Free Web NovelI wanted to ask what on earth he was talking about, but this was not the kind of atmosphere you cut into.
That was because Tang Jung’s inner strength, heavy enough to make me feel like I was suffocating, was crushing down on both me and Tang Un.
It was my first time really feeling Tang Jung’s martial power, and it was more than enough to make me understand why people called him the Poison King. The inner strength filling the whole space resembled poison.
Poison that seeped in without a sound and then brutally cut off your breath.
The force crashing over us like a storm made me feel like I might start dry-heaving. I clutched the leg of the chair and fought for air.
My body, sensing mortal danger, sent out signals in a panic. A ringing whine blared in my ears, my pupils dilated, and my eyes burned.
It was absolutely not a situation where I could relax, but catching a glimpse of the Poison King’s true face actually put me at ease.
To think the person exuding such terrifying energy had been hauling me around on his back, feeding me snacks, and coaxing me.
He had clearly been keeping his energy tightly wrapped up out of consideration for a mere maid like me.
He said something that sounded like he’d almost killed me by mistake because of a misunderstanding, but I decided I simply hadn’t heard that. That felt healthier for my mental state.
When I forced my head up, I saw Tang Un’s face, gone completely white. Kneeling, he had collapsed forward, scraping at the floor with his fingernails.
“Grandfa... ther...! Cough, cough!”
Clutching his chest, Tang Un started to cough. For all his martial level, he was clearly being swept up in Tang Jung’s energy and suffering for it.
At the sound of that ragged coughing, Tang Jung drew his pressure back. Even so, Tang Un’s coughing didn’t stop. He clamped a hand over his mouth, his shoulders jerking, and then vomited up a gush of blood.
Drops of blood scattered across the wooden floor in a vivid red. The thick smell of it made my head go fuzzy. It was my first time seeing someone cough up blood.
My stomach churned and the ringing in my ears grew worse. My head pounded so hard it felt like it might split apart.
I blinked slowly. My vision was steadily going black.
“Cough, Grandfather, Sohae...! Cough!”
“Sohae!”
I heard Tang Un’s and Tang Jung’s panicked voices, but I couldn’t see anything.
Just like that, I passed out.
*****
When I opened my eyes, I was lying on a soft brocade mattress. The smooth feel of fine silk under my cheek was so pleasant that I rubbed my face against it—only for someone to speak to me.
“You’ve woken.”
“...Grand Elder?”
At Tang Jung’s voice, my mind snapped fully awake. I hurriedly pushed myself up, only to see Tang Jung looking troubled. He clicked his tongue and pushed me gently back down.
“Lie there longer. You’re dizzy.”
“Yes.”
I obediently lowered myself again. Beside the arms-folded Tang Jung, Tang Un was sitting, his face completely drained of color.
Our gazes met, and Tang Un asked gently,
“Sohae. How does your body feel?”
“I’m all right.”
“That’s a relief.”
The hand that softly patted the back of my hand was trembling minutely. His skin, cold as ice, had a purplish cast.
Honestly, Tang Un was the one who needed to be lying in this bed.
Tang Jung, watching Tang Un shaking, also waved a hand with a helpless look.
“You should go back and rest as well. I’ve no desire to have a corpse cleared out of my quarters.”
My jaw dropped at the expression that made me doubt my own ears.
...Clear out what, exactly? That’s a bit much to say to your grandson.
But Tang Un just laughed it off like he was used to it.
“I’ll stay a little longer, Grandfather. I’m worried about Sohae.”
Then he brushed my hair back from my forehead. Looking into his worried eyes, my conscience pricked sharply.
Sorry for misunderstanding you as a creep. I really didn’t know you were my half-brother.
Tang Jung stuck out his lip.
“Unless you’re trying to saddle your sister with pointless guilt, go back and rest. Do you plan to stay at her side looking like that? It’s no good for someone with severed meridians to be out in the cold wind.”
At that, Tang Un looked down at himself with an “ah, right” expression. There were splatters of blood here and there on his green robe.
Severed meridians... where had I heard that before? I hurriedly dug through my memories.
