The eyes that had been dull and cloudy like dead fish just moments ago were now burning with rage aimed straight at Deokju.

I had asked Tang Jung if it was okay to hit him if I ran into him, but I’d never actually expected to collide with Tang Yeongho like this—my mind went blank.

People called Tang Yeongho an idiot, sure, but I wasn’t on a level where I could deal with him.

Even setting martial skill aside, me throwing myself at Tang Yeongho wasn’t a good look.

And it didn’t seem like a guy whose eyes had flipped like this was going to back down quietly.

My heart pounded in the hair-trigger silence.

What do I do?

What do I do?

Even Tang Juyeop looked flustered, like this wasn’t the situation he’d wanted.

“Eldest Brother. She’s my youngest sister’s guard. Please just let her go.”

“Don’t interfere.”

“I heard she’s a guard personally appointed by Ancestor Jonghyeon. Do you really want to get chewed out for this?”

“I said don’t interfere.”

Tang Yeongho spat out a curse, his bloodshot eyes flashing.

Even at the aggressive reaction, Deokju didn’t change expression once. She just looked at him with calm eyes, like she’d expected this.

“Young Lady. Please excuse me for a moment. Step back.”

Deokju politely moved me behind her and blocked my path. She slid a hand into her sleeve and lifted her presence.

She was basically daring him to try.

AAAGH! Deokju! Don’t provoke him!

I screamed internally and wanted to claw my own hair out.

“You insolent bitch.”

Tang Yeongho bared his teeth as he snarled—and he also slipped a hand into his long robe sleeve.

From the subtle movement, it looked like he was about to scatter poison through the room.

This is all Tang Juyeop’s fault. I shouldn’t have come.

I regretted it too late, like regret always is.

Biting down on my lip, I shouted sharply.

“Don’t touch my guard!”

In that instant, Deokju launched hidden weapons.

First strike wins—no, that’s not it. Deokju, you can’t hit the Young Clan Head first! Even if he’s trash, he’s still the Young Clan Head!

Before my eyes could even track it, my body moved.

I kicked off the ground, yanked out the Butterfly Dart, and knocked eight Feather-Needles into the side wall. At the same time, I grabbed Tang Yeongho’s right hand as he tried to administer poison.

My body moved on its own because I thought, I have to stop this.

A freezing silence dropped over the room at my sudden move.

The first to move was Deokju.

“Y-Young Lady! Are you all right?”

Deokju rushed over in a panic to check me, while Tang Juyeop whistled like he’d just watched something entertaining.

Tang Yeongho’s guard kept glancing between me and his master, helpless and unsure what to do.

Tang Yeongho’s expression turned vicious.

“...What did you just do?”

Yeah. What the hell did I just do?

“Isn’t it obvious? She subdued you, Eldest Brother. Whew—there really was a reason Ancestor Jonghyeon took her as a disciple. Her presence of mind is incredible.”

Stop throwing firewood on the flames, you bastard.

At Tang Juyeop’s playful admiration, Tang Yeongho’s face went bright red. He stared at me like he wanted to tear me apart, then flared his internal energy and shook my hand off.

But it wasn’t that threatening. His internal energy was full of impurities, and maybe because he was drunk, the density itself was low.

...This might actually be doable?

As the air turned strange, Tang Yeongho’s guard hurriedly tried to stop him.

“Young Clan Head. Please calm yourself. She is the Poison King Elder’s disciple. You cannot lay hands on her.”

“You’re telling me to let a disrespectful little thing crawl over her elder brother? I’ll teach her a lesson!”

Tang Juyeop slipped in with a grin.

“An elder teaching a younger isn’t a big problem. But if you lay hands on a youngest sister who only just formed her lower dantian—would that be teaching? Or bullying?”

“Shut your mouth.”

“It would be pretty amusing if a rumor spread that the Sichuan Tang Clan’s Young Clan Head threw punches at his skinny fifteen-year-old little sister. I’m curious how Father would clean it up.”

“What, you little shit?”

“And don’t forget that Ancestor Jonghyeon is the power behind the Elder Council, Eldest Brother. Even Father, the Clan Head, has to watch the Elder Council’s mood—so cutting you off cleanly, the Young Clan Head, would be very easy. Shouldn’t you be careful?”

“This little shit is really—!”

Tang Yeongho surged, grabbed Tang Juyeop by the collar, and yanked him up.

Hanging in the air like a balloon doll, Tang Juyeop winked at me like he was saying not to worry.

Looks like he’d run his mouth to keep things from getting even bigger.

Wow. He’s good at drawing aggro. Thanks, but also not thanks.

Then Tang Yeongho’s fist slammed into Tang Juyeop’s left cheek.

WHAM!

With a meaty sound, Tang Juyeop’s mouth tore at the corner. He licked the blood on his lip and sneered.

“Your punching really is number one in the Tang Clan. This little brother will wait for the day you become number one ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) at other things, too.”

“Cocky bastard. You’ll get yourself killed because of that mouth.”

“Then I guess I’ll live longer than you.”

“Ha. I’m the idiot for even talking to you.”

Grinding his teeth, Tang Yeongho let go of the collar.

Tang Juyeop hit the floor and rolled with a THUD, clutching his throat and coughing.

