Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 173 - Give Me Wings (3)
Chapter 173 – Give Me Wings (3)
Peng Chae-hyang absently fidgeted with her hand until Muk Hui-yeong left, right up until Black Elder told her to stop touching it before the wound reopened.
“Black Elder.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe men as a species aren’t wolves the way you and White Elder said they were.”
“What are you saying!”
Black Elder and White Elder both jumped. Looking at them, Peng Chae-hyang gave a bitter smile.
“I know. I know you and White Elder took care of me because you felt sorry for me. That is why you tried to protect me even more than necessary.”
“W-what are you saying? Us pitying you, Miss? That is absurd.”
“No. That is why I am so grateful to both of you. Sometimes I wonder whether I could have grown up like this at all without the concern and affection you gave me. Of course, the me I am now might still not be enough in your eyes, but…”
“That is nonsense! Miss has always been our pride.”
Black Elder and White Elder raised their voices. Watching them, Peng Chae-hyang smiled softly.
“Thank you.”
Peng Chae-hyang continued.
“I am proud to be your pride too. So from now on, I want to make you even prouder.”
Black Elder and White Elder lowered their heads. Right now Peng Chae-hyang was trying to shed her shell. Even if that wretched Muk Hui-yeong had opened the way for it, they could not deny him that credit.
“From now on, I am going to look at the world through my own eyes. Of course, my eyes are the ones you two gave me. Even so, I am going to try to look without prejudice or preconceptions as much as I can.”
“That is only right. We always wish to protect you, Miss, but the years we have left are far fewer than yours.”
“Do not say something so sad. They say there is no order to who goes first.”
“Is that not even sadder, Miss?”
Peng Chae-hyang laughed brightly. Black Elder and White Elder looked at her with complicated feelings. She was not their real daughter, but they had raised her as though she were. Seeing a daughter grow was joyful beyond measure, yet it also felt as though she were slipping farther away. That was why a child’s growth was such a strange thing.
“First, I should try getting a little more used to dealing with men. Half the world is men anyway, so is it not a bit much to find them all so unfamiliar?”
“No, even so, all men must be treated with caution…”
Black Elder and White Elder muttered. They could not even imagine Peng Chae-hyang becoming someone’s woman. Just thinking about it made their hearts feel as if they would tear apart.
Black Elder and White Elder met each other’s eyes. Each knew what the other felt. With only their eyes, they came to an agreement. They would stop talking.
At present, Peng Chae-hyang was leaving their embrace and feeling her way forward down a road of her own. If she fell, they could help her back up, but they could not interfere with the very act of her walking.
“But, Miss.”
“Hm?”
“Do you really like that fellow?”
The question came straight at her with no attempt at a detour and drove deep into Peng Chae-hyang’s chest.
In truth, Peng Chae-hyang had been the only person who caught Muk Hui-yeong’s intentions from the very start. Because Muk Hui-yeong had never once looked at her with lust in his eyes.
Peng Chae-hyang was a first-rate martial artist herself. Naturally, she could sense the gazes directed at her, and even where those gazes were headed. Whenever Muk Hui-yeong spoke while looking at her, he only met her eyes and never looked anywhere else at all.
So even when Muk Hui-yeong abruptly said he would take her along, she had not misunderstood it in that way. She had naturally assumed that was not what he meant, and even so, the thought had still crossed her mind and made her face flush.
Muk Hui-yeong adding an explanation because it might sound misleading and her father misunderstanding it had both been unnecessary. That was why, when she waved her hand, she had intended to say that Muk Hui-yeong meant no such thing. But she bit her tongue in her fluster, so she could not do that.
At the time, biting her tongue had felt embarrassing because she thought she had made a mistake. But now that she thought about it, it had been a good thing.
Because it had let her see just how far Muk Hui-yeong would step forward for her sake. How many people in the martial world today could speak like that to the current head of the Hebei Peng Clan, one of the Three Great Sabers Under Heaven?
So after hearing that, she had impulsively left some room in her reply. That she thought he was a good person. Because she felt that if she did not say at least that much right then, she would regret it.
In the end, that was how the journey through the martial world had been decided, so from Peng Chae-hyang’s standpoint as well, it had been a good choice.
“…I still do not know.”
After a long silence, Peng Chae-hyang answered honestly. That was what she truly felt right now.
Because of Black Elder and White Elder’s influence, she had hardly mixed even with the male rising stars of other great families. She simply lacked the experience to judge whether she liked someone of the opposite sex or not.
But seeing that look in Peng Chae-hyang’s eyes, Black Elder and White Elder felt a vague unease and quickly added more.
“That fellow will not do.”
“…Why?”
Drawing in her chin, Peng Chae-hyang looked up at them. Black Elder and White Elder found that sight adorable and wanted to hug her on the spot, but the thought of this Peng Chae-hyang going off with that Muk brat was enough to make their insides burst.
