When the Black Moon Rises - Chapter 67
Chapter 67
"What do you mean? What misunderstanding am I causing?"
As soon as she asked, Sa Yeonju replied in a voice even more delicate than Sehwa's, her throat trembling.
"Sister, you already told the attendants yourself. You said that the Young Lord didn't deliberately neglect your exuviation - that at the time, he was carrying out an important order from the Mystic Ruler."
"..."
"Yet now you're completely omitting that part and speaking as if the Young Lord deliberately abandoned you. How can you so cunningly mention only one aspect of the situation, knowing full well how others might misunderstand the Young Lord when they hear just that part?"
"..."
"Besides, who among the Ju clan's bloodline would refuse to sacrifice themselves for the Young Lord? If I were in your position, I too would have volunteered with both hands raised to go to the Baek clan. But I wasn't qualified."
Yeonju added with a tone suggesting she found this deeply sad and regrettable.
"And yet, the Young Lord is so concerned even about this deed that anyone from the Ju clan would have done. Didn't he even give you an extraordinary gift that can't be received twice? I heard all the servants struggled to organize the gifts that filled the mansion's courtyard."
Glancing at Sehwa and seeing that she was still silent with no intention of responding, Yeonju continued.
"By leaving out all these details in your words, aren't you trying to make the Young Lord appear as someone who knows neither benevolence nor loyalty?"
Shaking her head, a dejected voice flowed from between her lips as if she couldn't believe it.
"Though I don't understand why you're doing this, your behavior today feels very unlike you, Sister. It's frightening to see you slandering the Young Lord in a way that makes people misunderstand."
Through her lengthy speech, Yeonju belittled Sehwa's journey to the Baek clan, saying that no special meaning should be attached to something anyone from the Ju clan would have volunteered for.
She painted Sehwa as someone shamelessly slandering the Young Lord despite having received numerous gifts.
Then, with a pitiful expression hiding a triumphant gaze, she stared at Sehwa.
'Why? If you have something to say, say it. I'll strike you down again.'
Though she wanted to hear what excuse Sehwa might make, there was no sign of Sehwa opening her mouth.
'Right. What could she possibly have to say? With her dirty intentions exposed before all these people, she'd have nothing to say even with a hundred mouths.'
Suppressing her urge to laugh out loud, Yeonju trembled her lips pitifully while furrowing her brows, feeling she needed to drive the final nail here.
"And... while I'm speaking, I should say one more thing. Because if not for this opportunity, I don't think Sister would ever meet with me properly."
Pitiful tears dripped down her face.
"Why are you being so cruel to me these days? Is it because you're so displeased that the Young Lord shows a little care for poor me?"
At these words, those who had been pretending to listen to the music and watch the dancers while secretly observing the situation were surprised once again.
'Huh? What's this development now?'
'I wondered why the Young Lord was calling for that Sa girl.'
'I thought it was a triangle between the Baek Clan Head, the Young Lord, and the Elder's daughter, but that wasn't it?'
'Are you saying it's actually a quadrangle including the branch family Sa girl?'
As gazes began to gather openly, Yeonju, noticing this, kept wiping away her tears, worried that those far away might not see them properly.
Here are my tears. See how sorrowfully I'm crying right now.
"I stayed up all night nursing Sister when she lost consciousness and fell ill. Yet as soon as she woke up, she beat me severely. She threw me out of the house, taking everything from me without even explaining why."
Yeonju poured out her grievances in a trembling voice, as if exploding with pent-up resentment.
"Moreover, Sister made another mistake with me. At the banquet, you suspected I had poisoned you, Sister, but you wouldn't even listen to my explanation."
'Gasp, poison? Did she just say poison?'
'What is this about?'
People swallowed dry saliva in tension, unable to tell where this story was heading.
"You tested it with silver needles, but it wasn't poison. It was mountain herb powder. Mountain herb powder reacts to silver needles because of its ingredients, but far from being poison, it has protective effects on the body."
Yeonju took something from her sleeve and threw it in front of Sehwa.
"If you're still suspicious, here, test it again. I was just worried because you were sick with fear about going to the Baek clan, so even though you beat me and hated me, I got good medicinal herbs, but you wouldn't listen to anything I said. Despite all the affection we've shared over the years."
Yeonju sobbed as if she couldn't understand why she had to be in such a situation.
"Go ahead, test whether this is poison. Though I was thrown out with nothing, I didn't say a word out of gratitude for raising me all these years, but I really cannot stand you treating the Young Lord like this. How can you speak such vulgar words to the noble future Mystic Ruler?"
With those words, sympathy filled Young Lord Ju Kyunghyun's eyes as he learned of the situation.
'So you had such hardships. Yet you remained silent and endured alone despite suffering such unfair treatment.'
Feeling his gaze, Yeonju was beside herself with joy.
'The Young Lord is looking at me.'
Growing even more confident, Yeonju attacked Ju Sehwa triumphantly, as if driving in the final nail.
"And besides. While I'm speaking, I should say one more thing. Because if not now, I don't think Sister would ever give me a proper chance to meet."
Pitiful tears dripped down her face.
"Do you even realize that if the Young Lord weren't so merciful, you would deserve to die several times over in this place? Let's set you aside. What about your family? Why should they suffer because of your wicked mindset? What wrong have they done?"
