I Thought the Youngest Daughter of the Sichuan Tang Family Was Hated - Chapter 19

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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 unconsciously studied Dang Seo-o’s expression.
He was smiling, his eyes gleaming with naked greed.
As if everything were unfolding exactly as he had anticipated.
‘Surely not….’
No, that couldn’t be. It made no sense.
To abandon his own daughter and adopt the girl who had tormented her as a replacement.
Was the very scenario I had feared since childhood actually coming to pass?
My body turned cold.
I thought I heard a clicking sound, but it was my own jaw trembling.
“I don’t know, Father.”
Gyo-gyo suppressed her excited expression and bowed respectfully.
“If there is a reason, might I ask what it is?”
Gyo-gyo asked in an innocent tone.
I swallowed hard and looked up at Father.
Everyone’s gaze was fixed on him.
Everyone in the Clan Grounds must have been thinking it.
That Gyo-gyo, the only distant-branch daughter living in the Jungwon Guild, might replace me.
That Father had taken her in for this very reason.
This was the moment that would determine whether their suspicions—and my fears—were true.
Father slowly closed and opened his eyes. His shadowed gaze was remarkably calm.
Then Father’s answer came.
“A companion.”
“…What?”
I blinked. Not just I, but everyone except Dang Lim and Gwi-heon seemed bewildered.
Looking down at the dazed Gyo-gyo, Father continued in a cold tone.
“My daughter has no sister of her own, so I brought you in lest she be lonely.”
“Lest… she be lonely….”
Gyo-gyo’s mouth fell open.
“….”
My mouth fell open too.
The answer was so utterly trivial.
I suddenly felt ridiculous for having been so tense.
All those days I had spent comparing myself to Gyo-gyo and wallowing in despair flashed before me like a lantern show.
‘No, Father! You should have told me that!’
I barely restrained the words that threatened to burst from my lips.
“I… never heard such a thing…?”
As Gyo-gyo asked, half-dazed, Father clamped his mouth shut.
After exhaling deeply through his nose, Father opened his mouth quietly.
“When you bring a dog home, do you explain your reasons to the dog?”
It was a question, but it was delivered with the finality of a statement.
His response was unspoken, but clear: ‘I never thought you’d be so audacious as to overstep your station like this.’
Comparing me to a dog was admittedly harsh, but truthfully, that wasn’t what occupied my mind.
My thoughts were consumed by a single realization.
‘So Gyo-gyo wasn’t brought in to replace me.’
She was brought in for me.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Father loves me.
The truth crystallized before me, and my heart blazed with warmth.
I wanted to run to Father right then and tell him I’d seen him, to confess it all.
Just as any ordinary daughter would with her father.
And I wanted to stick my tongue out at Gyo-gyo and tease her.
That I no longer envied her grandfather who cherished her so dearly.
‘I have a father too. So there.’
The trembling in my body ceased instantly.
I felt Dang Lim’s arm wrapped around my waist. I could see Gwi-heon standing before me, his back shielding me from harm.
This was my family.
My true family.
“He….”
A weak laugh escaped me, and I covered my mouth.
Hearing the sound, Gyo-gyo turned and glared at me.
“…In any case, if my relationship with my daughter is as it is, there is no reason to keep you here.”
Father said this and turned his head toward Dang Seo-o.
“You may take the granddaughter with you, Elder.”
“This is… absurd…!”
Even Dang Seo-o Elder seemed flustered, unable to form his words properly.
So Gyo-gyo was a granddaughter by marriage, then.
I’d thought she was a blood granddaughter, given how tenderly she was treated.
“G-Grandfather….”
Gyo-gyo hesitated, looking toward Dang Seo-o.
Dang Seo-o snorted and didn’t even glance at Gyo-gyo.
Her spirit completely broken, Gyo-gyo returned to her seat.
“Is that not settled then!”
Dang Seo-o spoke, barely suppressing his fury.
“We cannot prove who introduced that poison, nor can we prove whether this child knowingly did so. What conclusion could we possibly reach? The Family Council Meeting should be dissolved here and—”
“No.”
Gwi-heon, who had been listening silently, interjected.
As if he’d been waiting for this moment, a sharp smile curved his lips.
“We can prove it.”
