Volume 3 Chapter 22 – Case Concluded (1)

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Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Inner Courtyard Main Building, Protocol Room.

“Eldest Young Master. Did the food suit your taste?”

“It was absolutely excellent.”

The elderly lady who approached Yeon So-hyeon smiled gracefully.

She was an elderly person whom the court dress suited perfectly, and her every movement was filled with dignity.

“Eldest Young Master. Please do not call me so stiffly, and call me like in the old days.”

“Yes, Granny. It was very delicious. It seems Granny cooked it herself?”

At being called Granny, she smiled brightly.

“Of course! It is food for the Young Master to eat, so this old lady exerted herself directly after a long time!”

“Haha. Thank you.”

“You are welcome.”

She looked back at those who ‘dared’ to sit around the same dining table with Yeon So-hyeon.

“How was the meal for everyone?”

Her eyes were warm, but there was not a single person who met her gaze properly.

Except for Jeong-ah.

“Thank you for treating even low-ranking people like us to such a wonderful banquet.”

A strange light flickered in the elderly lady’s deep eyes.

“Haha. It was what the Young Master wanted, so how could an old woman like me refuse?”

Yeon So-hyeon looked at her.

“Granny. From now on…”

“Yes, Young Master. We will all withdraw so you can talk comfortably.”

She bowed politely and gracefully, and left the Protocol Room with all the personnel.

As soon as the large, gorgeously decorated door closed, the stiffened triplet maids let out sighs of relief all at once.

“I think it was incredibly delicious… No, was it really delicious?”

“It seems it might have been so.”

“…Please do not ask me. I have no memory.”

Kang Ho opened his mouth.

“That person earlier…”

Il-ryeong nodded.

“Yes, that is right. She is the Protocol Secretary of the Inner Courtyard. Did you see the six tassels woven with gold thread at her waist?”

“Sixth Rank…”

“…Though on the surface she merely looks like a graceful and kind elderly lady.”

“Ugh. Even when the people of the Inner Courtyard smile, they do not seem to be smiling sincerely.”

“To think she is so serene while fellow Inner Courtyard members are being tortured and screaming outside.”

“The Inner Courtyard is truly a scary place.”

Jeong-ah cautiously asked Yeon So-hyeon.

“Master. It seems you have had a relationship with the Protocol Secretary since the past, is my thought correct?”

Yeon So-hyeon chuckled.

“You may trust her. At least she is not a person who would poison food or hold a grudge.”

At those words, the triplet maids trembled.

Kang Ho readily nodded.

“It was a truly wonderful meal after a long time. She is indeed a highly skilled person. It was worthwhile to remain by the Eldest Young Master’s side.”

Yeon So-hyeon smiled at him.

“The reason you are still remaining here would not have been because of the banquet?”

Kang Ho froze for a moment.

He adjusted his glasses and smiled awkwardly.

“…It is because, after all, I am very curious about the continuation of the story the Eldest Young Master told during the day.”

The triplet maids also nodded.

“You were in the middle of talking about the rotten shells.”

“Those who are captured now must be a part of such rotten shells of the Inner Courtyard, right?”

“They were absurd people.”

Jeong-ah opened her mouth.

“Master. Would you be able to grant us, who are lacking, some teachings on the truth, even if only partially?”

Kang Ho asked hastily.

“Why on earth did the Inner Courtyard Accounting Secretary have to die? What is the reason the Central Inspection Pavilion showed its face in such a matter? And for the First and Sixth Departments of the Guardian Pavilion to intervene at the same time? And…”

“Enough, enough.”

Yeon So-hyeon smiled and waved his hand, but Kang Ho persisted in throwing the last question.

“…How is the Eldest Young Master related to this matter?”

His gaze visible behind his glasses was infinitely serious.

Yeon So-hyeon looked at him and slowly opened his mouth.

“What is your speculation?”

Cold sweat ran down the forehead of Kang Ho, who met Yeon So-hyeon’s gaze head-on.

“…I think that perhaps, the Eldest Young Master might be the mastermind behind all the events that unfolded today.”

Yeon So-hyeon smiled brightly.

“Since you heard the words of the Head of the Central Inspection Pavilion during the day, you were able to think that way.”

“That is… correct.”

Kang Ho bowed his head to hide his flushed face.

If he had not heard the words she said to Yeon So-hyeon, he would still have been unable to grasp the clues of the matter.

“Me, the mastermind of all the events…”

Yeon So-hyeon wore a bitter smile.

“To be precise, all of this started with me and the Chief Manager of the Inner Courtyard, that old man.”

Kang Ho’s head snapped up.

“Then, the Inner Courtyard Accounting Secretary…!”

“Yes, that is right. He committed suicide by the order of the Chief Manager of the Inner Courtyard, the head of the Inner Courtyard. No, in this case, do they say he was suicided?”

Yeon So-hyeon chuckled.

“As soon as I showed myself in the Inner Courtyard, the Chief Manager of the Inner Courtyard, that old man, moved first.”

Jeong-ah asked.

“…Why was it the Accounting Secretary?”

“Was he by any chance the peak of those called the rotten shells?”

At Kang Ho’s question, Yeon So-hyeon shook his head.

“No.”

Yeon So-hyeon fiddled with the teacup placed on the luxurious table.

“He was merely a ‘firebreak’.”

“A firebreak…?”

I-ryeong recalled what she had heard in her past special training.

“…I think I heard that a firebreak refers to cutting down trees in advance to prevent a forest fire from spreading beyond a certain point.”

“Yes. It is that firebreak.”

“If so…”

Everyone’s expressions were dumbfounded.

