The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 114

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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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The Decline of a Great Clan: A Limited Lifespan — Episode 114

“Oh, Seo Jin, would you like to eat with me?”
“No, thank you. The elders will be waiting…….”
Nam Gung Seo Jin shook his head eagerly at the mere suggestion from Dan Mok Ryeon, offered a respectful bow, and turned to leave.
Dan Mok Bi, who seemed displeased that Dan Mok Ryeon had extended the dinner invitation to Nam Gung Seo Jin, pursed her lips—but the moment he departed, she let out a laugh.

* * *

“What is this? There’s dirt all over it.”
“Ah, well, it’s just…….”
By the time the evening Self-Directed Cultivation Training wrapped up—the session Dan Mok Ryeon had managed to draw in even the Nam Gung clan brothers—children who had been hesitant before came seeking to join in as well.
Since all the children of renowned clans were doing it, other families pushed their own forward to participate in the training too.
One child among them timidly brought a basket as a gift.
Ak So Hyeong rifled through the basket and tossed out one of the lumps inside without ceremony.
“It’s a sweet potato—they’re delicious roasted…… or steamed…….”
The deflated child mumbled a meek reply to Ak So Hyeong’s grumbling.
“What am I supposed to do with this right now?”
It was then that Dan Mok Seong, who had been watching the scene quietly, suddenly interjected.
“If you’re going to roast them, just build a fire in the courtyard and cook them there.”
“Ah, well…….”
When Dan Mok Seong, whose strikingly radiant face bore a striking resemblance to Dan Mok Hyeon Yo, spoke in her usual cold manner, there were few peers who could respond to her with composure.
Both the child who had brought the sweet potatoes and Ak So Hyeong flinched, their shoulders shrinking back.
“You there! Go build a bonfire here.”
When Dan Mok Seong pointed to a servant standing nearby, the servant hesitated—but seeing Nam Gung Seo Geon nod in approval, he quickly brought kindling and tinder.
‘Seong has a softer heart than she lets on.’
The child who had brought something simply to feel part of the group was growing withdrawn, and there was no way to simply leave him like that—that must have been her reasoning.
“All right, since we have sweet potatoes for once, let’s roast them properly. We brought a jar of honey, didn’t we?”
The honey had been brought because it served as medicine. Dan Mok Cheon Gi believed Dan Mok Ryeon’s health was fragile, and Dan Mok Ryeon believed she should bring along extra supplies for a journey with an elder.
“Is it all right to use it?”
Dan Mok Seong asked softly, almost whispering. Dan Mok Ryeon nodded.
“We can buy more after this. If only we had ghee

as well…….”
Ghee was made by churning milk for a long time and gathering only the butterfat together.
It was used both as medicine and as a food ingredient, prized for its rich fragrance and deep flavor. But since it took considerable time and effort to make, it too was expensive.
“Ghee? The kind used in medicine as well?”
Nam Gung Seo Geon, who had been watching the scene in silence, interjected. When Dan Mok Ryeon nodded, Nam Gung Seo Geon gestured to a servant—a signal to bring it.
“Really? Is that all right?”
Dan Mok Ryeon asked in surprise, and Nam Gung Seo Geon shrugged.
“What’s the cost of such a thing? You said it tastes good when eaten together, didn’t you?”
And so an unexpected sweet potato roast began.
Dan Mok Ryeon placed a thin iron plate over the bonfire, laid several washed sweet potatoes on top, and began roasting them over the flames.
The faces of the children huddled close to the bonfire flushed red from the heat.
These were children who could eat dirt once they got going, yet gathered at night to watch the sweet potatoes cook, swallowing hard with each passing moment.
As the crop touched the fire and roasted, a rich, sweet aroma drifted through the air.
“I’ve never eaten anything like this before…….”
“But wait, this comes from the dirt, doesn’t it? Is it really safe to eat?”
At Ak So Hyeong’s words, Mo Yong Seol Ho raised an eyebrow.
“You’ve never eaten a sweet potato before?”
“O-of course I have! I definitely have!”
“Then you don’t know how sweet potatoes are dug up?”
Ak So Hyeong’s face flushed deeply. To him, food simply appeared in the kitchen; he had never thought to wonder where it came from, and the truth was he still didn’t know.
“If you don’t want to eat it, then don’t.”
“No, who said I wasn’t eating!”
Ak So Hyeong let out a sharp cry. In that moment, Geum Jong Ha pressed close to Ryeon’s side, mimicking her every move.
“So you slip the Ghee

