“Brother Bang...?”

At the woman’s words, the surroundings went still.

The bustle vanished in an instant and a thick silence settled—so out of place it was jarring.

I rolled my eyes around, checking.

I looked behind me and to my sides; no one was there.

But the woman was staring holes straight through me.

“...Pardon?”

With a baffled look, she pointed at me.

“Me...?”

“...”

I asked again, but no answer came.

All I could feel was the same silence, and all I could see was the woman’s eyes trembling as she looked at me.

She looked plenty flustered herself, sure.

‘...What is with this lady?’

Though maybe not as much as me.

For the second time this year, I had to feel genuinely thrown.

The first was when I met that damned old man Yoo Cheongil.

This was the second.

‘...Who is she?’

Calling me Brother Bang out of nowhere.

At a glance she looked at least ten years older than me. What nonsense.

‘Ah, unless...’

I focused on her and thought.

‘She’s senile?’

It wasn’t something I could bring myself to say out loud, but it seemed the most likely.

Didn’t look old enough for that, though.

How did she even know my surname?

‘This is bad.’

I shifted my gaze, looking around.

Every eye in the room was fixed on me and the woman.

Poison King’s stare was especially sharp.

Ah. We’ve managed to screw this up big right from the start of the banquet, haven’t we?

I was swallowing dry over and over when—

Poison King, who’d been watching me, turned his head to her and spoke.

“Madam.”

‘Wow, shit.’

At his word, my heart lurched hard.

Madam? He just called that woman Madam?

‘Poison King’s wife, then...’

That would be Pi Yeonjin.

Eldest daughter of Yeonryeon Trading Company, a very famous consortium in Sichuan.

I’d heard she had two sons and a daughter.

In her youth she was said to be a noted beauty of Sichuan.

‘Indeed.’

Set aside her flustered manner; her looks were undeniably striking.

If I remembered right she should be past forty, but she barely looked a hair over thirty.

‘Which would mean...’

Pi Yeonjin. I looked from her to the other woman beside her.

She looked barely over twenty, and—also—

‘Pretty.’

She was.

Long straight hair, skin with a hint of sun gave off a sense of life.

The slight smiling cast of her features held a fresh brightness.

But the alien undertone that hid whatever she was thinking only made it more alluring.

A woman who’d inherited both Pi Yeonjin’s beauty and Poison King’s peculiar aura in full.

The moment I saw that, her identity rose up in my mind.

‘That must be Poison Blossom.’

A flower blooming with poison.

Tang Yeran, Poison Blossom.

Poison King’s daughter, called the Tang Clan’s cherished jewel.

My gaze stuck on her for a moment—unconsciously, just for a second.

Because the feeling was odd.

Sssk.

‘...!’

Her eyes came to me as well. She’d noticed I was looking.

We held each other’s gaze for a beat and then—

Bright.

Tang Yeran gave me a small smile.

A soft radiance like a flower opening.

It startled me a little, but I watched it, even, then dipped my head slightly.

My way of saying sorry for staring.

Her eyes widened a little at that.

What? Why is that surprising? I was wondering when—

“...Forgive me.”

Pi Yeonjin’s voice came.

She seemed to have come to her senses late; she steadied herself and adjusted her posture.

“You look so very much like someone I know that I rudely slighted a guest. I’m sorry.”

Someone I resemble.

For that, she’d even said my surname—was it really a mistake?

“...Ah, no. It’s fine.”

Thankfully, she wasn’t just some random lunatic. I accepted the apology with an awkward smile.

Then—

“...But.”

Pi Yeonjin looked at me and went on.

“May I ask you something?”

“Pardon? Ah, yes.”

She asked me:

“Your name is... Young Master Bang Sungyeon, yes?”

“That’s right.”

“Might I... ask which household you’re from?”

“...Pardon?”

Right there, a chill ran.

Honestly, I should’ve caught on then. Caught on and lied if I had to.

“The Bang Family of Liaodong.”

“...!”

But I didn’t. Why did I do that?

I don’t know either.

Hearing my house, Pi Yeonjin faltered.

Her eyes shook far harder than before. Like an earthquake.

“Ah... th-the... no... no.”

“...Madam? Are you all right?”

I asked, wondering what she was doing, and Pi Yeonjin suddenly stepped toward me.

