The First Wife and the Second Wife
“Mother, I’ve brought the young lady.”
“Show her in.”
It didn’t take long to reach the detached quarters where the first wife lived.
Neither Tang So-seol nor Tang Soyeong had much to say to each other, so their footsteps only quickened as they walked. The one truly suffering through it was Ga-ryeong, who had to trail along beside them.
“Ga-ryeong, wait here.”
“Y-yes, miss.”
Even as she followed the maid beside her, Ga-ryeong kept looking at Soyeong with concern.
It was common knowledge that the first wife hated Tang Soyeong.
No, in truth, every one of the Clan Lord’s wives hated her.
She was the woman Tang Cheon-ak had once truly loved.
The proof of a marriage forced through in defiance of the elders’ council.
The only trace left behind by the third wife.
“It’s been a while.”
When Soyeong stepped into the room, the first wife was sitting there with a face as round and full as the moon. Looking at her, Soyeong thought, Come to think of it, I’m starting to wonder if So-seol was actually picked up off the street.
Even if Tang So-seol looked a little venomous, she was still a pretty girl in her own way. And the Clan Lord, though fierce, had a more martial sort of severity to his face.
But the first wife before her looked like the living embodiment of spite.
Perhaps it was because she wore too much makeup.
A nauseating cloud of perfume stabbed at the tip of Soyeong’s nose.
“I greet the first wife.”
“Call me Cheon Bu-in.”
“Yes, Cheon Bu-in.”
Cheon Bu-in hated being called the first wife.
First wife meant there was a second, and a third as well.
She wanted to be the Clan Lord’s one and only wife.
And so Tang Soyeong, standing in front of her now, was a reverse scale on her dragon.
I want to tear that pretty face to pieces.
Just looking at Soyeong’s cheerful expression made anger surge up in Cheon Bu-in’s chest.
“Do you know why I summoned you here?”
“No.”
“Think for yourself, you common-born thing.”
Cheon Bu-in clicked her tongue.
Hearing that, the corner of Soyeong’s mouth curled faintly.
It was obvious at a glance who Tang So-seol had taken after.
With just a few words, she could make someone as sharp as So-seol seem almost adorable.
There were people in my past life who practiced verbal arts, but if this woman had learned them, she might’ve become the best in the world.
It sounded grand to call it verbal arts, but in truth it was just the talent for speaking in a way that got under someone’s skin.
To provoke an opponent and throw them off balance.
In that sense, Cheon Bu-in was already a master of the verbal arts.
“You’ve never learned anything, so naturally your thoughts are shallow. Poor thing. What fault of yours is it? Being raised without a mother wasn’t your fault, after all.”
“.......”
Soyeong was impressed.
This woman wasn’t trying to provoke her with those words. This was just the way she naturally spoke.
The arrogance only someone born into privilege could have—someone who had become the first wife of the Clan Lord and had never once been pushed away from the center of power.
“When I saw you slapped by the Clan Lord back then, my heart ached. But the Clan Lord can be thoughtless, so you should understand.”
That was a hypocritical remark.
Soyeong immediately understood that the woman was pretending to be concerned for her.
Usually, after a few such words, the real purpose would follow.
Even though Soyeong said nothing and simply watched, Cheon Bu-in kept talking only about what she wanted to say.
“This all happened because you have no family willing to trust and support you.”
Seeing Soyeong stare back at her without expression, Cheon Bu-in smiled thinly.
In a moment, that insolent face would twist.
“I’ve taken the trouble of finding you a marriage match. The head of Geumcheonhoe, a famous merchant company in Sichuan, is looking for a wife. Go to him.”
An unilateral declaration.
As if Soyeong’s opinion didn’t matter at all, she simply tossed out the result.
How was one supposed to react to something like this?
Soyeong had never married, even in her past life.
If she wanted a woman, she simply took one to bed. Marriage had been meaningless to her.
“Do I have a choice?”
“No. The matter has already been settled with the head of Geumcheonhoe.”
