Volume 1 Chapter 22 – Contempt

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Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Can I have a look at that?”

At the voice heard from the direction of the shattered window, the gazes of the gathered crowd converged.

“Hup.”

Yeon So-hyeon and the gatekeeper stepped over the window frame and came inside.

While everyone’s attention was focused, Yeon So-hyeon brushed off the wood splinters and such stuck to his body.

“Young Master, let me help you.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Jeong-ah, who had approached before anyone knew it, helped Yeon So-hyeon with careful hands.

Yeon So-hyeon, whose clothes had been completely tidied by Jeong-ah’s touch, tilted his head.

“What are you doing? Give that to me.”

The absurdity floating on the faces of the Black Bone Gang members turned into anger.

“Who the hell are you?!”

One of the martial artists standing behind Golden Spider shouted.

The shout containing internal energy rang loudly through the room.

“……Oh, my ears.”

Yeon So-hyeon picked his ear in a playful manner and continued.

“Can you not tell by looking at these clothes?”

As Yeon So-hyeon pointed to the gatekeeper’s attire, everyone’s gaze shifted to the gatekeeper.

Although those gazes would have been burdensome, the gatekeeper stood calmly and met them.

“……A guard of the Sword Family?”

“Mmm…”

Everyone’s expressions were subtle.

If it were the Sword Family, it was a name that everyone in this land of Luoyang had no choice but to fear, but a mere guard?

Maybe it would work among ordinary commoners, but were they not the notorious outlaws of Luoyang?

Yeon So-hyeon shook his head.

“Be careful. He might be dressed like this, but he is an incredible expert.”

Everyone’s subtle gazes turned toward the guard.

At the sight of a middle-aged man with a demeanor that did not even look like a regular martial artist, let alone an expert, someone burst out laughing.

“Pfft.”

At that, without exception, everyone in the Black Bone Gang broke into rowdy laughter.

“An expert, they say, an expert.”

“If that guy is an expert, then I am the number one under heaven!”

Golden Spider did not burst into laughter with them, but she also looked at Yeon So-hyeon with suspicious eyes.

“…….”

He seemed like nothing special, but since the opponent behaved so confidently, she could not act one way or the other for the moment.

“……Tsk.”

Smacking his lips, Yeon So-hyeon commanded the gatekeeper.

“This will not do. Go bring it.”

“……Understood.”

As the gatekeeper took a step forward, everyone’s laughter stopped.

Murderous intent swirled in their eyes.

And when he took two steps forward, the three martial artists around Golden Spider simultaneously prepared to strike .

When he walked the next three steps, the Sword Family Bronze Plaque that had been in Golden Spider’s hand was now held in the gatekeeper’s hand.

“……?”

The most shocked was Golden Spider, who had been holding it herself.

She had only felt a slight flutter of wind in her hair, but before she knew it, the Sword Family Bronze Plaque she was holding had been transferred to the opponent’s hand.

At that moment, the same thought flashed through everyone’s mind.

‘An expert …!’

A heavy, cold silence settled over the room.

“Humm.”

Whether the crowd was shocked or not, Yeon So-hyeon examined the Sword Family Bronze Plaque in his hand this way and that.

Jeong-ah asked carefully.

“Young Master, is it genuine ?”

Yeon So-hyeon nodded.

“It is correct, indeed.”

A gloomy look cast over his eyes as he looked at the Sword Family Bronze Plaque.

“In the past, the Sword Family Bronze Plaque was originally a token of oath to a benefactor who bestowed a favor upon the Sword Family, promising to repay the received favor anytime, anywhere.”

His voice was subdued.

“If the benefactor holding the bronze plaque fell into crisis, the people of the Sword Family rushed there, no matter where it was.”

The Sword Family Bronze Plaque in his hand caught the sunlight and gleamed.

“And they raised their swords together with the benefactor, not even sparing their own lives.”

“It was a symbol of infinite trust.”

It was Se-ah’s voice, as she had stood up from her seat before anyone noticed.

