The Eldest Daughter of the Sichuan Tang Clan Protects Her Family

1. Things Outside the Dream

The paper bell hanging from the red eaves swayed gently.

Ting-a-ling.

A clear bell sound spread softly.

Tang So-hwa, who had been looking out the window, raised her gaze towards the edge of the eaves.

Red roof tiles, covered in the bright yellow sunset glow, were etched into her eyes.

At the cozy scene she hadn't beheld in decades, So-hwa gave a wry smile.

It seemed she was dreaming. Seeing the moment she yearned for most unfold before her eyes, it appeared she hadn't yet died.

The warm wind of Sichuan, laden with the scent of flowers from the back garden, entered the room.

Could the moment of death truly be this sweet?

Submerged in the pleasant sensation, So-hwa closed her eyes again, awaiting the end.

"Older Sister!"

At once, So-hwa's eyelids twitched. It was the familiar voice piercing her eardrums.

"Older Sister!"

Once more, the voice tickled her ears.

This wasn't reality. It was all an illusion.

Suppressing her hopes, So-hwa slowly opened her eyes. There, leaning against the round window frame, was a boy. His young face, barely past fifteen, was deeply furrowed.

A snort of laughter escaped her.

She had definitely let out a laugh, but her vision blurred.

Tang Hak had lost his life in the cold Yangtze River. Before he could even grasp what hardship was, what the weight of the Clan Head position meant, he had left the world before his parents and siblings. Yet, seeing that young face wearing a serious expression, as if he knew all the anguish in the world, struck her as funny.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Just... seeing you makes me laugh."

"Pardon?"

Tang Hak narrowed his fine brows further and opened his mouth.

Using such a handsome face so awkwardly was one of the few abilities this child possessed.

So-hwa calmly processed the longing that filled her mind, then reached out a finger and pressed firmly between Tang Hak's brows.

"Don't frown like that. You look ugly."

"......"

'What is this? She seems even less in her right mind than usual today?'

Tang Hak's expression clearly revealed his thoughts. That transparent look was so cute that So-hwa laughed again.

Tang Hak glanced suspiciously at his older sister's bed.

"Did you, perhaps, have a dream?"

It was too early for night, too late for day. He said it, believing it unlikely.

But his older sister affirmed it in a voice barely audible.

"Yes, I had a long dream."

......Seriously, what is wrong today?

Usually, by now, she would have thrown something at him, telling him not to talk nonsense. But his older sister wore a bitter expression and looked up at the sky again.

Her gaze was so wistful that Tang Hak unconsciously stroked his arm.

He recalled how his cousins sometimes complained that his older sister had changed into a different person after reaching puberty.

They said they got goosebumps when she spoke softly, and Tang Hak was feeling exactly that way now.

He'd prefer it if she were like their older sisters, who powdered their faces and smiled silently. Seeing her gaze at the sky benevolently, like an old person who had lived out their life, was confusing.

Tang So-hwa and benevolence, together.

'...I, I think I'm going to throw up.'

Tang Hak unconsciously reached to cover his mouth but stopped himself with effort.

However, despite Tang Hak's exercise of patience, Tang So-hwa looked down at her younger brother with slightly reddened eyes and smiled.

"Hak-ah."

"Yes, Older Sister."

"I missed you very much."

......Is this perhaps a new form of torment?

At this point, he almost wished she would just hit him like usual.

Tang Hak glanced sideways at the objects placed around Tang So-hwa's bed. Fortunately, because he was pressed close to the window frame, he was far from anything she might throw.

Gathering his courage, Tang Hak spoke again.

"Older Sister."

"Yes?"

......'Yes?'

Instead of glaring at him with eyes that demanded he state his business quickly and leave, Tang So-hwa looked at him kindly, even adding an encouraging interjection. It felt like she was saying, 'Go on, tell me.'

Tang Hak quickly smoothed over his startled expression and continued.

"I have a favor to ask."

"Yes, tell me anything."

A moment of silence fell.

Tang Hak seemed to gather great courage, clenched his fists, and asked with effort.

"......Is this perhaps a new form of torment?"

"What nonsense? Why would I torment you?" freewebnoveℓ.com

Tang Hak clamped his mouth shut and glared with venomous eyes, so So-hwa briefly recalled their past.

"......"

The recollection ended quickly.

Truthfully, she hadn't treated him kindly in the past. But in her heart, she had cherished her younger brother.

It was the truth.

Tang So-hwa cleared her throat and composed her expression.

Having rarely made expressions, Tang So-hwa's facial muscles were undeveloped. As soon as the wistfulness disappeared, her expression turned cold in an instant.

Tang Hak found that look much more comfortable to see. With a significantly more relaxed face, Tang Hak spoke.

"Actually, a hawk came into my quarters..."

