The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Merchant Group - Chapter 662

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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 Youngest Son of the Eun Hae Trading Company Chapter 662

Chapter 662. The Emperor’s Secret Decree (3)

I was climbing up the cliff.
Since I hadn’t informed the Guard Warriors beforehand, I had no choice but to climb alone.
Thanks to my Master’s training, my stamina and strength were quite formidable compared to warriors of my rank, allowing me to scale the dizzying cliff with ease even while carrying a corpse on my back.
Ah, my fingers ache.
I deliberately refrained from protecting my fingers with inner energy.
If I climbed the cliff without a scratch, my abilities might come under suspicion.
And I needed to earn their sympathy for this matter to conclude smoothly.
After struggling up the cliff for roughly an hour, I finally reached the spot where I had fallen.
Thud.
At that moment, someone grasped my hand.
“My lord.”
“Ah, Jin Yu Warrior.”
I had been so focused on climbing that I hadn’t noticed Jin Yu Warrior’s approach.
Though it was possible, given that his cultivation level matched mine.
“Please take my hand and come up.”
“Yes.”
I grasped his hand and pulled myself up onto the cliff.
“Huff, huff.”
I breathed heavily and saw the Crown Prince rushing toward me from afar.
“Eun Small Merchant Leader! Eun Seo-ho Small Merchant Leader!”
“Your, your Highness, I deeply apologize for causing you such concern.”
“What are you saying? We should be grateful you’ve returned alive at all….”
I untied the corpse of Ajeong Eunuch that I had secured to my back and spoke.
“This is the body of Ajeong Eunuch. By fortune, I managed to survive by grasping a tree root, but Ajeong Eunuch fell upon the rocks and….”
“….”
“Please punish me for my failure to save Ajeong Eunuch.”
I deliberately stumbled sideways as I attempted to kneel with a trembling body.
Thud.
Then I closed my eyes and feigned unconsciousness.
“Eun Small Merchant Leader!”
“My lord!”
At that moment, Seo-woo Warrior checked my pulse and spoke.
“It appears he has overexerted himself while under extreme tension. His pulse is unstable—he needs to rest in a quiet place!”
“Quickly, move him to the barracks!”
.
.
.
I felt the surroundings grow quiet and cracked open my eyes.
I was in the military camp where I’d been staying.
“Young Master, you can open your eyes now. I know you were deliberately pretending to be unconscious.”
Well, Seo-woo Warrior had taken my pulse, so he would have noticed I was in good health.
I was simply feigning illness to match my own pace.
At Palgap’s words, I blinked and tried to sit up.
Thud!
But I couldn’t raise my body.
Palgap gently pushed me back down and whispered softly.
“I said to open your eyes, not to sit up.”
“Ah, I see.”
I lay back down on the simple cot.
“So, what happened? Do you know how worried we all were?”
Palgap continued whispering nagging words into my ear, and I had no choice but to lie there and listen to them.
Thanks to that, I learned something.
Even if it’s the same nagging, listening to it whispered in your ear while lying down is truly exhausting.
Of course, he was saying it out of concern for me.
“I’m sorry. It couldn’t be helped. Some of it was decided on the spot, but if we’d coordinated beforehand, it might have been obvious.”
I sighed and continued.
“You know how sharp the people attending the Crown Prince are.”
“I understand that.”
Then Jin Yu Warrior beside me asked through sound transmission.
– So what happened? Was he really a collaborator of the Sura Blood Sect?
– Yes, he was.
– As I thought….
