The Eldest Daughter of the Sichuan Tang Clan Protects Her Family

The afternoon sunlight filled the room. Yet the cozy atmosphere felt heavy. It was because the Namgung Clan Head maintained a silence with no clear meaning.
After a long while, the Clan Head opened his mouth.
“...So that is why you came from Guangdong to Hubei?”
“Yes.”
The Little Clan Head answered calmly.
“For that paltry reason.”
The Clan Head bit off the words as if holding back his anger.
“You came up to Hubei to obtain zishiying?”
Knowing the Clan Head did not believe him, Namgung Jin nonetheless opened his mouth again.
“Yes.”
“If you were me, would you believe what you just said?”
Facing him, both sons knew there was anger in the Clan Head’s voice.
“It is absurd enough that the Blood Cult hid out at Daebyeol Mountain between Hubei and Anhui, and the reason you came to Hubei to search them out is merely some purple stone.”
The more the Clan Head spoke, the colder Namgung Hyun’s gaze became.
But the Clan Head’s gaze did not fall upon the second son, so he did not notice the change.
No, to speak precisely, he had no interest.
“On top of that, you say Baekgeumgak coveted it because zishiying is a stone that works sorcery—I truly do not know how to respond.”
The Clan Head was transparent. Since he had been at Baekgeumgak together with them, it would have been reasonable to ask the second son once if that were true, yet he only scolded the Little Clan Head. He did not bother to hide that he had no trust in the second son.
Namgung Hyun sat like a fine doll and quietly listened to the exchange.
It had always been like this, so there was nothing new.
However, the Little Clan Head’s reaction grated.
“Clan Head, you also know about Oseoksan, do you not?”
Sensing something was off, Namgung Jin paused, then asked again.
“Then why do you speak as if hearing of it for the first time?”
“That I know about Oseoksan?”
“Yes. Was not Oseoksan discovered due to the Hubei Branch fire?”
“...What are you talking about?”
In a careful voice, as if to confirm something, Namgung Jin asked,
“By any chance, have you not heard about the fire at the branch?”
“I have. But what has that to do with the Oseoksan you keep mentioning?”
“Did headquarters not share the truth of the fire with you, Clan Head?”
“I received a briefing. At the time I was busy with preparations for the Family Alliance, so I did not listen attentively.”
“...How could you hear of the Hubei Branch and not remember Oseoksan? Even I, who returned to the Anhui Branch not long ago, know this story.”
“And where on earth did you ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) hear what, that you keep harping on Oseoksan? I am asking how you came to Hubei. If you intend to dodge the question, drop it!”
The Little Clan Head closed his mouth.
Ordinarily, the Clan Head would feel displeasure at not knowing something and ask in detail, but he tried to dismiss Oseoksan.
As if intentionally avoiding it.
“I will not speak at length anymore. Explain in detail, without leaving out a single thing, the circumstances under which you came to Baekgeumgak.”
Though the Clan Head pressed for an answer, Namgung Jin could not answer.
The reason he had come to Hubei was indeed to track Oseoksan, but the one who told him that Oseoksan was hidden at Baekgeumgak was Tang Sohwa.
As things stood, he could not reveal that she had told him. Having returned after being kidnapped by the Blood Cult, she would draw needless suspicion.
Namgung Jin distrusted headquarters.
The Martial Alliance was an alliance with no trust to begin with. Its purpose was merely to puff up its size and show force to the outside, so the relationships were worse than with strangers.
Since childhood, Namgung Jin had worked at the Anhui Branch and watched the feuds of Alliance members, so he knew how ugly they became when driven mad by jealousy and anxiety.
“Is it difficult to speak?”
Then, suddenly, the Clan Head lowered his voice.
For a moment, the Clan Head’s gaze moved to the side. He assumed the Little Clan Head had clammed up from suspicion of the second son.
As if understanding, the Clan Head sighed.
“Very well. You must be tired after a long journey. I will summon you again later; for now, go and rest.”
With that, the long talk ended.
Though Namgung Hyun’s appearance was a mess, the Clan Head did not once ask if he was all right. Keeping his place silently like a potted flower, Namgung Hyun rose first when the Clan Head gave leave.
Namgung Jin found the misunderstanding unpleasant, but he could not miss the moment when the Clan Head withdrew, so he followed out of the room.
And there was something he wished to ask Namgung Hyun.
He walked quickly to catch up to Namgung Hyun.
But before he could call his younger brother, people waiting in the courtyard swarmed like clouds.
“Little Clan Head! How is it we meet you here?”

“Wow, we heard you went straight to the branch after concluding your closed-door training, and we’re so glad to see you like this!”
