He spoke too honestly.
He should have softened his words a bit. Lady Tang realized her mistake while looking at the flustered Demon Lord.
In order to salvage the situation, Lady Tang decided to rephrase her statement.
“Fast first birth?”
It’s between Yoon Ho and herself. They would definitely get all heated just by making eye contact. Having the first child would happen soon enough. Still, it would be nice if they could enjoy it a bit longer. No, wait. It’s already too late. They need to have a baby soon.
Although Lady Tang spoke shyly, the Demon Lord remained unmoved despite her continuous responses. She then realized.
‘This isn’t the answer either!’
Darn it. A cold silence, colder than winter, stretched between the two.
What to do? After spending a hot night with Kang Yoon-ho, Lady Tang pondered how to express having a child when a good word suddenly came to mind.
“I dream of being a wise and virtuous wife.”
Of course, it was already too late.
“You’re more interesting than I thought.”
The Demon Lord’s single remark stabbed at Lady Tang’s heart painfully.
How could she speak such nonsense to a great elder of the clan, the renowned martial artist of the Tang Family? At that moment, Lady Tang wanted to run away.
‘I must fix this!’
She wanted to become the Demon Lord’s disciple. She had to. Lady Tang desperately wracked her brain.
“I didn’t become this way because I wanted to.”
Eventually, Lady Tang decided to share more about herself.
“Didn’t you?”
“The bastard, Tang Geoh, tricked me.”
Just saying his name made anger boil up inside her. Lady Tang expressed her animosity as she uttered the name of the person she had personally killed, yet wanted to kill again.
“I caught a glimpse of the story.”
“I grew up without a father, treated like a leper. I couldn’t even dream of marriage or love, living in a room all by myself. Then one day, I met Yoon Ho.”
A smile bloomed on Lady Tang’s face, which had been burning with rage just moments ago.
“You’re talking about your fiancé.”
“He treated me normally, even though I was like this. He loved me. When everyone said to give up, he risked his life to save me without giving up. He pulled me up from the depths of despair and promised to marry me.”
“Did he say that knowing your current condition?”
“He told me to give up. It’s ridiculous. Telling me not to get married until my thirties? Everyone would point fingers and call it madness. But do you know what Yoon Ho said?”
Lady Tang’s face was already full of affection.
“What did he say?”
“He said he would wait. How foolish of him.”
Just thinking about that time sent her heart into a flutter. She wanted to rush to Yichang right away. Lady Tang placed her trembling hand over her heart.
“That’s amazing.”
Surprise flashed across the Demon Lord’s face as well.
“How could anyone not love such a man? When you asked what I want to be if I become your disciple, I want to be a wise and virtuous wife.”
Lady Tang answered confidently.
A woman who had never lived an ordinary life. She wanted to live her life for the man who loved her.
“Don’t you have any dreams as a martial artist?”
“People praise me as a perfect poison master, a secret treasure of the Tang Family, but I don’t want to be a great martial artist. You might not like it, but I just want to be happy with Yoon Ho. I want to wake up in his arms.”
Perhaps she should have packaged herself better. Saying she wanted to inherit the Demon Lord’s legacy, or live for the Tang Family, or become a great martial artist. But she didn’t want to deceive someone who could become her mentor in that manner.
Thus, Lady Tang confessed honestly. Her love for one man and her own dreams.
Even if the answer to her confession was different from her expectations, it didn’t matter. Her feelings would remain unchanged.
The Demon Lord silently gazed at Lady Tang for a while before finally speaking.
“I have some reserved tea. Would you like to join me?”
“Yes.”
A small smile hung on the faces of Lady Tang and the Demon Lord.
——
“I also heard about your fiancé. Instead of getting timid in front of the Tang Family Head and the elders, he overcame their will and saved you.”
The Demon Lord said, relishing the fragrant aroma of tea.
“Yes, I heard too.”
Fool. Everyone around knows that. What are you going to do? Lady Tang nodded her head shyly, recalling her fiancé’s proud demeanor.