Having already realized Yeon So-hyeon’s identity from Jeong-ah’s actions, she dared not remain seated in his presence.

Sending a brief glance toward Se-ah, Yeon So-hyeon nodded.

“……Indeed.”

A bitter smile hovered at the corners of his mouth.

“Now, however, it has become nothing more than a mere token entrusted to a business partner.”

He lightly tossed the Sword Family Bronze Plaque back to Golden Spider.

Catching the Sword Family Bronze Plaque in midair with a click, Golden Spider spoke to Yeon So-hyeon with narrowed eyes.

“As you said, it is a mere token, but it is also a token that guarantees safety from the blind blades of the Sword Family. Is it not?”

Her words were clearly conscious of the ‘expert of the Sword Family’ standing behind Yeon So-hyeon.

“That is true.”

Yeon So-hyeon readily nodded.

“If we ignore the Sword Family Bronze Plaque and act as we please, the trust that the Sword Family has built up until now will crumble.”

A smile hovered on Golden Spider’s lips.

“If you had power within the Sword Family, you might be able to smooth it over somehow, but that would be difficult, wouldn’t it?”

Yeon So-hyeon shrugged as if in agreement.

Golden Spider spoke with conviction.

“You are that famous Swordless One .”

A deep sneer hung at the corners of Golden Spider’s mouth as she uttered the derogatory term ‘Swordless One’.

“That is right, I am Yeon So-hyeon.”

As soon as Yeon So-hyeon finished speaking, Golden Spider burst into laughter.

It was a laugh that seemed to take away her breath.

After laughing like that for a long time, she wiped away the tears that gathered at the corners of her eyes from laughing too much and spoke.

“Ah, I was scared shitless. My style is totally ruined.”

Her gaze directed toward Yeon So-hyeon.

That looking-down gaze contained clear contempt.

“What brings the person who is said to live playing the immortal and letting his axe handle rot here?”

At her incredibly arrogant words, Jeong-ah’s fine eyebrows twitched.

“It is nothing much. My maid had business with the Pavilion Master here.”

Yeon So-hyeon was calm.

“It seem you grew tired of ruining the Luoyang Sword Family from within. Do you now intend to wander around outside, dirtying the name of the Sword Family?”

Se-ah slammed her pipe onto the table with a clack.

“Golden Spider, you had better watch your words. No matter what anyone says, this person is the Sword Family’s—”

“Sword Family?”

Golden Spider snorted.

“Does this young master who knows nothing of the world look like the Luoyang Sword Family to your eyes?”

At those words, Jeong-ah gritted her teeth.

“……”

However, she ultimately could not step forward.

This was because it was obvious that even if she, who had no power at all, stepped forward, she would only make him more of a laughingstock rather than restoring her master’s honor.

“My goodness, how absurd…”

Golden Spider let out a hollow laugh and brushed up her hair.

“Crescent Moon Pavilion Master, do you still not understand? What I rely on to act like this?”

She waved the Sword Family Bronze Plaque in her hand.

“The rope I have caught, you see, is a golden lifeline that cannot even be compared to the likes of the Luoyang Sword Family’s eldest young master in name only.”

Her voice rang out sharply.

“I am not talking about an incompetent person who cannot even enter the fringes of such power! The closest confidant of the Second Young Master, who is one of the proper successors of the Sword Family, met with me today, and—”

As she spoke, Golden Spider’s gaze stopped on Jeong-ah.

“Met with me today, you see…”

Trailing off, she stroked her chin and looked back and forth between Jeong-ah and Yeon So-hyeon.

Then, as if she noticed something soon after, she pointed a finger at Jeong-ah.

“You! You are that troublesome girl he spoke of!”

“……”

Jeong-ah closed her eyes tightly.

It felt as if the tip of that finger was piercing even the most vulnerable place in her soul.

“Ah, what a truly amusing coincidence. I heard the story this morning, and to meet the person in question like this.”

Golden Spider strode toward Jeong-ah.

“……That is enough.”

The gatekeeper blocked Golden Spider from getting any closer to Jeong-ah.

