I Thought the Youngest Daughter of the Sichuan Tang Family Was Hated - Chapter 51

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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?’
Startled, I turned to check my surroundings, but Dang Dam shook his head.
When I glanced sideways, there really was someone there.
A man stood with his gaze fixed on Gong Myo, unaware that we were watching him.
Standing beyond the wall… who was he?
‘Oh.’
In the blink of an eye, the man vanished.
Had he sensed our attention?
“…He’s not from Jungwon Guild, is he?”
I asked in a hushed voice, and Dang Dam answered.
“No, sir.”
My eyes lingered on the spot where he had been.
I couldn’t shake the unease. Was it because of the nightmare?
“Will you chase after him?”
I couldn’t help but ask Dang Dam. Of course, I quickly added to my request.
“I’ll stay put. I’m going back inside, so it’s safe!”
Dang Dam hesitated for just a moment before responding.
“You gave me your word.”
Sensing something amiss himself, he moved with the speed of an arrow.
After returning to the Sleeping Quarters, it wasn’t long before Dang Dam came back.
“Did you find him? Who was it?”
I asked while fidgeting with the drumstick bells on the bed.
“A member of the Jinbeop Order. I confirmed he was not an outsider.”
“Ah… I see.”
I nodded at Dang Dam’s words.
I had heard that Jinbeop Order members sometimes made internal patrols.
But the fact that he had been watching Gong Myo troubled me.
‘Could it be… no, surely not?’
If he were connected to the reason only Gong Myo survived the Dang Family’s annihilation…
For now, I should remember this.
***
The carriage departed the moment the sun rose the next morning.
“Phew!”
I was completely frazzled.
I had barely managed to escape from Father and my older brothers’ worries as they came to see me off from dawn.
Eat your meals properly, make sure to report immediately if anything feels even slightly uncomfortable…
Yet they were the ones who told me to go.
“Hyah!”
In any case, after exchanging farewells, I boarded the carriage at once.
Gong Myo and Dang Dam appeared busy loading my luggage into the carriage.
“This one… ah, over there!”
“Yes.”
Seeing the luggage piled up like a mountain, I felt embarrassed.
“Travel light—just bring one attendant maid and some clothes.”
Though Dang Mu-seon had instructed me thus, I had packed all manner of necessities under pressure from my older brothers.
“Is everything loaded?”
Dang Mu-seon sauntered over to the carriage, his eyes narrowing as he inspected the luggage.
“Hmm, are you fleeing for your life?”
I glanced at his own belongings to see how little he carried, and they were remarkably sparse.
Just a bundle containing clothes and a long pipe.
“Never mind. You’re at an age to adorn yourself.”
With those words, Dang Mu-seon boarded the carriage.
He sat beside me with his hands tucked inside his sleeves and instructed the Carriage Driver.
“Depart.”
My body lurched backward slightly as the carriage moved forward.
“The journey is long. Get some rest.”
“Mm…”
I was about to respond to Dang Mu-seon when a thought suddenly occurred to me.
“Where are we headed, exactly?”
I realized I had no idea where we were going.
“Ha, asking so soon?”
Dang Mu-seon lightly pressed my forehead and smirked.
Crack!
He cracked open a walnut shell with his bare hands as he spoke.
“Jabyeok Valley.”
He popped the walnut kernel into my mouth.
As I chewed the fragrant morsel, my eyes widened.
“Jabyeok… that Jabyeok? Truly?”
“You’ve heard of it? It’s only known among the old folk, passed around in whispers.”
Of course I know it!
It’s where Yak-seon’s hermitage is located!
‘What a fortunate coincidence.’
The corners of my mouth curled upward.
I cannot express how utterly helpless I had felt for so long.
I had no idea how to prevent the future from unfolding.
At merely seven years old, I needed assistance just to escape the Dang Household, let alone venture beyond it.
Yet now, an opportunity had presented itself.
‘The timing is perfect. This is the only moment when I can go there.’
I could not afford to miss this chance.
“Ehehehehe… hehe.”
As I laughed wickedly, Dang Mu-seon raised an eyebrow.
Then, cracking another walnut shell, he spoke.
“So you should rest, shouldn’t you?”
“Ah… um, no. I’m fine.”
At his question, I averted my gaze without thinking.
If I slept, I would surely have another nightmare. Especially a nap.
“Tsk.”
Dang Mu-seon clicked his tongue and placed the walnut kernel back into my mouth.
“I understand why you feel that way… but worry is not your burden to carry.”
His gaze upon me was filled with affection.
“Yes.”
I answered with a small, involuntary smile.
Was it thanks to Grandfather’s walnuts?
Or perhaps because I had slept through the night?
For a while, I had not suffered any nightmares.
But then…
“Gasp!”
The nightmares returned once more.
“Haa… ugh…”
When I opened my eyes, I found myself drenched in cold sweat, clinging tightly to Dang Mu-seon’s arm.
Beyond the window, it was still bright.
‘It was the nap. I fell right back into a nightmare.’
Dang Mu-seon’s sleeve was completely wrinkled from my grip.
As I carefully smoothed out the creases, Dang Mu-seon asked bluntly.
