Free Web NovelAlone, I slowly unfolded the silk-wrapped bundle.
Inside were a neatly folded letter and a plain wooden hairpin.
It was the hairpin I’d seen at the night market yesterday.
I brushed my fingertip over the cloud pattern carved into its end and let out a hollow laugh.
So that was why he suddenly disappeared. He went to buy this? Did I look like I liked it that much?
That only made me more curious about what he’d written, too. What could he have said that he had to demand a reply?
I wrapped the hairpin back up and tucked the bundle against my chest. It felt safer to read the letter slowly after I got back to my room.
Hopefully there weren’t too many characters I didn’t know.
*****
All morning, I did laundry, swept floors, and wiped down furniture.
Thanks to the maids moving briskly, the guest quarters were scrubbed clean—every ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) trace that anyone had stayed there erased.
When it felt like I’d done enough to make it obvious I’d shown up and worked, I poked Songji in the side.
“Unni. I’m going to head out first.”
“Going to the elder’s quarters as soon as you’re done? You really have it rough. All right.”
Songji patted me with eyes full of sympathy.
Sorry, Songji. I’m going to go rest. If he isn’t there, I’m going to lie down for just a bit.
I handed the tray I’d been holding to Songji and shot out of the guest quarters like an arrow.
The moment I stepped into Tang Jung’s pavilion, thrilled at the thought of slacking off, Tang Jung’s voice came from above my head.
“You’re here. I was just about to send for you.”
When I looked up, Tang Jung was perched on a willow branch. In his left hand was a long-stem pipe with smoke curling from its bowl.
Is he... smoking?
When I stared at the pipe, Tang Jung let out a small, amused breath.
“It’s agarwood. It helps settle the mind.”
“You smoke incense in a pipe?”
“Isn’t it a bother to carry an incense burner around?”
“......Ah. Yes.”
He hops over walls like it’s nothing, boils tea water with internal energy like it’s nothing, and now he smokes incense in a pipe.
I couldn’t tell whether he was free of bias, or just obsessed with efficiency.
At my halfhearted answer, Tang Jung narrowed his eyes and gave me a sharp look. I flinched and averted my gaze. With a snort, Tang Jung sprang down from the tree.
He landed in front of me without a sound, then lightly pinched my nose.
“Ow. That hurts.”
“Stop exaggerating. I know you were making fun of your grandpa.”
I wasn’t making fun of you.
He flicked the pipe a few times, snuffing out the incense, then flopped down in the shade.
The way he sat looked like a little kid playing on bare ground, and it made me oddly self-conscious.
“......Should I bring something to sit on?”
“Why bother? Sit, too.”
“Yes.”
After making me sit on the ground, Tang Jung pulled a lidded tea bowl from his robes and steeped tea for me.
“It smells nice. It’s kind of... nutty.”
When I said that, Tang Jung blinked like he hadn’t expected it.
“So you can tell now? At first you looked like you were wondering why I was giving you water steeped with grass scraps.”
I didn’t think that harshly about it.
Tang Jung closed his eyes, as if savoring the aroma, and drew in a deep breath. His long lashes fluttered slowly before he spoke.
“I convened the Elder Council.”
“The Elder Council? The retired elders who get bored and start meddling in everything?”
“......You’re not entirely wrong, but they’ve never ‘meddled in everything.’ Where do you learn expressions like that?”
Oh. Right. He’s a Grand Elder too.
I hurriedly checked his mood, but Tang Jung didn’t look bothered at all. He took a sip and continued.
“They’re a lazy bunch, but if this old man calls, they’ll crawl out.”
“Haha... It must be something important.”
Tang Jung answered like it went without saying.
“It is. It’s the first time you’ll show your face before the Elder Council.”
Right. The first time I show my face before the Elder Coun— Wait, what?
“Pardon?”
“You’re coming with me. Get ready.”
“Pardon?”
The absurdity made my hand jerk, and the teacup slipped from my fingers.
“You still don’t have strength in your hands. You need to eat more meat.”
Tang Jung caught the fallen cup with ease and clicked his tongue.
I dropped it because you said something insane.
“But if I meet the Grand Elders, won’t I stand out? You told me I needed to lie low.”
“I’m bringing you precisely so you do stand out. Everyone needs to see that I’m protecting you.”
“Why all of a sudden...?”
“I’m going to move the Elder Council and demand that the Clan Head register you into the clan. I’ll say you must be registered, because you’re the child I’ve chosen as the Poison King’s heir.”
Tang Jung’s gaze brushed the scar at my neck, then lifted away.
“If that happens, attention will gather on you—this person who appeared out of nowhere. The more rumors about you swell like a snowball, the more everyone watches your every move, the safer you become.”
He let out a sigh and added, coldly,
“And those worthless types won’t dare jump you, either.”
I fidgeted and looked at Tang Jung. I had plenty of things I wanted to say, but none of them were easy to force out.
It looked like he’d decided to change his approach because of what happened with Simyang.
I’d known it would come eventually. From the start, I’d expected I wouldn’t be able to hide forever.
My lips moved uselessly for a long time before I finally managed to speak.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Prove your worth in front of the Elder Council. That’s the first thing you must do to be acknowledged as a member of the Tang Clan.”
Prove my worth.
The weight of those words pressed down on my chest. I swallowed hard and answered.
“Yes. Grandfather.”
“Then get ready. Madam Jin is waiting inside.”