– Moreover, he cast a soul-binding technique on the Crown Prince to make him choose himself as an attending eunuch.
– What? Then even now….
– That’s not the case. It seems the soul-binding technique was broken by my energy.
After hearing the full story, Jin Yu Warrior nodded and left the barracks to relay the information to the other guard warriors.
I lay quietly and organized my thoughts.
But perhaps due to fatigue, my eyes kept wanting to close.
Honestly, I’d been lacking sleep lately.
Then, I heard the Crown Prince’s voice.
“Eun Seo-ho! I’m coming in for a moment.”
Thanks to that, I was suddenly wide awake.
Soon the curtain of the barracks was drawn back and the Crown Prince entered.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince….”
I deliberately put on a strained expression as I rose from my seat.
“There’s no need for such formality! Just remain seated.”
“Ah, no, Your Highness. How could I—”
“You may stay as you are.”
The Crown Prince forcibly pressed down on my shoulder, and I lay back on the bed.
“This humble merchant begs Your Highness’s forgiveness. I failed to keep proper watch, and this tragedy has befallen us. Had my martial skills been even slightly superior, I might have saved Ajeong Eunuch… *sob*…”
I shed tears while wearing a sorrowful expression.
“All I could do was retrieve his remains and return.”
“No, you did more than enough.”
He then gently touched my blood-stained hands as he spoke.
“Your hands are in such terrible condition from climbing that cliff to return. When I think about it, this tragedy occurred because I wished to see the surrounding scenery. The fault lies with me.”
The Crown Prince continued.
“If we’re assigning blame, I bear the greater responsibility.”
“No, Your Highness. It is this merchant’s failure to serve properly.”
At this, the Guard Captain and the remaining Eunuch Official knelt and spoke.
“We are at fault.”
“Please punish us.”
The Crown Prince shook his head and spoke.
“No. Please rise.”
He continued.
“We must pay proper respects to the deceased. Ensure his remains are carefully collected and sent to Beijing. Since his ancestral tablet is there, it would be fitting to bury them together.”
“Your Highness’s benevolence is as vast as the sea itself.”
For eunuchs, the most important thing is the urn containing their ancestral tablet.
Without it, their prospects for advancement would be severely hindered.
And they believed that upon death, being buried with it allowed them to be reborn in the next life as a complete and unblemished being.
“I’m truly grateful you survived unharmed. Now rest well.”
“Yes.”
The Crown Prince left the barracks, and I exhaled deeply.
Fortunately, everyone seemed to regard this as an unfortunate accident. Exactly as I had intended.
But there was something I had failed to anticipate.
That many others would come to visit me besides the Crown Prince.
“Master. Hong Seon-il and his wife have arrived.”
“Ah…”
.
.
.
Evening had fallen, yet I remained lying on the bed.
Not because I was truly injured, but because I was exhausted and had no choice but to rest.
“Palgap. Why am I so popular?”
“Are you complaining about being popular? You should be grateful for such popularity.”
“I know that too.”
I exhaled a long sigh.
I understand how fortunate that is for a merchant.
“I was just throwing a little tantrum, and you didn’t even acknowledge it. I’m hurt.”
At my words, Palgap’s eyes darted back and forth as if he didn’t know what to do.
Well, I should stop teasing him now.
“Never mind. I was just saying it.”
I grinned and stood up, settling onto the edge of the bed as I spoke.
“I’m hungry. Let’s have dinner.”

