Chapter 35 - Remember This Instead

"This is unjust! I didn't do it!"

The man protesting his innocence in Yellow Springs Pavilion's interrogation room was Bae Jongtak, a martial artist of the Northern Heaven Sword House, led by the Single Flower Sword Supreme.

He had been brought in after being accused of forcing himself on a young maid of the sword house. In the past, the matter would never even have become a case. This time, however, Bae Jongtak had been promptly arrested the day after the complaint was filed.

"That maid is framing me! Let me confront her! I'm innocent."

"Why would the maid frame you?"

"How would I know? Someone might have put her up to it, or perhaps I did something to offend her. But I certainly did not lay a finger on her."

He looked genuinely wronged.

"Very well. I'll let you confront her."

"Please bring her here right away."

At my signal, Seo Daeryong, who had been waiting outside, brought in the girl. She was terrified.

"Hey! Why the hell are you doing this to me?"

Bae Jongtak suddenly shouted at the girl.

I raised a hand to quell his agitation.

"Quiet! Shout one more time, and this confrontation is over."

"Yes, sir. It's just that I've been wronged."

I asked the girl, "Is that the man who hurt you?"

She slowly nodded.

"Look at that! She nodded without even looking properly at my face."

"She knows you. Does she need to study your face?"

"She can't look at me because she feels guilty."

"Are you truly saying you didn't do it?"

"I didn't. I swear to heaven I didn't. Punishing me on nothing but this girl's word would be a terrible injustice. Think about it. If I wanted a woman, I could visit a brothel. Why would I touch a young girl like that?"

"How would I know? You tell me. Is that what you like?"

"Didn't I tell you I didn't do it?"

Bae Jongtak glared menacingly at the girl.

"You don't know how severe the punishment for false accusations is, do you? I'll forgive you, so tell the truth. Say it wasn't me!"

The girl shrank back as though frightened.

"Look! She's trembling, isn't she?"

"That's because she's scared. You told her that if she spoke about the rape, you'd track down her family back home and kill them too, didn't you?"

The girl herself hadn't filed the complaint. She had told another maid, who had gone to the Yellow Springs Pavilion branch across from the Merry Life Tavern and reported it on her friend's behalf.

"Why are you taking only her word for it?"

"Because I believe her."

"Isn't that terribly biased?"

"Because I'm certain you raped her."

"Then give me solid proof! Don't just believe what she says."

I looked at Seo Daeryong, and he went outside. He returned with two more girls, both a little older than the first.

Bae Jongtak flinched at the sight of them.

"You remember them, don't you? They used to work as your maids."

"Of course I do. You've grown so much!"

He greeted them warmly, but the girls kept their heads bowed and said nothing.

"While listening to her testimony, I suddenly wondered: if you'd done it this time, might you have done it before?"

We had therefore tracked down his former maids and questioned them, discovering that they, too, had been raped.

"They've already given their full testimony. You raped them in exactly the same way. Made the same threats, too. You abused each one for two or three years, then replaced her with another girl."

Realizing he could no longer deny it, Bae Jongtak's expression changed. The man pleading his innocence vanished, revealing his true nature.

"I was drunk and made a mistake. Please let me off just this once."

His sudden composure was so unlike his indignant protests moments before that it felt like watching a troupe of marketplace performers.

He addressed the girls calmly.

"Be honest. You enjoyed it too, didn't you? And I paid you every time we finished, didn't I?"

The youngest maid took coins from inside her clothes and threw them onto the floor. They scattered in a clattering heap. She had kept them without spending a single coin and brought them with her today.

Bae Jongtak turned away, pretending not to see, and pleaded with me.

"I've heard that no one in Yellow Springs Pavilion's history has ever been sent to prison for touching a maid."

"You even did your homework. That's right."

"I'll make sure it never happens again. I swear to heaven. I'll sign a written pledge if you want. No, I won't keep any female servants at all."

"You won't be going to prison."

At my words, the girls raised their heads. Every face was filled with fear.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

He grinned at the girls, and they all lowered their heads to avoid his gaze.

"But you will be going somewhere else."

"Where?"

"Here."

SWISH! THUNK!

My sword cut through his neck in a single stroke. He died without managing even one scream and toppled backward with his chair.

Startled by the sudden turn of events, the girls cried out. His blood flowed onto the coins scattered across the floor.

I immediately turned to the girls.

"The man who tormented you is dead now. Your families won't be killed, either. So live without worrying from now on."

The girls stared at me in shock.

"You won't forget what happened to you for as long as you live. If you can't forget anyway, remember today instead. Let this moment, when he paid for his crimes, cover over what you suffered. When you remember him, remember only this final end."

This was the best I could do for them.

The girls looked at the corpse, then at one another.

After a moment, the oldest stepped forward and bowed respectfully.

"Thank you so much for avenging us."

The others bowed with her.

"Thank you, sir. Sob..."

The youngest maid burst into tears, and another girl hugged her. Tears also streamed down the face of the girl holding her.

No one cared how these maids were treated. In the past, I hadn't cared either.

"You needn't thank me. I could punish him because you had the courage to testify. You made this retribution possible. So keep being brave, and live well."

