Surviving as the Sacheon Dang Clan’s Servant - Chapter 35

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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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Episode 35
8. The Successor to the Poison King
Alone at last, I slowly unfolded the silk bundle.
Inside lay a carefully folded letter and a modest wooden hairpin.
It was the hairpin I’d seen at the Night Market yesterday.
I ran my fingertip over the cloud pattern carved into the hairpin’s end and let out a hollow laugh.
So that’s where he disappeared to—to buy this? Did I really look that interested in it?
Curiosity about the letter’s contents gnawed at me. What could he have written that required a reply?
I rewrapped the hairpin and tucked the bundle into my robe. The letter could wait until I returned to my quarters—better to read it slowly, without rushed eyes.
I only hoped there wouldn’t be too many characters I didn’t recognize.
* * *
I spent the entire morning washing, sweeping floors, and polishing furniture.
Thanks to the servants’ diligent work, the Guest Hall had been scrubbed clean of any trace that someone had stayed there.
Just as I felt we’d done enough to prove we’d worked, I elbowed Song Ji in the ribs.
“I’ll head out first.”
“You want to visit the elder as soon as we’re done? You’re worn out. Go on, then.”
Song Ji patted my shoulder, her eyes full of sympathy.
‘Sorry, Song Ji. I just need to rest. If the elder isn’t there, I’ll lie down for a bit.’
I handed off the tray I’d been carrying and slipped out of the Guest Hall as quickly as I could.
The moment I stepped into Dang Jung’s Pavilion, eager to slack off without anyone watching, his voice drifted down from above.
“You’ve come. I was just about to call for you.”
I looked up to see Dang Jung perched on a willow branch, a long pipe cradled in his left hand with smoke curling from it.
‘Is he smoking?’
As I stared at the long pipe, Dang Jung chuckled and spoke.
“It’s aloeswood incense. Helps settle the mind.”
“You’re burning incense in a pipe?”
“An incense burner is a nuisance to carry around.”
“…Ah. Yes.”
He vaults over walls without breaking stride, boils tea water with whatever’s at hand, and now he’s smoking incense from a pipe.
I couldn’t tell if he was indifferent to convention or simply prioritized efficiency.
My half-hearted reply made Dang Jung narrow his eyes and give me a sidelong look. When I flinched and glanced away, he snorted and leaped down from the tree.
He landed soundlessly in front of me and gave my nose a light pinch.
“Ow. That hurts.”
“Such theatrics. I know what you were thinking about your old grandfather.”
I wasn’t complaining about you.
He waved the long pipe to extinguish the incense, then plopped down in the tree’s shade like a child playing in the dirt.
The sight tugged at something in me—there was something oddly vulnerable about it.
“…Would you like me to fetch a mat?”
“Don’t fuss. Sit.”
“Yes.”
Dang Jung pressed me down onto the ground and produced a tea cup from his robe, brewing tea for us both.
“This smells nice. There’s a toasted grain fragrance to it.”
At my exclamation, Dang Jung blinked as if pleasantly surprised.
“So you can distinguish it now? When you first arrived, you made a face like you wondered why anyone would serve you water steeped in grass clippings.”
I didn’t think of it quite that harshly.
Dang Jung closed his eyes and drew in a long breath, savoring the tea’s aroma. His long lashes fluttered slowly before he spoke again.
“I’ve summoned the Council of Elders.”
“The Council of Elders? Those retired gentlemen who can’t mind their own business?”
“…That’s not entirely wrong, though we’ve never been quite so meddlesome. Where do you learn such talk?”
Oh—you’re an elder yourself.
I glanced at him nervously, but Dang Jung didn’t seem to mind at all. He sipped his tea and continued.
“Lazy dogs, most of them, but they’ll come crawling if this old man calls.”
“I see. Must be something important, then.”
Dang Jung answered as if it were obvious.
“It is important—it’s the first time you’ll appear before the Council of Elders.”
So this is… wait, that’s not all you meant to say, is it?
“Yes?”
“You’ll be coming with me. Prepare yourself.”
“Yes?”
At this absurd declaration, I let the teacup slip from my hands and it fell to the ground.
“Your grip is still weak. You need to eat more meat.”
Dang Jung caught the teacup I’d dropped with ease, tutting softly as he spoke.
I only let it slip because you startled me with such strange talk.
“But won’t it draw attention if I meet the Council of Elders? You said I should keep a low profile.”
“I’m bringing you precisely so you’ll be noticed. Everyone needs to see that this old man is taking you under his wing.”
“But suddenly—what does that even—”
“I’ll move the Council of Elders to demand your Formal Admission to the clan. You’re the one I’ve chosen as heir to this Poison King—it must be done properly.”
Dang Jung’s gaze drifted to the scar on my neck, then away.
“When you suddenly appear, all eyes will turn to you. The more rumors swirl around you like a snowball growing, the more the others focus on your every move—the safer you become.”
He exhaled slowly before adding:
“Insignificant creatures won’t dare approach you.”
I stood there uncertainly, studying Dang Jung. There was so much I wanted to say, yet nothing felt right to voice.
It seemed he’d decided to change his approach because of what happened with Sim-yang.
I’d always known this day would come. I’d anticipated from the start that I couldn’t hide forever.
I opened and closed my mouth several times before finally finding my voice.
“What would you have me do?”
“Prove your worth before the Council of Elders. That is your first task as a recognized member of the Dang Clan.”