"You want me to treat it?"

"H-how did you know?!"

Tang Hak jumped in surprise and looked around. Seeing his reaction, So-hwa chuckled inwardly.

Of course, this is my dream, and it's something I remember.

That incident had always bothered her.

Tang Hak had a tender heart and was full of small affections. If he hadn't been the Young Clan Head, perhaps his father might have even praised such a disposition, but Tang Hak was the child who was to become the master of the Tang Clan. The head of a clan who had to be more heartless and thorough than anyone else.

Because of this, when something happened, Tang Hak would secretly visit his older sister's quarters like this to ask for help.

Having already been recognized for her medical and poison arts from a young age, she was one of sixteen people who could access the medicinal and poisonous ingredients stored in the Hall of Medicine without the Clan Head's permission.

As her thoughts reached there, So-hwa's eyes darkened.

The Tang Clan Head had hidden So-hwa, who was involved in the deepest parts of the Tang Clan's poison arts. She had never attended a Clan Alliance meeting at this age, and had never even left the Tang Clan estate.

Tang So-hwa herself wasn't very curious about the outside world and preferred researching in the Poison Research Hall during that time, so she held no complaints about her father's will.

That's why, at this time, Tang So-hwa was accompanied by strange rumors.

That she wasn't treated as a direct descendant, so she couldn't accompany them to the Clan Alliance.

That she was terribly ugly, so the Tang Clan was hiding her.

Even the messengers who came and went from the Tang Clan estate every day didn't utter Tang So-hwa's name.

It was when she was about twenty, wasn't it? Only after she first appeared at the Five Great Clans Alliance hosted by the Tang Clan did all those rumors disappear.

That's what she heard.

In fact, So-hwa had heard the rumors about herself from Namgung Hyun.

Namgung Hyun often visited her and told her stories of the outside world.

It struck her anew how formidable Namgung Hyun was. He had deceived her by pretending to sincerely love her, and had even managed to gain her father's trust.

Recalling the face of the young Namgung Hyun, So-hwa unconsciously let out a laugh.

Tang Hak flinched.

Seeing Namgung Hyun overlaid onto the naive Tang Hak, another snort of laughter escaped her.

Because of the sharp look unique to the Sichuan Tang Clan, the World's Number One Poison Clan, people feared Tang Hak. But Namgung Hyun, with his gentle appearance, often earned a reputation for having good character, even while harboring a black heart like a poisonous snake.

Around this age, Tang Hak was especially subjected to such comparisons. Of course, Tang Hak was a child who didn't care about such gazes, but now, So-hwa found that fact bothersome.

If she had raised this gentle fellow, who crept into his older sister's room to desperately beg for the treatment of a small creature, perhaps he wouldn't have passed away so easily.

Perhaps he might have gathered many people around him to help him, like Namgung Hyun had.

"D-did you perhaps know I was coming? Did you know I was raising a hawk? Does Father know?"

Seeing Tang Hak turn deathly pale, So-hwa let out an empty laugh. Soon, the space where the laughter had been was filled with bitterness.

In her memory, this day was the last time Tang Hak would secretly visit her quarters.

So-hwa had refused Tang Hak's request, finding it troublesome, and Tang Hak, trying to save the hawk by himself, had ended up pushing it to the brink of death by haphazardly applying acupuncture.

As fate would have it, that hawk was a Spiritual Beast.

So-hwa, trying to comfort Tang Hak, had advised him to just cut out and eat the Internal Core since things had turned out this way. Tang Hak had looked at her as if she were a monster and got angry. But when his father heard that story, he had scolded Tang Hak.

As he had always been displeased with Tang Hak's gentle mindset, his father had made a big deal of the matter. He called him to the Clan Head's Hall and made him cut open the belly of the dying Spiritual Beast and eat the Internal Core by force.

Perhaps due to that shock, Tang Hak had spoken less afterwards and became a different person.

It was definitely after that day. Tang Hak hid his inner thoughts from her and shut his mouth.

Tang So-hwa regretted that day.

This affectionate child was someone who used to chatter about his stories even without being asked. So, if that incident hadn't happened, she would have known why Tang Hak went to the Yangtze River alone, and perhaps she might have prevented this child's death.

A heavy sigh escaped Tang So-hwa's red lips.

Believing it to be a sneer, Tang Hak hunched his shoulders.

'Is she refusing?'

He knew his older sister didn't like animals, but still, if he asked like this, she would grudgingly help.

Within the family, the person most similar to his father was his older sister, but his older sister was incomparably kinder to him than his father.

Clatter.

Seeing Tang So-hwa go to the shelf and take out a white wooden box, Tang Hak's lips curved up.

It seems she's going to help again this time!

"But Hak-ah."

