The Youngest Son of the Eunhae Merchant Group - Chapter 124

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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 Youngest Son of the Eunhae Trading Company – Chapter 124

Chapter 124. The Truth Revealed (5)

I made my way toward the Training Ground with Palgap, the Guard Warriors, and Dang Su-bin.
The Punishment Assembly was about to convene.
But then Tang Jo-ung came to the Separate Pavilion, insisting he would accompany me.
“I will protect Young Master!”
He clenched his fists and shouted those words, yet my conscience pricked at me.
I’m sorry, Jo Ung.
As I headed toward the Training Ground, I encountered Dang Jun-ryeong Commander. Yet his expression remained as composed as ever.
Seeing this, Lee Pil Warrior spoke to him.
“You don’t seem concerned about the Grand Matriarch.”
“Concerned? Why should I worry about Mother?”
…!
At his unexpected words, I wondered if I had misheard.
“Mother is the one who made the mistake, not me. Tsk tsk, why did she act so recklessly….”
He clicked his tongue in disapproval, offered me a respectful bow, and proceeded toward the Training Ground where the Punishment Assembly was being held. I was left utterly speechless.
I hadn’t misheard after all.
What excellent parenting indeed.
Dang Su-bin, standing beside me, wore an expression no different from my own.
“I’ve never seen him act like this before….”

