She started to turn away, then suddenly stopped. With a bright smile, she added one more thing.

“About that story from earlier.”

“…Which story?”

“It wasn’t all a lie.”

Leaving only those words behind, she bowed before I could ask anything further.

“Rest well, then.”

I watched blankly as she turned away, her skirts rustling softly. Her pale pink hem slipped quietly into the darkness.

Really.

I stopped trying to figure her out and was about to enter the room.

Ah.

Only then did I realize Hyeonam’s sword was still at the inn. I would be staying here for several more days, so how had I only now remembered that my waist was empty?

That was unlike me. I blamed that girl for constantly scattering my thoughts, though she had done nothing to deserve it.

I turned back toward the street and left through the gate.

* * *

Chae Wol sat before the table without speaking for some time.

The faint smile that had rested on her lips while facing the guest had vanished the instant the door closed. All that remained was her subdued gaze and the calculations constantly turning behind it.

She turned her head toward the open window. Dotted lights floated over the water below. The night was already past its busiest hour, and those lights were going out one by one.

Her gaze returned to the table. The bundle the man had left behind sat there alone, still wrapped in silk.

She reached out and lifted one corner of the silk. It was stained dark and damp at the edges, but she could still make out the raised dragon and phoenix pattern beneath it.

Her fingertips lightly traced the design.

Rumors that Nangong was involved in the private tea trade had circulated for some time. But she had never imagined it would involve Dragon-Phoenix Cake Tea.

To steal tea meant for the imperial court from its place of origin, transport it while avoiding the authorities, and find someone to distribute it. That was not a scheme a single great clan in Anhui could manage alone.

Someone must be backing them. Someone capable of carrying a scheme of this scale with them.

Having reasoned that far, she set aside the thought of probing deeper. All she held was a single cake of tea. If she built too great a picture too hastily, she might stumble where she could not see.

First, she needed to present this to the sect leader. She wrapped the silk again and tucked the bundle deep inside her robes.

Then another face naturally rose in her mind.

The skill with which he had received and deflected Wi Jin-ak’s sword, and the eyes that never stopped calculating even with a blade held to him. For someone who claimed to have just come down from the mountains, there was nothing easy about him.

“Great Hero Wi.”

At her call, Wi Jin-ak, who had been standing silently by the window, turned to look at her.

“That man’s sword was truly from Wudang?”

Wi Jin-ak slowly nodded.

“It was the Neutralizing Force. The Sword Path that received and diverted my attacks was unmistakably Wudang’s.”

Wi Jin-ak turned from the window and took several steps toward the table. In the lantern light, the scar crossing Wi Jin-ak’s brow appeared deeply cut.

“He endured that much against you, Great Hero Wi. He must be quite skilled.”

“It was more than endurance.”

Wi Jin-ak stopped beside the table.

“Throughout the fight, he seemed to be one move short and was pushed back. But in the end, he bound deflection and cutting into a single breath. If he had not been using such a cheap sword, it would have been more than enough to reach my throat. And…”

The surprise in Wi Jin-ak’s eyes had not yet faded. It was slightly startling to see such a look from someone who was rarely shaken.

What was Wi Jin-ak about to say?

Wi Jin-ak soon spoke again.

“That final move carried Inner Energy.”

For a moment, Chae Wol could not speak.

How common were those who had cultivated Inner Energy? It was granted only to a handful, even within the inner halls of famous martial sects or great clans that had passed martial arts down through generations.

She had thought his final move had suddenly grown faster. To think he knew how to use Inner Energy.

According to Yun Baek, that man had been imprisoned by an elder for ten years and trained in the sword.

Did that mean he had learned Wudang’s sword and gained even the Inner Energy that was so difficult to attain? It would be difficult for anyone without connections to Wudang to engrave all of that into a single person.

If that was what the man possessed…

She would be lying if she said she did not want him. Swordsmanship, Inner Energy, and a mind that could read the board even under a blade. In the disorder of Hangzhou, someone like that was not a piece one found lying around everywhere.

If she could keep him at her side.

Just as that thought reached her, a familiar voice came from beyond the door.

“Mother. It’s Chae Ryeon.”

“Come in.”

The door opened, and Chae Ryeon entered. She bowed gracefully to Chae Wol, then offered another respectful greeting to Wi Jin-ak beside her.

“Has the guest settled into the annex safely?”

“Yes. I told him to rest well.”

“You have done well. Sit.”

Chae Ryeon sat gracefully and drew over the cooling teapot to fill a cup.

The way she poured the tea was neat and unhurried. The way she held the cup, the way she sat with her knees demurely together. Each time Chae Wol saw her, she found the girl’s bearing pleasing.

Suddenly, she remembered the day she had first seen this child.

That day, too, she had gone to a port on other business. On her way back after finishing her work, she met the eyes of children bound together and being dragged aboard a boat by a slave broker.

It was an ordinary sight, and saving them all would have no end. She had intended to pass by as though it were none of her concern.

But among them, one child in particular stopped her in her tracks. The child was covered in grime, with bruises in several places, yet the light in those eyes had not gone out.

For some reason, those eyes had seemed familiar, as though she had seen them somewhere long ago.

She had not set out intending to take anyone in. Yet before she knew it, she had called the slave broker over, paid the price, and brought the child to this household. She had raised her with her own hands ever since.

And now, that child had grown into such a beautiful young woman.

After filling the cups, Chae Ryeon set down the pot and lifted her head.

Her eyes were so clear. Chae Wol put aside her memories and spoke.

“On the way there, did he ask questions or seem to inspect anything?”

“He did look over the annex and its surroundings once. But he did not press for information.”

Every swordsman Chae Wol had seen was highly cautious. It was hardly unusual for someone to first look for a way out when entering a place to stay.

