The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 59

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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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A Crumbling Prestigious Family’s Limited-Time Oath — Episode 59

“No, Mother. I was just curious what Ryeon wanted to do, so I followed her. Even if it’s only been a month, I’m still her older sister.”
“That’s right! You are the eldest grandchild, and the eldest grandchild is you!”
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo seized her daughter’s hands and cried out.
In any case, Dan Mok Seong was the firstborn of this generation in the family, so calling her the eldest grandchild wasn’t entirely wrong, was it?
“M-madam.”
While Seok Ban An carefully tried to calm Dan Mok Hyeon Yo, Dan Mok Seong continued.
“Actually, on the way back from sightseeing, I wanted to buy gifts for our parents, but I ran into someone from the Geum Ga Jang, and so…….”
“Goodness, you don’t need to buy anything at all, my precious daughter! What matters most to this mother is that our girl had a wonderful time.”
Still, she’d only followed her cousin wherever she wanted to go. Dan Mok Hyeon Yo’s heart ached a little.
“Next time I’ll buy jewelry for Ryeon too, something similar to mine…….”
“You don’t need to buy her that.”
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo suddenly spoke in a grave tone.
“Pardon?”
Dan Mok Seong’s eyes widened. Seok Ban An looked equally surprised, and Dan Mok Hyeon Yo felt somewhat embarrassed, but she didn’t take back her words.
Yet Dan Mok Seong earnestly contradicted her.
“Still, since I’m her older sister by a month, I should take care of things like jewelry. Ryeon has only been awake for about a year now, so in a way she’s still a one-year-old child.”
“Quite the wealthy one-year-old, I’d say.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ve seen how much money that girl earned this time. She’s the richest among us.”
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo pouted her lips and grumbled. But Dan Mok Seong shook her head with a serious expression.
“Just because my younger sister is rich doesn’t mean I shouldn’t give her gifts.”
“Well…… that is true, but. Sigh, how can our daughter be so kind? Who raised her so well, hmm?”
“You and Father did.”
“Oh my. Darling, did you hear what the child just said?”
“I did, madam.”
Seok Ban An smiled gently. As a serene, sculptured beauty graced his face with an untroubled smile, Dan Mok Hyeon Yo’s heart softened.
‘That’s right…… what does it matter if the girl practices martial arts a bit in her childhood, winning and losing here and there?’
Seeing how she didn’t even dislike such studies but threw herself into them willingly filled her with pride.
And the fact that Dan Mok Ryeon had earned all that money…….
‘It’s her money anyway. She earned it with her own effort—it’s not as if I spent my own funds. Since she’s putting it toward the family, that’s good enough.’
Only the comment that Vice-Patriarch Seol Gwan Hui made—as if he’d already marked Ryeon as the family’s successor—nagged at her heart, but she chose to understand it.
‘How exhausted he must have been all this time?’
Managing the family’s estates meant money only flowed outward, never in. His blood must have been drained dry.
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo thought of his ash-gray hair and inwardly clicked her tongue in sympathy.
In such circumstances, to his eyes, Dan Mok Ryeon bearing the Silver Ingot Chest must have looked like the Moon Palace Hangar itself.
Then she too would earn money and do her part. Though Dan Mok Hyeon Yo had focused solely on establishing her footing in the martial realm until now, that work had borne no fruit, and she resolved to heed her father’s wish to concentrate on family affairs.
“Darling.”
“Yes, madam.”
While the child buried herself in a book on Daoism again, Dan Mok Hyeon Yo called quietly to Seok Ban An.
“What if we started some sort of business venture to increase our family’s wealth?”
Seok Ban An fell silent for a moment, then drew that serene, sculptured smile once more.
“Madam, don’t we both lack any talent whatsoever for commerce?”
“Well…… that is true, but. Are we truly without any aptitude at all?”
“If I had any, I suppose I would have inherited the Pungrim Trading House.”
“Isn’t running a trading house a bit different from conducting commerce?”
“Whether one sells money or goods, the broader logic is much the same, is it not?”
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo was about to ask again, ‘But truly, do we really seem so talentless?’ and stopped herself.
She and Seok Ban An loved each other deeply and held nothing back between them.
“Isn’t what your father expects of you not earning money, but rather taking on new disciples? To take on disciples means clothing them, feeding them, and teaching them—so our duty is to prepare this household with care, is it not?”
“No one in this family spends money quite as skillfully as I do. But Ryeon is already out there earning her share…….”
Seok Ban An was taken slightly aback.
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo, born into a prestigious martial family of renown, had never once thought she needed to earn money.
To her, money was something that simply appeared, one way or another.
Even Dan Mok Hyeon Yo speaking like this—it seemed her nephew’s earnings this time were truly of an extraordinary scale.
“Would you like me to send a letter to your brother asking if there are any promising business opportunities?”
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo deliberated for a long while before shaking her head.
“No. You’re right, Merchant. My task isn’t to bring in money—it’s to do precisely what Father has commanded. I should focus on bringing in the new disciples.”
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo brushed her hair back as she spoke.
Without her having lifted a finger, something in the family had shifted and changed, and the first thing she felt was a profound sense of loss. Then, for reasons she couldn’t quite name, came a strange lightness.
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo was startled by even that fleeting feeling and shook the thought away.

