Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Feeling the wind brush past me while my feet were off the ground was a strange sensation.
It felt like I had become the main character in a famous animation.
Of course, there was a difference: the female lead in those animations gracefully walked through the sky holding the male lead's hand, while I was being carried on someone's back.
"Elder. I have a question."
"What is it?"
"Why do you go over the walls?"
Someone like Dang Jung could just open the Clan Head Hall door and no one would say anything.
Dang Jung replied to my question as if it were obvious.
"It's annoying to go by the roads. You just go around and around."
...Is that really okay?
Well, since the manor was as complicated as a maze, it would be faster to walk on the roof tiles.
Dang Jung put me down under a willow tree in the back garden. I felt relieved at the sight of the familiar building.
I shouldn't have left here in the first place. Even if Namgung Hwi comes looking for me tomorrow, I will never go out.
As I let out a sigh of relief, Dang Jung chuckled and tapped my head.
"Were you surprised?"
"A little."
I smiled back and looked at Dang Jung.
I was so relieved to have someone to rely on in this wilderness. Although he still seemed to suspect me of being a spy, I was nominally his disciple, wasn't I?
I didn't even hope for reflected glory, I just wanted him to prevent me from being tossed around by those high-ranking people like just now.
Dang Jung didn't ask why I was with the Namgung Clan people. Instead, he asked casually.
"Have you eaten?"
"Yes."
"Then you should eat dinner. Eat well and go to bed early. You must be tired."
"Yes, Elder."
Dang Jung, with his hands behind his back, went into the building. It seemed like he was telling me to eat dinner before leaving.
Still, it seems like he cares about me more than before, right?
* * *
Dinner was excellent as always. But my mouth felt gritty, as if I had chewed sand, so I could only pick at my food.
Namgung Sang's words wouldn't leave my head.
I carefully opened my mouth, watching Dang Jung's expression.
"Elder. I heard something scary."
"What is it?"
"If someone who has learned the Tang Clan martial arts leaves the Tang Clan... do they really sever their four limbs and meridians?"
Dang Jung raised his head and looked at me with a strange expression. He picked up a peanut with his chopsticks and replied.
"Well, I've never seen anyone try to leave the Tang Clan."
"Is that so?"
That's a relief. Namgung Sang must have been mistaken...
"Usually, they just kill them, right? If you let a crazy bastard who would be exiled live, he'll harm the Tang Clan someday."
"...Yes?"
I'm going crazy.
Having your four limbs and meridians severed and crawling around for the rest of your life. Being poisoned to death. Which one is more painful? Is this a balance game?
My palms were sweating as I held the chopsticks. I tried to pick up noodles as if nothing was wrong, but I couldn't muster any strength.
The chopsticks slipped and fell to the floor with a clatter. Dang Jung's eyes sharpened.
"Were you thinking of leaving?"
At his sharp voice, I hurriedly made excuses.
"Yes? Ah, no. You took me in, Elder, how dare I even think of such a thing. It's not that. The Namgung Young Patriarch was trying to take me to Anhui earlier... I overheard the Namgung Patriarch stopping the Young Patriarch."
Only then did Dang Jung relax his expression.
"What? That little runt knows a gem when he sees one. That wicked bastard."
He grumbled and gestured.
"Come closer."
"Yes?"
"Come here."
I hesitantly got up and approached Dang Jung. Dang Jung scanned me up and down, then reached out his hand.
His large hand cupped my cheek. Unlike his refined appearance, Dang Jung's hand was calloused and rough. A slightly bitter herbal scent came from his firm fingertips.
"So soft."
Could you please not knead me like a rice cake?
He kneaded my face for a while. Then, as if he had thought of something, he even smiled with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Child. You know, you need to learn how to hide your thoughts."
He just laughed because my expression was funny.
As I forced a smile, Dang Jung took his hand away and tilted my chin up.
"It's definitely not a human skin mask..."
Then, he slowly ran his index finger down my neck. I flinched at the chilling atmosphere, and he lightly grabbed my neck and muttered.
"No Dantian either."
It was a gentle touch, but I felt suffocated. Thump. Thump. My heart was racing like crazy.
He looked like he was contemplating whether to break my neck or let me go. He tilted his head towards me and asked, his dark blue eyes gleaming.
"There's no trace of External Martial Arts either. So why are you so suspicious?"
At Dang Jung's words, the hairs on my body stood on end. I was going to die if I wasn't careful.
What did I do wrong? Asking about expulsion? Mentioning Namgung Hwi? Going to the guest quarters where the Namgung Clan was staying? Or was my behavior disrespectful?
My body trembled and my teeth chattered. If Dang Jung put strength into his hand, I would die without even letting out a small groan.
But I couldn't die like this.
Just as I was about to open my mouth to try some clumsy self-defense, the hand around my neck loosened.
Dang Jung frowned and asked.
"So-hye, do you perhaps have a problem with your memory?"
"Yes?"