‘What? Why are you—’

Clamp—!

Out of nowhere she seized my forearm.

“...Young Master.”

“Y-yes?”

“By any chance... by any chance, what is your father’s name...?”

“...My father?”

You mean the head of our house I’m ashamed to bring up?

Why suddenly ask about my father? And with that rattled a face?

That’s when a bad feeling started.

Because I remembered.

The reasons most women who questioned me like this had.

I should’ve realized sooner; I realized far too late.

“...Why...?”

“...Please answer me.”

“...”

I flicked my eyes to Poison King.

He was watching us with that signature blunt look.

Maybe I was imagining it, but I felt killing intent in that gaze.

Goddamn.

I swallowed and answered Pi Yeonjin.

Praying inside that it wasn’t so.

“...Bang, Cheon for the first syllable, Ho for the second.”

“...!!”

At my words, Pi Yeonjin dropped as if struck, collapsing to the floor.

Uh—fuck?

“Ah... aaah...”

She covered her mouth with her hand and let out a muffled sound.

“M-Madam...! What’s wrong...!”

“...Bang... Brother Bang... are you truly...”

“...Ah, for fuck’s sake.”

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but spit a rough curse.

I knew it.

As always, my father was the same this time too.

‘...Damn it. Never of any use to my life.’

I swallowed curses with the image of my pretty-faced father.

There are three men of the Bang line.

Of them, I was a bit less handsome than my brother.

People often said I was the spitting image of my father, though.

And women who reacted like this to me—most of them had similar reasons.

Either they’d fallen for my father in his younger days.

Or they fancied they’d had a hot romance with him back then.

Or else—

‘They still love my father.’

Whatever the reason, it was all the same shitty mess to me.

If possible—

‘...I hope it’s not the last one.’

If it was the last reason—

This place might be my grave.

Poison King was glaring at me.

As if he’d kill me right now.

****

This so-called welcoming banquet was far too much of a mess to call a banquet.

How could it not be? The lady of the house grabbed a bright young man and reddened her eyes, and on top of that—

She looked at him with a gaze like she was longing for something.

Thankfully, Pi Yeonjin soon restored her face and posture to their original state.

But it was already too late.

Meaning things had gone too sour to salvage the mood.

Even so, the banquet wasn’t halted.

Because its host and the head of the household did not permit it.

If it were me, I’d have flipped the whole thing just from being pissed.

Poison King didn’t.

Which made it harder.

“Ugh...”

Outside, I let out the sigh I’d been holding.

“Nearly gave me indigestion.”

Actually, maybe I already had.

My stomach felt exactly that heavy.

“Are you all right?”

Cheon Eujin asked, sounding worried.

“...Yeah, I’m fine. Worst case, I’ll prick a finger.”

“...Prick a finger?”

He looked at me like he had no idea what I meant.

Ah, right.

‘We didn’t do that here, huh.’

In my past life, whenever I got indigestion my grandmother would prick my finger now and then.

Every time, my sister would look at me like I was weird.

When I told her it cleared indigestion, she said she’d try it too.

‘...Then she brought a sword to my finger and we had a huge fight.’

Calling it a fight is generous; I was the one who got beat.

That psycho was a bitch even our father couldn’t do anything about.

‘...Ugh.’

The face popping up out of nowhere made me shiver.

“There’s... something like that.”

I let it slide with a faint grin. No point explaining.

The three of us walked.

After a bit of silence, Cheon Eujin turned to Do Hyeong this time.

“Senior, then what do we do from here?”

We’d delivered Full Moon to the Tang Clan and even received Poison King’s clear promise to see it done.

So what now? Do Hyeong answered, blank-faced.

“We wait.”

“Until the repair of Full Moon is finished?”

“Yeah.”

“...We’ll be in Sichuan for a while then.”

Do Hyeong nodded.

I didn’t know how Full Moon would be repaired, but no sword gets fixed in a day or two.

Judging from Full Moon’s condition, at least several days were a given.

Going back to the Blue Moon Sect and returning to fetch it in the middle of all this would be stranger still.

We’d likely have to stay until the repair was done.

‘So how long is that supposed to be?’

I had no sense of how much time we’d spend in the Tang Clan.

‘Hmm...’

I scratched my cheek.

I ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) wanted to get back as soon as possible if I could.

