It was the White King.

The Family Head of the Mo Yong Family had arrived out of nowhere. At the sight, not only I but even the branch chief beside me had our jaws drop.

“......He came here? This isn’t a distance he could arrive from at this hour.”

He was supposed to be at the Mo Yong Family around now. No way.

“Did he receive the letter and run here?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Do you think that’s a distance someone can cover after receiving that?”

The branch chief reacted like she could not believe it. It seemed that way to me too. Even if he had received the letter, he would have received it yesterday.

If he had run here, that meant it had taken him less than a day.

Did it make sense to run this distance in that time? No matter how I looked at it, it did not.

But the evidence was right in front of me, so I could not simply refuse to believe it. The White King had already run all the way here.

“Family Head. How did you......”

The moment I tried to speak to the White King, he appeared directly in front of me.

“Where is my daughter?”

His heavy voice was filled with powerful fighting spirit. The moment I heard it, my body stiffened without my realizing it.

This was the first time I had ever felt this much emotion from the White King.

“My daughter. I asked where she is.”

“......Your daughter is currently inside this guest room, speaking with the caravan head.”

As soon as I gave him the information, the White King moved. He headed into the guest room with somewhat urgent steps.

Before I knew it, I was following him as well.

When the White King entered the room, Mo Yong Yeongsun saw him and flinched in shock.

“Huh......? Fa, Family Head?”

“......Family Head Mo Yong?”

Go Munjin and Mo Yong Yeongsun were both startled by the White King’s appearance. Meanwhile, the White King immediately approached Mo Yong Yeongsun and examined her.

“Family Head, how are you here......!”

“Is your body all right?”

“Pardon......?”

“I asked how your body is.”

“Ah, I’m...... I’m all right.”

As if Mo Yong Yeongsun’s answer was not enough, he busily checked her body with a hand filled with energy.

After a short while.

“......Hoo.”

The White King exhaled as if relieved. I could see cold sweat beading at his temples.

It was strange how quickly it disappeared despite him not wiping it away.

The White King quickly changed his expression and showed proper courtesy to Go Munjin.

“It has been some time, Head of Aju Merchant Caravan.”

“......I greet the Family Head of the Mo Yong Family. It has been a long while.”

“Forgive my discourtesy. I received an urgent message and came here without advance notice.”

“Not at all. I understand.”

That told me everything.

The White King really had received the message and run here.

Insane. He ran that distance?

Does he even have the energy for that?

I did not know how vast the White King’s energy was, but it was astonishing that he could have run here like that and still have any left.

No.

Maybe he did not.

“......Eldest daughter.”

“Yes? Yes.”

“I will handle the remaining discussion, so wait outside for a moment.”

“Family Head......? This is something I should—”

“That is an order.”

“.......”

Mo Yong Yeongsun bit her lip at those words.

“I will obey......”

Then she lowered her head and left. Her expression looked terribly poor.

While I was watching that, the White King spoke to me this time.

“Young Master Bang. Please go with her.”

I paused briefly at the way he looked straight at me and said it.

What I had been about to say was not all that different from what Mo Yong Yeongsun had wanted to say.

“Understood.”

I nodded and left.

Leaving Go Munjin and the White King in the room, I stepped outside and found Mo Yong Yeongsun standing there with her arms crossed.

I knew from her expression.

She was extremely angry.

“......Are you all right—”

“This is annoying.”

“Mm. Not all right, then.”

Mo Yong Yeongsun bit at her nails with sharp little clicks. Her face was filled with genuine irritation for the first time in a while.

“How did he come here?”

“How else? He ran, obviously.”

“......It shouldn’t be a distance he could cover. How on earth......”

“He must have run with every bit of effort he had......”

Harder than anyone. It was obvious that he had run here like that.

But as if that irritated her terribly, Mo Yong Yeongsun kept frowning. I did not quite understand.

“It’s good that he came. Why are you getting annoyed?”

“......Because it was my work.”

“What?”

“It was a task I took on as acting Family Head. I should have resolved it. But now it’s completely twisted.”

“What do you mean?”

“As acting Family Head, I only needed to do it two more times. And now it has been taken away from me like this...... Those damned bastards......!”

Her clenched fist was strong with rising fury. It looked thin and bony, but combined with her expression, it was fairly frightening.

“Two more times? What do you mean, two?”

“There is something. It is not something you need to concern yourself with. And why are you speaking casually? You said we should use formal speech.”

“You were speaking casually too.”

“......Shut up. I’m annoyed.”

“Uh, all right.”

“Haa.”

Mo Yong Yeongsun let out a deep sigh. Then she looked at me and said,

“......Since the Family Head is here anyway, it does not seem there is any more work for me to do. I was just wondering whether I should send another urgent message because of the schedule. Perhaps I should call this fortunate instead.”

“You were going to send another urgent message?”

“The things Aju Merchant Caravan demanded were not matters I could decide myself. In the end, I would have had to send word to the family and ask.”

She had fully returned to formal speech.

Feeling that, I looked back.

Did the situation change somewhat because the White King appeared?

I stared at the guest room for a moment.

Had we waited outside like that for about an hour?

The White King came out.

His expression was completely different from the urgent one he had shown earlier. He had returned to his usual self, calm and coldly composed.

As he came out, he spoke to Mo Yong Yeongsun.

