Chapter 96
Part 21: The Maid Corps of Wongakjeong
At that, the woman who had been referred to as the leader of the maid corps stepped forward.
With disciplined steps, she came to stand directly before Yeon Sang-hyeon.
She appeared to be in her late teens or early twenties, but gave an impression closer to that of a martial artist than a maid.
Tall and slender, with a firm, well-trained figure, she possessed striking beauty—worthy of being called a work personally selected and raised by the head butler himself.
After nodding to her, the head butler opened his mouth again.
“Swear loyalty to the First Young Master, who is your master.”
At that, the maid corps leader drew the sword from her back and held it upright before her eyes.
“Loyalty!”
At the same moment, the forty-nine maids lined up behind her in formation drew their swords in perfectly synchronized motion.
“Loyalty!”
The sight of fifty women holding swords in immaculate order made them seem less like maids and more like a sword unit.
Perhaps that was why the head butler had introduced them as the Maid Corps.
Their flawless, not-even-an-inch-out-of-place appearance brought a smile into full bloom on the head butler’s face.
Outside, the large-scale construction work made the surroundings unbearably noisy, but the inner courtyard of Wongakjeong was as quiet as if it belonged to another world.
As everyone waited, the First Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Clan, Yeon Sang-hyeon, appeared.
A black silk outer robe, lavishly embroidered with gold thread, rested upon his shoulders and fluttered in the wind.
And behind him, Jeong-ah, the head maid of Wongakjeong, and the triplet maids followed with graceful steps.
When Yeon Sang-hyeon stepped onto the temporarily prepared low platform, the head butler stepped forward with a solemn attitude and opened his mouth.
“From this day forward, the leader of the maid corps shall—”
Yeon Sang-hyeon came down from the platform and stood before the maid corps leader.
When he stood close to her, surprisingly, the maid corps leader, who had seemed like a born martial artist, became flustered, not knowing what to do.
Her long, lowered eyelashes trembled, and a blush spread across her face.
Yeon Sang-hyeon quietly watched her reaction before opening his mouth.
“Your name?”
She parted her beautifully painted, cherry-colored lips and answered in a trembling voice.
“This lowly girl is called Hyang.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon suddenly took hold of her hand.
“Ah…”
A warm breath slipped from her lips.
“Looking at your hands, it seems you have not held a sword for only a day or two. Since when have you trained in swordsmanship?”
To hide her reddened face, she lowered her head and replied.
“…This lowly girl has held a sword since the earliest days she can remember.”
“I thought as much.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon released her hand.
A sigh filled with regret leaked from her mouth.
“Judging by the depth of your inner force, you have also been diligent in cultivating your mental cultivation method…”
Yeon Sang-hyeon nodded as his gaze swept over various parts of her body.
“Your bones and muscles are also more than sufficient for learning martial arts, and they have already been thoroughly trained.”
Following his gaze, her body flinched and trembled.
But that was by no means because she felt repulsed or ashamed.
Yeon Sang-hyeon reached his conclusion.
“Excellent. You are more than worthy of being called a full-fledged warrior.”
It was no exaggeration.
With her alone, no matter how many thugs from the Black Bone Sect came rushing in, she would be able to subdue them all.
“…It is a skill too shameful to present before others.”
She lowered her blushing face.
A sweet scent came from her mouth.
Looking at her, Yeon Sang-hyeon asked.
“If I do not accept you and cast you away, what will you do?”
Her eyes shook violently, and tears welled up in them.
“…I would obey your command.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon wiped the corner of her eye.
“Then, if I told you to offer up your life?”
Resolve and firmness settled on her face.
“I would follow your command at any time.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon stroked her face.
“And if I said I would accept all of you?”
An incomparable happiness appeared on her face.
“To be able to serve Master is the greatest happiness.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon took a step back from her.
She could not hide her regret as his touch left her.
“Do you know that those feelings you have toward me were thoroughly implanted in you?”
All of them answered at once.
“Yes, we know.”
“And that your minds were subtly manipulated?”
“Yes, we all know.”
There was not a trace of hesitation.
“Even if all of you are nothing more than expendable goods, nothing more than dolls who exist for my sake?”
Yeon Sang-hyeon continued asking.
“Even if all your lives from now on will be used for me, and it will be impossible for you to meet lovers like others, fulfill your own dreams, or build families of your own?”
The maid corps leader looked at Yeon Sang-hyeon.
Her gaze was distant, as if she were looking at a star in a faraway sky.
“That is our happiness, our dream, and our reason for existing.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon stroked his chin and asked.
“You… no, all of you…”
His gaze turned toward the maids, who were staring only at him.
As Yeon Sang-hyeon looked at them, he did not think of empty nonsense about ethics.
He had once traveled with his mother to the places struck directly by the Great Famine.
He had seen parents who could not bear to eat the corpses of their own children exchange those corpses with their neighbors and boil them to eat.
To be crushed by guilt or writhe in pity over their circumstances—
He had already seen far too much for that.
Even if it had been Yeon Sang-hyeon of the past, not the practitioner of The Ruler Of Darkness, it would have been the same.
“Wonderful.”
He clapped his hands.
Bright smiles rose on the maids’ faces.
“I will make a promise here.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon met each of their eyes, one by one.
“You are tools for my sake, but I will cherish and treasure those tools.”
He walked among them.
“You will not be able to enjoy the happiness of ordinary people, but within my fence, you will enjoy a happiness that others cannot feel.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon engraved every one of their faces into his mind.
