Surviving as the Sacheon Dang Clan’s Servant - Chapter 14

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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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Chapter 14
Floating above the ground with the wind brushing past was a strange sensation.
It felt like becoming the protagonist of a famous animation.
Of course, the difference was that the heroine in such stories walked elegantly through the sky hand-in-hand with the hero, whereas I was being carried on someone’s shoulder like a sack of grain.
“Master, if I may ask—why do you travel by rooftop?”
“Why not?”
“You could simply open the door to the Family Head’s residence. No one would say a word.”
Someone of Dang Jung’s station wouldn’t face a moment’s protest for it.
To my question, Dang Jung replied as though it were obvious.
“The roads are tedious. They wind about in circles.”
……Was that actually permitted?
Then again, with an estate as labyrinthine as this, treading across roof tiles would certainly be faster.
Dang Jung drifted lightly through the air before finally setting me down beneath the willows of the Back Garden. The familiar sight of the Pavilion eased my nerves.
As I exhaled in relief, Dang Jung chuckled and tapped my head gently.
“Frightened?”
“A little.”
I laughed along with him, regarding him carefully.
How fortunate to have a refuge in this treacherous world.
Though he still seemed to suspect me of being a spy, at least on the surface I was his disciple.
I didn’t ask for protection or favoritism—only that he shield me from being tossed about by those of higher station.
I’d thought him merely indulging a child, only to find myself in trouble for it. Tomorrow, even if Nam Gung Hui came calling, I would not set foot outside this Pavilion.
Dang Jung didn’t ask why I’d been with the Nam Gung Family. Instead, he asked casually:
“Have you eaten?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’ll join me for supper. Eat well and rest early when you return to your quarters. You must be exhausted.”
“Yes, Master.”
With hands clasped behind his back, Dang Jung turned toward the Pavilion. It was clearly an invitation to dine with him.
Still, he seems to be growing more protective of me than before, doesn’t he?
* * *
The evening meal was, as always, excellent. Yet my mouth felt gritty, as though I were chewing sand, and I could only pick at the food.
Nam Gung Sang’s words refused to leave my mind.
Watching Dang Jung carefully, I ventured to speak.
“Master, I’ve heard something troubling.”
“What is it?”
“Is it true that if someone who has learned the Dang Family Martial Arts leaves the Dang Family, their meridians are severed?”
Dang Jung looked up at me with an unreadable expression, then picked up a peanut with his chopsticks before answering.
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never seen anyone mad enough to try leaving the Dang Family.”
“Never?”
Thank goodness. So Nam Gung Sang had been mistaken—
“Usually we kill them. If we let someone foolish enough to seek Expulsion live, they’ll bring ruin to the Family someday.”
“……I beg your pardon?”
This is absurd.
Severed meridians and a lifetime of crawling, or death by poison—which is more painful? Is this a balance game?
Cold sweat gathered in my palm as I gripped the chopsticks. I tried to reach for noodles with practiced calm, but my hand wouldn’t obey.
The chopsticks slipped from my fingers and clattered loudly to the floor. Dang Jung’s gaze sharpened.
“Were you planning to leave?”
At his cutting tone, I scrambled to explain.
“What? No, no, Master, of course not. You’ve taken me in—how could I harbor such thoughts? Rather, it’s that the Sub-Family Head of the Nam Gung Family tried to take me to Anhui earlier. When the Family Head stopped him, I happened to overhear their conversation.”
Only then did Dang Jung’s expression relax.
“Hmph. A mere mite, yet you have the wit to distinguish jade from stone. Clever little thing.”
He tutted disapprovingly, then gestured with his hand.
“Come closer.”
“Yes?”
“Come here, now.”
I rose hesitantly and approached him. As Dang Jung studied me from head to toe with careful scrutiny, he reached out his hand.
Despite his refined appearance, his palm was rough, calloused and weathered. From his firm fingertips emanated a faint, acrid herbal scent.
“Soft, aren’t you.”
Please don’t knead me like dough.
He continued massaging my cheek for a long while, then suddenly his eyes widened and he laughed.
“Listen, you. You need to learn to hide your thoughts better.”
She must have laughed because my expression amused her.
When I forced a smile, Dang Jung released my face and tilted my chin upward.
“You’re certainly not someone with impenetrable skin…….”
Then, with his index finger, he traced slowly down the back of my neck. In that chilling moment, as I flinched, he murmured softly while gripping my throat lightly.
“No Dantian either.”
His touch was gentle, yet my breath caught. Thump. Thump. My heart hammered against my ribs.
His expression suggested he was contemplating whether to snap my neck or let me go. He tilted his head toward me, his steely eyes gleaming as he spoke.
“You show no traces of External Qi Cultivation training. Yet why do you seem so suspicious?”
At Dang Jung’s words, every hair on my body stood on end. One misstep, and I was dead.
What had I given away? Asking about Expulsion? Mentioning Nam Gung Hui? Going to the guest quarters where the Nam Gung Family stayed? Or was it my manner of speech that was disrespectful?
My body trembled violently, my teeth chattering. If Dang Jung tightened his grip, I wouldn’t even manage a small gasp before consciousness fled.
But I couldn’t die like this.
The moment I opened my mouth to attempt some clumsy self-defense, the hand around my throat loosened and withdrew.
Dang Jung furrowed his brow and asked.
