Chapter 56
Part 6: Father and Elder
"Elder Yeom, huh…"
It was the Fourth Young Master, who had been comforting his subordinates in one corner.
The boy looked at Elder Yeom, who was standing in line among the poor, and muttered.
"If he is someone of an elder's rank in the main family, he could summon and meet even a physician who once served as an imperial doctor of the Imperial Palace. How ironic."
The boy's eyes narrowed.
Elder Yeom had built countless merits through his own martial strength, and with excellent conduct and judgment, had succeeded in gaining a place in the internal politics of the Sword Clan, which was like a battlefield.
In the end, he had risen to the position of elder of the Sword Clan.
Though he was not even a member of the Yeon family, he had started from the bottom and proudly entered the Council of Elders. The warriors of the Luoyang Sword Clan often spoke of him as a man with an inspirational life story.
"He is not even carrying the giant sword that is practically his symbol."
It was the Head Maid, who was standing by his side, who said this.
"And he has not brought any subordinates with him either."
In fact, when the poor, frightened by the words "elder of the Sword Clan", tried to leave the line, Elder Yeom had even stopped them from doing so.
"And the one on his back is that Law-Enforcement Girl."
"Yes."
At that moment, a young scribe cautiously opened his mouth.
"My lord. Would it be all right not to go and greet him?"
The Fourth Young Master shook his head.
"No need. If I acknowledge him here, it will only put him in a more difficult position."
The Fourth Young Master already knew what had happened between the Medicine King and Elder Yeom.
"Rather than that…"
He withdrew his gaze and clapped his hands.
"Seeing that your mouths are alive enough to chatter, it seems you have rested enough."
Fierce gazes poured from the surroundings toward the scribe who had needlessly spoken and invited trouble.
"Everyone, you heard the master's words, yes?"
At the Head Maid's words, the Fourth Young Master's subordinates, who had been resting, began moving toward the patients all at once.
"A meeting between a representative neutral elder and my eldest brother…"
The Fourth Young Master smiled as if he was looking forward to it.
***
The girl stayed as still as possible on her father's back, afraid that she might make him uncomfortable.
"To think I can meet the First Young Master in person like this… it feels like a dream."
His delicate daughter's voice sounded as though she were walking through a dream.
'How many times have I heard that just today?'
Elder Yeom shook his head.
"You will handle yourself well enough, but…"
"Yes. I am keeping it in mind."
His daughter murmured in a small voice.
"How many times have I heard that just today…"
"…"
She kept stealing glances at Yeon Sang-hyeon over her father's shoulder.
"He really is handsome. He looks exactly like the image in the painting."
Elder Yeom let out a small sigh at his daughter's words.
"Is White Tiger behaving himself?"
When its name was mentioned, the small white beast that had been quietly held in the girl's arms poked out its face.
At the soft growling sound, the girl smiled.
"He says he feels good because it has been a long time since he came outside."
Elder Yeom adjusted his daughter on his back and warned her.
"You must behave yourself."
The girl tilted her head together with the white beast.
"Me? Or White Tiger?"
Elder Yeom sighed again.
"Both of you."
He turned his gaze toward the First Young Master.
Except for the first moment, the First Young Master had not even looked at him.
Elder Yeom groaned inwardly.
He was none other than an elder of the Sword Clan. There was no way he would not know about the First Young Master's disposition.
Especially now, when talk of the succession issue was gradually beginning to surface inside the Luoyang Sword Clan.
A boy who shut himself away in Wongakjeong, a paradise on earth, merely reading books and enjoying helping the poor as a pastime.
'And yet…'
When he had heard that such a First Young Master had driven out the servants, Elder Yeom had not even paid it any attention.
But when, not long ago, that foolish steward had returned half-dead, he could not help but be shocked.
And when he heard that the First Young Master had personally acted, he had even felt a moment of fear.
Now, that First Young Master was tending to the poor with all sincerity.
He smiled at them, patted their shoulders, and skillfully practiced medicine.
'But why…?'
His daughter squirmed and once again poked her head out over his shoulder.
"It really feels like I am dreaming."
He sighed and looked at the First Young Master again.
As his daughter had said, the First Young Master was a beautiful boy one could not easily see anywhere.
And yet, for some reason…
Why did that pale and delicate face feel like a "mask"?
***
Their turn came, but Yeon Sang-hyeon did not acknowledge him, and so Elder Yeom merely remained silent by his daughter's side.
Yeon Sang-hyeon, just as he did with the other patients, was calmly taking his daughter's pulse.
What was he reading with those half-open eyes?
As the pulse examination dragged on, Elder Yeom forcibly suppressed his anxiety.
"Please have even a cup of this."
Perhaps she felt sorry for him.
The beautiful Head Maid offered him a cup of tea.
"Thank you."
He accepted the teacup, but merely held it.
All his attention was focused on the First Young Master, who showed no sign of moving.
After a long time had passed, the First Young Master let out a deep sigh.
"Damn it…"
Elder Yeom felt as if his heart sank.
"…This time, I wanted to prove that old geezer's diagnosis was wrong."
At the First Young Master's absurd muttering to himself, a hollow laugh escaped Elder Yeom's mouth.
He barely managed to restrain the strength from entering his pot-lid-sized fist.
"It seems difficult to have a proper conversation here."
Without giving his gaze to the girl, whose face was flushed as she kept glancing at him, Yeon Sang-hyeon spoke.
Elder Yeom blocked his daughter's front with his enormous body and answered.
"…Let us do that."
***
The two of them moved elsewhere.
In that small room, tea and refreshments had been prepared in advance for them.
