Chapter 189: v8c14 - Blood Relatives
Volume 8 Chapter 14 – Blood Relatives
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The Luoyang Sword Family.
The mansion of the Third and Fourth Young Ladies.
“He ruined the Lee Family…?”
The clothes fell from the hands of the Third Young Lady, Yeon Da-eun.
“…Eldest Brother?”
She had been excitedly picking out an outing outfit, thrilled by the thought of going to meet her eldest brother.
“Though he did not kill and eliminate everyone.”
The chief butler of the mansion said in a calm tone.
“There is no longer a Lee Family in this Luoyang.” “…….”
The Third Young Lady’s face stiffened.
“Sister! According to the report just now…!”
Just then, the door burst open and the Fourth Young Lady, Yeon Da-hye, walked in.
In her hand was a brief report received from the information department of the Luoyang Sword Family.
“…Looking at your expression, it seems you have already heard.”
The Third Young Lady slowly nodded.
“…Roughly.”
She received the brief report from the Fourth Young Lady and began reading it.
Although it was a brief report of only a single page, her gaze slowed down as she went further down the report.
“…The Patriarch of the Lee Family is missing. There is a possibility that he was eliminated by the Eldest Young Master.”
The Third Young Lady, Yeon Da-eun, bit her lip.
“The Kong Family is behind the disappearance of the active officials of the Lee Family. They are identified to be openly kidnapping and detaining the officials.”
That report contained content so heavy it was hard to believe it was just a single sheet of paper.
“If the Kong Family’s goal is the spread of shock and terror, it is speculated that the corpses of the tortured officials will be found throughout Luoyang later.”
She read the last line of the brief report.
“This conflict is predicted to intensify further in the future…”
The Fourth Young Lady, Yeon Da-hye, slowly approached and placed her hand on the shoulder of the Third Young Lady, Yeon Da-eun.
“Sister…”
In this giant family, as much as its scale, the dark desires of countless people were roughly tangled together.
The darkness was deep, not easily permitting even a simple reunion between siblings.
‘Why of all times did the director of the business support group have to be away at a time like this?’
The chief butler of the mansion, who had served their deceased mother and now served them, swallowed a sigh inwardly and opened his mouth.
“…Young Ladies. That is precisely the reason why I strongly opposed this meeting.”
He did not avoid the gazes of the two, who were like his own children.
“Right now, the two of you are trying to step onto a battlefield of a scale you have never experienced before.”
He suppressed his emotions and did not spare his advice.
“Since Grand Madame Ha passed away, the influence of the Ha clan in the Sword Family has become negligible. However, starting with this old man, many inside and outside the mansion still serve the two of you as masters.”
At those words, the Third and Fourth Young Ladies grit their teeth.
Even until a part of the support from the Sword Family Business Support Group they currently belonged to lined up behind the Second Young Master.
They had thought it was merely an extension of the political struggles they had always seen within the family.
But today.
In just half a day, an influential family of Luoyang that had expanded its power since the previous dynasty went to ruin.
And they said this was just the beginning.
“Although I know well that the Young Ladies expect blood affection from the Eldest Young Master. There is also a full possibility that the Second Young Master’s side might ‘misunderstand’ the two of you meeting the Eldest Young Master.”
The old butler finished what he had to say to the end for the sake of the two.
“I also hope you do not forget that the Young Ladies are the ones responsible for everyone who follows the two of you.”
His words ended, but neither the Third nor the Fourth Young Lady opened her mouth.
A heavy atmosphere, out of place with the bright room decorated to fully reflect the girls’ tastes, pressed down on them.
“…Chief Butler. Please give us a moment.”
“Of course.”
He stepped out into the hallway and closed the door.
In the empty hallway with no one coming and going, the butler kept his post politely and consistently, quietly lowering his gaze.
After time passed a level slower.
The door opened.
“Sister.”
The Fourth Young Lady, Yeon Da-hye, tightly squeezed her twin sister’s hand and nodded toward her.
“Chief Butler.”
“Yes, Young Lady.”
