Chapter 28
“Exactly the same… you mean?”
“If I repay him exactly as I received it, he won’t dare look down on me in the future, will he? However, I’m concerned that if I stop at merely one slap, the punishment will be too light for me to save face.”
“……”
“I’ll give him ten.”
Gasping, I covered my mouth with my hand. Even if she had merely repaid him twice over, one could say she had paid him back plenty, but the young lady had boldly demanded ten times as much.
The Young Master of the Sect flinched as well, but he nodded without much hesitation. It wasn’t him who was going to be hit, after all. He seemed to think that beating one servant was a bargain.
“Very well.”
“Y-Young Master…!”
The servant who was about to suffer the consequences was the one who panicked instead.
Regardless, the young lady gestured toward the guards. The guard standing beside Brother Im stepped forward. From his imposing aura, that servant didn’t look like he could last even one punch against him.
When the guard grabbed the servant by the collar, he began pleading with tears streaming down his face.
“I’m sorry! Please spare me, please… Argh!”
Smack!
The punishment began.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
“……Five, six, seven, eight.”
Smack! Smack! Smack!
“Urgh, ugh, kheugh!”
Watching the scene, I broke into a cold sweat. He was hitting him so hard that the sound of each slap was more like a thwack than a smack.
Bam—!
“Ten!”
Only after completing all ten blows did the guard release him. By then, the servant’s face was covered in blood. The servant staggered in place before eventually losing consciousness and collapsing onto the ground.
Thud!
But the young lady didn’t even spare him a glance. She simply turned her head back toward the Young Master of the Sect.
“Young Master.”
“…Yes, yes?”
The Young Master, who had been staring blankly at his servant, was startled and turned toward the young lady. Seeing him like that, I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him.
Well, honestly, I almost pissed myself from fear too…
Just as I was beginning to think that the young lady’s fearsome reputation hadn’t come from nowhere, she spoke in an emotionless tone.
“I heard everything you said outside these past few days. You said that your martial arts are highly accomplished, that you are handsome, and that, being in the prime of your life, you could entertain me day and night, did you not?”
“Those words, well, that was…”
“But that is not my type.”
“What?”
The young lady declared firmly.
“A body that knows nothing of martial arts, a frail, feeble body that looks like it would break if you so much as poked it!”
“What?”
“You must be younger than me, ignorant and foolish as though you know nothing of the world, without a will of your own and treating my words as absolute law. You must be pure, without greed for wealth or power, and able to smile brightly and innocently like a simpleton…”
“What?”
“Ugly.”
The Young Master of the Sect’s mouth fell open.
“An unparalleled ugly man is my type!”
With that, she abruptly turned around.
Thanks to the young lady, who had suddenly dropped a bombshell and quickly disappeared, a strange silence descended over everyone.
I, too, stared blankly at her retreating figure before suddenly thinking…
‘Could she mean me?’
***
It wasn’t long before I learned the truth of what had happened.
“How surprised do you think I was?”
Brother Im was the one who told me the whole story.
Apparently, Brother Im had been the first person to find me. He had been on his way back from visiting the steward, partly to discuss how the Young Master kept loitering around Sonangwon, when he happened to hear my voice and turned around.
He then found me bowing and scraping before the Young Master and his group. Something about the situation gave him a bad feeling, so he immediately went to Sonangwon.
He had reported my situation to the young lady first and intended to come rescue me, but as soon as she heard what had happened, she had gone out herself before he could even stop her. Brother Im said he had been so shocked that he could hardly believe it.
“You… Even though I said I was rooting for you, I never imagined you’d be favored this much. You’re really something, aren’t you?”
“Hehe, I just got a little closer to the young lady.”
“‘Just got a little closer’? Judging by the way the young lady was getting angry…”
“Huh?”
“Ahem, never mind.”
Brother Lim cleared his throat and changed the subject.
Anyway, Brother Lim and the young lady arrived in time to see me being slapped, and everything after that proceeded just as I already knew.
Only then did I ask what I had been curious about.
“Then she didn’t hear everything the Young Master said? I thought she had heard everything when she mentioned him threatening to enter her quarters.”
“How could the young lady have known when she had only just arrived? The only reason the Young Master would have had to threaten you was that, so she must have simply guessed. As it happened, she guessed correctly.”
“Phew, that could have been a disaster. If the Young Master had realized that the young lady hadn’t heard him…”
He could have denied ever saying such a thing and instead accused me of framing him.
