A few hours earlier.
Right after Iheon dragged Sohae away, I didn’t return to my room—I went to see Moyong Wi. I told him everything that had happened to me recently. Specifically, how I’d nearly taken an arrow to the face.
Naturally, the entire family was furious. Fortunately, there was clear, undeniable evidence that Moyong Sohae had obtained the poison. Thanks to Dang Iheon’s effort and several testimonies, there was nowhere left for Sohae to run.
At some point, Moyong Cheon couldn’t contain his temper and scolded me.
‘Yeonhwa, why didn’t you tell us something this serious? What if something had happened to you?’
‘Cheon, that’s enough. I’m sure Yeonhwa had her reasons. Isn’t that right?’
Thankfully, Lady Eon stepped in. I gave her a quiet smile and nodded.
‘…I had my reasons…’
* * *
The room rippled with murmurs at the word “crimes.” It only got louder the moment that maid, Soowa, appeared and Moyong Sohae’s entire face changed. No surprise there.
“Young Lady Sohae has tried to harm Young Lady Yeonhwa before. There was a time she had someone shoot an arrow at her inside the clan estate.”
“Did Moyong Sohae shoot the arrow herself?”
“Of course not. She probably couldn’t even hold a bow properly. She hired someone from outside. Someone who… does this sort of thing for money.”
Her voice trembled, but her words landed hard and clear in every ear.
“I was the one who found and hired the man. At Young Lady Sohae’s order. I paid him one hundred gold taels. The money came from the charity auction funds.”
What the hell? I didn’t know that. Are you telling me the money I raised was used to try to kill me? Jesus.
I wasn’t the only one shocked. The whole room had gone into chaos. Sohae had put out a hit on her cousin with charity money—from a massive multi-sect event, no less.
If word got out, the Moyong Clan’s name would go up in smoke.
Moyong Muhyeok was visibly trying to contain his anger. His voice was ice as he continued the interrogation.
“So the assassination attempt… took place inside the clan?”
“Yes. In the back garden. At the path leading toward Young Lady Yeonhwa’s residence. I told him she often walked that route.”
It was as good as confessing her own crimes, but Soowa didn’t flinch.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected her to go this far. This would bring her plenty of trouble too.
Her biggest weakness was her family. I had arranged for them to relocate far away, but if Sohae really wanted to find them, she probably could.
Family hostages—classic, easy leverage.
But the easiest weapons are also the easiest to break.
‘From now on, your family will be under the Moyong Clan’s protection. We’ll give them work, help them become self-sufficient, and set them up with a safe home in Liaoning Province. See? Problem solved.’
If Soowa’s weakness was her family, all I had to do was eliminate that threat. Just like that, Moyong Sohae lost one of her trump cards.
What a dumb, naive idiot. If it were me, I would’ve gotten rid of Soowa. Either send her so far she couldn’t come back, or just kill her cleanly.
“And I was also the one who spread those rumors about Young Lady Yeonhwa. At Young Lady Sohae’s instruction. Everything I said in front of the Young Master and Elder Pae back then—she told me what to say.”
A flicker of panic crossed Sohae’s face. She must’ve assumed Soowa was beneath notice, and that with her family held hostage, she’d never be a threat. And now here she was, speaking up with a steady voice.
As Soowa kept going, the crowd started muttering again, this time with clear disgust.
“If that’s all true, she’s not even human. She’s a beast in human skin.”
“I know, right? How did she walk around all this time without shame?”
The elders who disliked Elder Pae finally started speaking up. The ones who usually backed him kept their mouths shut and stared at the walls.
Then, suddenly, Moyong Sohae—who’d been silently enduring the accusations—spoke up in a crisp, clear voice.
“So this is all that the famous Moyong Clan amounts to? Color me disappointed. To think I spent years in a temple praying for this clan.”
“What did you just say? How dare you—!”
“Soowa! That wench was locked up in prison for slandering my sister. She was punished for it, and I naturally cast her aside. Isn’t that reasonable?”
“……”
“She clearly resents me for that. And now you all just take the word of someone like her and condemn me? It’s honestly laughable!”
Even with her ragged clothes and pitiful state, Sohae stood tall. To someone who didn’t know better, she might’ve looked like a tragic heroine enduring injustice.
Yeah, I guess Sohae and I aren’t so different after all. Takes a real thick face to act this shameless in public.
Unfortunately for her, she didn’t know the full story. Soowa’s testimony wasn’t the only card left to play.
A servant stepped forward, carrying something wrapped in cloth.
“This is the arrow that flew at Young Lady Yeonhwa. Sahyeon says he kept it at her request. We also examined the site Soowa mentioned—there were clear impact marks in the wall.”
“The one who fired the arrow has been apprehended. Bring him in.”
At Moyong Muhyeok’s signal, a man was dragged in, hands bound.