‘...And by the look of it, we should probably get out as fast as we can.’

Right now I felt a bit like I was sitting on a bed of needles.

There was that Heaven-Breaking Palace lot we ran into on the way here.

And of course the Poison Sovereign’s secret archive they mentioned.

It all screamed that something was going to happen—or that something was already happening.

On top of that—

‘Madam Pi is the biggest problem.’

Pi Yeonjin, who mentioned my father and slumped down; Poison King watching that.

And me.

‘...Damn...’

Thinking of that moment made my hands tremble on their own.

‘What the hell have you been doing.’

My father came to mind.

Out of three hundred sixty-five days a year, three hundred of them some woman trouble blew up around that man.

Because of that, sparks flew my way more times than I could count.

A rotten man who not only lived up to his looks but indulged them well beyond—that was my father.

‘...Never thought he’d be tied to the lady of the Tang household.’

I didn’t want to know what happened, and I felt I shouldn’t.

But—

‘...Truth is, I can already see it.’

Just looking made it obvious.

I only hoped it wasn’t.

‘No wonder.’

What he’d said about Sichuan now sounded different.

He’d said Sichuan was dangerous ground and never to get involved with the Tang Clan.

‘...No way.’

Was Pi Yeonjin the reason?

The woman he’d flirted with happened to be the lady of the Tang household.

Knowing that, did my father warn me?

‘Nah, surely not.’

Surely he wasn’t that insane.

I prayed hard for that.

‘...’

But I had a bad feeling I was right.

My father was, in reality, insane.

“...Fuck.”

How does he always make everything so shitty? I cursed like a sigh, and Cheon Eujin flinched.

“...Young Master Bang?”

“Ah, sorry. My stomach’s really off.”

“Shall we go rest first?”

“No. We were shown courtesy; we should do what we came to do.”

Right. We should go.

We were headed to the training ground the Tang Clan had provided.

They must’ve known this wouldn’t be a one- or two-day matter; they’d set aside a place for us to use.

A shame, though—

‘I need that old man for this.’

That Yoo Cheongil wouldn’t be around when I trained.

When he looked on, I could get a feel for things.

But the moment we arrived in Sichuan, he kept disappearing somewhere.

So I’d been training alone. Not that that was entirely bad.

Just a bit of a shame.

“Young Master Bang.”

“Yes.”

“A spar...?”

“Ah.”

I nodded at Cheon Eujin’s words.

“Let’s do it.”

“Ah!”

He beamed at my answer.

Is it really that fun?

I couldn’t say.

After I beat him last time, we’d had a few spars on the road to Sichuan.

I won those too.

Partly because I had the Moon Eyes, and partly because something had changed after I beat Yoo Cheongil’s younger self.

‘Not that I win clean every time.’

I could feel Cheon Eujin growing.

It’s laughable for someone weaker than him to talk about growth, but—

It was true.

He was getting stronger by the day.

Harder and harder to handle.

‘He’s going to find me out at this rate.’

I was worried he’d realize I wasn’t actually strong.

Even so, I sparred.

For a simple reason.

‘It’s fun.’

More than I expected.

Swinging a sword, being put on that razor’s edge.

People used to say martial artists weren’t normal.

I felt myself going abnormal, bit by bit.

I clenched and opened my stiff hand as I walked.

Just thinking about a spar made my body tense by itself.

I loosened up a touch as we walked, when—

“Bang Sungyeon.”

Do Hyeong suddenly spoke to me.

“Yes, senior.”

I looked at him; he was watching me with something on his mind.

Looked like he had something to say.

I waited. A beat passed, and—

“For this spar—”

Just as Do Hyeong began to say something—

“—!”

Clack!

He suddenly cut off and grabbed his sword.

A cool blue force lifted off the ends of his limbs.

“Who goes there.”

With an icy gaze, he spoke; Cheon Eujin belatedly gripped his sword as well.

For the record, I didn’t even react—just stood there.

‘Is someone there?’

I followed Do Hyeong’s eyes toward the trees.

“...Oh my.”

Someone stepped out with a sheepish look.

A face I knew.

Of course—I’d just seen her.

“Young lady...”

Do Hyeong frowned at her.

At that, the woman—

“Caught me. How embarrassing.”

Poison Blossom, Tang Yeran, smiled.