“A fiancée, you say?”
As I unconsciously asked back, Dang Hujeong smiled with her eyes crinkling as if she knew, and then said softly.
“You don’t have to be shy. I was worried because you were a bit stiff today, but at tis like this, you have a surprisingly cute side.”
Cute, my foot. I don’t know what she’s talking about right now. I don’t know what she misunderstood, but in my confused state, I didn’t have the capacity to correct it.
‘Zhuge Cheonwu had a fiancée?’
It was a fact that I hadn’t noticed when I had investigated information related to the Zhuge family by word of mouth before.
“Dang Surin, that child seems to like you very much. Shall I lend a hand from my side?”
‘Dang Surin?’
It was a na I seed to have heard sowhere. Considering the context of a fiancée who could be connected to the Five Great Families and the surna, the family would be the Sichuan Tang family.
“Ah.”
Then, a mory related to Dang Surin suddenly ca to mind. She was one of the masters who beca a conditional helper after receiving help during Baek Hasin’s trip to Sichuan.
She was a character who was not very morable because her importance was small compared to her ability, and her capture was also close to impossible.
‘To think she was Zhuge Cheonwu’s fiancée…’
In that case, in the original work, Zhuge Cheonwu was crushed by Baek Hasin at the academy, expelled, and even lost his fiancée.
‘This is completely…’
Although there was no room for sympathy because of his usual scoundrel-like behavior, when I thought about it, it seed to be a bad fate in many ways.
At first, I thought I had just entered a body that fit the setting. But on reflection, there were more things entangled with the protagonist than I thought.
“What’s wrong?”
As I was silent, Dang Hujeong’s side asked. Since I didn’t want to arouse unnecessary suspicion, I made a quick decision.
“No. It’s nothing. And you don’t have to worry about matters related to Dang Surin. It’s a matter between us.”
“Hoho, you have spirit. I interfered unnecessarily.”
Dang Hujeong stood up from her seat as if satisfied and gave a final glance this way.
“If you have any difficult or helpful matters, co and find anyti.”
After I answered formally, I looked at her back as she leisurely left the sickroom.
And soon, with the closing door, a sigh escaped.
“This is crazy.”
An arranged marriage for !
But to the extent that there wasn’t even a rumor, it was highly likely that it was a strategic relationship only between the families that was not revealed to the public.
In other words, it ant that it was difficult to know what kind of private relationship they had with each other. In the end, it ant that I had to continue the conversation by reading the situation, and just imagining it was a headache.
“And on top of that, it’s in two days. The timing is quite difficult.”
I looked at my two legs wrapped in bandages and then gently closed my two eyes. I could only hope that I would recover enough to get on a wheelchair by then.
‘And most of all, I hope I can get through it safely without my true nature being revealed.’
* * *
When the promised date ca, I dragged my sick body to a large and beautiful lake on the back mountain of the main house.
Jam-eo Lake, a place with a deep history and belonging to a holy land, to the extent that there was a related legend within the family.
Originally, it was a place that was not easily opened not only to outsiders but also to family mbers who were not blood relatives, but whether there was an order from Dang Hujeong, this ti it was specially set as a eting place with Dang Surin.
It seed Dang Surin hadn’t arrived yet. I decided to look around alone.
The wheelchair rolls along a well-paved stone path.
As I was feeling a calm feeling for the first ti in a long ti, the surrounding scenery felt much more delicate.
The gentle ripples of the lake where the faintly pouring sunlight softly broke. The quiet lakeside reflected beyond it.
And even a tal needle flying at high speed towards the nape of my neck.
Clang!
It would have been dangerous if I hadn’t activated the shield right away and deflected it.
Just as my body was about to react first, I felt a chilling sensation from behind my back.
Clang!
At this, when I swung the dagger I had kept in my bosom, a tingling sensation ca back from my fingertips.
“You blocked this? Gaga! So it was true that you got the top student position?!”
