WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT UP AHEAD

The evening rain began to fall even harder. Yujo looked down at her notes before looking out the window. Jewol was late today.

“Madame.”

Yujo flinched in surprise and answered the call.

“Wait.”

She quickly gathered the papers and placed them beneath the blanket. They were the documents Jewol had secretly acquired at the judicial office. The documents provided the strange details of the deaths of the victims.

Her hunch had been correct. These men all came from families rooted in the northern province, just like the guibin. The only problem was figuring out what connected these men other than their origins. These men weren’t familiar with each other.

“Enter.”

At her order, Ran entered the room and lowered her head.

“The duke has sent a message. He said that he’d be staying at the Academy today.”

“Really?”

Jewol was helping her at the Academy where all the historical documents and reports were kept. But no matter how much work he had, he always returned home. Did something urgent happen today?

“All right.”

After Ran left the room, Yujo folded back the blanket and glanced back down at the papers. There was no record of the victims visiting each other. It didn’t seem like they were close to each other at all, but saying that they were killed solely for their connections to the northern province could be too much of a leap.

Feeling the onset of a headache, Yujo let out a deep breath and looked out the window. It didn’t look like it would stop raining anytime soon. She could hear the faint sound of thunder. The heavy rain came down even harder.

The short rainfall would wash away the pain and suffering and bring forth a revival. It was also preparing a new life for the people of Yeha.

I wonder how Brother is doing? Is his leg okay? He shouldn’t overwork himself in his condition…

Yujo quickly shook her head and brushed off the worries and yearning.

“I should work hard too. I can’t lose to Brother.”

She took out the papers and began to look through them carefully. The report stated that the Danju had burst into flames when he was asleep. The location was written as ChiHwaRu, next to the Silk River. The judicial office’s investigation wasn’t finished, so the scene of the incident would still be in tact. Maybe she should check it out and search for some clues.

Having made her decision, Yujo quickly began to tie her hair.

The raindrops shot down onto the earth like spears. Standing on top of the overgrown branches of the magnolia tree, Yujo didn’t blink as she looked below.

The Silk River was a river that flowed through the west of YeonSung. A large floodgate ran across the river, and a variety of large and small boats were anchored along its pier.

Connected to the pier, the ChiHwaRu Brothel was bustling with people from all over the world. The men who had gone through a long, arduous journey at sea swarmed to the brothel like bees to honey as they became drunk with women.

As if the Danju’s death had already been forgotten, the brothel was once again filled with music and song.

The dead was the dead, and the living continued to live on.

What should she do? Yujo bit her lip. She hadn’t thought much of it as she made her way here, and now she realized that she was wearing her black robe. Additionally, she’d only heard about brothels from her older brothers back at home. She had never been to one herself.

Should I wait for the people to fall asleep? But it was already past the Hour of Hae (9PM-11PM). Ran was going to come inside her room to wake her up at dawn. Yujo always shared her breakfast with Princess Yeowa, so she didn’t have time to just stand here like this.

Or is there another way?

Suddenly, the back door of the brothel burst open. A group of courtesans came outside as they burst into laughter.

One of the drunk courtesans staggered and walked over to the river before throwing up. The others shouted out and held a paper umbrella over her body. The open door banged against the wall as the wind blew.

Yujo’s eyes narrowed.

Amidst the commotion of the courtesans, Yujo easily slid behind them and entered through the open door. She must have entered the kitchen because she could smell fried fish and beef stew. Her clothes were dripping wet, so Yujo quickly left the kitchen and entered a corridor.

She soon found herself inside a storage room. There was a ladder going up. It led to a small room where the courtesans could rest or change their clothes.

Yujo sneaked into the room and closed the door. A bronze mirror rested against one of the walls along with a lit brazier.

On top of a vanity, Yujo saw a some charcoal and a variety of makeup tools strewn across the surface. She also saw a red silk outfit hanging next to the vanity.

This was definitely more than sufficient.

After locking the door, Yujo quickly dried her wet body. She could hear the sound of music and clapping hands through the thin, wood-paneled walls.

The men continued to flirt and leer at the women. It seemed that even the death of a man or a terrible storm outside wouldn’t stop them from enjoying their drink and their women.

Yujo barely managed to take off her clothes that had stuck to her body. She examined the red, silk outfit. Because it was an outfit meant for a courtesan, the shoulders and upper chest were exposed. Yujo’s neck and chest were still damp with rain, and she didn’t feel comfortable exposing herself like this, but there was no other choice.

