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Chapter 35
Dang-yeong never intended to directly harm Dang-bi.
He also had no plan to escalate things that far.
He was foolish, but he at least knew that causing too big an incident could be irreversible.
But there was no way to call back the flying sword.
Dang-bi collapsed, and the inside of the Poison Dragon Hall became a complete mess.
He hesitated and took a step back.
‘Ah, no…’
Why? Why did I throw this?
He recalled the Manblood Sword that Dang-bi had mercilessly chewed through his own Five Fists.
In fact, since that day, Dang-yeong often thought of that poisonous snake.
A deadly snake, known to kill instantly with even a scratch.
And the one who carried it around… his cousin, whom he had persistently tormented.
Perhaps Dang-yeong had been constantly haunted by the thought that Dang-bi might have the Manblood Sword kill him.
After seeing the Manblood Sword, he would sometimes wake up unable to sleep or from nightmares.
Was that fear still lingering inside him?
Had it been lurking cunningly like a snake, only to show him a hallucination?
Shivering, Dang-yeong raised his head.
At that moment, Dang-pae-jin and Dang-yeong’s eyes met.
“Father…”
Dang-pae-jin realized immediately that it was Dang-yeong who had thrown the small sword that grazed Dang-bi’s stomach.
There was no mistaking it.
That small sword had been a gift from his wife to Dang-yeong.
He had long known that Dang-yeong had been subtly tormenting Dang-bi.
Sneaking into Dang-bi’s forbidden quarters and cornering her, stepping on her in desperation.
‘It didn’t matter.’
Dang-bi was practically non-existent in the family.
He had thought it would be fine as long as Jin-hyeon didn’t find out.
But to commit such an act in the Poison Dragon Hall’s testing ground, in front of everyone?
He genuinely wondered if his son was incompetent.
Dang-pae-jin grabbed Dang-yeong by the collar and threw him to the ground.
“Argh!”
He had raised his son with only the finest clothes and the best food.
There had never been a precedent for handling him so roughly.
Dang-pae-jin looked down at the trembling Dang-yeong.
“What have you done?”
“F-Father…”
“Tell me the truth!”
He shouted.
Dang-yeong shivered and confessed all his sins.
He added that he never actually intended to throw the small sword at Dang-bi or ruin the test.
“You devised a trick with the mechanism and didn’t intend to ruin the test?!”
“I-I set it to activate before the test… and besides, the inner-guard warriors could block something like that with their eyes closed…”
It was nonsense so foolish that he didn’t even know where to begin.
From start to finish, it was sheer stupidity!
Dang-pae-jin sighed.
As Dang-yeong said, almost no inner-guard warrior is unaware of the trajectory of the flying sword discharged by the mechanism.
But what disturbed Dang-bi’s mind and injured her body wasn’t that flying sword.
It was the small sword that had flown among the trajectories.
The very one he had gifted her!
As the mechanism activated, all the inner-guard warriors’ attention was drawn to it.
It was almost instinctive.
The instincts of warriors who had trained in the Poison Dragon Hall all their lives.
Because of that, they never imagined a weapon flying from elsewhere.
He had no idea how to handle the situation.
Dang-bi had collapsed, and Dang-cheon-gi was furious.
Other elders also raised their voices, demanding the perpetrator be found and severely punished.
They wouldn’t excuse youth.
This could be a matter where one might have to pay with their life.
‘Still, I cannot let him die.’
Even if his son had done something foolish, he was still his son.
If Dang-yeong were punished or expelled from the Dang family, it would be a serious problem.
Beyond Dang-yeong’s position being compromised, his own status could be shaken immediately.
He sighed deeply.
“Did anyone see you do this?”
Dang-yeong shook his head.
When he threw the small sword, no one was around.
Besides, he had hidden in a secluded spot, so even if someone had seen it, they wouldn’t have seen his face.
“Even when you activated the mechanism?”
“I made sure no one was around…”
He nodded.
Then, it meant that the only person involved in all this was Jeong-gyeong.
As long as they silenced Jeong-gyeong, it would be fine.
“What about the small sword? Mother gave it to me…”
Dang-yeong asked foolishly.
Dang-pae-jin groaned.
“Even if it was given by an immortal instead of your mother, you must abandon it now.”
Dang-pae-jin said coldly.
“Listen carefully, Young-ah.”
He continued in the coldest, most piercing voice in the world.
“What’s done cannot be undone. You must find a way to resolve it.”
“Yes.”
“For now, it’s best that Dang-bi remains unconscious…”
In fact, Dang-pae-jin was just as annoyed by Dang-bi.
His son had done something foolish, but if Dang-bi remained down and could not rise, it was, in a way, fortunate.
After thinking this far, Dang-pae-jin considered Jeong-gyeong’s role and looked back at Dang-yeong.
“The small sword is no longer yours.”
“…!”
“It now belongs to Jeong-gyeong.”
The flying sword, the knife, the spear, the bow.
The owners of weapons change endlessly for various reasons.
So it wouldn’t be strange for the small sword’s owner to change.
“The culprit has been caught…?”
“Yes, but…”
Dang-sa-yuk scratched his head as if finding it hard to explain, then suddenly turned to me.
“I’ll let you know once it’s certain. For now, you should rest here.”
“…!”
“Don’t even think of moving, understand?”
“I want to know who the culprit is!”
I could intuitively sense that something had happened.
A servant ran to tell the news,
“Miss… you’re awake!”
and whispered something into my uncle’s ear where I couldn’t hear.
Judging by my uncle’s hardened expression, it was no ordinary matter.
I wanted to know too!
After all, I was the one who got hit by the sword!
Yet my uncle only sighed with a shadowed face.
“You were hit by a sword someone threw today, and the mechanism activated, nearly killing you. And you still want to move around?”
“If I take escorts…!”
Ah!
Where was Choyo?
Only then did I realize Choyo wasn’t by my side.
During the test, Choyo had to stay far away from me.
Only the inner-guard warriors of the Dang family were allowed to protect me.
So when I was hit by the small sword, Choyo could not protect me.
It wasn’t Choyo’s fault.
Choyo was just following the rules.
‘But is he thinking it was his fault?’
I fiddled with the tail of the Manblood Sword while staring out the room.
Dang-sa-yuk, thinking I had given up and calmed down, spoke to the outer attendants.
“Bring all the outer attendants and healers here.”
“How many should we bring?”
“Bring all the children who can come now.”
“Yes, Master!”
The obedient healer ran to the outer attendants who were carrying something.
Before long, seven outer attendants had gathered here by the master’s order.
Dang-sa-yuk pointed to the eldest outer attendant and the young healer who had delivered his previous message.
“You two, come with me.”
“Yes.”
“Yes, Master.”
“The rest, stay and take care of Via.”
“Yes.”
The outer attendants nodded.
I blinked at the many outer attendants before me.
“Huh?”
“Via is a patient. Where should a patient be?”
The outer attendants and healers answered in unison.
“Lying quietly in bed.”
“And if she moves?”
“She won’t recover.”
“Good, keep watch carefully.”
After saying this, my uncle left abruptly, taking one outer attendant and one healer with him.
“Huh…?”
One of the outer attendants gently laid me back down.
“Miss, you need to rest. Do you know how dangerous your state was just now?”
“Ah, but—”
“Wait a little, and Gongja will come.”
The attendant said softly.
Then—
Swoosh.
The Manblood Sword slipped out of my sleeve again.
“!”
“Oh my!”
The outer attendants startled and stepped back.
The Manblood Sword, ignoring them, passed by the healer carrying decoctions and slipped out through the open door.
It all happened in an instant.
“Hey, you—!”