A sowhat excited voice. What was there was a beauty with a cat-like face and neatly braided pigtails.
Circumstantially, there was only one person who could call herself by the Central Plains-style pet na of Gaga.
‘Dang Surin.’
She, who was standing with a long needle in her hand, was Zhuge Cheonwu’s fiancée.
“What is this?”
I asked back, gathering my mana.
No matter how I swung it from a sitting position, I had blocked a long needle with a dagger. And that too, very lightly.
“Huh? Isn’t sothing like this natural between us?”
What kind of crazy relationship was that?
“That’s ridiculous.”
I declared. There was no way Zhuge Cheonwu’s personality would just let sothing like this pass.
“Did you expect to get away with attacking a blood relative within the Zhuge family?”
I frowned and looked at Dang Surin.
“A woman from the Sichuan Tang family can demand that proof from her son-in-law who is marrying into her family. An assassination attempt is one of those thods. Of course, it’s an old tradition.”
“You’re crazy.”
To attempt an assassination on a fiancée who was tied between families. It was a matter that could have escalated into a war if it had gone wrong.
“Were you trying to kill ?”
“Of course not! It’s a misunderstanding, Gaga! It’s just a sleeping needle.”
She flicked her fingertips and shot a long needle at a toad that was by the lakeside. As its leg was pierced, the toad trembled and collapsed.
Although it was a chilling sight, in contrast, the toad’s breathing was calm.
“See? Huh?”
Dang Surin, whose eyes were sparkling as if seeking confirmation.
Co to think of it, she was a woman who was not in her right mind even when I played as Baek Hasin. She would throw a dagger at a first eting. She would put poison in food, saying it was good for the body.
“What would you have done if I had been hit by the sleeping needle?”
“Then I would have taken care of you. Of course, I would have stopped before that. But you’re surprisingly kind today? Usually, you would flinch once and then just ignore and walk away.”
He probably just ran away because he was scared. Considering the level of martial arts that Zhuge Cheonwu had in the past, it would have been a long ti before he noticed.
‘This is why Zhuge Cheonwu can’t help but beco even stranger.’
If his fiancée had this kind of personality, his already ssed-up personality would beco much more twisted.
“Phew.”
I let out a small sigh at the complicated feelings. I wanted to call the family’s escorts and have her arrested, but the problem was the relationship of a fiancée.
‘If that was really the aning, then protesting in this situation would only make look ridiculous.’
It was an arranged marriage at the level of the Five Great Families. As long as the family level wanted it, a dispute between the parties was not a problem. And most of all, wasn’t there the justification of the tradition of the Sichuan Tang family?
Although it was absurd, it was also the Central Plains where such customary parts played a large role.
‘Protesting with this would not get , who is in the position of a son-in-law marrying into her family, anything.’
On the contrary, it was highly likely to interfere with my future plans.
‘Still, it’s not right to just let this pass.’
It seed better to distance myself from Dang Surin on this occasion.
“Is it your side’s etiquette to ambush a patient?”
“Yes! But I didn’t do it to just anyone. It’s because it’s Gaga!”
She who answered with an innocent face. Although it was a behavior that showed goodwill, it was aningless if the result was an ambush. A misplaced goodwill was sotis dangerous.
Since there was nothing more to say, I answered with a cold voice.
“I’m going back.”
“…Were you offended?”
Only then did Dang Surin ask, as if checking this side’s mood. The fact that she hadn’t been aware until now was more surprising.
“Yes. If it’s not just once, but several tis, it’s enough to get tired of it.”
“Tired of it?”
“…I’m pointing out your mistake.”
“Then, will you accept my apology if I apologize?”
Dang Surin’s voice coming back. At that, I stopped the wheelchair that was about to leave the lakeside. It was for a few reasons, but among them, the idea that suddenly ca to mind was a big part of it.
“It depends on your sincerity. First… take out the long needle hidden in your sleeve.”
