Elder Sister's Resolve
“No, Mother. I was just curious about what Ryeon wanted to do, so I tagged along. It was only a month, but I'm still her big sister.”
“That's right! You're the eldest of your generation!”
Danmok Hyeon-yo grabbed her daughter's hands and shouted.
After all, Danmok Seong was the firstborn of this generation, so calling her the eldest grandchild wasn't entirely wrong!
“M-Madam.”
While Seok Ban-an cautiously tried to calm Danmok Hyeon-yo, Danmok Seong continued.
“Actually, on the way back from just watching, I wanted to buy a gift for you and Father, but then I ran into that Geum family kid...”
“Heavens, you don't need to buy anything, my dear girl! All this mother cares about is that you had fun.”
But to think she'd only followed her cousin around doing whatever she wanted. Danmok Hyeon-yo's heart ached a little.
“Next time, I was going to buy Ryeon some jewelry too. Something to match mine...”
“Don't buy her anything.”
Danmok Hyeon-yo suddenly said it with a straight face.
“Pardon?”
Danmok Seong's eyes went wide. Seok Ban-an looked shocked too, making Danmok Hyeon-yo a bit embarrassed, but she didn't take it back.
However, Danmok Seong earnestly refuted her.
“Still, I'm her big sister for at least a month, so I should take care of things like jewelry. Ryeon's only been awake for a year, so she's basically still a one-year-old baby, right?”
“A one-year-old who's that rich.”
“Pardon?”
“I heard how much money that girl made this time. She's the richest among us.”
Danmok Hyeon-yo pouted and grumbled. But Danmok Seong shook her head with a serious expression.
“That doesn't mean I shouldn't buy her a gift just because my little sister's rich.”
“Well... that's true, but... Sigh, how is our girl so kind? Who raised you to be this wonderful, hmm?”
“You and Father did, Mother.”
“Aigoo. Dear, did you hear what our child said?”
“I did, Madam.”
Seok Ban-an smiled gently. A flawless smile without a trace of worry spread across his sculpted, handsome face, melting Danmok Hyeon-yo's heart.
Right... What's the big deal if she spars a bit with the kids her age during their early training? Wins or loses, it doesn't matter.
Seeing her daughter dive into studies she didn't hate—and even enjoy—made her proud.
And as for all that money Danmok Ryeon had earned...
That's her money anyway. The Balsa Sesu was paid for with her father's funds, not mine. If she's contributing it to the family, great.
The only thing that truly bothered her deep down was Treasurer Seol Gwan-hui's comment, as if he'd already pegged Ryeon as the family heir. But she decided to understand.
How tough must things have been for him all this time?
Managing the family's dwindling fortunes with money only going out, never in—his blood must have run dry. Danmok Hyeon-yo inwardly clicked her tongue thinking of his graying hair.
In that situation, Danmok Ryeon must have looked like a moon palace jar brimming with silver ingots.
Well, then she could just earn money too. Until now, Danmok Hyeon-yo had focused solely on building the family's standing in the murim, but it hadn't yielded much, and she was ready to heed her father's wish to focus on household matters.
“Dear.”
“Yes, Madam.”
As her daughter dove back into the book on dao techniques, Danmok Hyeon-yo quietly called to Seok Ban-an.
“What if we started some kind of business to grow our family wealth?”
Seok Ban-an paused briefly, then drew his sculpted, beautiful smile.
“Madam. Neither of us has any talent for commerce, do we?”
“Well... that's true, but... not even a little?”
“If we did, I'd have inherited Pungrim Jeonjang by now.”
“Isn't running an auction house different from doing business?”
“Selling money or selling goods—the big picture is much the same, isn't it?”
Danmok Hyeon-yo almost asked again if they really seemed utterly talentless, but stopped. She and Seok Ban-an loved each other deeply and hid nothing.
“What Father expects from you isn't earning money, but taking in new disciples, right? To do that, we need to clothe, feed, and teach them—so preparing frugally for that is our role, no?”
“No one spends money as well as I do here. But Ryeon's already earning her share...”
Seok Ban-an was a little surprised. Danmok Hyeon-yo, born into a prestigious murim family, had never once thought about needing to earn money. To her, it just... appeared somehow.
For even her to say this, her niece must have made an enormous sum.
“Shall I write to my brother-in-law to ask if he knows any good business opportunities?”
Danmok Hyeon-yo hesitated long, then shook her head.
“No. You're right, dear. My job isn't earning money—it's doing exactly what Father commanded. I need to focus on recruiting new disciples.”
She swept back her hair as she replied. The fact that the family was changing without her effort brought a sharp sense of loss first—then, oddly, a lightness. Danmok Hyeon-yo startled at the fleeting feeling and shook it off.
Danmok Ryeon hauled every book on dao techniques from the family library and stacked them beside her, reading through them one by one.
Among them, exact copies of the family dao, Black Wind Heaven-Cleaving Dao, numbered only two.
Considering there were dozens of copies of Falling Star Twelve Swords, that was shockingly few.
She and Danmok Seong had split them, each taking one.
Even in the family, maybe just one person reads it by chance, and a guardian checks what they're seeing from watching that one—ending up with just two copies total?
Danmok Bi had tried imitating his big sister but ended up dozing off beside her.
“Want me to help with that cousin?”
Hwaryun, who had been playing with Ryeon's fan nearby, fanning himself, asked.
Ryeon, struggling to grasp the book's described postures and principles, had been twisting her arm at odd angles. She glanced at Hwaryun.
“I figured while I'm at it, I should study how to use a dao. It says here to do it like... Ah!”
Ryeon quickly grasped the arm movement system and looked at Hwaryun instead of the book.
Hwaryun's pupils rippled strangely as he met her gaze.
Still, nothing had synchronized—only Hwaryun's name and that single trait stood out.
It leaves a heavy heart.
“Live a long life?”
“...?”
Hwaryun furrowed his brow, as if he'd heard something absurd.
This time, Ryeon counterattacked.
“I was more worried about you. Saying there's nothing fun. At least you're learning martial arts now—thank goodness for that.”
“Me you're worried about?”
Ryeon stopped there and shot up.
Hwaryun looked amused yet baffled.
“It's not what I'll do that's the worry. It's what you'll do—this big sis is really worried.”
With a sigh, Ryeon's words made Hwaryun's eyes widen in surprise as he blinked.
“Why worry about what a servant will do in the future?”
“Not a servant—a little brother. That's why you call me big sis.”
“...Ahem.”
Hwaryun's small cough let Ryeon know he was a bit embarrassed, but she didn't tease.
“No one else says anything to me about it.”
“Other people are... other people.”
Hwaryun treated her in a way hard to believe came from an orphan servant, but around others, he acted appropriately. Thanks to that, Jang ssi the nursemaid and the other retainers had no complaints or worries about him.
Who frets over a mere servant's future when he does his duties perfectly?
“Anyway, you've decided to learn martial arts. With Bi too.”
“Yeah. So I've placed that worry aside for now.”
“Do you really want me to learn martial arts, big sis?”
Hwaryun's question felt probing, but Ryeon nodded without hesitation.
Even after repeating this conversation several times, she showed no sign of boredom.