At the words "wicked mindset," Ju Myoungyoon, who had been silent unable to readily intervene in the children's matters, exploded.
"Shut your mouth! What nonsense are you spouting!"
But Yeonju looked at Ju Myoungyoon with an even more wronged expression.
"Elder, you're always like this. Even when Sister is clearly in the wrong, you always scold only me. What wrong have I done to deserve such fierce reproach from you?"
"What?!"
"Father, please stop."
"Sehwa, but that child is now-"
"I'll explain to Yeonju myself."
Ju Sehwa, who stopped her father with a calm voice, began shedding tears from the start.
Unlike Yeonju, who had merely affected an expression while shedding tears out of concern for how she would appear to others, Ju Sehwa did not spare her face.
She began pouring out transparent teardrops while completely contorting her face.
How much more pitiful and heart-wrenching she looked than Yeonju's earlier display.
In that state, Sehwa took something from inside her sleeve and threw it forward, just as Yeonju had done earlier.
Everyone's gaze turned to the small rolled-up bundle of cloth.
"These are the needles I used that day. Since you claim such innocence, shall we test your mountain herbs with these again?"
"What did you say?"
"Would someone please open that? I don't want to be accused of switching anything if I do it myself."
At those words, a servant who received the gazes of the mystic people hurriedly approached and opened the scroll-like bundle of cloth.
"Please show it to everyone."
"It-it's needles made from dragon scales!"
"!"
"Gasp, dragon scale needles? You're saying poison was detected with those?"
The surroundings instantly became chaotic.
Dragon scales from divine beasts contained the former Ju clan's power of clairvoyance, and were mainly used when made into needles for detecting poison.
They could distinguish anything harmful to the consumer, regardless of type, by detecting malicious intent.
"That's impossible!"
Yeonju hurriedly denied it.
"Then-then it was definitely just silver needles. I'm telling you it was tested with just silver needles!"
"After scraping off the outer part of the scales, only the translucent core remains, so it's not unreasonable that you mistook it for silver needles."
"No! They weren't silver needles!"
"Then are you saying that I, who was bedridden for a week with exuviation aftereffects, suddenly obtained dragon scale needles and switched them? How would I know whether you would say this today or not? And since everyone who visits the Ju mansion has their entry recorded, if you suspect I hurriedly obtained dragon scale needles from somewhere, why don't you investigate all of that?"
Sehwa added while wiping away her tears.
"Ah, yes, attendants. Yes. If I bought something during that time, I would only have been able to do it through the attendants, so investigate them."
Sehwa's face contorted pitifully as she looked at Yeonju.
"I don't understand why you're doing this to me. Fortunately, I brought these documents hoping to meet someone close to you at today's banquet before I go to the Baek clan, to ask them to deliver them to you."
Saying this, Sehwa took something out from her sleeve.
"I was going to tell you not to worry because everything has been taken care of. I never thought I would have to use these documents like this."
These were documents she had deliberately brought after learning that Kyunghyun's guards had brought Yeonju from the city.
Though they appeared to be just a few thin pieces of paper, the content written on them was not as light as they looked.
Documents from different gambling houses were spread out before people.
People's eyes widened because they were documents issued under the names of Ju Gayoon and Ju Gahan.
Everyone knew that after they left for the front lines with their father Ju Myoungyoon ten years ago, their returns home could be counted on one hand.
"These are certificates showing that I paid off all the gambling house debts you incurred using our brothers' name tablets. And these..."
Sehwa took out a few more thin pieces of paper.
"These are certificates proving that I retrieved all of my mother's jewelry that you stole and sold to pawnshops."
"!!"
"Gasp!"
"Jew-jewelry to a pawnshop?"
"And the Madam's jewelry at that?"
"It's slander!"
Yeonju jumped to her feet.
"Again, again it's slander! Again! Don't be fooled. This is Sister's method! Besides, does it make sense that you brought these documents to give to me? If you wanted to give them to me so badly, you could have sent them by letter. This is clearly prepared to slander me by creating this situation-"
"If you want to call it slander, shall we go to this pawnshop together?"
When Sehwa asked this, Yeonju's face froze.
She should have used someone else. She had moved personally because she didn't trust others, worried they might lie about the jewelry's value or steal it.
Though she had disguised herself, she couldn't be certain the pawnshop owner wouldn't recognize her.
Her momentary speechlessness served as an answer to those watching.
"These are the confessions of banquet servants who admitted to knowing about and overlooking your theft of my name tablet to frequent vulgar gatherings. And these are documents about my secret investigation after you stole my accessories and, when discovered by a maid, framed and expelled that maid."
"..."
"This is the confession of the human man you employed-"
Unable to hear more, Yeonju rushed at the documents.
While crumpling and tearing the papers, she shouted.
"It's slander! There's no need to hear more. This is slander!"
Watching Yeonju's behavior, Sehwa shook her head sadly.
"Go ahead and tear them. I received ten copies of each anyway, just in case they might not be delivered properly. I've stored plenty at the mansion."
"Wh-what did you say?"
"This is troubling - you shouldn't get so excited already. Sit back down after you're done tearing."
Though still wet with tears, Sehwa's sharp gaze flashed toward Yeonju.
"Because I haven't even started yet."
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