I Thought the Youngest Daughter of the Sichuan Tang Family Was Hated - Chapter 39

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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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“What?”
Namgoong Do-hwi’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Why? Did I do something wrong?”
“No.”
I shook my head firmly, and Do-hwi’s eyes narrowed.
“Then?”
“Sigh.”
I exhaled deeply in exasperation, and his shoulders flinched slightly.
He clearly hadn’t expected this reaction.
I opened my mouth with an indifferent expression.
“How is this enjoyable? You do nothing but lie.”
I knew I didn’t need to say such things.
‘It’s just my own selfishness, nothing more.’
A selfish desire for Do-hwi to feel at ease in my presence alone.
“You can’t tolerate pollen, can you?”
“….”
At my sudden question, he blinked, clearly flustered.
“How did you know?”
“You’ve taken medicine so there’s no runny nose, but you can’t suppress your coughing. And your eyes are terribly red right now.”
At my words, Do-hwi unconsciously rubbed his eyes.
‘Ah, don’t do that. It’s swelling more now.’
My resolve wavered for a moment, but I continued.
“Besides, you dislike bitter tea and sweet things. It’s all been exposed.”
“That can’t be. I—”
“Then why did you retch earlier?”
Hit where it mattered, Do-hwi clamped his mouth shut.
As if he found my persistent questioning unpleasant.
“You dislike everything I did today.”
Silence returned once more.
It was an affirmation.
“Then why did you hide it? If you’d said you disliked it, I wouldn’t have done it.”
“…I wasn’t hiding it.”
A calm reply came back.
Not hiding it? Unable to comprehend his meaning, I tilted my head in confusion.
“Then what?”
Do-hwi lowered his gaze. His eyes seemed to lose their way as if struggling to find the words.
“Because you like it. Of course I have to like it too.”
“That doesn’t make any—”
My brow furrowed involuntarily at his absurd answer.
“Then the Flower Field? You were the one who suggested we go there first.”
“…That’s because all girls like flowers. So naturally, I….”
“What?!”
Absurd answers, one after another.
“Sigh.”
I swallowed my exasperation and stepped closer to Namgoong Do-hwi.
“There’s nothing ‘natural’ about it.”
I shook my head firmly as I spoke.
I had no idea what this child was thinking to say such a thing.
‘That’s completely wrong.’
“There’s nothing you’re obligated to do, nothing you’re obligated to like.”
I grasped Namgoong Do-hwi’s hand without hesitation.
He lifted his head.
Namgoong Do-hwi, his brows furrowed in confusion, glared at me.
Yes. This expression suited him far better.
He had never hidden his true feelings from me.
And neither had I.
“I want to be your true friend. So I need to know what you want to do, what you like. And what you dislike.”
Namgoong Do-hwi narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
“I heard people usually hide those things.”
“What? No! Everyone shows who they really are!”
I shook my head vigorously.
What have these people taught this child?
‘Did Namgoong Do-hwi live with such thoughts even before my regression?’
I glared at the Namgoong Family members somewhere in this place, then adjusted my grip on Namgoong Do-hwi’s hand.
“And especially with me—you don’t need to hide anything at all. I’m your true friend!”
I gazed at him with bright, earnest eyes.
Hoping my persuasion would work, hoping he would finally truly open his heart to me.
“….”
He alternated his gaze between the hand he held and my face.
I too looked down at our joined hands.
His palms were already covered with thick calluses.
Mine, by contrast, were soft and plump.
“…Ha.”
Namgoong Do-hwi lowered his head and let out a hollow laugh.
Then he steadied his breath and lifted his gaze.
“Okay.”
His expression was serious.
“There’s something I hate most.”
He opened his mouth.
My heart soared at those words.
I thought she was opening her heart to me.
“You can tell me. It’s fine. You’ll feel better.”
Wasn’t this drawing us closer than we were before my regression?
My cheeks felt like they were about to flush….
“It just happened. You.”
“…What?”
My mind went blank as if I’d been struck on the head.
‘W-what did I just say?’
Namgoong Do-hwi’s face contorted.
No, wait. Looking again, it was a smile.
“Ah, really. I do feel better.”
It was the most raw, unguarded smile I’d ever seen from him.
So this is how he looks when he truly laughs—squinting like that.
“Thank you, Hee-yeon.”
“…Wh-what?”
