Chapter 10
“Brother Gyuho…”
I let my voice falter as I leaned against his chest.
“Why… why are you like this?”
Baek Gyuho seemed a little taken aback.
“After our parents passed… the atmosphere in the Pyo state is so tense.”
“What?”
“They said the funeral would be overseen by the aunts… and it feels like the uncles want to completely drive Eun-ah and me away.”
I had added a little seasoning to my words, but everything I said was true.
“It feels like I’m sitting on a bed of nails. I have no idea how to act in this place.”
Though I wasn’t looking at his face, leaning against him made me feel him flinch slightly.
“Brother Gyuho… will you continue to stay by my side and help me?”
As I whispered, I felt him swallow hard.
“Seha… I want to, too…”
His voice trailed off. It was obvious he felt the weight of the situation.
“Well, would Madam Shim be displeased if we did? We’re not even married yet…”
There was no answer.
I gently pushed away from his chest with my hands. That felt like the final confirmation I needed.
“Thank you for visiting today.”
“No, it’s only natural that I come.”
“Still, I think it’s best if you just pay your respects today and we meet properly after the mourning period.”
“Y-yes. You’re right.”
Baek Gyuho smiled faintly, a soft expression that seemed to say he would agree to anything I suggested.
In truth, he probably intended to bide his time and see how things unfolded.
“Let’s go greet the family,” I said.
He accompanied me to greet the relatives and then lit incense.
Now that I had planted a seed of unease in Baek Gyuho’s mind…
‘He’ll probably be too preoccupied calculating the benefits of marriage for a while.’
For now, it was enough to focus on finishing the funeral before moving on to the next step.
“Well then, Seha, take care of yourself,” he said as he left the altar.
Grandfather, however, seemed to glare at his back with unusually sharp eyes.
The ringing of a bell sounded, signaling the arrival of external guests.
The first visitors were mostly from the Eunni Pyo state’s long-standing business partners—in other words, my grandfather’s guests.
As time passed, guests connected to my father began to arrive.
Not only business associates, but also small merchants and farmers from across Gangso Province who had received my father’s help, and women carrying children.
“May the deceased rest in peace.”
“When my son was born, the head of Baekho-dang and his wife celebrated as if it were their own joy.”
“Thanks to the head of Baekho-dang, my family survived without going hungry.”
“Our trading company may be small, but if transportation is needed, we will entrust it to Baekho-dang.”
A few warriors who looked like ronin bowed before my parents’ ancestral tablets, paid their respects to me, and left.
Seeing such a diverse array of guests, the uncles and aunts frowned.
“Don’t you think there are too many guests who don’t suit our Pyo state?”
“Shh, be quiet.”
I even overheard the second uncle whisper this to Lady Yong.
Grandfather, however, had a softened expression.
At that moment, a formidable-looking martial artist appeared before my father’s tablets.
A middle-aged man dressed in dark clothing, with a long scar on his cheek and a heavy sword at his waist.
He bowed three times before the tablets, then stood.
I greeted him first, and Eun-ah followed my lead.
“It is an honor to meet the head of Hyeongseolmun,” I said.
“…!”
At my words, Lady Yong and the second uncle drew in small, sharp breaths.
Hong So-cheol, head of Hyeongseolmun.
Hyeongseolmun was a venerable martial arts sect in Shandong. It accepted few disciples, but their students’ skills rivaled those of large sects, thanks to the firefly-inspired unique martial arts.
The uncles and aunts seemed surprised that I even knew the head of Hyeongseolmun.
Hong So-cheol was equally surprised.
“I thought you wouldn’t remember me since we met when you were very young… yet you remember and even sent a letter,” Hong So-cheol said, looking at me with admiration.
“I heard that my father trained at Hyeongseolmun in his youth, and that he gained a sworn brother, Hong So-cheol,” I said.
“I see…”
A look of longing for my father crossed Hong So-cheol’s face. Though he wanted to show sadness, he seemed to suppress it, knowing that the daughters of his sworn brother had lost their father.
In my previous life, I had left all funeral arrangements to my aunts and never informed those who were close to my father.
Hong So-cheol was one of the people who, learning belatedly of my father’s death, came to Baekho-dang.
Only when I saw him staring at my father’s tablets in dismay did I realize that my father had a sworn brother.
This time, I had personally sent news of my parents’ passing to Hyeongseolmun.
“The daughter of Jeongmyeong is like my own. If you need help, send this to Hyeongseolmun,” Hong So-cheol said, handing me a token after gazing at the tablets for a long time.
“I will shamelessly request help when necessary, Uncle,” I replied as I accepted it. He nodded.
After he left, I bowed once more and turned back to my parents’ tablets.
‘Though my parents have passed, their connections remain.’
Things I hadn’t been able to do before the reincarnation were beginning to fall into place.
The uncles glanced at me with subtle expressions, while grandfather watched Hong So-cheol’s departing figure with a complicated look.
The stream of guests who had received favors from my father continued.
By then, twilight had fallen.
As the number of guests thinned, a woman entered the hall accompanied by guards.
A woman with elegant and graceful features.
Seeing her, the second uncle gasped softly.
“Th-… how could that be…!”
Grandfather’s eyes widened in surprise.
The woman greeted my relatives and me with a nod, then bowed three times before my parents’ tablets.
She gazed at the tablets with a tender look and wiped away her tears before rising.
“It’s been a long time, State Lady. I am deeply saddened,” she said.
Grandfather seemed taken aback by her greeting.
“Miss Seolhwa-ryeong… thank you for making the difficult journey. But how did you know to come?”
Seolhwa-ryeong of the Cheongho Trading Company.
Seolhwa-ryeong was the younger sister of the current head of Cheongho Trading, and head of the Luoyang branch managing tea trade.
She was one of the people I had sent news of my parents’ passing to.
“I, like the others here, came to offer condolences and mourn Jeongmyeong’s passing,” Seolhwa-ryeong said, looking at the tablets.
“…Oh?”
Grandfather’s gaze fixed on me.
“Thank you for coming to pay respects, Branch Head,” I said, bowing with Eun-ah.
A faint mix of sorrow and compassion appeared on Seolhwa-ryeong’s face. She observed Eun-ah and me carefully, searching our faces for traces of our father.
“Eun Seha, thank you for sending me the news,” she said.
“It was important, so I risked being presumptuous. Thank you for your understanding,” I replied.
I could feel the relatives, including grandfather, stir uneasily at my words.
Seolhwa-ryeong had been my father’s former fiancée, with their engagement broken.
Given my father’s fault, it would have been natural for Cheongho Trading to consider him and the Eunni Pyo state enemies.
Yet Seolhwa-ryeong had personally come to pay her respects.
After she left, the relatives asked me with puzzled expressions:
“Seha, did you send the news to Seolhwa-ryeong?”
“After the broken engagement, we weren’t on good terms with Cheongho Trading… why would you—”
“I never imagined Miss Seolhwa-ryeong would come to mourn Jeongmyeong,” the two uncles muttered like parrots.
“I’m not fully aware of the circumstances between Father and the Branch Head…” I bowed and said,
“She was on the guest list. Oh, the list was given to me by Father just in case.”
Of course, that was a lie. My father had never given me any such list.
But in my past life, I had learned that the relationship between Seolhwa-ryeong and my father was different from the rumors.
So this time, I sent her the news personally.
Out of gratitude.
‘Thanks to meeting Seolhwa-ryeong… I learned something I hadn’t expected.’