Proof of Worth.
The weight of those words pressed down on me. I swallowed hard and answered:
“Yes, grandfather.”
“Then prepare yourself at once. Lady Jin is waiting inside.”
“……Grandfather. You mean prepare right now?”
“Strike while the iron’s hot. There’s no use dragging things out. Go on in.”
Good grief—couldn’t you at least warn me a day in advance?
I yelped and bolted into the pavilion.
* * *
The preparations began with a bath.
Lady Jin immersed me in warm orchid-scented water, then unbound my hair and rinsed it with a decoction of hibiscus leaves, combing through the tangles with a fine-toothed comb, strand by strand.
I stiffened awkwardly.
Until yesterday she’d been my superior—now she was attending to me. The discomfort made me squirm in the bath.
Noticing how rigid I’d become, Lady Jin asked gently:
“Is something uncomfortable, miss? Shall I warm the water?”
Your tone is what’s making me uncomfortable.
Reading her expression carefully, I ventured softly:
“The temperature is fine, but… Lady Jin, would you mind speaking more casually with me?”
“I’m afraid not. You must grow accustomed to being attended to. Lower your own speech as well.”
She corrected me in a stern voice.
Do you realize how strange it is for me to hear respectful language from my friend’s mother?
In any case, Lady Jin was practiced at bathing others and made swift work of scrubbing away the accumulated grime.
“Please close your eyes, miss.”
The moment I shut them, I felt something thick brush my face. As my skin tightened, my eyebrows were plucked out in a rush.
“Ow, that hurts!”
“Please hold still. It will be over soon.”
Despite my cries, Lady Jin’s cruel fingers didn’t pause—if anything, she worked faster, scrubbing away the fine hair on my face.
Before I could recover from the shock of my skin being stripped raw, she lifted me from the bath and wrapped me in a pristine undergown.
She broke eggs preserved in wine into a large bowl, then began applying the mixture to my face with a broad brush.
The sour smell of wine mingled with raw egg made my nose twitch, and Lady Jin spoke curtly:
“Don’t frown. It will cause wrinkles.”
I clenched my eyes shut and held my breath. Each waft of the smell threatened to make me sneeze.
Once the egg mask dried stiff on my face, Lady Jin washed it away with fresh water.
Still not satisfied, she drenched a silk cloth in a pale liquid and pressed it against my face.
If the smell had made breathing difficult before, now the cloth covered my nostrils entirely.
Isn’t this torture?
I flared my nostrils, desperately hoping this ordeal would end soon.
At last, Lady Jin peeled away the silk and applied a rice powder moistened with water to my face evenly with a soft cotton pad.
Next came rouge made from safflower, which she rubbed onto my lips and then applied to both cheeks.
“You won’t need kohl for your eyes.”
Having combed and arranged my eyebrows, Lady Jin used a towel to squeeze the water from my long hair.
Drying the length and styling it with oil was an agonizingly slow process.
Just as I was beginning to nod off, Lady Jin finished with my hair and roused me.
“Miss, allow me to help you change.”
I gasped in admiration at the brilliant Green Palace Robe, but the moment I slipped my arms through, a groan escaped me at the weight pressing down on my body.
The silk layers were heavy enough on their own, and the sleeves were so long I could barely control my arms.
Who in their right mind wears something like this?
To make matters worse, the hem dragging on the floor kept catching under my feet. As I stumbled over my own skirt, Madam Jin rushed to steady me.
“Miss, please hold onto me.”
After Madam Jin arranged my clothes so the hem wouldn’t drag, she opened the door. I stepped outside carefully, trying not to tread on my skirt.
Dang Jung looked satisfied when he saw me.
“Good. Now that you’re cleaned up, you’re presentable enough. Well done.”
He gave credit to Madam Jin, then approached me with a large needle in hand.
It looked to be well over a hand’s length, and a chill ran down my spine.
“G-grandfather? What are you going to do with that?”
“Pierce your ears, of course.”
Dang Jung replied as though I’d asked something obvious.
If you use that thing, you’ll make a nostril, not an earlobe.
“It’s far too thick. Won’t it hurt?”
“You worry too much. It won’t hurt. If you’re truly afraid, just close your eyes.”
Dang Jung dismissed my objection and leaned toward me.
Please use a thinner needle instead.
I squeezed my eyes shut, unwilling to watch his approaching hands. The moment cool metal touched my earlobe, I felt a sharp prick.
“You can open your eyes now.”
Huh. It really didn’t hurt.
I opened my eyes and Madam Jin held a Bronze Mirror before my face. Jade Earrings worked in gold hung from both my ears.
Fascinated, I reached up to touch them, and Dang Jung chuckled softly.
“Dramatic child. Once I drape the Silk Shawl, you’ll be ready. Now, let’s go.”
He wrapped the thin silk around my shoulders and lifted me into his arms.
In the blink of an eye, Dang Jung bounded over dozens of walls and set me down before an unfamiliar pavilion.
I felt the aura emanating from within and my body instinctively tensed. I took a deep breath.
Beyond this door lay the elders who would test me.
Would I be able to endure it? My heart hammered with fear.
Sensing my anxiety, Dang Jung spoke softly to me.
“Child, no matter what happens, do not lose your composure. I will be at your back.”
He gave my hand a gentle squeeze, then released it and pushed the door open.
Creak—
With an eerie sound, the doors of the Council of Elders swung wide.

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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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