The Third Young Lady, Yeon Da-eun, continued speaking to the butler.
“Your advice was of great help.”
“We have made a decision.”
The Fourth Young Lady took over.
“We will meet our eldest brother.”
“But that is not merely to feel blood affection.”
“We are meeting the Eldest Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon.”
At those words, the butler’s eyes widened.
“That means…?”
They voiced the grounds for the decision they had carefully deliberated.
“We do not like the current state of this family. This family is currently heading in a clearly wrong direction.”
The name of the Number One Family in the World merely reveals the wealth and power of the Luoyang Sword Family, nothing more.
This twisted and rotten family was growing worse by the day.
“If the Second Young Master or the Third Young Master becomes the Young Patriarch, this family will become an even more terrible sight than it is now.”
“I feel that, if it is those two, they might plunge the entire family into a civil war without the slightest hesitation in the process.”
“Because of that, this family might fall into ruin.”
“Using various excuses until now, we have only kept stepping back, step by step.”
They nodded simultaneously with firm resolve.
“We will no longer just sit and wait for this family to change.”
“Now, in order to change this family, we will move.”
The power and influence they held within the Luoyang Sword Family were weak, but their resolve was firm.
“To do that, we will meet our eldest brother—the Eldest Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon.”
“We will meet the Eldest Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon, to confirm his will and goals.”
“And if he wants a Sword Family like the one we want.”
“We will join hands with him and add our strength.”
The butler looked at the twin sisters as if looking at something dazzling.
The fourteen-year-old children who had seemed just like girls there until a moment ago were gone now.
“Even after spending those long years, Eldest Brother is now standing up by himself and fighting.”
Yeon So-hyeon breaking his seclusion and moving strongly enough to clash with the Second Young Master had ultimately exerted a great influence on them as well.
“Now, we will move as well.”
“This is our will.”
Just like shedding a cocoon and becoming butterflies, at this moment, the two of them were essentially reborn.
Toward them, the butler got down on one knee.
“I receive my masters’ orders.”
With respect and reverence.
The title he used to call the Third and Fourth Young Ladies changed from ‘Young Lady’ to ‘Master’.
They now knew their responsibility, knew its weight, and held the will to decide where to go and point in that direction.
The qualities of a monarch that they had harbored for a long time were beginning to awaken.
“If the master desires something, it is the duty of subordinates to carry it out even if they have to throw away their lives like straw.”
Toward him, the twin masters showed a smile.
“Now then, please choose an outing outfit that will not shame the Ha Family.”
He laughed heartily.
“Of course.”
He picked up various outing outfits and spoke to them in a subtle tone.
“…This old servant has heard something regarding the Eldest Young Master’s news.”
“Eldest Brother’s news?”
“What is it? What is it?”
The infinitely loyal and equally capable butler possessed his own information network within the Luoyang Sword Family.
It was thanks to the power of that information network that he had already grasped the outline around the time the Fourth Young Lady received the brief report from the information department.
“I do not know how reliable the information is, but according to what is heard.”
He said with a smile.
“It is said that the Eldest Young Master, whom the two of you have been looking forward to meeting, might stop by the Sword Family soon.”
* * *
The Luoyang Sword Family special class closed-door training ground.
The guard captain who was in charge of guarding the Eldest Young Master last night was reporting to his direct superior, the Guard Pavilion Lord.
Having heard the entire report, the Guard Pavilion Lord asked him back.
“Is it truly certain that you saw it?”
Her eyelids trembled slightly.
“Yes, we double-checked it several times. It is clear.”
He answered with confidence.
“That stamping foot the Eldest Young Master displayed last night was definitely the Grand Patriarch’s stamping foot.”
He was that very guard captain who had been staring as if possessed at the traces of the stamping foot left by Yeon So-hyeon in the temporary command tent of the Valley of Sin last night.
“…Yeon So-hyeon. Not only has that child hidden his martial arts until now.”
The Guard Pavilion Lord, who was Yeon So-hyeon’s aunt and the older sister of the Grand Patriarch, raised her hand to hide her dumbfounded expression.
