Chapter 28
28
The muddy water that flooded my nose and mouth tasted like garbage.
My whole body reeked, my damp clothes clung to my skin, and my waterlogged shoes squelched unpleasantly.
I swept the sewage-dripping hair from my face and gritted my teeth.
My reflection in the puddle made me look like a rat that had fallen into the gutter.
Barely managing to suppress a string of curses, I spat and glared at Sim-yang.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Of course, I knew without asking. There was no harassment as petty and primal as pouring dirty water.
What I couldn’t understand was why she was picking a fight with me when I had been minding my own business.
I didn’t recall any recent clashes with Sim-yang’s group. Naturally, since we had no reason to see each other.
“Still waters run deep, they say, and there’s truth in every old saying. Were you planning this from the start?”
Sim-yang’s shrill cry pierced my ears. I struggled to hold onto my sanity.
Let it go. I can’t cause trouble right now. Three times enduring will even prevent murder, they say…
No. Still, she attacked first, so pulling her hair should be considered self-defense, right?
Before I could decide, Sim-yang gave me no time to gather my patience.
The crazy bitch put her hands on her hips and cursed me.
“Not content with flirting with Young Master Yi, now you’ve bewitched even the Namgung Family's Young Patriarch? Tell me with your own mouth what kind of vixen tricks you used in broad daylight to make the Young Patriarch change his clothes. You shameless thing!”
“What?”
“Do you think I haven’t seen maids who relied only on their looks end up as corpses? You’re no different. Do you think you’re something special?”
Flirt? Bewitch? Talking about corpses when you don’t even know the situation. Is she out of her mind?
In response to her nonsensical babble, harsh words spilled out of my mouth.
“What are you talking about? You look like leftover dog food.”
“Wh-what, leftover… dog food? Are you done talking?”
“No, I’m not. Where did you learn to pour dirty water on passersby, you moron? Are you crazy?”
“You, you…! How dare you speak so vulgarly to your seniors!”
“Then do you expect me to speak politely after being doused in sewage? Want me to pour some on you too?”
A look of bewilderment crossed Sim-yang’s face. She glanced sideways behind her, and Sim-yang’s group, who had been slinking closer, surrounded me menacingly.
“Goodness. Did you hear what she said? You can always tell an orphan.”
“Right. With no parents to teach her, she acts without any refinement.”
Oh, please. The Tang Clan Patriarch you serve is my damn father.
I sneered.
“How great are your parents that they only taught you to insult other people’s parents to their faces? I’d love to see the faces of those wonderful parents.”
“What? You…!”
Sim-yang, speechless, was replaced by another Maid who stepped forward and shouted.
“How rude! You’re the one who only learned bad things! Who was it that shamelessly snatched the opportunity that comes once every five years? A-shui should have been the one attending the banquet today, not you.”
“Yes. It was my place! It was my place, but you interfered…!”
One of the girls standing behind Sim-yang huffed, looking resentful.
Only then did I understand why I had been doused in dirty water. It was because of the banquet service I never even wanted.
These girls really don’t know their place. Did they really think that serving guests would make them a Concubine of some prestigious family’s Young Master? It’s so absurd it’s not even funny.
I glared at A-shui and opened my mouth.
“Then you go.”
“What?”
“If you want to stand next to the Young Masters of the great families all day and serve them, then you go. What’s so great about it that you have to pour dirty water on people? Are you slaves showing off whose collar shines brighter? Seriously… Ha. Never mind. It’s no use arguing with a blockhead; I’ll only get frustrated.”
“Who are you calling a slave? I’m clearly working for wages! You really…!”
A-shui, fuming, swung her arm. Her thick hand flew toward my face.
Before I could think deeply, my body moved first. I reflexively knocked A-shui’s hand away.
Snap!
“Aaaah! My hand!”
But wasn’t A-shui’s wrist snapping like a pretzel stick?
…Why did it break?
“Hwaaa, Mommy!”
A-shui, clutching her dangling wrist, burst into tears and collapsed to the ground. The startled Maids rushed to support her.
“A-shui. Are you okay?”
“How could you lay a hand on A-shui? Her bone is broken!”
“So-hye, are you crazy? A-shui, can you stand up?”
The Maids screamed and criticized me.
She was the one who tried to slap me first. I just blocked it.
I was about to feel wronged by the atmosphere that cast me as the perpetrator, but seeing A-shui with her dangling wrist made me feel guilty. Just a little. A tiny bit.
It seems my strength has improved. Was the coin-throwing training effective?
As I awkwardly hid my hand behind my back, Sim-yang raised her voice.
“What is this? An orphan of unknown origin doesn’t know the Tang Clan's grace in taking her in and dares to lay a hand on a Tang Clan's person? How dare you…!”
“How dare I?”
“Yes! How dare you…!”
I scoffed and interrupted Sim-yang.
