Chapter 75

Bukgung Yoon and Yeon Mujin returned to Flying Swallow Manor.

All the manor’s retainers came out to greet them.

“All External Protection Troops, offer a welcoming salute to the Manor Lord!”

The External Protection Troops snapped to attention, saluting with disciplined precision.

The manor’s internal attendants bowed their heads to welcome the return of their lord.

The steward and scribes—led by Hye-ran and Do-geon—along with servants and guards, bowed in greeting.

Today’s Flying Swallow Manor was different from yesterday’s. Until recently it had been a grave for losers counting down their final days; today it was not.

Each and every one of them was a meritorious retainer of Flying Swallow Manor.

They were the retainers of the heir officially recognized by the Family Lord of the Bukgung Family.

The carriage that brought them was driven by the manor’s first patron, Jang Chun-sik.

Some watched Jang Chun-sik pull the reins with a solemn expression and felt moved.

“Our manor lord has risen in the world. Truly risen.”

“It feels like just yesterday we were wandering the filthy back alleys of Taiyuan…”

They were the Cocoon Silkworm Clan members who had followed Jang Chun-sik.

Among those sensing a changing era, one clan member asked, “But you know, the Lonely Claw Troops that chased us are gone now. Do we still have any reason to stay at Flying Swallow Manor?”

The question was met with glares and died on the spot.

“Are you insane?”

“So you mean you want to go back to that state?”

“Even if you want to live as a servant, don’t you know to do it in a noble house?”

Rather than living in a foul rat hole, eating mutton testicle soup while being whipped by a miserly manor lord, they’d rather wear silk and be greeted as great heroes. The Cocoon Silkworm Clan intended to cling to the lifeline called Flying Swallow Manor until it snapped.

At last the carriage stopped, and Yeon Mujin stepped down first.

And the one who stepped down after him was Bukgung… Yoon?

People rubbed their eyes as they looked at the person who had descended after Yeon Mujin.

“Gwan-wol.”

“What?”

“I think my eyesight was badly damaged in that last fight.”

“You too?”

“…You too?”

“Was our lord always so plump?”

The visibly plumper Bukgung Yoon who stepped down addressed the retainers gathered in the manor.

“Retainers of Flying Swallow Manor, thank you for coming out to greet us. I ask that you continue to assist your somewhat inexperienced lord as we have a long way to go.”

Bukgung Yoon bowed slightly and then slowly walked into the lord’s hall. Her walk had become oddly more of a waddle than before.

Yeon Mujin clicked his tongue as he looked at the stunned retainers. “What are you doing? The lord has returned—get to work!”

“…She’s here!”

Jang Chun-sik, who had been on watch, spotted figures approaching from afar.

The fact they arrived within an hour of Bukgung Yoon’s return suggested something urgent had flared up. Indeed, otherwise they wouldn’t have come five times over the past seven days.

“My lord!”

At Jang Chun-sik’s shout, Bukgung Yoon’s face brightened with the look of someone who had been expecting a guest. She shed the comfortable martial clothes she’d worn for a week and donned a black silk vest over a deep navy robe. With a silver sash at her waist and a jade hairpin in her hair, she truly looked like a swallow.

“Seo Nak-il and Yang Gwan-wol, come with me to Lotus Pavilion; the remaining External Protection Troops, stand by around the perimeter.”

“Yes, Manor Lord.”

The two subordinate captains tightened their grips under tension.

Soon the manor’s main gate opened and the palace guards’ shout rang out.

“The Lord of Drunken Flower Manor is arriving!”

Fifth Young Master Bukgung Mok-min entered Flying Swallow Manor accompanied by the Eight Guardian Flowers.

“Little sister! Your elder brother has arrived!”

Bukgung Mok-min shouted, drawing everyone’s gaze to himself. “Where is my sister!”

Bukgung Yoon was waiting for him in the Lotus Pavilion.

Lotus Pavilion was a pavilion built over a pond. Bukgung Yoon’s gaze from the pavilion met Bukgung Mok-min’s.

“I pay respects to the Lord of Drunken Flower Manor.”

She was the first to perform the formal greeting.

Bukgung Mok-min smiled and climbed the pavilion stairs.

There were several cushions; the most ornate on the honored seat was taken by Bukgung Yoon, and behind her stood the captain of the External Protection Troops and two deputy captains as her escorts.