“Severed meridians? That’s the disease where your blood meridians get blocked and you die young. It’s a terminal case, terminal. Usually it hits the kids from rich families. You have to pump them full of precious medicine to stretch their lifespan, and even that only works if some doctor actually diagnoses you with severed meridians in the first place. You think a poor family has the spare coin to even take their kid to a doctor? They drop dead without ever knowing the name of their disease. The only ones who go around saying, ‘I’m a severed-meridians patient’ are the ones with money.”
So my brother was a patient. I suddenly felt a wave of pity for Tang Un. From what I’d heard, to treat severed-meridians syndrome you had to...
“Then how do they get better?”
“Unless they’re the protagonist, they all die.”
“Excuse me? Why?”
“That’s just how it is. If I were the author, I’d kill them too. When a smart, talented guy drops dead young, people feel bad for him, right?”
So there isn’t a cure? There really isn’t?
Manager. This isn’t just “tragic,” this is enough to make a man cough up blood in sheer frustration.
Genes that pretty should be passed down for generations.
Looking awkward now that he’d noticed the bloodstains, Tang Un covered them and, without further protest, rose to his feet.
“Then I’ll take my leave. Sohae, your brother is going now, so rest well.”
I gave a small nod, and he carefully straightened my blanket before leaving. I watched his back as he went.
For the first time, I noticed how fragile his shoulders looked. The tips of his hair, hanging down to his waist, were bleached white.
Was that gentle manner of his because he’d already resigned himself to everything?
For some reason, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the spot he’d left. He was far too young an age to be wrapping up his life.
As I stared blankly at the empty chair, Tang Jung sighed and reached over to pat my head.
“I’m sorry.”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry. This old man lost his temper and made a disgrace of himself.”
That softened attitude from Tang Jung felt strange. This was someone who had done as he pleased without a care but had never once said sorry.
The only thing that had changed—
Was the fact that my body carried the same Tang blood as his.
I had no idea what I was supposed to say. My lips moved.
“Grand Elder. I...”
“Call me Grandfather.”
“...Pardon?”
“I’m your great-great-granduncle. That makes me your grandfather.”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
Great-great-granduncle meant he was my great-grandfather’s brother, right? So how many degrees of kinship was that? Seventh cousin? I couldn’t even calculate it.
Rubbing at the corners of his eyes with a heavy expression, Tang Jung said,
“You’ll sleep here tonight.”
“No, I’ll go back to my room. I couldn’t possibly take over your— I mean, Grandfather’s bed.”
“You’re not at the age where one night on the floor is going to give you chronic illness. Just lie there.”
Actually, I am at the age where chronic illness is a real concern, the words pressed up to the back of my throat, but I didn’t let them out.
After a long string ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) of sighs, Tang Jung snuffed the lamp and vacated the spot.
Darkness settled over everything, but sleep didn’t come.
‘I didn’t even know you were alive...’
‘The Clan Head has been indifferent as well.’
‘Sohae is our youngest, Grandfather.’
‘A Myriad-Poison-Immune Body with direct-line blood, and she’s stuck in the outer estate doing laundry with poison all over her! A prodigy that might appear once in a hundred years has been rotting away in the servants’ wing!’
At last, the puzzle fell into place.
A child with direct-line blood, working as a maid because the Clan Head neglected her. A child who endured bullying in silence, knowing no one would protect her and desperate not to be noticed.
The Clan Head’s illegitimate daughter.
That was me.
I’d cursed the Tang Clan scum a thousand times as all being out of their minds, only to find out I was one of the lunatics too. I’d been spitting in my own face this whole time.
Restless, I tossed and turned, then yanked the blanket up over my head.
I couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of pit this new status as the Tang Clan Head’s illegitimate daughter was going to drag me into.
Kicking at the innocent blanket, I grabbed fistfuls of my hair.
I want to go home.
*****
The next day, Tang Jung took me to the Clan Head’s Hall. The way he handled me was much gentler than before; he actually seemed to be taking care with me now that I was “his” blood.
That said, my shoulder and ribs didn’t find the ride any more comfortable. Dangling from Tang Jung’s side, I took in the unfamiliar view of the Clan Head’s Hall.
One of the guards on duty spotted Tang Jung and respectfully cupped his fists.
“I’ll inform the Clan Head that the Grand Elder has arrived.”
“No need. Too much trouble.”
“But there’s still procedure... Grand Elder, sir!”
