Chapter 158 – The Way I See You (1)

“So the escort Lord Wang mentioned was you…”

Gwan Seo-ye’s lips were sticking out in a way that suggested she found the whole thing far from satisfactory. I quickly understood why.

“He said he was assigning me a young, promising, and strong young hero, so I thought perhaps someone from a great family of the younger generation would be coming.”

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be the sort of person rattled by remarks like that. But you know how it is. Around family or close friends, people tend to speak with less thought than usual.

I was still a person, after all, and in front of someone who put me at ease, teasing came out almost automatically.

“Well, I accepted because they told me I’d be escorting a young lady as beautiful as an imperial princess.”

Naturally, Wang Song had never said anything of the kind. I was simply teasing her. But Gwan Seo-ye reacted at once.

“Really now. Have you even seen the Princess with your own eyes?”

“No. Have you?”

“I haven’t either. But my father has. Usually he says I’m the prettiest no matter what, but even he said the Princess was more beautiful.”

Gwan Seo-ye answered in a dejected voice. She really did have a satisfying way of reacting. That was one of the reasons I’d become close to her. She was someone who could take my mischievous jokes in stride.

Seeing a side of Gwan Seo-ye I recognized from the woman I once knew made me unexpectedly happy. She was less mature than the Gwan Seo-ye I knew, but the person herself was still the same.

“Well, that can happen. The Princess does carry the title First Flower of the Central Plains. But that’s not the important thing here.”

“You were the one who brought it up first!”

Gwan Seo-ye flared up. I lightly ignored her and continued.

“We need to reach a personal agreement.”

“What agreement?”

“I need some private time too. That means I can’t escort you all day long. So I’d like you to decide on fixed times for going out and coming back.”

“What? Then I won’t even get to see the night market and things like that?”

“Then give me some time during the daytime of the next day instead. No matter how energetic Lady Gwan may be, it’s not as though you’re going to go out sightseeing every single day for fifteen days straight.”

I had expected that this would end very smoothly. That was because I knew the sort of person Gwan Seo-ye was.

She was an introvert who absolutely needed her own private time and someone fundamentally unconcerned with other people’s affairs. If one borrowed her own phrasing, she respected other people’s time and opinions, or so she liked to say.

But Gwan Seo-ye reacted differently from what I had expected.

“No.”

“What?”

“I said no.”

“Why? You don’t want me glued to you all day either, do you? And it’s not as if you’d want to go out every day.”

“Actually, I do plan to go out every day. There’s so much to see in Beijing.”

This was not what I had expected. I felt as though confusion might spring up between the Gwan Seo-ye I knew and the Gwan Seo-ye in front of me now.

“Weren’t you rather introverted?”

“No. You’re not very good at reading people. And how much have you seen of me that you act like you’ve seen through me already?”

Gwan Seo-ye clicked her tongue irritably. That attitude was certainly familiar, but even so.

Since my return, I’d heard more than once that I was good at reading people, but this was the first time anyone had told me I was bad at it. If anything, it seemed my previous-life preconceptions were now interfering with how I judged her.

And if that was the case, I was supposed to erase the image of the Gwan Seo-ye I knew. But I didn’t want to erase it either.

“Phew. This is getting troublesome.”

“Don’t sigh.”

Well, what else could I do? The only option was to spend time together and adjust. I didn’t want to let this connection to Gwan Seo-ye slip away.

So I slightly changed strategies and began persuading her again. I explained that the reason I needed personal time was because I might meet a high-ranking demon at the Yunchang Merchant Company and thus needed to train my martial arts in preparation.

Once I put it that way, Gwan Seo-ye gave an embarrassed little cough. After all, she couldn’t exactly complain when I was saying I needed to train in order to help her family.

“Then you should have said that from the beginning.”

“I didn’t know Lady Gwan wanted to spend every day wandering around that badly.”

“Fine, then. I’ll set aside some time for you.”