Young martial artists flocked to him with shining eyes. The elders were the same.
With the Little Clan Head, who had long been away, appearing at headquarters, the mood of the Namgung shifted.
Namgung Hyun had indeed taken second place, but he was still number two.
They had been at the point of being annoyed by the Wudang bastards strutting around with stiff necks, but now that the true late-blooming prodigy of the Central Plains had returned, their waned pride revived.
Thus, in their eyes, there was no way Namgung Hyun would even enter.
No. It was simply natural.
Since the Little Clan Head had returned, there was no need to seek a reason why he was not seen.
Like the natural order whereby, when morning comes, oil lamps hide their breaths in sunlight.
It had been strange that attention had been given to him since the Family Alliance.
Namgung Hyun did not stop and walked to his room.
Then, someone called out to him.
“Ah, this Young Master!”
It was the gatekeeper guarding the entrance to the quarters.
Turning his gaze, Namgung Hyun was taken aback. Someone familiar stood beside the gatekeeper.
“A guest has come from the Tang Clan.”
Tang Hae-han, who had coolly swept his eyes over Namgung Hyun, held out the salve jar he had brought.
“I heard you were badly injured, but it’s more serious than I thought.”
Since he was not the sort of human who would come to look after him, Namgung Hyun could not readily accept the salve and asked,
“What is this?”
“Sohwa told me to bring it to you.”
“...”
“Oh? Are you refusing? Understood! I will convey that intention well...”
As Tang Hae-han tried to pull his hand back with glee, Namgung Hyun snatched the salve jar in that instant.
“...You have quick hands.”
Tang Hae-han felt it was a pity, but he did not cling to what was already done. To finish the errand, he spoke at once.
“And please stop by the Tang pavilion when you have time.”
“Did Young Lady Tang summon me?”
“Yes, she says she has something to say.”
When Namgung Hyun started walking at once, Tang Hae-han, startled, waved his hand.
“Ah, no, I didn’t mean right now. She said to come when convenient...”
“Now is also convenient.”
Just as Tang Hae-han, unwilling, was about to return together, a low voice came from behind.
“Did Young Lady Tang send no other message?”
Tang Hae-han’s gaze moved back. He looked at Namgung Jin with a completely different expression than when he looked at Namgung Hyun.
Even his head tilted crookedly.
“None.”
At the chilly answer, Namgung Jin knit his brow.
“...Truly none?”
When the Little Clan Head sent a look of disbelief that there was no way that could be so, Tang Hae-han let out a hollow laugh.
About to pour out a string of sharp words, Tang Hae-han suddenly narrowed his eyes.
It was because it had suddenly grown quiet around them.
Turning his gaze, Tang Hae-han flinched.
The Namgung fellows were staring with bright eyes.
They did not look displeased. On the contrary. With eyes full of keen interest, they were eavesdropping on his conversation.
‘Ha, I wondered where the bullshit rumor that Sohwa was toying with the Namgung brothers had spread from...’
It seemed those Namgung fellows were the source of the rumor.
Their faces said it all. The faces of chattering magpies who liked to talk about others and tried to attract attention by adding to stories as they pleased were flocked like a swarm.
Seeing that the elder-level figures were not stopping those flippant brats but pretending otherwise and pricking up their ears as well, they were the same.
‘These brats, trying to tie who to whom!’
Tang Hae-han’s voice naturally grew savage.
“I do not know why you think Sohwa left any further words.”
After cursing the Namgung people in his heart for inflating stories, Tang Hae-han brazenly invented words that had never been.
“Tang Sohwa, when she sees a patient, cannot restrain a searing chivalrous heart, so she told me to give Young Hero Namgung Hyun medicine and ask him to stop by when he had time.”
At least the Namgung people recounted what they had seen, but Tang Hae-han conjured up a Tang Sohwa he had never seen.
A searing chivalrous heart. That was a phrase no one who knew Tang Sohwa could possibly think of.
However, far from feeling guilty, Tang Hae-han shamelessly lifted his eyes.
Regrettably, the Little Clan Head was no ordinary person. Rather than step back, Namgung Jin asked the same question once more.
“Truly there was nothing she asked you to convey to me?”
“Yes. Nothing. I find it a bit unpleasant that you naturally assume she would have spoken of you, Little Clan Head.”
At those words, it was not the Little Clan Head but Namgung Hyun who reacted.
The light brown eyes that had been fixed on the salve jar lifted.
Tang Hae-han did not notice him. He was too incensed by the reactions of the curious magpies, who were so entertained.