Thinking about it that way, I realized just how remarkable it had been that the young lady had come to save me. Technically, I was merely a servant; whether I was being beaten or not wasn’t something my master necessarily had to concern herself with.
And yet I had mistakenly thought she had simply watched me being bullied and had even felt hurt about it.
I scratched my cheek in embarrassment.
And then, the very next day. I thanked the young lady.
“Miss, thank you for yesterday. If you hadn’t come, I really would’ve been in serious trouble. I usually did a good job of avoiding him, you see. But of all times, I just happened to get caught at that exact moment…”
“Enough.”
“Still, you were reckless too, Miss. That Young Master looked completely unhinged yesterday. What if you had gotten caught up in it too? Next time, don’t step in yourself and just send someone else, okay?”
“If I hadn’t stepped in, you would have…!”
The young lady abruptly raised her head, then suddenly stopped. After staring intently at me, she suddenly asked,
“Did you go home yesterday?”
I tilted my head.
“Home? I didn’t.”
“Why?”
“Huh? Of course I didn’t. Things have calmed down a little now, but if I had gone home looking like that yesterday, my mother would’ve been so shocked she would’ve fainted.”
“Didn’t you think I would faint?”
“Huh? Why would you?”
When I asked as though I genuinely didn’t understand, the young lady suddenly shouted angrily.
“You were ugly! Do you know how much uglier your already ugly face looked with one cheek swollen up like that? Even after it returned to normal, you’re hardly worth looking at. You should have waited until you were completely healed before coming…”
“Huh? But you said you liked ugly people.”
“I said you were–”
The young lady suddenly fell silent.
“……”
“…Unparalleled ugly.”
“Shut up.”
“An unparalleled ugly man is my type.”
“Get out.”
“A frail, feeble body that looks like it would break if poked, a body that knows nothing of martial arts, a foolish simpleton who is innocent and bright as a blank slate. A younger man who is younger than you. Could it be that…”
“Are you not going to leave?”
“Is it me?”
Clatter!
For the first time in a while, the young lady grabbed the table. Seeing how she looked ready to flip it over right then and there, I hurriedly stopped grinning and tried to calm her down.
“Whoa, whoa, I’m joking! I’m joking! It’s not like you really said I was your ideal type, right? You were just so annoyed by that Young Master that you said whatever came to mind to get rid of him, right…?”
“……”
“…Although I do seem pretty similar.”
“Get out.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t be like that. I’ll tell you my ideal type too. A martial arts genius who never misses, no matter what you throw at her! Weak body, but a strong heart… gentle on the outside, strong on the inside! An older woman who knows her way around the world and whom I can rely on! A cold city woman who is cold to everyone else but warm to me!”
“You, you…!”
“Above all…”
I said firmly,
“An unparalleled beauty.”
“……”
“By the way, that’s not you, is it?”
The young lady answered,
“Get out right now!”
Crash!
She finally overturned the table, and I hurriedly ran outside. Even so, I couldn’t stop the ticklish feeling in my chest, and I burst out laughing.
‘She’s really reassuring.’
I hadn’t been able to say it because I was too busy teasing the embarrassed young lady, but that was actually what I had wanted to tell her the most.
At that moment, the young lady had truly made me feel safe. Until then, no matter how unfairly I was treated or how indignant I felt, I had no choice but to endure it.
But at that moment, I didn’t have to.
Watching her take revenge had been a little frightening, but honestly, I had felt so relieved. It was as though there was nothing left in this world for me to fear.
‘Is this what it feels like to have someone on your side?’
If so, I should treasure the person on my side even more.
I hummed as I walked away. As I enjoyed the peace I hadn’t felt in a long time, I thought,
‘Nothing bad will happen now, right?’
***
“You damn bitch!”
Wang Ju-geon, who called himself the Young Master of the Thunderblade Sect, gripped his wine cup and vented his fury.
In front of him, the servant with his face swollen all over carefully asked Wang Ju-geon,
“Young Master, Miss Xiao surely won’t really tell Sect Leader Wang about this, will she…?”
“Let her tattle if she wants!”
He shouted boldly, but Wang Ju-geon couldn’t hide his anxiety and secretly trembled his legs.
Wang Ju-geon thought to himself,
‘If Father finds out, I’m screwed.’
In truth, Wang Ju-geon wasn’t the Young Master of the Sect at all.
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