Chapter 29
"Damn, this new dress I just got is going to get soaked."
Yeo-il tilted the umbrella diagonally towards Namgung Jeok-myeong, walking with her eyes open, hiding her face from him.
She had figured Namgung Jeok-myeong was rushing things, but this was much faster than she expected.
Namgung Jeok-myeong, who suddenly stopped walking, spoke from beyond the umbrella in a very serious tone.
"I need your help."
Yeo-il replied quietly.
"That's not quite what I was hoping to hear."
"..."
"Just kidding. I'm family too, right? Why wouldn't I help you out, Jeok-myeong?"
"What do you want?"
Talk about a 180 in just half a day.
Resuming his walk, Namgung Jeok-myeong asked calmly.
"The family's wealth? Records? An elixir passed down for generations? Or martial arts manuals gathering dust in the library?"
What's with the easy offers? Does he know what I'm going to ask? It's like he's desperate, which makes you wonder what caused such a sudden turnaround.
"I'll give you whatever you want. Just name it. What do you want so badly that you're hiding behind Soyo's face?"
"There's one thing I'd like to ask."
"Speak."
"Why did you think I was from the Salmak?"
As they climbed the slope, she felt his gaze glance back at her.
"I'll tell you if you promise to help me."
Yeo-il took a step, her feet still spotless despite the mud, and considered his offer.
"Would a promise even mean anything between us? If I just nod along, are you really going to trust me completely?"
"You're a piece of work. Is your head so full of betrayal that you can't even consider trusting someone?"
Yes, it is. Because that's how she's lived her entire life.
It wasn't that Yeo-il wanted to corner Namgung Jeok-myeong and become enemies with him. Her goal was very clear, and because she perfectly separated and recognized Namgung Soyo and herself, there was no reason to consider Namgung Jeok-myeong an enemy.
It meant that if she could achieve her goal, she could temporarily join forces with him.
"I... I do want something."
Through the rain and wind, Namgung Jeok-myeong gave Yeo-il a look that screamed 'I knew it,' with a flash of disgust. But it vanished in a second.
"Even though it didn't work out this time, I need to find out about my mother. No matter what."
His 'I knew it' face twisted into something strange, and Namgung Jeok-myeong shot back, his voice full of disbelief.
"That's really all you want...?"
"Also."
"..."
"I want to see the Salmyeongbu."
"The Salmyeongbu?"
Yeo-il recalled the jade ring she always kept in her possession and replied.
"Just to be clear, I just want to look at it. I want to see if this Salmyeongbu the family's been hiding is the real one. And if it is, whose names are on it..."
They were pretty deep in the mountains now, but neither of them was out of breath.
The rain was still coming down hard. It was the kind of gloomy weather where you could scream your lungs out, and no one in those houses would hear a thing.
"I, Namgung Soyo, don't want anything but those two things. If you can make that happen, I swear I'll just fade into the background, like I've always done. You won't even know I'm there."
"'Like you've always done'? Haha! You're kidding, right? With all the rumors flying around about you? Give me a break."
He let out a laugh that was anything but cheerful, then his voice dropped.
"Someone's been watching you for four years."
That came out of nowhere.
"Before that, I just knew of him, not who he really was. My old, sick dad left him in my care. I'd check in on him now and then, see if he was hurting, if he needed anything. I even taught him how to write. My dad would've had a fit if he'd known."
His voice was nostalgic and bitter, but Yeo-il remained ice-cold.
"Okay, I get it, you've got a soft spot for someone. Can you just get to the point?"
Namgung Jeok-myeong let out a hollow laugh.
"Get to the point? Soyo, are you talking about our story?"
At this unexpected truth, Yeo-il was momentarily speechless.
"'...The young lord himself was visiting Namgung Soyo all the time for four years?'"
But Changa said no one from the family ever came to see Namgung Soyo, right?
He could've been hiding who he was, but Changa would've recognized him, no question. They met, at least a couple of times, and there's no way a maid wouldn't have been there. So, Namgung Jeok-myeong's story is...
"That's a lie."
He stopped dead, burst out laughing, then leaned against a pine tree and turned to face her. A sneer was plastered across his face, directed right at Yeo-il.
"When it was time to bring you into the family, this older brother agonized over it for eight days straight, Soyo... The Family Head wanted you gone, erased from the world."
Should she play the part of the heartbroken sister? Knowing he wouldn't even give her the time of day, she just asked, casually.
"So, is that why you sent killers after her on Cheonjusan Mountain?"
"No. Hell no. After a lot of thinking, I decided to hide you."
"..."
"I sent some people I trusted to help you get settled in some backwater village. I had no idea they'd get wiped out and never come back."
Namgung Jeok-myeong tried to hide Namgung Soyo.
The people he sent were wiped out because of it.
But then Namgung Soyo shows up, alive and well, with a whole new face...
If all those claims are true.
"'Namgung Jeok-myeong didn't kill Namgung Soyo.' Yeah, he wouldn't have gone after the real Namgung Soyo, but 'Yeo-il playing Namgung Soyo' is another story."
The answer was messed up but clear as day. Could it be that the one who's been after Namgung Soyo all this time is...
"Now do you get why I need your help?"
At least among the beings Yeo-il had encountered, there was one person with a clear possibility.
"Namgung Chu-myeong."
"Damn, you're sharp. You catch on quickly, which is good. It makes me not regret picking you."
Namgung Jeok-myeong looked genuinely happy about it.
"This older brother knows a thing or two about who and where your... Soyo's mother is. I couldn't not know. The Family Head drilled her into my head for years."
"..."
"Same goes for the Salmyeongbu. Like you said, the Namgung family has the real one, straight from the Salmak. You can check whose names are on it and if they're crossed off."
"..."
"So, what do you say, Soyo? Aren't we in the same boat now?”