As she said that, Gwan Seo-ye looked at me in a way that suggested she still had something left to say.

“If you’ve got something to say, say it.”

“If you discover a high-ranking demon… are you really going to fight them?”

“I might.”

“Why?”

“Why? Because naturally…”

I nearly said, because you’re my friend. But we weren’t close enough even to speak casually to each other yet, so calling her a friend would’ve been absurd.

Then how was I supposed to dress it up? While I was still thinking that over, Gwan Seo-ye opened her mouth.

“I just can’t understand it. This is the Yunchang Merchant Company’s problem. If it’s really a high-ranking demon, your life could be in danger. You don’t owe us enough to go that far.”

Every word she said was perfectly reasonable. This wasn’t merely her individualistic side surfacing either. I agreed too that risking one’s life for others was a foolish thing to do.

After thinking it over as much as I could, I crossed my arms and deliberately looked off toward the distant sky.

“Lady Gwan. I am a lay disciple of the Wudang Sect.”

“Why are you suddenly lowering your voice like that? It’s irritating.”

“You asked why I’d go that far for the Yunchang Merchant Company.”

“Yes.”

“Because eradicating demons is the natural duty of an orthodox martial artist. And offering one’s life for others is something a knight-errant should welcome.”

At that moment, the wind rose and sent my outer robe fluttering behind me. Even I thought it was a stylish moment. Gwan Seo-ye’s reaction, however, was exactly what I’d expected.

“…You really must be crazy.”

Fanning herself as her face flushed, Gwan Seo-ye muttered that. This, in its own way, was rather fun. Comparing the Gwan Seo-ye before my return with the Gwan Seo-ye standing before me now. This time, I had been right.

The Gwan Seo-ye I knew hated and was embarrassed by people laying it on thick and trying too hard to look cool more than anyone else. To borrow her own words, it made her die of secondhand embarrassment.

“By the way, why are you staying at Lord Wang’s house instead of the Yunchang Merchant Company’s lodgings?”

“The merchant company already left for Shanxi first.”

“Then you’re heading to Shanxi alone after fifteen days?”

“No. My father asked the Beijing Escort Bureau to provide company all the way to Shanxi.”

“Ah.”

“Now can we get going? I want to go see Beijing.”

Gwan Seo-ye sprang to her feet from the veranda. She seemed thoroughly restless with how much she wanted to go sightseeing in Beijing. For some reason, I found that rather endearing and let out a short laugh.

“All right. Where do you want to go first?”

“I’d like to see Shichahai first.”

“Sounds good.”

Shichahai. It got that name because there were ten temples nearby.

The name also referred collectively to the three adjacent lakes, West Sea, Front Sea, and Rear Sea, all of which were famous for their beautiful scenery. Since many people wanted to enjoy wine while taking in the lake views, the commerce around it had naturally flourished as well.

We borrowed horses from Wang Song’s house and rode to Shichahai. An ordinary young lady from a respectable household would have had no reason to learn how to ride, but Gwan Seo-ye was the one expected to inherit a merchant company, so naturally she rode well.

“The wind feels good.”

When we departed Hubei for Beijing, it had been early autumn. Now, whenever the wind stirred, red leaves came drifting down, which meant autumn had fully arrived.

“It does.”

Come to think of it, even in my previous life, despite having been close friends with Gwan Seo-ye for twenty years, we’d never actually gone anywhere together. At most, we’d shared a few drinks inside a merchant-company pavilion, and even that had usually been only for a day or two.

When we were young, both Gwan Seo-ye and I had lived so busily that even five bodies each wouldn’t have been enough, and once we grew older, we no longer had the stamina to meet that often. That was entirely separate from how close we were.

Filled with a strange feeling, I stole a glance at Gwan Seo-ye riding beside me.

Her clear forehead and pale skin, set off against that crisp green martial outfit, were beautiful. The Gwan Seo-ye I knew after thirty had been fine too, but youth really was best. She didn’t seem to be wearing much makeup, yet she shone anyway.