“He said he was a merchant. Normally, a martial artist ought to meet another martial artist. You know what kind of treatment merchants receive in the Central Plains, do you not?”
“Black Elder, White Elder. You even weighed things like that?”
“In any case, not right now. No one!”
Black Elder and White Elder raised their voices together once more. Peng Chae-hyang laughed because the sight was somehow funny.
“Do not laugh! We are serious!”
Black Elder and White Elder shouted, but Peng Chae-hyang only laughed harder.
After laughing her fill, Peng Chae-hyang went to Iron Origin Hall in high spirits and packed her belongings. Because of Black Elder and White Elder’s worries, even at the age of twenty-one she could count on one hand the number of times she had ever left Hebei. If she followed Muk Hui-yeong around, she would leave Hebei too. For some reason, that made her excited.
By the time she finished packing, evening had fallen. As usual, Peng Chae-hyang was about to eat together with Black Elder and White Elder.
But to her surprise, someone came from the Clan Head Hall.
“Miss. The Clan Head is summoning you.”
“Why?”
Peng Chae-hyang’s heart immediately sank. The worst possibility she could imagine was that he would tell her not to go on the journey through the martial world. But the attendant’s answer was unexpected.
“He says he would like to have dinner together.”
“…?”
Peng Chae-hyang was flustered. When had she ever eaten dinner with her father? It was so far back she could not remember. And yet, out of nowhere, he was asking her to eat together.
All manner of thoughts crossed her mind, but she could not keep her father waiting, so she quickly made her way to the Clan Head Hall. When she arrived, Peng Gyeong-seung was seated before a modest meal.
“You are here.”
“Yes.”
“Sit.”
Peng Gyeong-seung picked up his chopsticks. She had expected him to say something after calling her over, but he ate in complete silence.
Peng Chae-hyang watched his reactions and poked at her food. She could not tell whether anything was going in through her nose or her mouth.
Even as the meal was nearly finished, Peng Gyeong-seung said nothing. Peng Chae-hyang finished first and waited until he was done. Only after setting down his chopsticks did Peng Gyeong-seung open his mouth.
“Did you know this. It seems young Master Muk’s father is still alive.”
“Pardon?”
Peng Chae-hyang startled. Not so much from the news about Muk Hui-yeong’s father as from the simple fact that Peng Gyeong-seung had spoken to her.
Thinking back, when she had heard about Muk Hui-yeong’s past, there had been no mention of his father having died. She had vaguely assumed he was still living, and it turned out to be true.
“When I received word from the Beggars’ Gang I had already confirmed his father was alive, but that young man told his lie with such conviction that even I was taken in for a moment. His sheer spirit got me.”
“I… I see.”
Peng Chae-hyang fidgeted with her hands beneath the table. So Muk Hui-yeong had told such an obvious lie for her sake. But the Muk Hui-yeong she had seen in that moment had seemed full of genuine feeling. If it had been a lie, he was a remarkable person.
In any case, Peng Gyeong-seung seemed to have taken a liking to Muk Hui-yeong. That was slightly bitter. All this time she had trained in martial arts and worked diligently at clan affairs trying to earn her father’s approval, and it had never been enough.
“Why do you suppose I have been so hard on you?”
“Well, because I am still lacking…”
Peng Gyeong-seung shook his head at her answer.
“That is not the reason. You are clearly doing well. The Hebei Peng Clan requires innate power to practice our saber arts with any ease. Being a woman, with a naturally slender constitution, it would not have been easy for you to learn the Peng Clan’s saber arts. The fact that you execute them skillfully is proof of your efforts until now.”
Peng Chae-hyang was bewildered. Never once in her entire life had Peng Gyeong-seung said such a thing to her.
“Then… why?”
Lips pressed tight, Peng Chae-hyang asked. It was a question she had carried for over twenty years but never managed to voice. She felt she could ask it now.
Peng Gyeong-seung looked directly at her. Peng Chae-hyang found herself lowering her eyes without meaning to.
“I do not know the reason myself.”
“…Pardon?”
“I am sorry to give you such a poor answer, but I genuinely do not know. After your mother died, it is true that I resented you. But even after that pain had eased somewhat, I still could not treat you warmly. I simply found myself uncomfortable around you.”
“…I see.”
In a way it was an answer that cleared things up, yet it was also a devastating one. In the end it came down to simply that, did it not. Peng Chae-hyang barely held back her tears.
“To be honest, I am still uncomfortable even now. Somehow harsh words come out whenever I am in front of you. I do not even feel sorry for it. I have tried to change, many times. I tried to set my mind differently. But it did not go well.”
“Yes. That can happen.”
Peng Chae-hyang answered with resignation. She simply wanted to leave this house as quickly as possible.
“So… while you are away, I intend to try and fix myself. As young Master Muk said, I want to start from acknowledging you.”
“…!”