It seemed they had prepared all this while Soyeong was under house arrest over the past ten days.
And even then, only ten days?
The head of Geumcheonhoe didn’t sound like much of a principled man either.
“Does the Clan Lord know about this?”
“All authority over marriage alliances in the clan belongs to me.”
In other words, he didn’t know.
No matter how you looked at it, sending off the Clan Lord’s daughter without informing him made no sense.
Then it’s safe to assume the Clan Lord approved this.
Soyeong finished sorting it out in her head.
At the very least, there was no elder in the Tang Clan who would stand up to protect her.
“If I refuse...?”
“This is a major clan matter.”
Cheon Bu-in cut her off, her voice sharp and decisive.
“Don’t think it can be changed by the opinion of a mere nobody like you.”
Soyeong nodded.
Truthfully, she hadn’t expected anything else.
Cheon Bu-in hadn’t arranged this marriage because she genuinely cared about Soyeong, after all.
She’s probably just trying to clear away her own stain.
After Soyeong had bested So-seol, a single topic had begun circulating through the Tang Clan.
Just how talented is this young lady?
She had defeated the third young lady in a duel with no proper teacher to speak of.
Though she had long been kept away from power because the Clan Lord disliked her, everyone in the Tang Clan still stood at the center of the martial world.
It was only natural for them to wonder how high someone with such extraordinary talent might soar.
And for Cheon Bu-in, that interest was no different from her own disgrace.
The event meant to showcase her daughter So-seol had become an event for the daughter of that lowborn bitch instead.
Still, it was fortunate that the Clan Lord publicly punished that child.
Cheon Bu-in was not stupid.
She knew full well that the Clan Lord had been protecting Tang Soyeong in his own way.
She simply stayed silent because, in the end, it hadn’t harmed her own position.
But it was impossible to let this slide when Soyeong’s talent was so immense.
The less people knew about Tang Soyeong, the bigger the rumors grew.
There were even bizarre whispers that she could imitate any martial art she saw just once.
It has to be dealt with before it’s too late.
The more Soyeong’s talent came to light, the more obvious the comparisons with So-seol would become.
A talented child of low birth only caused trouble for the family.
At least her looks were decent. That was enough to marry her off to some wealthy old man hidden away in the back rooms.
“The head of Geumcheonhoe is the richest merchant in all of Sichuan. And the age gap between you two is only forty years. In at most forty more years, all of his wealth will belong to you and your children.”
Hearing that, Soyeong was speechless.
She was only seventeen, and this woman was talking about forty years from now as if it were nothing.
Besides, if the age gap was forty years, that meant the man was nearly sixty already.
So that’s what you’re saying in a long, roundabout way: go keep a wealthy old man company and smile for him.
Soyeong smiled thinly.
She wanted nothing more than to drive a throwing knife into that moonlike forehead right now, but she couldn’t.
If she ran, the Tang Clan’s assassins would kill her.
For now, Soyeong was only a first-class martial artist.
Surviving against the clan’s elite assassins was impossible.
“What are you thinking... Anyway, that’s all I had to say, so get out! I’ll be arranging the meeting with the head of Geumcheonhoe soon, so keep that in mind.”
Cheon Bu-in sensed the faint killing intent in Soyeong’s smile and waved her hand dismissively, ordering her out.
Anyone else might have felt fear, but her natural arrogance swept it away.
Soyeong silently opened the door.
Cheon Bu-in didn’t seem particularly concerned with her reaction.
Standing outside the door was Tang So-seol.
“Ah... th-that...”
She looked thoroughly flustered.
She must have been listening in from outside.
“Move.”
“Y-yes...”
Soyeong passed by So-seol.
So-seol wanted to stop her, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
She didn’t think she had the right.
“Let’s go, Ga-ryeong.”
“Y-yes... yes!”
She took Ga-ryeong, who had been stuffing her face with clan sweets in the waiting room, and walked back outside.
As soon as they left Cheon Bu-in’s detached quarters, Ga-ryeong asked about what had been said inside.
“Nothing happened.”
