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Taking the “back road,” Jeong Ah pushed her way to the Pure Silver Garden Pavillion, the Archduke’s residence.
Back roads meant roads for those of low or no status.
From the procession of oxcarts loaded with grain sacks, to groups of twos and threes talking while going about, to strong-looking men hurriedly moving with boxes tied to them. Except for the absence of merchants screaming and hordes of beggars, it was like the bustling market street.
This procession of countless people, moving busily and purposefully, was the ancestors of the Luoyang Sword, the mighty clan that gave rise to them.
Under the shelter of the wall, Jeong Ah was making her way while draped in a long robe.
“Hey, take a peek over there. Isn’t she gorgeous?”
“Yeah, man—turn your gaze away from her; she seems to be a high-ranking person, so don’t do anything stupid!”
“You’re right. But why is a high-ranking woman strolling down a back street?”
“What good are we, worms, if we know that?”
“No, I just…”
In the distance, two servants were admiring her beauty peeping out from behind her long robe. On a loud back road, it was a conversation that no ordinary person would overhear.
Jeong Ah, however, saw their conversation. The curve of their lips, the rolling of their eyes, and their slight gestures vividly conveyed their dialogue.
And not just them, but everyone who had passed by Jeong Ah so far had passed through her “eyes.”
Great. Changing into different clothing wasn’t a terrible idea. No one after me.
It was unlikely that a second or third master would have someone keep an eye on a maid like Jeong Ah, but that didn’t make Jeong Ah any less on edge. Until she could enter under the roof of the Archduke, a lot could happen.
As usual, ignoring the familiar glances, glancing at her beauty and figure, she kept flashing.
After walking and walking for a long time, she eventually was able to reach her destination. ‘This is the Pure Silver Garden Pavillion.…?’
Jeong Ah was taken aback as she arrived under the Pure Silver Garden Pavilion’s wall.
She’d heard a lot about the Pure Silver Garden Pavilion, a place solely for the Archduke situated in the distant corner of the Luoyang Sword Clan.
Seeing it in person, though, was a whole other experience. The walls lined up on both sides with no end in sight, and beyond them was a thick jungle of towering trees.
I’m not even sure where it ends…
Judging by the fact that her eyes didn’t dare to assess its magnitude, it must have been one of the biggest residential areas, even among the legendary Luoyang Sword Clan.
But why isn’t anybody here?
The back road, which had before reminded her of a market street, had become quieter as she approached the Pure Silver Garden Pavillion, but now it was surprisingly full of silence.
It wasn’t an exaggeration. Literally nobody, not even a few.
Even the servants who usually carry the foodstuffs were nowhere to be seen.
In Jeong Ah’s mind, the teachings given by the head of the Greet Guests Hall in the past had passed by.
Jeong Ah—It’s the same with any family. If you want to peek into the family’s financial power, you can look at the family’s back roads.
According to his words, the Pure Silver Garden Pavillion was a place where money power had dried up.
Well, it’s not like I didn’t know… Jeong Ah swallowed her dry saliva and continued on her way.
After a while of walking along the wall, she stepped onto the main road leading to the main gate.
The main road, in contrast to the back road, was a road that only important people in the Luoyang Sword Clan, including guests and warriors, walked.
“Jeong Ah—If you want to feel the might of a family, simply glance in front of that family’s front gate.” She remembered again.
It was the first time since she’d arrived in Luoyang Sword Clan that she’d seen a main road in Luoyang Sword Clan deserted.
“No matter how much the Archduke isolated himself, I didn’t think it would have been like this…”
It was always she who made fun of those who spoke trash about the Archduke behind his back. However, after seeing things for herself, she found that she no longer had the ability to poke fun at them.
All she could see was a handful of guards stationed in front of the main gate. Besides, they looked to be enjoying a nap against the wall.
She would have laughed if not for the half-awake guard who was approaching her, lurching forward.
“Oh, oh. What business have you come for?” The guard asked, yawning.
Jeong Ah sighed inwardly at the response of the guard, certain that he was asleep no matter where she looked at him.
“I’m here on the order of the head butler.” Adding no more words, she handed out written instructions from the head butler.
“The head butler?” Hearing “head butler,” the captain, who had been yawning silently in the back, stepped forward and took the paper with the instructions, reading them.
While the captain thoroughly examined the order, Jeong Ah groaned again inside.
The huge front gate, meant to let carriages in and out smoothly, was completely unmanaged. The paint was chipping, and the building looked rundown. It was hard to believe that this was a Luoyang Sword Clan building that she was familiar with.
The wall she’d just walked through was even worse. Only the height was outstanding, but it wasn’t enough to hide the sloppy dough disguising the sagging traces here and there.
One side of her heart felt stuffy as she observed the roof tiles, which were difficult to guess when they had been shattered, being carelessly disregarded.
Wouldn’t it be a mistake to choose the Archduke?
