Chapter 27
The person who had actually called me over was the burly servant the Young Sect Leader brought around with him every day, while the Young Sect Leader himself merely stood behind him with his hands clasped behind his back.
Even so, I couldn’t help feeling taken aback.
‘Damn, I’d been doing such a good job avoiding him.’
In truth, I had been avoiding the Young Sect Leader even without the young lady’s warning.
It was only natural, in a way. The Young Sect Leader had been constantly looking for an opportunity to somehow enter the Xiao Manor’s Nangan Garden, and there were only a handful of people who could freely come and go from there.
For example, the Manor Lord, the Steward, and me…
If you had to pick the easiest person to mess with among us, it would obviously be me, an ordinary servant.
So I’d been avoiding him with all my might, but…
“Are you deaf? I said come here!”
‘Good grief, he really just says whatever he wants.’
But what could I do? That servant looked like he was three times my size.
“Yes, sir!”
I hurriedly ran over to the Young Sect Leader. Then I clasped my hands together, bowed at the waist almost as though I were prostrating myself, and shouted loudly.
“It is an honor to meet the great Young Sect Leader of the Thunderblade Sect, the greatest sect in Guangzhou! I have always admired the Young Sect Leader, whose reputation is renowned far and wide. To finally meet you like this is the honor of a lifetime!”
The Young Sect Leader smiled proudly at my flattery.
“This young servant knows his manners.”
“Seems like you know your place. Now, let me ask you something. I hear you’re the only servant who attends to Miss Xiao. Is that true?”
‘Damn it, where did he hear that?’
But right now, the best thing I could do was act as foolishly as possible and slip away. I blinked stupidly and spoke in a clumsy, bumbling tone.
“Well, i-it is true, but saying I attend to her is a bit of a stretch. The only place I’ve been given permission to enter is the front courtyard of Nangan Garden. I merely sweep the dust there or run errands. I don’t actually attend to her directly…”
“I heard you have Miss Xiao’s favor. Are you saying that’s a lie?”
“Oh, no, no! Please don’t say such frightening things! Do you know how much the young lady despises lowly trash like me? She scolds me even if I merely approach her quarters. If such a false rumor reached the young lady’s ears, I’d really be done for!”
As I spoke, I hurriedly looked around as though I were genuinely afraid someone might hear me, trembling all over. That only made the Young Sect Leader and his servant look even more perplexed.
On the outside, I acted restless and anxious. On the inside, however, I was quietly snickering.
‘Yeah, this lowly piece of trash has been inside the young lady’s quarters and has even seen her face.’
The servant asked once more.
“…Is that really true? You don’t attend to the young lady?”
“Of course, of course! How could I dare tell a lie in front of someone like you?”
“Young Sect Leader. I don’t think we’ll get anything out of this fellow. Judging by how foolish he acts, I doubt he’d be capable of properly carrying out anything we asked him to do, either.”
“Hm…”
The Young Sect Leader frowned as he looked down at me. I lowered my head deeply and rolled my eyes around. At the same time, I prayed desperately inside.
‘Please work, please work, please work…!’
At last, the Young Sect Leader opened his mouth.
“There’s no helping it.”
‘Did it work?’
“Then I’ll ask you to do one simple thing. If you succeed, I’ll reward you handsomely.”
“Yes? What kind of thing…?”
“Come with me to the gatekeeper and tell him exactly this: that Miss Xiao has permitted the Young Sect Leader to enter. Even if you’re a fool, you should be able to do at least that much, right?”
“Yes, yes?”
‘Are you insane?’
If I did that, I could die regardless of whatever reward he gave me, and he wanted me to do it?
But if I said that outright, things could really get ugly, so I immediately threw myself flat on the ground.
“No, I can’t! I can’t! If I act on my own and the young lady hears about it, I won’t even be able to collect my bones!”
“Don’t worry. Miss Xiao will become my wife in the future, so if I, her husband, explain things to her properly, she’ll understand. Just get me inside for now. I’ll take care of everything afterward.”
“B-but… What if that warrior questions me? And then the warrior asks the young lady about it again, and the young lady…?”
“Do you think some mere gatekeeper would question you when I’m standing there with you? I told you there’s no need to be afraid.”
“But, but…”
“Why do you have so much to say?!”
Unable to endure it any longer, the servant grabbed me by the collar. As I’d said earlier, the servant was three times my size, so I was lifted into the air by my collar.
Suddenly, my neck was constricted, and I couldn’t breathe. When I began choking, the servant brought his menacing face right up to mine.
“Are you going to do it or not? Just answer that!”
“C-cough, c-cough, I c-can’t…!”
Smack!
