I Thought the Youngest Daughter of the Sichuan Tang Family Was Hated - Chapter 15

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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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I swallowed hard, concealing the tension that threatened to betray me.
Slowly, I studied the man before me.
Narrowed eyes that conveyed displeasure, and sparse white streaks threading through his hair caught my attention first.
Next came the sharp line of his lips and the delicate contours of his face.
He was a man of refined, gentle beauty.
Would Gong Myo look like this when he aged?
‘But I cannot gauge his age at all….’
His face appeared far younger than his voice suggested.
Could he be as old as Father?
“Have you taken a vow of silence in the time I’ve been away?”
He narrowed his eyes at me.
“No, no, that’s not it.”
I answered hastily, straightening my posture without thinking.
“I was simply being negligent.”
He clicked his tongue and crossed his arms.
Who was this man? The aura he emanated was as oppressive as Dang Seo-o’s. Perhaps an elder?
I hesitated and bowed my head respectfully.
“I hope you are… well?”
“Did I ask you to greet me?”
He raised one eyebrow, questioning me.
I shook my head and cleared my throat.
“Well, you see… I am searching for something important.”
His eyes narrowed further.
Clearly displeased, his brow furrowed deeply.
“So you send all of your people to the top of a crumbling building?”
“That is… well…”
I was struggling to find an explanation when—
“Huff, huff! Hurry, huff, come out!”
Gong Myo came rushing after me, gripping the doorframe as she cried out.
She had run so hard that her hair had come completely undone. I wondered where her hairpin had fallen.
When I turned back to where the man had been standing, he had vanished without a trace.
‘Who on earth was that?’
Not even a footprint remained on the floor.
It felt as though I had witnessed a mirage.
“What, what could possibly be in this filthy place, huff!”
At her urgent cry, I looked directly at Gong Myo’s flushed face and spoke.
“Poison.”
“….”
“You hid it here, didn’t you?”
Gong Myo fell silent.
Thinking no one was around, her eyes turned fierce in an instant.
“So what are you going to do about it?”
She spat out her words in a hushed voice.
“Are you going to run and tattle to your older brother again?”
Gyo-gyo crossed the threshold and strode toward me with long steps.
“Our grandfather is stronger anyway. You don’t even have a grandfather. And no father either!”
Seriously. She was actually fighting me over the number of parents I had.
“I do have a father, thank you very much.”
Feeling hopelessly outmatched, my irritation flared up, and I responded childishly.
“Then what good is he? He abandoned you and left.”
“He’s coming back!”
I snapped without thinking.
‘Ugh. She keeps touching on my father.’
Our family’s circumstances were our own business to sort out.
“There’s no one here strong enough to protect you.”
Gyo-gyo smiled wickedly.
“Our grandfather will devour this entire Family Clan soon.”
She was spouting off without any regard for who might hear.
If anyone had overheard such a statement, they would have been executed for treason without question.
“I’m giving you advice. If you don’t want your head to roll, run away….”
Just as Gyo-gyo, her eyes bloodshot and hair disheveled, was backing me into a corner—
“Who said that?”
A shadow fell over my head.
“That this child has no grandfather.”
That voice from moments ago echoed once more.
Gyo-gyo’s head slowly lifted, and her expression turned bewildered.
“…?”
She clearly didn’t recognize who it was.
Gyo-gyo blinked and took a step back.
“I heard the Former Patriarch had passed away.”
I could see right through what Gyo-gyo was thinking as she spoke so confidently.
‘He seems like someone of high status, but he can’t be higher than our grandfather.’
It was obvious that’s what she believed.
“The Former Patriarch? That wretch is dead.”
The elder answered calmly, as if stating the obvious.
“He was a pathetically weak man.”
This elder was saying something dangerous!
My eyes widened. But what came next was even worse.
“But do you know? Your grandfather is far weaker than that wretch.”
Now he was even belittling Dang Seo-o, the head of the collateral branch.
At this point, something felt off.
How did this man speak of the Former Patriarch, who had fallen in battle so long ago, as though he knew him intimately?
And moreover, he spoke of Dang Seo-o, the current leader of the cadet branch, in much the same manner.
‘As if they were beneath his feet….’
Whoosh—!
In an instant, a sharp, stinging aura engulfed my entire body.
Centered on the Elder, a dense green veil unfurled across the space.
It was not a wind-like current of energy.
It felt as though countless iron needles drifted lazily through the air, constricting my body from all sides.
“Hah….”
I had forgotten to breathe.
When I drew in a deep breath, my lungs filled effortlessly with air.
Even drawing in deeply, my body remained unharmed.
‘This aura isn’t meant to kill me.’
Then what was this energy?
“Gasp.”
The surroundings had turned pitch black.
A dense green aura had completely enclosed us.
‘A qi barrier.’
I had seen it a few times before, so I recognized it.
Though not quite as flawlessly carved as if by a blade, it was still remarkably precise.
The control was extraordinarily refined and intense.
