I Became the Eldest Daughter of a Fallen Family - Chapter 56

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 56. The Wang Attack (2)
No matter how much face mattered, surely it could never outweigh a life.
Even as Jang’s hands trembled with fear, she did her best to shield her daughter. And Hong, who had always been curt with her granddaughter, was no different.
“Please, Village Head Wang. Let’s settle this through conversation instead. Yes? There may be some misunderstanding, after all.”
Hong began her persuasion in a gentle tone.
Even as she swallowed her pride to protect her granddaughter, she refused to lose the dignity befitting a great household’s lady—a choice that revealed the strength of her character.
“Grandmother, there’s no need for this. They’ve come making such a commotion, so Father will soon understand what’s happened and return, won’t he? And the County Magistrate would never let them get away with this.”
“S-silence! Do you really think the County Magistrate cares about the likes of you Criminal Family brats!”
Wang bristled at So Yeon-hui’s bluff, speaking as though having a seizure.
Yet perhaps because of those very words, the momentum of those wielding cudgels grew visibly weaker.
The County Magistrate, no less. These people had lived with heads bowed, afraid of nothing more than Wang’s relatives in the County Seat itself—and now someone far higher ranked than that!
If such a dignitary took offense, one’s head could fly off in an instant. Those who had been ready to smash everything in the So household stopped short, hesitating and slowly backing away.
But perhaps Wang Chun-bae took umbrage at his men losing their nerve, for he gnashed his teeth and stepped forward himself.
“Bah! You cowardly dogs! What’s so frightening about these mere women! Get out of the way! I’ll handle this myself!”
“Mother, Yeon-hui! Run, quickly!”
Jang gasped in shock at Wang Chun-bae’s sudden reckless charge, cudgel raised.
So Yeon-hui too had not expected matters to escalate so violently.
Yet she could not flee and leave her mother and grandmother behind. So she clenched her fists and fixed Wang Chun-bae with a steady glare.
‘If I can take out his lower body, I can buy time. It hasn’t been long since the flogging, so he’ll barely be able to walk.’
Fighting an armed man bare-handed was foolish—everyone knew that. But what choice did she have? There was nowhere left to retreat.
“Die, you wench!”
“Mother, get back!”
So Yeon-hui ducked beneath Wang Chun-bae’s cudgel and drove her full weight into his ribs with a sharp tackle.
“Ugh—argh!”
Already aching all over from the flogging, he had no hope of recovering balance once it was knocked loose.
Wang Chun-bae crashed hard to the earth, the back of his head striking stone, and the wound on his rear tore open afresh. He thrashed and rolled about the ground, gasping in agony.
“Ah, oh gods! I’m dying! Father, help! Someone save me!”
“Tch—! That ignorant little wench—!”
Troublemaker though his son was, he was still precious to him.
What father could stand by while his child writhed in such pain?
Village Head Wang seized the cudgel his son had dropped and began brandishing it menacingly at So Yeon-hui.
“Today I’ll see you buried, you shameless wretch! This wretched girl!”
So what was to be done?
This time, respect for elders would have to become something quite different.
‘The man’s probably approaching osteoporosis anyway. Not my problem if a bone breaks.’
Having discovered that this crude tackle—crude as American football—was effective, So Yeon-hui lowered her center of gravity to charge again.
Just then.
“Stop!”
A ringing shout froze the Wangs in place, and at that moment a great horse thundered up the forest path, hooves striking the earth with unrelenting force.
‘A horse? He’s riding a horse?’
Village Head Wang’s mind went rigid.
He owned some three hundred acres of paddy—quite impressive for a rural backwater. Yet even someone of his standing could not ride a horse freely.
Horses were a strategic resource designated by the state, and in Cheongyang County, only a handful of people could legally buy and sell them.
‘Surely… this isn’t someone from the government?’
As Wang’s courage drained away, every eye turned beyond the gate.
Ju Ha-yun, paying their stares no mind, rode up menacingly, then drew his blade the instant he entered the So compound.
“Hee—hieeek!”
A true sword, not some crude reaping hook or wooden club. Who could keep their nerve before such a cold steel edge?
Village Head Wang dropped his weapon at once and prostrated himself on the ground.
Ju Ha-yun, meanwhile, dismounted in one fluid motion and stepped between the Wang father and So Yeon-hui, then asked:
“Are you well? Are you hurt?”
Wasn’t it obvious?
The one on the ground was over there. The one standing unharmed was here.
Any observer could see that Wang Chun-bae had taken the beating, yet Ju Ha-yun’s fury descended squarely upon the father and son.
He leveled his blade at both of them and cried out:
“How dare you lay such barbarous hands on a defenseless woman? Do you dare call yourselves men!”
Defenseless? Her?
The same girl who had brushed off Wang Chun-bae’s attack—Wang Chun-bae, notorious as a ruffian—as though it were nothing, then charged in and cracked his skull open?
The villagers stared at Ju Ha-yun in bewilderment.
They didn’t know which household this young gentleman belonged to, but it seemed he was quite thoroughly smitten with the So girl.
“You’re… you’re the County Magistrate? What brings you here so early in the morning?”
If not for So Yeon-hui’s hastily blurted question…
…did she just call him County Magistrate, not young master?
Then they’d just assaulted the protégé of the County Magistrate himself?
‘…We’re finished.’
Horror painted every face in the village.
* * *
Ju Ha-yun had come to the So household at dawn purely because of Wi Jung.
The night before, while receiving reports at the County Magistrate’s Office in the County Seat, he had learned of the So household’s situation in passing.
“What? General So was swindled? The village head extorted that much in valuables from him?”
“That’s what I’m saying! The So family’s situation is worse than I thought. That girl even paid five stones of millet as a fee, plus a hefty bribe on top of it all, worried they might face trouble for being a Criminal Family. It’s a desperate age, truly.”
What Ju Ha-yun heard from Wi Jung was a treatment unimaginable when one considered what the So household had done for this nation. And even setting aside such history, it was something that should never have happened.
He had been relieved to hear that Wi Jung, making an unexpected inspection, had caught it well and helped. But then—Wi Jung had bartered for information about water channels?
“Are you in your right mind? If you wanted wisdom, you should have bowed your head and asked. To use their hardship as leverage? Is that truly all you’re capable of?”
“I never used leverage! I was planning to help anyway, and since fate had tangled us together like this, I thought we might simply help each other out a bit. That’s all it was!”
“And that isn’t leveraging them?”
Ju Ha-yun made no effort to conceal his anger, his voice rising.
He understood Wi Jung’s haste in proving himself, but he had never expected him to make such a desperate judgment.
Still, what was to be done? Wi Jung was his cousin, and he had already resolved to take him on as a strategist.
“I shall go to the So household and apologize in your stead.”
“What—what? You can’t possibly—! The matter’s already been resolved!”
“That’s no resolution. You merely covered it up!”
It was hardly a proper airing and judgment of right and wrong—merely a few strokes of the cane and an end to it. How could that be called resolution?
“Even so, for you to bow and apologize in person seems excessive, doesn’t it? I’m the one who caused the trouble, so why should you—”
Wi Jung’s expression hardened, but Ju Ha-yun would not be moved. He would not waver, even at words meant to spare his companion’s face.
“If Miss So is the talent you say she is, then I should have lowered my head to her regardless. Don’t worry. I won’t turn my back on you because of this.”
Having said this, Ju Ha-yun set down his brush, donned his traveling robe, and moved to open the door and head for the stables. But Wi Jung, alarmed, called him back.
“Ha-yun!”
“What now?”
“It’s the Zi Shi hour—midnight. Surely you’re not thinking of going at this time?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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