“So Hye, tell me. Is there something wrong with your memory?”
“Pardon?”
All of a sudden?
“I hear you’ve been living at the Dang Household since you were five. Yet after ten years, you know nothing whatsoever.”
“Well…….”
“Even servant girls who just arrived would know more than you. That’s why I’m asking.”
At his words, I wanted to clap my hands together. I was grateful he’d managed to misunderstand on his own.
What a convenient excuse—Amnesia. You’re a genius, sir.
“The truth is…… I have it. One day I woke from sleep and couldn’t remember anything.”
Speaking slowly, Dang Jung nodded as if he’d suspected as much.
“Yes, something was off about you. Unless you’d eaten a boiled goldfish, what kind of fool works at the Dang Household without knowing the Family Head’s name and still gets lost? Where would you find such an idiot?”
“Ha ha…….”
“If you have no memory, you might as well be a simpleton.”
Sir, please stop calling me a fool. I’m not that foolish.
Dang Jung had returned to his gentle expression, as though he’d never considered crushing my throat at all.
“I’ve heard that some people lose their memories from drinking certain Herbal Decoctions. Though I can’t say for certain whether it was the decoction or something else.”
And knowing that, he still feeds you poison?
The more he spoke, the farther this household seemed from common sense.
There’s no solid ground to stand on here. Only filth. Pure filth.
I hid my trembling hands behind my back and swallowed hard. My stomach churned with anxiety.
My legs felt weak; maintaining composure standing still was nearly impossible.
Perhaps if I asked to withdraw for today, he would let me go.
While I contemplated how to leave without offending him, someone knocked on the door of the Residence.
“Shall I see who it is?”
Dang Jung nodded. I rushed out and slid open the sliding door. I was nothing but grateful for the visitor’s presence.
“Grandfather, I’ve come to pay my respects…… So Hye? What are you doing here?”
“Young Master.”
The problem was that the visitor happened to be Dang Un.
I tightened the muscles in my face to maintain composure.
That’s what I wanted to ask you. What are you doing here?
“Not Young Master, but Uncle—what does Uncle need? Is Grandfather inside?”
“Un, what business brings you to this old man’s Residence? So Hye, show him in.”
“Yes.”
With Dang Jung’s permission, I opened the door wide. Dang Un walked in gracefully and knelt before Dang Jung.
“Grandfather, I apologize for not greeting you sooner. Since returning to Sacheon, I’ve been unwell and needed rest for several days.”
As Dang Jung observed Dang Un’s respectful bow, his expression was clearly displeased. Rather than acknowledge the greeting, he asked sharply.
“How do you know So Hye?”
“She’s someone I care for. But why is she in your Residence, Grandfather…….”
“Did you pick up the same habit as Yeong Ho—taking liberties with servant girls?”
“What? No, that’s not it.”
At Dang Jung’s angry tone, Dang Un stammered uncomfortably. Dang Jung pressed on.
“Then why do you know So Hye?”
“Pardon?”
“I asked why you know So Hye.”
“Grandfather, I believe there’s been a misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding? You rarely venture out from the Inner Section, so what reason could you have to be acquainted with a servant girl from the Outer Section? Don’t play tricks with this child. I won’t overlook it.”
The man who had been trying to kill me mere moments ago was now protecting me. The situation unfolding before me was utterly absurd.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Then Dang Un spoke words I had never expected to hear.
“So Hye is our youngest, Grandfather.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Do you remember Cho Ryeon from the Wol Hyang Ru sixteen years ago?”
“Of course I remember. Your father forgot his place and drank himself into a beast, and—”
Dang Jung’s face hardened mid-sentence.
“That child is this one?”
“Yes. This is So Hye.”
At Dang Un’s answer, Dang Jung ground his teeth together, his features twisting into something terrible.
“……I’ve never seen such madness.”
The words hissed between his teeth carried a fury so vicious that the birds around the pavilion suddenly burst into flight, scattering into the air.
The air grew oppressively heavy in an instant. I struggled to remain upright, stumbling until I caught the armrest of a chair to keep from falling.
Dang Un rushed forward, trying desperately to placate his grandfather.
“G-Grandfather! Please, calm your anger—”
“Calm? Would you have me calm? That blockhead of a sub-family head knows nothing but poison formulas and how to boil them, and meanwhile my direct bloodline with an All-Poison-Immune Constitution is languishing in the Outer Section doing menial work! My blood is boiling, I cannot bear it! Are you telling me that imbeciles like you are leading the Dang Sect!”
“What? That’s…did you say All-Poison-Immune? That cannot be—Father never knew So Hye was—”
“Your own child, and you didn’t know? So you just threw her away in some servants’ quarters because you couldn’t kill her? To think my great-grandchild is less than worthless—it’s a tragedy beyond words!”
“Grandfather. Please, calm yourself. So Hye cannot withstand the force of your presence—”
“I nearly made a mistake—I nearly ended my own direct bloodline with these hands! A once-in-a-century All-Poison-Immune Constitution, and I nearly killed it! How can you leave such talent rotting in the servants’ quarters? This makes no sense!”
I stood there like an idiot, blinking stupidly as Dang Jung ranted on. The sheer volume of information pouring from his mouth was too much to process all at once.
Direct bloodline?
All-Poison-Immune Constitution?
Who are we talking about?
Me?

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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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