🚨 Warning: This chapter includes depictions of child abuse and non-consensual undressing and examination of a character, which some readers may find disturbing. Please remain mindful of this as you read. If you feel uncomfortable, do not hesitate to stop reading. 🚨
【Book Chapter 2 】
Nokhee was originally not Yoon Jucheol's adopted daughter, but rather the adopted daughter of Yoon Jucheol's youngest brother, Yoon Hocheol.
The Yoon family lineage was plagued by a strange affliction that caused people, regardless of age or gender, to suddenly transform into a monstrous, snake-like creature, losing their sanity and violently biting people to death.
It was said that one of their ancestors had received a heirloom from a deity they worshipped in exchange for the family's power, but this treasure brought both prosperity and a curse, with no known cure. Even the revered Grand Shaman could do nothing to stop it.
A family member who had been perfectly fine and conversing normally just moments before would suddenly sprout scales and an elongated snout, viciously attacking and killing others, including relatives. When those who transformed were beheaded, it became evident that, no matter how powerful the family was, soon there would be no survivors left in the household.
The Yoon family line began to wither. In the face of such horrors, many abandoned power and wealth, fleeing for their lives.
One of them was Yoon Hocheol. Having grown up witnessing his family members die one after the other, he was filled with fear and fled from Hwangju early on. He settled near the capital where he met Nokhee’s mother while drinking at a tavern. They fell in love and started a life together.
A young, reckless nobleman who had run away, married to a former courtesan with a seven-year-old daughter.
Those aware of their situation clicked their tongues and pointed fingers in scorn, but Yoon Hocheol and Nokhee's mother lived quite happily together. They had a strong bond and, not long after moving in together, welcomed a child.
Even after the birth of their second child, Seonghyeon, Yoon Hocheol did not discriminate against Nokhee. He took pity on his adopted daughter, whose parentage was unknown, and taught her to read and write, embodying the role of a loving father. Although they lived in extreme poverty, that period was the happiest time Nokhee could remember.
However, the days of her adoptive father selling his limited writing skills and their mother mending clothes day and night to barely make ends abruptly ended when Seonghyeon was five and Nokhee was twelve years old.
One day at dusk, as Yoon Hocheol returned from the market as usual, he suddenly transformed into a monstrous creature.
Scales erupted from his skin, and his mouth elongated grotesquely into a snout. Between the long, jutting snout, a forked tongue flicked out and darted about, resembling that of a snake.
Yoon Hocheol, with bulging eyes and slit-like pupils, hissed and swiftly bit and killed two passersby in a fit of rage. Responding to the commotion, his wife rushed out, only to have her neck savagely bitten.
If a group of young men, who were returning from farming work, had not run up to stab him with their sickles, both Nokhee and Seonghyeon would have been mauled to death as well.
After that horrifying night, the next day, as if they had somehow foreseen the events of the previous evening, high-ranking officials arrived in palanquins, descending upon the small, impoverished village.
As if oblivious to Nokhee and Seonghyeon trembling in the corner, they attempted to set fire to the entire thatched-roof house where Yoon Hocheol’s corpse lay.
Feeling certain they would die without a chance to escape, Nokhee heard them mention ‘the Yoon family from Hwangju’ and, in a moment of desperation, pushed her crying younger sibling forward.
“Seonghyeon is a descendant of the Yoon family; please spare him!” She declared that she didn’t care about her own fate but fervently pleaded for her younger brother's life.
At the cries of the young Nokhee, the officials who had been lighting the torches began to murmur and went outside the fence. Soon after, a woman with a heavily white powdered face emerged from one of the palanquins that had been waiting nearby.
"You are a rare child with a pure spirit."
The woman approached Nokhee instead of Seonghyeon, lifting her chin with the tip of her fan and examining her thoroughly.
"You have a kind heart too. Despite growing up hungry, your body seems quite sturdy... Would you like to come with me?"
"W-where to?"
“To Hwangju Castle. If you go there, you and your brother will be welcomed as descendants of the Yoon family. I will also look after your mother; she seems to still be breathing.”
The woman, with black soot smeared around her eyes, cast a glance at Nokhee’s mother lying on the ground bleeding. Until that moment, Nokhee hadn’t realised her mother was still alive.
That terrifying woman, who intended to burn not only Nokhee's supposedly dead mother but also Nokhee and Seonghyeon alive, was the Grand Shaman. This was Nokhee's first encounter with her.
At just twelve years old, Nokhee had no options available to her. She was taken to Hwangju Castle, and as promised, Seonghyeon was registered in the family registry as an official member of the Yoon family.
The Grand Shaman also assigned a physician to Nokhee's mother, who had been bitten by Yoon Hocheol. However, because the deep wounds had not been treated in time, her mother never fully regained her senses.