“Hey. I can’t stand listening to this. You, what are you?
“Huh?”
“What are you? You’re not the Tang Clan Patriarch's daughter, and you and I are both just Maids. What right do you have to talk about the Tang Clan's grace?”
“Th-that’s because my mother is a Tang Clan's person!”
“You’re not. You didn’t even get the Tang Clan surname, so why do you keep pretending to be a collateral relative? That’s impersonation. It’s fraud.”
If there’s anyone here who has the right to talk about the Tang Clan's grace, it’s me. Even if I’m a bastard, I’m still the Patriarch's daughter.
I crossed my arms and glared at Sim-yang. My cold voice made Sim-yang swallow hard. She seemed taken aback by my uncharacteristically uncooperative attitude.
I could almost hear her frantically calculating. She was probably deciding whether to back down at this point or to thoroughly crush me.
With Sim-yang, the leader, silent, a weasel stepped forward and pointed a finger at me.
“You’re really crazy, aren’t you?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Want me to let you experience whether you can stay sane after being doused in dirty water?”
I kicked the bucket that had contained the dirty water, and the weasel, startled, took a step back.
That patheticness made me even angrier. It meant that these nobodies had been ganging up and bullying a docile child.
Sensing that my demeanor was unusual, some of the frightened ones lowered their voices and tried to dissuade Sim-yang.
“Sim-yang? Let’s just go. She seems crazy.”
“Yeah. Sim-yang. There’s no point in dealing with someone like her.”
Despite her companions’ pleas, Sim-yang didn’t seem to want to back down. She seemed determined to crush me on this occasion.
Sim-yang, having composed herself, said haughtily.
“If you keep acting like this, it won’t be fun. Next time, it might be fun for Songji to be doused in dirty water. Don’t you think?”
Her ridiculous threat made my head go cold.
Ha, that damn Songji, Songji! Do these bastards not know how to threaten without Songji?
Although I had become friends with Songji, to be honest, Songji was just a roommate I had known for a couple of months. I didn't know what she was like before, but that's how she was to me.
I would be upset if Songji got hurt. But that wasn’t a reason to accept unreasonable demands and lower myself.
I bared my fangs and raised my voice.
“Try it. I’ll bury your face in shit before that.”
I wanted to bury it right now if I could.
My sharp response made the Maids exchange glances, sizing each other up.
“Sim-yang. Let’s not and just go. A-shui’s wrist needs to be treated.”
“Yeah, let’s just think we stepped in poop. It’s better to leave.”
Some of the Maids even grabbed Sim-yang’s sleeve, urging her to leave. However, Sim-yang remained unmoved.
With her lips pressed tightly together, she pulled a dagger from her sleeve and pointed it at me.
“Sim-yang!”
“What are you doing!”
The startled Maids screamed and stumbled backward.
“I won’t let you get away with this.”
“What are you going to do if you don’t let me get away with it?”
“If I ruin your face, you won’t be able to act so high and mighty as you do now!”
Sim-yang’s hand, holding the razor-sharp blade, trembled violently. She had never held a dagger properly, and her stance was clumsy.
This bitch is really crazy.
I glared at Sim-yang, trying to appear unfazed, but my heart was pounding.
Did I provoke her too much? I didn’t know she was crazy enough to pull out a knife if things didn’t go her way.
But I couldn’t back down now.
Throughout history, there’s only one way to beat a madman.
That is to appear even madder than the madman.
I feigned composure and approached Sim-yang.
“Cut me.”
“Wh-what?”
“Cut my face, cut my neck, just cut me. Why? Are you scared?”
As I pulled the dagger toward my neck, Sim-yang’s teeth chattered in fear.
“S-Sim-yang! Stop it! Something really bad will happen!”
“Don’t do it!”
The watching Maids wrung their hands, but Sim-yang didn’t back down.
“Y-you…! D-do you think I can’t cut you if I say I will?”
Sim-yang, screaming sharply, swung her arm. I felt a stinging pain as the blade grazed my skin.
“Bl-blood…!”
“Kyaaa!”
I was the one who was cut, but the innocent Maids screamed that there was blood. Sim-yang, too, seemed shocked by what she had done and trembled.
I scoffed and asked.
“Can you handle the aftermath?”
“Wh-what?”
“I’m asking if you can handle the aftermath of stabbing me. As someone said, you laid a hand on a Tang Clan's person, right? What are you going to say to Gwan Ga Won?”
“D-do you think I won’t be able to lay a hand on you if you say that?”
“Yeah. I don’t think you can.”
My calm answer made Sim-yang’s face turn red and purple. Sim-yang, biting her trembling lip, screamed desperately.
“Eeeek! Die! Just die!”
At that moment, someone quickly grabbed Sim-yang’s wrist.
“What’s all this commotion?”
I slowly raised my head. Tang Geun-myeong stood there with a frown.
