Poison-Proof
"Let go! I’m going to kill that lowborn bitch right now!"
"Please calm down, Young Lady So-seol! Not now...!"
"Kkh...!"
At the maid’s single admonition, Tang So-seol, who had been raging as if she would tear Tang Soyeong apart on the spot, forced her temper back down.
Today was the day her older brother and the son of the second wife were summoned before the clan head and tested.
One reckless move from Tang So-seol could end up harming her brother.
By contrast, Tang Soyeong had no such restraint, which meant she could run wild like a thug if she pleased.
"That lowborn wench...! Don’t get too cocky! You’ll regret this soon enough."
That was all Tang So-seol could manage—a threat, nothing more.
"Is that maid next to you your personal attendant? Good. The master’s fault is the subordinate’s fault. I suppose punishing her is fair enough."
"Eek...!"
At Tang So-seol’s vicious words, Garyeong let out a small gasp.
Soyeong glanced at her briefly, then said to Tang So-seol, "For someone from a prestigious clan, you’re petty as hell."
"What did you say?"
"Don’t whine like a little girl. If you’ve got a problem, punish me directly. Oh, wait—that’s too hard for you?"
"Kkh...!"
Tang So-seol had no reply to Soyeong’s mocking words.
Because Soyeong was right.
It was true that Tang So-seol was a direct descendant of the Tang Clan head, but she was hardly cherished for it.
No matter how much she was treated like a discarded child, directly laying a hand on the clan head’s daughter was no easy matter.
"You think I can’t do it?"
Still, Tang So-seol blustered.
If she admitted it here, she would be admitting that she had been reduced to silence by that lowly thing.
"You’re bluffing."
"Wh... what do you mean, bluffing?"
"If you could do it, you’d have done it already. You hate me, don’t you?"
Tang So-seol hated Tang Soyeong.
Not just hate—she despised her and wanted to torment her.
But the fact that she didn’t was proof she couldn’t.
Why was that?
Was Tang So-seol just a small-minded coward, too afraid to make trouble for Tang Soyeong because she valued her own position too much?
Or was it...
"There’s another reason, isn’t there?"
"W-what are you talking about?"
"The reason you can’t mess with me. It wasn’t just your own issue, was it?"
"S-shut up!"
Tang So-seol shouted at Soyeong’s words.
She looked thoroughly rattled.
That alone was answer enough.
The reason Tang So-seol couldn’t touch Tang Soyeong wasn’t a matter of her own ability.
Then what was the problem?
Maybe the answer was simpler than expected.
"It’s because of your older brother."
"W-what does my brother have to do with anything here!?"
"So I’m right. It really is because of him."
"...... Damn it!"
Tang Soyeong snickered at her.
Tang So-seol was an amusing girl.
Ask her a question, and she would shriek that it was nonsense—only to realize far too late that she had just answered it.
In every way, she was still immature.
Soyeong could have gone on teasing her and left it at that, but if she did, Garyeong might be the one to suffer for it.
At the very least, it looked as though Tang So-seol could not directly strike Soyeong, so punishing a maid in her place would be possible enough.
"Want a chance?"
"...... What?"
"I’m saying I’ll give you a chance to lay a hand on me yourself."
So Soyeong decided to turn the target on herself.
Just now, when Tang So-seol had grabbed her by the philtrum and shown off her momentum, Soyeong had roughly gauged her strength.
She’s just reached first-class... not very high, all things considered.
That level would be enough if she had two weeks.
Soyeong held up two fingers and said, "Two weeks from now. Let’s fight."
"...... You’re challenging me to a duel?"
"That’s right."
"Ha! You’re challenging me to a duel? You, who haven’t even learned a single thread of internal energy, a mere third-class weakling?"
Tang So-seol reacted as if insulted.
As she said, not a speck of internal energy was in Soyeong’s body at present.
At best, she was little more than a street punk—no, with this feeble body, perhaps even less than that.
The fact that such a girl was challenging her to a duel must have felt humiliating.
"And yet that third-class weakling just broke your nose."
"Grr...!"
Soyeong tried a few more provocations, but Tang So-seol could only swallow her rage with the help of the maids around her.
Not biting so easily.
With no other choice, Soyeong had to use a trick she had employed countless times back when she had been a member of Sapa.
"What’s wrong? Scared?"
Snap.
At that moment, something seemed to break in Tang So-seol’s forehead.
Her snow-white face flushed red, and she ground her teeth as she spat out the words like broken glass.
"Fine... if you want to be beaten to death that badly, I’ll accept... You said two weeks!"
"You’d better recover properly in the meantime. You can’t exactly show up before the Tang Clan with your nose broken."
"Shut up! And you’d better not run away either, you bitch—show up!"
With that, Tang So-seol stormed past her in a huffing fury.
Even from a distance, her resentment was plain.
Soyeong let out a breathy laugh.
Needling other people was always rather enjoyable.
In her past life, how many masters had lost their composure with a single word from her?
Still alive, huh.
With a strangely satisfied expression, Soyeong nodded to herself.
"W-why did you do that!?"
"Hm?"
It was Garyeong’s cry that snapped her out of it.
Garyeong looked flustered as she spoke. "Young Lady Tang So-seol is a master who reached first-class not long ago!"
