Free Web NovelNoticing how badly I was shaking, Tang Jung hid me against his chest, inside his robe. He muttered something that sounded like calling me a fainthearted child.
I wanted to protest that I wasn’t weak-hearted, that my body was shaking on its own regardless of my will, but my mouth wouldn’t open. That was because I was honestly terrified.
Having already fainted once yesterday, my body kept sending the same message in the face of a new crisis: run. My heart was thundering so wildly it felt like it might burst out of my chest.
Seeing the state I was in, Tang Jung cut the conversation off.
“You can do whatever you want about all that ‘direct line’ talk. Sohae, I’m the one who’ll raise.”
“Grandfather!”
“I won’t say it twice.”
Tang Muheok shouted, but Tang Jung ignored him and turned his back. Worked up, Tang Muheok hurled his angry voice at Tang Jung’s retreating back.
“I already told you I cannot allow that. All I did was follow the rules. Are you really going to take that thing in, even if it means trampling the authority of your own Clan Head?”
That thing? Calling a person “that thing,” seriously?
Having suddenly been demoted to “that thing,” I buried my face in Tang Jung’s robe hem.
I wanted to unload a whole bucket of curses, but the razor-edged aura pouring off Tang Muheok made it hard to even twitch a finger.
While he patted my back soothingly, Tang Jung spoke in a low voice.
“Is this really something to prattle about ‘authority’ over? Don’t make me laugh. Muheok. Remember where your authority comes from. Authority the Elder Council gives can be taken back by the Elder Council at any time.”
“What is that supposed to—!”
Enraged by such a blatant threat, Tang Muheok slammed his hand down on the desk.
What Tang Jung had just said was a warning that he could drag him off the Clan Head’s seat whenever he felt like it.
I heard the crack of solid hardwood shattering. Even so, Tang Jung didn’t so much as blink as he walked straight out of the Clan Head’s Hall.
The farther we got from the Clan Head’s Hall, the more the oppressive weight pressing down on me eased.
My skin tingled and burned as if a current had jolted through every inch of it.
In a gentle voice, Tang Jung soothed me.
“Breathe. That’s it. Breathe, child.”
Even then, I still couldn’t breathe properly, so he quickly pressed along my head, back, and waist. It felt like he was pressing acupoints.
Only then did my airway open. I hacked and gulped down rough breaths.
“Are you all right?”
“Haah... yes.”
Aside from the fact that my rage is about to explode, I’m fine.
Wiping my mouth, I bared my teeth in the direction of the Clan Head’s Hall.
For him to talk and act like that toward his own daughter—this bastard didn’t have so much as a chick’s eyelash worth of responsibility.
The tendons in the back of my hand stood out with how tightly I clenched my fist. As I ground my teeth, unable to swallow my anger, Tang Jung smiled with satisfaction.
“Good. If you’re angry, you should show your temper. That’s how a Tang should be. Only the ruthless survive in this world, child.”
The words were so far removed from common sense that my energy just drained away.
Why are you pleased, exactly. “If you’re angry, show your temper”? The parenting in this household is beyond saving.
Even so, having someone on my side felt surprisingly good. I let out a small laugh along with him.
Seeing me smile, Tang Jung looked relieved. He made a suggestion.
“Would you like to go look at some flowers?”
“Flowers?”
“Yes. Training’s a lost cause for today anyway, so let’s go out for a stroll. That Im brat... ah, that old monster must already have gone to Wuhan. How about a little outing into the back mountain instead?”
“I’d like that.”
As long as it was outside the Tang estate, I didn’t care where it was.
I was just grateful for how hard Tang Jung was trying to lift my mood.
Adjusting his hold on me, he lightly leapt over the wall.
The scenery whipping past like an arrow made me feel queasy. When I couldn’t take it anymore and closed my eyes, things got a little better.
My head spun and my stomach churned, but my mood was fantastic. With the wind whooshing past my ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) ears, it felt like the stuffiness in my chest had been blasted open.
“You can open your eyes now.”
At his words, I opened my eyes to a quiet forest. I slowly looked around.
Between trees that seemed to pierce the sky, wildflowers bloomed here and there. Birdsong came from all directions, and warm sunlight poured down.
When I tilted my head back, I saw a squirrel scampering up a fir tree, fresh pale-green shoots sprouting from its branches.
I stroked a twig budding with flower-buds. At some point, spring had crept right up close.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes.”
While I took in the forest, Tang Jung sat down on a tree stump and rummaged in his sleeve. He pulled out a snowy-white lidded tea cup and a water flask.
He roughly tossed tea leaves and water into the cup, then covered it and wrapped both hands around it. Steam began to rise from the lidded cup.
How did he do that?
Samadhi True Fire was supposed to be using inner strength to burn things—if you used less power, could you boil water instead?
I guess if you’d reached the level where you could control your inner strength that delicately, you didn’t need a kettle anymore.
“Take this.”
“Grand Eld— I mean, Grandfather?”
“What is it?”
“Did you just boil that with inner strength?”
“Yes.”
“Then could you freeze it too? Like ice techniques?”
“Are you making fun of your grandfather? You don’t need to learn ice arts to do something like that.”