Suddenly?
"I heard that you've lived in the Tang Clan since you were five years old. But even after living here for ten years, you don't know anything at all."
"Uh..."
"Even Maids who have just joined know more than you. That's why I'm asking."
At his words, I wanted to clap my hands. I was grateful that he misunderstood on his own.
To create such an excellent excuse as amnesia. Elder is a genius.
"Actually... that's right. One day, I woke up and couldn't remember anything."
As I answered slowly, Dang Jung nodded as if he knew it.
"Yes. Something was strange. If you hadn't eaten a goldfish or something, how could there be such a stupid Maid working in the Tang Clan who doesn't even know the Patriarch's name and gets lost?"
"Ahaha."
"If you have no memory, you might be a little stupid."
Elder. Please stop calling me stupid. I'm not that stupid.
Dang Jung had returned to his gentle face as if he had never tried to break my neck.
I swallowed hard. My chest felt stuffy with anxiety.
"I've heard that some people take herbal medicine and lose their memory. Well, I don't know if it's because of the herbal medicine, though."
You know that and you still feed me poison?
The more I talked to them, the more I realized that this family was far from common sense.
A pillar of support, my ass. It's shit. Shit.
I hid my trembling hands behind my back and watched Dang Jung's expression. My legs were shaking so much that it was hard to stand still.
Would he let me go if I said I would leave now?
As I was trying to figure out how to go back without offending him, someone knocked on the door of the residence.
"Shall I go see who it is?"
Dang Jung nodded. I quickly ran out and opened the paper door. I was just happy to have a visitor.
"Grandfather. I came to greet you... So-hye? Why are you here?"
"Young Master Yi."
The problem was that the visitor was Dang-un.
I tensed the muscles in my face to control my expression.
That's what I want to ask. Why are you here?
"Not Young Master Yi, call me Older Brother Un. Is Grandfather inside?"
"Un, what brings you to this old man's residence? So-hye, let him in."
"Yes."
With Dang Jung's permission, I opened the door wide. Dang-un walked in gracefully and knelt in front of Dang Jung.
"Grandfather. I apologize for not greeting you sooner. I had to rest for a few days because I wasn't feeling well after returning to Sichuan."
Dang Jung looked displeased as he watched Dang-un greet him politely. Instead of answering the greeting, he asked sharply.
"How do you know So-hye?"
"She's a child I cherish. But why is she in Grandfather's residence..."
"You, did you have a habit of touching the Maids like that Yeongho bastard?"
"Yes? What, no."
Dang-un stammered, embarrassed by the angry tone. Dang Jung snapped.
"Then why do you know So-hye?"
"Yes?"
"I asked why you know So-hye."
"That, Grandfather. I think there's a misunderstanding."
"What misunderstanding? There's no reason for you, who doesn't even come out of the inner castle, to know a Maid from the outer castle. Don't make any funny moves on this child. I won't stand by and watch."
A strange situation unfolded where the person who had just tried to kill me was protecting my safety.
Geez. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
But an unexpected word came out of Dang-un's mouth.
"So-hye is our youngest. Grandfather."
"What are you talking about?"
"Do you remember Choryeon of Wolhyang House sixteen years ago?"
"Of course I do. Your father didn't know his place and drank himself into a dog..."
Dang Jung's face hardened as he answered casually.
"Is that child this child?"
"Yes. This child is So-hye."
At Dang-un's answer, Dang Jung gritted his teeth. His expression twisted horribly.
"...Have I ever seen such crazy things?"
The words he spat out between his teeth were filled with intense anger. The birds around the building fluttered and flew away at the Qi Dang Jung had raised.
It was hard to stand straight in the air that had suddenly become heavy. Staggering, I grabbed a chair and struggled not to fall.
Dang-un hurriedly stopped Dang Jung.
"G, Grandfather! Calm down..."
"Do you think you can calm me down? I'm dying of frustration because I put a blockhead who only knows how to throw in all the poison-making methods and boil them out as the Young Patriarch, and the Immunity to all poisons who inherited the blood of the direct line is stuck in the outer castle doing laundry! I can't live with this frustration! Are these stupid children leading the Tang Clan!"
"Yes? What... Immunity to all poisons, you said? That, Father didn't even know that So-hye was Immunity to all poisons..."
"Does it make sense that he didn't know about his own child? All he could do was throw her into the servants' quarters because he couldn't kill her after he shat her out? It's deplorable that this trash is my great-grandson!"
"Grandfather. Calm down. So-hye can't handle your Qi..."
"I almost misunderstood and cut off the breath of the direct line with my own hands! I almost killed the Immunity to all poisons that comes out once every hundred years with my own hands! Leaving such talent in the servants' quarters? Does that make sense!"
Watching Dang Jung rampage, I blinked like an idiot. The amount of information that poured out of Dang Jung's mouth was too much to fully understand.
Inherited the blood of the direct line?
Immunity to all poisons?
Who?
Me?
