Chapter 9

The kitchen head suddenly grew frightened as she remembered what had happened the previous night.

Because she had wanted to monopolize the adorable young miss, she had even used her authority to quickly comb the young miss’s tangled hair.

But she was clumsy with children’s hair.

She had accidentally hurt the young miss.

A few strands had even been pulled out.

Just that alone could be considered a serious offense.

“The kitchen head treated me well too.”

“Ah! Y-Young miss!”

The kitchen head panicked and didn’t know what to do.

Seeing that reaction, Father narrowed his eyes sharply.

“Did she truly treat you well?”

“Um… she…”

The kitchen head shut her eyes tightly in fear.

“She combed my hair…”

“And?”

“She hugged me afterward.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes!”

“Kitchen head, you may stand.”

The kitchen head bowed deeply toward me as if she had just been saved from death.

“Thank you very much, young miss!”

“No, I’m the one who should thank you. You’re the leader of the guest hall kitchen. If you had ignored me, the other cooks wouldn’t have dared to step forward. Then I would have gone hungry.”

“Oh my, I didn’t do anything special.”

The kitchen head couldn’t lift her head.

To her, she had only done what was natural.

“Hey.”

Father suddenly stared at me intensely.

“Yes?”

I widened my eyes nervously, wondering if I had said something wrong.

Even a slight change in Father’s expression was frightening.

“It stopped.”

“…What?”

“Your hiccups.”

Father looked relieved.

He had been worried about my hiccups all along.

“Oh… you’re right. I forgot about that. I feel much better now. There’s no one left to reward. Only people who should be punished.”

At that moment, Gyoa suddenly stood up.

“It’s unfair!”

Huh?

I hadn’t even said anything yet.

This really was a case of a guilty conscience showing itself first.

“I took off the young miss’s filthy beggar clothes and washed her dirty body. I even washed her hair! But the young miss hates bathing, so she probably thinks I bullied her. That’s why this is unfair!”

As soon as Gyoa finished speaking, the maids who always followed her began shouting too.

“Gyoa is right!”

“The young miss seemed to hate water like a cat.”

“She even tried to scratch me, so I stepped back and fell on my backside!”

Gyoa’s group tried to make it sound like I was simply a child who hated bathing.

…Sigh.

Bullying me and lying to my father were completely different matters.

If their lies were exposed, they would receive a punishment far worse than being beaten and dismissed.

Yet they still took the risk.

They must have believed their lie could never be exposed.

After all, the only maids who had bathed me yesterday were them.

There was no one else to prove they were lying.

Should I step forward and explain everything myself?

I sighed and was about to speak.

But then—

“How dare you lie to the young master! Have you all lost your minds?”

Hyang-a stepped forward.

Usually gentle and shy, Hyang-a seemed unable to tolerate Gyoa and her group framing me.

“The young miss’s hair was so tangled after you only rinsed it with cold water that it couldn’t even be combed! When I applied camellia oil and brushed it, it must have hurt a lot, yet the young miss sat quietly like a doll. Such a gentle and well-behaved child, and you dare frame her!”

As soon as Hyang-a finished speaking, the kitchen head rolled up her sleeves angrily.

“So it was you! You thieves who stole the dishes meant for the young miss and gave her cold rice with soy sauce instead! Last night we were going to beat you, but the young miss stopped us. And now you dare claim she’s a child who hates bathing?”

The other cooks joined in and glared fiercely at Gyoa’s group.

Gyoa and her companions turned pale.

They had never imagined that so many people would stand up for me.

“Sa Gukmyeong.”

At Father’s quiet call, his aide quickly stepped forward.

“Yes, Young Master.”

“Throw them into the Poison Snake Chamber.”

The Poison Snake Chamber was a huge jar used to raise venomous snakes.

The jar was so large it was like a small room.

The only people who had ever survived entering it were members of the Tang family who had trained in poison arts and developed resistance.

As Gyoa and her companions were dragged away, Song-ok suddenly began crying.

She had realized her turn had come.

“S-Sob… I was wrong. Actually…”

Song-ok glanced at me.

She hadn’t yet decided how much to confess.

I met her gaze without flinching.

My expression clearly said the following:

If you don’t confess everything, I will.

“I… I really didn’t know a fire would start!”

Finally collapsing onto the ground, Song-ok began confessing while trembling.

“If you don’t fan the charcoal, the fire dies easily… But coal keeps burning once it’s lit unless you pour water on it. So when I had night duty, I used coal instead of charcoal. B-but! Nothing bad ever happened before! The fire started because Gyoa poured too much coal into the brazier! The young miss saw it herself!”

Father’s body stiffened.

The sound of his teeth grinding echoed.

“I see. The maids abandoned you and ran away.”

Father muttered bitterly before turning his cold gaze toward Song-ok.

Song-ok’s face turned completely white.

“T-That’s because… we couldn’t see anything in the smoke…”

“You do not even understand your crime? Then you must be taught. Sa Gukmyeong, drag her away and beat her until she confesses everything. After that, she will be punished.”

At Father’s order, Sa Gukmyeong signaled the guards.

Song-ok was dragged away.

“I’ll confess! I left the young miss behind and ran away. I was wrong! Please forgive me!”

The guest hall cooks glares at her.

“You still dare beg for forgiveness after doing that?”

“How could you leave a little child behind just to save yourself?”

“You’re not even human.”

Sa Gukmyeong signaled the cooks to be quiet.

The regret and grief on Father’s face were so deep that everyone fell silent.

“…Was this truly all I protected?”

Father’s dry gaze swept over the officials and servants.

Six years ago, during the war with the unorthodox factions, Father had been forced to choose.

Protect the family…

Or protect his wife and daughters.

As the young master, he chose the Tang family and Sichuan.

And in that choice, my mother, my sister, and I had been left behind.

For six years he didn’t even know whether we were alive or dead.

This was the family he had sacrificed everything to protect.

Now, looking at the servants who had survived under his protection, Father seemed disgusted.

“It would not even satisfy me to kill them all.”

At that moment, the gentle breeze in the courtyard stopped.

The air grew heavy.

A thick killing intent made it hard to breathe.

“F-Father!”

Clutching my chest, I called out to him.

Only then did Father realize he was holding me in his arms.

He immediately withdrew his killing aura.

The wind began blowing again.

The crushing pressure slowly faded.

That was close…

Relieved, I hugged Father’s neck tightly.

“I’m hungry. Let’s dismiss everyone and go eat!”

Don’t be angry.

Don’t blame yourself.

I came back.

Soon my sister will come back too.

Mother… we never find her again, but still…

I will do better this time.

No matter how hard things get, I won’t run away again.

I’ll stay by your side.

With all those unspoken feelings, I said in a trembling voice,

“I want to eat with you, Father.”

Father’s expression twisted.

“Now that I think about it, I’ve never shared a meal with you.”

His eyes slowly turned red.

My chest tightened.

“Then… from now on… let’s eat breakfast together every day, okay?”

I smiled as brightly as I could.

Tears streamed down from the corners of my eyes.