The Introverted Heavenly Demon - Chapter 75

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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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The Introverted Heavenly Demon Episode 075
Establishing Discipline
The young lords and ladies of the Four Great Families had traveled a considerable distance for this occasion, yet they maintained not only impeccable and refined attire but also an upright and dignified bearing in their speech and demeanor.
Once I granted permission, everyone took their seats, and the formal banquet began in earnest.
The tavern’s servants brought out delicacies in abundance—starting with vegetable dishes, followed by seafood and grilled meats—yet truthfully, I had no mental capacity to concern myself with food.
My heart was pounding so violently it felt ready to burst from my mouth; how could I possibly attend to eating at such a moment?
All my focus had to be devoted to maintaining the dignified expression and cold, stern gaze befitting a Minor Sect Leader.
“I hope the cuisine here suits your palate. You must be weary from your long journey, so please do not hold back—eat as much as you wish.”
Now that I had grown somewhat accustomed to the life of a Minor Sect Leader, delivering such formulaic pleasantries was hardly difficult.
However, the moment that problematic matter arrived, I could no longer afford to maintain my composure.
“Minor Sect Leader, surely such a gathering cannot proceed without spirits. Would you permit me the honor of offering you a cup?”
The Yanghe Daqü that Im Yun Gyeom had brought from his family was a precious liquor commonly known as a fine wine.
It was widely known that the doctrines of the Sun and Moon Divine Sect forbade drinking, and that alcohol was nearly taboo for those who cultivated demonic arts.
These individuals, being practitioners of demonic cultivation themselves, could hardly be unaware of this.
Yet the fact that they were offering me drink suggested that this gathering was now entering its true phase.
“The Minor Sect Leader does not drink….”
Before I could respond, Jin Seol, who stood behind me, stepped forward first.
As someone assisting the Minor Sect Leader, such a statement was entirely appropriate, but I raised my hand to stop her words.
“As Lord Im suggests, at a gathering such as this, even Ma Joon would permit drinking. Let us give it a try.”
Since my rebirth, I had never touched alcohol, and in my previous life, I had not been particularly fond of it either.
However, in a contest of momentum such as this, refusing the drink they offered would be unwise.
Im Yun Gyeom, his face flushed with delight, approached me respectfully and offered me a cup with both hands. As I accepted it, he filled it generously.
I drank the wine, which was filled nearly to the brim, without hesitation.
The fragrant yet bitter taste felt like the very essence of life as a Minor Sect Leader.
Im Yun Gyeom drank the return cup I offered him with equal lack of restraint before returning to his seat.
Yet what he said as he sat down was entirely unexpected.
“By the way, the young lady standing behind you, might she be….”
“She is Jin Seol, a disciple of Maryeom Palace at the Sect Headquarters.”
“Ah, as I thought.”
Unable to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of why they had brought up Jin Seol, I questioned Im Yun Gyeom.
“Lord Im, do you know of Disciple Jin?”
“Minor Sect Leader, you ask this? We hear news from the Sect Headquarters from time to time. Among the younger male disciples, is she not the fair Jin Seol, called one of the Two Beauties of the Headquarters alongside Baek Young Lady, your sister? She is indeed as exquisite as rumored.”
Up to this point, it was tolerable conversation, but as expected, the crux of what he wished to say lay in what followed.
“However, does the Sect Headquarters permit ordinary disciples to participate in conversations among the young lords of the Five Great Families?”