Ignoring the strict security, he hopped lightly over the wall, then walked inside with the smooth, soundless steps of a feline predator.
“Grand Elder! Please, use the main gate!”
“Noise, noise.”
Blithely ignoring the guard’s tearful plea, he strode up and threw open the doors of the Clan Head’s Hall.
“Muheok, come out here a moment.”
“Have you come, Grandfather.”
A middle-aged man, in the midst of writing something, set down his brush and lifted his head. He answered so calmly that it felt like he was used to Tang Jung barging in whenever he pleased.
I snuck glances at the middle-aged man. His face was so cold it seemed like you wouldn’t get a drop of blood out of him even if you stuck him with a needle.
Was that chilly look part of the Tang family’s internal style too? If you got past Tang Jung’s boyish face, he was also squarely in the “cold, handsome man” category.
From the context, there was no mistaking that this man was the Clan Head, Tang Muheok. Hoisting me up in front of him, Tang Jung said,
“This is your daughter, Sohae.”
“So it appears.”
Tang Muheok did not deny it.
Wow. I really was the Tang Clan Head’s daughter.
My surprise lasted only a second before the words that followed made a laugh slip out of me.
“I’ll raise her.”
...Grand Elder. I am a person, you know? Not a puppy. And who on earth is supposed to understand what you mean when you say it like that?
Namgung Hwi did the same thing—what is wrong with martial artists?
Apparently thinking the same thing, Tang Muheok stared straight at Tang Jung and let out a quiet sigh.
“Are you saying you intend to teach this child yourself, Grandfather?”
“Your ears do work, then.”
Their conversation blew past me like an icy wind. A clash of auras between martial artists was far too savage for an ordinary civilian like me to withstand.
My breathing grew rough, and Tang Jung clicked his tongue, using his sleeve to block my view.
“How dare you open your eyes like that in front of someone? Rein in your energy. You’re scaring the child.”
“My apologies, Grandfather.”
His voice contained absolutely no apology, but neither he nor Tang Jung seemed to care.
Staring at the embroidery on Tang Jung’s sleeve, I tried to steady my breathing. I could feel the pressure that had been crushing my whole body gradually thinning out.
Once my breathing had settled back to normal, Tang Jung withdrew his arm and lightly patted my head.
At that, the middle-aged man’s brows twitched ever so slightly. His expression was that of someone watching another person touch something filthy.
“That’s enough. I’ve said what I came to say, so just keep that in mind.” frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
“Even if you are my grandfather, you can’t ignore proper order. Please don’t interfere in my daughter’s education.”
As he said it, the face with which Tang Muheok looked at me was openly filled with disgust.
For a moment, I genuinely wanted to spit every curse I knew.
Your daughter? You dare glare at your own daughter like she’s some piece of filth?
Seeing her father’s face for the first time in a month, his child was getting looked at like he wanted to kill her on the spot. Is that supposed to be fine?
Trying to ease the mood, I forced a smile—only for him to flinch in revulsion and glare even more harshly.
“You were the one who promised to live as if you were dead. Why are you stirring things up now?”
Apparently, smiling had been the wrong move. I hurriedly wiped all expression from my face.
“What do you mean, stirring things up? Thanks to that bullshit coming out of your mouth, this child got shoved into the outer estate, scrubbing laundry soaked in poison! A once-in-a-century prodigy was rotting in the servants’ wing!”
Tang Jung snapped, but Tang Muheok didn’t so much as twitch. He shot me a cutting look and said flatly,
“Grandfather. I cannot accept this child as a direct-line member of the Tang Clan. She is a mistake born from one night with a courtesan. By taking in mother and daughter so they did not starve to death, I fulfilled my duty. Even after the mother died, I did not drive the girl out; I kept her within the Tang estate walls.”
“What insane bullshit. This is why dick-having bastards are...”
Snorting, Tang Jung’s face turned vicious. Tang Muheok did not back down either, his gaze equally insolent.
The sharp auras pouring off the two of them made my skin prickle and the backs of my knees go weak.
They say when whales fight, the shrimp’s back gets broken; when martial artists clash with their auras, it’s my back that breaks.
If I stayed wedged in here, I was going to pass out again.
Grandfather.
Please leave me out of this fight!
