I followed the guide straight to the place.

The destination was the banquet hall. By the time I arrived, a lot of people had already gathered.

Because of the letter I’d gotten from Murong Yeongsun, I wasn’t doing a great job controlling my expression.

It got worse when I stepped inside.

“Oh my.”

“......”

As soon as I went in, I saw a face that definitely shouldn’t have been there. An overwhelming beauty with a cold air about her. Murong Yeongsun was sitting there like she owned the place.

She looked at me and let a faint smile tug at her lips, and I had to pretend I didn’t see it.

‘Why is she here again.’

Seeing her in broad daylight earlier had already been ominous enough. I hadn’t expected to run into her here too.

I couldn’t make sense of how this situation had come about, and on top of that, the only empty seat left was right next to Murong Yeongsun.

I quietly looked around, but in the end, I had no choice but to sit there.

I dragged my heavy feet over and sat down.

“We meet again?”

“......Yes.”

Murong Yeongsun greeted me brightly. Naturally, that greeting made me look like I’d just bitten into shit.

As I was wondering how things had ended up like this—

“Young Master Bang......”

If Murong Yeongsun was on my right, the person on my left—

Tang Yeran carefully spoke to me.

“Are you feeling a bit better...?”

“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”

A sideways glance.

I subtly checked our surroundings, then spoke to Tang Yeran.

“...Young Lady Tang, aren’t you not supposed to be sitting here?”

“Sorry?”

“From what I can see, your blood relatives are over on the other side.”

The direct Tang bloodline. If the Clan Head was at the head table, then there would be her mother, the Young Clan Head, and—

‘Why is that bastard glaring at me like that again?’

The young man in front with the fiercest face, Poison Dragon, was glaring daggers at me.

‘He really does look terrifying.’

It wasn’t easy to even look back at him. His features were sharp to begin with, but with him staring like he wanted to kill me, his aura was no joke.

On top of that—

[......That little punk......?]

The one who was a perfect copy of Poison Dragon—

No, more accurately, the one Poison Dragon was said to take after completely—Poison Sovereign—was also floating in the air, glaring at me.

[How dare he, when our precious Yeran is right there...... and what is with that sharp-looking girl?]

[They’re both lovely. If I had to pick, I’m on the right.]

[Are you insane? Are you saying Yeran is worse than that one?]

[Tastes exist to be respected. You’ve died of old age and only gotten more small-minded. Tsk, tsk.]

“......”

I pinched the bridge of my nose at the old men muttering. I really wished they would just shut up.

Maybe because I looked worn out, Tang Yeran tried to speak to me again, but—

“Yo—”

“Leave him alone.”

Murong Yeongsun cut her off.

“When he’s like that, it means he’s thinking about something deep. You shouldn’t poke at him.”

“......”

As if she were used to this, Murong Yeongsun took a sip of the tea in front of her. Hearing that, Tang Yeran narrowed her pretty eyes ever so slightly.

“...You two must know each other quite well?”

At Tang Yeran’s words, my eyes widened a little.

There had been an undefinable discomfort mixed into her voice.

Murong Yeongsun let out a short laugh at Tang Yeran’s reaction.

“Of course. We know each other very well.”

“...Young Lady Murong, please.”

“That’s how well we know each other. We were engaged, weren’t we?”

“...For fuck’s sake.”

I was just about to tell her to keep her mouth shut, and she went and blabbed like she was possessed.

“...Engaged?”

“Engaged?”

Sure enough, murmurs rose up around us.

“Little Sword Saint and the Murong Clan were engaged...?”

“I’ve never heard anything like that...?”

Things were getting stranger by the second, so I hurriedly raised a hand.

“...It’s not like that. Please, everyone calm down. There seems to be a misunderstanding. It’s a former engagement.”

The engagement had been broken off a long time ago. At least five or six years.

I tried to keep explaining—

“Says who?”

Murong Yeongsun said to me.