However, in front of the Sword Family Bronze Plaque, that was all he could do.

“Hey, say something. Why did you kick away that golden opportunity to potentially become the Second Young Master’s concubine with your own feet, and of all people, go to that Swordless One? Hmm?”

Golden Spider mocked Jeong-ah with eyes that looked as if she were viewing a strange animal.

“No, even if you were not a concubine and became a mere plaything, would that not be better? What do you expect to achieve by trusting such a playboy?”

Jeong-ah stood in front of Golden Spider, who was pointing at Yeon So-hyeon.

“Do not insult my master. He is a noble person whom the likes of you dare not speak of lightly.”

Despite her protest, Golden Spider only laughed it off.

“A noble person? Yes, he is noble indeed. Abandoning all the rights he obtained since birth, throwing away responsibilities, and even being pointed at by the people of his own family…”

Blue sparks flew from her eyes.

“Still, he must be far nobler than a lowly bitch from the streets with no background like me.”

Despite Golden Spider’s terrifying momentum, Jeong-ah did not avoid her gaze and looked straight at her.

However,

“……” but there was no protest she could make.

Swordless One .

It was a name that was mocked in the Luoyang Sword Family, in the huge metropolis of Luoyang, and even in the entire Henan Province .

As much as people knew the name of the Luoyang Sword Family, which was called the number one family under heaven, they also knew the name of the Swordless One, the recluse of that family, just as well.

While his father, the Grand Patriarch, never left his sickbed but poured all his strength into supporting the family, he was an unfilial son with no presence at all.

A coward.

A weakling.

If the Luoyang Sword Family had not expanded its power and developed further even while he was in seclusion, Yeon So-hyeon’s name would not have ended with just being mocked.

“You have nothing to say, do you? If you have anything to say, I will listen, so speak up.”

She was furious.

She was so furious.

She wanted to shout that the Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon, the master she saw and decided to serve, was not like that.

She wanted to advocate loudly for the Yeon So-hyeon she knew.

However, no matter what she said, her words would only be in vain.

It was the first time she felt so powerless, having no power of her own.

Even when she left the reception hall as if chased out by the Second Young Master and Third Young Master, she had not felt this powerless.

Yet, to feel such bone-deep powerlessness from failing to prevent the master she served from being insulted.

“Why do you not stop there?”

It was Yeon So-hyeon who wrapped his arm around Jeong-ah’s shoulder and turned her back.

“She is still my one and only dedicated maid.”

He wore a simple smile.

“……If you go any further, I will have no choice but to get angry, you know?”

“It was already no fun anyway.”

Golden Spider snorted, but she did her best to suppress the chill she felt in a corner of her heart.

Her head had heated up, so she did mock Yeon So-hyeon.

However, the position of the Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family was naturally an incredibly burdensome position for her as well.

She turned her gaze and spoke to Se-ah.

“Pavilion Master. No matter how diligently you glance outside, the safety devices you are waiting for will not come.”

The quarter of an hour Se-ah had mentioned had long passed.

“You put pressure on them…!”

Golden Spider once again waved the Sword Family Bronze Plaque in her hand toward Se-ah, who was glaring at her.

“This is a complete master key.”

Laughing cheerfully, Golden Spider turned around and walked toward the door.

“Originally, I was going to carve a firm warning onto that body today…”

She glanced toward Yeon So-hyeon.

“Unfortunately, an intruder appeared, so that has become a bit difficult.”

Leaving the door under the escort of her subordinates, she waved her hand toward her back.

“Next time I come, that petty Eldest Young Master will not be able to save you.”

Golden Spider vanished beyond the door, and her subordinates also left the building following her like the ebbing tide.

“Golden Spider…”

Se-ah gritted her teeth.

And Jeong-ah, who had been holding out with sheer willpower until then, collapsed just like that.

“Eldest Young Master, I am sorry—”

Yeon So-hyeon caught her body, but she was already unconscious.

“Jeong-ah!”

Se-ah’s urgent voice rang out hurriedly.