Free Web NovelFilthy wastewater flooded into my nose and mouth, leaving a taste like garbage.
My whole body reeked, my soaked clothes clung sticky and cold to my skin, and the water sloshing in my shoes squelched in the most disgusting way.
I pushed my dripping hair back and clenched my teeth.
The reflection in the puddle looked like a rat that had fallen into a sewer.
Barely swallowing down a string of curses, I spat and glared up at Simyang.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Of course, I didn’t need to ask. There wasn’t a cheaper, more primitive way to bully someone than dumping sewage on them.
What I couldn’t understand was why she was picking a fight with me, who’d been minding my own business.
I couldn’t recall clashing with Simyang’s group recently. I hadn’t even had cause to run into them at all.
“They say the quiet cat is the first to climb onto the stove, and they weren’t wrong. So this was your plan from the start, wasn’t it?”
Simyang’s shrill voice stabbed at my ears. I struggled to hang on to my last thread of reason.
Let it go. I can’t cause trouble right now. They say if you write the character for patience three times, even a murder charge...
No, wait. She started this. If I just grab her by the hair, that has to count as extenuating circumstances, right?
My deliberation didn’t matter; Simyang didn’t give me any time to gather my patience.
That lunatic planted both hands on her hips and started cursing me out.
“It wasn’t enough for you to wag your tail at this Young Lord, now you’ve gone and bewitched the Namgung Young Clan Head too? What kind of foxy tricks were you pulling in broad daylight that made the Young Clan Head go change his clothes? Say it with your own mouth, you shameless thing!”
“What?”
“You think I haven’t seen maids who flaunted their faces and left the estate as corpses? You’re no different. You think you’ve become something special, don’t you?”
Tail? Bewitched? You don’t even know the situation and you’re throwing corpses around? She’s out of her mind.
At her contextless nonsense, the rough words slipped out all on their own.
“What are you babbling about. You look like leftover dog food.”
“W-what, left... over... dog food? Did you just say everything you wanted to say?”
“No. I’m not done. Where did you learn that brain-dead shit of calling someone over just to dump sewage on them? Have you actually lost it?”
“Y-you...! How dare you talk to your older sisters with that filthy mouth!”
“How am I supposed to say pretty things covered in shit water? Want me to dump some on you too?”
A flicker of confusion crossed Simyang’s face. When she glanced back out of the corner of her eye, her little crowd slunk out from hiding and ringed me like they meant to threaten me.
“Did you hear the way she talks? You can tell she’s a wretched orphan.”
“Exactly. With no parents to teach her, of course she has no manners.”
What the hell. The Clan Head you serve is my bastard father.
I sneered.
“And your parents are so amazing that what they taught you was to stand in front of people and talk trash about their parents? I’d love to see those wonderful parents’ faces.”
“What? You little—!”
Instead of the maid who’d been sputtering, Simyang stepped forward and yelled,
“How rude can you be! You’re the one who only learned nasty things! Who do you think snatched up the once-in-five-years chance like a little thief? Today’s banquet duty should have gone to Aswae, not you.”
“That’s right. It was my spot! It was my spot, and you barged in and...!”
One of the girls behind Simyang was huffing, sounding like she’d been horribly wronged.
That was when I finally figured out why I’d gotten a bucket of sewage dumped on me. It was over the banquet service I hadn’t even wanted in the first place.
These girls really don’t know their place. Did they honestly think waiting on the young lords of the Five Great Clans would turn them into some prestigious clan young lord’s concubine? I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even laugh.
I glared at Aswae and spoke.
“Then you go.”
“What?”
“If you’re dying to stand next to the young lords all day and serve them, you go in there. What the hell is wrong with you that you dump sewage on someone over something like that? Are you slaves competing over whose collar shines brighter? Honestly... ugh. Forget it. Talking to blockheads is just going to give me an ulcer.”
“Who are you calling a slave? I get paid for my work, thank you very much! You little—!”
Aswae stomped forward, swinging her arm. Her blunt hand came flying toward my face.
My body moved before I could think. I reflexively knocked her hand aside.
Crack!
“Aaagh! My hand!”
And just like that, Aswae’s wrist snapped cleanly, like a brittle stick.
......Why did that break?
“Moooom!”
Clutching her dangling wrist, Aswae burst into tears and collapsed onto the ground. The maids, startled, rushed to prop her up.
“Aswae, are you all right?”
“How could you lay a hand on Aswae? Her bone’s broken!”
“Is Sohae insane? Aswae, can you stand?”
They shrieked and squawked, all of them piling their accusations on me.
She’s the one who tried to slap me first. All I did was block it.
For a moment, I was indignant at being cast as the attacker, but when I saw Aswae’s drooping wrist, a trickle of guilt followed. Just a little. About the size of a mouse’s tail.
My strength really had gotten better. Maybe the coin-throwing practice was actually working?
Feeling awkward, I folded my hands behind my back, and Simyang raised her voice.
“What do you think you’re doing? You’re some orphan from who-knows-where, and you don’t even know enough to be grateful the Tang Clan took you in, and you dare lay hands on someone of the Tang Clan? How dare—!”
