Ice Dragon of Namgung - Chapter 85

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 85
“You’re not satisfied with just defecting to the Namgung Clan—now you want me to accept the Gold Seal Restriction?”
Huk Il-sal stared at Namgung Geom as if he’d heard something absurd.
“If you harbor no treacherous thoughts, the restriction poses no problem whatsoever.”
Huk Il-sal accepted that he could not escape it.
In truth, it would have been far stranger if someone trusted him without condition.
“But what guarantee do I have that the Namgung Clan won’t go back on its word?”
Huk Il-sal wondered if Namgung Geom’s proposal was merely a ploy to extract a confession.
“The Main House does not speak with a forked tongue. If you cannot trust the Main House’s word, then abandon this path.”
Namgung Geom spoke as though he had nothing to lose.
“Very well. I will clear the false accusation against Namgung Byuk and henceforth serve the Namgung Clan.”
“It seems you’ve forgotten something.”
Huk Il-sal tilted his head, then recalled what he’d omitted, and his expression twisted.
“……I will also pursue Reform and Redemption.”
As Huk Il-sal answered with resignation, Namgung Geom’s face grew satisfied.
“Then let us summon the Lord of Eunryong-gak.”
Namgung Geom called for Namgung Byung, the Lord of Eunryong-gak, and moments later he entered Noe-ok.
“Huk Il-sal has revealed that his confession was false.”
Upon hearing Namgung Geom’s words, Namgung Byung turned his gaze toward Huk Il-sal.
“Is that true?”
“It is. Everything I said about Namgung Byuk being the one behind it was a lie.”
Huk Il-sal answered readily.
“Why would you make such a false confession in the first place?”
“I acted on orders from the Heuksalmun Master.”
“Then why didn’t you name Namgung Byuk from the start? Why change your story later?”
Namgung Byung asked, unable to make sense of it.
“The Heuksalmun Master’s orders reached me later.”
“Orders from the Heuksalmun Master? When did you receive them?”
“After I was brought to the Main House of the Namgung Clan.”
At Huk Il-sal’s answer, Namgung Byung furrowed his brow.
He understood what it meant that orders had been transmitted within the Namgung Clan.
“After you were brought to the Main House? Who delivered the orders to you?”
Namgung Byung asked.
“A cat.”
“What?”
Namgung Byung’s face registered utter bewilderment.
Namgung Geom’s expression was no different.
“A single cat entered the place where I was confined, and a message scroll was tied to its leg.”
Huk Il-sal continued his explanation.
“Is that really true?”
Namgung Byung asked, unconvinced.
“It is undeniable fact.”
From the look on Huk Il-sal’s face, it seemed he was not lying.
“Ha. A Messenger Cat—a method I would never have conceived. Do you know who sent it?”
Namgung Byung marveled at the ingenuity, then asked the question.
“That, I do not know.”
“Are you truly ignorant of this?”
Namgung Byung regarded Huk Il-sal with a sharp gaze and pressed further.
“Why would I lie when the Master is already dead?”
At the resignation in Huk Il-sal’s expression, Namgung Byung nodded.
“What content did the message contain?”
“Orders to name Namgung Byuk as the instigator, and to reveal the secret branches of Heuksalmun.”
“Then the assassination attempt by Heuksalmun has no connection whatsoever to the Lord of Cheonrae-jeon?”
Namgung Byung confirmed once more.
“Correct. There is no connection with Namgung Byuk.”
“Yet you’ve changed your story twice now. How am I to believe your words?”
Namgung Byung’s eyes narrowed as he posed the question.
“The Heuksalmun Master is already dead and Heuksalmun is essentially in ruins. If my only path to survival is to reveal the truth and defect to the Namgung Clan, does that not answer your suspicion?”
“What? You mean to defect to the Namgung Clan?”
At Namgung Byung’s question, Huk Il-sal glanced toward Namgung Geom.
“The Patriarch granted permission.”
Namgung Geom’s reply made Namgung Byung’s eyes widen.
“The Patriarch gave his permission?”
“On the condition that Huk Il-sal reveals the truth and undergoes reform and redemption.”
“Does he not understand the nature of the Evil Sect? They are the sort who will change their word at any moment and stab you in the back.”