Three cushions were placed in front of her, meaning three guests would be calling on her.

The momentary hardening of Bukgung Mok-min’s expression lasted only an instant. He returned to a sly, boyish smile and shouted, “Why is it so difficult to see my sister’s face!”

“My duties have been hectic and I was away from the manor for a while. I heard that the Lord of Drunken Flower Manor visited several times. I apologize for making you come back and forth on busy business.”

“What’s with that attitude? How cold. Come here. Let me hold my sister for the first time in ages.”

Bukgung Mok-min spread his arms wide, but Bukgung Yoon only looked at him with a cold face.

“The Lord of the manor upholds propriety, you see.”

Bukgung Mok-min’s mouth smiled, but his eyes cooled with sharpness. He had come as an elder brother, but his sister treated him only as the manor lord. That irritated him.

“Eight Flowers, come here.”

He flicked his finger and called the youngest of the Eight Guardian Flowers. Then, the moment she approached, he swung his palm and struck her cheek.

Smack!

The sound of the girl’s cheek meeting Bukgung Mok-min’s palm rang throughout Lotus Pavilion.

“Enough. Now go.”

The struck guardian returned to her place, bowing without a sound.

Bukgung Bi-beom brightened visibly and smiled at his sister. “Our Yoon seems to have put on some weight since we last saw her?”

Bukgung Mok-min sat down on a cushion, kicking aside the empty ones with loud thrusts of his foot. “You’ve put on weight, made your oppa waste his steps so many times. Lucky you, huh? It feels like only yesterday you were following Mok-min oppa around calling ‘Muk-min oppa, Muk-min oppa.’ When did you grow up like this?”

“I have no such memory.”

“I remember. Why—you intend to pick apart and refute everything your oppa says now?”

“…”

“I’m joking, joking. Why so serious?”

“Please state your business for coming to our Flying Swallow Manor.”

“Ha, Yoon is chilly. You still won’t call me ‘oppa’ after all. I love more than anything the sound of a beauty in this world calling me ‘oppa.’ Business? I do have business.”

Bukgung Mok-min rose, struck a formal pose, and bowed. The playful air vanished.

“As a guest, I, the Lord of Drunken Flower Manor, present one proposal to the Lord of Flying Swallow Manor.”

“What is it?”

“With the recent fall of Solitary Cloud Manor, my family is experiencing turmoil both inside and out. People seek a king in chaotic times; many claim the throne for themselves, and the jealousy and envy of all the household retainers reach the heavens. This means a period of upheaval: those who survive and become kings will stand upon piles of corpses and rivers of blood carved by the blades of turmoil. Enemies are many and allies few; if even our meager hands clasp together, I believe we can be comrades to cut through the storms and advance.”

Bukgung Mok-min lifted his head and smiled cheerfully. “Come with your brother, Yoon.”

Bukgung Yoon sighed inwardly and glanced at the Eight Guardian Flowers standing behind Bukgung Mok-min. If she refused, he would strike them again—he used their suffering as silent pressure, knowing his soft-hearted sister could not bear to see innocent women beaten. Bukgung Mok-min calculated even a single word or action that way.

And so Bukgung Yoon—

—gave no answer.

“…Why no answer, little sister?”

The Fifth Young Master grew impatient at her silence. He thought she should at least be threatened or coaxed into speaking. But she sat like a mute with her mouth sewn shut, staring silently and leaving him no course of action.

And then.

“The Lord of Ten Thousand Gold Manor is arriving!”

“…!”

The answer Bukgung Yoon had been waiting for had arrived at Flying Swallow Manor.

Ten Thousand Gold Manor Lord Bukgung Yun-ram.

He was the Fourth Young Master of the Bukgung Family and the Silver-Gold Dragon of Sichuan. He and the Fifth Young Master, Lord of Drunken Flower Manor Bukgung Mok-min, were outright rivals.

Bukgung Yun-ram fanned his signature golden-feathered fan as he ascended to the Lotus Pavilion. Behind him followed six warriors wearing gold-embellished belts and jade plaques, dressed in black martial garments embroidered with gold—the Black-Gold Troops.

While Bukgung Mok-min’s Eight Guardian Flowers consisted of eight women, Bukgung Yun-ram’s Black-Gold Troops numbered six. Though fewer, their presence was more formidable; generally, the fewer the bodyguards, the stronger their martial prowess.

