Chapter 67
Chapter 67
It was my first time alone with Dang Mu-hyeok.
Although I occasionally saw him at family meals, we didn't exchange words.
It couldn't be helped, since Dang Mu-hyeok treated me as if I didn't exist.
What could I say to that bastard who looked at me like trash if our eyes even met?
For such a person to call me separately, I was worried about what he was going to say.
When I arrived in front of the Clan Head Hall, the guard loudly announced inside.
"Patriarch. The youngest Young Miss has arrived."
"Let her in."
At the reply, the guard opened the door. I slowly climbed the stairs.
Entering the office, I saw Dang Mu-hyeok buried in a pile of documents as always. I greeted him politely.
"Did you call for me, Patriarch?"
Even with my greeting, that bastard didn't even lift his head and got straight to the point.
"Prepare for the marriage."
"...Pardon?"
A sharp voice burst out without restraint, but Dang Mu-hyeok didn't care at all. He mechanically said what he had to say.
"The man you are betrothed to will soon come to the Tang Clan. You need to receive the Betrothal Letter, so hold the Coming-of-Age Ceremony tomorrow."
A barrage of curses came out at the notification that didn't even consider my opinion.
I may be an Illegitimate Son that he doesn't even treat as his child, but isn't selling me off like this too much? Should I be grateful that he's telling me now?
When I didn't answer, Dang Mu-hyeok, annoyed, raised his head and met my gaze. He frowned and said coldly.
"Don't ruin things."
"I'm..."
"I've fed and clothed you until this age. Now fulfill your usefulness. That's all. Leave."
Before I could even answer, that bastard cut me off and buried his nose back in the pile of documents. It was his way of telling me to get lost.
I swallowed the curses that were on the tip of my tongue and turned around.
I thought I should talk to my grandfather first.
Dang Jung's face said it was bound to happen.
"As long as you use the Dang surname, you can't avoid a political marriage. That's the kind of family we are. If you have to do it anyway, choose a decent guy you can handle."
"Isn't there an option not to do it?"
"So-hye, you are the Patriarch's daughter. If you were only the daughter of an Elder, I would have stopped it, but for me to interfere with your marriage is an overreach."
I love that overreach. Very much.
My mouth was bitter, but I understood Dang Jung's position.
I now know that Dang Jung moving the Council of Elders to get me registered was a violation of his principles.
The authority my grandfather held within the Clan was greater than that of the Patriarch.
Being a distant elder and one of the top experts in the Martial Arts World, no one dared to oppose him.
It was a position that was perfect for messing up the Tang Clan's power structure.
Therefore, Dang Jung did not interfere in Clan matters unless it was a matter of the Tang Clan's safety.
I couldn't make such a grandfather move for my selfishness.
I hesitated, watching Dang Jung's expression.
"Still. There's an order to things, Ju-hee unni and Cho-hee unni should go first."
"They both have fiancés, so it's your turn."
...They did?
I quickly scrapped my plan to cling to my sisters' pant legs.
At the same time, hope surged.
That meant I could just get engaged and postpone the marriage. If I'm lucky, I might even be able to break it off!
"Stop it. If you knew what you had to do to get a broken engagement, you wouldn't think like that."
Dang Jung, who knew my thoughts like a ghost, clicked his tongue and stopped me. I was a little tempted.
"What do I have to do to get a broken engagement?"
"Do you have the confidence to act more crazy than Juhee?"
"...No."
"Then endure it."
"Yes."
Dang Juhee didn't get her engagement broken either. I see.
Dang Jung, with his arms crossed, continued.
"Still, he said he'd give you a choice because he's watching my reaction. It seems there are a few candidates, so meet them once. You should choose after seeing their faces."
So... it's like a matchmaking meeting. And I can choose my husband's face in the meantime?
To go on a matchmaking meeting at the age of sixteen when I never even went on one when I was a working adult. My life is a mess.
Seeing that my expression wasn't good, Dang Jung said soothingly.
"If you don't like the looks of the guy who will be your husband, Grandpa will bring you a replacement, so don't worry and choose."
Grandfather. Please don't talk about my husband like you're picking potatoes at the market.
"I found out that the Patriarch has the third son of the Yuju Merchant Guild in mind. Grandpa thinks it's not bad. If he's a guy who sits at his desk and racks his brains, he won't have any power, so it'll be comfortable. The Martial Arts World guys are violent and difficult to handle."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. The Martial Arts World guys who come in as sons-in-law are prone to feeling inferior because they're men. They feel like they're living as servants because they came into the wife's family, and their pride is hurt."
Isn't that what being a servant is...?
I thought of the Poison King Hall Lord's weak husband.
Madam On-jeong's husband, whose name I don't even remember, never had a day when his fingertips weren't stained with poison. That's because he had to write down his wife's experiment records every day.
It was an environment that made me understand why he kept running away to Xi'an.
As I smacked my lips, Dang Jung tapped the floor with his fingertips.
"I can't stand seeing you put up with that temper of yours, So-hye. Bring in a decent guy. If he's the son of a merchant guild, he won't be able to treat you carelessly, right? If he acts up, you can beat him up a bit."
Please don't say barbaric things with such a nonchalant face. I don't want to be a wife who beats her husband.