“What are you staring at?”

Gwan Seo-ye tilted her head and looked at me. Apparently I’d been staring too long.

“Nothing.”

When I shook my head, she smiled with obvious triumph.

“You thought I was pretty, didn’t you? Just admit it.”

“Youth really is best.” “And you call that honesty. You don’t exactly look old enough to be talking about who’s young and who’s not. Speaking of which, how old are you?”

“Same age as you.”

“And how exactly do you know how old I am?”

“You’re twenty-three.”

“Why do you know that? Did you investigate me?”

“I asked Lord Wang. He said we were about the same age.”

I lied with complete ease. It sounded plausible enough that Gwan Seo-ye couldn’t find anything more to complain about.

“Since we’re about the same age anyway, should we just drop the formal speech? There’s no need to act stiff just because you’re acting as an escort. Especially since you’re not really my personal escort.”

“Sure.”

“…Really now. That was awfully natural.”

The moment I dropped into casual speech, Gwan Seo-ye answered as if she couldn’t quite believe it. Still, she didn’t seem truly displeased. To begin with, Gwan Seo-ye was never a small-minded person. If she had been, she could never have laughed off so many of my teasing remarks in my previous life.

“Ah. I can see it now.”

“Didn’t you say we were dropping the formal speech?”

“…Right. I can see it now.”

Apparently she was still not used to speaking casually to me. Then again, merchants generally felt more comfortable using polite speech, so that was natural enough.

“Nice.”

Even I found myself staring blankly for a moment at how beautiful Shichahai was. Out on the water already, several small boats were drifting with people aboard enjoying the view.

“It is.”

We tied the horses briefly to a post nearby and walked along the lakeshore.

The atmosphere around Shichahai was a strange one. During the day, because of all the temples nearby, it tended to feel quiet and solemn. At night, once the wineshops opened, it became bustling and noisy. The space where those two opposite sensations lingered at once had a charm that truly seized people.

And because we were there just at the moment between day and evening, we could feel both at once.

Some wineshop owners who moved quickly had already lifted their bead curtains, while the men who rented boats were already loudly soliciting customers. And at the same time, now and then, the sound of temple wooden fish could be heard in the distance. It was all rather fascinating.

Gwan Seo-ye cast an envious look at a boat where the sound of a zither drifted over the water, then abruptly turned her head toward me.

“Should we take a boat too?”

“And what if someone steals the horses?”

“Wouldn’t you just chase after them with treading on duckweed and crossing water?”

“I’d have to swim.”

My answer seemed to amuse her, because Gwan Seo-ye burst into laughter. Once she’d finished laughing, she wiped the corner of her eye and looked around.

“There has to be a stable nearby where we can leave the horses. A place like this couldn’t possibly not have one.”

“That’s true.”

“Let’s go find it.”

Just as she said, there was a stable nearby. We paid to leave the horses there and then went to the place where boats were being rented.

Perhaps because the sun hadn’t fully gone down yet, there were quite a few boats still available at the dock. They ranged from small skiffs to enormous sightseeing vessels that looked as though they could hold three hundred people.

“Which one do you want?”

I asked Gwan Seo-ye. The Gwan Seo-ye I knew would have chosen the tiny skiff. She was the sort of person who didn’t especially enjoy brushing shoulders with strangers.

But the Gwan Seo-ye before me now was not that woman.

“Wouldn’t a bigger boat be more fun?”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Drinking a bit with strangers, listening to music, that sort of thing.”

A Gwan Seo-ye who liked mingling with other people. It still felt strange to me, but I had no right to deny who she was now.

“All right. Let’s do that.”

The boatman, who had clearly been listening to our conversation, sidled over with a smile.

“If you enjoy mixing with people, then we have the Hwasun. It’s the biggest boat here.”

“Does it hold around three hundred people?”

“Sharp eyes you’ve got. That’s right.”