“And the attendants in the annex?”

“I gave them strict instructions. They are to record his comings and goings and anything he asks for, without leaving anything out, and submit their reports.”

“Well done. We cannot simply let what we heard today sit.”

Chae Wol pushed her teacup aside, then recounted what she had heard that day to Chae Ryeon as she calculated.

“According to our guest, that protection convoy changed routes once in Hangzhou. There were people dressed as porters whose faces he recognized. They must have escaped by posing as a merchant caravan.”

“Then the whereabouts of that cart…”

“Yes. Find out first whether a group dressed as porters but moving like martial artists recently traveled from Hangzhou toward Yeongpa. Learn what cargo they carried and who arranged their route.”

Chae Ryeon nodded quietly and committed the instructions to memory.

“And send word to the Alliance’s Hangzhou branch as well. This is not something we should hold alone.”

“Yes. I’ll send someone to the branch at daybreak.”

But it would not be as easy as it sounded. Unless they were fools, they would have added or removed people in Hangzhou. There was no guarantee that all the cargo had been loaded onto one cart, either. If so, the net meant to catch them would suddenly become far looser.

Already, Chae Wol’s head began to ache. Perhaps noticing this, Chae Ryeon gently changed the subject.

She chatted about the weather turning sharply colder and the color of silk she had recently chosen. Her ordinary little stories felt like a hand warming the weighty atmosphere.

The child was clever and quick-witted, with a gift for understanding people’s hearts. As Chae Wol listened to her chatter, the ache in her head gradually eased.

Before long, the teacups were empty and the night had grown late. Chae Wol was about to set down her cup and send the tired girl away when something suddenly caught her attention.

“By the way. Nothing happened at the drinking table, did it?”

Some men became rough with their hands and mouths after several cups of liquor. In this line of work, it was not rare for guests to treat a girl pouring their drinks carelessly.

Though the question was indirect, Chae Ryeon understood what her mother meant.

“He drank quietly and was never improper even once. If anything, no matter what I offered, he wouldn’t fall for it at all. I had a rather difficult time.”

That answer put Chae Wol at ease.

“Good. That is fortunate. It is late, so go and…”

She had been about to tell her to rest when something she saw made the words vanish in her throat.

Chae Ryeon’s face looked strange. Her eyes seemed to be searching somewhere far from here, while the corners of her lips had risen slightly without her noticing.

Surely not.

A chill ran through one corner of Chae Wol’s heart. Yet Chae Ryeon, unaware of why her mother had stopped speaking, merely waited with clear eyes for the next words. She alone seemed not to know what had appeared on her own face.

What should Chae Wol ask? The words rose to her lips, then she swallowed them.

For now, it was no more than a suspicion. If she stirred it up for no reason, she might instead kindle feelings that had not existed before.

“…Never mind. Go rest. It is late.”

Chae Ryeon tilted her head briefly, then rose gracefully and bowed.

“Yes. You should rest well too, Mother.”

Chae Ryeon then greeted Wi Jin-ak as well before leaving the room. Chae Wol listened quietly to the footsteps fading beyond the closed door.

The child had been born intelligent. No one in this household could match her at soothing and reading people’s hearts. Had she been born into a good family, she could have lived without envy as the mistress of a household.

But she had entered this world. No matter how beautiful and clever she was, even as a chaste courtesan, once her name was entered in the courtesan register, the best she could hope for was to become someone’s concubine.

Even then, Chae Wol hoped a decent family would take her in. That they would remove her from this chaotic world, and that she would grow old in peace within some quiet inner household.

Though Chae Wol kept her close to entrust her with the branch’s affairs, part of her heart had always wished for that.

And yet, of all people.

He was a man standing beneath rain pouring down from every direction, without even the shelter of an umbrella. Nangong would surely gnash their teeth and pursue him, while Wudang might cast its shadow over him at any moment.

He was like a lamp that could be extinguished by a single gust. Of all places, why had her heart turned toward someone like that?

She stared quietly at the cold teacup. No matter how long she sat there, the unease in one corner of her heart would not settle.

“Is there something troubling you?”

Wi Jin-ak, who had remained silent all this time, finally spoke.

Chae Wol raised her head and looked at Wi Jin-ak. Meeting that steady face eased the tension she had been holding inside.

“That guest. He will be staying in the annex for several days, correct?”

“That is so.”

“Great Hero Wi, I would like you to keep an eye on him from nearby. You are staying beneath the same roof, so it should not be difficult. I ask this of you.”

Wi Jin-ak looked at Chae Wol for a moment, then nodded without asking more.

“I will do so.”

Those ordinary, steady words somehow made Chae Wol feel a little relieved.

* * *

After retrieving my sword and strapping it across my back, I retraced my steps.

The path by the water was quiet, without a soul in sight. Reeds taller than a person rustled in the wind, while the black lake beyond them rippled, breaking the lantern lights along the shore into fragments.

Music drifting from the main building in the distance came and went in broken pieces among the sound of the reeds.

If this had been seawater by the shore, it would have slapped and crashed without rest, loudly making its presence known even at night. But this water lay quietly in the darkness, holding only the lights.

Lost in such thoughts, I walked for some time until the annex compound came into view.

As I approached its gate, I saw the same two men from before still standing guard. Even without Chae Ryeon beside me, they bowed respectfully and moved aside.

I entered through the gate and crossed the dark courtyard. The large building at the back was still brightly lit, perhaps because no one had gone to bed yet, while all the others lay sunk in darkness. I was just heading toward the detached house when a steady voice stopped me from behind.

“Out for a stroll at such a late hour, are you?”

Following the voice, I turned to see Wi Jin-ak slowly emerging from the shadow beneath an eave.

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