“Are you in there?”

“...You already know I am, so stop asking and come in.”

“Understood.”

CREEEEAK.

The door opened, and Yeon Wi appeared.

Tang Gwan let out a scornful snort.

“The son comes to shake me, and then the father comes to pat me down. You two really are a perfectly matched father and son.”

Yeon Wi tilted his head.

“What do you mean by that?”

Tang Gwan studied his face for a moment, then abruptly turned his head away.

“Forget it. Come sit down.”

“Gladly.”

A moment later, the two men sat across from each other at the tea table.

Yeon Wi breathed in the aroma and smiled.

“Did you brew this yourself?”

“There was no one below to do it for me, so I had no choice.”

“Where did you send the servants?”

“Poison art training comes with a great deal of risk. If they stayed inside this building, they could be poisoned and die.”

“You did the right thing.”

Tang Gwan turned his head.

“I only needed someone to deal with the chores after the training was over. If those idiots aren’t around, I have to do it myself.”

He really was an incorrigibly unstraightforward man.

But that was fine. Yeon Wi truly liked this change in Tang Gwan.

“By the way, ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ it seems you’ve gotten better at making tea.”

“...”

“If you hadn’t learned from someone, you couldn’t have drawn out this much fragrance in such a short time. The temperature is just right too.”

“What is it you’re trying to say?”

Yeon Wi asked lightly.

“Did your daughter teach you?”

Tang Gwan frowned.

“If you’re here to babble nonsense, then get out.”

“Haha, my apologies. I spoke out of turn.”

After wetting his throat with a sip of tea, Yeon Wi continued.

“I heard you were returning to Sichuan.”

He said it in such a smooth, gentle tone that it almost erased how abrupt the question actually was.

The corner of Tang Gwan’s mouth curled upward.

“And who told you that?”

“I merely heard a rumor. If it were true, though, I thought I should at least come and say my farewells.”

Tang Gwan’s eyes narrowed.

He quietly examined Yeon Wi’s face, but it did not seem like a lie. Then again, Yeon Wi was not the sort of man who would gain much by lying about something like this.

Tang Gwan turned his head.

“I’ve decided to put off my return to Sichuan.”

Yeon Wi’s eyes widened.

“You changed your mind?”

“That’s right.”

“Haha. Then I suppose my farewell can wait until later.”

Tang Gwan stared at Yeon Wi for a moment, then asked in a voice tinged with mild puzzlement,

“Are you really the Clan Lord of the Yeon Clan?”

“Hmm? And what exactly is that supposed to mean?”

“The first time I saw you was at the Service Council meeting. Back then, you were definitely not this kind of man.”

Yeon Wi smiled.

“And what kind of man was I?”

“Stifling, blunt, and incapable of reading the current.”

“Hahaha.”

It was a cold, brutally honest assessment. And in truth, Tang Gwan had indeed seen Yeon Wi that way.

“So I seem different now?”

“You do.”

“How do I seem to have changed?”

Tang Gwan only drank his tea instead of answering.

Yeon Wi had expected as much. And in any case, he knew better than anyone that he had changed.

Well.

Yeon Wi thought back on the man he used to be.

I have changed a great deal.

The weight of his clan’s name, his late wife’s dying wish, and his crushing duties had all made him especially rigid.

In a sense, it had been a defense mechanism, one he had built to protect himself. He had been pushed so hard mentally that, without it, he likely could not have held on to his sense of self.

But that was no longer the case.

He had seen his eldest son change, and he had seen the world changing with him.

His son had gone out into the martial world to meet that rapidly shifting age, and after that, countless things had happened.

In the process, Yeon Wi too had come to a great realization.

Time already lost can never be turned back.

Of all the things he regretted, the greatest was that he had failed to give his children the love they deserved.

It was something he regretted even more than his wife’s death. More than the helplessness he had felt before the death of the woman he had loved more than his own life, he regretted failing to care properly for the children born from that love.

The moment he realized that, Yeon Wi was finally able to let go of everything.

Because he did not want to live with any more regret.

Yeon Wi opened his mouth.

“Let me ask your pardon in advance. I am not especially familiar with the affairs of Sichuan.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Do you have a wife?”

He was asking whether, as in his own case, his wife had passed before him.

Tang Gwan shook his head.

“She passed first, ten years ago.”

“I see.”

Yeon Wi did not ask how she had died. It was not a story worth hearing for casual interest, and no easy thing to tell either.

But there was one thing he did want to say.

“Did you love the deceased?”

Tang Gwan openly scowled.

“What exactly are you trying to say?”

“Strategic marriages are common in this age, but I find it hard to imagine that a Clan Lord like you would marry a woman you felt nothing for.”

“You’re wrong. I was never the sort to be bewitched by sweet nonsense about romance.”

Yeon Wi shook his head.

“Even if it was a strategic marriage, a man like you would still have cherished the deceased. That is what I think.”

“...”

“Be good to your children. They are the fruit of the woman you loved. Since they are more precious to you than anyone else, let us make sure we leave behind no more regrets before we die.”

Tang Gwan laughed coldly.

“Do you make a hobby of dressing up lectures as advice? I feel as though I’ve heard something very similar before.”

Yeon Wi gave a bitter smile.

“My apologies. My regrets run deep, and every now and then, words like that come out before I know it.”

“Hmph.”

Tang Gwan folded his arms.

“That’s enough pointless talk. Did you hear it from your son?”

His tone was openly mocking.