Shrugging, Tang Jung picked up a fresh cup. Frost formed in a thin white film over the porcelain surface.
“Wow.”
I want that. You wouldn’t even need an ice-water purifier.
As I gaped in admiration, he chuckled and ruffled my hair.
“I’ll teach you later. You’ll pick it up quickly enough.”
His tone was kindly, but the content was ridiculous.
Isn’t that something only high-level masters can do? In novels, even if you just lit a match-flame at your fingertip, people screamed “master!” and ran.
Clearly, his “quickly” and my “quickly” were measured in different units. His was probably about ten years.
Forcing a smile, I nodded. Watching me with an unreadable expression, Tang Jung spoke again.
“Sohae. From now on, listen carefully to what your grandfather says.”
“Yes.”
“When I said I would teach you, I meant it. Even when I didn’t know you carried Tang blood, I’d already decided to do so. Now that I know Tang blood flows in you, I can’t let your talent go to waste.”
At the weight in his voice, I straightened my back. I had a strong feeling that whatever he was about to say would be tied directly to whether I lived or died.
Having brewed his own share of tea, Tang Jung lifted the lid. After taking in the fragrance with the manners of a refined gentleman, he said quietly,
“You have a Myriad-Poison-Immune Body. You were born with the kind of body everyone in the Tang Clan dreams of. No poison, however extreme, can touch you—a perfectly immune body.”
A body everyone dreams of.
In the eyes of a clan that raised children from infancy by feeding them poison to build resistance, an innate Myriad-Poison-Immune body was apparently a talent.
I waited quietly for what he’d say next.
“From here on, I’ll teach you poison arts. You’re starting later than your brothers, but there’s no need to worry. Unlike them, you won’t have to roll around eating poison, so the process will go much faster.”
“Yes.”
“But you are to keep your maid status. Until you can protect your own life, don’t stand out in anyone’s eyes. Especially beware Muheok’s third wife. Her hand is quite venomous.”
My jaw fell open at the words “third wife.” Before I knew it, my tone came out almost accusatory.
“Father— I mean, the Clan Head has three wives?”
Is this bastard sane? He has three wives and still went and made an illegitimate child?
“Yes. Three. You’ve never met them?”
“No. Never.”
The original Sohae might not have, but I definitely haven’t, Grandfather. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
Tang Jung nodded, as if he understood.
“That’s fine. You lived quietly, and you’ve lost your memory, so it’s possible you wouldn’t know. In that case, we’ll make this your first lesson.”
Setting the cup down, he picked up a fallen twig. He drew a large circle in the dirt.
“We are the overlords of Sichuan. But we’re not the only ones ruling the Sichuan region. There are also Emei and Qingcheng. What must we do to avoid being pushed aside by those two factions of the Nine Great Sects?”
“Let’s see... increase our forces?”
“Forces? Ha, you talk like you’ve been reading military strategy. That’s not wrong. Having martial power so great that everyone fears you is an excellent method. But what’s most important is expanding our influence in Sichuan.”
Only then did I understand why Tang Jung had called this a lesson.
He was explaining that the reason the Clan Head had three wives wasn’t simple debauchery, but the benefit of the clan.
“You’re saying he formed alliances with powerful forces through political marriages to expand his influence.”
“Yes. How clever.”
He sounded pleased.
Grandfather. Yesterday you were calling me stupid.
Drawing on the earth, he continued his explanation.
“The Clan Head’s first wife, Zhuge Moran, is the pampered jewel of the Zhuge Clan. His second wife, from the Im family, is the beloved daughter of the White Wind Trading Company, one of Sichuan’s most powerful trading houses. His third wife, from the Jo family, is the youngest daughter of Jo Gwon, a magnate of Hunan. Most of the grain and cotton produced in Hunan belong to the Jo family. Now, tell me—what do you see?”
I turned it over in my head, idly turning the cup in my hands. Daughters of one of the Five Great Clans, of a trading company, and of a rich household.
Being grouped into the Five Great Clans didn’t mean everyone was equal. The marriage with the Zhuge Clan was essentially an alliance. A political trade to balance power.
And the reasons for marrying the other two wives...
“Was it to secure capital and grain and to control the flow of goods?”
“Tell someone one thing, and you understand ten. Correct. That’s what Tang Clan marriages are. Calculated, always seeking advantage.”
...So is he telling me to understand why I ended up an illegitimate child? Because Sohae’s mother, who’d been a courtesan, brought no benefit whatsoever to the Tang Clan.
I bit down on my lip.
It wasn’t that Tang Jung had done something wrong, but I couldn’t help finding their entire mindset revolting.
“Do you think those families would just meekly hand over their interests? Those three households are every bit as calculating. The life-long goal of the Clan Head’s three wives will be to place their own blood on the Clan Head’s seat and seize the Tang Clan’s power. So keep your head down.”
What does making their child the Clan Head have to do with me?
As I puzzled over it, understanding hit. I wasn’t the problem—Grandfather was.
If word spread that the reclusive Grand Elder was personally teaching an illegitimate child, those women would see me as a thorn in their eye. Worse, they might decide to remove me altogether.
Right now, I’d been dropped right into the middle of the power struggle of a great clan.