The man nodded at my words. Gwan Seo-ye tilted her head while looking at the vessel called the Hwasun, then opened her mouth.

“That might be a little too big. Do you have something that holds maybe a few dozen people?”

“Ah, then there’s the Hanshin. It holds about thirty. It comes with wine, food, and musicians all prepared, so you don’t need to arrange anything yourselves. The entrance fee is rather expensive, though. It’s the most expensive vessel we rent out. That’s why the children of high-ranking houses like it so much.”

The boatman’s eyes shone. He was clearly excited at the thought of selling us the most expensive ticket.

Without even asking the price, Gwan Seo-ye simply nodded.

“Then let’s take that one. When does it leave?”

“At the opening of the Hour of the Rooster. If you board around then, you can watch the sunset from the boat.”

“That’s soon.”

“Yes. Boarding is now, in fact. You really came at just the perfect time. The Hanshin has the finest facilities among all our vessels…”

The boatman seemed about to launch into a sales speech, but Gwan Seo-ye immediately silenced him by taking out silver.

“How much?”

“Ten silver taels per person.”

“That’s expensive.”

“Not that expensive.”

At my murmur, Gwan Seo-ye clicked her tongue at me and promptly handed over twenty silver taels. The boatman counted the silver at great speed, then nodded.

“Board over there to the side. Enjoy your time!”

Leaving the boatman, who had nearly folded himself in half at the waist, behind us, we boarded the Hanshin.

And the moment I stepped aboard, I realized we’d chosen the wrong boat.

“Oh? Lady Gwan?”

It was Jin Su-gwan from the Merchant Union Council. Naturally, because they came from the same Shanxi Four Families, Gwan Seo-ye and Jin Su-gwan already knew one another by sight.

“Young Master Jin. So you were here.”

“Hahaha. What a coincidence!”

Jin Su-gwan didn’t so much as glance in my direction and instead extended his hand toward Gwan Seo-ye.

At that moment, from behind Jin Su-gwan, a broad-shouldered man who looked like a bandit walked over.

“And who is this lovely young lady?”

“Ah, Brother Peng, let me introduce you. She’s the heir of the Yunchang Merchant Company, another member of the Shanxi Four Families just like us.”

“Oh ho.”

The man called Brother Peng slowly looked Gwan Seo-ye up and down. The way his gaze moved was arrogant and disgusting enough to repulse even me.

“A pleasure. I am Peng Jin-yeong of the Hebei Peng Clan. I hear this is how merchants greet each other these days?”

Peng Jin-yeong abruptly stuck out his hand. Gwan Seo-ye had clearly felt the same revulsion at his earlier gaze and seemed reluctant, but she probably felt she couldn’t simply ignore a hand already extended first, so she clasped it despite herself.

“I’m Gwan Seo-ye of the Yunchang Merchant Company.”

“Lady Gwan, you’re very beautiful. Today’s meeting doesn’t feel like mere coincidence to me at all.”

“…What?”

Peng Jin-yeong stared at the startled Gwan Seo-ye with burning eyes. What overflowed from that gaze was unmistakable lust, something that any man would recognize at once.

“Um, could you let go of my hand…”

“Heh heh. It’s so soft that I’d like to keep holding it.”

Peng Jin-yeong’s flirtation only continued. Jin Su-gwan, standing beside him, merely kept smiling. Then again, even if he was the son of the Qin-Jin Merchant Company, it would have been difficult for him to say anything against someone from the Hebei Peng Clan.

I got thoroughly annoyed and swiftly struck the back of Peng Jin-yeong’s hand.

“Ow!”

Caught completely off guard by the sudden blow, Peng Jin-yeong jumped and clutched his hand.

“Don’t lay hands on my lady.”

“…Heh. Heh heh.”

Peng Jin-yeong let out a laugh of disbelief. It was written all over his face that he had never once imagined he might be treated like this.

“You’re insane.” The disbelief in his eyes was quickly flooded with anger and killing intent.