“You will throw away your lives for me at any time, but if I lose you, I will wail louder than anyone else in the world.”
He returned to where he had first stood.
He looked at the young woman named Hyang, the leader of the maid corps.
“You are mine now.”
The entire maid corps knelt on one knee in unison.
“Loyalty!”
***
The head butler and Jeong-ah clapped fiercely at the sight.
“As expected of my lord. No matter how much care and effort we poured into creating those girls, there are bound to be flaws in the end.”
“Master has given them the finishing touch. With this, they have been reborn as perfect masterpieces. Congratulations.”
“Haha, thank you, Jeong-ah. Hearing you say that puts me much more at ease, and also makes me feel proud.”
“It is a work you may well take pride in.”
It was a conversation between father and daughter, both mad to the marrow.
That father and daughter and the maid corps resembled one another to a startling degree, so there did not seem to be any particular difference between the ones doing the brainwashing and the ones being brainwashed.
“Waaah…”
The triplets behind them also clapped hard, but their expressions were relatively uneasy.
In truth, they were openly uneasy.
“Uh, Panji, doesn’t this seem a little different from when we came here?”
“It must be because Master has now officially ended his seclusion. Yes, that must be it. It absolutely, definitely must be.”
“…On the day we came to Wongakjeong, that day was a bountiful catch. I can still feel that sensation in my hands. Huhu.”
***
After praising the head butler sufficiently, Yeon Sang-hyeon entered his residence.
With his emotions overflowing, the head butler left Wongakjeong with tears in his eyes, leaving behind many words of advice.
Jeong-ah stood before the maid corps.
The hem of her skirt fluttered, and the sword at her waist clattered.
Her deep golden eyes looked down over the maid corps.
“I am the First Young Master’s chief personal maid and the head maid of Wongakjeong, Jeong-ah.”
Her appearance carried an icy aura and the dignity of a queen.
As the maid corps looked at her, a powerful light of admiration appeared in their eyes.
“There is much work to do today as well, so I will keep this brief.”
Jeong-ah’s eyes gleamed frighteningly.
“You naturally understand that, from this point forward, you must never dare to become a burden to Master.”
Everyone nodded.
“Therefore, anyone who merely wishes to settle comfortably into her position will be personally driven out by me.”
Jeong-ah brought up the thing the maid corps feared most and made them tremble.
“So never become complacent. You must carry out your duties with the resolve to make Master’s name shine even brighter.”
Jeong-ah’s voice spread throughout the entire inner courtyard.
“Do you understand?!”
The maid corps answered in the loudest voices they could produce.
“Yes, Head Maid!”
Jeong-ah gestured for the triplets to come over.
When the triplets presented themselves with the meekest expressions in the world, Jeong-ah introduced them to the maid corps.
“These are the maids of Wongakjeong. From now on, they will be responsible for you: I-ryeong, Mi-ryeong, and Sam-ryeong.”
The triplet maids smiled brightly and greeted the maid corps.
“Though they are young and look childish, their skills surpass yours, and their learning is deep.”
The triplets put on prim expressions.
“Therefore, you must treat them as you would teachers. Do you understand?”
Another resounding answer rang out.
Jeong-ah nodded and looked at the triplets.
“Before the next maid corps arrives, you must make sure all of them are capable of becoming a corps of personal maids.”
A golden radiance flowed from her eyes.
“Do you understand?”
The triplets broke out in cold sweat beneath that terrifying gaze and nodded furiously.
“You need not worry!”
“Please leave it to us!”
“We will drive them mercilessly!”
After quietly staring at them for a moment, Jeong-ah turned away so sharply that a cold wind seemed to blow, and began walking off.
Everyone in the inner courtyard bowed deeply and paid their respects to her.
Only after her figure finally disappeared did the triplets slowly lift their heads and laugh, hohoho.
Now, at last, their time had come.
Starting from Master, then the head butler, and then the head maid.
It had been a long, long time of endurance.
I-ryeong planted one foot out with a thud.
Then she spat on the ground.
“Huhu, you are now—”
At that moment, from somewhere far beyond sight, Jeong-ah’s furious roar came flying in.
“I-ryeong! Do not forget the comportment befitting Master’s maid!”
I-ryeong jumped in place and instantly returned to a demure posture.
“Yes, Head Maid! This girl will keep it in mind!”
There was no reply.
After remaining frozen in that posture for a moment, I-ryeong sighed and shrugged at the maid corps.
“You all saw that, right? The head maid is a very, very incredible person. You can think of it as the head maid watching everything you do wrong, wherever you do it.”
Mi-ryeong nodded.
“That’s right. The other day, while I was preparing sweets to offer Master, I secretly ate one, and she discovered it immediately.”
“It was the same when I made a mistake while doing the laundry and tore one piece of underwear.”
“Come to think of it…”
At that moment, Sam-ryeong cleared her throat toward I-ryeong and Mi-ryeong.
“I do not think this is the time to be talking about such things, is it?”
At her words, I-ryeong and Mi-ryeong restored their sinister smiles.
“Huhu, that’s right.”
“From now on, we will teach you the most basic duties of Wongakjeong.”
“Huhuhu. These are all nothing more than the basics, so make sure you absolutely do not show any sign of struggling from the very beginning.”
Their sinister smiles spread across the open grounds of Wongakjeong.
The maid corps trembled at their smiles.