The Poison Plot Exposed
Jeong Yeong hurried over to Ryeon in the corner of the sparring platform.
“Young miss, the mission is complete.”
Ryeon's order had been simple: gather evidence. They needed proof that Danmok Jun was behind this outrage.
But she hadn't expected him to find it so quickly. And she certainly hadn't anticipated Danmok Seong herself appearing to force Danmok Jun to his knees.
“How already?”
As Ryeon glanced back and forth between Danmok Seong and Jeong Yeong, Danmok Seong first pressed her palms together in front of Danmok Cheon-gi and bowed deeply.
“Grand Patriarch! That wretch tried to harm people within our Danmok estate, so I couldn't even greet you properly before making him kneel. I beg your forgiveness.”
Trying to harm people? That was no small matter.
Danmok Cheon-gi raised an eyebrow.
“What did you say?”
“What?”
“Seong! What on earth do you mean by that?!”
Looking closely, Danmok Seong had beads of sweat on her forehead—she must have rushed here the moment she found the evidence.
Danmok Jun's face drained of color, then flushed red, cycling repeatedly before he pointed accusingly with a face twisted in rage.
“Th-that bastard!”
Behind Danmok Seong stood a unfamiliar servant with a tear-streaked, messy face, hunched almost in prostration.
Meanwhile, Jeong Yeong whispered quietly to Ryeon.
“Hwaryun... He was on his way to fetch the carp rice and noticed the commotion in the guest hall kitchen. He went to investigate.”
“Ryun did...?”
Ryeon blinked in genuine surprise. She'd never seen Hwaryun take interest in anyone outside her or Danmok Bi.
“There was leftover stir-fried chicken in the guest hall kitchen, so the servants divided it up and ate it. But just a few hours later, they were all vomiting...”
Jeong Yeong trailed off, sparing the young miss the details of the servants' repeated vomiting and diarrhea.
“Anyway, Jeon ssi, who was in charge of the guest hall kitchen, panicked completely.”
Aigoo! And they all shared it!
The physician and Seo Geuk-rim, listening in, paled.
“Heavens. H-how many ate it?”
“Three or four, but the one who ate the most was hit the hardest. The others weren't as bad. By the time I checked, the physician was already treating them, so no need to worry.”
“So? What evidence? How did it come out?”
“Jeon ssi tasted the problematic dish and realized it wasn't spoiled after cooking—it was made with rotten meat from the start...”
Jeong Yeong glanced at the servant behind Danmok Seong. The man was trembling, looking like he wanted to faint on the spot.
Danmok Seong continued boldly, undaunted by all the eyes on her.
“Just a few gongs ago, people started complaining of vomiting, diarrhea, high fever, and dizziness. When I looked into it, they said they'd shared the leftovers from the guest hall. And what was the dish? One this servant secretly made in the guest hall kitchen!”
Danmok Jun's face went deathly pale as he shouted.
“Th-that's right! That one made it! I-I had nothing to do with it!”
He tried to crawl on his knees toward the servant beside Danmok Seong, reaching out threateningly as if to grab and interrogate him. The servant clutched at Danmok Seong's hem, bursting into sobs and confession at once.
“Y-young master gave me meat that smelled strange and told me—told me to stir-fry it with this!”
“Wh-when did I ever! I know nothing about it!”
By now, Danmok Jun's servant was prostrating flat. It had become a desperate confession duel, like a fight to the death where only one would survive.
The servant, hardened by a lifetime of reading the room, spoke first.
“I-I told him the meat seemed off, but he said it was rare stuff he'd brought with a friend for nourishment, and that's why it smelled that way. That a lowly thing like me wouldn't understand... But even I can tell rotten meat from rare meat... I just couldn't disobey the young master...”
“Who was that friend?”
The moment Danmok Cheon-gi asked in a low voice, gasps rippled through the crowd. Everyone froze like rabbits before a tiger, trembling.
“I asked, who was that friend?!”
Bam! Danmok Cheon-gi lightly struck the dais to regain attention, but the sound boomed like thunder.
