Surviving as the Sacheon Dang Clan’s Servant - Chapter 45

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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 45
Perhaps half a double hour had passed.
Just as I was growing accustomed to the piercing wail of the Flute, the door swung open.
“Father.”
Screep!
Dang Juyeop hastily lowered the Flute with a sharp squeal.
“Father, you’ve arrived?”
As I lifted my head, Dang Muhyeok entered the dining hall with an expressionless face.
Dang Muhyeok glanced around at those seated at the table, then frowned.
“Hwa-yeop and Chohui are nowhere to be seen.”
“Hwa-yeop went to Cheongseongsan. He said he was meeting an old friend. Chohui must be at the Iron Workshop.”
Dang Juyeop answered, his voice clearer than expected.
“What of Seho?”
“He went out to play with Jan. He said something about going somewhere with an elder of the Dang Clan.”
Dang Juhui, who had answered, transferred the extracted snake venom into a small bottle.
“Very well. Juhui, dispose of the snake. Everyone, let’s eat.”
Dang Muhyeok waved his hand, and the servants began bringing out the food.
At the same moment, the air grew thick and suffocating.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
This was supposed to be a gathering to strengthen the bonds of kinship. So why was no one speaking?
Though there were six people present, the only sound was the clink of dishes.
Even the normally talkative Dang Juhui remained silent like the rest.
Did Dang Muhyeok dislike conversation during meals? Or were they all simply at odds with one another?
The awkwardness made it hard to swallow.
Just as I set down my chopsticks, unable to bear the sensation of impending indigestion, the entrance suddenly burst open.
“You’re late,” Dang Muhyeok said flatly.
As I looked up, an exclamation escaped me unbidden.
A girl was walking toward us—one whose face proclaimed to anyone, regardless of whether they knew her station, “This is the Family Head’s daughter.”
Was this the mystery of genetics? She was stamped from the same mold as Dang Muhyeok, identical in every detail.
The sharp eyes, the upturned brows, that cutting presence like a cold wind—one hundred percent pure Dang Muhyeok’s daughter.
Where on earth had the mother’s genes gone?

“Sit,” Dang Muhyeok commanded with a tilt of his chin, and Dang Chohui took the empty seat without a word.
“You’ve been to the Iron Workshop again?”
Dang Muhyeok asked with visible displeasure. When Dang Chohui didn’t answer, he clicked his tongue as if he’d expected as much.
“How much longer do you intend to waste your time on this Night Work business? You are the Family Head’s daughter. You should bring honor to your father’s name, not shame.”
“Then cast me out. You’re already quite good at treating a child like she doesn’t exist.”
Dang Chohui’s defiant reply came with a quick, cutting glance toward me. Dang Muhyeok’s eyebrows trembled as words failed him.
I nearly spat out the lamb I’d been chewing.
Cough!
……Why was I catching the crossfire?
Dang Un quickly offered me a handkerchief, noticing my distress. I dabbed my mouth and glanced sidelong at Dang Chohui.
Now that I wasn’t distracted by her face, I could see why Dang Muhyeok was displeased.
Her clothes were shabby. Put kindly, she dressed simply; put harshly, she looked slovenly.
Unlike her brothers and sisters, who wore robes with wide sleeves, Dang Chohui’s sleeves were bound tightly at the wrist.
Her face was darkened, bare of any cosmetics, and her fingernails were blackened with metal dust.
Standing beside Dang Juhui, the contrast became even more striking.
While Dang Juhui wore elaborate hair ornaments, three jade rings, and pure gold earrings, Dang Chohui bore not a single bead of adornment.
To anyone who saw her for the first time, she would pass easily as a servant performing menial tasks—not as the Family Head’s daughter.
Even the servants of the Dang Clan dressed better than this. Their wages were decent, after all.
“Dang Chohui.”
“Yes?”
Despite the warning in his tone, Dang Chohui met her father’s gaze unflinching.
As the atmosphere began to turn hostile, Dang Juyeop quickly intervened.
“Sister, what did you forge today?”
“A sword.”
“Are you satisfied with the result?”