“Have no fear. Huk Il-sal could never betray the Main House.”
For all Namgung Geom’s conviction, Namgung Byung remained unconvinced.
“How can you guarantee such a thing?”
“I possess the means to enforce a Gold Seal Restriction upon him.”
“You have the means to enforce such a restriction?”
Namgung Byung’s expression shifted to surprise.
“The details can wait for another time. For now, shouldn’t we first clear the name of the Master of Cheonrae-jeon?”
“Very well.”
Namgung Byung nodded.
Namgung Geom accompanied Namgung Byung to the Patriarch’s Hall.
There he reported Huk Il-sal’s confession.
“Though the assassination attempt on the Master of Cheonrae-jeon has been cleared as a fabrication through his testimony, suspicion still lingers regarding the assassination of the Chingyang Branch Master.”
“What if I vouch for the Master of Cheonrae-jeon’s innocence?”
At Namgung Geom’s words, Namgung Pae regarded him with evident surprise.
“You? Vouch?”
“If I, the aggrieved party, offer my guarantee, no one will dare speak further against him.”
“You are certain the Master of Cheonrae-jeon did not commit this act?”
Namgung Pae asked.
“I am. The Second Uncle I know is not so careless a man.”
He did not trust Namgung Byuk completely.
It occurred to him that Namgung Byuk might well seek his death.
But at the very least, he would not execute a scheme with such glaring flaws.
“I understand your intent, but your guarantee alone will not be sufficient to dispel suspicion.”
As long as the Chingyang Branch Master’s testimony and the letter remained, Namgung Geom’s guarantee would prove inadequate—such was Namgung Pae’s assessment.
And the identity of the faction behind the assassination, which Namgung Geom suspected, had yet to be conclusively revealed.
It was difficult to assert that the hand behind the assassination belonged not to Namgung Byuk, but to the faction.
Of course, they could simply sweep the matter aside.
But suspicion of Namgung Byuk would not vanish.
“Has the authenticity of the letter discovered in the Chingyang Branch Master’s quarters not yet been verified?”
Namgung Geom asked Namgung Byung.
“We are conducting a detailed examination now; results should come soon enough.”
“It seems to be taking longer than expected.”
It had been quite some time since the letter was discovered.
The fact that no results had emerged even now struck him as odd.
Namgung Byung frowned and spoke.
“The trouble is, the internal assessments conflict with one another. We had to seek out a forgery expert from outside, which took time.”
Conflicting opinions meant there were traces of forgery.
Once the results came through, the likelihood of forgery being confirmed seemed high.
“Then once the letter’s forgery is revealed, the suspicion against the Master of Cheonrae-jeon will be entirely dispelled.”
“That should follow, yes. But this matter will not end there.”
Namgung Geom grasped immediately what Namgung Byung meant to say.
“If the Master of Cheonrae-jeon is not the orchestrator, then someone else stands behind this assassination attempt. We must uncover who that person is.”
Namgung Byung nodded.
“Even if the faction is the mastermind, as you suspect, circumstantial evidence alone will not suffice. We shall need solid proof that they are behind this.”
“For now, the only way forward is to identify who sent the Messenger Cat to Huk Il-sal.”
Namgung Byung shared this view.
“The problem is how to find such a person.”
“My conjecture is that whoever sent the Messenger Cat to Huk Il-sal is likely a spy for the faction.”
“Not a spy for the Heuksalmun?”
Namgung Byung raised an objection.
“If he were a spy for the Heuksalmun, there would be no reason to name the Master of Cheonrae-jeon as the orchestrator of the assassination.”
“True. Yet it could be a ploy to make the assassination appear as internal strife within the Main House, so that the Main House cannot lodge a protest against the Heuksalmun or the Sapae-ryeon.”
At Namgung Byung’s rebuttal, Namgung Geom nodded in acknowledgment.
Now that he heard it, Namgung Byung’s reasoning held merit.
“I had not thought that far ahead. You truly are the Master of Eunryong-gak.”
Namgung Byung shook his head.
“The Crown Prince has already decided the answer beforehand—that he’s a spy for the Sect—so naturally he sees it that way.”
There was certainly truth to that perspective.