“To think he mastered the unique martial arts of that ‘monster’…?”
In her words calling the Grand Patriarch—her younger brother—a monster, a deep awe toward the inexplicable was contained, creating a great sense of distance.
“Hahahahat!”
The one who burst out laughing heartily next to her was none other than the Second Young Lady, the Seamless Heavenly Robe, Yeon Seo-rin.
“Indeed, just like him. To think he mastered Father’s sword, which no one had even dared to try learning until now!”
Hearing that, her master and aunt, the Guard Pavilion Lord, turned back.
“Did you know that child had the talent to handle internal energy?!”
Despite her master’s scolding, Yeon Seo-rin calmly shrugged her shoulders.
“Did you not know, Master? I thought everyone knew.”
At her sly words, her master’s gaze turned sharp.
“What did you say?!”
Yeon Seo-rin scratched her head.
“Talent for internal energy? Aptitude for martial arts? Doesn’t everyone know that much just by ‘glancing’ at someone?”
What kind of appearance did the world look like to this rare genius called the Seamless Heavenly Robe?
At those words, the two people, the Guard Pavilion Lord and the guard captain, felt momentarily speechless. “…….”
Yeon Seo-rin, who had lived pretending to know nothing but martial arts until now, calmly moved past this time as well, without disclosing what she had known to those around her.
“…Yeon Seo-rin.”
There was no way Yeon Seo-rin could not read the emotion harbored in her master’s gaze.
“Wow! To think So-hyeon mastered Father’s sword, there’s no time for me to rest either!”
In her heart, she was thinking otherwise.
‘So-hyeon. Spread your wings wide. If you do, no matter how many fools there are who cannot understand something of a different league, they will not be able to miss your wings that cover the heavens and the earth.’
Yeon Seo-rin relaxed her shoulders and returned to the training ground. “…….”
Looking up at the distant sky and recalling the figure of her younger brother, the Grand Patriarch, the face of the Guard Pavilion Lord trembled faintly.
‘In the end, that eldest son left by that monster-like man…’
Was it jealousy, hatred, resentment, or pain contained in that expression?
‘Is he trying to block my path again just like his father…!’
She shifted her gaze to the retreating back of Yeon Seo-rin.
‘This time I will definitely win! My disciple will become the best in the Sword Family, and in this State of Zhongyuan!’
* * *
The Valley of Sin.
The Eldest Young Master-Fourth Young Master Joint Business Headquarters.
The office of the Fourth Young Master, Yeon Bi.
“The Lee Family was exterminated?”
There was the figure of a boy bursting into a bizarre laugh.
The old woman leaning on a cane, Elder Gwak, who was the Fourth Young Master’s closest aide, corrected his words with a displeased expression.
“Not to the point of extermination, but more like the family has vanished…”
The Fourth Young Master, Yeon Bi, did not care about such words at all.
“Foolish bastards! Ignorant fools!”
It seemed they did not even register in his ears.
“This Luoyang is teeming with stupid people! Bastards who show their teeth, not even recognizing Big Brother who will become the true master of this city and our main family!”
He shouted while raising high the report from the Crescent Moon Pavilion that contained the process of the Lee Family’s destruction.
It was a proud record of victory filled with blood and death.
“This is our war, and this is the power of the monarch we follow!”
Except for those dispatched on missions, the aides gathered in that place bowed their heads.
“With the Cheong Family and the Kong Family rushing ahead like this, we cannot fall behind!”
He slammed the desk.
“Tell everyone to approach their respective duties with the determination to lay down their lives!”
Barely thirteen years old.
It was a force and murderous intent so strong that it was completely unbelievable to be emanating from a small boy.
“We cannot be pushed back by those who rolled in suddenly!”
The boy’s loud voice echoed through the office.
“Those who stand closest to Big Brother must be us, the ones carrying the blood of Sichuan!”
To the lord’s shout that inspired fighting spirit, his aides replied in unison.
“Loyalty!”