"I know."
"If you knew that, why would you provoke her like that!?"
Because of you.
Soyeong swallowed the answer before it reached her lips.
Garyeong had shifted the target toward her to protect her, and yet she was acting like this without realizing it.
Still, she was worried, so Soyeong decided to let it pass.
"Enough. Let’s keep going. How much farther to the Poison Hall?"
"Really...? Ah, we’re almost there. Just a little farther."
"Is that so? Good. Then carry me."
"...... Pardon? All of a sudden?"
When Soyeong held out both arms, Garyeong asked in confusion.
Soyeong looked at her and said proudly, "My right knee just broke. I think it’s cracked. I can’t walk. So carry me."
"...... Huh?"
Garyeong looked down at Soyeong’s knee in disbelief.
It was the same right knee that had just been used to smash Tang So-seol’s philtrum.
The leg, which had already been trembling like a newborn calf, now looked as though it might collapse any second.
"D-does it hurt?"
"Not much. Enough. Now quit dawdling and carry me. The Poison Hall is more important."
"How are you even standing?"
"Technique."
Garyeong hoisted Soyeong onto her back with ease.
Her body was light, fitting her small frame.
Light enough for Garyeong, a girl herself, to carry without strain.
"Are you uncomfortable?"
"This is comfortable. Let’s go."
Garyeong inhaled softly through her nose, catching Soyeong’s scent.
Beneath the sharp, tangy poison smell unique to the Tang Clan, there was the faint warmth of Soyeong’s own skin.
For some reason, it made her feel more human than expected, and Garyeong found herself stirred by a strange emotion.
After walking for some time, the two finally reached the Poison Hall in the main compound.
A massive seven-story building rose before them.
"This is the Poison Hall."
"Bigger than I expected."
"It’s the Tang Clan’s Poison Hall. It holds the world’s poisons."
I can only go as far as the first floor, though.
With that thought, Soyeong stepped inside.
As the first floor of the Poison Hall was open to everyone in the Tang Clan, it was crowded with people.
Which meant there were plenty of eyes on the sight of Soyeong being carried in on Garyeong’s back.
"That person is...?"
"Young Lady!"
"Why is she riding on a maid’s back?"
"Shh! Don’t stare! You’ll get caught in the splash again!"
And, naturally, everyone around them quickly averted their eyes from Soyeong.
Not even the usual gossip followed.
No one wanted some stray remark to reach the wrong ears and bring down a disaster on their heads.
"It’s nice when things are this quiet."
Soyeong seemed entirely unconcerned by the atmosphere.
Only Garyeong, who had ended up sharing Soyeong’s stares by association, looked as though she might jump out of her skin.
"What brings you to the Poison Hall?"
As Garyeong walked, everyone instinctively got out of the way, so the two were able to speak with a Poison Hall attendant without issue.
He had a mildly annoyed look on his face.
Soyeong spoke to him in a curt tone. "I came to look at poison in the Poison Hall."
"Is that so? From where I’m standing, I’d say treatment comes first."
The man’s gaze slid subtly to Soyeong’s broken right knee.
Good instincts.
Soyeong felt a faint liking for him.
More precisely, her old habit from her previous life of searching for talent had kicked in.
That instinct told her the man before her was exceptional.
"Looks like I need treatment?"
Soyeong asked lightly.
The man answered with a strange expression, "From my perspective, yes. If you need it, I can prescribe some medicine."
Poison and medicine were separated by a hair’s breadth.
Too much, and it became poison; in the right amount, it became medicine.
That was why the Tang Clan’s Poison Hall was also the finest pharmacy under heaven.
Soyeong liked the man before her.
Even though he seemed to know who she was, he didn’t appear especially bothered by it.
And then there was his sharp eye and keen sense.
She liked that too.
"Forget medicine. Bring me what I ask for."
"...... What exactly do you mean?"
"Three don of Rotting Bone Orchid, two leaves of Blood-Seeing Grass, and one poison gland from a Blue Flame Centipede. Bring them."
"...... Are you in your right mind? That’s poison."
"That’s right. It’s poison. Deadly poison."
"And yet you know that..."
Before the man could finish, Soyeong extended her right arm.
Her pale, slender wrist was thrust before him.
"Check it. See whether that’s poison or medicine to me."
"May I touch you?"
"Of course."
The moment she gave permission, the man seized her wrist and took her pulse.
His vaguely suspicious expression soon gave way to one bordering on shock.
"...... This is!?"
"Now you understand?"
Before his reaction could fully settle, Soyeong spoke first.
She didn’t think it would be good if this got out.
She knew because she had once consumed a Heavenly Poison in her previous life.
Most people who ate Heavenly Poison died.
But if, by some stroke of luck, they survived, then one hundred out of one hundred would gain a single trait.
Poison-Proof.
A rare constitution in which all poison in the world failed to work.
Well... I was poisoned to death in my last life too, so I guess some poisons still work on me.
In any case, Tang Soyeong had eaten Heavenly Poison and died—yet she had also survived.
That meant the current Tang Soyeong possessed the same trait as her past self.
"Feeling a little more interested in me now?"
At those words, one sentence rose in the minds of the Poison Hall members watching nearby.
Is this young lady trying to seduce a Poison Hall attendant...?