The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 107

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

Chapter 107
I raised an eyebrow.
“You’re using martial arts just to check my eyes?”
Jeggal Hwa-mu’s fingers trembled as he withdrew the contact point, the tremor born of pain. Circulating energy was necessary to widen the narrow meridians, but doing so caused excruciating agony given their constriction.
Jeggal Hwa-mu covered the corner of his mouth with his fan and smiled with his eyes.
Wait, what kind of behavior is that for an eleven-year-old?
“It’s fine. I’m used to it.”
I let out a scoff.
“How do you get used to pain? You’re just giving up on it.”
Jeggal Hwa-mu paused and blinked.
“You speak as if you know.”
I picked up my teacup without answering. The aroma was quite exquisite. Given that we were staying at an inn befitting a traveling merchant, the tea leaves were not of the sort typically stocked in such establishments—they appeared to be the personal collection of the Jegal Family Head.
Jeggal Hwa-mu continued.
“And it’s truly fine. My condition is particularly good today.”
The White Cat leaped back onto the table, then began playfully tugging at my eye covering with its mouth and batting at it with its front paws.
I looked at the cat and spoke.
“That cat was at Cheon-am Temple, wasn’t it?”
“That’s right.”
Jeggal Hwa-mu reached out and stroked the cat’s head.
“Actually, I was trying to meet you back then.”
Jeggal Hwa-mu suddenly let out an exasperated sigh.
“But that bastard Namgung Ryu-cheong had to interfere.”
“Ryu-cheong interfered?”
“He suddenly dragged you away and fled.”
What is he talking about? When did such a thing happen?
‘Wasn’t it me who dragged him away, not the other way around?’
I recalled the moment I had pulled Namgung Ryu-cheong away from the Old Monk, and suddenly something occurred to me.
“Could it be… an allergy?”
Back then, Namgung Ryu-cheong had hastily left the Peach Blossom Forest, and I had followed him.
“An allergy?”
Jeggal Hwa-mu tilted his head as if confused.
“Well… I mean a negative reaction to cat fur. When you’re close to a cat, you get rashes or cough.”
Jeggal Hwa-mu burst into light laughter.
“Fur, huh? Ha ha, quite… close to the truth.”
“Close means…?”
Jeggal Hwa-mu stroked the cat again.
“Namgung Ryu-cheong sensed sorcery from this cat.”
“…Sorcery?”
“That’s right, sorcery. He instinctively rejected the sorcery I placed on the cat and reacted that way. The Namgung Family members are quite amusing, really. Always putting on such airs of superiority.”
Sorcery was placed on this cat?
But my eyes caught nothing.
“You seem quite startled.”
Jeggal Hwa-mu pointed at the space between my brows with his fingertip.
“Your golden eyes—do you think they can perceive all the world’s secrets?”
“….”
“You don’t even know where your golden eyes came from, do you?”
His grayish-blue eyes gazed at me intently.
I furrowed my brow slightly and gathered my thoughts.
“So what you’re saying is that the Jegal Family Head already knew about my golden eyes, which is why you wanted to meet me, and you were lying collapsed in the middle of the road just to test my abilities?”
Jeggal Hwa-mu simply laughed without answering directly. But that silence spoke volumes.
“…Everything was orchestrated just to meet me?”
I let out a hollow laugh and continued.
“So even Mak-chu, that old man… was in on this scheme?”
He had clung to Father as if the situation were desperately urgent.
“Oh, Yeon. Don’t suspect our poor elder. He was genuinely shocked, you know.”
“No, you’re the one who made me suspicious in the first place!”
“Ah, that’s true.”
Jeggal Hwa-mu blinked as if surprised and tilted his head slightly.
I bit my lip. From the moment I entered this chamber, my mood had been far from pleasant.
‘…I’m being manipulated.’
I was being drawn into Jeggal Hwa-mu’s absurd rhetoric. That was something I absolutely despised. I could manipulate others, but I would never allow myself to be manipulated.
Bang!
I slammed my hand on the table and stood up.
“So what? What do you want?”
The White Cat on the table startled and looked up at me.
“So I have this ability—does that mean the Jegal Family Head gets to treat me this way?”
“Hmm?”
“If you were curious about my eyes, you should have asked politely to see them. Instead, you attacked me without warning and forcibly removed my blindfold?”
The White Cat, who had been busily chewing on the blindfold, slowly spat it out as if understanding my words, watching nervously.
“Someone as intelligent as you would know how to win people’s favor. So why act like this?”
“….”
“Jegal Family Head, whether you were collapsed on the roadside or in the Back Alley, I would have helped you if I could. Do you know why? Because my father would have.”
The more I spoke, the angrier I became.
“Yet you mock my father’s goodwill and toy with me?”
“No, I….”
I cut off Jeggal Hwa-mu’s words firmly.