Suppose it was the main gate to the residence of the second or third young master. No doubt there would be long lines of glittering carriages and people in costly silks awaiting permission to enter.
In addition, the guards at the gate would be operating with restraint and finesse. And actually fearing and respecting their young masters.
Not like these pathetic guards who sleep through their shifts and….
At that moment, Jeong Ah felt chills run up her back. She felt as though several blades were being thrust into her body.
Not that she was able to suppress her screaming. It was because she had experienced this sensation several times before.
Qi sensation!
It was—It was a kind of qi wave that could only be released by those who had cultivated their own qi to a certain level.
And the guards, whom she had before seen pitifully, were undoubtedly the source of that qi wave.
They… … ! not just guards! They are true masters!
Rather than searching her physically, they used a qi wave to determine if she possessed inner energy. Whether she was concealing a weapon. Or whether she had a murderous attitude.
Of all, an ordinary maid wouldn’t feel anything, so Jeong Ah concentrated on keeping her cool.
Yeah, no wonder. Her back was drenched in cold sweat. Despite how much the archduke is overlooked, he is still the direct descendant of the Luoyang Sword Clan.
It was ridiculous to think that the main gate of a place where such a person resided was guarded by general guards with no martial arts experience.
Once the guard captain (Indeed a master in disguise) had finished reviewing the written order, he went up to her. “The order has been confirmed. “
He politely returned the written order in the same manner in which he had received it. Jeong Ah, barely controlling her trembling fingertips, took the paper and tucked it inside her bosom.
“Guys, open the gate.”
As she walked through the main gate, she heard the voice of the guard captain behind her.
“Oh, come to think of it. I forgot to tell you this.”
When she turned around, he spoke calmly, as if it were nothing. “Never stray from the woodland path.”
Jeong Ah didn’t get his message, but she nodded politely and walked on.
Once she seemed to have walked far enough away, one of the guards burst into laughter.
“New maid at the Pure Silver Garden Pavillion! Does the swordless need a new maid or something?”
“I don’t know, but isn’t a maid necessary for important people who do ‘outside work’?”
Then, another guard drew Jeong Ah’s shape in the air with his hands, laughing crazily. “He might be the “swordless” without a “sword,” but at least he’s a “man with d…”
A roar of laughter followed.
As expected… Jeong Ah, who had heard their exchange from afar, bit her lip in frustration.
She felt that the Luoyang Sword Clan’s contempt for the Archduke varied in degree. It was particularly acute among warriors who revered martial arts.
If the two pillars sustaining the Luoyang Sword Clan were wealth and military might, then the Archduke had already lost one of them, along with the derogatory title of “swordless.”
Even masters who had attained the level of employing qi sense merely guarded the Archduke’s main gate as a matter of duty.
Nobody appeared to have any loyalty to him.
There’s a long way to go.
Even if the head butler was true and the Archduke had changed his mind, there wasn’t much the Archduke could do.
“……!” Jeong Ah, who had been deep in thought, abruptly snapped out of it, knowing something wasn’t right. She was in the midst of a massive, dense formation she had never seen before.
The forest! These trees—no, this whole forest is a battle formation!
Her eyes were plainly showing the formation.
It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen formations before.
From the “don’t let the visitors get lost” formation used to keep them from wandering into dangerous areas to the “kill everyone” formation kept ready at every defensive stronghold in case of emergency.
But the one she was looking at right now was the densest, most scary of all of them. It seemed as though the very act of “seeing” this formation would be enough to squash humans like worms.
Just one way to go. The whole forest, other than the path she was on, seemed pitch black to her eyes.
Even as a woman with eyes , she dared not even try to comprehend it.
Never stray from the woodland path. She now understood what the guard captain had meant.
She also realized. Just like the masters disguised as guards stationed at the main gate. The same applied to this horrible formation.
She was now getting close to one of the key figures in this gigantic clan that raged throughout the continent. Regardless of how much he was disregarded and ridiculed. He was the clan’s Archduke.
Her eyesight faded and then brightened. In her view, she first took in the woodland, then the formation, before her vision faded and then brightened again.
And then—the Archduke was standing in front of her before she knew it.
“You’re an odd kid.” Standing in the middle of the forest road, he murmured.
His-Its voice sounded like a boy’s voice, or a young man’s voice, or beast’s howl, or a devil’s cry.
“How are you able to see the Pure Silver Garden Pavillion’s formation?”
He-It tilted his head, thrusting his pallid face towards her.
Its eyes were empty and pierced, as though someone had dug them out, and the inside resembled a portal to an unending darkness. Bloody tears mingled with yellow pus that spilled from the bottomless abyss.
“And how are you able to see me?”
It was seeing through her with its empty eye, but she—she couldn’t see or comprehend anything with her ‘eyes’.
It was a thing that could never be seen.
It was a thing that should never be seen.
“Eeeek!” With a shriek, her consciousness was lost.