Volume 4 Chapter 1 – The Result of Rumors

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Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Along with the resonant voice of the gate-guarding warrior announcing the opening of the gates, the main gates of the Inner Courtyard began to open all at once.

Protocol managers holding various instruments played their instruments with all their might.

Flag bearers holding all sorts of flags followed behind the Eldest Young Master and the maids.

Among them, the largest flag, symbolizing the Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family, fluttered in the wind.

While everyone moved with discipline, the Eldest Young Master’s characteristic leisurely stroll stood out.

“Are you saying that the highest echelon of the Inner Courtyard has no need to participate in the Gate Opening Ceremony?”

Department Head Yook’s gaze directed toward the highest echelon of the Inner Courtyard lined up in front of the Inner Courtyard Main Building.

“Then, for what reason are they…?”

* * *

The Luoyang Sword Family, Second Young Master’s camp.

The morning sunlight sharply illuminated the documents that filled the wall.

“The Chief Manager of the Inner Courtyard and the Swordless One…”

The Second Young Master’s strategist, Han Myeong-hwi, retraced his inference results over and over again.

“The Chief Manager of the Inner Courtyard is natural enough, but…”

Strong doubt was harbored on his face.

“…Why on earth the Swordless One?”

Just then, one of his aides entered his open office.

“Uh, a strange report just came in.”

Han Myeong-hwi did not answer, but the aide reported as usual.

“They say they held a Gate Opening Ceremony when the Eldest Young Master was leaving the Inner Courtyard.”

Having his thoughts interrupted by the trivial report, Han Myeong-hwi frowned.

“Why report to me about what is so strange about that?!”

The aide flinched and hurriedly continued the report.

“B-but the highest-ranking figures of the Inner Courtyard came out and attended the Gate Opening Ceremony.”

“What about that…?!”

Han Myeong-hwi’s action of trying to vent his anger stopped.

“Were they originally supposed to attend?”

As Han Myeong-hwi showed interest, the aide hurriedly delivered the remaining content.

“According to the person who delivered the news, no. Moreover, they are said to have exchanged chats with the Eldest Young Master before the Gate Opening Ceremony began. And…”

He finished the report half in doubt.

“It is said that the atmosphere was good enough for laughter to be heard occasionally. That is all.”

Having finished the report, the aide studied Han Myeong-hwi’s face.

“To think they chatted and had a good atmosphere with the Eldest Young Master, the main culprit who turned the Inner Courtyard upside down until just this dawn… We will need to re-evaluate the reliability of our source. For now, I will re-verify it from other sources later.”

“…No.”

“Pardon? Are you saying there is no need to re-evaluate?”

Han Myeong-hwi’s lips trembled as he looked at the wall filled with documents.

“I am saying that report is bound to be true without even needing to verify it!”

“No, why is that…”

The aide who was about to ask Han Myeong-hwi shut his mouth.

It was because Han Myeong-hwi’s demeanor was unusual.

“Yes. Then it all makes sense. It makes sense!”

He shook his hands trembling.

“Call all the strategists under me together! Right now! Tell even the guys outside to all come in!”

“Y-yes! I understand!”

The aide rushed out of the office.

Left alone, Han Myeong-hwi approached the wall.

Now everything was fitting together.

“Yes… That Swordless One bastard, no, the Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon.”

The name he used to call Yeon So-hyeon changed.

Who were those who watched the young Eldest Young Master closest in the past?

One could name many, but among them, the Inner Courtyard that assists the Family Head at the closest distance could not be left out.

And the higher-ranking figures among them would have been closer to the Grand Patriarch and the Eldest Young Master.

What would be the reason they gathered in one place to see the face of the Eldest Young Master, who had lived as if dead all this time?

And not even yesterday when the Eldest Young Master visited, but today, even creating a pretext called the Gate Opening Ceremony?

“Those bastards, the highest-ranking madmen of the Inner Courtyard, gathered to see with their own eyes! Precisely…”

At that moment, he could even tell the source of the rumor that ‘the Eldest Young Master will end his seclusion’.

“To directly witness the moment another successor appears in this family!”

He shouted as if screaming.

“Because they wanted to directly see the one they might end up serving!”

He shouted as if having a fit.

“This incident! The entirety of this incident was that bastard Eldest Young Master’s departure ceremony!”

* * *

The elderly lady wrapped in elegant court dress, the Protocol Secretary, was smiling.

She was looking at the Eldest Young Master exiting the last gate far away.

At the final moment when the gate closed, she felt as if her eyes met with the Eldest Young Master who looked back.

She smiled brightly.

Others might not know, but she was certain.

And she thought that some among them would surely share the same thought as her.

For such people, this was no mere Gate Opening Ceremony.

This was a welcoming ceremony announcing the return of the Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon.

‘Welcome back, Young Master.’

Her gaze remained fixed toward that place as if nailed down until all the gates closed.

‘This Granny is certain that the day to serve the Young Master will come.’

The corners of the eyes of the elderly lady, who was once the dedicated butler of the young Yeon So-hyeon, became moist.

* * *

The triplet maids felt as if they were walking in the sky.

Now that they had reached Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment, no one followed behind them, but the moment they held the Gate Opening Ceremony was the very moment they had dreamed of.

“I mean, it was truly a moment suitable for the maids serving the Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family!”

“So hurry up and you all, hold a Gate Opening Ceremony from now on too!”

“Holding flags like this! Blowing trumpets! Walking in step!”

The special duty members guarding the main gate of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment were flustered.

