Free Web NovelFeeling the wind brush past me with my feet off the ground was a strange sensation.
I almost felt like the heroine of some famous animated movie.
Of course, the heroine in that sort of story walks through the sky gracefully holding the male lead’s hand, while I was being slung over a shoulder like a sack of rice. That’s the difference.
“Grand Elder. Can I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
“Why do you keep going over the walls?”
If you were at Tang Jung’s level, you could probably just walk straight through the Clan Head’s front gate and no one would say a word.
At my question, Tang Jung answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Walking along the paths is a bother. You have to go round and round.”
...You’re allowed to do that?
Well, to be fair, this manor was laid out like a maze, so hopping along the tiles was probably faster.
Light as a feather in midair, Tang Jung soon set me down under a willow tree in the back garden. My heart settled at the sight of the familiar building.
As I let out a sigh of relief, Tang Jung smirked and lightly tapped the top of my head.
“Were you frightened?”
“A little.”
I smiled back and looked up at him.
Having a hill to lean on in this wilderness was such a relief.
He still seemed to suspect me of being some kind of plant, but on the surface at least, I was his disciple.
I wasn’t asking to throw his name around like a bully; I just wanted him to block situations like the one that had just happened, where I got tossed around by people way above my pay grade.
Who knew worrying about a child would land me in that kind of mess. Even if Namgung Hwi came looking for me tomorrow, I was absolutely not stepping outside the pavilion.
Tang Jung didn’t ask why I’d been with the Namgung party. Instead, he asked offhandedly,
“Have you eaten?”
“Yes.”
“Then you should eat dinner. Eat well and go in early to sleep. You must be tired.”
“Yes, Grand Elder.”
With his hands clasped behind his back, Tang Jung went into the pavilion. It sounded like he was telling me to stay and eat dinner.
Still... it did feel like he was treating me more fondly than at first, didn’t it?
*****
Dinner was as excellent as always. But it felt like I was chewing sand, and all I could do was pick at it.
Because Namgung Sang’s words wouldn’t leave my head.
Watching Tang Jung’s mood, I cautiously opened my mouth.
“Grand Elder. I heard something really frightening.”
“What did you hear?”
“If someone who has learned the Tang Clan’s martial arts leaves the Tang Clan... do they really sever the tendons and meridians in their arms and legs?”
He lifted his head and gave me a strange look. Picking up a peanut with his chopsticks, he answered,
“Well now. I’ve never seen anyone try to leave the Tang Clan.”
“Really?”
Thank goodness. So Namgung Sang was just misinformed—
“Usually they’re killed, aren’t they? If you leave alive a fool who’s crazy enough to be expelled, they’ll bring harm to the Tang Clan sooner or later.”
“...Excuse me?”
This was insane.
Spend the rest of your life crawling because your tendons and meridians are severed. Or get poisoned and die. Which one is worse? Is this some kind of “pick your misery” game?
Cold sweat pooled in the hand holding my chopsticks. I ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) tried to casually pick up some noodles, but my fingers had no strength.
My chopsticks slipped and clattered loudly to the floor. Tang Jung’s eyes sharpened.
“Were you thinking of leaving?”
At his cutting voice, I flailed to explain.
“What? No, no. Grand Elder, you took me in; how could I even dare think such a thing. That’s not it. Just now, the Young Clan Head of the Namgung Clan tried to take me to Anhui... and I overheard the Namgung Clan Head trying to stop him.”
Only then did Tang Jung’s expression relax.
“What? The brat’s only the size of a chestnut and he can already pick out jade from stones, can he. Insolent little thing.”
Grumbling, he beckoned.
“Come here.”
“Pardon?”
“Come closer.”
I got up hesitantly and approached him. Tang Jung looked me up and down carefully, then reached out.
Despite his fine-looking appearance, the hand that cupped my cheek was callused and rough. A faint, bitter herbal scent clung to his hard fingertips.
“Soft as jelly.”
Could you please not knead my face like dough?
He mashed my cheeks around for a good while. Then he suddenly seemed to think of something and smiled, eyes crinkling.
“Child. You, I mean. You should learn how to hide what you’re thinking.”
So he was laughing because my expression was funny.
When I forced a smile, he let go of my cheek and tipped my chin up.
“It’s definitely not a human-skin mask...”
Then, with his index finger, he slowly ran down the back of my neck. The prickle in the air made me flinch; at that moment, his hand closed lightly around my throat and he murmured,
“And you don’t even have a dantian.”
His touch was gentle, but my breath caught. Thump. Thump. My heart pounded like crazy.
His expression said he was genuinely weighing whether to snap my neck or let me go. Tilting his head toward me, he looked at me with those dark-blue eyes and asked,
“There’s no sign you’ve learned any external training either. So why are you so suspicious?”
At his words, every hair on my body stood on end. One wrong move and I was dead.
Where had I slipped up? Asking about expulsion? Mentioning Namgung Hwi? Going to the guest quarters where the Namgung Clan was staying? Or had I been too insolent in my speech?
My body shook and my teeth chattered. If he put pressure into his hand, I wouldn’t even manage a small whimper before my neck snapped.
But I couldn’t just die like this.
I opened my mouth, trying to clumsily defend myself—at that moment, the hand around my neck slid away.
Frowning, Tang Jung asked,
“Sohae. Do you perhaps have some kind of problem with your memory?”
“What?”
