novelraw Chapter 209 : What Happened at the Heavenly Flower Pavilion
Chapter 209 : What Happened at the Heavenly Flower Pavilion
Chapter 209: What Happened at the Heavenly Flower Pavilion
There was something the orphanage director once told me a long time ago.
They said that in this world, there existed something called karmic retribution—cause and effect—and that if you didn’t live a good life, you would eventually receive the consequences for it.
They usually said that while looking straight at me, and thinking back on it now, it probably just meant I should stop causing so many problems.
Anyway, back then, with a completely innocent face, I asked, ‘Then does that mean we were abandoned because we accumulated bad karma?’
At that, the director simply shut their mouth with an awkward expression.
They weren’t a bad person. They were just trying to set straight a troublemaker like me.
In any case, after that day, I dismissed all that talk about karmic retribution and justice prevailing in the end as complete nonsense and lived however I pleased.
But lately, seeing how the good deeds I performed just to survive were coming back to me in unexpected ways… my thoughts had begun to waver.
“Young Master Geum, you’ve become much more well-built since the last time I saw you.”
One of the Five Flowers of Beijing, a courtesan of breathtaking beauty, was letting me rest my head on her lap like a pillow.
When had I ever enjoyed such luxury before? It truly felt unreal.
“Just a few years ago, you still had a bit of that youthful look to you.”
She spoke softly. She must have been referring to when we first met on the streets.
Back then, she had asked for help but said she had no money, so I chased off the thugs in exchange for the tanghulu she had been eating as payment.
“So you don’t like it?”
I tossed the question out casually.
“Hehe, not at all. I like you better now. It means you’ve become a proper adult who can fully take responsibility for a woman.”
As she lowered her head, her glossy black hair flowed down like a waterfall.
She smiled faintly as she dropped those suggestive words.
“Well, that’s good then.”
Anyway, the reason I ended up in this kind of relationship with Joo Wolah was because I didn’t just ignore a nameless woman on the street and chose to help her.
Was this what they called reaping what you sowed?
As I lay on her lap, feeling the warmth of another person, I found myself thinking that maybe… living kindly, just as the director had said, wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
‘Unbelievable… over something like a woman….’
The Salseongi, who had always been waiting for my downfall, reacted in disbelief after hearing my inner thoughts.
It seemed utterly absurd to it that its grand plan of restoring the Heaven-Slaying Star had collapsed before something as trivial as a woman’s lap pillow.
‘With such… impure… motives… you think you can… escape… your fate…?’
It painstakingly wrote out its protest in red letters.
So what if my motives were a little impure? In the end, someone benefited from my good deeds, and I received something in return.
Wasn’t that a win-win situation? And as long as I truly believed that, the Starfall Heart Cultivation Method would take my side as well.
“People who live kindly are bound to receive blessings.”
I muttered that to the Salseongi, but Joo Wolah, who was supporting my head, reacted instead.
“Oh my, are you saying that I’m your blessing?”
She smiled, her eyes curving gently. Her voice wasn’t as seductive as usual—it was filled with anticipation.
“Uh… maybe…?”
This position was great and all, but there was no way for me to avoid her gaze.
Her expression kept changing as she looked down at me, as if she was thinking about something.
Before I knew it, her face had come so close that I could even feel her breath.
With the delicate features of the greatest courtesan in Beijing right before my eyes, she opened her lips and spoke in a small voice.
“Then… about that redemption… instead of it being an act… what if it were sincere—”
Creak, thud.
At that moment, the door opened, and Ilhong, who had gone to the restroom, returned.
Joo Wolah and I both jolted in surprise and quickly separated. I cleared my throat, while she fanned herself and looked out the window as if nothing had happened.
We both tried to act natural, but our slightly trembling fingertips betrayed us.
“…What was that just now?”
Ilhong stood by the doorway, glancing back and forth between us.
Even though we had separated quickly, she must have sensed the strange atmosphere between us, as her eyes gradually narrowed until they became sharp slits.
“What were you doing?”
There was an icy chill in her voice. It felt like the temperature in the room had instantly dropped below freezing. Sweat unknowingly ran down my back.
“Tell me, Captain.”
Ihong crossed her arms and approached. Her tone and expression were calm, but the pressure behind them felt like that of a master in the Blazing Flame Realm.
“W-we weren’t doing anything?”
Various excuses flashed through my mind before I barely managed to say that.
“Hm, so you weren’t doing anything. Then why are you stuttering?”
Her eyes narrowed even further.
Having completely lost her temper, she no longer resembled the reliable subordinate I knew, but rather a volatile powder keg ready to explode at the slightest spark.
“Young Master Eun… no, Ilhong Master. It seems you are misunderstanding something.”
As I stammered, Joo Wolah stepped in to calm Ilhong.
But that only made things worse, like fanning flames.
“What exactly am I misunderstanding?”
At Joo Wolah’s intervention, Ilhong’s voice rose an octave. She had already been wary of her for some reason.
“I don’t know why you’re reacting like this, but we were merely acting to lure out the Yin Fiend. It was truly nothing serious.”
Joo Wolah waved both hands, repeatedly explaining that it was a misunderstanding.
At that, Ilhong smirked and took a step closer to her.
“Really? Then why don’t you show me that ‘nothing serious’ acting too?”
It was a request from Ilhong, who, with her excellent disguise skills, had transformed into a dazzlingly handsome young man.