“Really?!”
A reaction as if she were happy. Dang Surin, who had approached before I knew it, grabbed the handle of the wheelchair right behind and began to pull it.
‘Perhaps Dang Surin had a setting where she lacked the ability to empathize due to a childhood accident?’
I stopped Dang Surin, who was traversing the lakeside at her own pace, and said.
“If you’re from the Sichuan Tang family, you must know how to handle poison a bit, right?”
“Yes! Even Grandma Tang Man-dok-ui said that my skill in handling poison is top-notch. She said that if I only had the heart and righteousness, I had the aptitude to reach the level of a divine physician.”
Although it didn’t seem like it was all complints, Dang Surin’s answer was surprising.
‘As expected, she was a disciple of Tang Man-dok-ui.’
Because she was a famous physician known as the Poison Physician and an authority who had mastered poison to the point of being one of the top in the Sichuan Tang family.
Looking at this alone, she t the qualifications, but the problem was reliability.
‘Can I trust her?’
According to the original work, the poison she gave was dangerous, but in the end, it helped with growth. She hardly ever used sothing like the Demonic Cult’s ancient poison.
But this was reality. A safety device was needed.
“I request a single pledge.”
Then, Dang Surin’s eyes grew round.
“How do you know that?”
“That’s not what’s important. Decide whether to accept it or not first.”
A shaless answer. But it was a matter that was difficult to answer clearly anyway. I couldn’t just say that it was a line that ca out when Dang Surin’s favorability rose above a certain level during the play.
‘Strangely, even if I don’t rember the settings well, I rember the unique lines of the characters.’
So I could only hope that it would pass like this.
“…I see. What are the contents?”
For so reason, Dang Surin blushed and nodded her head.
She can’t consider others’ feelings much. That’s why the way she treats others is decided by individual contracts.
Among them, the one promise that Dang Surin had to keep for the person she had decided on in her heart was the single pledge.
“As a price for this rudeness, I demand support up to the realm of being immune to a hundred poisons. Of course, all the poison for resistance that will be given in the future must be done in a way that does not go against my will or harm .”
If I had my way, I would have wanted to add other conditions, but this was just a proposal. It couldn’t be established if it didn’t suit her taste.
‘In fact, this is also quite an unreasonable request.’
“Okay!”
But Dang Surin accepted it surprisingly obediently.
“Hmm, it might not be bad to fill Gaga with my poison.”
Although the remark that was heard as if she were muttering was unsettling, it couldn’t be helped. At my level, it was difficult to find such a talent anywhere now.
‘It’s about ti to start building up my poison resistance. When I was attacked by the Green Forest Eighteen Fortresses before, it was dangerous because there were also poison arrows mixed in.’
If I beco an interdiate student as planned, the number of tis I will face an opponent who uses poison will also increase. I had to prepare for that as well.
“To what extent is it possible while you are here?”
“Hmm, since it’s less than a week… about one type of poison? If you have the aptitude, you can even beco immune to one poison!”
Although she answered brightly to my question, it was not comforting.
‘It’s not easy.’
I knew that poison resistance was not sothing that could be built up so easily.
I had no choice but to believe in the effect of [Transcendental Growth].
“By the way, why did you co here?”
After discussing the general direction, I asked Dang Surin a question I was curious about.
“I ca to see Gaga.”
“Not you, there must be a reason why the family sent a group.”
At my words, Dang Surin pressed her lower lip with her index finger and fell into thought.
“Hmm, it seems there’s sothing going on in the Sichuan Tang family.”
“What is it?”
When I threw a question, Dang Surin ca close to my ear and whispered. A secret footwork that didn’t even make a sound. A sweet scent wafted over.
“Does only Gaga have to know?”
“Yes.”
But the news that I heard after that was chilling.
“A war is going to break out in Sichuan soon.”
“What?”
(End of Chapter)
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