“How dare?”
“Exactly! How dare you—!”
I snorted and cut her off.
“Hey. I honestly can’t listen to this. You, what are you, exactly?”
“Huh?”
“I said, what are you. You’re not the Clan Head’s daughter. You’re a maid, same as me. So where do you get off yammering about the Tang Clan’s ‘grace’ like you have the right?”
“T-that’s because my mother is of the Tang Clan!”
“But you’re not. You don’t even carry the Tang surname, so why do you keep pretending you’re branch family? That’s false claiming. It’s fraud.”
If there was anyone here who had the right to talk about the Tang Clan’s grace, it was me alone. Bastard or not, I was the Clan Head’s daughter.
I folded my arms and stared coldly at Simyang. At the edge in my voice, she gulped. It seemed she wasn’t used to me not being meek for once.
I could practically hear her scrambling to think. She was probably calculating whether to back off here or stomp me down properly.
With the leader, Simyang, holding her tongue, the weasel-faced maid stepped up instead and jabbed a finger at me.
“You really have lost your mind, haven’t you?”
“Obviously. Want me to let you experience whether you can keep a clear head after getting drenched in sewage too?”
I kicked the bucket that had held the wastewater, and the weasel flinched back in alarm.
That pathetic reaction only made me angrier. Didn’t this just mean that a bunch of nothings had been ganging up to bully one mild, helpless kid until now?
Sensing my mood wasn’t normal, a few of the girls got spooked and tried to talk Simyang down.
“Simyang? Let’s just go. She seems crazy.”
“Yeah. Simyang. Nothing good will come from dealing with someone like her any more.”
Even with her followers holding her back, Simyang clearly had no intention of retreating. It looked like she’d decided to use this opportunity to crush me once and for all.
Once she had her expression under control, she spoke in a lofty tone.
“If you keep this up, it’s not going to be any fun. Next time, it might be Songji getting drenched in sewage. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
At the pathetic threat, my head went ice-cold.
Of course. Songji again, Songji. I swear, they never miss. Do these bastards not know any way to threaten someone that doesn’t involve her?
I had become close to Songji, sure, but if I was being cold about it, Songji was just a roommate I’d known for a couple of months. Whatever she’d been to the original girl who owned this body before, that’s all she was to me.
I’d be upset if Songji got hurt. But that didn’t mean I should keep bowing my head and giving in to their unfair demands over and over again.
I bared my teeth and raised my voice.
“Try it. Because before that happens, I’m going to shove your face into this shit water.”
Honestly, I wanted to do it right now.
At my sharp response, the maids exchanged uneasy looks.
“Simyang, don’t. We have to get Aswae’s wrist treated.”
“Yeah, just think of it as stepping in crap and let’s go. It’d be better to leave it.”
A few of them tugged on Simyang’s sleeve, trying to pull her away. But she wouldn’t budge.
Biting down on her lip, she pulled a dagger from her breast and pointed it at me.
“Simyang!” freēwēbnovel.com
“What are you doing!”
The maids shrieked and stumbled back in fright.
“I’m not going to let you off.”
“And what exactly are you going to do if you don’t?”
“If I ruin your face, you won’t be putting your nose in the air like this anymore!”
Her hand shook as she gripped the gleaming blade. From the clumsy way she held it, it was clear she’d never handled a dagger properly in her life.
She really was insane.
I glared at her # Nоvеlight # like nothing was wrong, but my heart was pounding hard.
Maybe I’d pushed too far. I hadn’t realized she was so out of her mind she’d pull a knife the moment she felt things weren’t going her way.
But it was too late to tuck my tail and run.
Across time and place, there’s only one way to beat a lunatic.
You have to look like an even bigger lunatic than they are.
Feigning calm, I stepped closer to her.
“Go on. Cut me.”
“W-what?”
“Slice my face or slice my throat, whichever you like. What? Are you scared?”
When I drew the dagger toward the side of my neck, Simyang’s teeth chattered audibly.
“S-Simyang! Stop! This is going too far!”
“Don’t do it!”
The watching maids stamped their feet in panic, but Simyang didn’t back down.
“You...! Y-you think I can’t cut you if you taunt me?”
With a sharp shout, Simyang swung her arm. As the edge grazed my skin, a sharp sting flared.
“B-blood...!”
“Kyaaa!”
I was the one who got cut, but the maids were the ones screaming about blood. Even Simyang trembled, startled by what she’d just done.
I snorted and asked,
“Hey. Are you prepared to deal with what comes next?”
“W-what?”
“I’m asking if you can live with the consequences of stabbing me. Like you said, you just laid hands on someone of the Tang Clan, didn’t you? What are you going to tell the servants’ compound?”
“Y-you think I can’t lay a hand on you just because you say that?”
“I do. I don’t think you can.”
At my calm reply, Simyang’s face flushed red, then went pale. Biting her trembling lips, she let out a desperate scream.
“Y-you—! Die! Just die!”
At that moment, someone seized her wrist in a swift grip.
“What is this commotion.”
I slowly lifted my head. Tang Geunmyeong stood there, his brow furrowed.