We arrived at the Training Ground and took our seats in the prepared chairs.
Beside me sat Lee Pil Warrior and the others who had been present at the scene of my staged poisoning incident.
And before me sat Dang Su-bin.
Soon, members of the Dongbaek Council arrived, and the Punishment Assembly began.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
At that sound, everyone’s attention focused on the House Master.
“We shall now commence the Punishment Assembly. Bring forth the accused.”
“Yes, sir!”
Soon, warriors from the Punishment Division brought Gogyeon Lady along with her maidservants and handmaidens.
She had grown quite haggard in just a single night.
“Report the charges against the accused.”
At those words, the House Master’s Deputy Officer unrolled a scroll and began reading the charges.
This time, unlike a denunciation by someone else, it concerned the events that had actually occurred, so the proceedings differed.
“Gogyeon Lady placed poison in Lee Pil Warrior’s pastry, and that poison was consumed by Eun Seo-ho…”
The Deputy Officer finished speaking and rolled up the scroll.
The House Master turned his head and spoke.
“The accused shall now refute these charges.”
Gogyeon Lady protested vehemently.
“I am innocent. I did not place poison in Lee Pil Warrior’s pastry.”
“Then you claim you have never done such a thing?”
“Of course. All I ever put in was things like gold dust and… wait!”
She covered her mouth, but everyone who needed to hear it had already heard.
I smiled inwardly with satisfaction.
Confessing one’s own guilt through one’s own words. This was exactly the picture I had wanted.
“Gold dust?”
At the House Master’s question, she looked flustered and at a loss.
She understood it too.
That she had just confessed her crime.
Soon, the House Master’s relentless interrogation continued.
“Explain yourself, accused.”
“I… that is…”
As she hesitated, the House Master spoke to the other maidservants and handmaidens.
“You all know about this as well, don’t you? Whoever confesses first shall receive a reduced sentence.”
Before he could even finish speaking, one maidservant cried out.
“I know!”
“Speak.”
“In truth, when Lee Pil Warrior was at the Main House, we placed gold dust, insects, and even rats in his meals under the lady’s orders.”
At those words, those watching began to murmur.
That murmur was one of anger.
The House Master asked again.
“How many times did you do this?”
“…For seven years….”
At those words, the House Master closed his eyes. I could sense the weight of sorrow in his expression.
The others from the Dongbaek Council felt it too.
That was when it happened.
“The Maidservant spoke insulting words to Lee Pil Warrior without the Lady’s orders, and she pilfered pocket money and jewelry that were given by her father, Dang Du-jeong, the Senior Master.”
It was a confession from the Handmaiden standing beside her.
Clearly, she couldn’t let only herself escape unscathed.
The Maidservant retaliated.
“And you all laughed and giggled when the young masters beat Lee Pil Warrior, didn’t you? And I remember how you mocked him in winter, telling him not to light the brazier and to chop wood himself to make charcoal.”
This was becoming increasingly absurd.
Dang Dae-jung, one of the Dongbaek Council members, clicked his tongue and spoke.
“I wondered why Lee Pil left the family… but it seems he had every reason to abandon it.”
The others nodded in agreement.
When I first arrived at the Sichuan Tang Family Estate, I had noticed that people’s eyes when looking at Lee Pil Warrior were not particularly friendly.
It was a look of contempt directed at someone who bore the Tang surname yet abandoned the Sichuan Tang Family.
But now that atmosphere had shifted.
Voices of sympathy and understanding for Lee Pil Warrior were overflowing from the crowd.
The House Master spoke to them.
“Then you’re saying you didn’t poison Lee Pil Warrior’s pastries?”
“Yes.”
“That’s correct.”
“Then do you acknowledge that you tormented him during the time before Lee Pil Warrior abandoned the Tang surname?”
At those words, Gogyeon Lady bit her lip.
She must be in quite a difficult position now.
But she had no choice but to admit her crimes.
Since the revelations had already been made, she could no longer deny her guilt.
“I…acknowledge it.”
“First, kneel before Lee Pil Warrior and apologize.”
At those words, Gogyeon Lady bit her lip.
But soon she sighed and bowed her head to Lee Pil Warrior.
“I’m sorry. I was foolish and caused you suffering.”
“….”
But Lee Pil Warrior did not respond.
The House Master ordered the other Maidservants and Handmaidens to apologize as well, and they too knelt and asked for forgiveness.
“We apologize.”
“We have committed grave wrongs.”
But Lee Pil Warrior remained silent.
The House Master continued.
“There are others who must apologize. Dang Jun-ryeong, Dang Hae-ryeong, and Dang Chung-ryeong. These three must also apologize to Lee Pil Warrior.”
At those words, Dang Jun-ryeong flared up and shouted.
“Why should we apologize?”
“That’s right. We’ve done nothing wrong.”
“We were simply keeping him company because he seemed bored at the time, that’s all.”
At those words, the House Master’s hands trembled visibly.
He was seething with rage.
He was about to speak, but someone beat him to it with a thunderous shout.
“What shameless ruffians! I’ve never seen such brazen scoundrels!”
Huh?
That voice sounded oddly familiar.
As the figure parted through the crowd in the Training Ground, I was startled.
It was Manjol Physician.
“Elder?”
But the House Master, upon seeing Manjol Physician, called out to him with a surprised expression.
“Father!”
Father? He called him father?
Now that I think about it, Dang Su-bin had mentioned it.
The Grand Patriarch was away on a journey.
So the Grand Patriarch who was away on a journey was Manjol Physician?
Wow…
This was something I had no knowledge of in my previous life.
No wonder.
When I first met him, the sense of reverence I felt was no joke.
When he asked me to go to the Sichuan Tang Family Estate with him, that must have been why he refused my request.
