Chapter 15
The Youngest Daughter of the Sichuan Tang Clan Was Supposedly Unloved
I swallowed dryly and tried to hide my nervousness.
Slowly, I looked at the man.
The first things I noticed were his narrowed eyes, as though he found everything displeasing, and the streaks of white scattered through his hair.
Then I noticed his sharp lips and slender facial features.
He was a gentle-looking handsome man.
Would Gwiheon look like this when he got older?
‘But I can’t tell his age at all….’
His face looked far younger than his voice sounded.
Maybe he was around Father’s age?
“So now you’ve taken a vow of silence too?”
He frowned.
“N-no.”
I answered hurriedly and unconsciously straightened my back.
“What a slippery child.”
Clicking his tongue, he crossed his arms.
Who was he? The pressure he gave off was just as overbearing as Tang Seo-o’s. Maybe an elder.
I hesitated before bowing awkwardly.
“Have… have you been well?”
“Did I just tell you to greet me?”
One eyebrow rose sharply as he shot back the question.
I shook my head quickly and cleared my throat.
“Um, well… I’m looking for something important.”
His eyes narrowed even further.
Apparently, he truly disliked me. Deep wrinkles formed between his brows.
“And because of that, you sent your man all the way to the top of a collapsing building?”
“Uh… well.”
Just as I was wondering how to explain—
“Huff, huff! Hurry, huff, get out here!”
Gyogyo, who had rushed after us, grabbed the doorframe and shouted.
She must have run with all her strength; her hair had completely come loose. Who knew where her hairpin had gone.
When I turned back toward where the man had been standing, he had vanished without a trace.
‘Who in the world was he?’
There weren’t even footprints left on the floor.
It felt like I had seen a mirage.
“W-what could possibly be in a filthy place like this?!”
At Gyogyo’s desperate cry, I looked directly at her flushed face and answered,
“Poison.”
“…….”
“You hid it here, didn’t you?”
Gyogyo closed her mouth.
Maybe because she thought no one else was around, her eyes instantly turned vicious.
“So what if I did?”
She hissed under her breath.
“Going to run crying to your brothers again?”
Gyogyo stepped over the threshold and strode toward me.
“Even if you do, my grandfather is stronger. You don’t even have a grandfather. Or a father!”
Wow. She was really picking a fight over parents.
“I do have a father, you know?”
Probably because I was at such a disadvantage, I got irritated and responded childishly.
“So what? He abandoned you and left.”
“He’s coming back!”
I snapped without realizing it.
‘Ugh. She keeps talking about my father.’
Our family matters are our own business.
“There’s no one here strong enough to protect you.”
Gyogyo smiled viciously.
“My grandfather is going to swallow up this entire clan soon enough.”
She was completely out of control because she thought no one was listening.
Honestly, if anyone had heard that statement, everyone involved would’ve lost their heads for treason.
“I’m giving you advice. If you don’t want to lose your head, you should run—”
Gyogyo, eyes bloodshot and hair disheveled, pressed toward me.
“Who says so?”
A shadow fell over us.
“That this child has no grandfather.”
It was the same voice I had heard earlier.
Gyogyo slowly lifted her head, then looked bewildered.
“……?”
It seemed she didn’t recognize him.
Blinking rapidly, Gyogyo took a step back.
“I heard the Supreme Clan Head passed away.”
Her confident tone practically revealed her thoughts.
‘He looks important, but surely not more important than my grandfather.’
That was exactly what her expression said.
“The Supreme Clan Head? That fool died.”
The elder answered calmly, as though stating the obvious.
“He was weak.”
This elder was saying outrageously dangerous things!
My eyes widened, but what came next was even worse.
“But do you know this? Your grandfather is far weaker than that man ever was.”
Now he was even belittling Tang Seo-o, the current leader of the branch family faction.
At this point, I became suspicious.
How could this man speak so familiarly about a Supreme Clan Head who had died long ago?
And even Tang Seo-o, the current head of the branch family—
‘As though they were beneath his feet….’
Whoosh—!
A stinging force suddenly covered my entire body.
Centered around the elder, something like a green curtain spread outward.
It wasn’t wind-like pressure.
It felt as though countless steel needles floated through the air, tightening around my entire body.
“Hhk….”
I had forgotten to breathe.
When I inhaled sharply, my lungs filled with air easily enough.
Even after taking a deep breath, my body remained unharmed.
‘This isn’t killing intent.’
Then what exactly was this energy…?
“Hah.”
The surroundings turned pitch black.
Dense green qi completely enclosed us.
‘A qi barrier.’
I recognized it because I had seen one several times before.
Though not one this perfect, as though sliced cleanly by a blade.
Its control was unbelievably precise and overwhelming.
I became afraid to look up at him. I thought I knew who he was now.