mixed with honey into the cuts in the sweet potato?”
“Yeah, that’s the idea… but, um, is it really okay to use all of this?”
Ryeon nodded to Geum Jong Ha, then glanced cautiously toward Nam Gung Seo Geon before asking. Nam Gung Seo Geon smiled warmly.
“Of course. Don’t worry. Want me to bring more if we run short?”
‘What does it matter anyway….’
After spending a few days together, Ryeon had come to read Nam Gung Seo Geon with little difficulty.
Why he’d been so affectionate at first, why he’d suddenly turned cold, why he was now kind yet distant all at once.
Nam Gung Seo Geon had assumed she was in a position much like his own.
Scraping together meager talents to play the role of Successor, checking talented younger siblings and cousins below while being crushed by the expectations of elders above. He’d thought she lived the same way.
But when they actually spent time together, Ryeon got along warmly not just with cousins and siblings, but even with the collateral branches.
Once he confirmed that, he’d grown cold as if betrayed, and now had simply decided to treat her as a guest.
‘Good grief. Is he just being a teenager?’
He was only a few years older than her in body, after all.
“Watch out for the fire! We don’t have Water Fire Invulnerability

or anything like that yet!”
“Huh? Oh, oh….”
Ryeon, who’d been reaching into the campfire to retrieve the half-roasted sweet potato, stood frozen, staring blankly at the sparks shooting up. In that moment, Geum Jong Ha cried out beside her with even greater alarm.
‘What was that just now?’
Ryeon recalled the sparks that had passed by her. They had moved strangely, as if deliberately avoiding her fingertips.
“How much longer should this sweet potato with the Ghee cook like this?”
But to Peng Ju Ran’s question, Ryeon stirred from her thoughts and returned the sweet potato to the fire, answering him.
“About one quarter hour more?”
“A whole quarter hour?”
“A true martial artist must learn to wait.”
Mo Yong Seol Ho answered sternly. Ak So Hyeong made a sour face but held his tongue, eyes fixed on the sweet potato.
Once the exterior had been roasted until it was crisp and the interior had absorbed the Ghee until moist, the moment they split it in half, a thick sweet aroma and fragrant richness rose with hot steam into the spring night air, which still held a cool breath.
Busy burning their mouths while eating hastily, soot from the roasted sweet potato skin smudged across the children’s flushed cheeks in uneven streaks.
“Mmph, ah, it’s hot, it’s hot~!”
“It’s delicious….”
“This is incredibly good!”
Even Nam Gung Seo Geon, who’d been treating Ryeon with that ambiguous, grudging kindness, and Nam Gung Seo Jin, who was always timid, stood side by side, blowing on their sweet potatoes and lost in indulgence.
“Oof, it’s so hot….”
When Nam Gung Seo Jin took an overeager bite and his face twisted in pain at burning his tongue, Nam Gung Seo Geon even turned to his younger brother with a worried expression.
Startled by his own concern, he quickly looked away again as if nothing had happened.
“Seo Jin, does it hurt badly? You should eat slowly. Here—have a little cold milk.”
As Ryeon spoke gently to Nam Gung Seo Jin and soothed him, Nam Gung Seo Geon watched with a complicated expression.
Just then, Dan Mok Bi, who’d been standing a little distance away, came running up.
“Sister, sister! I’m also hot. It’s hot, it’s really hot!”
Dan Mok Bi, who always listened faithfully when her sister spoke, was indeed eating her sweet potato slowly to cool it, but she was just as diligent in capturing her sister’s attention—she took a bite and came running.
As Ryeon turned her eyes toward Dan Mok Bi in surprise, Nam Gung Seo Jin’s face fell slightly, looking a little forlorn.
Nam Gung Seo Geon hesitated for a moment, then finally let out a sigh and summoned a servant to fetch a cup of cold milk.
Nam Gung Seo Jin looked at his older brother in disbelief, then sniffled as he sipped from the cup he’d been handed.
Nam Gung Seo Geon shook his head slowly, then made eye contact with Ryeon before quickly looking away.

“You and your brother are on good terms.”
Nam Gung Seo Geon’s shoulders stiffened. Ryeon had come over to hand him the leftover Ghee from roasting the sweet potato.
“…Not really…that good.”
She’d expected him to answer ‘Because he’s my younger brother,’ so Ryeon looked at him with a start.
Standing in the shadow away from the campfire, Nam Gung Seo Geon glanced at her with a somewhat dark expression and said.
“You’re lucky.”
“Lucky at what?”
“You have talent, and you get along well with your younger sister—you have nothing to worry about.”
‘Is this coming out of nowhere? Some miracle of the training grounds?’
Ryeon discreetly glanced back and forth between the campfire and Nam Gung Seo Geon.
It seemed that lighting a fire in the dead of night was an eternal truth that made people sentimental.
“You’ll become the clan head as things are now, later become the Family Head, or something like that.”
Dan Mok Ryeon touched her cheek. Nam Gung Seo Geon had always carried himself with such gentleness and composure—but he’d apparently decided to drop the act around her, his voice now tinged with amusement.

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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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