His older sister, who had opened the white wooden box, asked casually.

"Did you know that hawk is a Spiritual Beast?"

"Pardon?"

In that short moment of surprise, So-hwa knew that Tang Hak had asked her to treat the hawk without even knowing it was a Spiritual Beast.

Yes, this child was this kind of person. freewebnovel.cσ๓

With a bitter smile, Tang So-hwa closed the box.

If she could go back to the past, she wanted to protect Tang Hak.

Not Namgung Hyun, who acted gentle but had a cruel nature like no one else, but this pure child who didn't distinguish between noble and humble status and knew how to cherish everyone, was suited to lead the clan.

She didn't know if he would be helpful to the world, but at least he wouldn't make as many enemies as her father.

So, he would have many people helping him, wouldn't he?

Even if they weren't noble Taoist masters, there would have been those who would draw their swords and rush to his aid simply because he was of the Tang Clan.

Tang So-hwa's gaze, which had slowly risen, held Tang Hak's gentle smile.

She handed the white wooden box to Tang Hak, who stood outside the window.

"Go on ahead. I'll follow."

"Yes!"

⁂

It seemed the hawk had eaten something wrong; its insides were twisted.

They say Spiritual Beasts are smarter than people, but this one didn't seem to be. To think of picking up and eating something unknown in the Tang Clan estate.

Tang So-hwa had the rare experience of having to make a medicinal decoction for a hawk, something she had never done in her life, or rather, after death.

After giving it medicine for three days like that, the hawk recovered completely.

"As expected, it's Older Sister!"

"......Since you're here, take this with you."

The hawk, perhaps not knowing that the one who saved it was Tang Hak, kept following only So-hwa.

So-hwa, with a face full of annoyance and irritation, pointed at the hawk lying on her bed. Tang Hak chuckled and reached out to hold the hawk in his arms.

"Even if I take it, it seems like it'll just go back to Older Sister."

At those words, Tang So-hwa's face twisted into a grimace, and she glared at the hawk.

"Don't come back. If you come again, I'll break your wings."

Strangely, she hadn't woken up from the dream for over a week.

She had been savoring memories of her past life, waiting for the imminent eternal sleep, but some good-for-nothing hawk brat kept coming to provoke her.

"Coo."

The creature made a strange sound and nervously glanced around.

"......It seems like it wants to come again."

"Just because it's a dream..."

...all sorts of bizarre things happen.

Tang So-hwa swallowed those words and waved her hand dismissively.

Tang Hak smiled brightly and returned to his quarters, holding the hawk.

Still, seeing that peaceful sight calmed her irritation, and an unknown warmth spread through her body.

Tang So-hwa lowered her shoulders, which had been tensed up, and let out a long sigh.

She wished this wasn't a dream.

And Tang So-hwa gradually came to realize that it wasn't a dream, but reality.

⁂

"O-Older Sister! A squirrel got into my quarters..."

"It's about the python Father ordered us to find last night. A-a-actually, Older Sister, that, that, I, I took it in a few days ago..."

"Hiccup, Older Sister, you have to come quickly. A chicken fell from the sky. This one can't fly! Huuueue..."

......This kind of thing couldn't possibly be a dream.

She had never once dreamed of living a life running an animal farm.

No, she had never even thought about it.

So, her mind couldn't possibly create this kind of dream.

Wrapping a bandage around the chicken's leg, So-hwa slowly opened her tightly closed lips.

"Hak-ah."

"Yes, Older Sister!"

Hak raised his tear-streaked face sharply. A sigh naturally escaped her at his determined expression, ready to do anything she asked.

Tang So-hwa exhaled slowly and said.

"......Chickens originally cannot fly."

"I know chickens can't fly, but Older Sister, they can still fly about a chang (approx. 3 meters)! If they launch their body and spread their wings..."

"Hak-ah."

"Yes!"

"Don't argue."

"......Yes."

So-hwa rubbed her temples, her head aching, and got up.

Just what in the world was going on?

The past unfolded as she remembered, but her relationship with Tang Hak had completely changed.

And on top of that, some hawk brat was clinging to her.

Seeing the hawk slyly trying to land on her shoulder, So-hwa quickly shrugged her shoulder.

"Older Sister! Maehwa will be startled!"

"......You even named it?"

"Yes. Since it's a female, I named it Maehwa."

"......"

The current Tang Clan Head named daughters by adding 'hwa' at the end, naming them after flowers.

This crazy kid had basically made the hawk his younger sister.

Swallowing a sigh, So-hwa looked at Tang Hak, who was tightly hugging the hawk (Maehwa).

She wanted to go crazy and jump around, but this was reality.

Tang So-hwa had returned to the age of seventeen, living as the Precious Treasure of the Sichuan Tang Clan during its golden age.