That night.
Ajeong’s corpse was burned.
We could have simply sent the body to Beijing, but it might cause problems later, so we cremated it here instead.
The decomposition of a corpse is indeed problematic, but there are ways to prevent it.
Thus his remains were reduced to ash and bone, which were placed in a box and sent to Beijing.

The next day, we departed for Nanking again.
.
.
.
Days later, we arrived in Nanking.
“Your Highness, I greet the Crown Prince.”
The Ak Regional Commander of Nanking came to meet us.
“Thank you for the welcome.”
“You honor us with your words. I shall escort you to the palace.”
Nanking possessed a palace where the Emperor could reside.
The Emperor frequently visited Nanking to inspect the southern regions of the Empire.
Thus, while smaller than the Imperial Palace in Beijing, it was more magnificent than most princely residences.
Its name was Jocheon Palace.
Since the Crown Prince was to remain in Nanking for a considerable period under the Emperor’s orders, we were heading to Jocheon Palace.
“Is this Jocheon Palace?”
“Yes, it appears so.”
In truth, this wasn’t my first time visiting Jocheon Palace.
I had been here in my previous life.
But since this is my first time in this life, I cannot pretend to know it.
Then the Crown Prince spoke.
“Everyone, come inside.”
“Yes.”
Since it was a formal invitation from the one who had become the master of Jocheon Palace, we could all enter the palace grounds.
Of course, we could only access the buildings designated for receiving guests, and we were not permitted to stay elsewhere.
However, Seon-il Elder Brother and Princess Sinaa are exceptions.
They’ve received the Emperor’s command to remain at Jocheon Palace until departure.
“I pay my respects to the new master of Jocheon Palace.”
Every Eunuch Official and Palace Maid living in Jocheon Palace bowed respectfully to the Crown Prince.
“It’s good to meet you all. I look forward to working with you going forward.”
“We shall serve you with utmost devotion.”
“These are the people who have supported me until now. I wish to hold a banquet in their honor this evening, so please make the preparations.”
“Your command is understood.”
Then the Crown Prince looked at me.
“Eun Seo-ho.”
“Yes.”
“Come with me for a moment.”
….
I followed the Crown Prince inside alone.
It wasn’t a place where my Guard Warrior could accompany me.
The interior seemed quite complex, but he navigated without hesitation.
After all, he must have visited several times before.
The Crown Prince entered what appeared to be an office and invited me to sit at the tea table.
“Sit.”
“I am deeply honored….”
“Just sit.”
“Yes.”
I sat at the tea table, and the Crown Prince sat across from me.
An Eunuch Official entered and placed tea before us.
“Clear the area.”
“Yes.”
The Eunuch Official faithfully carried out the order, and soon I could sense no one else nearby.
Still, I couldn’t fathom what the Murim Alliance was scheming.
Not only the Black Path, but even those from the Sura Blood Sect were moving about, plotting something.
“You’ve had quite a lot to worry about this time.”
At the Crown Prince’s words, I quickly gathered my thoughts and looked at him.
“I apologize for causing you concern.”
“Not at all. Rather, I feel sorry for asking you to do something so difficult.”
“How can you say such a thing? If it had been an unreasonable request from the start, I would have told you it wasn’t possible.”
“That’s true….”
The Crown Prince nodded.
“You’re the type to say no when something isn’t possible. Yet I don’t recall ever hearing you refuse me.”
“Ah… that’s because….”
I spoke with an awkward expression.
“So far, there has been nothing impossible.”
He laughed at my response.
“Now I understand why Hwangbo Elder asked you to become my advisor.”
The Crown Prince drank the tea the Eunuch Official had left behind earlier. Seeing that, I also took a sip of my tea.
As expected from the Imperial Palace’s tea, it had an exquisite fragrance and a deep, complex flavor.
After drinking in silence for a moment, I called out to the Crown Prince.
“Your Highness. I have something to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“Are you good at catching rats?”
The Crown Prince’s expression changed at my question.
“…What do you mean by that?”
Since we were alone now, I could speak freely.
“In truth, when I dealt with that person, I conducted a brief interrogation. That individual was an important witness, was he not?”
I continued.
“Thanks to that, I discovered something. There are people operating in the shadows within both the Imperial Palace and this Jocheon Palace.”
“Is that truly the case?”
“Yes. The Emperor will handle the Imperial Palace matter well. However, this Jocheon Palace is something Your Highness must take charge of.”
The Emperor’s secret orders to me extended only to dealing with Ajeong Eunuch.
So there was no need for me to handle what came after.
“I believe you can manage this well, just as you steeled yourself when dealing with that person.”
“It frightens me. Rats are omnivorous—don’t they bite people too?”
“That’s true, but they don’t bite people who are moving. Being fearful creatures, they scurry away and hide instead.”
I continued.
“A tiger cub fears rats because it has never encountered them. Similarly, a rat doesn’t fear a tiger cub because it doesn’t know that tigers are frightening.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“Still, I wish you would help me.”
I shook my head gently and spoke softly.
“Your Highness. You must not fear getting blood on your hands. Soon, the Crown Princess and the Young Prince will arrive at this Jocheon Palace, will they not? Will you allow them to suffer as you have suffered?”
“That is… not acceptable.”
“Your Highness. Only you can protect them.”
So you must handle what comes next yourself.
Do not push this burden onto me.
I speak this way because the Crown Prince has more than enough ability to accomplish such things.
Until now, he probably pretended to be docile to avoid standing out too much and facing difficulties.
But where does blood run?
The Emperor is formidable, but the Empress is equally formidable.
Born of both their bloodlines, the Crown Prince is certainly no ordinary person.
The Emperor worried about atavism, but.
If I let the Crown Prince drag me along from now on, it will become very troublesome for me.
But if I simply refuse coldly, then again….
“If it seems like it truly won’t work, then I’ll offer some assistance. Or perhaps we could share some tea together.”
I really do have too soft a heart.
– Chirp?
– Hmm? Geum-ryeong, you’re full?
– Chirp! Chirp!
You just said something nonsensical?
That my heart is so tender it’s like silk?
You know it well.

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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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