“He spoke so well that not just a few martial artists felt their hearts flutter seeing his confident stance.”
“Yoon Ho can make hearts flutter even without speaking.”
Wasn’t he said to be a handsome man resembling his father? The Demon Lord smiled as she watched Lady Tang shyly brag about her fiancé while avoiding her gaze.
“Fuhuhuh. It seems I’ve heard something similar.”
The Demon Lord knew a similar story. A martial artist and a lover. A tale as old as time.
“I….”
“I had one too. Just by thinking of him, just by being beside him, he made my heart flutter.”
Lady Tang stared blankly at her reflection in the tea cup.
Though over seventy, she looked youthful. In her wrinkle-free days, while sipping tea, a man would tenderly pat her shoulder.
“…….”
“When I was young, the Martial Arts World was more chaotic than it is now. The righteous and demonic factions were at odds, and countless martial artists perished in between. As a martial artist of the Tang Family, I couldn’t just sit back.”
“The War of the Just and the Demonic….”
About fifty years ago in the Martial Arts World. Lady Tang had heard of it before.
“I thought I had to win at any cost. I thought I had to survive. And I knew how to do it.”
The Demon Lord raised her empty hand. Mist-like poison began to swirl from the hand of Tang Ok-ran, a master of the Poison Technique.
The tangible poison that should shatter the surroundings did no harm and was instead absorbed back into her.
“Poison Master?!”
Lady Tang immediately realized what the swirling poison was.
“Let’s call it a pseudo-poison master. Learning the Poison Technique made me prone to the notion of becoming a poison master, and back then, it was a time when it was easy to touch taboos, as it wasn’t considered inhumane nor were there vilifying remarks about the Tang Family.”
“You made yourself a poison master?”
The Demon Lord nodded at Lady Tang’s question.
“Thanks to that, I won. Though the Tang Family may not be the best, we became known as the family that ruled Sichuan Province. I survived and returned to the capital, only to find my fiancé waiting outside our home.”
The Demon Lord recalled her husband’s face from her youth.
“I’ve heard of your story, Demon Lord. You came back and got married.”
After ending the War of the Just and the Demonic, the Demon Lord lived happily for a long time. Lady Tang remembered the tales of the Martial Arts World.
“I thought I had only happiness left. Until I realized the sad truth of my infertility.”
The Demon Lord gazed at the night sky with a sorrowful look that even her old age couldn’t hide.
“…….”
“I thought I could have everything but found myself to be a woman who couldn’t even bear a child with the man I love. A useless half-wit woman.”
“In the process of becoming a poison master, numerous side effects occur.”
Lady Tang understood this fact well.
“People call me the Poison Demon Queen. But to me, I was nothing more than the Poison Lacking Heir after my husband passed away.”
For a woman, infertility is akin to disability. In those times, if a noble’s daughter was rejected because of infertility, everyone would nod in understanding.
“I dedicated decades to the Poison Technique. Hoping there might be a solution, I read every ancient text of the Tang Family. While I achieved a mastery of the Poison Technique, it was after I lost my husband.”
“…….”
Lady Tang could not bring herself to talk about the pain that might have been hers.
“Child.”
The old poison master called for a new poison master who had endured many years.
“Yes.”
“Would you like to become my disciple?”
For any other reason, she would have refused. Even if it were the Tang Family Head’s request, she would have turned it down.
If it were for the clan, to become a famous martial artist, or to seek the pinnacle of the Poison Technique, she would have turned away immediately.
But Lady Tang’s desire to love moved the Demon Lord’s heart.
“If I learn from the Demon Lord, can I meet Yoon Ho sooner?”
“Yes, if your love remains unchanged.”
“I’m confident in that.”
“I will teach you everything I know.”
The Demon Lord hoped that Lady Tang wouldn’t have to suffer the same pain. She reached out her hand to Lady Tang.
“I’ll pay my respects to my teacher.”
Lady Tang stood up and bowed deeply to her mentor.