“Of course, Little Clan Head, you must be used to receiving people’s attention wherever you go, so that thought is familiar to you. Still, it would be good to mind your manner. If those who like to talk about others hear, they might spread foolish rumors that are an insult to the other party.”
“Ahem.”
One of the magpies gave a fake cough, but Tang Hae-han did not stop.
“This kind of self-absorbed attitude of yours, Little Clan Head, is a grave discourtesy to the other party. Tang Sohwa merely saw to a patient, and suddenly she became someone who had something with the Namgung Little Clan Head, did she not? It seems you did not learn this in the Namgung, so I will enlighten you and leave. Please be cautious henceforth.”
He briskly cut down the Little Clan Head of another sect as a shameless man.
Namgung Jin was taken aback.
On this side, he had become a lecher who thought every woman liked him.
Namgung Jin closed his mouth. Because this was the first slander he had ever experienced, he did not know how he should react.
He had seen Namgung Gangchang receive such treatment a few times, but he had never imagined he would be treated like this.
Far from considering the Little Clan Head’s shock, Tang Hae-han drove a nail into the ruined reputation.
“Young Hero Namgung Hyun. Let us go. For reference, Sohwa, with no other meaning, of. fi. cial. ly. requested a meeting through me to treat you. If you too intend to harbor some needless misunderstanding, then return to your room and rest.”
Namgung Hyun showed a small smile.
“Yes, I will not harbor any misunderstanding whatsoever.”
‘...But why is this brat smiling?’
Tang Hae-han felt uneasy, but he figured it would be better for the two to talk while he was present, so he took Namgung Hyun and left for the Tang pavilion.
The remaining Namgung martial artists watched the Little Clan Head with eyes full of curiosity, but Namgung Jin kept silent.
After quite a while, Namgung Jin let out a hollow laugh and then returned to his room.
When the Little Clan Head left, someone spoke.
“...Has the Little Clan Head been discarded?”
“Wow, if it looks that way even to an elder’s eyes, it seems Young Lady Tang truly chose this Young Master and not the Little Clan Head!”
Despite Tang Hae-han’s efforts, rumors no different from before spread in the Namgung.
***
Namgung Hyun caressed the red salve jar in his hand.
‘I thought I did not like receiving attention...’
When the Little Clan Head appeared, not a single person paid him any mind, absorbed as they were, but one person directed interest toward him. And with that single person’s interest, everything was fulfilled.
It felt strange, as if a void in his heart, whose existence he had not known, had been filled.
Running a finger over the salve jar, Namgung Hyun showed a faint smile.
No different from the sunlight that had poured into the Clan Head’s room, yet even the dust motes floating here felt warm.
While he was briefly lost in thought, Tang Sohwa came in.
Clatter.
“Forgive me for calling you and making you wait. I did not expect you to come this early, so it took time to think of an excuse to shake off an unwelcome guest.”
From the circumstances, she seemed to mean Tang Hae-han.
As if sick of it, Tang Sohwa pressed her temple once and sat down across from him.
Thinking her mood had soured because of his cousin, Namgung Hyun curved his lips.
“No. The waiting was sweet, so I did not even notice time pass.”
Cloying words, but, for him, an expression that took some courage. Yet Tang Sohwa’s expression did not loosen.
Having lived his whole life reading the room, Namgung Hyun could not let that reaction pass easily and carefully asked,
“By any chance, has something happened? You seem to be in a poor mood.”
With a sigh-like lightness, Tang Sohwa spoke.
“Young Hero.”
Namgung Hyun, sincerely anxious, pricked up his ears.
“Yes. Please speak.”
He had confidence he could respond kindly to any words. But with what he heard next, he realized he had been arrogant.
“There is no one nearby; the surroundings are clear, so there is no worry of anything leaking, Young Hero.”
“Pardon?”
Tang Sohwa, who had said something he could not understand, was silent for a while and then opened her mouth again.
“The Alliance Leader said there is no Blood Demon, but I met the Blood Demon.”
Namgung Hyun felt his whole body turn cold.
He had believed it so because they said they had found her at the foot of Daebyeol Mountain, but Tang Sohwa said she had met the Blood Demon.
Come to think of it, it was strange that he had believed that without doubt.
Even though he knew the Blood Demon had taken her.
Recognizing the conflicting memories, Namgung Hyun felt as if his heart were dropping.
Because it was similar to the reaction of Oseoksan.
Moreover, the one who had said he had gone to Daebyeol Mountain was none other than the Alliance Leader.
In a situation he could not understand, Namgung Hyun could do nothing but stare at Tang Sohwa in silence.
Soon, a cold voice bored into his eardrums.
“I know that you are a member of the Blood Cult, Young Hero.”