“......Grandfather. When you say ‘get ready,’ do you mean right now?”
“You have to strike while the iron is hot. What do you gain by dragging it out? Go on. Get inside.”
Aaaagh. At least tell me a day in advance.
I yelped and sprinted into the pavilion.
*****
Getting dolled up started with a bath.
Madam Jin soaked me in an orchid bath, then untied my hair and dampened it with water steeped in hibiscus leaves. After that, she used a fine comb and carefully worked through every tangle, strand by strand.
I hunched my shoulders awkwardly.
Up until yesterday, she’d been my superior. Now she was personally attending to me. My discomfort made me fidget like I couldn’t keep my hips still.
When she saw how stiff I was, Madam Jin asked gently,
“Miss, are you uncomfortable anywhere? Should I raise the water temperature?”
Your attitude is unbelievably uncomfortable.
Watching her carefully, I spoke cautiously.
“The temperature is fine, but... Madam. Could you speak more casually to me?”
“No. You must become accustomed to being attended to now. And you must lower your speech as well.”
Her voice turned firm as she corrected me.
Please consider how I feel getting spoken to politely by one of my mother’s friends.
Anyway, Madam Jin moved like she was used to washing other people, and in no time she’d scrubbed away my built-up grime.
“Miss. Please close your eyes.”
When I closed them, I felt something thick and threadlike touch my face. There was a tugging sensation on my skin, and I flinched—then my eyebrows were ripped out in a rush.
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“Hold still, Miss. It will be over quickly.”
Even with me screaming, Madam Jin’s ruthless hands didn’t stop. If anything, she sped up, scraping away the fine hairs on my face as if she were sanding wood.
While I sat there in shock, feeling like my skin had been peeled off, Madam Jin pulled me out of the bath and dressed me in a spotless white inner robe.
Then she cracked eggs into a large bowl—eggs that had been soaked in liquor—whisked them smooth, and began painting the mixture onto my face with a wide brush.
The raw-egg stench layered with alcohol made my nose twitch. Madam Jin said stiffly,
“Do not frown. You will create wrinkles.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath. Every time the smell rose, I felt like I was going to sneeze.
When the egg dried on my face and turned tight and stiff, Madam Jin wiped it all off clean with rice-wash water.
And that still wasn’t enough. She drenched a fresh silk cloth with a pale, watery solution and laid it over my face.
Before, the smell made it hard to breathe.
Now the cloth covered my nostrils and made it hard to breathe.
Isn’t this basically torture?
I flared my nostrils as much as I could and prayed the ordeal would end soon.
At last, Madam Jin removed the silk. Then she loaded cotton with white face powder mixed with water and spread it evenly over my face.
Next, she rubbed rouge made from safflower flower water over my lips—then did the same to both cheeks.
“We can skip eyebrow ink.”
After brushing my brows neatly along the grain of the hair, Madam Jin patted the wetness out of my hair with a towel.
The process of drying my long hair and working osmanthus oil through it to shape it was unbelievably long and boring. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
By the time I was nodding off, Madam Jin finished and helped me stand.
“Miss. I will assist you in changing.”
I slipped my arms into a gorgeous green palace robe and barely had time to admire it before I groaned at the heavy pressure.
The layered silk was heavy enough, but the sleeves were so long it was hard to control my arms.
How does anyone walk around in something like this?
To make it worse, the hem kept dragging and getting stepped on. When I stumbled because I stepped on my own skirt, Madam Jin hurriedly caught me.
“Miss. Hold onto me.”
After adjusting my clothes so the hem wouldn’t snag, Madam Jin opened the door. I walked out carefully, trying not to step on my skirt.
Tang Jung looked me over and made a satisfied face.
“Good. Once you’re washed, you’re presentable. You did well.”
He credited Madam Jin, then approached me holding a massive needle.
It was easily longer than my palm, and my spine went cold.
“G-Grandfather? What are you going to use that for?”
“Don’t you need your ears pierced?”
Tang Jung replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
If you pierce them with that, I won’t get an ear hole—I’ll get a nostril.
“It’s too thick. Won’t it hurt?”
“You’re so timid. It doesn’t hurt. If you’re truly scared, close your eyes.”
Ignoring my opinion, Tang Jung leaned toward me.
At least switch to a thinner needle.
I squeezed my eyes shut so I wouldn’t have to see his hand coming. Cool metal touched my earlobe—then there was a quick, light prick.
“You can open your eyes.”
Huh. It really didn’t hurt.
When I opened them, Madam Jin held up a bronze mirror. Jade earrings set in gold hung from both my ears.
I touched them in fascination. Tang Jung let out a quiet chuckle.
“Such dramatics. A shoulder scarf will do. Now let’s go.”
He draped a thin silk scarf over my shoulders, then lifted me into his arms.
In the blink of an eye, Tang Jung leapt over dozens of walls and set me down in front of an unfamiliar pavilion.
The aura leaking from inside made my body shrink back on instinct. I drew in a deep breath.
Beyond this door were elders who would test me.
Could I endure it?
My heart pounded hard with fear.
Tang Jung seemed to notice my tension. He whispered softly.
“My child. No matter what happens, don’t panic. I’ll be behind you.”
He lightly took my hand and let it go, then stepped forward and pushed the door open.
Creeeak!
With that spine-crawling sound, the doors of the Elder Council opened.
