A Tale Of A Scribe Who Retires To The Countryside [EN]: Chapter 274

274. Disparity

The carriage carrying Lady Kyunghee was leaving Hangzhou. Having just finished the Supreme Council of the Murim Alliance [a gathering of martial arts clans], one might expect some reflections, but silence filled the carriage.

Even Chunglang Sword Wi Gajin, the maid Hanga, and the usually talkative Soha were silent.

The reason was simple: Lady Kyunghee’s expression was not good.

Of course, she was not one to easily reveal her inner thoughts. Even now, she simply wore a calm expression, her face leaning on one hand propped against the window frame, her gaze fixed on the passing scenery.

But everyone knew that this was a sign of her displeasure.

“Do they really have to follow us?”

Lady Kyunghee suddenly asked. It was a vague question, but Soha smiled and replied.

“If you’re talking about the escort, there’s nothing we can do. Wi Hyung arranged it quite grandly. Isn’t it natural for the Garrison Commander to be worried?”

Soha said, looking at the twenty or so mounted soldiers visible through the window.

Clatter, clatter.

About ten riders behind Lady Kyunghee’s carriage, and about ten in front. A cavalry unit with spears and swords, riding military horses, was escorting the Lady’s carriage.

They were escorts that the Garrison Commander, who governed Hangzhou, had insisted on providing. Originally, it was a grand procession with several carriages and over a hundred people, but Lady Kyunghee frowned once, and it was reduced to its current size.

“Because of the last incident, Wi Hyung has suddenly become the most watched person in the Jianghu [the martial arts world]. There will also be those who want to obtain clues about the Martial Emperor or the Hyeoncheon Convergence [a legendary martial arts technique] from Wi Hyung. So, there is some validity to the concern that our group might get caught up in all sorts of troubles.”

“Foolishness.”

Lady Kyunghee said with a sneer.

“If there’s an opponent that Wi Gong can’t handle, a cavalry escort is meaningless. And if Wi Gong can handle it, why would we need them? It’s just a waste of manpower.”

Soha shrugged.

“Still, the Garrison Commander has to do something. Isn’t it a virtue of superiors to consider the difficulties of their subordinates?”

“So you accepted it.”

Lady Kyunghee said with a displeased expression. Soha took her words.

“So the Garrison Commander is grateful to you, too. If you really don’t like it, there’s a way to send them back appropriately…….”

“If I did that, they would be questioned by the Garrison Commander. Just leave them be.”

“Understood. They’ll be quite relieved to hear that. They’ll be less worried about being scolded by that stern-looking Garrison Commander.”

Lady Kyunghee turned her gaze back to the passing scenery. Soha also looked outside, following her.

“Anyway, we’re finally leaving Hangzhou. It feels like we’ve been here for a very long time, and yet it feels like it’s gone by so quickly.”

Soha’s words were quite relatable, but Lady Kyunghee didn’t react much.

“If you don’t mind, may I ask what you’re thinking about?”

Lady Kyunghee slowly turned her gaze. Soha was looking at her with a smiling face.

“The same as always.”

Without the slightest hesitation, Lady Kyunghee said, her voice as cold as her beautiful eyes.

“Thinking about how ‘he’ will come out.”

“To avoid confusion, are you referring to ‘the one who walks the path of the Martial Emperor’?”

“Yes.”

Lady Kyunghee sighed softly and continued.

“It seems that the Martial Emperor is in a situation where he can’t react immediately. Frankly, it seems his very existence is uncertain.”

Son Bin said he was ‘waiting.’ If it were the words of an ordinary scholar, it would mean nothing, but the mention of ‘the one who walks the path of the Martial Emperor’ is different. It means that even he can’t do anything.

Whether the Martial Emperor is dead, or in a distant place, or whether he is looking down from somewhere high up alone, as is his unique nature, one thing is certain.

The Martial Emperor of Hyeoncheon is not responding to this matter. Or he can’t.

“‘The one who walks the path of the Martial Emperor’……. This title is subtly long. It’s annoying to say. Can’t we just call him by his name?”

Soha, who was speaking, looked at Lady Kyunghee. A cute look like a child asking for permission, but Lady Kyunghee’s eyes did not change at all.

“I’ve already said that I don’t want to hear that name, haven’t I?”

Publicly mentioning the name ‘Son Bin’ is taboo, at least in front of Lady Kyunghee. Just like the word ‘Saja Hyuk.’