"His age is just right too. You said you like older men. He's four years older than you, So-hye, so it's just right."
"You remembered that?"
I did. I did say that... but that was just a way of saying I wasn't interested in kids.
It seemed that Dang Jung liked the conditions of my matchmaking candidate.
"Okay. I'll meet that person."
"Okay. I'll talk to the Patriarch."
That's how my first matchmaking partner was decided.
My first matchmaking partner was a man named Gu Gyeong-cheon from the Gu Clan.
He was the third son of the Yuju Merchant Guild, which had recently grown in Chengdu, but there was no information circulating about him, perhaps because the family's name had only recently become known.
Seeing that Hwahong didn't know much about him either, it seemed he wasn't the type to frequent taverns or brothels.
Instead, the eldest son was famous for his outstanding business acumen.
Many people predicted that if the eldest son, with his amazing money-making skills, inherited the merchant guild in a few years, he would expand the scale to a merchant group.
There were also rumors that the White Wind Merchant Guild, Madam Im's family, would no longer be able to dominate Sichuan.
So that bastard is trying to get in line in advance.
Looking at it, even if his personality is trash, he's the best at calculating gains and losses.
The Facial Description of Gu Gyeong-cheon sent by the Gu Clan was plain and not bad.
Of course, I'd have to see if he was actually okay. I'd heard that there were a lot of portrait scams going around.
Unlike the Gu Clan, who had put a lot of effort into drawing and sending the groom's Facial Description, I didn't draw a Facial Description.
It was because my grandfather told me not to draw it, saying what would he do if he didn't like the face.
"Stop it. If you draw it, you'll only attract flies."
It was Dang Jung's order, not anyone else's, so the painter the Chief Steward brought had to go back without even grinding the ink.
Preparing for the Coming-of-Age Ceremony and the matchmaking meeting. I was completely out of my mind with the hastily started engagement preparations.
As the day Gu Gyeong-cheon was to visit the Tang Clan approached, Songji was busy choosing clothes all day long.
"Young Miss, which of these two do you like better? The light sky-blue silk looks elegant, and the red silk is gorgeous, so it would be good for taking the lead."
Songji. Who takes the lead at a matchmaking meeting?
I chuckled and waved my hand.
"Can't I just wear something casual?"
"No, Young Miss. This is the first time you're meeting a man who might become your husband, so you can't go in Martial attire, can you?"
I was thinking that if I went out in Martial attire, they would reject me first.
Wouldn't they reject me? I wish they would.
As I scratched my head and smacked my lips, Songji made a tearful face. I turned my back, pretending not to notice.
"I'm going to embroider. Have dinner with Kyung-ah."
"Young Miss, please just try it on once..."
"Uh-huh. Later."
As I ran away to the next room, Madam Jin, who had been waiting, got up.
"Have you arrived, Young Miss?"
"Hello, Madam."
These days, she had been coming and going to the detached palace to teach me embroidery. It was because the bride's embroidery had to be included in the trousseau.
Of course, I had no talent for embroidery.
"Young Miss. What is this lump?"
"A peony."
"...What is this wild beast?"
"It's a phoenix."
I'd been sewing up other people's flesh so much that my stitching was meticulous, but the embroidery was all messed up.
Seeing Madam Jin's devastated face, I said cautiously.
"Do I have to embroider it myself? I can just buy an embroidery master's work."
"Still, it's a trousseau, so at least a minimum of courtesy... Yes. That would be good. I'll find an embroidery master."
Madam Jin nodded, holding her forehead. It seemed she couldn't bring herself to fix my embroidery in a short time either.
"Then we're done, right?"
"Yes, Young Miss. I'll come back when the embroidery is ready."
"Yes, thank you."
After sending Madam Jin away, I collapsed on the table and sighed deeply.
A bride's lesson that wasn't in my destiny, I'd rather train. I missed the days when I lay down in Dang-un's quarters and read books.
As I recalled the summer when I shared peaches with Dang-un, I suddenly realized that I hadn't seen him in a long time.
It was occasional for Dang-un to seclude himself when he was in bad condition, but this time the period was long.
"Deokju. Have you seen Woon orabeoni these past few days?"
"No, I haven't. Shall I find out if he's in his quarters?"
"No. Let's go now."
I had a strange feeling of unease.
Seeing that he hadn't been seen for almost ten days, I wondered if he was having trouble moving around. I was worried that his health had deteriorated rapidly because of the cold weather.
The weather wasn't good today either. When I went outside, snowflakes were flying from the dark sky.
It seemed that it had been snowing for quite some time, as everything was covered in snow. My and Deokju's footprints were dotted along the way to Dang-un's quarters.
I carefully opened the door of the pavilion.
Dang-un was holding an oil-paper umbrella. Snow had piled up on the umbrella, as if he had been standing outside for a long time.
As I approached Dang-un to surprise him, Dang-un chuckled.
"So-hye, is that you?"
"How did you know?"
"I can tell by the sound of your footsteps. So-hye walks as lightly as a leopard cat. You'll have to practice more if you want to hide your footsteps."
He answered and slowly turned around.
"Grandfather said the same thing. I'll have to practice my footwork more."
As I grumbled and ran to Dang-un, I gasped.
His elegant gestures and gentle smile were the same as usual, but something was different.
There was no focus in his clear eyes.