“A-Ah, young ladies. What are you suddenly talking about?”

“A Gate Opening Ceremony? Does anyone know what that is?”

Being all middle-aged, they were particularly weak to these girls who could be their daughters.

At that time, the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword sighed and opened his mouth.

“Whether it is a Gate Opening Ceremony or whatever, it does not matter…”

He pointed to the forest path of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment.

“The Eldest Young Master has already entered with the Head Maid.”

Only then did the triplet maids regain their senses, squealing as they ran inside.

“Wait!”

At his shout, Sam-ryeong looked back.

“That stepping on the line. What the Eldest Young Master said about ‘going to step on the line’. What on earth is that?”

Sam-ryeong shrugged her shoulders.

“The Master merely said that since he has stepped on the line now, they will move on their own.”

* * *

Jeong-ah, who was quietly following behind her master, opened her mouth.

“Master.”

“Hmm?”

“About the things you told the Inspection Investigator Kang Ho yesterday.”

“Ah. What about it?”

Jeong-ah’s cast-down eyes sparkled.

“The aims in the Inner Courtyard were wonderful. But did you not tell him only the aims within this incident?”

Yeon So-hyeon’s footsteps stopped.

“…As expected, I cannot deceive the eyes of the Head Maid.”

He looked back at Jeong-ah.

“From now on, you will be able to see things that have left our hands start to turn out interestingly.”

His face was illuminated by a deep smile.

It was a playful smile, but for some reason, Jeong-ah felt goosebumps rising on her body.

* * *

The Luoyang Sword Family, Central Square.

With one shichen left until noon, many people gathered in the Central Square of their own accord or by compulsion.

The apprentice maids, who had been ordered to undergo re-education after picking a useless fight with Jeong-ah, the Head Maid of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment, were also present here.

It was a part of their training.

The training manager of the Administration Department in charge of their training had brought them here.

‘Oh my, did you hear? They say the trial we are going to witness now is precisely the trial related to that Eldest Young Master’s book prices.’

‘Oh my, oh my. To think they would go so far as to hold a public trial for such an embarrassing thing.’

‘If it were our family, they would have handled it quietly.’

‘With this, that woman called the Head Maid of Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment is practically being publicly humiliated once again.’

‘Indeed.’

They were girls who had enjoyed sharing such small talk until their departure.

Those very girls were now shedding streams of tears, blocking their ears, and burying their heads.

“Stooop! Stooop!”

The woman tied to the punishment rack, Manager Seomun, shrieked as if her throat were tearing.

She twisted her entire body like a fish pierced by a harpoon.

At her scream, the Law Enforcement Judge who led the public trial let out a shout filled with internal energy.

“That wench still has not repented of her sins! What is the Law Enforcement Envoy doing?!”

His shout echoed resonantly through the square.

The appearance of the Law Enforcement Judge, who wore bizarre makeup on his face, reminded one of a judge who had just risen from hell.

The training manager scolded the apprentice maids.

“Apprentice maids, open your closed eyes and take your hands off your ears right now!”

The maids of the Administration Department standing behind the apprentice maids moved.

They forced the apprentice maids’ heads up, making them open their eyes and look by force.

The training manager looked around at them.

“Remember! That is the final appearance met by those who violated the main family’s solemn laws and dared to mock the Eldest Young Master, thereby breaking the family’s discipline!”

The hands of the Law Enforcement Envoys, clad in glittering, splendid attire with terrifying makeup drawn on their faces, moved.

“Aaagh!”

Along with a horrific scream, Manager Seomun’s skin was being peeled off alive.

It was a ruthless hand movement.

“Ugh…!”

Several of the apprentice maids vomited, but the maids of the Administration Department did not let go.

The spilled vomit soiled the front of their shirts.

Next to Manager Seomun, another person’s punishment was being executed.

“Aaaah! I was wrong! I was wrong!”

The one begging as if her throat would tear was none other than Manager Bang.

“Good! You are repenting very well!”

The Law Enforcement Judge sitting on the high platform nodded quite in satisfaction.

“With that attitude, repent of your sins until the very moment your life ends!”

The Law Enforcement Envoy looked straight into her terror-stricken eyes and poured boiling water over her lower body.

A sound of catching her breath came from her mouth, but that was only the beginning.

The Law Enforcement Envoy holding an iron comb began to scrape off her cooked flesh as it was.

A scream burst from her mouth.

The servants of the Bang family who had come with the intention of taking back even her remains squeezed their eyes shut.

The Law Enforcement Judge bellowed toward them.

“You servants of the Bang family, go back and deliver! What the price is for daring to solicit favors just because a few figures of your family are part of the main family!”

The servants collapsed and knelt on the spot.

“Watch, hear, and deliver clearly on the spot! What the end of the sinner who dared to disturb the discipline of the main family was like!”

Besides them, those who had been under Manager Seomun were all sentenced to the extreme penalty.

They were all letting out screams as one, paying for the terrible punishment with their entire bodies.

Those who gathered in the Central Square of their own accord or by compulsion watched the scene in fear, trembling in terror.

Some mocked the sinners, pointed fingers, or even sneered at them.

Manager Seomun eventually had all her skin peeled off and was hung like a flag at one of the entrances of the Central Square.

The Bang family servants returned carrying only the torso of their young lady, whose flesh had been entirely scraped off and whose head had been severed.

The heads of the sinners, preserved exactly as they had met death crying out in pain, were exhibited in places where many people passed by.

Next to them, their crimes were written in detail, raising the alertness of all who passed by.