"You'll be staying here."

Bae Seokjin pointed the way.

Namgung Jun walked in and looked around.

A low wall ran around all four sides.

Inside it lay a small world of its own.

On one side stood a modest pavilion; facing it, a row of elegant old annexes.

Between them lay a small pond.

Lotus leaves drifted on the water, and the flower beds around it were neatly tended.

It was beautiful.

Anyone would think the Dark Alliance Lord had gone to some trouble for them.

Namgung Jun saw it differently.

'So he's shut us in.'

They were on the Dark Alliance's outskirts, a fair distance from its heart.

If they wanted to look around inside the Alliance, they'd be fairly hemmed in.

The wall was too low to stop anyone, but he couldn't shake the feeling of being penned in.

'Interesting.'

Namgung Jun gave a short laugh.

Then, as if he'd never laughed at all, he turned and gave Bae Seokjin a cupped-fist salute.

"Thank you for showing us the way."

Bae Seokjin returned the salute.

"Then rest well. Maidservants have been assigned to you. If anything's lacking, just say so. Good day."

Once he'd gone, the embassy felt as if they'd been dropped on a desert island.

"Azure Dragon Corps and the rest, you'll stay in the pavilion. Set up your own rotation and keep watch around the clock."

"Sir—!!"

The Azure Dragon Corps filed into the pavilion, along with the maidservants who'd come to wait on them.

Only then did Jegal Yeong, tight-lipped until now, speak up.

"What on earth was that?"

Namgung Jun cocked his head at her.

"Hm? What was what?"

He was playing dumb. Jegal Yeong's fine brows creased.

"Why say all that? There was no need to provoke him right from the start."

She meant the way he'd treated Seo Woojin.

Namgung Jun shrugged it off with a joke.

"But I really did want to see his face."

"Don't try to fool me. There's no way you'd do that without a reason, Brother."

Under her cold stare, Namgung Jun laughed awkwardly.

"Haha. I…