“I’ve never said I was going to break off the engagement.”

“...Young Lady Murong.”

I spoke like I was suffocating from her response.

“The broken engagement was already decided between the clans. You know very well that even if you don’t want it, there’s nothing you can do.”

We even received a hefty penalty fee because of the broken engagement.

It wasn’t just anyone; the side that demanded the break was a prestigious clan, so my money-ghost of a father said he’d gotten an enormous payout out of it.

‘Not that I have any idea where he spent it all.’

In any case, we got what we got, and since we took it, the broken engagement is a done deal.

On top of that—

“It was you who asked for the engagement to be broken in the first place.”

It had been done because Murong Yeongsun wanted it.

Because she didn’t like me. Because she didn’t want me near her. That’s why it was broken.

“......”

When I brought that up, Murong Yeongsun’s expression stiffened for a moment. Then—

“...That’s exactly it.”

She spoke with her face fully hardened.

“I shouldn’t have done something like that.”

“...Huh?”

Her voice was so worn-out that I was just starting to wonder what was with her when—

“So what you’re saying is, you weren’t exactly on good terms.”

“Huh......?”

“What?”

At Tang Yeran’s interjection from the side, Murong Yeongsun’s expression flipped.

Her eyes sharpened to the extreme, and a murderous air swirled around her.

“...Young Lady Tang. What did you just say?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

Even in the face of Murong Yeongsun’s attitude, Tang Yeran’s response was even stranger.

“If you’ve already gone as far as breaking off the engagement, it means you weren’t close, right, Young Master Bang?”

“...Huh? Ah... well, yes, that’s... not wrong.”

“Not wrong how? Can’t you say it properly?”

“...Ugh!”

Suddenly, Murong Yeongsun jabbed the chopsticks in her hand hard into my thigh. The pain almost made me scream.

How the hell was I supposed to be more clear than that?

Cold sweat started to trickle down. Why the hell were they both losing their minds on either side of me?

“......”

“......”

Tang Yeran and Murong Yeongsun locked eyes in silence. They didn’t say a word, but the looks they were trading carried an overwhelming force.

“...Young Lady Tang.”

“Yes, Young Lady Murong.”

“It’s been years since I last saw you. Your spirit’s gotten quite a bit stronger in such a short time, hasn’t it?”

‘It’s been a while, and your temper’s gotten mean, huh?’

“...Ah, has it? You also seem to have become even more beautiful than back then, Young Lady.”

‘You already had a nasty temper back then. Now it’s even worse.’

“......”

“......”

‘Wow.’

My Adam’s apple felt like it was moving on its own. It had been a long time since I’d seen a stare-down this vicious.

Why were the two of them suddenly fighting, with me stuck between them?

Just as I raised the back of my hand to wipe away the cold sweat that felt like it would start running—

“This is getting a bit noisy.”

A weighty voice cut through the atmosphere between the two.

The clash of auras dissipated in an instant, and Murong Yeongsun quickly smoothed out her expression and posture.

The owner of the voice was the Poison King.

“...My apologies.”

Murong Yeongsun straightened up and offered an apology. The Poison King took a sip of tea without even looking at her.

“Has the Murong Clan Head been well?”

“...Yes.”

“It has been some time since I last saw him, and I had just been wondering how he was. I consider it fortunate that I get to see you in his stead.”

Tap.

The Poison King set down the teacup he was holding, and with the sound, the air stirred faintly.

Feeling that, I clenched my fist. The hairs on my body stood on end.

It was a warning.

A warning not to act out any further, given the occasion and the seat.

“I heard that an honored guest had arrived. The Tang Clan’s situation is not good, but we did everything we could. I hope you will accept it with a generous heart.”

“...Not at all. I am already deeply grateful that you invited me.”

Even though the situation was a total mess, he was still treating her as a guest.

If you act up any more, I’ll kill you.

That was what it meant, and knowing that, Murong Yeongsun didn’t try to press her presence any further.

