Chapter 102

Thinking this, he immediately rushed to Dang Ran-yeong's quarters, and indeed, the owner was present. Before Cheong-ra could say anything, Dang Ran-yeong, who had noticed his presence first, said,

"Come in, Beauty."

As Cheong-ra quietly opened the door and entered, he saw Dang Ran-yeong examining an old book at his desk. The cover had marks that looked like blood stains, which was somewhat unsettling. Dang Ran-yeong raised his eyes from the ancient text and said amusedly,

"The head steward's face was quite ashen today."

Then he looked Cheong-ra up and down and frowned. His expression seemed displeased, as if to say, "Are you really wearing such shabby clothes?" Cheong-ra didn't mind, as he planned to discard them after cleaning anyway. Still, he glanced at Dang Ran-yeong's exceptionally luxurious robe for the day.

"Well, if you have excess energy, you could clean up here too."

As if reading his mind, the room's owner gave permission even before Cheong-ra could speak, but Cheong-ra still felt uneasy. Why was the permission given so readily? Anyway, since the owner had spoken first, Cheong-ra didn't refuse.

"Since Young Master Dang always seems too busy to clean, I suppose I have no choice but to help."

Saying this, Cheong-ra strode forward and first tackled the clothes strewn about haphazardly. He folded them all neatly and put them in a basket, feeling quite satisfied.

Next, he gathered all the accessories, each worth the price of a mansion, and put them in a box. He lined up the expensive wine bottles that had been rolling around, and erased ink stains from the floor. He collected and disposed of the trash scattered here and there.

After cleaning for about an hour, the room that had been full of chaos, destruction, and disorder finally became clean. Cheong-ra's cheeks flushed red with happiness at achieving something he had always desperately wanted. As he was admiring the room's appearance with a satisfied and pleased gaze, Dang Ran-yeong asked, putting down his book,

"Are you done cleaning?"

Cheong-ra was about to answer proudly in the affirmative when he hesitated, seeing Dang Ran-yeong's eyes. The other's eyes were too full of interest and expectation. But Cheong-ra had seen such eyes several times before.

Usually before Dang Ran-yeong was about to torment him terribly.

"Oh, indeed... You've cleaned it very thoroughly. There's nothing to fault."

Cheong-ra watched tensely as Dang Ran-yeong slowly surveyed the tidied space. Surely he wasn't planning to mess it up again? He steeled himself. In fact, he had fully expected this much. From what he had observed so far, Dang Ran-yeong's living habits were nothing short of destructive by Cheong-ra's standards.

Even if he cleaned it like this, it would surely become messy again soon. Cheong-ra had been content with just seeing this room clean even once. However, Dang Ran-yeong's actions exceeded Cheong-ra's expectations.

"You've arranged the wine bottles very well."

Dang Ran-yeong stood in front of the neatly displayed wine bottles, aligned in rows and columns, and curled his lips. His finger touched one of the bottles. Would he push it over to break it? Would he push them all into a mess? While Cheong-ra was busy anticipating, the following action was even more vicious.

The wine bottle touched by Dang Ran-yeong's index finger moved back by the width of a fingernail. That was all, but Cheong-ra's gaze wavered. Seeing Cheong-ra's fingers twitch, wanting to immediately realign it, Dang Ran-yeong smiled.

"Why that face?"

Next, he slightly pulled out one of the neatly stacked books and placed it askew. Cheong-ra clenched his fist tightly to hide his trembling fingers.

"As the room's owner..."

He picked up just one strand from each of the neatly combed and arranged ornamental tassels and made them stick up.

"I'll arrange it like this. Okay?"

Then Dang Ran-yeong left a single fingerprint on the dressing table mirror and dropped a barely visible ink stain on the floor. He slightly folded the corner of an album painted by a famous artist and minutely shifted the angle of a statue that had been well-displayed along the furniture lines.

"Beauty, do you have any objections?"

Having finished his work, Dang Ran-yeong's eyes narrowed into a very satisfied smile. Cheong-ra squeezed his eyes shut and barely managed to shake his head. Only then did Dang Ran-yeong, with a very satisfied expression, instruct,

"The room looks so nice when it's clean. Good job, Beauty. You may go now."

Cheong-ra's shoulders slumped as he turned around. How could a person's nature be so malicious? He should have just messed up the room completely... Without any appreciation for his cleaning efforts, Cheong-ra left Dang Ran-yeong's room, trembling.