"Yes, sir."

"And you will never suffer retaliation from his friends or family. Yellow Springs Pavilion will protect you from now on."

Now even the oldest girl was weeping.

"Thank you... so much."

Father, if we fail to protect these girls because we're caught up in the pretence that strength entitles one to rule, those bastards of the orthodox factions you hate so much will cut off our heads. No, they ought to. We should have nothing to say in our defense even as our heads are cut off.

Investigators came in and escorted the girls out. I had instructed them to give these girls particular attention from now on, so the girls had no need to worry.

Word of this would spread throughout the Cult, too, and fewer bastards would dare lay hands on their maids. We had to start by correcting the misguided belief that such things were only natural for demonic martial artists.

Yi An, who had watched the interrogation, shook her head.

"When I saw him denying it earlier, I really thought he'd been falsely accused. It's frightening."

"Humans are scarier than ghosts."

"But he belonged to the Northern Heaven Sword House. Will the Single Flower Sword Supreme let this pass?"

"Her subordinate repeatedly raped young maids. And she'd make an issue of me killing someone like that? She'd better not."

"Aren't you afraid, Young Master?"

"I am. Afraid I'll die before I can get rid of all this trash."

"The Cult has been growing kinder ever since you became Pavilion Master of Yellow Springs Pavilion. What will we do if we end up full of people more virtuous than the Orthodox Martial Alliance?"

I immediately corrected her joke.

"Not raping a maid isn't an act of kindness, is it? It's basic decency."

"Ah, you're right."

"And until now, we haven't managed even that."

Just then, Seo Daeryong returned.

"Pavilion Master, why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You killed him deliberately, didn't you? Isn't it your belief that men like him should be locked in prison and made to suffer?"

The Cult's prison, at least, was a place more agonizing than death.

"That's right."

"Then why did you kill him?"

Seo Daeryong really was clever. I had deliberately taken personal charge of a case involving the Single Flower Sword Supreme, and, as he said, I had killed the bastard on purpose.

"Because killing him this way gives me an official reason to visit the Single Flower Sword Supreme."

Seo Daeryong was startled.

"The Blood Heaven Saber Demon is enough of a headache. Why would you want to meet the Single Flower Sword Supreme too?"

"Because I need a second tiger."

"What?"

Seeing his bewilderment, I gave him an order.

"Send word to the Sword Supreme at once. Tell her a problem arose during the interrogation, and I'll come explain in person."

* * *

Two hours later, I set out for the Northern Heaven Sword House with Seo Daeryong.

"Do you really have to take me with you?"

"It's an official visit. Can the pavilion master go alone? His right-hand man has to come along."

"Since when am I your right-hand man?"

"A ruthless, power-hungry man, yet a man's man who loves only one woman. A rebel who raises his hand alone when everyone else stays silent. More than qualified to be my right-hand man."

"Good heavens!"

"Which description do you like?"

"I don't like any of them!"

Before long, we reached the entrance to the Northern Heaven Sword House.

While the Blood Heaven Saber Demon's Southern Saber Sect occupied the southern part of the Cult, the Single Flower Sword Supreme's Northern Heaven Sword House controlled the north.

"This is my first visit to the Northern Heaven Sword House. None of my cases so far have involved them. Unlike the Blood Heaven Saber Demon, the Single Flower Sword Supreme has kept her subordinates well in hand. The house's Demon Swords value honor, too."

"Do they?"

At my lukewarm response, Seo Daeryong asked, "You don't think so?"

"From what I can see, the Demon Swords and Saber Fiends are much the same. Should men who value honor have looks like those in their eyes?"

The Demon Swords guarding the entrance were giving us hostile looks.

Apparently, word of Bae Jongtak's death had already reached them. Rather than accepting that he had died because of his crimes, their attitude was closer to, 'You killed a martial artist of our Northern Heaven Sword House just for touching a few maids?' Of course, with things as they were these days, they didn't dare provoke me. Soon, they all bowed respectfully.

Seo Daeryong spoke quietly to me.

"For a pacifist, I've been seeing that look quite often lately. It keeps happening whenever I'm with a certain someone."

"I'll add 'pacifist' to your list of attributes."

"Ah..."

A martial artist was waiting to guide us.

"The Demon Supreme is expecting you. I am Sa Ujong."

Sa Ujong was the man known as the Single Flower Sword Supreme's right hand. One of the three finest martial artists in the Northern Heaven Sword House, he did indeed have a presence as sharp as a blade.

I knew this man well—not because of any personal connection or friendship, but because his end had been quite memorable.

"A pleasure to meet you."

"Please follow me."

Sa Ujong led us farther inside, past the buildings where the Demon Swords lived, to the innermost part of the grounds.

There stood a small thatched cottage.

This modest, tastefully appointed place was the Single Flower Sword Supreme's residence.

"The Pavilion Master of Yellow Springs Pavilion has arrived."

At Sa Ujong's announcement, the cottage door opened and a woman dressed in white stepped out.

"Welcome, Pavilion Master Geom."

The woman with the gentle voice was So Yeonrang, the Single Flower Sword Supreme.