However, Nokhee knew that if she hadn't followed them here, her mother would have surely died. At that moment, she felt like she could do anything for the Grand Shaman and the Yoon family.
Although she couldn’t see her mother and Seonghyeon often, the days that followed felt like a different world to her.
Dressed in silk clothes she had never seen before and enjoying lavish meals prepared with care by the servants, Nokhee’s initial tension gradually began to ease.
Unaware that it was all a noose tightening around her neck.
The true purpose behind all the efforts made to bring Nokhee in, despite the difficulties, was revealed shortly after Yoon Hocheol's funeral was officially held.
That day, although she wasn’t a true blood relative of the Yoon family, Nokhee was summoned to the funeral hall without Seonghyeon.
Rather than burying the deceased, the family custom involved cremating the body in front of all the relatives. Although Nokhee found this odd, she accepted it as their tradition.
As the flames consuming Yoon Hocheol's body began to subside, the Grand Shaman, dressed unusually in a white hat and vibrant shamanic robes, sifted through the remaining ashes and picked something up with a bright smile.
"Nokhee, come here."
She immediately called for Nokhee, and although confused, the unusual atmosphere prompted her to step forward obediently.
“Your body has been so frail and sickly, causing the Yoon family’s worries to grow day by day. Unable to bear this sight, I now bestow this family heirloom upon you, Yoon Nokhee, the eldest daughter of Yoon Jucheol.”
The Grand Shaman recited words that made no sense to Nokhee and held out her ash-covered hand, revealing something small, black, and dirty, roughly the size of a fingernail.
“Take it and swallow it. Then your sickness will disappear as if washed clean."
She handed it over with a cup of water, but Nokhee, who didn’t feel sick, hesitated. It looked far too strange to be medicine.
As she hesitated, the lord standing behind the Grand Shaman suddenly shouted in anger.
“Ah, what are you waiting for? Do as you’re told!”
Suddenly, shouts of reprimand erupted all around, led by the lord.
“Ugh, having brought in such a filthy creature, dressed her in silk, and provided her with luxuries, she ought to fulfil her purpose!”
“Do I need to dismiss the physician caring for your mother in the backroom for you to listen?!”
Terrified by the threat to her mother’s life, Nokhee hastily accepted the object from the Grand Shaman without a second thought. As she gulped it down with water, yellow eyes seething with inexplicable madness, were fixed solely on her.
“Well done. Now you just need to endure it.”
Once the Grand Shaman confirmed that Nokhee had completely swallowed it as instructed, she gently stroked her head.
That evening, when Nokhee returned to her quarters, she fell gravely ill, as if on the brink of death. Her fever surged alarmingly high, and rash-like spots resembling measles appeared and vanished repeatedly across her body. Throughout this ordeal, she was plagued by endless nightmares.
In her nightmares, a giant, pitch-black serpent coiled tightly around her, squeezing her until her bones felt as if they were about to shatter. It then opened its wide jaws and bit into her face, arms, and limbs, tearing at her flesh. The pain was so vivid that Nokhee couldn’t distinguish whether it was real or just a dream.
For over five days, she lay bedridden, suffering day and night, barely surviving. When she finally regained consciousness, she found that on her left breast, which had not yet fully developed, the fingernail-sized piece she had swallowed had fully emerged from her skin.
It eerily resembled the scales of the serpent that had bitten her in her nightmare, sending shivers down her spine.
Nokhee couldn’t even sit up when the Grand Shaman and the Yoon family stripped her down to confirm the object. Upon seeing it, they embraced each other in joy.
“Indeed, my eyes were not mistaken. Your body and spirit are pure and untainted, making you a perfect vessel to contain this potent and wicked toxin.”
It was only later that Nokhee discovered the object they had made her swallow was, in fact, the source of the strange afflictions that plagued the Yoon family.
The Yoon ancestors had received those items from the deity and swallowed them, consequently, allowing it to flow through their blood and turn otherwise ordinary people into snake-like monsters. Those who underwent this transformation had to be ultimately killed to prevent them from harming others.
However, the family heirloom was not always recovered when someone died.
As the number of deaths outpaced the birth of new descendants, the Yoon family desperately searched for a solution. They concluded that the best method was to gather all the heirlooms and hide them. For some unknown reason, they believed that only a person with a pure spirit could serve as the vessel to contain them.
From that day forward, Nokhee was officially registered as the daughter of Yoon Jucheol, the Lord of Hwangju. Coincidentally, Yoon Jucheol had a daughter of the same age, so Nokhee was introduced to the world as a twin who had been hidden due to her frail health.
From simply being Nokhee, without a family name, she became Yoon Nokhee.