The hands fidgeting beneath the table clenched tight. Peng Gyeong-seung’s words were that unexpected. I do not know the reason. But I will try to change. That was all he said, yet for some reason it struck her deeply. Just being acknowledged felt as though it compensated, even if only partially, for over twenty years of walking on eggshells.
“Thank you.”
Peng Chae-hyang answered in a voice she had to force out. Peng Gyeong-seung shook his head.
“No. You may go.”
“Yes.”
Peng Chae-hyang bowed and left the dining hall. As she passed through the door, she caught a very small voice.
“Be careful out there. Daughter.”
She could tell those words had been forced out with great effort. Peng Chae-hyang deliberated whether to respond, and chose to pretend she had not heard. She could not honestly claim she felt no resentment toward her father either.
Peng Chae-hyang drifted aimlessly through the manor grounds, her heart somehow hollow. It was night, but the moonlight was bright enough that walking was no trouble.
She walked for some time. When she suddenly looked up, the guest quarters stood right before her. Her feet seemed to have carried her here on their own. She flushed for no particular reason.
“Miss Peng?”
She had been about to hurry away, but as luck would have it, Muk Hui-yeong was just returning from outside.
“Ah, ah. What a coincidence.”
“I suppose so.”
Muk Hui-yeong replied with a flat expression. He looked somewhat tired.
“Where have you been at this late hour?”
“Mental cultivation, you could say. Sitting still while I do it, then trying it while walking to see if that helps.”
Muk Hui-yeong said something incomprehensible. Peng Chae-hyang nodded along regardless.
“Why did you come here, Miss Peng? Iron Origin Hall is some ways from here, is it not?”
“Ah, well, I was wandering without a destination and ended up here.”
“You make it sound as if someone pushed you.”
“T-That is right! Someone pushed me here, I am sure of it!”
Muk Hui-yeong tilted his head and watched her grow flustered and raise her voice.
“Then do you intend to keep walking?”
“No!”
“Is that so? Then I shall be heading in.”
“W-Wait. Young Master Muk.”
Peng Chae-hyang grabbed the hem of his robe as he turned to go, not even knowing herself why she did it. Muk Hui-yeong turned a bewildered look toward her. Peng Chae-hyang hastily let go.
“Why? Do you have something to say?”
“Y-Yes.”
“What is it?”
Muk Hui-yeong asked, but Peng Chae-hyang had nothing in particular to say. Still, having blurted something out, she had to say something.
“That…”
“That?”
“You said I could fly on my own!”
“I did.”
“But I do not know how to fly.”
Terrible. Absolutely terrible. Peng Chae-hyang knew even as she said it that she was rambling without any sense. But Muk Hui-yeong answered her with an unexpectedly earnest face.
“That is because your wings are bent.”
“Wings?”
“Yes.”
Muk Hui-yeong nodded. Peng Chae-hyang had not fully grasped what he meant. She had taken the talk of flying to mean she could navigate the martial world on her own, but she was not sure what the wings were supposed to symbolize.
Several candidates came to mind. First, her innate talent. Second, her confidence or self-worth. Third, her independence. Any of them could fit, which only made it more confusing.
“Then give me wings.”
Peng Chae-hyang said it anyway. She did not quite know what she meant, but she had to say something. And unexpectedly, Muk Hui-yeong’s face went red.
“That is not something I can give you right now. At most, Black Elder or White Elder could.”
“It was something that could actually be given?”
“In truth, Black Elder and White Elder have been giving it to you endlessly, without holding back. It was only the Clan Head who kept bending it.”
Peng Chae-hyang grew more and more puzzled. Now she had no idea whatsoever what wings referred to.
“That Black Elder and White Elder gave it to me. Is it something that can be handed over like an object?”
“Not an object, but it can be passed along.”
“How exactly does one pass it along? I am genuinely curious.”
At her question, Muk Hui-yeong rolled his eyes this way and that, then slowly stepped closer. Peng Chae-hyang was startled, but for some reason her feet refused to step back. They stood rooted to the ground as if planted there.
Muk Hui-yeong came close and wrapped both arms around Peng Chae-hyang. Her small frame slipped into his embrace. Along with the sound of his beating heart, warmth spread through her.
She was thinking that she could stay just like this when Muk Hui-yeong stepped back. The moment the warmth was gone, she felt a chill, and something like disappointment.
“This is probably how it was given.”
Muk Hui-yeong said awkwardly, not meeting her eyes. Only then did Peng Chae-hyang understand.
Wings were none other than love.
“Now you know. Why I cannot give Miss Peng wings.”
Muk Hui-yeong said that and slipped into the guest quarters. In that instant, Peng Chae-hyang remembered that she had been the one to ask for wings. Now that she knew what wings meant, there could be nothing more mortifying to have said.
“…What do I do.”
Peng Chae-hyang murmured as she pressed her hand to her chest. Her heartbeat was pounding far faster and louder than what she had felt in his arms a moment ago.