The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 106

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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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Chapter 106
Father lifted his hand and gently pushed my chin upward, causing my gaping mouth to close with a soft click.
Then Father’s expression turned cool as he gazed at the pale young man lying before us and spoke.
“Jegal Family Head, if you’ve regained consciousness, do open your eyes.”
Jegal Family Head’s colorless lips curved upward as he slowly opened his eyes.
“Haha. What a touching bond between father and daughter.”
Father assisted Jegal Family Head as he attempted to sit up.
“Thank you.”
Thin white strands of hair cascaded over his gaunt cheeks.
With his eyes now open, Jegal Family Head possessed an extraordinarily distinctive presence. His pale grayish-blue eyes held a glimmer of resigned mockery, while his shadowed gaze betrayed an irritable temperament—a countenance one would scarcely expect from a child.
Jegal Family Head spoke in a faint voice.
“I too was contemplating when I should open my eyes.”
Just then, the carriage door opened and Mak-chu entered carrying a tray with a medicinal bowl. The interior of the carriage was instantly filled with the aroma of herbal decoction.
Mak-chu hurried toward the now-conscious Jegal Family Head.
“Young Master! You’ve regained your senses!”
Young Master—so Mak-chu had been caring for Jegal Family Head since childhood.
With Mak-chu’s assistance, Jegal Family Head consumed three full bowls of medicinal broth.
‘Ugh, the moment he wakes, medicinal broth? And he drinks all of it at once? My stomach is churning just watching.’
Jegal Family Head drank every last drop without complaint, then rinsed his mouth with a sip of warm tea.
When he suddenly lifted his head, I found Father gazing at me intently.
“What is it?”
“Don’t you think there’s something you ought to learn from this?”
“Learn what?”
I feigned ignorance.
‘I know nothing. I’m a fool.’
Father tapped the bridge of my nose with his finger.
“Don’t pretend not to understand when you clearly do.”
Mak-chu draped a thick fur coat over Jegal Family Head’s shoulders and placed a warm stone heated by the brazier into his lap before carefully departing the carriage.
Jegal Family Head slowly opened his mouth.
“I apologize for the trouble. As you all surely know, allow me to introduce myself. I am Jeggal Hwa-mu of the Jegal Clan.”
He suppressed a cough behind a handkerchief before continuing.
“Though in this wretched state, I also serve as Jegal Family Head.”
After Father and I introduced ourselves, Father immediately broached the matter at hand.
“Why were you collapsed here, Jegal Family Head?”
Had there been even a single competent martial artist among his escorts, such a situation would never have occurred.
Jegal Family Head spoke as though it were of little consequence.
“The physician who accompanied us suddenly had to return when my mother’s condition worsened and she summoned him.”
Jegal Family Head paused, breathless, and took a sip of tea.
“As for the escorts… haha, where did these worthless fools suddenly disappear to?”
Father’s expression grew uncomfortable. Jegal Family Head spoke as though he understood.
“It’s a difficult story to believe, I admit.”
“You’re saying that the Jegal Clan’s matriarch attempted to assassinate you?”
Jegal Family Head leaned his arm against the armrest and cupped his chin, laughing softly.
“Is there some law requiring all mothers to love their children?”
I began to understand why Mak-chu had asked for help yet couldn’t bring himself to speak of it.
How could anyone possibly voice that their own biological mother had tried to kill them?
Yet Jegal Family Head’s tone remained so light and melodic that one would never sense the gravity of what he was discussing.
“My father continued this sickly bloodline for the clan’s sake, and my mother bore a child out of necessity alone.”
His cynicism toward his own parents was remarkable.
“If I were to die, the Jegal Clan would vanish and everything would fall into my mother’s hands.”
“….”
“….”
Father and I fell silent.
‘I save a life once, and now I’m hearing about another family’s domestic affairs. And such an uncomfortable matter at that….’
Jegal Family Head continued speaking.
“I shall repay the debt of your kindness in saving my life someday. That is, if I continue to live. Hahahaha.”
“….”
“….”
* * *
Since Jegal Family Head had regained consciousness, there was no reason to linger on the road. We departed together. I pretended to gaze absently out the window while continuing to observe Father. Yet there was truly nothing amiss with him.
‘Hmm…. Did I really misread the situation?’
After two hours of travel, as the crimson sunset burned across the sky, we arrived at the Inn.
‘If Father had followed through with his plan to reach the Inn and treat Jegal Family Head there… would he truly have survived?’
After finishing my meal on the Inn’s first floor, I returned to my guest room and paused briefly at the door.
‘Why is that here?’
I opened the guest room door and went straight to the bed. Then I yanked back the bedding.
“What are you doing here? What about your master?”
The White Cat, crumpled in the blankets, perked up its ears and swished its tail. I grasped the inside of the cat’s front paw and lifted it.
‘This texture, this weight, these eyes.’
In that moment, I was certain it was the same cat.
I had originally intended to ask about the cat while in the carriage. But I had been too preoccupied with learning about the Jegal Clan’s family troubles and checking Father’s condition, so I had forgotten.