* * *

Dan Mok Ryeon gathered every Daoist text in the family’s library and stacked them beside her as she read through them.
Of all of them, there were only two copies of the family’s Daoist technique, the Black Wind Danheon Sword, transcribed with precision.
Considering that the Twelve Stars Falling Blade had dozens of manuscript copies, two was remarkably few. She and Dan Mok Sung divided them, each carrying one.
‘Perhaps the family had one person stumble upon it by chance, and after seeing that person read it, a guardian kept one copy for verification purposes—hence only two copies in total?’
Dan Mok Bi tried to follow what her sister was doing but dozed off beside her.
“Want help with that form, Cousin?”
Hwa Ryun, who had been playing nearby with Dan Mok Ryeon’s fan, waving it back and forth, asked the question.
Dan Mok Ryeon, struggling to understand the postures and principles described in the text and moving her arm at an awkward angle, glanced sidelong at Hwa Ryun.
“I thought it’d be good if I learned how to practice the Dao while we’re at it. Here it says to…… ah!”
Dan Mok Ryeon quickly grasped the system of arm movement and, instead of looking back at the text, turned her gaze to Hwa Ryun.
Hwa Ryun’s eyes rippled faintly as he looked at her.
“What if that cousin gets even stronger and becomes the Patriarch?”
“If I want to be Patriarch, I just have to become stronger than Sung-ah.”
“You won’t become Patriarch, then?”
Hwa Ryun caught the subtle implication in Dan Mok Ryeon’s words and asked with something like surprise in his voice.
Dan Mok Ryeon sprawled backward, snatched the fan from Hwa Ryun’s hand, and waved it as she replied.
“I could become it, or I couldn’t.”
“Then what would you do instead?”
His tone suggested that without that, there was nothing left in life worth doing.
Dan Mok Ryeon rustled the fan, watching Hwa Ryun through it.

Hwa Ryun
Characteristic: Heavenly Demon Wavelength Synchronization / Partial Synchronization Failed.
Martial Arts: Partial Synchronization Failed.
Aptitude and Talent: Partial Synchronization Failed.
Worries: Partial Synchronization Failed.

Still nothing synchronized, only his name and that single characteristic remained visible, stays with me in her mind.
‘My chest feels heavy.’
“Live longer?”
“……?”
Hwa Ryun furrowed his brow—as if he’d heard something absurd. This time Dan Mok Ryeon struck back.
“I was more worried about you. Always saying nothing’s fun anymore. At least now you’re learning martial arts—I’m grateful for that much.”
“You were worried about me?”
Dan Mok Ryeon got that far before suddenly sitting up straight. Hwa Ryun’s expression was both amused and bewildered.
“It’s not what I’ll do that worries me. It’s what you’ll do. That’s what really concerns this sister of yours.”
As Dan Mok Ryeon spoke with a sigh, Hwa Ryun blinked, his eyes widening.
“But… why would you worry about what a servant will do?”
“You’re not a servant—you’re my younger brother. That’s why you call me sister.”
“……Hmm.”
Hwa Ryun let out a small cough, and Dan Mok Ryeon recognized that the boy felt a bit shy, but she didn’t tease him about it.
“No one else has ever said anything like that to me.”
“Other people are… just other people.”
Hwa Ryun treated her in a way that defied belief he was a mere orphan servant, but whenever others were around, he was tactful enough to play the part.
Thanks to that, neither Nurse Jang nor anyone else in the household harbored any complaints or concerns about his behavior.
Who would worry about the future of a mere servant doing his work properly?
“Anyway, you’ve decided to learn martial arts. The same as Dan Mok Bi.”
“Right. So I’m at least relieved about that.”
“Do you really want me to learn martial arts, sister?”
Hwa Ryun’s question seemed to weigh something carefully, but Dan Mok Ryeon nodded without hesitation. Despite having had this conversation several times before, there was no trace of weariness in her response.

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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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