Tang Yeongho shot me a glare, kicked the door like he was making a point, then stomped down the stairs—THUD, THUD, THUD.

Tang Yeongho’s guard, left behind with a stupid face in the wrecked room, hurriedly bowed to us.

“I-I apologize. I’ll be going.”

Watching him scramble away, I looked over the room that had turned into a disaster.

An overturned food table. Ceramic shards scattered everywhere. Tang Juyeop rolling on the floor with his lip split open.

“Cough... you don’t have to thank me. Instead, please listen to my performance for another hour.”

“I don’t want to.”

Still... did we... stop it from getting worse...?

*****

The man who’d said he was going to the bathroom came back with his lip split, and the courtesans made a fuss like the world had ended.

“Young Master Tang...”

“Oh no, what shall we do? I, Jageon—my heart aches like it’s being torn apart.”

“Are you hurt anywhere else? Gok-a will apply medicine for you.”

The way she dabbed medicine onto the torn corner of his mouth while wetting her eyes—she was such a great actress that even award winners would cry and go home.

“My wound is nothing. I’m only worried because my brother seems upset. I hope he won’t hold onto it for long.”

You’re the one who poked at his insides.

“Oh my, how gently you speak...”

“You’re truly generous. Young Lady, you’re so blessed to have such a kind older brother.”

One courtesan chattered with an envious smile.

I don’t need him. I’ll give him to you.

When I smiled blankly, Gok-a asked with a worried face.

“By the way... is the food not to your liking? You haven’t even lifted your chopsticks, so I was concerned... If there’s something you want, please tell me. I’ll have the kitchen prepare it.”

“Ah, it’s fine. I’m not hungry.”

I was, honestly, a little hungry. But I didn’t want to share a table with Tang Juyeop.

Between what happened before, and the fact I’d just been scolded to hell by my grandfather, if I put strange food from an unfamiliar place in my mouth, I’d be treated like a complete idiot for real.

Tang Juyeop shrugged like I was being overly fussy.

“What are you so wary of? You’d be fine even if you ate the Eight Great Extreme Poisons, little sister.”

“I’ll just say I lose my appetite when I look at your face.”

“.......”

Tang Juyeop’s smile disappeared.

“...That really hurt, little sister.”

“Ah. Yes.”

“I mean it. It’s not like I wanted to be born looking like this.”

He mumbled and curled in on himself miserably.

The way he got wounded over his looks... yeah, he really was an adolescent boy.

After a moment of collecting himself, he brushed his hair back and said,

“Then how about you go have tea with the proprietress? You must have a lot you’re curious about. And she looked like she had a lot she wanted to say to you.”

“I’ll guide you, Young Lady.”

Jageon smiled sweetly at me.

When I nodded and stood, Tang Juyeop warned me,

“Don’t leave and go home just because the tea is over. It hasn’t been an hour yet.”

“I know.”

“You understand, right? You have to come back. If you don’t, I’ll mix Soul-Leashing Water into your meal.”

“I said I know.”

Stop talking about spiking my food like it’s nothing. If you’re so worried I’ll run, why are you telling me to go drink tea in the first place?

When I turned away with a fed-up face, Jageon followed at my side.

“The proprietress has been waiting since earlier. She’s been waiting for you to seek her out.”

Unlike the way she spoke to Tang Juyeop, her tone was plain and direct.

Someone with a voice like this putting on a bright, cutesy act—she had serious professional discipline.

Jageon led me to a secluded garden.

The moment I stepped into a garden so quiet that I couldn’t even hear the songs from the pleasure house, I saw Hwahong sitting alone at a tea table.

Hwahong lifted her head at the sound of footsteps and welcomed me.

“Welcome, Young Lady. Jageon, you may go. You’ve worked hard.”

“Yes, Proprietress.”

After sending Jageon away, Hwahong gestured to me.

“Come, sit here. And you as well, Guard.”

“I’m fine.”

Deokju refused and stood straight behind me.

“Is there a tea you prefer, Young Lady? I, Hwahong, prepared several kinds of oolong.”

Hwahong looked oddly happy as she opened multiple tea caddies to show me.

Looking at the leaves, they were all Wuyi rock teas. I pointed to the far-left caddy.

“Cinnamon-Rock Oolong sounds good.”

“You like Cinnamon-Rock Oolong too? Having the same tastes is a wonderful thing. That sweet osmanthus fragrance is exquisite.”

That was all she said, but I felt like I understood what she wanted to say.

It seemed Choryeon had enjoyed Cinnamon-Rock Oolong when she was alive, too.

The moment Hwahong reached toward the tea caddy, a translucent veil wrapped around the tea table.

An alien pressure prickled my skin, and my toes dug into the ground on their own.

What Hwahong had spread was an Energy Barrier.

And it was huge—large enough to envelop both me and Hwahong.

A chill ran over me.

If I hadn’t known anything, maybe I would’ve brushed it off.

But I’d seen Tang Jung spread an Energy Barrier before.

An Energy Barrier wasn’t some little trick a mere courtesan could pull off. It was a secret technique only a master could use—someone who could freely shape internal energy.

There was no doubt.

Hwahong was a master whose strength had never been known.

“Now we can have an honest conversation.”

Hwahong dropped tea leaves into the teapot and smiled fresh as a flower.