She quickly wrapped the waistband around her hips and did her best to dry her hair. She swept it up, but because it was still more than half-damp, the drops of water began to drip down the nape of her neck.

Instead of putting on the cheap accessories, Yujo reached over and plucked a dark pink peony flower and put it in her hair. But she didn’t have a good place to hide her knife. What should she do?

“YangYang!”

Someone was banging on the door. Yujo froze in shock. She held up her knife and moved towards the door.

If the woman banging on the door came inside, Yujo would have no choice but to render her unconscious. The woman continued to bang on the door as she spoke up in a drunk voice.

“YangYang, are you still inside?”

Yujo held her breath and didn’t move a muscle.

“Damn it, I told you to just throw it up. Why did you drink everything that bastard gave you? Seriously, how stupid.”

The woman continued to shout in front of the door. Someone must have called for her because she suddenly turned around and answered back. Her voice began to fade as she walked away. Yujo let out a sigh of relief as she stood behind the door.

I need to hurry up and get out.

The only way she could carry her dagger in secret was to strap it to her thigh. Just as she was about to exit the room, she caught her reflection in the bronze mirror. She looked incredibly pale, so she quickly rushed to the vanity and applied some rouge to her cheeks. Then she went back and pressed her ear to the door.

She heard the usual raucous shouts of drunkards and the sound of instruments playing music. She slightly opened the door and squeezed herself out. Yujo was instantly surrounded by a hazy and dizzying atmosphere.

In other words, it was total chaos. The space was an atrium surrounded by four floors.

The people around her were shouting as they looked down. The dancing girls were performing in transparent clothing that reminded Yujo of dragonfly wings.

The strips of red cloth coming down from the ceiling fluttered. The girls danced underneath the candlelight. Their dance was dizzying and erotic, almost as if the men’s fantasies had come to life.

“Take it off! Take it off!”

The men stomped their feet on the floor as they shouted. One of the dancers grinned and slightly slid down the collar of her dress, revealing one breast. Suddenly, the brothel seemed to shake from the men’s roars.

This was the first time Yujo had seen something like this. She did her best to keep her expression calm and hide her shock. Thankfully it was dark inside and everyone’s attention was focused on the dancing girls in the atrium. She saw a bottle of liquor on top of a small serving table. She quickly grabbed the table with the liquor and began to move.

Act natural. Natural.

Yujo began to take deep breaths in order to calm her tense body. She moved through the crowd and headed for the stairs.

According to the report from the judicial office, the room where the Danju of WooRyong had burned to death was at the very end of the brothel on the fourth floor.

Because it was a room reserved for VIP guests, it wasn’t accessible to just anyone. However, the men who were supposed to stand guard were standing against the balcony railings as they watched the performance below.

The beats of the drum sped up. The women tangled together and began to move as if they were in the middle of having sex. They licked each other and began to shake their bottoms to the beat of the drum.

The temperature inside the brothel went up as if a fire had started. The strips of red cloth coming down from the ceiling wrapped around the white thighs of the dancers.

The dancers tilted their heads back and moaned as they began to ride the strips of red cloth as if it were a horse. Their hips moved back and forth.

Like beasts, their faces looked erotic as moans spilled out from between their red lips. The men swallowed helplessly. Yujo’s footsteps followed the beats of the drum, and they began to move faster.

When she finally made her way up to the fourth floor, Yujo’s looked up and met the eyes of one of the guards. Surprised, she lowered her head. Had she been caught? Her heart began to race.

Suddenly… the man stretched out his hand and grabbed the bottle that was on top of the serving table. Then he lowered his gaze and cackled as he watched the dancers below.

After getting over the initial shock, Yujo finally moved as she entered deeper into the fourth floor. Compared the the floors below, the fourth floor was a lot quieter.

The closed, circular doors seemed to have customers behind them. She heard soft voices and the sound of a mandolin.

She carefully placed the serving table down on top of a cupboard and heightened her five senses as she made her way past the rooms. As she turned a corner, she saw the door to a room at the very end of a dark corridor. She saw a yellow paper from the judiciary office stuck to the door to prohibit access.

Having come all the way here, she couldn’t just leave empty-handed. Yujo ignored the warning and mercilessly opened the door.

Suddenly, the scent of blood overwhelmed her senses. It smelled so disgusting that she almost felt like vomiting. The room was as dark as a cave.

She quickly went back to the corridor and grabbed a lantern. The room looked even more gloomy and strange under the lantern light. Just as she’d heard, only the center of the bed was burnt black. So it was true. Only the person burned, and his surroundings were left unharmed.