I set the White Cat back down and patted its rear.
“Go on. Take me to your master.”
If this cat were truly ordinary, it wouldn’t understand me….
The White Cat leaped from the bed and began walking.
When I didn’t follow and merely watched, the cat turned back and meowed softly.
‘As expected.’
I let out a hollow laugh and followed the cat. We passed through the Inn’s corridors and down the staircase, and oddly, I encountered no one. Soon the White Cat paused before a door that stood slightly ajar.
A humming sound drifted through the gap. I drew upon my Golden Eyes ability to its fullest extent. My head felt slightly heavy, perhaps from the strain of observing Father throughout our journey.
Inside the room was no one but Jegal Family Head.
As I opened the door, the White Cat darted inside first. The Jegal Family Head turned to look at me while holding a teacup near the table.
“You came, Yeon?”
“…?”
“Come here and sit.”
Watching his bright, smiling face, my mind filled with question marks.
This sudden, unexpected behavior… what was this? Since when had the Jegal Family Head and I become close friends?
The White Cat that had entered first walked gracefully and leaped onto the table.
For now… I followed the cat’s lead and sat in a chair.
Though he was just a young boy, he was also the head of a clan, so I set aside my bewilderment and offered a respectful greeting.
“Jegal Family Head, why are you calling me by my name?”
“You call me by mine too.”
“….”
This… this sounded like something I had said to Namgung Ryu-cheong. Was I receiving the same treatment in return…?
The Jegal Family Head sitting across from me picked up a teacup on the table and spoke.
“Actually, Yeon came to see you.”
It seemed I had truly irritated Namgung Ryu-cheong.
I yearned for the distant Namgung Ryu-cheong and offered him a feeble apology he could never hear. Then I spoke to the Jegal Family Head.
“So that’s why you wanted to see me. Jeggal Hwa-mu?”
“Hwa-mu?”
Jeggal Hwa-mu, who had been blinking, burst into laughter.
“Ha ha, it sounds old and I like it. Since I’ll never become an old man in this lifetime, I should enjoy the way you call me.”
“….”
I had felt it from the moment I first opened my eyes—this bastard was truly mad.
I frowned and asked.
“How old are you?”
“My birthday just passed recently, so I’m eleven.”
“….”
I held my head.
‘An eleven-year-old with that kind of behavior?’
Where did these children keep appearing from? From Seok Ga-yak, to Namgung Ryu-cheong, to Jeggal Hwa-mu.
‘Is it because of their family martial arts that they’ve matured so early?’
Unlike other clans’ martial arts that focused solely on physical prowess, the Jegal Clan’s hereditary techniques also enhanced intellect.
The world whispered that the Jegal Clan had pursued strategy so much that their hair had turned white. But I knew that wasn’t the reason.
The Jegal Clan’s white hair and gray eyes. The reason their direct descendants all died young. That was… all the handiwork of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect.
The Jegal Clan was a family that had united the Orthodox Sect and established the Murim Alliance. And for generations, they had served as the military strategists of the Murim Alliance, checking the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect.
How much must the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect have resented such a clan?
Thus, over a long period, they infiltrated the Jegal Clan and devised a plan to bring about their downfall.
Jeggal Hwa-mu’s severed meridian was a trap the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect had prepared for an extremely, extraordinarily long time to destroy the Jegal Clan, which stood in the way of unifying the world.
This truth would later be uncovered by Namgung Ryu-cheong. But by then, there would be no one left who could be said to carry the blood of the Jegal Clan.
“But is it alright to move around like this? Your condition doesn’t seem to have improved yet.”
“Why are you speaking formally again? You can use informal speech.”
“Ah, I didn’t want to get too close, so…”
“Hmm?”
Jeggal Hwa-mu looked slightly surprised before bursting into laughter.
“Hahaha. Yes, yes. Do as you please. Well, to answer your question—I can move now. It’s been so long since my body felt this light. Thank you.”
“You should thank my father, not me.”
Jeggal Hwa-mu smiled softly and spoke with subtle intent.
“Yeon, I told you before. I came to see you.”
“….”
“I know what ability you possess.”
The moment I heard those words, suspicion bloomed within me. Or rather, it was less suspicion than certainty.
That was when it happened. Suddenly, Jeggal Hwa-mu’s hand strike thrust toward my face in a piercing attack. I reflexively blocked it.
The results of my training—enduring repeated strikes to the forehead from Cheonsan Yeom-je—manifested here.
The force that accumulated through drawing natural energy into my hand blade was considerable.
“What are you doing right now——!”
At that moment, the White Cat on the table suddenly lunged forward. But not at me—it leaped over my shoulder instead….
Suddenly, my blurred vision became clear.
“…!”
The White Cat landed softly on the ground, my blindfold held in its mouth. Without needing to find a mirror, I could sense my eyes glowing with golden light.
I glared at Jeggal Hwa-mu.
Jeggal Hwa-mu withdrew his hand strike and smiled brightly.
“Your eyes are very beautiful.”

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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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