Chapter 68
“Why didn’t you lock the door?”
“Since they’ll come back anyway, I didn’t. Besides, nobody comes here.”
The voice was familiar.
I immediately recognized who it belonged to.
‘Nangung-yeon’s nanny?’
So the nanny had locked Nangung-yeon here? Anyway, that wasn’t the important thing.
‘I have to hide!’
If I didn’t, whoever was outside would discover me.
Thinking that far, I suddenly stopped.
“…Wait.”
Do I really have to hide?
Those who come in now must be the ones who locked Nangung-yeon here in the first place.
If so, we could just grab them and drag them to the head of the Namgung household.
I have Bido-do, Chim, Manhyeolsa, and Dokinjeop. I also have Choyo, a bodyguard.
I glanced around.
There weren’t many places to hide in the storage room, so hiding wouldn’t be easy.
In that case, it was better to stand and fight than to run away clumsily.
“Choyo, put Yeon down.”
I whispered to Choyo. He nodded and set Nangung-yeon down.
We swallowed and waited for someone to open the door.
Creeeak.
Not long after, the door opened.
Bright moonlight poured into the dark storage room.
I looked at the people who had entered the storage.
“…Huh?”
One was Nangung-yeon’s nanny.
And the other was…
‘I don’t know him.’
I’d never seen that face within the Namgung estate.
The nanny’s eyes widened when she saw me and Choyo.
“You are from the Sacheondang family…?”
“You were the one who pressed Namgung-yeon’s demonic vein?”
“Why on earth are you here?”
She asked with a confused tone, not answering my own questions.
It was understandable — this was one of the most remote, hidden corners of the vast Namgung estate.
If it weren’t for the Manhyeolsa, I wouldn’t have come here either.
“A child from the Sacheondang?” the nanny muttered.
The man beside her seemed flustered by this.
He scanned me with an unpleasant look.
“She’s wearing the green robe.”
“She’s the daughter of the head of the Dangga and a former direct disciple.”
“Messing with her will be troublesome.”
“It already is troublesome enough.”
The nanny and the man whispered. They seemed to be on the same side.
Were they trying to smuggle Nangung-yeon out amid the confusion of the eighty-year celebration when crowds were plentiful?
It wasn’t unheard-of for a child to vanish during big family events like a birthday feast.
‘People take advantage of that to sell or abduct children.’
But for Namgung’s own nanny to do something this brazen!
“I’ll confess everything to the head of the Namgung family.”
I slowly reached for my sash.
“I saw it with my own eyes, so you’ve got no escape.”
When I declared that, the two of them stared at me with chilling expressions.
They looked down at me with steely eyes.
I swallowed.
But I wasn’t afraid.
‘You think I’ll be scared?’
I had lived with the murderer who killed me in a past life — a person far scarier than this nanny. Someone like a petty nanny who couldn’t even compare to Dangpaejin’s foot trembled me not at all.
“Just kill her,” the man said.
“No! This child is the granddaughter of the Dangga head! Aren’t you afraid of repercussions?” the nanny protested.
“If the kid runs to tell everything, it’s all over anyway.”
“Then kill the guard and cut the child’s tongue out? No matter how you look at it, killing isn’t right.”
“She seems to know martial arts. If she speaks through telepathic means, there’d be no stopping her.”
The nanny gave me a sidelong glance.
“In that case, take that girl with you too.”
“Are you crazy? They’ll track us right away.”
The two spoke as if Choyo and I weren’t even there.
‘Take her? To where?’
Where did they intend to take Nangung-yeon?
“Hmm.”
The man gripped the huge crescent blade strapped across his back.
“Don’t get clever, little one of the Dangga.”
People in green robes were not to be trifled with. Even if they were children, wearing a green robe implied training in martial arts and possibly poisons hidden in their sleeves.
But the man stepped forward as if none of that mattered.
Holding Nangung-yeon, I lightly crushed a detox pellet and pushed it into her mouth, then sent Choyo a telepathic message.
[When I give the signal, close the storage door.]
[But miss!]
[It’s fine — just cover your mouth and nose well.]
The man and the nanny were much bigger than Choyo.
But Choyo could easily topple someone like the nanny.
What about the man?
He didn’t seem like an ordinary man. His presence and momentum were formidable.
“I’ll finish this quickly,” he said, reaching for me.
He planned to mark my meridians, to pin me with blood points and silence me — there was no doubt about his intent.
‘But—’
Did he think I was just an eight-year-old?
I quickly signaled Choyo.
Thud!
At that instant, Choyo shut the storage door.
I simultaneously pulled out two Dokinjeop from my sash.
Two butterflies with bright red wings fluttered upward like flames toward the high rafters of the storage.
“What—what is that?”
The nanny, flustered, rushed after Choyo trying to grab him.
But it didn’t last long.
“Ugh!”
“Gah, ah… it’s—poison!!”
“Wait, my—my body won’t move….”
The Dokinjeop’s toxin is a deadly poison that kills those who inhale its scales and powder. Death is not immediate. After exposure, the victim’s body slowly stiffens. Breathing stops as the rigidity spreads, and when the toxin circulates throughout the body, death follows.
The nanny was already sprawled on the floor.
Hiss, hiss.
The Manhyeolsa flicked its tongue as it watched the fallen nanny.
However—
“Guh, this tiny thing….”
The man had not yet fallen.
His massive body trembled.
I took out several thin bee-needles from my sleeve.
They weren’t suited to take a life, but they were effective at restricting movement.
‘I’ve never thrown needles in this life, so I’m a bit nervous…’
But I could do it.
“Choyo, bind them both.”
Choyo fetched an old rope from the corner of the storage.
At that moment—
“Guhhhh!”
The man thrashed and shoved me hard.
“Ah!”
I was shoved into the wall of the storage.
“Miss!”
Startled, Choyo hurried to me.
Seizing the opening, he used superhuman strength and will to duck out through the door.
It seemed they had decided to abandon the nanny and Nangung-yeon.
I rubbed the place where I’d hit and watched the spot where he had disappeared.
‘You mustn’t run!’
If he escaped, he’d die!
Only the antidote given by my aunt could counter the Dokinjeop poison.
They might survive for a while, but they would die soon.
‘If they die, I can’t learn why they tried to kidnap us.’
But the man was already gone.
We couldn’t chase after him, leaving Nangung-yeon and the nanny behind.
In the end, I gave up and fed the antidote to Choyo.
Although Choyo had covered his mouth and nose, he’d inhaled a small amount of scales and his fingers were stiffening.
Then I tightly tied the nanny with rope and gave her half an antidote as well.
Killing would wait until I learned where they intended to take Nangung-yeon.
‘So we can’t let them die yet.’
The Manhyeolsa showed some interest, but I decisively stowed it away.
Of course, I hadn’t completely ruled out killing them. In a last-resort situation I could have used the Manhyeol Divine Poison.
But capturing them alive was best if possible.
‘But he got away.’
That man would probably die. I couldn’t interrogate a corpse, so I had to give up on questioning him.
“All tied up, miss,” Choyo said, holding Nangung-yeon.
“Good.”
I dusted my hands off and reopened the pouch containing the Dokinjeop.
Like they’d been bewitched, the two Dokinjeop fluttered back into the pouch.
“Open the door when we leave — we need to ventilate.”
“Should we move this woman outside too?”
“Can you do it?”
“Yes.”
Choyo, who looked twice his size, hoisted the nanny who seemed twice his weight and tossed her near the storage door.
