Fabre in Sacheon's Tang

The first thing Hwa-eun checked was So-ryong's eyes.

Before So-ryong ate the white ants, Hwa-eun had checked his condition twice, unsure whether he had become unconscious due to some other reason, or whether he had been paralyzed by poison.

Thus, she quickly opened his eyelids and checked his eyes, which appeared hazy and unfocused.

If he had fainted, his sclera would have been visible, and if he had been paralyzed, his eyes should have shown some life. But So-ryong’s eyes behind his closed eyelids were clouded, as though his soul had left him.

"Why?"

"Could it be poison?"

"No, I don't think it's poison. I checked twice before he ate, and he doesn’t seem to be showing signs of poisoning now either."

Shintu, sounding anxious, asked, but Hwa-eun had already checked the white ants for poison earlier, and So-ryong himself had confirmed there was no poison. Even now, it didn’t seem like the symptoms of poisoning or paralysis.

Then, it was Seol, who had been checking So-ryong's pulse, who grabbed Hwa-eun's hand.

With a dazed look, Seol murmured the words she had heard once before.

"Beast Heart Technique..."

"Beast Heart Technique? What about it?"

The Beast Heart Technique was one of the roots of the Five Poisons Returning to the Origin Art, which So-ryong had learned, and it was connected to the Beast Palace’s inner technique.

The event when Cho, who was becoming a Heavenly Sovereign, had once caused So-ryong to fall asleep came to mind.

That time, when So-ryong had been asleep for nearly fifteen days.

"Cho! Cho! Come down here!"

Hwa-eun quickly called Cho, who had been hovering in the sky, to check if the same thing had happened again because of Cho’s recent growth.

Since Cho had recently shed its skin, and there was no one else to suspect, she worried it might be related to Cho.

Seol, as well as the Beast Palace's leader, had warned that if one were to connect with potent poisons like the Ten Deadly Poisons, their mind could become unhinged, which made her worried.

As soon as Hwa-eun called Cho down, the confused Cho flew down without knowing what was going on.

Hwa-eun urgently asked Cho, "Cho, Daddy collapsed. Do you know anything about it?"

Though we couldn’t understand exactly what Cho was saying, it was clear that Cho was alarmed, and it didn’t seem like Cho was the cause.

Seol also confirmed it wasn’t Cho.

"It doesn’t seem to be Cho. The Beast Heart Technique energy doesn’t feel like last time. And if Cho was the cause, it would have fallen asleep just like last time."

Hwa-eun realized Seol was right. Cho had also fallen asleep with So-ryong last time, so if Cho were the cause, it would have fallen asleep too.

"Then, could it be? Hyang!?"

"Hyang? Oh, wait a second!"

Hyang, who had been scolded earlier for not listening to Daddy, was now asleep on Hwa-eun’s shoulder.

Could it be that he wasn’t just sleeping?

Seeing that he didn’t wake up during all the chaos, Hwa-eun quietly called out to Hyang.

If both So-ryong and Hyang were affected by the Beast Heart Technique, it might not be good to force them awake, but she needed to check if So-ryong’s mental state had truly been lost.

"Hyang? Hyang, are you sleeping?"

With tense looks from Hwa-eun and Seol, Hyang didn’t respond at first, and they wondered if it was the Beast Heart Technique, but soon Hyang, feeling itchy, began to brush his antennae with his forelegs.

And then he made the same sound he usually did when sleeping.

In the midst of this chaos, Hyang was calmly scratching his antennae and sleeping soundly.

It seemed like he had fallen deeply asleep, unaware of what was going on.

Seol, confirming once again that it wasn’t Cho, quickly touched Hyang’s body and then shook her head.

"I don’t think it’s Hyang either. I don’t sense any Beast Heart Technique energy from Hyang."

"Then, what’s going on? Could it be what you mentioned earlier, that the beasts’ hearts might have consumed his mind?"

Hwa-eun asked anxiously, worried that So-ryong’s mind might have been consumed by the poisonous creatures through the Beast Heart Technique, but Seol shook her head.

"No, that’s not it. If his mind had been consumed, he would be rampaging like a beast, but right now, it’s as though he’s just asleep."

"Then... why...?"

If it wasn’t that, it was something even stranger.

As Hwa-eun looked at So-ryong with a worried expression, Seol suddenly clapped her hands as if she had figured something out.

"Ah! So-ryong’s Beast Heart Technique doesn’t only connect to Cho and Hyang, does it?"

"Not just Cho and Hyang... Ah! How could I forget that?"

In my momentary shock over So-ryong’s collapse, I had forgotten that So-ryong’s Beast Heart Technique had also connected with someone else.

"Bini?"

"Yes, Bini is still here."

The youngest daughter, who had left home recently.

It was Bini.

***

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was a space filled with pitch-black fog, like smoke.

Looking around, all I could see was the same black fog.

There wasn’t a single point of light, yet somehow I could clearly sense the presence of the black smoke.

"What... what is this?"

For a brief moment, I was taken aback.

In this situation, the first thought that came to mind was:

'Could it be? Am I trapped in my inner world or something like that!?'

When they taught me the Beast Heart Technique, Seol and my adoptive father had warned me that my mind could be consumed by Cho’s mind because the spirit of the beast was far stronger than a human’s.

Because of that, I had always been cautious.

Now, seeing this dark, pitch-black place, where I could remain relatively lucid, I began to think that perhaps my mind was trapped here, and Cho’s spirit had taken over my body.

I wondered if this was something like in cartoons, where the protagonist’s body is taken for some reason, and the protagonist ends up trapped in a dark, gloomy space until someone comes to rescue them.