She went from a lowborn to a noblewoman overnight, yet her life was more miserable than death.
Had she not been given the title of the lord’s daughter, and instead been treated merely as a servant to bear the Yoon family’s misfortunes, perhaps it might have been less miserable.
Despite enduring endless humiliations and insults, Nokhee never once contemplated ending her life by biting her tongue. She couldn't afford to. The lives of her ailing mother and her younger brother, who had yet to reach adulthood, depended on the mercy of these people.
Lost in thought, Nokhee suddenly found herself standing in front of her residence. As she stepped into the courtyard, the servants were bustling about more than usual. Among them, Eokbun quickly greeted her.
“My Lady, you’ve returned?”
“What are you all doing?”
“His Excellency has sent more books again.”
At this, Nokhee turned her gaze behind her. Neatly wrapped in silk, piles of scriptures were stacked high enough to reach Eokbun’s waist.
“His Excellency wraps these precious books in silk each time he sends them. He must truly hold a deep affection for you, My Lady.”
“He certainly sent a lot.”
Coldly replying to her maid's praise of Yoon Jucheol's absurd actions, Nokhee swiftly ascended the veranda.
Occasionally, her true feelings would unintentionally slip out, but the servants would simply overlook it, thinking, ‘She must be this way due to being raised with too much indulgence.’
As she entered her room, she noticed several servants untying the bundles and carrying the scriptures, suggesting that there were even more than those left outside. They greeted her warmly before returning to their tasks.
“Where did you put the ones I was reading before I fell ill?”
Ignoring the clutter in the room, Nokhee quickly scanned the area as she asked. Eokbun, who had followed her in, answered, “I placed them in the stationery box next to the desk.”
Nokhee immediately went there, sat down, and opened the lid to find the scriptures and several neatly folded sheets of partially transcribed papers inside.
She resigned herself to studying the scriptures, just as her adoptive father wished. While there was little enjoyment in copying the unfamiliar characters, it was the only way to pass the time in this prison of a place.
Engrossed in her work and oblivious to the setting sun, her troubled thoughts and turbulent emotions gradually began to settle.
As Yoon Jucheol said, perhaps she should study the scriptures and accumulate some merit. With that thought, Nokhee reached for a bundle of paper from the stationery box but suddenly froze in mid-air.
There were a few lines of wavy, worm-like writing on the folded paper, followed by neat, straight handwriting. Recognising the contrast, Nokhee’s eyes flickered like a candle flame in the wind.
Judging from the fact that Eokbun hadn’t mentioned anything yet, it seemed like Kijoon still hadn’t returned. Nokhee bit her lower lip.
‘Heartless child.’
He knew she would worry, yet he never sent word. If it was just a brief trip to the lower village, then fine. But it had already been three days, and he still hadn’t returned. She wondered if he was safe and unharmed. What if he never returned?
If Kijoon had grown disillusioned with this household and had decided to leave, then what would she... what would she do?
Her heart sank, rendering the comfort she had felt in the morning meaningless. The thought of being left alone in this hellish place made her chest feel as heavy as if something were pressing down on it.
“My Lady, are you studying? You’re still unwell, so perhaps it would be better to do it later. Shall I bring you some refreshments instead…”
Eokbun, who had been quite chatty despite Nokhee’s capricious temperament, trailed off in surprise as she watched Nokhee abruptly stand up.
Quickly closing the lid of the stationery box, Nokhee roughly wrapped it in a piece of silk cloth scattered across the floor and hurried out of her quarters once more.
Eokbun, who had been standing there dumbfoundedly, rushed after her.
“W-where are you going?”
“I’m feeling suffocated, so I’m going to the back garden for some fresh air.”
“T-the back garden? What if the Grand Shaman or His Excellency calls for you again?”
“I just visited them a little while ago. Do you think they would call for me again so shamelessly? Even if they do, tell them I locked the door and went to bed.”
“T-then... at least take a servant with you! Ah, My Lady! My Lady!”
Having long ago realised that Eokbun would never leave the doorway of her residence, Nokhee quickly jumped over the threshold to avoid being caught. As expected, the maidservant, though tearful, did not step over the threshold to stop Nokhee.
She thought it was strange during the first couple of years, but, now, she had grown accustomed to it.
Everyone in the household seemed to accept that the lord’s cherished eldest daughter lay ill for days on end without a single physician to attend to her.
Well, was there anything in this place that wasn’t strange?
Translator's Corner:
Hiya, Reira here! Hope you're finding this novel interesting so far (even though it's on the dark side). Hopefully the trigger warnings at the start are helpful; if you have any suggestions feel free to let me know since I'm new to this!
Anyway, I only managed to get one chapter translated today, sorry about that! I'll try to get some more translated for next week~ Hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend, take care 🌻
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