The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 25

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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 Fallen Family’s Doomed Pact — Episode 25

“…Uncle.”
“I’ll call a physician right now—wait, did I do something wrong? I must have. I think I made a mistake, Ryun.”
“Uncle. Have you seen the baby ducks? The mallards in the pond at Wol Young Jae.”
“I think I may have seen them before.”
“They’re hideous. Small, dark, with feathers all sticking up.”
Dan Mok Hyun-u listened blankly for a moment, then burst into laughter. His niece—always composed and mature beyond her years—was pouting about how ugly the ducklings were, and something swelled in his chest.
“No, no. That’s not it at all. They’re adorable, truly.”
“Uncle, this isn’t about aesthetics. I’m talking about actual ducks.”
Ryun gestured with both hands, shaping the duck’s form in empty air as she pressed her point, but Dan Mok Hyun-u only laughed, his neck flushing red. He laughed for a very long time.

“What do you think of this?”
Ryun merely blinked at Dan Mok Hyun-u, who had arrived nearly at dawn.
The whites of his eyes were webbed with red veins—he hadn’t slept.
“Uncle? Are you all right?”
“I’ve drawn some pictures.”
“What sort of pictures?”
Ryun took the papers Dan Mok Hyun-u held out as he knelt before her, examining them with both hands. Her eyes widened.
There were several sheets—sketches rendered in broad, confident brushstrokes, each depicting a bird perched by the water’s edge. The beaks were painted in a vivid yellow pigment.
“Uncle…”
“What do you think?”
He spoke as though asking whether they weren’t pleasing enough, skilled enough, charming enough. Ryun couldn’t help but smile.
“The Blue Lotus Water has its own efficacy. What if we carved it into the base of the vessel instead of the front?”
“You mean emboss this duck design in relief on the front when we cast the bottle?”
“…Do you like the drawing?”
“This one. There’s a large duck and a small duck.”
Ryun drew the last sheet to the front. All of Dan Mok Hyun-u’s pictures were fine, but this final one held a special tenderness—in the plump rendering of the body, in the way the beaks faced each other.
“Though first, I should ask Seol Gwan-hui’s opinion.”
“…You mean the steward Seol Gwan-hui of Jae Gyeong Gak?”
“Yes. He’s the one in our Fallen Family who best understands how to earn and spend money.”
“…And if Steward Seol says no?”
“Then we carve it only on the base of the vessel.”
“Excellent! Excellent!”
Dan Mok Hyun-u grinned widely.
And when Seol Gwan-hui first saw Ryun appear suddenly before him, he seemed taken aback, but after hearing their sketches and plans explained in earnest detail, he clapped his hands and nodded decisively.