Danmok Jun yelped in terror and collapsed, sobbing. The servant quickly answered.
“It-it was Geuk-rim young master!”
Seo Geuk-rim, who had been watching the proceedings, swallowed one of the antidote pills from the physician and slowly rose.
Danmok Cheon-gi fixed Seo Geuk-rim with a piercing stare before turning back to Danmok Seong.
“Then they both ate the same dish. Why did one get sick and the other not?”
“J-Jun young master didn't eat any...”
“No! That's not true!”
Danmok Jun denied it vehemently.
“That servant did it alone!”
“Wh-why would I sneak rotten meat to give to the young master!”
“How should I know! You've always envied and resented me—praying I'd fail this test so you could mock me behind my back...!”
“Silence!”
As Danmok Cheon-gi glared coldly downward and sighed, Seo Geuk-rim stepped forward from his seat, approached the dais, offered a fist-and-palm salute to Danmok Cheon-gi, and spoke.
“Grand Patriarch, Danmok Jun secretly brought meat he said was good for nourishment and suggested we eat lunch together. There was a plate of chicken stir-fry. Unlike usual, he didn't eat the meat dish himself but urged it on me.”
“You were late because that's when the poisoning hit?”
“Yes, my apologies.”
Seo Geuk-rim looked even paler, exhaustion deepening.
Seeing the tide turn, Danmok Jun quickly changed his tune.
“Gr-Grand Patriarch! It's a misunderstanding. I offered it to Geuk-rim thinking it really was good meat!”
“Then why didn't you eat it yourself?”
“It-it was such rare meat, I wanted to yield it to Geuk-rim...”
“If you two are so close, why did you leave him vomiting in agony and come here alone?”
“G-Geuk-rim suddenly vanished. I couldn't find him... But I couldn't be late for the test...”
A small, trembling voice piped up then.
“I-I saw that person stealing the chicken yesterday.”
Danmok Wan!
The petite girl, face ashen with nerves, pointed at Danmok Jun.
All eyes, including Danmok Cheon-gi's, turned to her, but Danmok Wan spoke as calmly and clearly as she could.
“At dawn yesterday, I saw him sneak into the kitchen and take out a bundle wrapped in cloth. I didn't know what it was then—thought he was just hungry...”
The chief steward murmured softly to Danmok Cheon-gi.
“The dish served in the guest hall yesterday morning was chicken porridge.”
“Pr-proof? Proof I did it...!”
As Danmok Jun denied furiously, Danmok Seong thrust out the cloth she'd brought.
Danmok Hyeon-yo, drawing near, took it—and nearly screamed as she turned to Danmok Cheon-gi.
It was an old, faded cotton cloth. But it was smeared with sticky mucus, reeking foully—like overboiled eggs gone bad.
“This is the cloth that wrapped the chicken. And look—there's a name embroidered on it: Danmok Jun!”
“Heavens!”
“My god...”
As gasps and sighs rose amid the stench of rotten chicken, Danmok Hyeon-yo wrinkled her nose and turned to Danmok Seong with a trembling voice.
“Se-Seong. How on earth did you find something like this...?”
Danmok Seong turned seriously toward Ryeon.
“Truth be told, all this was uncovered by Ryeon's servant and guard, acting on her orders.”
“...!”
Suddenly, all eyes turned to Ryeon.
Jeong Yeong lowered his gaze slightly and whispered to her.
“Actually, it was mostly Hwaryun...”
His tone held a touch of sulkiness.
From there, things wrapped up swiftly. Danmok Jun, thrashing and protesting his innocence, was dragged away. Seo Geuk-rim, still holding out, was carried to the infirmary.
In the midst of the chaos, the final participant ascended the sparring platform: Danmok Wan, her expression tense but carrying a newfound steadiness.
Ryeon, having seen Seo Geuk-rim off, returned to her seat with a gentle smile.
Danmok Wan demonstrated her skills flawlessly before Danmok Hyeon-u, then descended the platform with the proud glow of someone who had bared her all.