“Understood. Anyway, there are two possible reactions from ‘the one who walks the path of the Martial Emperor.’ He moves, or he doesn’t move.”

Soha did not dwell on it for long. He counted two fingers and said.

“If he doesn’t move, we’re grateful. If a dragon or a phoenix wants to play in the sky, we can just leave it alone. But he has already declared in front of you, milady. ‘I will not give up.’”

“Yes, he did.”

Lady Kyunghee’s eyes flashed slightly. As if Son Bin, who had been speaking while looking straight at her, was right in front of her.

“If that means he’s going to move, we can think of this in two ways. First, he uses external affairs to exert influence, and second…….”

“Stop!”

A rough voice from outside interrupted Soha’s words. At the same time, the cavalry escort and the carriage stopped abruptly.

“Whoa, whoa.”

The voices of people and the hooves of horses that had to stop suddenly filled the road.

“The leader of the escort sent a stop signal.”

The maid Hanga said, looking outside.

“We don’t know what’s going on, so it’s better to wait as we are.”

Lady Kyunghee nodded.

Tension filled the carriage due to the sudden event. Not only the maid Hanga, but also Chunglang Sword Wi Gajin was ready to draw his sword at any moment.

Clatter, clatter.

One of the cavalry escorts at the front approached the carriage.

“What’s going on?”

Chunglang Sword Wi Gajin asked. The escort member bowed to the Lady while still on horseback and said.

“A man named ‘Son Bin’ has appeared and is asking to see you, milady.”

“What?”

Without realizing it, Lady Kyunghee questioned. That’s how unexpected the name was.

But the escort member was a little embarrassed by the question. What more could he say here?

“So, a man named ‘Son Bin’…….”

“How many were there?”

Cutting off his words, Soha quickly asked. The escort member glanced at Lady Kyunghee and Wi Gajin before answering.

“As far as I could see, he was alone…….”

Soha’s expression distorted. He turned to Lady Kyunghee.

“It’s dangerous.”

“Why?”

Lady Kyunghee asked back with a cold expression. Soha quickly continued.

“First, this is completely unexpected. We are not prepared for this at all. Second, for him to appear alone in front of us is the worst possible move. But the fact that this is happening means that there was something we didn’t know.”

With a determined expression, Soha said.

“If we don’t grasp that ‘something,’ we’re the same as being in the dark. I suggest we leave this place immediately.”

“No.”

Lady Kyunghee’s answer was immediate.

“He asked to see me. This is neither an ambush nor a surprise attack. And you’re telling me to avoid this place?”

Lady Kyunghee hadn’t finished speaking yet, but Soha knew that he couldn’t change her mind.

“I can’t show him such a disgraceful appearance. I will meet him.”

“Understood.”

Lady Kyunghee is his lord. Soha followed her will.

“But please avoid bringing him here. In case of an emergency, it’s too narrow to respond.”

That meant that Lady Kyunghee should go out to meet Son Bin. It was an impious thing to say, but Lady Kyunghee accepted Soha’s suggestion.

“Okay, that much I can do.”

Lady Kyunghee turned her head and looked at the escort member.

“Where is he?”

“He is waiting on the main road.”

The escort member answered and stepped back after paying his respects. Now, the cavalry escort had to protect the Lady, not the carriage.

Click.

The carriage opened and the Lady stepped down. The dust of the main road soiled her silk shoes and expensive clothes, but she didn’t care. Hanga, Chunglang Sword Wi Gajin, and Soha followed behind her.

Rustle, rustle.

Lady Kyunghee walked towards the front.

The twenty or so cavalrymen who were escorting the carriage formed a wall between the carriage and the person. As Lady Kyunghee approached, the cavalrymen moved aside little by little to make way.

Rustle.

The moment Lady Kyunghee stepped out between the cavalrymen, the figure of a man standing in the middle of the open road came into her view.

‘Son Bin.’

Lady Kyunghee bit her lip.

A young man dressed as a scholar, standing with his hands behind his back, looking at the distant scenery as if he were taking a walk. The very Son Bin she had been expecting was standing in front of her.

Swish.

Son Bin turned his head. He smiled as his eyes met Lady Kyunghee’s.

“Amazing. I didn’t expect you to come out to greet me in person, milady.”