Yeon Wi tilted his head.

“My son? Hojeong, you mean?”

“That’s right.”

“Did something happen?”

“He asked me to run as a candidate in the Martial Alliance Leader election.”

Yeon Wi’s eyes widened at once.

“When on earth did he do that?”

“He came by this morning, hanging around like a puppy that needed to take a dump, and said it to my face. You didn’t know?”

“I did not.”

Yeon Wi fell briefly into thought, then let out a small laugh.

“That sounds like him.”

Tang Gwan’s brows knit together.

“That sounds like him... That’s a rather strange thing to say. Were you expecting your son to do something like that?”

“If I had expected it, I wouldn’t be surprised now, would I? But having heard it, I understand. If it’s Hojeong, that is exactly the sort of move he would make.”

Curiosity entered Yeon Wi’s face.

“And how did you receive the proposal, Clan Lord?”

Tang Gwan only looked at him without answering. Then Yeon Wi’s face filled with surprise.

“You agreed?”

“I did.”

“B-But why?”

If it was Yeon Hojeong, making that kind of proposal was certainly in character.

Of course, it was not Yeon Wi’s own way. Whether in martial arts or politics, he preferred to be straightforward, and was not good at setting the board in advance or striking back in ways no one expected.

What truly surprised him, however, was that Tang Gwan had accepted.

“You know as well as I do what your son’s proposal means.”

“I do. He wants me to stand as a counterweight to Mo Yonggun. He wants me to draw Mo Yonggun’s eyes to this side, bring him down from the shadows, and put a Martial Alliance Leader in place who suits his own tastes. Is that not so?”

Yeon Wi shook his head.

“He may indeed intend to restrain Mo Yonggun’s ambitions, but he has no intention of installing a leader to suit his own tastes.”

“He does.”

“...”

“That boy’s eyes were fixed on the question of who ought to become Martial Alliance Leader. At least, that is how it looked to me.”

Yeon Wi’s face hardened.

“Who is it?”

“Even I don’t know that much. And even if I asked, I doubt he’d tell me. If you’re that curious, ask your son yourself.”

Yeon Wi nodded.

“I will.”

Tang Gwan smacked his lips.

“Whatever the reason, I’ll run in the election. And then I’ll lose.”

He did not seem to believe, even himself, that he could actually win the Martial Alliance Leader election.

Yeon Wi nodded.

“Yes. Most likely.”

Leaving aside Tang Gwan’s popularity or ability, the oppressive fear inspired by the Tang Clan of Sichuan was immense.

Its leader becoming Martial Alliance Leader? Almost every martial artist of the Orthodox Path would probably rise up in protest.

And beyond that, there was the fixed prejudice unique to the Orthodox martial world. To them, the Tang Clan—whose primary weapons were poison and hidden weapons—carried an image so poor it bordered on that of the Dark Path itself.

“The problem is that Mo Yonggun can’t possibly fail to understand that.”

“That’s right.”

“And naturally your son must have seen that far as well. Which means I’m nothing but a useless scarecrow.”

Tang Gwan tilted his head.

“I don’t understand what he intends to do by setting up a scarecrow like that.”

Since he had already made his decision, he seemed prepared to accept it whether he turned into a scarecrow or not. Then again, he had agreed even knowing he would lose, so he had clearly expected at least that much.

Yeon Wi looked at Tang Gwan for a moment, then shook his head.

“You said my eldest had someone in mind as Martial Alliance Leader material.”

“I did.”

“I know nothing about that part. But there is one thing I do know.”

“...?”

“At the very least, he will not make you into a scarecrow.”

A strange light flickered in Tang Gwan’s eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“My eldest is the sort of fellow who will calmly do things ordinary men could never even imagine if that is what it takes to win. Still, at the root of that hunger for victory, there is always a greater cause, and that is why I have let him continue as he has. In the meantime, he has done quite a few rather extreme things.”

“Hmph.”

“But my eldest has a line.”

“A line?”

“That’s right.”

Yeon Wi smiled.

“If someone has not been clearly judged an enemy, then even when he uses that person, he will not leave that person wretched.”

Tang Gwan sneered. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

“You think far too kindly of your son. In all my life, I have never seen someone charge ahead as recklessly as your boy.”

“He does charge ahead recklessly, yes. But the reason it has not led to greater harm is because he has a line he has thought through in his own way.”

“How interesting.”

“And perhaps I think this as well.”

Yeon Wi’s face turned serious.

“Even if he has no intention of making you Martial Alliance Leader, he may intend to make you into a giant capable of wielding immense influence in the Alliance’s political arena.”

“...!”

Tang Gwan’s face stiffened.

“What makes you think that?”

“Because only a figure of that magnitude can truly pressure Mo Yonggun.”

“...”

“And there is one more thing.”

A smile touched Yeon Wi’s lips.

“It seems my son thinks rather well of what kind of man you are.”

Tang Gwan spoke as though the idea were absurd.

“If that is true, then your son’s arrogance deserves to be called the greatest under heaven.”

“Why do you say that?”

“It’s arrogant enough for him to evaluate the Clan Lord of the Tang Clan however he pleases. But to think of making me a central pillar of the Alliance? That is arrogance well beyond the ordinary.”

“And yet because of that arrogant boy, the Ming Clan has fallen, and the entire balance of martial politics is being shaken.”

“...!!”

Smiling, Yeon Wi rose from his seat.

“Give me a little of your time. There is somewhere I would like you to come with me.”