I Thought the Youngest Daughter of the Sichuan Tang Family Was Hated - Chapter 74

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

How exactly does one become close with someone their own age?
I had no idea.
After that day, I began launching an aggressive campaign of friendship toward Jin Hwa.
And through it all, I came to realize something.
I had never naturally grown close to anyone my own age before.
“You don’t like this either? What about this?”
“…Why would I like this?”
Even when I tried to play together with the toy Dang Lim had given me, Jin Hwa coldly refused.
Instead, he simply stared at me with an expression of utter bewilderment, wooden doll still in hand.
My next strategy was flattery.
“Wow, you’re really handsome!”
I recalled how my older brothers had always praised me as cute and lovely, and I simply mimicked their approach.
But….
“Don’t you get scolded? Saying things like that so carelessly?”
All I received in return was another expression of exasperation.
“…I don’t get scolded.”
“Go ask someone to scold you. You need it.”
With those words, he turned away coldly and lay down.
‘This is serious. I’m really terrible at this.’
None of my friendship offensives were working.
It was even more disheartening because I understood him—not because I didn’t.
‘Namgoong Do-hwi made clumsy advances too, and I rejected him outright.’
Had he noticed that I harbored hidden intentions?
‘I’m not asking for much….’
I simply wanted him to lower his guard, and then perhaps hear his name directly from him.
I had already asked several times, but all I received was silence.
At this rate, I might never be able to call Jin Hwa by his name.
“It would be better to approach this differently.”
My uncle spoke to me as I sat lost in thought.
He meant the Elder Brother Faction Deputy.
To calm my troubled heart, I had sought out the Elder Brother Faction.
Only Uncle Jo Young could provide the peculiar sense of stability I needed.
There was an inexplicable comfort in his expression of utter indifference to worldly matters and his weary tone of voice.
“Approach it differently, Uncle?”
I asked while crunching on pastries, and he nodded.
“You mentioned wanting to practice making friends for the future, but this imaginary peer of yours refuses to lower his walls. So instead of giving him something he would like, why not give the young lady something she enjoys?”
“Yes, Uncle.”
That’s what I told Jo Young.
I couldn’t speak plainly about Jin Hwa, after all.
“Rather than something that ungrateful boy would enjoy, give him something that the young lady herself enjoys.”
Jo Young pointed at the confection in my hand with the tip of his brush.
I blinked and repeated his words back to him.
“Something I enjoy….”
Jo Young nodded indifferently.
“Then he’ll naturally come to understand you better, Miss. And he’ll think of you.”
He clapped his hands together as he spoke.
“Giving me something precious to you. How thoughtful of you.”
The way he said it in that flat tone made it sound rather amusing.
But it was good advice.
‘Understanding me….’
Yes. That felt like a more equal relationship.
Not blindly seeking affection, but truly cherishing each other.
My enthusiasm began to surge anew.
“Thank you, Uncle!”
I leaped down from the plush cushion and flashed Jo Young a bright smile.
“I’m going now!”
I gathered the ceramic bowl containing the confection and left the office.
He waved his hand dismissively in farewell.
‘That’s right. I’ll give him the confection.’
Willingly offering him food I loved.
Maybe this time he’ll finally open his heart!
“Hey! Hey! Wake up. You like summer confections, don’t you?”
When I arrived at the warehouse, he was sleeping soundly, oblivious to the world.
With his face buried in straw, I eagerly shook his shoulder to wake him.
“Come on. Hurry up, or you’ll regret it.”
Caught up in my enthusiasm, I failed to notice it then.
The fierce movement of his eyes beneath his eyelids and the cold sweat beading on his forehead.
He had been having a nightmare.
“Ugh….”
Unable to resist my persistence, he stirred awake.
Grasping his throbbing head, he pushed himself up.
“Look at this!”
I smiled brightly and held out the jar of confection to him.
Still drowsy, his eyes appeared vacant.
“….”
Entranced, he stared at the pale confection jar.
“…Hey? What’s wrong with you?”
No answer came. It was as if he were under some spell.
Soon his parched lips parted.
“The one with the sword wears white, the one with fists wears blue, the one with poison….”
His pupils trembled a vivid crimson as he muttered words I couldn’t comprehend.
His gaze moved slowly, sharp enough to sting merely by looking at it.
From the candy and the jar.
“…Green.”
To my green sleeve.
There was something unsettling about the way he muttered such strange words.
But I steadied myself and lifted the corners of my mouth into a smile.
“…Were you having a nightmare? You must be hungry. I brought this for you to try.”
Jin Hwa showed no reaction. He simply stared at me in silence.
“Hmm? Go on, taste it. If it’s delicious, then I’ll tell you your name now….”
