My Father Is the Number One Under Heaven - Chapter 54

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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 54. Ask Away
“Here it is.”
The place where Yeo Unhui arrived with Yuli was a small mountain located not far from where Peng Sejin had said it would be.
The scenery along the way was truly beautiful.
A small village nestled on the mountain’s slope.
The moment the villagers caught sight of the Crown Prince from afar, they rushed out to greet him with joy.
The Village Chief welcomed him with tears glistening in his eyes.
“Welcome, Crown Prince.”
“How have you all been faring?”
“We’ve been doing well thanks to you, Crown Prince.”
“Good to hear. Should any trouble arise, send word as I instructed, and I’ll dispatch people as quickly as possible.”
“We’re already grateful for all you’ve done for us… I hardly know how this old man can repay such kindness.”
“If you want to repay me, then live long and happy lives together with your people. That’s enough.”
Just then, the village women came forward with children, each carrying bundles of something wrapped up.
“Crown Prince, here.”
“What is this?”
“We prepared some provisions, though I’m not sure if they suit your taste.”
“Is that so? Ha. I’ll enjoy them well.”
The villagers all gazed at him with bright, admiring eyes.
Soon after, just beyond the village, they arrived at a modest pavilion built beneath a grand old tree on a small rise.
The soldiers and attendants naturally began unpacking, settling into their places and admiring the view.
It appeared they came here often in the Crown Prince’s company.
“It’s a beautiful village, isn’t it?”
“It appears to be.”
“Where you lived before—what was it like? Your sister told me it was a beautiful place as well.”
“It was a village called Sodam Village. A place with beautiful scenery and good people to match.”
Despite leaving only recently, it had already become a place he longed for.
It was not only Yeo Unhui who felt this way. Peng Seoyeon often dreamed of the villagers and their kind memories; Yuli sometimes called out in her sleep for the aunt who had been so fond of her.
It was certainly a place that had given Yeo Unhui’s family precious memories.
Yeo Unhui smiled gently and nodded.
“The truth is, I stumbled upon this place quite by chance. Receiving Succession Training at the Peng Family left me feeling quite restless on many days.”
Peng Sejin continued the conversation naturally as he gazed at the scenery.
“And then my sister, who had always listened to me and comforted me, disappeared one day, leaving me feeling somehow abandoned. But I want to be clear—I’m not blaming you for that. Ha.”
Still, a sense of regret was unavoidable.
Yeo Unhui chuckled softly and nodded, listening intently to Peng Sejin’s words.
“So I found myself rebelling in secret. Sometimes I’d disguise myself and slip out at night to drink heavily, then return before dawn. Other times I’d dress in shabby clothes and spend entire days sitting in the middle of the marketplace, watching how the world turned. And then one day, it occurred to me to ride without any particular destination in mind, so I simply set out on the road.”
It was an unexpected tale.
Though Yeo Unhui thought Peng Sejin had lived a steadfast, unshakable life, perhaps that too had been mere prejudice on his part.
“Riding without any real purpose, I discovered this place. I found it so beautiful I wondered if such a place could exist nearby. But such a lovely village was being tormented by bandits almost every day.”
Peng Sejin continued as if recalling that day clearly.
“So I stepped in, only to have the villagers blame me—saying that once I helped them and left, the bandits would trouble them even worse.”
It made sense.
After all, Yeo Unhui himself had not trained in Martial Arts and was simply an ordinary scholar.
He understood well that half-hearted help, unless it truly saved lives in an urgent crisis, only brought greater torment and suffering.
“That made me stubborn. So I told them: I would take responsibility for this village to the end. They didn’t believe me at first. But I kept returning, sending people, protecting them, caring for them—until finally they began to smile at me.”
Peng Sejin smiled, his face bright with the memory.
Yeo Unhui found himself smiling along, drawn in by that expression.
“It was remarkable. And I realized how little I understood about the world. Taking responsibility isn’t something accomplished in a single moment—I learned that.”
Suddenly Peng Sejin’s expression grew serious again.
“And I learned that such words shouldn’t be spoken carelessly. It’s not easy at all—even for me, the Crown Prince of the Peng Family.”
“But you’re already managing it well enough, are you not?”
Peng Sejin shook his head at Yeo Unhui’s uncertainty.
“If I hadn’t survived the schemes Golden Manor devised, I would have become someone who broke that promise. Regardless of my reasons, the result would have been the same.”
He was right.
If that had happened, the villagers would have remembered him only as a benefactor who helped them briefly before vanishing.
Helping and caring for people in this way is terribly difficult and exhausting work.
But Yeo Unhui knew something.
Even if Yeo Unhui hadn’t intervened, Peng Sejin would have returned.
Only he would have lost his right arm entirely in the process.
And that man’s life would surely have been far more arduous, grinding, and lonely than it is now.
Peng Sejin regarded Yeo Unhui quietly.
As if he were about to say something of great importance.
