I Thought the Youngest Daughter of the Sichuan Tang Family Was Hated - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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“….”
The moment Dang Gui-heon’s lips parted, the Elder clamped his mouth shut.
Simultaneously, the wind ceased, and silence descended upon the Pavilion.
Then something burst forth like a lightning strike.
“Hahahaha!”
The Elder had erupted into laughter—so boisterous it seemed the ceiling might collapse.
Pointing at Dang Gui-heon with the lacquered tip of his cane, the Elder bared his teeth in a grin.
“So the clan head comes running at full speed because his son whines for him, abandoning even his family precepts?”
One could tell from his gleaming eyes alone.
“Thanks to this, I’ll witness a spectacle I’ll never see again!”
He clearly didn’t expect Father to come.
Gui-heon bowed his head slightly and countered.
“The Elder will find it exceeds his expectations.”
The Elder chuckled with amusement and stroked his beard.
“Tsk tsk tsk… Yes. It’s about time he indulged in a bit of petulance!”
Tapping his hunched back repeatedly, the Elder pulled Gyo-ah’s arm.
“Let’s go, Gyo-ah.”
“Yes, Grandfather!”
I watched silently as the two descended from the Pavilion.
As they grew distant, the sharp wind gradually became gentler.
Just before turning the corner, Gyo-ah glanced back and smiled wickedly once more.
‘I can’t even strike her.’
I clenched my fists and steadied my mind.
Endure. Just endure. I’d be blocked before I could even run at her.
“Don’t worry. I’ll repay her far more severely than a single strike.”
Huh? Did my true thoughts just spill out?
Or perhaps….
I glanced up at Gui-heon, and he tilted his head. His hair cascaded over his shoulder.
“Am I wrong? You had that exact expression on your face.”
At his words, I blinked blankly.
Was my expression that transparent? Or did he possess some kind of divine eye to read thoughts?
“I wish that were the case.”
“What?”
“You’re making that expression wondering if I have spiritual insight.”
“Gasp!”
He’d guessed correctly again.
Was my face really that easy to read?
Without thinking, I touched my face.
Then Gui-heon smiled softly.
It was a gentle smile, not the sharp one he wore around Gyo-ah.
“Um, older brother.”
I lowered my hand and approached him.
“Hmm?”
When I tugged gently at his long sleeve, Dang Gui-heon bent down to meet me.
“Today that… tea. There was poison in the tea. It’s the same as the incense in my room, isn’t it?”
As I tilted my head and asked, Dang Gui-heon answered.
“That’s right. You caught on well.”
“That incense—last time older brother Dang Lim took it, so then….”
“My younger brother asked me for a small favor.”
“Ah.”
Somehow, my head nodded on its own.
I had thought it strange how quiet everything had been.
If it were Dang Lim, he would have been raging about it by now, swearing to kill Jiao Jiao.
But because Dang Gui-heon was meticulous, he had investigated quietly beneath the surface without causing any commotion.
“Here.”
While I was lost in thought, a luminous jade green color slipped into the corner of my vision.
It was the jade hairpin that Jiao Jiao had been wearing until just moments ago.
“Ah….”
I accepted the hairpin with both hands. It was remarkably heavy.
‘So this was mine all along.’
A gift from Dang Gui-heon.
I had been misunderstanding it all this time.
I thought it wasn’t sent to me, but to Jiao Jiao.
And I believed Father had sent it, not Dang Gui-heon.
It was an absurd misunderstanding.
‘How could Father, who is at Shibwan Mountain, possibly send a gift?’
Jiao Jiao’s lies were shallow and transparent from beginning to end.
The fact that such deception had worked on me showed just how poorly my condition had been.
“As for the fabric, since Jiao Jiao already made clothes from it, I’ll send you new material.”
So there had been fabric as well.
Since Jiao Jiao had intercepted everything, I wondered if the Maid’s influence had played a role.
“Do you like it?”
Dang Gui-heon asked gently.
Kindness I hadn’t known about came flooding in, and my heart felt ticklish.
“…Yes.”
I answered while gripping the hairpin tightly.
Dang Gui-heon then bent his knees to meet my eyes.
His refined features came into view. His impression was like a beautiful deer, or perhaps a white serpent.
‘My older brother would never fall for seduction tactics.’
After all, there were people more beautiful than him even in a mirror, so he would certainly be immune to such things.
“Let me give you a hug.”
Dang Gui-heon, who had been smiling softly, suddenly opened his arms.
I froze for a moment.
‘A hug?’
Ah, that’s right.
In the past, everyone without exception had been carried in someone’s embrace, so Dang Gui-heon must have held me countless times before.
Yet why did it feel so awkward now?
I had been the one to embrace Dang Lim first.
“Hmm?”
Dang Gui-heon called to me as if urging me forward.
Seeing him gently raise his brows, my ears burned hot.
‘Ah, it’s not awkwardness….’
I was embarrassed.
“Yes.”
Hesitantly, I opened both my arms as well.