“As far as I know, he was a person who bore little responsibility, at least regarding today’s incident. Merely…”

The Chief Manager of the Inner Courtyard could not help the fact that Yeon So-hyeon had appeared.

If a situation where damage had to be accepted was forced, he had to at least avoid being unilaterally beaten.

So, he decided to utilize Yeon So-hyeon’s appearance.

He had resolved to push forward the ‘work’ that had been needed in the Inner Courtyard all along.

That work was precisely the operation of removing the rotten shells from the Inner Courtyard.

However, ‘that work’ could not be done by his own hands until now due to political issues.

“…Do you mean political issues?”

At Jeong-ah’s question, Yeon So-hyeon nodded.

“Yes. They are those who follow the Second Young Master and the Third Young Master. Directly removing such people would cause political issues.”

“…But are they not servants who serve their masters as they please?”

“The problem is that those masters are successors who might become the family head in the future.”

“Ah…”

Therefore, taking this crisis as an opportunity, the Chief Manager of the Inner Courtyard began to peel away the ‘rotten shells’ by borrowing someone else’s hand.

“For that reason, that old man directly blew away the Accounting Secretary, the highest official who faithfully followed him. With that, he announced his intention to the outside.”

Yeon So-hyeon drew a line on the table.

“Below this line, it does not matter who is disposed of.”

The maids and Kang Ho felt the illusion that the area below the line Yeon So-hyeon drew was being stained red.

“If so…!”

Kang Ho suddenly raised his head.

“Are you saying that the Inner Courtyard Butler, the moment he heard the Eldest Young Master had arrived at the Inner Courtyard Main Building, already accurately predicted what actions you would take?!”

“What a shrewd old man.”

Yeon So-hyeon clicked his tongue.

“To think he could set up an executable plan in that short moment and cut the neck of a subordinate who followed him all his life…”

The necks of everyone listening closely to the story became chilled.

“To think that…”

Yeon So-hyeon wore a bitter smile.

“It was also that old man’s doing to drag in the Head of the Inspection Department and the Head of the Guardian Pavilion. It must have been a sort of deal.”

Kang Ho swallowed hard and opened his mouth.

“…So he exchanged the achievement of exposing and destroying large-scale misconduct related to direct bloodline members without fierce resistance from the Inner Courtyard, for keeping the firebreak.”

“To think that…”

The triplets opened their mouths without realizing it.

“That old man is an old monster who has dedicated his loyalty to the Sword Family since the time of the head of two generations ago, that is, my grandfather.”

He was a person of an age where it would have been more than natural to have retired long ago.

“If we were to find someone who fits the word ‘mastermind’ in this Sword Family and make a list, that old monster would naturally belong at the top.”

Everyone listening closely swallowed hard.

Yeon So-hyeon took a sip of tea.

The tea was still warm.

It was thanks to the teacup that had a Warming Crystal embedded underneath to slowly lower the temperature.

“…Since that old monster has acted like this, for now, I should also be satisfied with moderately peeling off the bothersome shells.”

No one could easily open their mouth.

And naturally, the one who received the greatest shock among them was Kang Ho.

‘This is… the Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family.’

This Eldest Young Master was the very reason he had rejected the dissuasion of those around him and entered the Luoyang Sword Family.

He wanted to meet the Eldest Young Master directly.

What had his grandfather seen in him, who was known to the world as the Swordless One?

Why did that famous grandfather praise him so much?

How could he be friends with his grandfather, who was seventy years older?

He wanted to confirm it directly.

And he dared to want to match skills with him someday.

And now, in front of the Eldest Young Master who was two years younger than himself, he was feeling what it meant to be of a different caliber.

At that time, Jeong-ah opened her mouth.

“…It is merely this maid servant’s speculation, but did the Eldest Young Master not surely predict at least that much?”

“Of course.”

“…!”

Kang Ho was astonished.

“H-how did the Head Maid think of such a thing?”

Jeong-ah was calm.

“Have you forgotten? It was the Master who requested the investigation in advance to the Inspection Department. It was something that happened at least before the deal between the Head of the Inspection Department and the Chief Manager of the Inner Courtyard.”

“Then, the possibility that the Head of the Inspection Department, upon learning that an investigation of the Inner Courtyard was requested, contacted the Chief Manager of the Inner Courtyard first…”

“If he were that kind of person, the Master would not have requested it of the Inspection Department.”

“I-I see. Then…?”

Yeon So-hyeon nodded.

“Yes. It was my doing to drag in the Central Inspection Pavilion and have the Guardian Pavilion mobilize two departments. I prepared for any contingency.”

“If the Chief Manager of the Inner Courtyard had tried to shift all responsibility to the Accounting Secretary who committed suicide and cover up the matter of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment, there would have been a major clash with the Central Inspection Pavilion.”

And that clash would have been accompanied by massive bloodshed.

That must have been why the Head of the Central Inspection Pavilion was so angry.

Kang Ho swallowed hard.

“T-then, how did the Eldest Young Master move the Head of the Inspection Department? And how about the Head of the Guardian Pavilion…?”

Jeong-ah opened her mouth first.

“The Master requested a summons by designating the Inspection Investigator, Kang Ho.”

“…The classified report!”

Kang Ho clutched his head.

“At the Eldest Young Master’s designation, the Head of the Inspection Department recalled me! That I possess a perfect memory! An opportunity for someone like me to enter the Inner Courtyard’s ledger archives! The Head of the Inspection Department could not miss that opportunity!”

He sprang up from his seat.

“And he had to prevent a situation where I went wrong in the Inner Courtyard and did not return. So he prepared the Central Inspection Pavilion in advance! Because only they could clash head-on with the entire Inner Courtyard!”