* * *
The atmosphere in the Banquet Hall shifted dramatically the moment Im Yun Gyeom suddenly pointed out Jin Seol’s words.
Had the courage that wasn’t there before suddenly spring forth after he downed a glass of strong liquor?
Im Yun Gyeom, whose voice was already loud to begin with, spoke toward Jin Seol in a voice even louder than when he addressed me.
“It seems you were selected as a maidservant to attend the Minor Sect Leader thanks to that beauty of yours. But I, Im Yun Gyeom, one of the sons of the Five Great Families, am offering a cup to the Minor Sect Leader—do you truly believe a mere maidservant like yourself has the qualification to interject?”
Kang So Young, being a woman, wore an expression of displeasure at seeing a large man berate a woman.
However, the other young masters all seemed to agree with Im Yun Gyeom’s words.
Noh Jae Won chimed in.
“Whether or not the Minor Sect Leader brings a particular person to meet with us young masters of our families is, depending on one’s perspective, a matter of some importance. The beauty of the Baek Young Lady is beyond compare, but… surely the Sect Headquarters doesn’t view us young masters as dissolute wastrels seeking pleasure houses? Hehehehe.”
His words went beyond merely pointing out Jin Seol’s remarks—they subtly criticized me for bringing someone who shouldn’t have been at this gathering in the first place.
Of course, it was an utterly baseless accusation, but still.
Gong Son Hui watched my expression silently, yet his eyes revealed a keen interest in observing my reaction.
Their purpose was as transparent as fire.
From the start, they had been searching for grounds to provoke me, and Jin Seol’s single remark had given them the opportunity they sought.
‘How amusing.’
My heart was beating faster with each passing moment—whether from the alcohol I had drunk for the first time since my rebirth, or from the unjust treatment Jin Seol was suffering before me, I could not say.
In any case, what mattered was that I had no need to lose my composure here and fall into their scheme.
I turned my head to gaze upon Jin Seol’s face.
Jin Seol, who had been looking straight ahead with a composed expression as if nothing had happened, met my eyes.
Her gaze remained serene, showing not the slightest sign of agitation or bewilderment.
“Jin Seol, why don’t you speak for yourself.”
At my command, Jin Seol answered in a measured voice.
“I apologize for my rudeness to the Minor Sect Leader and the young masters. As the young master Im has said, I am merely a lay disciple, but my presence here is by the order of the Left Elder of the Main Sect, and there is no intention whatsoever for the Sect Headquarters to show disrespect to the young masters….”
I shook my head side to side, cutting off her words.
“No, that’s not it.”
“…?”
I turned my head again, this time looking at Im Yun Gyeom, Kang So Young, Gong Son Hui, and Noh Jae Won in turn as I spoke.
“As for this Jin sister here, she is of the Jin Family—the hegemon clan of Shanxi. She is the daughter of Jin Mu Gyeom, the current Family Head of the Jin Family. As you all know, the elder sister of the great hero Jin is the Empress of the current Emperor.”
As unexpected words tumbled from my lips, I watched Im Yun Gyeom and Noh Jae Won’s faces turn pale with shock in real time.
For them, this was not only a story they had never heard, but also a shocking revelation they could never have imagined.
It seemed Jin Seol herself was equally taken aback.
Though we had spent considerable time together, I had never mentioned it, so she would have had no idea that the Minor Sect Leader had quietly investigated her background.
“Well then? Will you still claim that Jin sister lacks the qualification?”
The Jin Family, being related by marriage to the imperial household and receiving imperial support, was a noble clan that lacked nothing compared to any other family in Kangho—or rather, one prestigious enough to make these families appear shabby by comparison.
The Il-Wol Divine Sect Headquarters officially upholds the doctrine of not discriminating against people based on their origins, but for the young masters of the Five Great Families, it is not so simple a matter.
These are people who believe in nothing but the nobility of their bloodline.
Now that they had learned Jin Seol, whom they had naturally assumed to be of lowly birth, possessed a lineage far more noble than their own, they had no grounds whatsoever to make excuses.
I suspect they would not wish to slap their own mouths for what they had just said about her being a mere maidservant.
“B-but even so, she is nothing more than a secondary daughter….”
The moment the tactless Noh Jae Won spoke these words, Im Yun Gyeom shot him a startled glare.
I turned my gaze toward him in silence and observed him carefully.
Noh Jae Won realized he had made a grave mistake and closed his mouth, but there was no use crying over spilled milk.
“A concubine’s daughter… I see. Was that the problem?”
Though they were pretending otherwise, it was clear they had conducted some investigation into Jin Seol, who was to assist me today.
While few within the Sect Headquarters knew the detailed circumstances of Jin Seol’s origins, they had certainly ascertained that she was a concubine’s daughter from some noble house.
“Minor Sect Leader. Lord Noh did not mean it in that way…”
Gong Son Hui, quick to read the room, attempted a belated recovery, but I had no intention of letting it pass.
“Indeed. It must be uncomfortable for you, gathered here as legitimate sons and daughters of prestigious families, to have a concubine’s daughter in your midst…”
As I lowered my voice and trailed off, the young nobles’ complexions turned ashen in an instant.
In Kangho, it was not unusual to look down upon daughters born of concubines, but it was something that should never be said in a place like this.
They could not possibly be unaware of how terribly the Baek Sect Leader of the Sun and Moon Divine Sect, and Baek Yeon, the Minor Sect Leader, regarded Baek So Cheong, the concubine’s daughter.
The young nobles of the Four Great Families sat like dummies, unable to utter a word, while I grasped the wine bottle before me, filled my cup to the brim, and drained it in one gulp.
Crash!
The cup I had roughly set down on the table struck the floor and shattered, the sound echoing loudly through the space.
From my hand, cut by the shards of the broken cup, crimson blood began to flow.
“…!!”
At that very moment, with impeccable timing, my eyes began to gleam with a blood-red light.
I fixed a stare upon Gong Son Hui, who had flinched in surprise and was trembling.
And then…
A thin smile.
I slowly drew up the corners of my mouth and brought my hand to the hilt of the Heavenly Demon Slayer at my waist.
Maintaining my smile, I gazed directly into Gong Son Hui’s eyes and gently stroked the hilt of the Heavenly Demon Slayer three times.
‘It is said that stroking the sword hilt three times is a signal that one is about to draw the blade, and that smiling silently in the midst of conversation is a warning that one intends to kill the other party.’
The rumors about the Minor Sect Leader that Jin Seol had conveyed to me were the sort that anyone would find absurd.

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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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