As I slowly nestled into Dang Gui-heon’s broad embrace, the scent of sandalwood wafted strongly.
“Whoa?!”
Before I could even savor the fragrance, my feet lifted from the ground.
Dang Gui-heon had lifted me effortlessly into his arms.
The way he supported my bottom with one arm and my back with the other hand was remarkably practiced.
“You’ve been handling the incense burner well on your own. I was worried, so I sent someone to check on you every day.”
He lowered his voice, speaking directly into my ear.
I hadn’t noticed at all that he’d been sending people.
“After a while, you started visiting on your own without needing anyone to send you.”
At his added words, one figure became vividly clear in my previously hazy mind.
‘It must be Dang Lim.’
After all, Dang Lim was the only one who visited my room lately, coming and going as if it were his own home.
Thinking of Dang Lim, who must have watched over me nervously under Dang Gui-heon’s breath, I couldn’t help but laugh softly.
A breeze blew into the pavilion once more. This time, it was wonderfully warm.
Though it did cause one strand of my carefully pinned hair to come loose.
“Oh.”
Without the Maid’s help, my hands were too small to keep the hair properly secured.
Dang Gui-heon readily tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
“You’ve endured so much alone.”
With those words, Dang Gui-heon gently patted my back.
“….”
His gentle voice and warm presence pierced my eyes with an ache.
Strangely, those words felt so profound.
Even though Dang Gui-heon had spoken them without great intention.
It felt like solace offered to me, who had been cast out from the family and left alone.
For some reason, tears threatened to spill, so I held them back with all my might.
Dang Gui-heon gazed at me quietly, my chin puckered like a walnut.
Then he chuckled softly and flicked my nose.
“Little chick.”
“Ow?”
I grabbed my stinging nose and threw my head back dramatically.
“Ha ha.”
Dang Gui-heon laughed out loud, clearly amused.
He looked so different from how he’d appeared while conversing with the Elder.
He hadn’t cowered before that intimidating Elder and had even spouted nonsense without hesitation.
Moreover, he’d delivered those thunderbolt words without changing his expression once.
‘You’re using the meeting to call your father?’
The Elder had brushed it off as a ridiculous jest, but if Father were to return on that pretext, it would be nothing short of ideal.
Before my regression, at a point long after I’d run away, I’d heard such talk.
“The Sacheon Tang Clan has completely fractured.”
The power struggles within the Family Clan had grown beyond control.
The Sacheon Tang Clan was no different from a severed serpent.
The reason was clear.
The absence of the Family Head—the axis of power.
With no Family Head to check the Elder Council, it was only natural that they and the collateral branches gained dominance.
Father likely didn’t return for quite some time after that.
‘Would the Dang Family truly begin its decline once Dang Seo-o’s faction seized control?’
And if Father truly returned now…
That future might change.
‘But…’
If Father returned, I would drink poison not long after.
Now that I’d finally cleared up the misunderstanding, the thought of parting again seemed unbearably sad.
“You carry much worry.”
Dang Gui-heon’s voice reached me.
“Hmm?”
When I lifted my head, we had already left the Pavilion.
Holding me in his arms, Dang Gui-heon leisurely strolled through the flower gardens of Cheongpung Garden.
“Worry only brings suffering. Or so the monks say, anyway.”
I stared intently at Dang Gui-heon at those words that seemed to slip out casually.
Despite the magnificent blooming flowers all around, he kept his gaze fixed on the path ahead.
Feeling my concerns melt away somehow, I rested my cheek against his chest.
“Elder brother, do you truly think Father will come?”
“Of course.”
The answer came immediately as I asked hesitantly.
He spoke with such certainty. Could Father already be on his way?
My heart felt like it was sinking.
“You’ve already summoned them?!”
“No. I need to request my return now.”
I could only blink at such an unclear answer.
How could he be so certain when he hadn’t even officially submitted a letter yet?
“How…exactly?”
As I looked up with suspicious eyes, Gui-heon gave me a remarkable answer.
Remarkable yet absurd.
“Yeon-ah.”
It was a surprisingly simple answer.
“You know how to hold a brush, don’t you?”
***
A night thick with fog.
Several tents sprawled near a roaring campfire.
Murmuring voices and the sound of weapons being honed continued ceaselessly through the night.
Among them, a single sheet of neatly folded letter rested in the hands of a man sitting on a tree stump.
I miss Father. I cry every day.
It was a child’s writing, crooked and full of errors.
In meaning, it conveyed the same sentiment.
Father, I miss you. When will you come home?
A hand scarred with large and small wounds traced the letters revealed in the firelight.
Deep shadows fell around the man as he gazed at the tear stains on the paper.
Whoooosh.
As if a typhoon had struck, the dense tree branches swayed in one direction, leaves fluttering.
The sound of beasts’ footsteps thundered across the ground.
They were all retreating from the man at the center.
A hand with bulging veins folded the letter and tucked it inside his collar.
As the man stood, the warriors instantly turned their gaze toward him.
From between his parched lips, a hoarse voice tore out.
“…We descend the mountain.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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