At Manjol Physician’s appearance, everyone prostrated themselves.
“We greet the Grand Patriarch.”
Manjol Physician barely acknowledged their salute as he bellowed.
“You shameless wretches! Get out here at once!”
At that roar, Gogyeon Lady’s three sons shuffled out into the center of the Training Ground.
“All this time, I watched you torment Lee Pil, believing that one day you would realize your wrongs and repent. But you haven’t. You remain exactly as you are.”
“Mother told us to torment Lee Pil.”
“That’s right!”
“Mother ordered us to torment Lee Pil, so we only did as we were told. What fault is ours?”
Now they spoke differently than before.
Since denying the torment wouldn’t work, they were now throwing their mother under the carriage.
At those words, Gogyeon Lady’s face showed shock.
“When did I ever order you to torment Lee Pil Warrior?”
Watching this unfold, I clicked my tongue inwardly.
What a harmonious mother and sons they were.
“Enough!”
As Manjol Physician raised his voice with authority, the murmuring crowd fell silent at once.
“To think the Sichuan Tang Family harbors people of such character! I am ashamed. It seems Lee Pil would not even wish to receive an apology from you.”
At those words, Lee Pil Warrior nodded in agreement.
“Therefore, by my authority as Grand Patriarch, I decree that you shall spend five years in the Punishment Hall for self-reflection.”
At this pronouncement, the Dang Jun-ryeong brothers were startled and prostrated themselves on the ground.
“Grand Patriarch, no—Grandfather! Surely not that!”
“We have erred! Please, anything but the Punishment Hall!”
“It is all my fault.”
What possessed them to emerge with such brazen confidence in the first place?
Watching these shameless men grovel so desperately, I could see that the Punishment Hall must indeed be a fearsome place.
Yet Manjol Physician did not rescind his decree.
“What are the Punishment Division warriors doing? Execute the sentence at once!”
“Yes, sir!”
Thus the three brothers were dragged away to the Punishment Hall.
The House Master, who had been observing their departure, stepped forward.
“Gogyeon Lady and the other offenders, hear me.”
At his words, everyone bowed their heads.
“What Gogyeon Lady and the other offenders did to Lee Pil Warrior undermined the discipline of the Sichuan Tang Family and disregarded the wishes of our ancestors to cherish the family’s children!”
“….”
“Moreover, they tormented the child with cruel methods, ultimately driving him from the Sichuan Tang Family. I cannot overlook this. Therefore, I decree that Gogyeon Lady and the other offenders shall likewise spend five years in the Punishment Hall for self-reflection.”
At this, Gogyeon Lady, the maidservants, and the handmaidens pleaded desperately, but the decree was not reversed.
“Earlier, the House Master said he would reduce the sentence for those who confessed first.”
At the maidservant’s words, the House Master chuckled and replied.
“Of course. A promise must be kept. I reduce your sentence by one quarter from five years.”
“Pardon? One quarter?”
“I only said I would reduce it, not by how much I would reduce it.”
“Ah….”
The maidservant’s expression grew hollow.
Manjol Physician approached Lee Pil Warrior and bowed his head.
“I am sorry.”
“No, no! How could the Grand Patriarch bow to me?”
Lee Pil Warrior was startled and waved his hands in protest.
“Your suffering occurred because I failed to properly address this matter.”
At those words, the House Master also spoke to Lee Pil Warrior.
“I too bear fault. Only now have I finally set this right.”
At their words, Lee Pil Warrior shook his head.
“No. Both of you are truly people I am grateful for. I understand that my permission to leave the family and live outside is thanks to your grace.”
“….”
“Therefore, I can only express my gratitude to both of you.”
Lee Pil Warrior bowed deeply to them.
Then I straightened my posture.
Turning my head, I addressed Gogyeon Lady, the maidservant, and the handmaidens.
“There was something I wished to ask of you, Grand Mother and the others.”
“W-what did you wish to ask?”
Lee Pil Warrior answered Gogyeon Lady’s question.
“What did I do so wrong? I merely was born, and I am a person just like you all… How could you treat me with such cruelty?”
“…”
“What could a child, dragged along by adults, possibly understand? Did you hate me so much?”
“…I am sorry.”
“Please forgive us.”
“We have committed an unforgivable sin.”
They apologized once more, but Lee Pil Warrior shook his head.
“I will not accept your apologies. I do not yet have the confidence to forget what happened then. Perhaps someday, when my habit of stirring through my rice disappears, things will be different. But not now.”
“…”
Though mere words, their apologies seemed to have loosened some of the knot within him.
But hadn’t Lee Pil Warrior asked them for an apology?
True, he asked for an apology, but he never said he would accept it.
Even I could not forgive their sins.
A child is a being of infinite possibility, the future of this world.
Yet they trampled upon that possibility and future simply because he was an eyesore, because he was powerless, because he could not resist.
No one had the right to do such a thing.
It was time to bring this to a close.
I signaled to Dang Su-bin. She rose from her seat.
“Father. In truth, the detailed investigation results regarding Eun Seo-ho’s poisoning have come in.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. The poison found in Lee Pil Warrior’s pastry came from the poison that had clung to Eun Seo-ho’s sleeve.”
“Then?”
“Yes. He is innocent.”
But no one cared about this revelation anymore.
Gogyeon Lady and the others, their expressions hollow, were dragged away to the Punishment Hall by the warriors of the Punishment Division.

Thus the Punishment Assembly concluded, having revealed the truth surrounding Lee Pil Warrior.
Now, surely no one would dare touch Lee Pil Warrior again.
It was time to return to the Sichuan Branch.

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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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