I found myself afraid to look up at him. It felt as though I had just discovered his true identity.
“Could that pathetic grandfather of yours protect you now?”
My ears tingled. It was as though his voice was being poured directly into my ear canal.
“I wonder.”
Without thinking, I covered my ears and looked toward Gyo-gyo.
“…Ah.”
Gyo-gyo stood there, utterly dazed.
As her jaw trembled and she stared up at him, something fell onto her head.
Plop. Plop. Patter-patter.
From there, several more fell upon our heads in succession.
When I caught one in my hand, it was a lizard.
Thud!
A large centipede landed on Gyo-gyo’s head.
A serpent on her shoulder, a scorpion at her feet.
All of them venomous creatures.
Before I could even react, Gyo-gyo’s eyes rolled back and she lost consciousness.
“Sister!”
I cried out in shock, and my voice echoed back from within the barrier.
“Ugh. I was only trying to scare you.”
He looked between me and the unconscious Gyo-gyo with evident annoyance.
That was the moment.
Crack!
The pillar that had been fractured began to splinter as it struck the beam.
The fracture spread uncontrollably, bringing the ceiling down with it.
“Tsk! Didn’t I say it was dangerous?”
“Pardon?! You’re the one who brought it down… Gasp!”
The moment his calm voice reached my ears, my body lifted into the air.
Gyo-gyo experienced the same fate.
“Mmm…!”
There was no time to cry out in surprise.
Gyo-gyo and I were hurled outside the Abandoned Watchtower in an instant.
“Kyaaaah!”
Immediately after, the Abandoned Watchtower collapsed entirely.
Through the falling timber, I could see his figure.
Now there was no mistaking who he was.
Dok-jon.
The highest authority of the Dang Family.
He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing down at me.
Perhaps it was my imagination, but his eyes held a hint of longing—as though he were looking through me at someone else entirely.
Was that why he had saved me?
Crash!
Thud….
In any case, this strange first meeting was my introduction to Dang Mu-seon, whom I could call my grandfather.
***
“It’s been barely half a day since you resumed your duties as bodyguard, hasn’t it?”
Gui-heon spoke those final words.
“…I have no excuse.”
Dang Dam lowered his head. Shadow fell across his face, hidden behind the pillar.
Self-reproach was evident—the kind that came from failing to notice anything until the Abandoned Watchtower was on the verge of collapse.
Moreover, it wasn’t even he who had rescued Hee-yeon.
When asked who had saved her, both Hee-yeon and Gyo-gyo claimed they couldn’t remember.
“Hehe! Catch me if you can!”
“Ah! Don’t run! You’ll fall!”
Beyond the Back Garden came the sounds of Hee-yeon and Dang Lim playing.
Hee-yeon was practically glowing with joy at the arrival of her older brothers after so long.
Her cheeks flushed crimson, her teeth gleaming like grains of rice.
Gui-heon silently etched her face into his memory.
“To torment the young lady until she lost consciousness…! If the Elder learned of this, he would surely punish us!”
Those were the first words Gui-heon and Dang Lim heard when they rushed into Hee-yeon’s Quarters upon receiving word.
Gyo-gyo’s Maid had cried out thus before departing with her in her arms.
Behind Gyo-gyo stood Dang Seo-o. That fact alone always kept Gyo-gyo and her household tense.
But Hee-yeon had no one.
Only these two older brothers, barely establishing themselves.
“Will I be able to protect that smile tomorrow?”
The Family Council Meeting was drawing near.
A day that would determine the fate of three siblings—Gui-heon, Lim, and Hee-yeon.
The wind stirred, and Gui-heon’s long hair fluttered.
His expression was complicated.
“What do you think?”
Gui-heon asked again.
Dang Dam opened his mouth, his gaze fixed on Hee-yeon.
“I believe it is already decided.”
“What do you mean?”
“The young lady is remarkably intelligent.”
Gui-heon turned his head.
“She entered the Abandoned Watchtower precisely because she suspected poison was hidden there.”
Dang Dam recalled the image of Hee-yeon he had witnessed today.
A small girl of six years old.
Her eyes moved swiftly, always seeking to comprehend the situation.
She understood perfectly both the circumstances she had faced and those she currently faced.
Moreover, she knew how to adjust her conduct according to others’ dispositions.
“To be honest, she even lied, claiming there was sugar rather than poison, for fear I might not obey her.”
Hee-yeon was remarkably brilliant.
“No matter what happens tomorrow, the young lady will smile.”
Enough to fully feel my brothers’ love.
“You must already know that the Young Master wishes to protect the Young Lady’s smile.”
“….”
Dang Lim pressed his lips firmly together.
Soon after, he spoke with a bitter smile.
“I’m afraid. Afraid of learning too much.”
Paradoxically, his heart grew heavier still.
After lingering in thought for a while, he slowly opened his mouth.
“…The poison at the Abandoned Watchtower. Tell me in detail.”

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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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