All the while, a pleasant breeze continued to drift through, and the rustling of leaves in the thick canopy drifted down in an agreeable murmur.
After a moment of gathering his thoughts, Peng Sejin carefully opened his mouth again.
“I haven’t properly thanked my benefactor. I wanted to say that I’m grateful—for saving me.”
Peng Sejin paused, choosing his words with care before he continued.
“I’ve thought long and hard about how to convey something so obvious. But I had to ask: who could this person be? Why did they save me? Do I know them?”
…….
“And then, gradually, a certain face came into focus. At first, I dismissed the thought. But it became clearer and clearer. What seemed impossible began to feel possible, and possibility hardened into certainty. Though I’ll admit, even now it seems impossible.”
Peng Sejin’s voice trembled slightly.
This was merely a matter of confirmation. Yet somehow the question itself had filled him with an almost unbearable tension.
“I believe… the benefactor who saved me was you.”
“Mm.”
At a pleasant flower field some distance away, Yuli was playing among the flowers with attendants and warriors.
They all seemed charmed by her and watched her with contentment, smiling.
Yeo Unhui, after surveying the landscape quietly, turned his gaze back to Peng Sejin.
For a moment, he’d considered denying it—as he had done until now—to spare himself the bother.
But something about this moment, this place, made him unwilling to do so.
Then Yeo Unhui slowly nodded.
“Wh—what? Wait—!”
Peng Sejin’s eyes went blank for an instant before widening enormously.
Though he’d been certain, to actually have his suspicion confirmed made his heart begin to race.
“And here I thought you were confident in your question.”
“Y-yes, well, I suppose I am rather foolish. Ha ha…….”
“Ha ha ha!”
Yeo Unhui found Peng Sejin’s awkward laughter so amusing that he burst out laughing himself.
Peng Sejin seemed to need time to steady his composure, taking a deep breath and gazing up at the sky.
Yeo Unhui waited for him quietly.
And how much time had passed.
Yuli remained absorbed in the flower field, and the sky remained brilliantly clear.
It was around this time that Yeo Unhui had begun thinking he should bring his wife to this place soon, when Peng Sejin carefully spoke again.
“There are several things I’d like to ask you about.”
“Go ahead and ask.”
“Most of all, I wonder why you saved me…….”
“Because you were the first to accept me as family.”
“I—what?”
“The truth is, I could understand it if your father-in-law, your mother-in-law, and you yourself all despised me.”
Yeo Unhui knew better than anyone how beautiful and precious his wife Peng Seoyeon was.
From a family’s perspective, it would have been natural to feel she had been taken from them.
That’s why he’d come to the Peng Family prepared for the worst.
“I resolved that no matter what hateful glances you cast or angry words you spoke, I would endure it all. But when you saw me, you called me brother and welcomed me.”
Yeo Unhui was not naive enough to trust entirely in what people showed on the surface.
Before his return, he had been the one called the Blood Demon.
Such a person would have no reason to let down his guard simply because someone treated him kindly in appearance.
But the Peng Sejin he had come to know was a man whose inner self matched his outward face.
The way he had shown himself was no different.
In fact, Yeo Unhui had felt only more apologetic and grateful because of it.
From the moment they first met, when Peng Sejin called him brother and welcomed him and his family with warmth, Peng Sejin had become family—someone Yeo Unhui felt compelled to protect.
“Ha ha. You speak of natural things as if they were remarkable.”
“Then it’s only natural that I should save you as well. I was simply rescuing family.”
“I see.”
A warm smile bloomed across Peng Sejin’s face.
It was an embarrassing thing to hear, perhaps, but from the perspective of someone whose life had been saved, such words were nothing but gratitude.
Thus Yeo Unhui’s answer had been sufficient to satisfy Peng Sejin’s question.
“Is there anything else you’re curious about? Since we’ve started this conversation, you might as well ask everything now and save yourself regrets later.”
“Ha ha. Then I won’t refuse—I’ll ask just one more thing.”
“You’re welcome to ask more.”
“It’s already more than I can process, so I’ll go slowly.”
“Ha ha!”
The more he came to know him, the more fascinating Peng Sejin proved to be.
Despite holding the title of Crown Prince, occupying one pillar of the Five Great Clans—that most illustrious of noble houses—Peng Sejin carried himself without arrogance, without pretense, always mindful and observant of those around him.
And when the moment came for him to apologize, he did so unhesitatingly, with genuine courtesy toward whoever stood before him, never regarding such an act as shameful or beneath him.
Yes. Peng Sejin’s manner was almost like that of his wife.
Perhaps that was why Yeo Unhui had taken to him from the very beginning.
Of course, as mentioned before, it all began when Yeo Unhui himself had opened his heart first.
Yeo Unhui nodded in understanding at the pained sound that escaped Peng Sejin.
At that, Peng Sejin’s face grew troubled for a moment before he pressed forward with his next question.
“Is there perhaps some reason you conceal your true strength?”
This was the part that had puzzled him most of all.

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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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