“But if we consider the letter that came from the Chingyang Branch Master’s quarters, it’s unlikely he’s a Heuksalmun spy.”
“Does the Crown Prince believe the person who forged the letter and the one who sent the Messenger Cat are one and the same?”
Though no conclusion had yet been reached, Namgung Byung posed the question on the assumption that the letter was indeed a forgery.
“Yes. The chance of both a Heuksalmun spy and a Sect spy existing simultaneously in the Main House is low.”
“The forger of the Cheonrae-jeon Master’s letter could also be someone from outside.”
The Cheonrae-jeon Master’s handwriting and seal could be forged just as easily from the outside.
“Of course, that’s a possibility. But for now, I think it’s best to focus our investigation internally.”
Namgung Byung nodded.
After all, checking the inner circle first was the logical order.
“So you have a way to flush out this spy?”
“What if we force him to approach the Cheonrae-jeon Master first?”
“How would that work?”
Namgung Byung asked for specifics.
“First, we must hide the fact that Huk Il-sal has confessed falsely. Then we spread word that I am strongly advocating for the Cheonrae-jeon Master’s punishment.”
“What’s the purpose of that?”
“What does the Sect hope to gain by making the Cheonrae-jeon Master the mastermind of the assassination?”
Namgung Geom turned the question back on him.
“By framing the Cheonrae-jeon Master, they’d conceal their own existence.”
That would certainly be one motive.
But Namgung Geom believed there was more to it than that.
“Is that the only reason, though?”
Namgung Byung considered what other motive there might be.
And then he recalled what Namgung Geom had said during their visit to the Chingyang Branch.
“They want to provoke Fraternal Strife between you and the Cheonrae-jeon Master.”
“Exactly.”
“But framing the Cheonrae-jeon Master with a false accusation of conspiracy doesn’t seem like enough, does it?”
Namgung Geom nodded in agreement.
“So there must be someone actively inciting me and the Cheonrae-jeon Master to fight.”
“That would be the Sect’s spy.”
“Precisely.”
Namgung Byung pondered for a moment, then spoke.
“So by spreading word that you’re strongly advocating for the Cheonrae-jeon Master’s punishment, you’re giving the spy a reason to act.”
“Yes. He’ll think that once the Cheonrae-jeon Master learns of it, he’ll harbor resentment against me and attack.”
“But the Cheonrae-jeon Master is under confinement—no one can visit him. How would the spy even approach him?”
Namgung Byung voiced his doubt.
Namgung Byuk was locked away in Cheonrae-jeon, with strict prohibition on outside contact.
Even an infiltrator would have difficulty getting past the martial masters of Eunryong-gak, who guarded the place like an impenetrable fortress.
“I’ve been thinking about how contact could be made, and just like with Huk Il-sal, I suspect the spy will deliver a Message Scroll through a Messenger Cat.”
Namgung Geom believed the person who had sent Huk Il-sal the Messenger Cat was the Sect’s spy, and he was certain this same person would approach Namgung Byuk in the same manner.
“Then we simply wait for the Messenger Cat to appear at Cheonrae-jeon.”
Namgung Geom nodded.
“And if we track the Messenger Cat, we can capture the spy.”
“But I’m uncertain whether we should inform the Cheonrae-jeon Master of the plan.”
As Namgung Byung hesitated, Namgung Geom spoke as though it were a minor matter.
“I think it best to tell Uncle everything.”
“Even though it’s a chance to verify the Cheonrae-jeon Master’s true intentions?”
Through Huk Il-sal’s testimony, it had been revealed that the person who ordered Namgung Geom’s assassination was not Namgung Byuk.
But a shadow of doubt remained.
If Namgung Geom proceeded without Namgung Byuk’s knowledge, he could confirm whether his uncle truly intended his death.
Namgung Geom was not unaware of this.
But he believed trust was better than suspicion.
“I don’t want to create needless misunderstandings with Uncle. Instead, by showing him trust and building confidence, it will benefit the Clan.”
At Namgung Geom’s words, Namgung Pae nodded and drew a conclusion.
“Let’s do as the Dragon-Spear Swordmaster says.”
Namgung Byung-yong
Author |
Baek Wol-geom
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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