“Who’s this—Isn’t that Yun-ram hyung? What brings this money-worm who knows nothing but wealth to this shabby place?”

As Bukgung Mok-min sneered, Bukgung Yun-ram glanced at his younger brother and snorted. “I pay respects to the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold Manor.”

“I have come to see the Lord of Flying Swallow Manor.”

There was nowhere to sit; the cushions Bukgung Mok-min had kicked away lay scattered.

Bukgung Yun-ram snapped his fingers and a Black-Gold Troops member produced a fine cushion adorned with golden tassels.

“I don’t like my body touching cheap things.”

“Hah, honestly.”

Bukgung Mok-min let out a hollow laugh.

Seated on the fine cushion, Bukgung Yun-ram asked, “Has the foolish brother come and made a scene already? What did that brat say? That he’d pay how much if someone crawled like a dog under Drunken Flower Manor?”

“The Lord of Drunken Flower Manor did not promise any reward.”

Yeon Mujin stepped in and interjected on Bukgung Yoon’s behalf.

Bukgung Yun-ram opened his fan with a snap. “Is that so? Typical of a penniless manor. Yoon, don’t listen to that fellow. He’s the type to get wrapped in a woman’s skirts and squander money. How about coming under our Ten Thousand Gold Manor instead of Drunken Flower Manor?”

“Brother, what kind of propriety is this?” Bukgung Mok-min burst out in irritation, but Bukgung Yun-ram did not spare him a glance.

“If you accept my offer, I promise thirty thousand coins in gold.”

Thirty thousand coins in gold—a truly massive sum worthy of the Lord of Ten Thousand Gold Manor.

Bukgung Mok-min bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood. “Drive out Mok-min with me and we’ll divide the east and west of the Central Plain. I will be king of the west; you shall be queen of the east.”

Bukgung Yun-ram spoke confidently as if Kongtong were already in his palm. To Bukgung Mok-min, it was infuriating.

Bukgung Yoon’s expression remained unchanged.

Bukgung Yun-ram closed his fan with a snap. “What? Not enough? Do you think this shabby manor is worth more than thirty thousand coins in gold?”

“Oh, thirty thousand coins…”

The response came from an unexpected place. Yeon Mujin, the guard standing behind her, whistled lightly and said, “Does the Lord of Drunken Flower Manor intend to ask for more than that?”

It sounded like he was auctioning off Flying Swallow Manor between the two brothers.

At that one remark, Bukgung Mok-min’s anger erupted.

“Is that bastard mad!”

Bukgung Mok-min sprang to his feet. The Eight Guardian Flowers bared their weapons and glared at Yeon Mujin. The Black-Gold Troops opposite did not remain idle either. Both sides radiated killing intent; it was a hair-trigger situation where the slightest gap could erupt into blades.

In that moment, Yeon Mujin chuckled.

Bukgung Mok-min and Bukgung Yun-ram, the Eight Guardian Flowers and their leaders—all looked at Yeon Mujin and thought, “Is he out of his mind?”

Bukgung Yoon sighed. “Captain Yeon, shut your mouth and stay quiet.”

“Yes.”

“Sigh, I won’t outlive my due time, truly…”

It was an embarrassing remark to hear from the youngest woman present.

“Guests, calm yourselves and withdraw your hands. Flying Swallow Manor has not yet taken any position.”

“Yoon, what is there to think about? Is it a lack of money? How much do you need?”

“What a money-worm…! Yoon! Surely you don’t intend to sell this blood-bound manor for a few coins?”

“Hmph, you don’t even have that few coins and yet you talk…”

“Hyung, shut up!”

Bukgung Yoon raised a hand and lightly touched her head. The situation was even more chaotic than she had thought.

“Answer me, Yoon.”

“Yes, answer, Yoon! Which will you choose?”

Ten Thousand Gold Manor and Drunken Flower Manor.

The Fourth Young Master and the Fifth Young Master.

Thirty thousand coins in gold and the lord of Kongtong.

And…

“The Lord of Heavenly Martial Manor is arriving!”

“…!”

“…!”

All gazes turned toward the manor’s entrance. They could scarcely believe their ears; no one could have imagined such a figure would come here.

The third visitor of the day: Heavenly Martial Manor Lord Bukgung Yeong-noh.

The Second Young Master of the Bukgung Family had arrived at Flying Swallow Manor.