"Damn it, am I really doing something strange? No, if Cho took over, that wouldn’t make sense, right?"

It felt more certain.

I decided to call for help from Cho.

There was no way Cho would intentionally take over my body, and this must have happened because Cho’s spirit, being of a spirit beast, was far stronger than mine.

If Cho and I were connected mentally, she would definitely help me.

'My daughter wouldn’t intentionally «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» do this to her father. Not my sweet daughter.'

"Cho! Cho! I’m here! Help me out!"

As I shouted, the black fog, almost like a living entity, began to swirl.

It seemed like Cho was responding to me.

'Oh! Definitely a reaction!'

I could feel the black fog moving every time I called out to Cho.

It was like Cho was panicking too.

I decided to speak calmly to reassure Cho and ask for help, so she wouldn’t be scared.

"This wasn’t intentional, right? It’s probably just a mistake or something that happened without Cho meaning to. Our Cho is so sweet, and she’s the daughter who loves her dad the most. Let’s think of a way to get me out of here."

As I continued calling out, something happened.

The black fog seemed to become even more ominous, almost like a storm, and one side of it cleared, revealing a narrow path.

A path with light shining through it.

It felt as though the light was beckoning me, so I hurried down that path.

It seemed like Cho was showing me the way.

"That’s my girl! My beautiful daughter!"

It seemed like Cho had found a solution.

While praising Cho, I began walking along the light.

After a moment, I reached the end of the light and saw a figure.

At a glance, it looked similar to Cho, whom I had seen once before.

"Cho!"

I quickly called out and ran toward the figure.

However, as I reached the woman, it became clear that this wasn’t Cho.

"Who, who are you?"

The Cho in my memory was a beautiful woman with blue hair and blue eyes, exuding a strange aura. But the woman in front of me had black hair and black eyes.

She had the same strange aura as Cho, but she was someone I had never seen before.

‘What, what is this?’

Moreover, her expression seemed to be one of clear anger.

I blinked in surprise, and the woman seemed to sigh in frustration.

The thought that came to mind was ‘darkening.’

‘Could it be? Has Cho darkened!?’

The blackness certainly suggested a darkening.

If Cho, who was once blue, had turned black, then it could only be described as a darkening.

I cautiously asked in a careful voice, "Cho?"

Immediately, the woman’s eyes changed to a fierce glare.

No matter how much Cho may have darkened, there was no way she would look at her father with such malice. I began to wonder if I was mistaken.

"Ah, is it not you? Then, who are you?"

‘Could she be the queen ant? But no, I didn’t use the Beast Heart Technique to register her, did I?’

As I thought about it, I realized that before this happened, I had eaten roasted white ants.

Could it be that the queen of the white ants, being a spiritual creature, had exchanged nutrients with the worker ants before they died, and I had eaten those fluids, unintentionally registering her as a spiritual entity?

However, the strange part was that in order to register a poison creature, one would need to use the special incantation of the Beast Heart Technique and consume the creature’s bodily fluids. It couldn’t be the case that I had registered her unwillingly.

I took a step back, feeling the intense gaze of the woman.

Then, something unexpected happened.

The woman’s expression suddenly changed to one of confusion, and she turned her head, not looking at me, but instead grabbing my shirt collar.

Looking at where she grabbed, I asked with a dazed expression, "Could it be Bini?"

The spot she grabbed was exactly where our daughter Bini, who had the tsundere trait, used to grab when she didn’t want to show affection but couldn’t resist doing so. When she was angry, she would grab my collar to stop me from leaving.

The woman’s face lit up with surprise and joy, and she immediately jumped into my arms.

Once again, the feeling of "Daddy’s the best" filled my heart.

‘I’m sure Daddy knows exactly what this is.’

Although there had been a mistake earlier, I didn’t feel like I had failed as a father, and I felt my mind becoming hazy.

"Bini!"

When I opened my eyes, I saw the familiar ceiling.

I quickly sat up, calling for Bini, and I heard the surprised voices of the two women.

"So-ryong, are you awake?"

"Ryo!? Are you awake?"

I turned my head to see Hwa-eun and Seol looking at me with wide eyes.

"Where am I? How did I end up here?"

I was lying in my own quarters in the Tang clan house, on my bed.

Though I had seen Bini in my mind, my last memory was of going to find the blue caterpillar, discovering the white ants, and eating them.

Confused, I asked how I had ended up here. Hwa-eun approached and gently wiped my forehead.

"I thought it would be best to leave you alone, but Seol unni thought it would be better to move Bini to a family closer to us, so we brought you here."

It seemed that after I collapsed, they had moved me to a different part of the clan.

"So, Bini? Has Bini returned?"

I asked about Bini upon hearing her name from Hwa-eun, but she shook her head.

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"No, she hasn’t returned yet. Could it be because of Bini that you collapsed this time?"

"Maybe..."

She hesitated as she answered, and just then, I heard commotion coming from outside.

"Block them!"

"They’re over there!"

"They’re heading toward the Saheowon!"

I tried to get up from my bed, but my body was sluggish from lying down for so long.

I asked Hwa-eun and Seol to help me.

"Quickly, outside."

Both Hwa-eun and Seol seemed to sense something from the commotion and didn’t refuse my request. They helped me walk outside.

The ground of the courtyard suddenly started rising in mounds, like a mole tunneling through the earth, and it reached up toward the front of my quarters.

Its body was smooth and shiny, almost like an abyss, and it was certainly larger than Cho in her Heavenly Sovereign form.

‘Oh my god!’

"Ahhh!"

It was definitely Bini, upgraded and returned!