“R-really? Nothing serious at all?”
“Right. She just told me she’s marrying me off to the head of Geumcheonhoe.”
“T-that... wait, what!? Marrying you off!? To the head of Geumcheonhoe!?”
Ga-ryeong, who had relaxed at Soyeong’s calm answer, nearly lost her mind.
“The head of Geumcheonhoe is a man in his sixties! And he’s a lecher, too—he’s had more than ten former wives!”
“That’s the first I’m hearing of it.”
She’d known he was older, but she hadn’t known he was a lecher.
And more than ten former wives?
“Not ten concubines—ten former wives? Did he divorce a lot?”
“Of course not! They’re all dead! Other people keep quiet about it, but there are plenty of rumors that he beat them to death!”
“Ah.”
Soyeong nodded.
Yes, there were such men.
Filthy perverts who got excited beating women weaker than themselves.
She said if I held out for forty years... so she was really telling me to go die.
Soyeong smiled thinly.
She had assumed Cheon Bu-in couldn’t possibly have arranged a proper marriage match, but...
No, perhaps this really was a proper match after all.
It was the perfect way to sweep away a nuisance like Soyeong, a thorn in her side.
“How can you be so calm!? This is about you, miss!”
Ga-ryeong couldn’t understand Soyeong’s composure.
It was the worst possible situation for a woman.
Shouldn’t she be throwing a fit, crying and refusing to go, and forcing the marriage arrangement to collapse?
“If I cry, the result won’t change. That’d just be a waste of energy.”
“Th-that’s not what I meant...”
Ga-ryeong’s tears spilled over.
She thought Soyeong’s calmness came from resignation.
Ga-ryeong felt sorry for her.
In the end, she gripped both of Soyeong’s hands tightly and said, “Run away, miss!”
“...To where?”
“Anywhere! You’ve learned martial arts, haven’t you? Then run!”
Ga-ryeong was sincere.
She wanted Soyeong to flee somewhere, anywhere, as quickly as possible.
Soyeong hadn’t failed to think about running herself.
In fact, that had been her first thought.
But running away was always possible later. There was no need to do it right this second.
“If I ran away... would you come with me?”
Soyeong asked suddenly.
Ga-ryeong answered without the slightest hesitation.
“Yes! I’ll come with you! Miss, you can’t even tie your own hair or dress properly without me!”
“...Is that so?”
It was a strange reason, but she decided to accept it as loyalty.
Then maybe she’d have to bring Jin-ha along when they ran later, too.
Just as she was mulling over that thought, someone spoke.
“...What the hell are you talking about?”
It was Tang So-gang.
He was staring at Soyeong with a face gone rigid.
“Long time no see, Tang So-gang.”
“Skip the greetings. I asked what happened.”
Soyeong shrugged and explained the situation to him.
Cheon Bu-in was trying to marry her off to the head of Geumcheonhoe.
It was a simple explanation.
“...Disgusting. That woman’s gone and sunk to this level.”
So-gang’s face twisted, unlike his usual self.
Soyeong didn’t miss the pity in it.
Whether it came from blood ties or from the brief time they’d spent training together, she couldn’t tell.
“...Even if I wanted to help, I couldn’t. It’s beyond me.”
So-gang said that bitterly.
However fierce the competition for the position of the young lord might be, he didn’t have enough power to stop an affair handled by the first wife.
But Soyeong didn’t think so.
“Hmm... no. I just thought of one thing you can help with.”
“I can help?”
“Yeah. Only you can help me.”
The only one who could help her was Tang So-gang?
So-gang had no idea what she meant.
Soyeong looked at him and said, “Let’s go meet your mother.”
“...My mother?”
Soyeong smiled and nodded.
If it was So-gang’s mother, then that meant the second wife.
Another major power in the Tang Clan, locked in a fierce struggle with the first wife.
There was no way a shrimp could beat a whale. If she wanted to survive, she would have to climb onto another whale’s back.
Use one enemy to crush another.
That was the path Soyeong had chosen.
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