Yujo began to thoroughly look around the room. The furniture were in tact and nothing was broken. The window was locked from the inside.

Duke SangSuh, Lee Juho, had been inside his carriage when he burned to death. Park Woon had been eating a meal with his family when he had burned in his seat.

Ninth-grade Officer Yang BaekHoon had been riding his horse in the morning when he had burned to death. Millionaire Geum Mujang had fallen asleep at the table after drinking and burned in his seat.

Unbelievable.

Yujo lifted her head and let out a sigh. The time and place were completely random. And it wasn’t like there was a lit candle next to them when it had happened. Of course people would begin to think that these incidents were the acts of a ghost.

Yujo took the lantern and began to search every corner of the room. Suddenly, she froze.

There was some kind of mark on the floor. It almost looked as if it had been stamped onto the floor with an iron brand.

What is this? It looks kind of round… A raven?

“Who’s there?”

She suddenly heard a shout coming from the corridor. Yujo spun around and quickly extinguished the lantern.

Having noticed the torn warning, the man entered the room. However, Yujo had already opened the window and jumped out. She was now standing in the rain, one floor down. The guard went straight to the window and looked out, but he didn’t see any trace of her.

What should I do now?

The raindrops fell on top of her head and trickled down her forehead. She still felt the man’s presence inside the room as he continued to search for her. She looked down and saw that the window on the floor below was open. Yujo turned her body and crawled towards the window.

This room was as loud as the rest of the lower floors. It was filled with the sound of a gong and a mandolin. Half-naked courtesans were giggling as they ran around.

Yujo quickly opened the window and slid through. The rainwater began to seep through her clothes and trickle down her back. She hurriedly shut the window and turned around.

This room was exceptionally extravagant compared to the other rooms. Additionally, the customer was a man who was staggering around in the center of the room.

It seemed that he was a son of a prestigious family from the looks of his expensive silk clothing. The man wiped his face with a silk handkerchief before he ran after the giggling courtesans.

What house did this rich bum belong to?

Yujo scoffed and looked around for the exit. This was for the best. It would be easier to escape if everyone was drunk and playing around.

She silently began to head for the door. Because of all the cackling women, no one paid her any attention.

Additionally, one of the women had completely exposed her breast. Quickly, hurry up! She was only two steps away from the exit now.

Suddenly, thud! The man embraced her from behind. Yujo felt as if her heart had dropped into her stomach.

Had she failed to keep quiet? This was just a coincidence, right? The crazy bastard had a firm hold on her, so she wasn’t able to move at all.

“Hmm, you smell like peonies.”

The man kept her to his chest and rubbed his nose against the peony in her hair. Shocked and filled with disgust, Yujo tried to escape. However, before she could, the man thrust his hand inside her collar and began to grope her breast.

“Kyaa!”

Yujo let out a shout. She turned around and slapped the man’s cheek. How dare he touch her body like this?! And to think the culprit was this damned drunkard!

“I’ll kill you.”

Yujo unconsciously spoke in a cold voice.

Suddenly, the courtesans stopped playing their music. ‘Oh my, what should we do?’ The room was filled with murmurs. It didn’t matter. She wanted to strangle this man to death.

The silk cloth that had been covering half of the man’s face began to slide down. His face was still frozen to the side after having been slapped by Yujo. First she saw his beautiful, twisted lips. Then his straight nose. When the cloth completely slid down, she saw that his slanted eyes were looking at her.

Chills ran down her spine.

Something was off.

Yujo’s whole body began to shiver. Those deep, black eyes. His eyes gleamed… as if it could pierce through anything.

No, was she just mistaken?

His eyes suddenly turned into crescents as he grinned down at her. Those cold eyes disappeared, almost as if what she had just seen was just a mere illusion.

She unconsciously took a step back.

She wanted to run away… like an idiot.

However, his hand suddenly grabbed hers. Then he pulled her to his chest and embraced her.

“Caught you!”

At his cheerful voice, the room was once again filled with laughter. The courtesans didn’t want the customer to get upset from what had just happened, so they began to clap their hands.

“Let go!”

Shocked, Yujo began to struggle within his hold. However, she was unable to move a muscle. Keeping his arms wrapped around hers, the man lifted her up and dragged her to the bed that had been set up next to the liquor tables.

TN: Uh oh… I’m getting the vibe that our FL isn’t a calm, cool, collected FL. She’s quite impulsive and tends to act before she thinks. And I think it’s gotten her into some serious trouble this time.