Free Web NovelThe frightened horse screamed and thrashed wildly. The carriage jolted and lurched from side to side.
Yeon Ryang hastily slammed the window shut, grabbed me, and pulled me down.
“Don’t move.”
I heard arrows slicing sharply through the air.
Every time an arrowhead punched into the carriage, splinters of wood flew. The shudder running through the frame felt horribly vivid.
“Hiiing!”
The horse gave a shrill cry as it reared, and then the carriage pitched forward while something was flung away outside.
It sounded like the horse’s windpipe had been cut and the carriage had lost all momentum.
“Damn it. Hold on tight, Little Sister.”
At the same moment, the carriage rolled head over heels in the middle of the road.
“Kyuuuk!”
Cane shrieked and burrowed into my clothes. I clenched my teeth and braced my whole body so I wouldn’t be thrown out of the wreck.
THUD! THUD-THUD! THUD!
The impact of the rolling carriage slammed straight through me, and my vision kept flipping over and over.
My head kept striking the wall and bouncing away from it until Yeon Ryang reached out and covered it with his hand.
The half-shattered carriage finally ground to a stop only after it had rolled through a thick carpet of fallen leaves.
At the same time, the rain of arrows stopped.
Yeon Ryang took his hand off my head and asked, “Little Sister. Are you all right?”
“Thanks to you. Ugh.”
I answered with a grimace, covering my nose with my sleeve. The thick smell of blood stabbed into my nostrils.
I couldn’t sense the driver anymore. He seemed to have disappeared when the horse and carriage were torn apart.
Holding my breath, I searched the surroundings for any sign of movement. Sweat pooled in my palms from sheer tension.
Two? Three?
Even with my senses sharpened as far as they would go, the presences I felt were faint as shadows. They had to be martial artists practiced in hiding their presence.
“Four. Assassins. Don’t rush in recklessly. It’s dangerous.”
Yeon Ryang whispered the words low. His voice was serious in a way that didn’t suit him. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
Damn it. Is this the Yuzhou Merchant Guild, or Third Madam?
If the Yuzhou Merchant Guild had sent assassins, that meant they were truly desperate to get their hands on me.
Tang Hwayeop was too proud to do something like this. If he came, he would come in person, not send assassins.
If assassins had been sent, it was probably Third Madam.
Though it could have been Tang Juyeop.
Frowning, I gripped the Dissolving-Power Poison in my hand. With my life hanging by a thread, there was no reason to be stingy with poison.
“Brother. I’m going to poison the area, so take Cane and move.”
“What? Little Sister, I’m not poison-resistant.”
“Cane will protect you. Cane, make sure you absorb it well.”
“Chrr!”
Answering boldly, Cane leaped onto Yeon Ryang’s shoulder and wound itself around his neck.
I let the Dissolving-Power Poison seep out through a gap in the broken carriage.
Yeon Ryang inhaled some of it with the air and twisted his face at once.
“Ugh. What is this? Little Sister, you carry some terrifying things around.”
“It won’t kill you. It just feels like your intestines are being twisted apart if you try to raise your internal energy.”
“Furball, do something about this. I don’t like the feeling of my internal energy scattering.”
“Chrr.”
Ignoring Yeon Ryang’s grumbling, I scattered more poison powder.
Cane’s eyes lit up when it caught the scent, but it swallowed its greed and stayed by Yeon Ryang’s side.
I’d spread both Dissolving-Power Poison and paralysis poison together, so there should be a reaction within one gak. It would be hard for them to make quick, agile attacks by then.
Hoping the enemy had no poison resistance, I sorted through the hidden weapons I could use.
I could feel the assassins tightening the encirclement. Adjusting his grip on his sword, Yeon Ryang asked, “You learned how to fall properly, right?”
“Yes.”
“When I count to three, we jump. One, two... three!”
At Yeon Ryang’s shout, I hurled myself out of the carriage. At the same moment, hidden weapons flew from all directions.
They had obviously been waiting for us to burst out.
Dodging a flying dart that skimmed past my face, I threw myself into a roll across the dirt.
It wasn’t pretty, but this was no time to worry about appearances.
I scrambled up and knocked away the storm of hidden weapons. Back to back with me, Yeon Ryang swung his sword and chuckled.
“Not bad. Your breakfall’s decent, Little Sister.”
“You really do have room for jokes. I don’t.”
Biting down on my lip, I swept my gaze around.
The assassins were still moving sharply. It seemed the poison had not spread through them yet.
The paralysis poison should have kicked in by now. Did I scatter too little? I should’ve used more.
Breathing hard, I glared at the shadows around us. The killing intent pouring toward me kept making my mouth go dry.
“Don’t rush in. I’ll take the left side first.”
Yeon Ryang murmured the warning.
His figure seemed to blur, and then his sword flashed from the opposite side.
“Aaagh!”
One assassin rolled across the ground with his arm severed. Yeon Ryang moved with stripped-down, exact precision and drove his sword deep into the assassin’s back.
The blank look on his face made the fine hairs on my body stand up, but I couldn’t condemn him for it.
If he didn’t kill them, we would die.
Yeon Ryang let his blood-wet sword hang loose and searched for his next target, eyes shining.
His reddened eyes carried a chilling light.
I could feel the enemy shrinking back in alarm at Yeon Ryang’s momentum. He had completely overpowered the assassins.
One of the hesitant assassins suddenly threw a hidden weapon at Yeon Ryang.
No. Don’t.
Before I could even finish the thought, my body moved on reflex and sent out a throwing knife.