From where?
“I hear you’ve been living in the Tang estate since you were five. But after ten years, you don’t know anything.”
“Uh...”
“Even maids who’ve just come in would know more than you. That’s why I’m asking.”
His words made me want to burst into applause. It was a relief he was misunderstanding me all on his own.
He’d just handed me the perfect excuse: amnesia. Grand Elder, you’re a genius.
“The truth is... yes. One day I woke up, and I couldn’t remember anything.”
When I answered slowly, Tang Jung nodded like that was exactly what he’d thought.
“I knew something was off. Unless you’d boiled your own brain like a carp, how could a maid working in the Tang Clan not know the Clan Head’s name, not know the paths, and get lost?”
“Ha ha...”
“If your memory’s gone, I suppose you might be a bit stupid.”
Grand Elder. Please stop calling me stupid. I’m not that stupid.
Tang Jung’s face had softened as if he’d never considered breaking my neck at all.
“I’ve heard there are people who sometimes lose their memories from the medicinal decoction. Though whether it’s really because of the decoction, who can say.”
You knew that and you still make people drink poison?
The more I talked to him, the clearer it became that this clan had nothing to do with common sense.
So much for a hill to lean on. This was crap. Crap.
I hid my trembling hands behind my back and swallowed. A lump of unease sat under my solar plexus.
My legs were so wobbly it was hard to stand there pretending to be calm.
If I said I should retire for the night, would he let me go?
I was searching for a way to withdraw without offending him when someone knocked on the door to the residence at just the right moment.
“Shall I go see who it is?”
Tang Jung nodded. I quickly ran out and slid open the paper door. I was nothing but grateful for the existence of a visitor.
“Grandfather. I came to pay my respects... Sohae? Why are you here?”
“Young Master.”
If there was a problem, it was that the visitor was Tang Un.
I tightened the muscles in my face to keep my expression in check. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
That’s my line. What are you doing here?
“Not ‘Young Master,’ call me Brother Un. Is Grandfather inside?”
“Un, what brings you all the way to this old man’s residence? Sohae, let him in.”
“Yes.”
At Tang Jung’s permission, I opened the door wide. Tang Un walked in on light feet and knelt before Tang Jung.
“Grandfather. I apologize for not greeting you sooner. I haven’t been well since returning to Sichuan and needed a few days to recuperate.”
While Tang Un bowed politely, Tang Jung watched him with a displeased face. Instead of answering the greeting, he barked sharply,
“How do you know Sohae?” fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
“She’s a child I cherish. But why is she at Grandfather’s residence...?”
“You brat, have you picked up that bad habit of touching the maids like Young Master Yeongho?”
“What? No, never.”
At his anger-laced voice, Tang Un stammered in embarrassment. Tang Jung snapped,
“Then why do you know Sohae?”
“Sir?”
“I asked why you know Sohae.”
“Grandfather, I believe there’s some misunderstanding.”
“What misunderstanding? You hardly ever leave the inner estate—what business do you have knowing a maid from the outer estate? Don’t you dare try any funny business with this child. This old man will not sit back and watch.”
The same man who’d been on the verge of killing me moments ago was now protecting my personal safety.
Honestly. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
But then something unexpected came out of Tang Un’s mouth.
“Sohae is our youngest. Grandfather.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Do you remember Choryeon of the Moon-Fragrance Pavilion, from sixteen years ago?”
“Of course I do. Your father drank like a fool without knowing his place and turned into a dog, and...”
Answering lightly, Tang Jung’s face suddenly froze.
“That child is this child?”
“Yes. This is Sohae.”
At Tang Un’s answer, Tang Jung ground his teeth. His expression twisted into something terrifying.
“...What kind of insane people are these.”
The words squeezed out between his teeth were filled with raw fury. At the swell of energy he released, the birds around the pavilion burst into flight with a flutter of wings.
The air grew so heavy in an instant that it was hard to stand upright. I staggered and grabbed a chair, hanging on so I wouldn’t fall.
Tang Un hurried to calm him.
“G-Grandfather! Please quell your anger...”
“If you were in my place, would you be calm? I’m already about to die of frustration because they’ve dumped in the position of Young Clan Head a blockhead who knows nothing but stuffing every poison recipe into a pot and boiling it—on top of that, a Myriad-Poison-Immune body bearing the blood of the direct line is stuck out in the outer estate doing laundry, isn’t she! I’m so furious I can’t breathe! And these idiots are the ones leading the Tang Sect?”
“What? What do you mean... Myriad-Poison-Immune, you said? Then, Sohae being Myriad-Poison-Immune, even Father wouldn’t have known that...”
“How is it possible not to know your own child? What else could it mean except he couldn’t bring himself to kill what he’d spawned, so he just tossed her into the servants’ wing? To think such scum, worse than garbage, is my great-grandson—this is beyond lamentable!”
“Grandfather, please calm yourself. Sohae can’t endure your energy...”
“I almost misunderstood and strangled a direct-line descendant with my own hands! I nearly killed, with my own hands, a Myriad-Poison-Immune body that might appear once in a hundred years! And they left such a talent rotting in the servants’ wing? Does that make any sense?”
Watching Tang Jung rage, I could only blink like an idiot. There was so much information crashing out of his mouth that I couldn’t fully process it.
Bearing the blood of the direct line?
Myriad-Poison-Immune body?
Who?
Me?