She’s always been frighteningly quick on the uptake. There was no way she hadn’t picked up on it.

“Then.”

The Poison King took a brief breath and spoke.

“From this moment... we will begin the banquet.”

At his words, the attendants all moved at once and began setting dishes along the long table.

The mood was far from good, but no one pointed it out.

****

The atmosphere of the banquet wasn’t particularly lively.

Tang banquets were always like that, but this time it was even more so.

‘Hmm.’

I couldn’t tell if everyone was reading the room or just matching the Poison King’s mood.

Everyone just quietly focused on their food.

That included Cheon Eujin and Do Hyeong, who had been summoned along with me.

The Tang bloodline was the same.

I also put food in my mouth just to fill my stomach.

‘So he has no intention of bringing up anything important?’

If he’d gone out of his way to call me here, I figured he’d say something at least.

‘So why is he just sitting there?’

The Poison King didn’t say a word.

He was literally just eating.

‘Hmm.’

That state struck me as oddly off.

There was no way he’d opened this just to eat a meal.

‘Is this a probe?’

It felt like there was some intent behind it, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.

So I kept stealing little sidelong glances at the Poison King to read his condition.

‘He looks really worn out.’

Even on a normal day the Poison King’s complexion wasn’t exactly rosy, but right now he looked especially pale.

‘I hadn’t seen him for a few days. Has he been moving nonstop?’

It was something that had happened in his own clan, and on top of that, it involved the vault.

It wouldn’t be strange if the Poison King had been moving like a madman.

‘The fact that he held a banquet in that state means......’

‘He dragged that exhausted body in here and opened a banquet as soon as he arrived?’

‘There’s definitely something.’

It was proof there was some special point in the current situation.

‘Mm.’

‘What is it?’

I was still turning it over in my head when I lifted my chopsticks—

“Try this too.”

Suddenly, a piece of food landed on my chopsticks.

I didn’t know what it was, but it was red.

At a glance, it looked pretty spicy.

“......Huh?”

“It’s... good.”

The person who’d given it to me was Tang Yeran.

“Ah, yes... I see. Thank you.”

With that awkward response, I went to raise my chopsticks.

“Not that. Eat this.”

The food slipped right off my chopsticks. This time it was Murong Yeongsun’s doing.

She took the food from me and quickly brought another piece.

It was something much lighter in color than the previous dish.

“You can’t handle spicy food, remember?”

“......”

She was right. I wasn’t good with spicy food.

“That one just now is really spicy. If you eat something like that, it’ll wreck your stomach, so eat this.”

“...Oh, uh. I see.”

It was hard to know how to respond, so I just went to put it in my mouth.

“Ah, so you can’t eat spicy food. Then how about this?”

Right before it reached my mouth, Tang Yeran snatched it away and brought yet another dish.

“......”

I couldn’t help smacking my lips at the food constantly changing.

‘...What the hell is this supposed to be?’

Was this some kind of intentional harassment?

I’d gone through plenty of that back in my school days in my previous life, so it was familiar in its own way.

What did I do back then? I think I used a recorder and ghosts to wipe out the kids who bullied me.

‘...But I can’t exactly do that here.’

In the current situation, that was absolutely off the table, so all I could do was sit here and take it quietly.

“No... this one.”

“Rather than that, this one......”

“Or maybe this......”

With them constantly taking and giving food, my chopsticks had long since left my hands.

I’d politely set them down to the side and was just watching the situation.

There was no sign of it ending.

So I had no choice but to let out a sigh and open my mouth.

“Um, could you please just stop—”

BANG-!

“Huh?”

A loud sound suddenly rang out from the table.

I widened my eyes to see what it was.

“...Hey. You.”

The fierce-looking young man in front of me—

Poison Dragon glared at me and spoke.

“Come outside. I’ll pound you into paste.”

“...?”

Why the hell is this bastard suddenly going off on me again...?