I knocked aside the hidden weapon flying toward Yeon Ryang’s back, and the assassin’s gaze snapped toward me.
“Good instincts, Little Sister. With a little polishing, you’ll be useful.”
Without even turning around, Yeon Ryang tossed me the praise and flipped through the air, slicing across the chest of the assassin who had attacked.
Then he drew up his internal energy and struck through empty air.
CLANG!
Metal crashed against metal, and sparks burst out.
The assassin who had met Yeon Ryang’s sword staggered back with anxious, jerky movements.
He looked panicked, as though unable to gather his internal energy.
I caught sight of the hidden weapon on the ground and hurriedly sent out a Butterfly Dart as well.
The moment I confirmed that the hidden weapon I’d glimpsed was not a Tang Clan item, a strange sense of relief washed through me.
It meant the people trying to take my life were not someone who had once brushed past me inside the Tang estate.
With sword-wielding assassins mixed in among them, they definitely were not Tang Clan martial artists.
If it had been household retainers who once breathed the same air as me coming to kill me, that really might have broken my heart.
Muttering inwardly, I threw paired pellets and widened the distance between myself and the assassin.
The assassin dodging them was visibly slower now.
It looked like the paralysis poison had worked properly.
Once the enemy could neither raise internal energy nor move quickly, it took Yeon Ryang no time at all to finish them.
He turned one fallen assassin over with the tip of his foot to check him, then calmly drove his sword through the man’s heart.
I swallowed and tightened my grip on my throwing knife.
They were assassins who had come for my life. It felt like I shouldn’t step back. Like I had to do my part too.
Then Yeon Ryang looked at me and stopped me.
“Stay back, Little Sister.”
“No. I also—”
“I’ll handle the cleanup, so stay back. There’s no need to deliberately give yourself memories you won’t enjoy, is there?”
Shaking his head, he came over and gently wrapped an arm around my trembling shoulders.
“Using poison and using a sword are completely different. Can you bear the feel of driving steel through human flesh? As long as you have enemies in the martial world, killing can’t be avoided forever... but, Gyeonga, you’re still too young. You don’t need to get used to that feeling already.”
Then he lightly pushed me behind him.
As though telling me not to dirty my hands.
...He was a good person.
My lips moved soundlessly before I answered at last, “Then I’ll only watch.”
“Do that.”
Yeon Ryang nodded and cut off the last assassin’s breath.
I watched in silence.
*****
By the time we reached the next village, it was late at night.
The inn runner blanched at the sight of us drenched in blood, but maybe this sort of thing happened often enough that he didn’t run.
“W-water for washing... should I prepare some?”
“I’d appreciate it if you could do that as quickly as possible. Can you also prepare a change of clothes? It’s too late to go to a cloth shop now. I’ll pay generously.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll see to it, Great Hero. Ah, and the rooms...”
“Two.”
The bowing, scraping inn runner led us to the guest rooms.
I was exhausted enough to drop where I stood, but the last shred of my conscience refused to let me climb onto a bed without washing first.
I sat slumped in a chair, nodding off, until Cane tugged at my hair as if telling me to get a grip.
“Young Lady. I’ll bring in the bathwater.”
Soon a young maid brought hot water for bathing into the room, along with a change of clothes.
I hurried into the bath. I wanted the thick smell of blood washed off me as quickly as possible.
Just as I finished and was about to lie down on the bed, Yeon Ryang knocked from outside.
“Little Sister. Can I come in?”
“Yes. Just a moment.”
I pulled on my outer robe and opened the door. Yeon Ryang stood there, looking worn with fatigue.
Just because he was an experienced martial artist didn’t mean the sensation of cutting people down would feel pleasant. He had probably had a long day too.
He stepped into the room, retied his sword belt, and said, “I’m worried they might come after us again. If we want to throw them off, it’d be best to use one room tonight, Little Sister.”
I nodded.
“All right. Then you can sleep on the floor, Brother.”
At that, Yeon Ryang pretended to wipe away tears.
“How cruel. I gave up my own bed to protect you, and now you mean to make this elder brother sleep on the cold floor? There’s a fine saying about respecting your elders.”
“Then go bring blankets from the next room. I’ll at least give you a pillow.”
“Our little sister is so generous.”
Yeon Ryang chuckled and shrugged. I tossed him a pillow.
Despite all his complaining about how cruel I was being, he obediently stretched out on the wooden floor. He didn’t seem to have any intention of fetching extra blankets.
After shooting him a sidelong glance, I lay down on the bed and pulled the blanket over myself.
Moonlight poured in through the narrow window gap. Maybe because the room was full of it, sleep wouldn’t come.
I hadn’t had the presence of mind to check, but... the driver had probably died.
It sat badly with me.
If he hadn’t taken me as a passenger, he might still be alive.
When I shifted restlessly, Yeon Ryang spoke as if to comfort me.
“It wasn’t your fault, Little Sister. Don’t keep it in your heart.”
“...Yes.”
“Enough. Let’s sleep. We’ll have to find another carriage tomorrow.”
“Forget ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) the carriage. Let’s just walk.”
I muttered the words dully. I didn’t want to get someone else hurt again.
Even at the flat heaviness in my voice, Yeon Ryang answered as lightly as ever.
“All right. Walking isn’t bad either. We’ve both got two good legs, don’t we?”
“Haha, what kind of thing is that to say?”
I laughed weakly and closed my eyes.
His attitude—like none of this was anything worth making a fuss over—comforted me a little.