His face wasn’t especially rough or gentle. Just ordinary. Looked like some drifter doing odd jobs to get by. That bland face was probably part of his skill set.
Like how Sahyeon used an average face to blend in.
The man must’ve already gone through plenty before getting here, because he started confessing with hardly any prompting.
“…It was the day the food supplies came in. That maid girl hid me in the cart. She told me to use a common bow and arrow, something hard to trace—but to make sure it was lethal. So I did. I blew the money right after.”
“You aimed to miss, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. She told me not to kill her, but to try and graze her face or something. Leave a scar.”
“……”
“I was going to, but some guy jumped in. Fast reflexes. Screwed the whole shot.”
Some guy? Someone muttered. My stomach clenched. I couldn’t remember if Sahyeon had been masked that day or not.
Luckily, what mattered now was proving that Moyong Sohae had ordered the hit. No need to drag Sahyeon into it.
“…The young lady’s fine, but I shot my mouth off when I was drunk, and now here I am. Real fucking smart.”
The man laughed bitterly, voice rasping like gravel. Sohae glared at both him and Soowa, then scoffed and tilted her chin up.
“How do you know he’s sane? Maybe you planted him here to frame me.”
“Let’s see how long you can keep bluffing.”
Moyong Muhyeok narrowed his eyes at her and waved his hand. The man was dragged away.
Now came the main event: the poisoning.
The problem was, there wasn’t any solid evidence left. Which meant it was Dang Iheon’s turn to step forward.
“I was investigating a group posing as the Sichuan Dang Clan, trafficking high-grade poisons across Liaoning. We caught one of them, and during questioning, we learned a woman had bought poison under a noble young lady’s orders.”
“Is the woman here?”
“Unfortunately, she vanished. Dead or alive, we couldn’t tell.”
Sohae, who had been tense, suddenly let out a sharp scoff. The way she glared at Dang Iheon now—no trace of that puppy love from before. Just venom.
I’d expected her to resist, but even I was getting tired of how brazen she still was. And I’ve dealt with every scumbag the unorthodox clans could cough up.
“You accuse me with no proof? Hilarious. You don’t even know who the maid was! If we’re talking nearby clans, the Jinju Eon Clan is just as close!”
That last jab, insulting Lady Eon’s family, was the final straw.
“Watch your tongue. Before I cut it out.”
Moyong Muhyeok’s voice was low and deadly.
“Please continue, Young Master.”
“Yes. Fortunately, the man remembered the maid’s face. That’s how we identified the culprit.”
“Lies! You just said the maid disappeared! How can you tie her to me?!”
Sohae screamed. Dang Iheon looked down at her with ice in his eyes.
“We found her body.”
The color drained from Sohae’s face. I saw her mouth move, whispering some silent denial.
Before Moyong Muhyeok even gave the order, servants carried in a shrouded corpse—along with a blood-soaked man. One of them was Sahyeon.
The last time I saw Sahyeon, he’d spent so much of himself fixing my energy center that even his face looked different. Now, he was wearing his mask again. Hard to tell what shape he was in.
Moyong Muhyeok asked as Sahyeon lowered the body.
“Where did you find her?”
“Y-yes. I—I got up at dawn to, um, relieve myself. Thought I’d grab some firewood while I was up. Because the young lady was sick… On the way to the shed, I heard something moving outside.”
“……”
“I peeked out and saw people carrying something wrapped in a shroud, acting real suspicious… So I followed them and found the body.”
“Where was it dumped?”
“In the grave pit for brothel workers with venereal disease, or people who starved to death. The unclaimed.”
Everyone grimaced. Calling it a grave pit was generous—it was a dump site. The bodies piled together and rotted into crow feed.
“I recognized her face, so I brought her back and buried her properly.”
“You recognized her?”
“She… she used to do laundry in Young Lady Sohae’s residence.”
Dang Iheon glanced at Sahyeon and added,
“I heard about this during my investigation into Yeonhwa’s surroundings, and we recovered the body.”
Sahyeon pulled back the shroud. The corpse was in decent shape—looked like she’d died of poison, not violence.
Dang Iheon turned to the bloody man.
“Repeat what you told me. Was it this woman who came to buy poison from you?”
The man looked at the body, then gave a slow, heavy nod.
“Yes… I’m sure of it.”
And with that final testimony, the room fell into silence.
The maid who worked under Sohae had obtained poison under her orders. Then turned up dead, dumped like trash.
“…You still have excuses left?”
Moyong Muhyeok’s jaw clenched as he spoke. The only sound was the soft crackle of firewood.
Sohae kept her head bowed in silence—then finally raised it.
Her eyes didn’t go to me, or to Dang Iheon, or even to Moyong Muhyeok, who was leading the interrogation. They went to the elder’s seats.
To Elder Pae.
Her voice trembled.
“Grandfather. Please… I only did everything you told me to.”
Moyong Pae’s face went sheet white.
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