Free Web NovelI slowly took a deep breath. The darkness might hide my expression, but nothing good would come from letting raw emotion show.
Un was surely a martial artist too. Like all those high-status types, he might look kind, but you never knew when he’d change his attitude. Hadn’t Tang Jung done exactly that?
I forced a smile onto my face and squeezed out the sweetest voice I could manage.
“This is far too much for someone like me to accept. I’ll just be grateful for the thought.”
When I declined indirectly, Un’s eyebrows drooped.
“Sohae, you haven’t changed. But still, please take it. It hurts your older brother’s heart if you push away his sincerity like this.”
Yeah, and I know exactly what that “sincerity” usually means, that’s why I’m not jumping to take it.
I stayed silent and just stared straight at him. The way he suddenly declared himself my older brother felt off, and nothing about him looked like someone it’d be good to get close to.
Wherever you go, guys who go around “I’m your oppa~” are the most suspicious.
“You turned me down last time too. Won’t you at least try it on your hair? I bought it in Hubei.”
“...”
“Sohae.”
When I didn’t bother to hide my wariness, he gave a sad smile and slipped the hairpin back away.
“Did I put you in a difficult position?”
His forlorn tone made me feel weirdly guilty.
His pale eyes held a trace of sorrow. I averted my gaze without a word.
If the Tang people I’d met so far were like black panthers or hyenas, this one was more like some pitiful deer. There was no poison in his eyes at all.
“I’m sorry. I truly didn’t mean to make things hard for you.”
Seeing that he realized I was uncomfortable and even apologized, I wondered if maybe he wasn’t that bad after all...
No. If he had any sense, he wouldn’t have come here at this hour in the first place. I’d almost fallen for that face.
I dipped my head slowly.
“My apologies.”
“No, no. What fault could you possibly have? It’s this older brother who didn’t think it through. I’ll go now, so go inside and rest.”
“Yes.”
“...Um, Sohae.”
“I’m listening.”
He parted his lips like he had something to say, then let out a small sigh.
“No, never mind. I almost said something foolish.”
Muttering to himself, Un gave a bitter smile and stepped back. His shoulders drooped like a puppy caught in the rain; he looked frankly pitiful.
I hadn’t done a single thing wrong, but I felt like the bad guy.
I narrowed my eyes so I wouldn’t fall for his face. One second of carelessness and I’d get swept away.
“You know, right? If anything troubles you, you can come to me anytime.”
With a soft tone, he gave his parting words, then reached elegantly into his sleeve. He pulled out a small pouch.
“Would a snack be all right? This older brother just wants to put something in your hand.”
“Thank you.”
I bowed and accepted the pouch. The mood made it feel like refusing this too would be wrong.
“Rest well.”
Un gave a small smile and walked away slowly. As he went, he kept glancing back at me with a worried expression.
When our eyes met, he even gestured for me to go inside. I forced my lips into a smile and bobbed my head over and over.
As soon as his figure disappeared, Songji—who’d been holding her breath—slid the door wide open.
“Hey, is he gone? What did he say?”
“I don’t know. Why did he come?”
I shrugged and opened the pouch. Inside was neatly dried jerky.
There’s nothing weird mixed in, right. Like poison. Or poison. There was just no trusting Tang people.
I buried my nose in the jerky and sniffed hard, and Songji scolded me. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
“He cares about you, that’s why. It hasn’t even been one double-hour since the Zhuge Clan guests arrived. The moment they got to Chengdu he came straight to see you.”
The way she linked things together made no sense to me, and my head tilted on its own. What did the Zhuge Clan have to do with anything?
“Why did the Zhuge Clan guests come together with this Young Master?”
“Isn’t that obvious? They’re his mother’s family, of course they came together. What’s wrong with you lately? Did you eat crow meat or something?”
She rolled her eyes at me. So his mother was from the Zhuge side. That beauty must have come from his mother’s bloodline.
“Yeah. Maybe I’m just worn out from work, my head’s all foggy. Sister, I’m tired, let’s just go to sleep.”
I hurried to agree and shoved a piece of jerky into her mouth.
“‘Hey, it’s cold. Hurry and come in.”
Snorting at my wheedling, she chewed on the jerky and beckoned me closer. Seeing how happily she ate it, it didn’t seem like anything strange was in it.
I slipped inside and shut the door with a quick clack.
Un, the Zhuge Clan—whatever. I just wanted to sleep.
*****
Starting with the Zhuge Clan, who had arrived late in the night, the guests who’d come from far away began trickling in one after another.
Serving the guests, preparing for the gathering—everyone was so busy they couldn’t even blink, but my days were peaceful.
Because Tang Jung kept me holed up in his quarters.
“Your looks draw the eye. If you wander around, you’ll just get dragged into something troublesome. Come stay here.”
“Yes, Elder.”
“I’ve told Geunmyeong, so no one will come looking for you.”
That’s great news.
I meekly obeyed his wishes. Obviously, I didn’t want to work.
I’d been grinding away day and night without a single day off, always stuck with the chores the maids hated most. I deserved a bit of slacking off once in a while.