***

"Young Master Baek? What are you doing to those children right now?"

Cheong-ra's body flinched at the slightly sharp voice. As he hesitantly turned around, before him were Rin-rin and Aho, the baby fox they had recently picked up, and in his hand was beauty water. Instantly, Cheong-ra's face turned bright red.

"Miss Hwan, this is..."

Cheong-ra hesitated, unable to answer easily.

As he was wandering in the backyard, unable to properly resolve his frustration due to Dang Ran-yeong, Cheong-ra's eyes fell on the young spirit beasts playing with each other. Seeing Aho's fluffy fur, something flashed through his mind like lightning.

Whenever he felt particularly down, he used to relieve his stress by applying beauty water to Ju Mu-gwang's chapped skin, much to the latter's disgust. But since he couldn't do that here, he thought he'd try it on Aho. After applying beauty water to make Aho's fur glossy, he was in the process of carefully applying it to make Rin-rin's scales sparkle as well.

But as it was difficult to readily admit that he, a man, carried beauty water around, he was sweating nervously when, surprisingly, a slight smile appeared on Hwan-hong's face.

"So you were taking care of the children. Then, could you brush Aho's fur as well?"

Her tone suggested that she understood why Cheong-ra was doing this. Having seen him being severely tormented by Dang Ran-yeong recently, her gaze towards Cheong-ra was filled with sympathy.

"Of course, Miss Hwan. I'd be happy to do it."

Cheong-ra's face brightened as he received a brush from Hwan-hong. Then he held Aho in his arms and began brushing carefully. The baby fox made purring sounds, seeming to enjoy it.

"Aho's condition has improved a lot."

"Being young, it's easy to forget the sorrow of losing parents. That's fortunate."

As she said this, her hand stroking Rin-rin was full of affection. Cheong-ra watched the young Venomous Horned Serpent showing lots of affection to Hwan-hong and said with a smile,

"I think it's thanks to Miss Hwan that they can overcome their sorrow. You cherish them like family. Even animals that can't speak know gratitude, don't they?"

At Cheong-ra's words, Hwan-hong stared at him for a moment before turning her gaze back to Rin-rin.

"Some might say they're just mere beasts, but these children have souls and bodies too, so they feel no different from people. No, sometimes they're even better than humans."

As Hwan-hong spoke, a strange energy could be felt from her. The mystical energy that was felt whenever she was with spirit beasts was different from ordinary people. It must have been because of this energy that Rin-rin and Aho were particularly fond of Hwan-hong.

"That's why I will destroy those Blood Cult bastards no matter what."

Suddenly, deep hatred filled Hwan-hong's affectionate eyes. Even after knowing her for months, Hwan-hong had never mentioned her past. Still, Cheong-ra could somewhat guess what her past might have been like.

Hwan-hong, the Silver Lotus Twin Claws, a descendant of the Blossom Garden Sect that was said to have been annihilated in a night of blood.

The Blossom Garden Sect must have been a sect dealing with matters related to spirit beasts. Judging from Hwan-hong, it seemed to be the kind of ability that could communicate and interact with spirit beasts. So the Blood Cult, which tried to kill all spirit beasts unconditionally, wouldn't have left the Blossom Garden Sect alone. Hwan-hong, who survived the night of blood, must have joined Dang Ran-yeong while looking for a way to take revenge on the Blood Cult.

"Thank you for always taking good care of these children, Young Master Baek."

"It's nothing. I just stroked them, that's all."

Hwan-hong, who had shown a faint smile to Cheong-ra, got up and left with Rin-rin and Aho. As the spirit beasts disappeared, Cheong-ra felt a sense of regret. As he was absentmindedly looking around the backyard, he glanced around once more. Then he quietly removed the scabbard he was wearing at his waist and placed it on his knees.

After looking around once more, Cheong-ra moved to a sunny spot. He then applied beauty water evenly to the scabbard and let it dry in the sunlight. Soon, the scabbard became glossy and emitted a subtle fragrance. Pleased, Cheong-ra was busy applying beauty water to the sword handle when,

"Beauty..."

Cheong-ra froze at the voice calling him. He barely managed to raise his head and saw Dang Ran-yeong, who had just entered the backyard, staring at him blankly.