Son Bin clasped his hands together and paid his respects to the Lady. It was a far cry from the formal royal greeting, but this was not the time to make an issue of it.

“What’s going on?”

Lady Kyunghee asked without answering Son Bin’s greeting. A sneer settled on her cold expression.

“Did you perhaps change your mind? Did you decide that it would be better to kill me now?”

“No.”

Son Bin sighed lowly.

“Shouldn’t we stop saying such things now? I feel strange, as if I’m unjustly oppressing you, milady.”

“Hmph. If so…….”

Lady Kyunghee was about to laugh when Son Bin continued.

“But in a case like this, it can’t be helped. It’s true that I provoked you first with my sudden actions, and ‘he’ also said that I should understand that you are always living in plots and schemes.”

“That’s quite a surprising thing to say.”

Lady Kyunghee said with a sneer.

“I didn’t know ‘he’ was so considerate of me?”

The Lady also knew who ‘he’ was that Son Bin was talking about. Needless to say, it was the Martial Emperor of Hyeoncheon, Saja Hyuk. Of course, he didn’t say ‘understand’.

“Because he is a warm person.”

Son Bin replied softly with a faint smile.

“Looking back, he was always such a person.”

Son Bin’s gaze was already directed somewhere far away.

“So what’s going on?”

As if trying to cut off that sentimental feeling, Lady Kyunghee said in a sharp tone. Son Bin turned his head and looked at her.

“Tell me the reason why you appeared, even provoking me.”

“I see. I should say that.”

Son Bin paused for a moment and lowered his gaze to the ground. And when his gaze returned to Lady Kyunghee, something huge covered Lady Kyunghee.

‘Ugh.’

It wasn’t bloodlust. It was even less like the intangible aura emitted by a supreme master.

Son Bin’s eyes, his gaze with the usual soft smile, were directed at Lady Kyunghee. His eyes, which gave her an unknown warmth and even made her feel cozy.

However, in front of that gaze, Lady Kyunghee felt a sense of despair as if facing a distant cliff.

Even if he had goodwill towards her, the absolute disparity that could never disappear.

Literally, the difference in status, the Lady Kyunghee could not deny at this moment that it was like a huge precipice between Son Bin and herself.

“I will not forgive you for using his name carelessly.”

Son Bin’s voice was warm and soft. If you listen carefully, it sounds like the weak voice of a mere scholar.

However, there was no one who could block their ears from that voice. There was no one who could take their eyes off that soft gaze.

Not only the cavalry escort forming a wall, but even the rough military horses did not move in silence.

“This is a warning.”

Son Bin said so. Everything, even the wind and the atmosphere, seemed to have stopped and was listening to Son Bin’s words.

“Please tell him that.”

With that, Son Bin’s words were over.

After giving Lady Kyunghee a soft smile once again, Son Bin turned his body. And whatever it was that had been pressing down on all sides disappeared like a lie.

Neigh.

“Whoa, whoa.”

Suddenly, the main road became noisy. The horses, as if startled, staggered back, and the skilled escorts tried to calm the horses by pulling on the reins. But the confusion did not subside easily.

“Stop!”

Lady Kyunghee’s sharp voice caught Son Bin.

“Who…… are you telling to tell?”

Her shoulders were twitching. She was biting her lip and clenching her fists, trying to hide her trembling, but it wasn’t very effective.

Although she is a royal Lady, she is essentially just an ordinary woman. The fact that she was able to argue with Saja Hyuk was actually possible because Saja Hyuk did not antagonize her.

It is impossible to handle something like Son Bin’s, which she doesn’t even know what to call it.

“Everything was…… decided by me.”

However, Lady Kyunghee was doing that impossible thing, even if it wasn’t perfect.

Clenching her clothes tightly with her trembling hands, Lady Kyunghee said.

“I judged and I decided. Not anyone else. It’s me, standing in front of you!”

Lady Kyunghee stared straight at Son Bin.

“But who the hell are you looking at?”

Son Bin’s gaze changed slightly.

“Surely you don’t still…….”

“Warning? Ha, good.”

Lady Kyunghee cut off Son Bin’s words and sneered. But her distorted appearance looked like a child about to burst into tears.

“But before that, prove that you are qualified to do so.”

Gasp.

A strange sound leaked from her red lips. Seeing that appearance, Son Bin sighed deeply.

“Milady.”

However, Lady Kyunghee did not listen to Son Bin’s words.