“Do you think that pathetic grandfather of yours can protect you now?”
My ears throbbed. It felt as though his voice was being poured directly into them.
“I wonder.”
Without realizing it, I covered my ears and looked at Gyogyo.
“……Ah.”
Gyogyo looked utterly lost.
As she stared up at him with her jaw trembling, something dropped onto her head.
Tap. Tap. Thud-thud-thud.
That was only the beginning.
More things began falling over our heads one after another.
When I caught one in my hand, it was a lizard.
Thud!
A giant centipede landed on Gyogyo’s head.
A snake coiled over her shoulder, and a scorpion crawled near her feet.
All venomous creatures.
Before either of us could react, Gyogyo’s eyes rolled back and she fainted.
“Unnie!”
Startled, I shouted, my voice echoing inside the barrier.
“Good grief. I only meant to scare her a little.”
He looked back and forth between me and the unconscious Gyogyo as though this had become troublesome.
At that exact moment—
Craaack!
One of the already fractured pillars collided with the qi barrier and began splitting apart.
The cracks spread uncontrollably and brought the ceiling crashing down.
“Tsk! Didn’t I tell you this place was dangerous?”
“What?! You’re the one who destroyed it— gah!”
At the same moment his calm voice sounded, my body suddenly lifted into the air.
The same happened to Gyogyo.
“Uwaah…!”
I didn’t even have time to scream.
Gyogyo and I were instantly flung outside the watchtower.
“Kyaaa!”
The watchtower collapsed immediately afterward.
Through the falling wood and debris, I saw him standing there.
Now there was no way I couldn’t recognize him.
The Poison Sovereign.
The highest authority of the Tang Clan.
Standing with his hands clasped behind his back, he looked at me.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but his eyes looked slightly nostalgic.
As though he were seeing someone else through me.
Was that why he helped me?
Craaaash!
Boom….
Anyway, that was my strange first meeting with Tang Mu-seon—
the man I could technically call my grandfather.
“You’ve only resumed your duties as her guard for… what, half a day?”
Gwiheon spoke quietly.
“…I have no excuse.”
Tang Dam lowered his head. Shadows covered part of his face beneath the pillar.
The guilt of failing to notice anything until the watchtower collapsed was obvious.
And he hadn’t even been the one to rescue Huiyeon.
They had asked who saved them, but neither Huiyeon nor Gyogyo remembered.
“Ehehe! Catch me if you can!”
“H-hey?! Don’t run! You’ll fall!”
From beyond the rear garden came the sounds of Huiyeon and Tang Rim playing together.
Perhaps because her older brothers had come to visit after such a long time, Huiyeon was bursting with excitement.
Her cheeks were flushed red, and her rice-grain-like teeth showed as she laughed.
Silently, Gwiheon took in the sight of Huiyeon’s face.
“You bullied the young lady until she fainted…! If the elder hears of this, you’ll be severely punished!”
Those were the first words they heard when Gwiheon and Tang Rim rushed into Huiyeon’s residence after hearing the news.
After shouting that, Gyogyo’s maid carried her away.
Behind Gyogyo stood Tang Seo-o. That fact always made Gyogyo and her servants hold their heads high.
But Huiyeon had no one.
No one except her two older brothers, who had only just begun securing their positions.
“Will I still be able to protect that smile tomorrow?”
The clan gathering was drawing near.
The day that would determine the fate of the three siblings—Gwiheon, Rim, and Huiyeon.
Wind blew, making Gwiheon’s long hair flutter.
His expression was complicated.
“What do you think?”
Gwiheon asked again.
Looking toward Huiyeon, Tang Dam finally spoke.
“I believe it has already been decided.”
“What do you mean?”
“The young lady is exceptionally intelligent.”
Gwiheon turned his head.
“She entered the watchtower because she suspected poison had been hidden there.”
Tang Dam recalled the Huiyeon he had seen today.
A tiny six-year-old girl.
Her eyes constantly moved, quickly analyzing every situation.
She perfectly understood both the situations she had faced and the ones she was currently in.
And she knew how to adjust her behavior depending on the personality of the people around her.
“In fact, she even lied and said there were sweets inside instead of poison because she feared I wouldn’t follow her otherwise.”
Huiyeon was astonishingly clever.
“No matter what happens tomorrow, the young lady will smile.”
Because she would fully feel the love of her older brothers.
“She already knows that you wish to protect her smile, Young Master.”
“…….”
Gwiheon pressed his lips tightly together.
Then he gave a bitter smile.
“I’m afraid. Afraid she’ll come to know even more.”
Paradoxically, his heart only grew heavier.
After remaining lost in thought for a long while, he finally spoke quietly.
“…Tell me everything about the poison in the watchtower.”