It was the moment when the connection was forged between a poison master who had never taken a disciple and another who had never had a mentor.
———
“Head of the family, you were here.”
In the Tang Family’s pavilion, where the pond and flowers harmonized beautifully, the Demon Lord appeared before the Tang Family Head, who was looking at the pond alone.
“Demon Lord, please feel free to speak.”
“How can I speak comfortably to you, Head of the Family?”
The Demon Lord bowed and spoke.
No one in the Sichuan Tang Family would dare undermine the authority of the family head. Not even the elders would.
“Even though I am the Head of the Family, it’s uncomfortable when my aunt, who has cherished me since childhood, addresses me so formally.”
Tang Baek-ho showed a slight discomfort at his aunt’s demeanor, who used to play with him when they were young.
“Very well. Then I’ll do so. As you said, I visited to see the child.”
The Demon Lord nodded toward the Tang Family Head, then revealed the results of his request from the past few days.
“Did it please you?”
The Tang Family Head did not expect the Demon Lord to accept a disciple.
After all, his aunt had never taken a disciple before. He merely hoped that Lady Tang could at least impress the Demon Lord enough to learn even a single technique.
“I decided to accept her as a disciple.”
“……!”
The response was one that even the Head of the Family had not anticipated.
“There’s no need to be overly surprised. The way that girl has turned out is partly my fault.”
The Demon Lord walked over to Tang Baek-ho with a complicated expression and spoke while gazing at the pond in the garden.
“How can you say that? It was only because of Tang Geoh’s machinations that she became like this.”
“I should have hidden away sooner. With someone halfway to becoming a poison master wandering around those crazed with poison, how could they resist the temptation?”
Tang Ok-ran was not a complete poison master, but she was not a failure either. An accomplished martial artist who had mastered the Poison Technique and underwent experiments to become a pseudo-poison master.
To those secretly researching poison in the Tang Family, the Demon Lord was a reachable goal and a source of greed.
“I will ensure that such things do not happen in the Tang Family again.”
“Indeed. I trust you, as the Head of the Family. And about that girl…”
The Demon Lord spoke to Tang Baek-ho with an expression of incredulity.
“What has happened to Lady Tang?”
“She uses her instincts rather than her martial arts skills. She’s even stronger than I was when I earned the title of Demon Lord.”
Though the Demon Lord had smoothly subdued Lady Tang in the garden, in reality, it was a series of surprises.
If she hadn’t achieved mastery of the Poison Technique, it could have been the Demon Lord herself getting taken down. It was an achievement that made no sense for someone not too far past her youth.
“She faced off against the Demonic Cult members and traitors all on her own.”
“A martial artist of unprecedented skill will be born into the history of the Tang Family.”
“Please take good care of Lady Tang. Though she’s a poison master of the Tang Family… she is also my daughter-in-law.”
Tang Baek-ho bowed his head to his aunt, not as the Family Head, but as an inadequate father.
“Please take good care of her. Your daughter-in-law is burning with passion. She says she wants to fulfill her goals.”
The Demon Lord nodded at the sight. An amusing story popped into her mind that she could share with her disciple’s father-in-law.
“What are her goals?”
“She said her goal is to have five children before she turns thirty.”
At Lady Tang’s unexpected remark, both the Demon Lord and the Tang Family Head found themselves at a loss for words.
——
Lady Tang moved to the secret garden where the Demon Lord resided.
Like a baby bird learning how to fly from its mother, Lady Tang began to learn step by step from the very beginning. The Demon Lord’s teachings were strict but not harsh.
Before long, the cold winter, when lovers parted, had passed, and spring arrived in the Sichuan Tang Family.
“Someone has returned from the Tea Bookstore!!!”
“The Tang Faction is back!”
“Forget about you! Hurry! Hurry!! The Rise of the Tang Family Volume 3!!!”
The party from the Tang Faction, who had headed to Yichang with Kang Yoon-ho, returned to the Sichuan Tang Family, stirring up new waves on this spring day.
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