Leaving me frozen in shock, Namgoong Do-hwi simply walked away.
My eyes met Dang Dam’s, equally stunned.
We stood there in silence for a long moment.
‘So. My only true friend, Namgoong Do-hwi, despises me most of all.’
“Me?!”
***
The door opened and closed.
“Sigh.”
A quiet breath escaped into the silent Sleeping Quarters.
The young boy slid down to the floor and stared at the calluses embedded in his palm.
“…I should still be at the Training Ground.”
Namgoong Do-hwi muttered in frustration, clenching his fist tightly.
Unable to grip the sword properly, he’d come to his Room early.
“There’s nothing I have to do, of course.”
“I want to know what you like, what you hate.”
Those words circled unpleasantly through his mind.
He thought them foolish, meaningless.
The more he dwelled on them, the worse he felt.
“…You wouldn’t have anything like that. Naturally.”
Because they love you anyway.
He swallowed the rest and buried his face in his knees.
He should have added one more thing—that we’re different.
Since he’d already let those pent-up emotions spill out.
‘…It did feel cathartic.’
Laying bare his true feelings for the first time sent a thrilling sensation through him.
“It just happened. Because of you.”
A girl with no sense of awareness and terrible taste. At those words, I could see Dang Hee-yeon’s face flash before my eyes, drained of all color.
Dang Hee-yeon. That small girl had stirred up the surroundings the moment she descended from the carriage.
Everyone had eyes only for her, speaking endlessly of the girl’s cuteness.
Do-hwi was not unaware of it either.
But her appearance meant nothing to him. That was not why Do-hwi had approached her.
What mattered was not Do-hwi’s heart, but rather….
“My son.”
“!”
Namgoong Sae-ryun’s voice echoed from the corridor.
He shot up abruptly and stared at the paper door.
Sae-ryun’s large silhouette filled the entire door panel.
“Are you sleeping?”
“No, no, I’m not!”
His voice trembled—perhaps because his father’s visit was unusual.
“I was s-studying.”
“Well done.”
The door opened with a firm voice.
Namgoong Sae-ryun entered the room, his face bearing that characteristic confidence.
Do-hwi swallowed hard without realizing it.
Fortunately, the scriptures remained spread open on the desk, still unorganized.
Sae-ryun confirmed this and smiled gently, extending his hand.
When he gently patted Do-hwi’s shoulder, a gleam returned to the boy’s eyes.
But only for a moment.
“…!”
The hand began to press heavily on the boy’s shoulder.
“So you made a friend today. Did you have fun playing?”
“…That is…”
“I’ve heard about it.”
“….”
Do-hwi clamped his mouth shut.
He could not make excuses to his father. He could not lie.
Realizing why his father had come, Do-hwi’s face turned deathly pale.
“And come to think of it, you also failed to sneak her out.”
“…I’m sorry….”
Do-hwi’s lips trembled.
“My. Unable to handle just one girl.”
Sae-ryun expressed his disappointment with an exaggerated sigh.
“Am I asking too much of my young son?”
“No. No, I’m not!”
Do-hwi answered, his entire body rigid with tension.
Sae-ryun tilted his head, regarding his son with cold, merciless eyes.
He brushed away the tears from the flushed boy’s cheeks, clicking his tongue in disapproval.
“It seems he inherited his mother’s nature—never loved by men. How pitiful.”
“….”
Do-hwi said nothing, his hands clenching into fists.
His throat tightened, and the boy bit down hard on his lips.
Sae-ryun gently embraced him, whispering softly.
“Do not worry. As long as you are my only son, I will continue to trust you.”
Yes.
I was the son of a mother loved by no one, and yet I was also the son of Namgoong Sae-ryun.
Those words carved into my chest with a pain that was almost unbearable, even as they made me stronger.
It was not merely a desire to repay my father’s faith in me.
I sensed hatred in the way my father looked at me.
It was always there—whenever he thought of my mother, whenever he gazed upon his son.
So I had to become strong. To survive.
“I must excel. Of course. Because I am your son.”
Do-hwi nodded, meeting Sae-ryun’s lethal gaze.
“Yes, of course.”
It was a resolute answer.
Though I answered with confidence, my face was clouded with worry.
I fidgeted with my clenched fists, regretting the words I had spoken today.
But there was no use crying over spilled milk.

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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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