“Who is Jin Hwa?”
“Huh?”
“You kept calling out that name while you slept.”
I did that?
I smoothed back my sweat-dampened hair and searched my memory.
I could not recall what dream I had, but it seemed Jin Hwa must have appeared in it.
“Why would you ask who it is?”
Dang Mu-seon asked again.
‘Hmm. Grandfather sees through lies rather easily.’
“It was someone I encountered in the Anhui Market District. They were terrifying. That’s probably why they appear in my dreams.”
“I see.”
The encounter had occurred before my regression—not a lie, merely an incomplete truth.
Dang Mu-seon glanced at me briefly, then averted his gaze.
For a moment, he seemed lost in thought.
I felt oddly self-conscious. Had he taken offense at how I’d wrinkled my sleeve?
Soon after, Dang Mu-seon opened the carriage window, leaning his head out slightly as he spoke.
“Stop the carriage.”
The carriage came to an immediate halt.
Dang Mu-seon steadied my body as it lurched forward, then opened the door wide.
With fluid grace, he descended from the carriage and extended his hand to me.
“You’ve been confined to the carriage for quite some time. Let us take a walk to ease your stiffness.”
Suddenly?
Though puzzled, I grasped his hand without hesitation.
‘My body does feel rather sluggish.’
Dang Mu-seon lifted me effortlessly into his arms and instructed Gong Myo and Dang Dam.
“I shall take your master for a stroll. Prepare yourselves in the meantime.”
“Yes, sir.”
Without hesitation, Dang Mu-seon strode into the undergrowth along the roadside.
In the receding gazes of Gong Myo and Dang Dam, I detected a subtle undercurrent of concern.
“Wow.”
The forest opened before us in ever-widening vistas.
The winter forest of Yunnan differed greatly from other regions.
First and foremost, it was extraordinarily humid—the term “jungle” fit perfectly.
Ferns and mushrooms carpeted the ground, and the mingling of fallen leaves with evergreens created an oddly beautiful palette of colors.
Only after venturing much deeper did Dang Mu-seon set me down upon a low tree stump.
“Catch your breath and listen to what this old man has to say.”
I nodded obediently, swinging my feet back and forth.
He smiled warmly at me, then picked up a small stone from the ground and spoke.
“Do you know? This grandfather was once a coward, just like you.”
A coward…!
Am I truly such a coward?
Before I could protest, Dang Mu-seon continued.
“I feared everything. Loving someone, hating someone—even the passage of time itself terrified me.”
As he named each fear, he began collecting stones, one for each.
“I understand your heart completely.”
His calm voice made him appear utterly serene.
So Grandfather had felt the same way.
Now that I think about it, remembering when we first met, I understand it somehow.
You were wandering after losing someone.
And before your return, you disappeared entirely without a trace.
‘Did you realize it? How not to be afraid.’
If that’s the case, then it must be simply letting things flow….
“And so I realized.”
Crack! Crunch crunch!
Dang Mu-seon gripped a stone tightly. Veins bulged across the back of his hand like mighty rivers.
“I will make those things that terrify me tremble in fear!”
?!
S-scary.
Dang Mu-seon’s eyes blazed with fierce light.
“I will make them fear me, so they flee with their tails between their legs!”
He scattered the fragmented stones into the air.
Then, swinging his arm in a wide arc, the stones in mid-air turned to dust.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Whoosh….
Even witnessing the sight before my eyes, I couldn’t believe it, so I rubbed them.
“With that single conviction, I grew stronger.”
Dang Mu-seon strode toward me.
“If something stands in your way, that is your given task. You need only crush it!”
The hand gripping my shoulder was firm.
‘Oh, such madness…!’
His fervent teaching, from which I couldn’t avert my gaze, made my hair stand on end.
“Be glad. Many mountains to overcome means you grow that much stronger!”
At his resolute voice, I found myself nodding as if entranced.
“…Yes.”
Then Dang Mu-seon straightened and withdrew his hand.
As if nothing had happened, he spoke with a light smile.
“You are growing stronger.”
His dust-covered hand gently warmed my cheek.
‘This seems quite different from the lessons a grandfather would normally give….’
Well, I’d need to have had a grandfather to know.
What’s good is good, isn’t it?
‘Besides, his words make sense.’
Worrying won’t change anything. I need to grow stronger.
‘Even if my body cannot grow stronger….’
My heart must become solid.
It was the moment I steeled my resolve.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, Dang Mu-seon hurled a hidden blade toward something in the distance.
“Huh?”
At his fierce expression, I found myself holding my breath.
Smoke rose from the blade’s tip where it had pierced the tree.
The wood darkened to black, then began to rot from within.
It seemed to be the work of a poison-coated blade.
“Grandfather?”
I called out to him cautiously.
Dang Mu-seon paid no attention and simply stared in that direction.
After a moment, he lowered his hand and blinked slowly.
“…It is nothing.”
It certainly did not seem like nothing.
I was curious, but Dang Mu-seon showed no intention of explaining what had happened.
“Let us return.”
He tapped my shoulder lightly and turned to leave.
Yet all the way back to the carriage, he continued to glance behind him.
Toward the place where the tree stood.

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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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