That was the moment.
His rough hand shoved the bowl, sending it crashing to the floor.
Clang!
The bowl shattered into pieces, scattering across the ground.
The candy inside broke apart like pumpkin fragments, scattered here and there.
“Gasp…!”
I had no time to calm my startled heart.
“I don’t need it.”
Jin Hwa lurched to his feet and staggered toward me.
Cold sweat dripped down his pale face.
“Everyone likes it when you act like this, don’t they? A noble lady being kind to them.”
Crunch. He stomped on the candy fragments, crushing them.
“But not me. I’d never think that way, even if I died.”
Jin Hwa spoke with a sharp glare.
“….”
I clamped my mouth shut.
As my expression hardened, Jin Hwa’s lips curled upward instead.
“Ah, I’ve offended your sensibilities, haven’t I? Why don’t you go tell your precious Father right now!”
“….”
Though he threatened me sharply, strangely, I felt no fear.
His cold, sweating forehead, his rigid lips, and his trembling pupils told me everything.
‘He’s nervous right now.’
“The poison user is green….”
The words he had muttered while lost in his nightmare came back to me.
The poison user in green. That was the Sacheon Tang Clan.
‘He has ill feelings toward our family.’
In truth, I had already suspected as much.
Before my regression, the first thing Jin Hwa declared upon becoming the Crimson Flame Alliance Master was this.
‘The annihilation of the Righteous Faction.’
He was a man who harbored deep-rooted hatred toward the Righteous Faction and the Martial Arts Alliance.
‘I don’t know the full story behind it all….’
When I heard that this was the Sacheon Tang Clan, I’d expected things to be calm, so I thought he was doing better now….
It turned out I’d been completely mistaken.
‘He was hiding it. His emotions.’
And it all came bursting out in his sleep like that.
I understand why he’s acting this way.
Because we’ve been through something similar ourselves.
Which is exactly why….
‘I’m upset!’
Don’t lump us in with them, would you? We hate them too!
“Who asked you to be grateful?”
“…What?”
I furrowed my brow sharply as I spoke.
“I didn’t look after you so you’d thank me. If you’re grateful, so what! Hey, nothing changes because of it!”
Jin Hwa seemed flustered. He probably never imagined I’d come at him like this.
“And what? You’re going to tell Father?”
I stepped forward and tilted my chin up at him.
“Do you really think that’s what I want?”
I pressed on relentlessly.
“Do you really want to know what kind of people I’ve been hiding you from?”
He seemed to sense that my words weren’t just empty threats.
“…Then, why are you….”
His eyes blinked in shock before he slowly closed his mouth.
As his senses gradually returned, his gaze grew steadier.
He lowered his head slowly, his face contorting with anguish.
“I….”
He seemed confused.
Suddenly, I noticed the mess scattered across the floor.
Ceramic shards lay shattered everywhere.
“…Sigh.”
I calmed myself and crouched down, picking up the sharp ceramic fragments one by one.
“What are you doing?”
Jin Hwa asked in a strained voice, his words trembling faintly.
“Cleaning it up.”
I answered while glancing at his calloused, bare feet.
“You’re barefoot.”
Broken ceramic cuts people until someone gathers the pieces and mends them back together.
It pushes away those who draw near, desperate not to shatter further.
But once the pieces are gathered, it’s fine.
Once they’re mended, the ceramic becomes whole again.
“Ah.”
Even if my hand was cut a little.
Blood droplets seeped from the wound etched like a lifeline on my palm. It was hot and stung.
“You’re… bleeding…”
Jin Hwa murmured in apparent alarm.
“What? Ha ha!”
When our eyes met—his wide with shock—laughter burst from me unbidden.
“Your body has far worse and far more wounds than this.”
Here he was, startled over a few drops of blood on my palm, when his own abdomen lay torn open. The absurdity of it struck me.
After sweeping away all the porcelain shards, I calmly wrapped white cloth around my hand.
I felt Jin Hwa’s gaze from across the room.
“…”
He was still staring intently at my hand.
When we first met, Jin Hwa had worn that same expression.
‘Ah, that’s right.’
Now I understood. What that look had meant.
He was worried about me.
Why had he been concerned for me back then?
That barbaric Crimson Flame Alliance Master, worried about me?
The more time passed, the more curious this Jin Hwa became.
I genuinely wanted to grow closer to him.
‘But…’
Perhaps I should stop here for today.
The tea set was completely destroyed anyway.
“I just wanted us to become closer. That’s all.”
At my calm words, his pupils trembled with a sorrowful light.
“See you tomorrow.”
I bid farewell and turned to leave.
Then, from behind me, Jin Hwa’s voice reached my ears.
“…Jin Hwa.”
My hand, extended toward the door, froze in mid-air.
When I turned my head, Jin Hwa was gazing at me intently.
Wariness still lingered in his eyes.
But his voice, slightly softened, whispered his own name.
“Jin Hwa. My… name.”

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