The servant suddenly slapped me across the face.
After being struck out of nowhere, my head spun and my eyes filled with tears. As the cheek I’d been hit on began burning belatedly, the servant pressed me again.
“You still won’t do it? You still won’t?!”
‘I won’t! I said I can’t!’
But with my throat being strangled, no words would come out, and before I knew it, the servant had raised his hand again.
I squeezed my eyes shut at the hand that looked like it was about to come crashing down.
“Stop–!”
At the familiar voice, my eyes flew open.
I turned toward where the voice had come from…
‘The young lady…!’
In the distance, I saw a familiar figure.
A person wearing a ‘myeokri’, several layers of fabric draped around it, walking toward us with white cloth fluttering in the wind.
There was no mistaking it.
It was the young lady.
The young lady approached me with an arrogant, dignified stride. Two warriors dressed in gray martial uniforms followed behind her, one of whom was a familiar face.
‘Brother Im?’
No, even Brother Im had come?
My joy lasted only a moment before my face turned deathly pale. The situation was becoming more serious by the second.
‘The young lady shouldn’t be coming out.’
I’d tried to resolve this myself precisely because I knew something like this might happen!
But unaware of my thoughts, the young lady continued walking steadily toward me. The Young Sect Leader also seemed completely unable to imagine the young lady would appear dressed like this, and he stood there dumbfounded.
The young lady eventually reached me and coldly glared at the servant.
“Let him go.”
The startled servant loosened his grip.
I was suddenly thrown to the ground, but I didn’t even have time to feel the pain. I frantically coughed.
Brother Im supported me from the side.
“Brother Im, how…?”
“Shh.”
But in response to my question, Brother Im merely put a finger to his lips. By then, the Young Sect Leader had regained his composure and forced the corners of his mouth upward.
“Miss Xiao, it seems we finally meet. You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to see you. I originally wanted to visit you under better circumstances, but unfortunately, I’ve made you witness such an unpleasant scene. I am ashamed…”
“……”
“It seems the two servants had a minor quarrel. As it happens, I was already in the middle of trying to stop them. I’ll reprimand my servant properly, so why don’t you come with me for now…”
“You called that a minor quarrel?”
“What?”
The young lady suddenly let out a mocking laugh.
“Ha. I suppose the Young Sect Leader takes me for a fool who can neither see nor hear? You call it a quarrel when I clearly saw only our servant being excessively harassed?”
“Miss So, that…”
“Furthermore, I heard that your servant was pressuring mine, demanding to know whether I would allow him into my quarters. Did I hear that incorrectly as well?”
“……”
Only then did the Young Sect Leader clamp his mouth shut. Even I, who had been listening from behind, was surprised.
‘What? She heard all of that?’
Then she’d just been watching while he was bullying me?
Just as I was beginning to feel a little hurt by that thought, the young lady continued.
“Do you take me for a joke, Young Sect Leader? You knew perfectly well that this child is a servant under my authority, yet you humiliated him like this. Was that not an act intended to insult me?”
“No, Miss Xiao. It was just…”
“Furthermore, you threatened my servant and attempted to force your way into my quarters. If I have not given you permission, what difference is there between forcing your way into my quarters and threatening me? Is the Young Sect Leader of the Thunderblade Sect truly such a shameless man?”
“You wouldn’t open the door for me…!”
“You mean this was my fault? I heard that Hero Wang of the Thunderblade Sect values benevolence and righteousness above all else. Yet his son disregards and threatens a weak woman. How disappointing. I wonder what would happen if Hero Wang were to hear about this.”
“……!”
“I shall write a letter to Hero Wang immediately. I will detail every single act of rudeness you have committed here and ask him how you intend to take responsibility for the humiliation I have suffered!”
“M-Miss Xiao…!”
The moment Hero Wang was mentioned, the Young Sect Leader’s face turned deathly white.
It seemed that even a thirty-year-old man was afraid of being scolded by his father.
The Young Sect Leader gnawed at his lip as he agonized over what to do. Soon, he answered in a dejected voice.
“…I went too far. Though it was not my intention, I apologize for bringing shame upon you.”
“Are you planning to apologize with words alone?”
“T-then what should I do? I will do anything I can. So please, just don’t send a letter to my father…”
Watching the Young Sect Leader shrink into himself in an instant, I clicked my tongue.
‘Ugh, what a pathetic loser.’
Suddenly, the young lady’s voice softened.
“I understand that the Young Sect Leader is sincerely apologizing. I also have no desire to cause discord between the Thunderblade Sect and the Xiao Manor. What I want is simple.”
“What…?”
The young lady pointed at the servant.
“Slap him across the face exactly as he did my servant.”
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