“Not bad.”
“Then would a Curved Knife I could actually use be…….”
“No.”
Before the words were even out, Dang Chohui refused, popping a dumpling into her mouth and chewing. Dang Juyeop shook his head in mock despair.
“Our Chohui really does have such a terrible temperament.”
That much was obvious.
Not only did her face match the Family Head’s, but her personality was a carbon copy too.
“Get out.”
“Get out? Such harsh words. My heart aches. Do show your brother a little kindness.”
Why does he talk like that?
Now that I thought about it, the conversation between the two of them sounded strange.
Dang Juyeop was clearly the elder, yet he addressed his younger sister with formal respect, and everyone seemed to accept this as perfectly natural.
Was he always like this?
Noticing my sidelong glance, Dang Juyeop’s narrow eyes crinkled as he smiled.
“Oh, my apologies for the tardy greeting. Did the youngest sister pass the night in comfort?”
……This bastard wasn’t joking about his act.
Our cultured gentleman had discovered a new plaything and begun studying me with that gleam in his eye.
“Does the meal suit your palate?”
“Yes, yes.”
I felt like I might get indigestion—please don’t talk to me.
“Here, do try this as well.”
Dang Juyeop served me another dish with an amiable smile. His oppressive kindness made sweat bead on my forehead.
“It’s fine. I’ll help myself.”
“You seem to be eating rather sparingly. Perhaps you’re having trouble digesting? If so, do try this.”
“What is it?”
“Something good for the body.”
Dang Juyeop produced a flask and poured its contents into a small cup. A sinister, pitch-black liquid sloshed within.
This doesn’t look good for the body at all. Is this poison? It looks like poison.
At my suspicious expression, Dang Juyeop laughed and shook his head.
“It’s a Digestive Aid. I drink it regularly myself.”
“Really?”
Uncertain, I accepted the cup he offered. It looked unsettling, but refusing felt awkward too.
Perhaps, just as Dang Juhui had shown a hint of good faith, Dang Juyeop was clumsily attempting the same.
Besides, no one was stopping me, so it probably wasn’t poison.
I glanced at Dang Un, and he nodded as if to say it was fine. I slowly raised the cup to my lips.
The taste was somewhere between bitter tea and mushroom broth, and my face screwed up involuntarily.
After rinsing my mouth with plain water, Dang Juyeop watched me with avid curiosity.
“How does it taste?”
“It doesn’t.”
“……You’re quite forthright.”
Dang Juyeop scratched his head as if taken aback.
Did he expect me to praise something tasteless?
Uncomfortable under his persistent gaze, I looked away—and he asked with an odd tone.
“You seem perfectly fine?”
“Pardon?”
“Hmm. Or perhaps the mixture was off?”
Dang Juyeop muttered, alternating his stare between me and the flask, then tilted it to his lips and drained it. Gulp. Gulp.
“No, it’s definitely Extreme Poison……. Ack, ack-cough!”
Then he collapsed backward, foaming at the mouth.
……What the hell?
He actually poisoned me, didn’t he? He poisoned me, I seemed fine, so he drank some himself to figure out why?
“Hey, hey? Brother Juyeop? Are you dead?”
I stared at Dang Juyeop with clouded eyes as his limbs trembled violently and foam spilled from his mouth.
Dang Muhyeok set down his chopsticks with obvious distaste.
“He’s not a child. How many times do I have to tell him not to pull poison out at the dinner table?”
Father, is that really the issue right now? Shouldn’t you be more concerned that he poisoned me, and you just let it happen?
The betrayal reached its peak when I looked at Dang Un’s serene face. Even as my gaze turned resentful, he remained calm.
“So Hye doesn’t develop immunity, so we left it be. Juyeop’s antics are rather endearing, wouldn’t you say?”
How is poisoning endearing? Or collapsing after drinking poison?
“Clean it up.”
Dang Chohui spoke flatly. Her tone was as if she were telling someone to move an object rather than a person, but no one bothered to point it out—they all seemed to be thinking the same thing.
I watched numbly as Dang Juyeop was carried away.
The Dang Clan really was a nest of madmen, no question about it.
* * *
Even after drinking the antidote at the Medicine Hall, Dang Juyeop didn’t regain consciousness.
When the Medicine Hall master brought a medicine bottle to his nose, he did open his eyes briefly.
“Ah… ah… Lord of the… I….”
But he soon lapsed into incomprehensible babbling before losing consciousness again.
Should we just leave him like this? Why isn’t anyone worried?
Unlike me, fretting over whether he might actually die, no one else seemed to view Dang Juyeop’s condition as serious.
I was the only one who had followed him to the Medicine Hall.
I fussed around his bedside with an anxious face. It felt wrong to just leave when someone had collapsed.
The Medicine Hall master, unable to bear it any longer, clicked his tongue and gestured me away.
“You’re pacing like a dog that needs to defecate—do you think an unconscious man wakes up because of that? Go on, be off with you.”
“He’s really not going to die, right?”
He won’t die, I’m telling you. He’ll be lying there for two Double Hours anyway. Don’t waste time—go tend to your business.”
Geunmyeong had said he’d supervise afternoon training, so I needed to be heading out. After wavering, I put on my shoes.
That’s when someone kicked open the Medicine Hall door and burst in.
“Family Head! Is older brother Juyeop here?”
“Don’t run. I’ve told you to be quiet in the Medicine Hall.”
“He hasn’t woken up yet, right? When older brother passed out, I need to draw on his face!”
The boy, brushing off the Medicine Hall master’s rebuke lightly, stepped up onto the floor with long strides. He carried an inkstone and brush in his arms.
I was puzzling over where I’d seen his face before when I realized he was Dang Seho, the Family Head’s youngest son.
“Tsk, tsk—planning to draw pictures on a patient’s face.”
“Last time, older brother drew a beard on my face. I have to return the favor exactly.”
The Medicine Hall master, clicking his tongue at such shameless reasoning, turned away.
“I want no part of it. Do as you like.”
…These kids really know how to have fun. Even elementary schoolers wouldn’t play like that.
Watching the situation unfold, I had a feeling that if I got tangled up with that boy, nothing but trouble would come of it.
I tried to slip past Dang Seho, pretending not to notice…….
“Wait a moment.”
My escape failed.
Damn. I’m done for.
I turned my head slowly, and Dang Seho’s eyes—his hand still gripping my shoulder—narrowed.
“It’s you?”
“Pardon?”
“The youngest one Jong Hyeonjo brought. Is that you?”
Dang Seho glared at me with eyes full of wariness.
I awkwardly rolled my eyes.

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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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