Dang Seo-o’s eyes twisted. He looked as though he wanted to kill Gwi-heon on the spot.
I noticed him gripping his cane with increasing agitation.
“What are you talking about, young master? Do you intend to make another baseless accusation?”
Dang Seo-o spoke with a mocking tone.
There was not a trace of alarm in his expression. He seemed utterly confident that no evidence would surface.
In truth, I thought the same.
Without the culprit—the decisive evidence itself—there was no way to prove their guilt here and now.
But Gui-heon seemed to think differently.
“At the very least, I can prove that the Elder’s granddaughter is highly suspicious.”
Gui-heon withdrew a small pouch from inside his robes.
He handed it to the Elder Brother Faction Deputy and spoke.
“This is the evidence.”
The Elder Brother Faction Deputy opened the pouch and examined its contents.
Fragments of wood and powdered leaves lay within.
“….”
He placed them on his palm and rolled them with his thumb, then seemed to recognize something and brought his nose closer.
After sniffing briefly, he reached toward the wooden box set aside at the edge.
He laid the pouch’s contents beside the box and began comparing them one by one.
I too craned my neck forward and examined both sets of contents as intently as he did.
And in that same moment, my eyes widened.
“The same poisonous herb, the same container. Where did you find this, young master?”
At his question, Gui-heon turned to look at me.
He smiled with dimples deepening and answered.
“I found it in the collapsed Abandoned Watchtower yesterday.”
I stared at Gui-heon with my mouth hanging open.
‘Gui-heon found it.’
The hallucinogenic herb that Gyo-gyo had hidden in the collapsed Abandoned Watchtower.
How could he find something so small among so much rubble in just one day?
He must have been that desperate. Gui-heon too.
“Yeon-ah.”
Gui-heon called to me.
“Tell them what happened yesterday.”
“…Yes.”
I clenched my hands resting on my knees and nodded.
Dang Lim helped me down and patted my back. I could almost hear his silent encouragement.
I stepped forward with determination.
I deliberately ignored the intensely piercing gazes coming from the right side.
I stopped walking and lifted my head.
The Elder Brother Faction Deputy at the upper seat, Father at the highest seat.
The way they looked down at me was oppressive.
How did others endure that gaze? Even I, with the Family Head as my father, felt suffocated.
“Greetings.”
I clasped my hands together and bowed my head respectfully.
I saw Elder Brother Faction Deputy nod slightly. Father simply closed his eyes slowly and opened them again.
With no response forthcoming, I felt oddly embarrassed.
Pushing past the awkwardness, I began to speak.
“…Well, actually, I saw Gyo-gyo yesterday. She was coming out of the Abandoned Watchtower.”
I glanced at Gyo-gyo cautiously as I continued.
“She had a familiar scent on her. The kind of scent that lets you meet Mother when you smell it. Of course, it was poison…”
For a moment, I thought I saw Father’s eyes waver.
“I was worried she might have hidden poison there, so I went to the Abandoned Watchtower to search… but then…”
I considered mentioning the fight and Dang Mu-seon, but decided against it.
After all, the hallucinogenic herb was what mattered.
“The Abandoned Watchtower collapsed. So I couldn’t find anything.”
As I finished speaking disjointed, the Council Chamber stirred once more.
Elder Brother Faction Deputy closed his eyes and nodded as he spoke.
“Well heard. You may withdraw now.”
“Ah, yes! Thank you for your time.”
I bowed again and returned to my place.
Then Dang Lim patted my head approvingly.
I exchanged a smile with Dang Lim and thought to myself.
‘There’s no escaping this now.’
Yesterday’s incident was known to everyone.
A building on the Clan Grounds had collapsed without any warning.
Rolling my eyes to look at Gyo-gyo, I saw her face had gone pale.
Dang Seo-o also closed his mouth, which had been smiling constantly, and grew serious.
Gwi-heon opened his mouth regardless of the tense atmosphere.
“This is a box we found in that collapsed Abandoned Watchtower. Yesterday, Gyo-gyo knew the true identity of the hallucinogenic herb. She hid something so dangerous instead of destroying it. Moreover…”
Gwi-heon looked at Dang Seo-o and tilted his head askew.
“How did Gyo-gyo obtain such an expensive poisonous herb, Elder?”

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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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