Yeon Sang-hyeon naturally sat in the seat of honor and gestured to him.
"Sit."
After looking at Yeon Sang-hyeon for a moment, Elder Yeom sat down in the chair.
Confusion flashed through his eyes.
The one sitting in front of him was certainly the First Young Master he knew.
And yet, for some reason, it did not feel like that First Young Master.
"That old geezer… the Medicine King's diagnosis was accurate. For now, it seems this is as much as I can do."
After finishing his words, Yeon Sang-hyeon lifted his teacup and enjoyed its fragrance.
Elder Yeom placed the teacup he had brought all the way here onto the table and opened his mouth.
It was the cup he had received from the maid outside.
"…Would it be difficult for the Medicine King to examine my daughter again?"
Yeon Sang-hyeon's eyebrow twitched.
"Elder Yeom should know better than anyone that the old geezer cannot do that, no?"
Elder Yeom sighed.
He knew it too.
The moment his steward had tried to pressure the Medicine King into moving, it had already become impossible to see the Medicine King again.
That was not an issue concerning the Medicine King himself.
It was an unspoken rule.
A rule to prevent the countless powerful people who wished to see the Medicine King, who anxiously waited for him, from using the "same method".
An elder of the Luoyang Sword Clan was a great figure of authority who could ignore most powerful people.
But among those waiting for the Medicine King's visit were even elders of the imperial family, so this was no longer a matter of power.
'That utterly foolish steward…'
Watching his fist tremble, Yeon Sang-hyeon leisurely spoke.
"Here and now, I can prescribe something to prevent the seizure that will occur in your daughter, just as that old geezer did before."
Elder Yeom, who had been glaring at the table, turned his gaze toward Yeon Sang-hyeon.
The First Young Master continued with a bitter smile.
"But considering your position, even that would not be easy, would it?"
"That is…"
Elder Yeom could not continue.
That was something that would shake the political position Elder Yeom had maintained as part of the neutral faction.
"As you know in the first place, that old geezer could have cured your daughter completely. But…"
Elder Yeom took over Yeon Sang-hyeon's words.
"But to do so, he would have had to treat her at the exact moment my daughter suffered a seizure."
He sighed.
"But the Medicine King is someone who wanders the entire continent, and my daughter is in no condition to accompany him on such a harsh journey."
Yeon Sang-hyeon leaned back comfortably and crossed his legs.
"As you know, I could cure her completely through the same method. After all, I am someone who lives in the Sword Clan."
At his words, Elder Yeom froze.
His sharp gaze flew toward Yeon Sang-hyeon and fixed on him.
"Are you saying you would cure the daughter of a neutral elder who does not support you and has no intention of supporting you? People will point fingers at you, saying you are a man without pride."
Yeon Sang-hyeon lightly tapped his foot.
"The me here is nothing more than a physician."
Then he snorted.
"And if I had feared something as trivial as other people's gazes, would I have lived however I pleased until now?"
"…"
His gaze fixed on Elder Yeom.
"Besides, this is not the time for you to worry about me, is it?"
That was right.
Elder Yeom had merely tried to turn the arrow toward Yeon Sang-hyeon in order to avoid the question he himself had to answer.
The moment he received treatment from Yeon Sang-hyeon, and especially the moment he entrusted his daughter to Yeon Sang-hyeon and had her cured completely, he would lose the political position he had built until now.
Some might say his decision had been for his family.
But at least those who wanted to take his power would not say so.
"That is likewise not something the First Young Master needs to worry about, is it? The matter of my political position is entirely…"
Yeon Sang-hyeon rose and struck the table.
"That way of speaking!"
The sound was not very loud, and Yeon Sang-hyeon had not even struck the table hard in the first place.
But Elder Yeom barely managed to stop himself from jumping out of his seat.
"Throw away that way of speaking that belongs in the Sword Clan's petty political arena."
With the experience and courage he had built over many years, Elder Yeom managed not to avoid Yeon Sang-hyeon's gaze.
"There is no need for political rhetoric or decorative wording in front of me."
Yeon Sang-hyeon leaned his face across the table toward him.
"Do not evade my question."
His voice was low.
There was not a single trace of emotion in his gaze.
Elder Yeom swallowed dryly.
"I am nothing more than a physician and Swordless, but you?"
Before him, the First Young Master he had never known until now bared his teeth and smiled.
"Can you simply be one child's father?"
Elder Yeom felt the backrest against his back.
Without realizing it, he had pulled his body backward.
He tried not to turn his eyes away from Yeon Sang-hyeon's gaze, but even that was not easy.
He was a man who had come to this place after crossing over countless battles and the corpses of powerful enemies.
He had accomplished things everyone said were impossible, endured until his political enemies collapsed, and endured again.
"…"
And yet such a man as he was being miserably suppressed by a mere seventeen-year-old boy.
A boy whom, until moments ago, he had been trying hard to dismiss deep in his heart as someone who merely shut himself away in his mother's residence, read books, painted pictures, and liked helping the poor.
"Ha."
A smile formed on the boy's lips.
It was an unmistakable sneer.
Yeon Sang-hyeon turned and headed outside.
"Of course, I understand your situation. There is no need to decide in haste."
On his way out, he patted Elder Yeom's stiffened shoulder.
"That tea would be a waste, so make sure you finish drinking it."
Yeon Sang-hyeon stepped out the door.
His voice was heard behind Elder Yeom.
"It was excellent. Rich in fragrance, and its astringency was clean."
Elder Yeom's gaze turned toward the table.
Yeon Sang-hyeon's cup had already been empty for a long time.
In front of him sat two cups of tea, untouched and abandoned.