“People’s hearts can lie and deceive themselves. But the sword doesn’t lie, right?”

Lady Kyunghee, who spat out without hesitation, turned her gaze to Wi Gajin and Hanga.

“Wi Gajin! Hanga!”

“Yes.”

Chunglang Sword Wi Gajin and Hanga immediately responded to the Lady’s voice.

Was it because the Lady’s anger was conveyed? Their eyes were also burning more fiercely than ever.

“Confirm it.”

Lady Kyunghee gritted her teeth, staring straight at Son Bin.

“Whether he is truly ‘the one who walks the path of the Martial Emperor’ and whether he is qualified to send me a warning.”

It was a rather impulsive order. There was no need to bother confirming Son Bin’s identity now. But Wi Gajin and Hanga obeyed their lord’s command.

“Yes.”

The answer was short. But the moment that voice ended, the two people were no longer visible.

Flash.

The cavalry escort missed the two people. But Son Bin saw it clearly. The sword of Chunglang Sword Wi Gajin rushing towards him and the blue energy blooming on that sword.

It was a fierce strike like the fangs of a wolf, betting everything on a single sword strike. He also knew that it was foolish to expect a second chance against Son Bin.

Hanga’s dagger, which followed, could not be ignored either. Her sharp dagger, hiding in Wi Gajin’s shadow, was aiming for Son Bin’s blind spot.

Whether Wi Gajin’s attack succeeded or failed, Hanga would never miss the moment of weakness that would be revealed afterward.

Considering that Chunglang Sword Wi Gajin’s martial prowess was close to the outer circle [a ranking in martial arts skill], there would not be many people in the world who could withstand this combined attack.

‘Hoo.’

Son Bin sighed lowly inside.

‘I can’t help it.’

With a bitter smile, Son Bin made up his mind. He couldn’t hesitate any longer in this situation.

Clang!

At that time, Wi Gajin and Hanga, who were rushing towards Son Bin, saw it. Son Bin was muttering with a bitter smile.

“Young miss Geomhee.”

The very moment that short voice leaked out, Wi Gajin felt a terrifying energy falling towards him and Hanga.

Thundering.

‘Gasp.’

Chunglang Sword Wi Gajin swallowed a dry breath. An overwhelming and destructive energy falling from the sky like lightning.

Wi Gajin’s sword switching from attack to defense was almost an instinctive response. And that response saved Wi Gajin himself and Hanga.

Kwang!

A huge explosion erupted in the middle of the main road. Wi Gajin and Hanga were thrown back as dirt flew and dust rose.

Wi Gajin protected Hanga, and Hanga supported Wi Gajin as he was thrown back.

But even then, the two could not overcome the tremendous momentum and had to tumble on the main road.

Neigh.

Even the strong military horses trained for war flinched and stepped back. And a woman who had not been there before was revealing her figure in front of Son Bin.

A woman kneeling on one knee on the ground, slightly bowing her head. One hand was holding the scabbard and the other hand had a sword cut in half shining in the sunlight.

A cold-faced beauty with black, long hair flowing like a waterfall to the ground, she was none other than Geomhee.

“I’m suddenly sorry, young miss.”

Son Bin said with an awkward and apologetic expression.

“But I didn’t want to draw my sword against you, milady.”

Swish.

Geomhee turned to Son Bin. Her cold gaze looking up was piercing Son Bin’s heart.

‘Ugh.’

Son Bin was really, sincerely sorry. He was sure that she would grant Son Bin’s request, even if it was as sudden as it was now.

But calling her out like this was extremely rude.

But he couldn’t tell Old Man No-gun to go here and there, could he?

“Next time.”

Geomhee’s cold voice was heard in Son Bin’s ears. Geomhee, who was waiting quietly thinking, ‘Are you going to tell me to kill you next time if you do this again?’ said to Son Bin.

“Make it a stronger opponent.”

That was definitely unexpected. But Son Bin had no choice but to nod at Geomhee’s more than serious eyes.

“Ah……. Yes.”

Swish.

Geomhee stood up. Her snow-white bare feet were slightly visible between the hem of her clothes dragging on the ground.

“So.”

Geomhee said, looking indifferently at the cavalry escort.

“Kill them all?”

At that voice, which seemed so natural, Son Bin quickly shook his head. If he did that, the meaning of not drawing his sword would disappear.