“We return.”

“......Have you finished your discussion?”

“Yes. Let us go back.”

With those words, the White King moved.

The matter ended in an instant.

Just as I wondered whether it was all right for it to end so quickly—

“Young Master Bang.”

“Yes?”

This time, the White King approached me. He took a letter from inside his robes and handed it to me.

“This is a letter for you.”

“For me?”

“It is from Heavenly Fist.”

“......!”

My eyes widened slightly when I heard who had sent it.

Did that old woman have anything to say to me?

Ah.

Just from the look of it, I already did not want to read it.

As I accepted the letter with a frown, the White King said,

“I was too pressed by the situation earlier to say it, but I can say it now.”

Then the White King suddenly lowered his head to me.

Seeing that, both Mo Yong Yeongsun and I were startled.

“Thank you for saving my daughter. I mean that sincerely.”

“......No, not at all.”

“My gratitude cannot be repaid by this alone, but I will send support to the Bang Family later.”

“Could you please refrain from doing that? I think it would be better to send it to the Academy instead.”

“......Very well.”

The moment I heard “support,” my face went flat.

Send it to my house? So it could get stolen again somewhere?

I could not bear to watch that.

“I came in haste, so the carriage’s travel will be slow. It will probably arrive in half a day or so. Wait until then and return with us.”

“Thank you for your consideration. I will not refuse.”

I was tired.

In truth, the backlash from when the Heavenly Demon used my body had not fully healed either. If possible, I wanted to ride in the Mo Yong Family’s carriage. Their carriages were expensive, so they were comfortable.

After hearing my answer, the White King nodded and left with Mo Yong Yeongsun.

Watching them go, I put a bit of distance between us.

That was when the branch chief, who had been standing far away, approached.

“Well. This is unexpected, isn’t it?”

My gaze moved to her smiling face.

“I knew the White King cherished his daughter...... but I didn’t know he cherished her that much.”

“It isn’t surprising for a father to cherish his daughter.”

“There are still degrees to these things. It is not especially proper for the Family Head of a great family to act that way. Anyway, this is perfect.”

“What is?”

The strength in my eyes sharpened slightly as I looked at the branch chief.

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“I asked what is perfect.”

“What a strange thing to ask, Prince. If Family Head Mo Yong cherishes his daughter that much, then using his daughter would be quite—”

The branch chief closed her mouth mid-sentence.

“Ah. This won’t do, will it?”

She erased the smile from her face. Then she shrugged and spoke to me.

“There was one more person here who cherishes her that much. If things went wrong, this could have become serious.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Prince. Kill the killing intent first, then speak. At this rate, my neck might get sliced clean off.”

“You know that well.”

GRAB—!

“Ghk!?”

No sooner had I spoken than I seized the branch chief’s body.

I wrapped the killing intent surging from my heart directly around my skin.

“I showed you so you would understand. Don’t touch what you shouldn’t.”

“Ghk......”

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we stayed on good terms? Don’t touch her. If you do, all of you die.”

“Kgh, kgh.”

WHOOOOOSH—!

When I spoke while driving my energy into her, it was not long before the branch chief tapped my arm.

At the feeling, I loosened my grip.

“Cough...... cough......”

“I hope it ends as a warning. Your side should not waste your strength either. I’m tired and want to rest.”

The people who had come disguised with the branch chief were trying to draw their swords, so I looked at them as I spoke. At my gaze, they flinched and stepped back.

“Whoa. I really almost died there.”

The branch chief spoke. Her voice had returned from the male voice I had heard until a moment ago to a woman’s.

“Phew.”

For some reason, she looked refreshed.

That irritated me even more.

“How fun. Prince, are you sure it’s all right to hand me information like this?”

She meant the fact that I cherished Mo Yong Yeongsun more than necessary, just like the White King did.

Whether it was fine for me to reveal that like this.

“It must be because it’s fine to give it to you. And.”

I looked at the branch chief and smirked.

“You already knew anyway. Both the White King’s state and mine.”

“.......”

At those words, the smile disappeared from the branch chief’s face.

“How boring.”

She shrugged. She did not seem to care about the red marks on her neck.

“You knew that and still strangled me? That’s a bit wicked.”

“It means I don’t intend to play along with your dogshit games.”

“......Hmm.”

She had been needling me again and again, so I showed her once.

A warning not to get on my nerves.

At my warning, the branch chief smacked her lips.

“Fine. I won’t play this joke. I was thinking I might call it even for being strangled, but seeing how angry you are, I doubt that would be enough.”

The branch chief rubbed her neck as she spoke.

“I’ll tell you one interesting thing. Think of it as a gift for our relationship.”

“Something interesting?”

“That’s right.”

Was she saying she would give me information?

Why?

Lately, the branch chief had been trying to give me more and more things.

I stared at her, trying to figure out her intent, but there was nothing I could read.

That damned woman was not the type to reveal such things easily.

So I simply stared, waiting to see what she would say.

“This is only a rumor, but I thought it might be amusing, so our prince should know about it too.”

“What rumor?”

“It is still only spreading in Sichuan, but...... well.”

The branch chief stepped closer and whispered in my ear.

“They say the Sword Saint Yoo Cheongil’s bloodline has appeared. Claiming to be his direct inheritor, no less.”

“......?”

......What kind of insane nonsense was this now?