“That’s a bit… embarrassing…”
Joo Wolah blushed and avoided her gaze. Doing something like that with a stranger was understandably embarrassing for her.
“Grr…!”
Seeing that, Ilhong clenched her teeth. As if convinced that something had happened, she shot me a sharp glare.
Yeah… this feels like I’m the one who’s completely screwed here.
Even after this request is over and we return to the office, things are going to be… a bit awkward.
“Captain, you said it was an act, right?”
“It was…”
“Then why were you doing something embarrassing where no one could see? And while I was away?”
Well, I thought maybe it was a reward for all the good deeds I’ve been doing lately.
So I didn’t really push her away… but who knew it would turn out like this?
‘Wait… did I even do anything wrong?’
That thought suddenly crossed my mind. Somehow, I was the one being treated like the bad guy here. I had just been lying still.
Feeling a bit wronged, I was about to say something—
‘Stop… you idiot….’
The Salseongi, who only spoke when I was about to fall into evil, unusually gave me advice.
What’s gotten into it?
Just as I tilted my head at this strange phenomenon—
“Young Master Geum, are you inside?”
The Pavilion Master Okryeong had come to the VIP room.
At her perfectly timed arrival, I couldn’t help but feel astonished.
It seemed that another problem had arisen at the Heavenly Flower Pavilion.
Pavilion Master Okryeong, who had come to see us, suddenly pointed outside the window at a line of carriages.
A group of unidentified people were lingering there, unable to pass through the main gate, their wagons loaded with gold, silver, treasures, and silk.
“So… all of that is a convoy of treasure brought by someone trying to redeem Joo Wolah?”
I pointed at the absurd amount of wealth and asked in disbelief.
Even if Beijing was the richest city in the Central Plains, this was excessive.
“Yes, redemption. It seems more people have come to take Wolah away again.”
Apparently, offers to redeem Joo Wolah were quite common.
After all, there was no one in Beijing who didn’t know of her beauty and fame. Those with even a bit of wealth all boasted that they would be the one to take her.
“But this kind of case is unprecedented… To suddenly bring gold chests and insist on redeeming her first like this…”
Most people, knowing her enormous redemption price, only talked big and never acted.
But in this case, someone had been so urgent that they skipped proper negotiations and shoved the money forward first.
And the reason someone would suddenly act so urgently? It was obvious.
“Is it because of us?”
Rumors about the Sichuan young masters coming to redeem Joo Wolah had spread all over Beijing.
For the past week, we had been loudly declaring that we would redeem her. We even announced the highest price and claimed we would monopolize her for weeks.
We had even shown everyone how we seriously negotiated with the Pavilion Master, calculating figures like an abacus.
As that push-and-pull ‘negotiation’ made it seem like she might finally accept a redemption, people started rushing in from all directions.
“Looks like the effect was huge.”
As they say, when you strike the grass, you never know what will jump out.
We only meant to flush out a stalker… but it seemed something other than a snake had come out.
“At this rate, that Yin Fiend who’s obsessed with animal ears should start moving soon.”
I had heard there were many people obsessed with Joo Wolah, but among them, there was one particularly notorious stalker.
But hearing my muttering, the Pavilion Master suddenly asked with a puzzled look.
“Young Master, a Yin Fiend obsessed with animal ears?”
She looked like she had never heard such a bizarre combination of words in her life.
“Uh, the one who’s been obsessively following Joo Wolah. That’s why we came, isn’t it?”
“It’s true that many are obsessed with her, and some are dangerous… but I’ve never heard of such a preference…”
What? Did she only mention the stalker but not the animal ears that made me feel responsible in the first place?
“….”
When I looked at Joo Wolah with a puzzled expression, she flinched and subtly avoided my gaze.
What’s with her all of a sudden?
“Anyway, we’ll refuse this redemption as well, Pavilion Master.”
Joo Wolah quickly changed the topic.
Looking at the spectacle outside, I spoke in slight amazement.
“They’re offering that much money too?”
Someone, guarded by escorts, opened golden chests to flaunt their wealth.
It was clearly more than what we, the Sichuan young masters, had offered. Whoever sent it had absurd amounts of money.
“No matter how much money they have, they cannot buy my heart. The lotus of the Heavenly Flower Pavilion chooses the pond it blooms in.”
She had no intention of being taken by those who believed money alone could buy a person.
After saying that, she looked at me with a strange gaze.
The slight lift of her eyes and the longing within them—it felt like a coded message meant only for me.
The problem was… I had no idea how to interpret it.
“Hah, so it’s a lotus that blooms even in a pond that already has an owner.”
At that, Young Master Eun muttered beside me with slight irritation.
Though her voice was low, I heard it clearly. Watching Ilhong get jealous was always amusing.
“Wolah… I’m sorry, but… this time, refusing the redemption might not be so easy.”
However, Pavilion Master Okryeong, who had been quietly reading the letter from the convoy, delivered troubling news with trembling hands.
She had always supported Joo Wolah’s wishes until now, but this time… it might be difficult.
“Why is that?”
I narrowed my eyes and asked.
Biting her lip, she replied with a shadowed expression.
“It seems… someone very high-ranking in the court is trying to redeem Wolah.”
If a brothel rooted in the Imperial Capital rejected such an offer from a powerful figure of the Imperial Palace, the repercussions could be severe.
Hearing the weight in her voice, a faint anxiety began to appear on Joo Wolah’s face as well.