Sometimes you have to take breaks like this to balance out the world.
As he got ready to go out, he kept repeating himself, like he was uneasy about leaving me alone.
“Do you understand? No matter who calls you, stay here and don’t go out. Just stand in the back garden and throw coins.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t just answer—do not leave the pavilion. The noble-clan brats are idiots who don’t know their place and strut around just because of their blood, that’s why I’m worried.”
Elder. You are also one of those noble-clan people.
I pretended not to hear the savage jab and only nodded, and he kept grumbling.
“Bad habits die hard. Any bastard who loosens his belt the moment he sees a pretty maid, they should all be turned into eunuchs...”
I felt like I’d just overheard something I really shouldn’t have.
At the raw choice of words, my eyes darted around awkwardly.
Only then did I truly understand what he was worried about. Sohae’s face was pretty, so he was clearly on edge about flies trying to land on her.
It sounds narcissistic when I put it like that, but it’s simply true that Sohae is a beauty.
Her mother, Choryeon, was supposed to have been the greatest beauty in Chengdu. It goes without saying what her daughter would look like.
Even in shabby clothes she stood out. If she’d been born as an eldest daughter of some noble house, she probably would have made quite a name for herself.
She might have been called something like “Number One Beauty in Sichuan.”
Of course, it was all pointless fantasy. In any era, being pretty is exhausting. For a maid doing drudge work, beauty just makes your fate more bitter.
So from the beginning, not letting her stand out was the right call.
He says he’ll take me as his disciple, and here he is, fussing over me in all sorts of ways.
While I was wriggling in place, he finished preparing to leave and gave me another reminder.
“I’ll be away for a few days greeting guests. If anything happens, use my name without hesitation, and if that doesn’t work, insist on seeing Geunmyeong. Then Geunmyeong will take care of it.”
“Yes, Elder. Have a safe—oh, you’re gone.”
He left before he even finished hearing my answer.
Left alone in the pavilion, I slowly got to my feet.
I’d wipe down the tearoom once, have a light lunch, then go practice coin fishing.
If you could really call this “fishing,” anyway.
It probably needed a new name: “coin tossing,” or “coin skipping,” not fishing.
I smacked my lips and rolled the coins in my hand. The ice on the pond had melted long ago with the ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) warming weather, but my coin fishing showed no improvement.
On the contrary, only the carp—hardened by my coin throwing—had gotten quicker. At this point I couldn’t tell if I was the one training or if the carp were.
Fine. I’ll just throw once and then go clean.
No, twice.
...Three times and it still wasn’t working.
I let out a deep sigh and plunked a coin into the pond when someone decided to offer advice.
“Fish move in a streamlined pattern. If you throw like that, you could throw all day and never hit one.”
Who the hell—
I jerked my head up, startled, and saw a boy I’d never seen before.
The elaborate clothes embroidered with clouds in blue thread said he wasn’t from the Tang Clan. He must have been one of the guests visiting for the gathering.
I hesitated, wondering if I ought to point out that he’d strolled into the Poison King’s quarters without permission, or if I should just bow politely like a proper maid.
In the meantime, he strode right up and started talking.
“Did you get it? You keep throwing in a straight line. You have to throw along the fish’s trajectory if you want to at least brush its scales.”
“Sorry?”
“You’re hopeless. You have to do it like this, idiot.”
Muttering complaints, the boy suddenly grabbed my hand.
What is wrong with this kid? Why are you grabbing some strange girl’s hand?
I froze rigid in shock, and he frowned and tugged on my arm.
“Focus. This is how you do it.”
Still holding my hand, he swung my arm.
The coin flew in the direction he guided and tapped the carp lightly on the head before bouncing away.
Watching that, he puffed out his chest in pride.
“See? I was right.”
“Ah. Yes.”
I mean, it did graze it.
Didn’t look that different from when I threw it myself, though.
Unsatisfied with my lukewarm answer, he grumbled.
“I told you I was right.”
“Yes, you were.”
He didn’t seem pleased with that reply either and raised his voice.
“You there. Isn’t it rude to act like that when I took the trouble to teach you myself?”
Rude? That’s my line.
You’re the one who rudely grabbed the hand of a girl you’ve never met, and you’re the one rudely prowling around the inner estate of someone else’s clan.
Right now, you’re a trespasser in the Grand Elder of the Tang Sect’s pavilion, kid.
I silently looked up at him. His face flushed. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
“Do you even know who I am, looking at me like that?”
Hearing “Do you know who I am?” come out of a squirt like this—
In that moment, I felt Tang Jung’s words down to my bones.
Elder. You’re right. These noble-clan brats really are idiots who strut around on their bloodline alone.
Swallowing a sigh, I opened my mouth.
“You must be a guest of the Tang Sect.”
“I—I’m Namgung Hwi! The Young Clan Head of the Namgung Clan!”
His voice announcing his identity carried both pride in his clan and the arrogance of someone expecting to be treated accordingly.
A laugh slipped out of me.
...Damn it. So you’re Namgung Hwi?