“That attitude of yours—treating people like they’re in the palm of your hand.”
I met his gray eyes and spoke each word deliberately.
“It’s absolutely despicable.”
Jeggal Hwa-mu blinked, his expression flustered.
I hopped down from the chair and swept out of the Hall, my skirts fluttering behind me.
If I couldn’t stop them from dragging me into their schemes, I’d simply overturn the entire board.
‘I wonder how the Jegal Family Head will respond to this?’
* * *
I had barely made it a few steps down the corridor after storming out.
‘Did I… say too much?’
He was the head of an entire clan, after all. A small knot of worry twisted in my stomach.
I had made quite the dramatic exit, but honestly, my heart was still pounding wildly.
‘But he really was insufferable…’
Besides, he had behaved just as poorly himself, so he had no right to criticize my conduct.
Probably.
And then there was the secret of the golden eyes? The White Cat’s sorcery?
I was completely, utterly, desperately curious about it.
But once I let someone so rude manipulate me, there would be no end to it.
And most importantly.
‘How dare he try to use my father? How dare he, how dare he use my father!’
The thought of Father sent fury surging through me. My only regret was that I couldn’t have given that sickly boy a good beating!
I was still fuming as I walked.
“Yeon, where have you been?”
Father’s voice called from the bottom of the Staircase.
“Father!”
I scampered down the Staircase toward him.
Geum-swe was standing beside Father, drenched in sweat.
“Miss, where were you? You said you were going to rest in your chamber! And where is your blindfold?”
“The White Cat stole it.”
“…The White Cat?”
I nodded and wrapped my arms around Father’s waist, asking him something.
“Father, do you find me… creepy?”
“What?”
Father looked at me with bewildered eyes.
Ah, I had been too blunt. This was all Jeggal Hwa-mu’s fault.
I rephrased my question more carefully.
“You said so yourself, Father. That I don’t act like a six-year-old girl?”
After trading barbs with someone as unnaturally mature as Jeggal Hwa-mu, I finally understood what you meant.
It meant… it was deeply unsettling!
‘I really don’t like it. Not one bit!’
Wait—a child pretending to be an adult, scheming like one? That’s creepy! Aren’t I doing the same thing?
Children should just be children. Like Seo Ha-ryeong!
“What are you suddenly talking about? Did something happen?”
I shook my head.
“Or is it because of something I said?”
Apology flickered in Father’s eyes.
I shook my head quickly.
‘It’s not because of what Father said!’
Fearing he would misunderstand, I had no choice but to tell him the truth.
“Actually, I was following White Cat when I ran into Jegal Family Head… and he was being incredibly arrogant.”
“…Arrogant? What does that have to do with finding it repulsive?”
“He was acting like an adult who knows everything about the world… and I really didn’t like that attitude.”
As I spoke, I realized something.
Oh no, this is starting to sound like I’m tattling to Father…
“So I was wondering if I was becoming like that too.”
Father’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Are you certain the White Cat was the one who removed your blindfold?”
“Yes, that’s right. There should be a damaged blindfold in Jegal Family Head’s chamber from when the White Cat was playing around.”
“Is that so?”
Even with my answer, Father’s expression remained skeptical.
“Do not assume that because Jegal Family Head is young, his mind is equally immature.”
I nodded.
“And I shall have a word with Jegal Family Head on your behalf.”
“What will you say to him?”
“Of course, I’ll tell him not to bother you. If I can prevent him from approaching you altogether, that would be even better…”
This wasn’t what I had originally intended, but somehow things had turned out this way.
After thinking about it for a moment, I realized this seemed like an excellent outcome.
“Yes! Please do, Father!”
If Jegal Family Head truly wanted to have a serious conversation with me, he wouldn’t be able to treat Father coldly. I was intensely curious about what kind of reaction Jegal Family Head would show.
Father spoke with a hint of apology.
“And when I said you were mature, it was a compliment.”
Geum-swe interjected, sounding surprised as she listened to our conversation.
“Young Miss is quite mature, but repulsive? I’ve never thought such a thing.”
Father lifted me into his arms.
“And even when you become an adult, it doesn’t matter. To parents, a child will always be a child.”
“Father…”
I hugged Father’s neck tightly.
Geum-swe, watching us with a pleased expression, spoke playfully.
“And Young Miss, a true adult doesn’t dislike medicine—they gulp it down without complaint.”
“Don’t lie.”
“Hmm? Did Yeon perhaps leave her medicine uneaten often at the Namgung Clan as well?”
“…”
Geum-swe, you traitor.

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