* * *

When the year turned and Ryun’s residence moved to Wol Young Jae, she unpacked her belongings in an empty room, laying out several of her own garments that hadn’t yet been transferred.
After much deliberation, she selected three or four outfits. The nursemaid Jang, standing nearby, looked slightly disappointed.
“But these are still such lovely dresses…”
“I don’t feel the cold much, so it’s fine. And they’re getting a bit small for me anyway.”
It was true. Even in the dead of winter, Ryun rarely complained of cold. Her nose might redden slightly in the chill wind, but nothing more.
“Your constitution is weak, though.”
“I have plenty of other coats.”
Ryun smiled and waved the matter away. Nursemaid Jang hesitated a few times more before gathering up the garments.
Dan Mok-bi was drawing water from the small pond created before Ryun’s quarters into a jar, preparing to move it along with her.
Hwa Ryun, who had been doing little more than standing by as assistant, rushed over when he saw Nursemaid Jang collecting Ryun’s clothes.
“What are you going to do with those dresses?”
“Sell them to buy dumpling flour. The Second Month Full Moon is coming soon—I’ll distribute dumplings in the streets that day.”
At Ryun’s words, Hwa Ryun’s eyes widened.
“You’re not holding a feast?”
“What feast?”
“Your young lady’s birthday celebration.”
This time Hwa Ryun’s eyes widened. The Fallen Family hadn’t prepared a separate celebration, so how could he possibly know about her birthday?
“Oh! Ryun, have you ever eaten those dumplings before?”
The dumplings she spoke of were the ones the Fallen Family made and distributed on the streets every year on her birthday.
Since her daughter was ill, they couldn’t hold a celebration—instead, they performed good deeds in hopes of her recovery.
The Fallen Family’s circumstances weren’t so fortunate that they could do more than distribute a single dumpling to each household in the impoverished districts.
“Well…… yes.”
“Really?”
Hwa Ryun was genuinely astonished. She’d never imagined there could be such a connection.
‘The young master of Ma Cheon Gyo once ate dumplings from our house, long ago?’
“Why are you so surprised when you’re the one who distributed them?”
Certainly, if she stopped people passing near the Fallen Family’s residence and asked, two or three out of every ten would say they’d eaten those dumplings—but Hwa Ryun had never actually met someone who had.
“So there really are such things as connections…….”
“All that over a single dumpling…… In any case, they were delicious.”
Hwa Ryun seemed somewhat embarrassed and spoke quickly without meeting her eyes. Hwa Ryun marveled repeatedly, then closed her eyes and laughed.
“Then I suppose I recovered safely thanks to you, Ryun.”
“Why would you say that to the person who gave you the dumplings?”
“When I distributed them, I asked them to help me get better—and look, I’m well now. It must all be because you ate them so thoroughly, Ryun.”
As she spoke, she reached out to ruffle Hwa Ryun’s hair, but he looked up at her with a frown.
“If someone comes to you claiming your sister recovered because they ate the dumplings well and demands you give them something, you should throw them out immediately. Understood?”
……
“I’m serious.”
“I know…….”
“Regardless, shouldn’t you have a birthday celebration this year? Even if you don’t hold one, do you have enough money left to scatter dumplings in the streets?”
Hwa Ryun dodged her question with a counter-question. Hwa Ryun swallowed hard for a moment.
“……We have plenty! The advance payment for the Blue Lotus Water came in.”
Moreover, once the Blue Lotus Water began selling, even if not in large quantities at first, money would start circulating.
If Gyeon Eon-jo’s third son performed well as expected, she could anticipate far greater profits than she’d initially thought.
She’d spoken dismissively to Gyeon Eon-jo—that the Blue Lotus Water would sell if it sold, and if not, so be it—but truthfully, Hwa Ryun very much wanted it to succeed.
That hope was precisely why she’d conceived the idea of using a Top Examination Passer as her advertisement, someone with a guaranteed future.
But she didn’t intend to rely solely on that. The Blue Lotus Water was merely a small beginning.
‘From now on, I’ll revive the Fallen Family somehow, earn more money, do many things…….’
“So you won’t hold a birthday celebration?”
“Well, that’s…….”
Hwa Ryun scratched her cheek. Her mother, Wi Ji-cheong, had mentioned the idea of a birthday celebration, but it was Hwa Ryun herself who’d declined.
She’d suggested using the money that would have gone toward the celebration to continue distributing dumplings each year instead.
To be honest, she’d distributed dumplings in hopes of her recovery, and now that she was well, wouldn’t people think those times when she was ill were better if the dumplings stopped coming?
Even if it was just a humble dumpling handed out once a year.
But only now did it occur to her that young boys like Hwa Ryun might look forward to a celebration held by the Fallen Family more than a free dumpling.
Just as Hwa Ryun was about to soothe his disappointment, he suddenly waved his hand in protest.
“That’s not what I meant—I didn’t say I wanted a celebration.”
“Ryun, let’s hold a celebration for your birthday!”
“No, I’m saying I don’t want a celebration.”
“When is our Ryun’s birthday? Once I earn a lot of money, I’ll throw you the most magnificent birthday celebration imaginable. Just keep your promise.”
“What promise?”
“The one about staying here. Did you forget it already?”
“Oh, that.”
Hwa Ryun gave a half-hearted acknowledgment.
“So when is your birthday, Ryun?”
“I don’t know.”
Hwa Ryun had been about to beg him to stop joking and tell her, but she quickly closed her mouth.
According to Wi Ji-cheong, Hwa Ryun was an orphan with no blood relatives whatsoever.
A boy who’d become a servant of the Fallen Family, with no relatives desperate enough to exploit him for scraps. It was natural that he wouldn’t know his birthday.
‘When was Hwa Ryun’s birthday?’
Even when she tried hard to recall old memories, nothing came to mind.
No matter how intertwined Black Heaven Lotus and Ma Cheon Gyo and Baek Do Maeng were through the Martial Alliance, there would never be a birthday celebration for the young master of Ma Cheon Gyo held in the heart of Baek Do Maeng.
‘Perhaps they celebrated it among themselves.’
“Hmm, is that so? Then shall we create a birthday for you?”
“Do as you wish.”
“Then how about the Ninth Month Full Moon?”
Hwa Ryun nodded.
‘He really has no interest at all…….’
Ryeon sighed inwardly and tilted his head toward the window. Characters appeared on the paper-covered pane, shimmering into view.

Hwa Ryun
Martial Skills: Partial synchronization failed.
Talent and Perception: Partial synchronization failed.
Thoughts: Partial synchronization failed.

Ryeon’s lips twitched briefly before he smiled awkwardly. Hwa Ryun asked him why he was grinning like he’d just eaten a sour grape, then Dan Mok-bi, who had been carrying water from the pond, finally clicked her tongue at the sight of him eating sesame seeds straight from the jar and walked past.
‘So he really didn’t have a birthday after all, but to change it so completely in one go…….’
Ryeon’s gaze moved to the last line.

Remarks: Birthday—Ninth Month Full Moon

Hwa Ryun had a birthday now. Assigned just as she had determined.

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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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