The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 11

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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 11
‘What? Why… why are they back already?’
Without thinking, I clenched my teeth. My twin cousins, who had tormented me countless times, had returned earlier than I remembered.
“You two! Come out here!”
Baek Li Pyo and So U-ak.
Baek Li-ui-ran’s twin sons and my older cousins.
The reason they had different surnames stemmed from a promise made at their marriage.
They had decided that when children were born, one would take the husband’s name and one would take the wife’s name, both to be raised as children of the Baek Li Family.
Perhaps because of that promise, Baek Li-ui-ran had given birth to twins. And they divided the surnames fairly between them.
So U-ak, whose voice was indistinguishable from Baek Li Pyo’s but with slightly different inflection, shouted at his brother.
“Don’t hold back!”
“Of course not!”
Despite their different surnames, they got along as well as true twins should.
When Father turned his body toward the Training Ground, I caught a glimpse of its interior. At my own height, I would never have been able to peek inside, but cradled in Father’s arms, it was possible.
“This is the Baek Li Family Training Ground.”
When I couldn’t tear my gaze away, Father explained, thinking I was curious.
Soon after, Baek Li Pyo, holding a wooden sword, began a sparring match with a boy dressed in the Baek Li Family disciple robes. The family disciple was considerably taller and larger than Baek Li Pyo, appearing several years his senior. Yet the disciple was pushed back one-sidedly by Baek Li Pyo and eventually dropped his sword.
“I… I’ve lost!”
The moment the disciple admitted defeat, several other disciples rushed forward to praise Baek Li Pyo.
So U-ak shrugged his shoulders and spoke.
“Why is everyone so weak? There’s no one who can match you.”
“Right? This is boring. Come on, everyone do better! Who’s next to challenge?”
I felt Father sigh.
“Why are you sighing?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Even as I asked, I understood. It couldn’t be helped.
‘I can see it too.’
That Baek Li Family disciple had lost on purpose.
The next match was the same, and the one after that as well. It made no difference when the opponent changed to So U-ak.
The Baek Li Family disciples repeatedly got one-sidedly beaten by the twins and then cried out that they had lost.
“Father, how skilled are my older cousins?”
From such a pathetic excuse for sparring, I couldn’t gauge their true abilities at all.
“Their technique is good, but they still lack fundamentals. Their center of gravity is unstable. They won’t gain anything from sparring like that… hm?”
Father gave a sharp assessment, then turned to me with a puzzled expression.
“How did you know that boy is your cousin? You’ve never met Pyo and U-ak before, have you?”
Oh no.
Now that he mentioned it, I had never seen the twins before. I had been startled thinking their voices didn’t match what I expected, and in my panic, I forgot that I shouldn’t act as if I knew them!
“Well… who else of my age could request a sparring match with the Baek Li Family disciples? And since there are two people who look identical, I figured out they were my older cousins Baek Li Pyo and So U-ak. Hehe.”
“You have a keen eye. That’s correct.”
Father readily nodded at my quick excuse.
“He’s your twin cousin. Your older sister brought him from Sogajang a few days ago.”
“Was he supposed to be brought from Sogajang originally?”
“I’m not certain.”
Father seemed equally puzzled about why he had returned early.
I turned my gaze away from the Training Ground.
‘I need to be careful not to run into them.’
Both of them had the same temperament—the troublemaking kind.
I scratched my forehead. The upper right side bore the mark where the twins had once left me with a scar. Now, instead of the rough, uneven tissue, my skin felt smooth to the touch.
Unlike me, who quickly averted my eyes, Father gazed at the twins with a bitter expression before pulling me into a tight embrace.
I understood what Father was thinking and gently comforted him.
‘Don’t worry, Father. I will recover.’
* * *
After that day, I suggested we take our walks elsewhere. Father agreed without complaint and we headed to a different garden. The sprawling Baek Li Estate had plenty of gardens anyway. He seemed to have mistaken my avoidance as envy of the children training there, but that wasn’t quite it.
And so, today too, I had returned from our usual stroll.
Father asked me a question.
“What is that?”
“Just something to pass the time.”
I held up the cloth I had been practicing needlework on.
After our short walks ended and we returned to the Residence Quarter, boredom set in. Though I had improved, I wasn’t well enough to run and play—and I had no friends to play with anyway. Reading was out of the question since I hadn’t learned to read yet at this age. Growing tired of lounging about all day, I had decided to try this once. Of course, with the hands of a six-year-old, the results were…
Father spoke.
“A cloud.”
“It’s a pear blossom, though…”
“…”
“…”
“If you’re bored, why not learn to read? I could find a teacher… no, that’s it. I’ll teach you myself.”
“You will, Father?”
“Of course. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? How much have you learned so far?”
I stood there with my mouth hanging open.
I couldn’t remember a thing. Who remembers the characters they first learned over a decade ago? Certainly not me.
“I haven’t seen my tutor in some time, Father…”
I spoke as hesitantly and quietly as I could. Father simply smiled softly and stroked my head.
“That’s fine. We can start from the beginning. We have plenty of time.”
The Baek Li Family was a martial clan, after all. The first thing I had grasped upon entering the Baek Li Estate was not a brush, but a sword.
The tutor had assigned me to reading only after I adapted to the sword. But then I consumed the elixir and fell into demonic cultivation, so my studies ascended to the heavens along with everything else.
Father retrieved paper and a brush from one corner of the chamber. Since Father had been absorbed in books lately, aside from his sword training, the inkstone and ink had long been well prepared.
Father rolled up my sleeve and spoke.
“Write whatever characters you can remember.”
I nodded and grasped the brush with effort. But my fingers, unaccustomed to practice, simply wouldn’t obey.
Father chuckled lightly, placed his hand over mine, and corrected my grip.
“Ugh… this is difficult.”
“Everyone starts out this way.”
The small hand gripping the brush trembled slightly. Thinking that was enough, I lifted my elbow.
Black strokes appeared on the white paper. Father, who had been watching me grunt adorably, nodded with satisfaction.
Though I had only met the teacher twice, my posture was quite upright and proper. My child’s body occasionally swayed, but I made an effort to maintain correct form.
It was because the posture from writing before my regression had become second nature to my body, but Father, unaware of this, simply marveled at my skill.
And when Father saw the characters I had written with such earnest effort, my tiny face bearing a very serious expression, he let out a “Khack—” and erupted into violent coughing.
Despite my proper posture, the characters were a complete mess. Ignoring Father’s enthusiastic reaction, I gazed down at my writing in dismay.
I had written the most basic characters: ‘Heaven,’ ‘Earth,’ and ‘Person’….
‘What is this black blob?’
The character for ‘Earth’ had so many strokes that it had become nothing but an indecipherable blob of ink.
When I glanced at Father, he nodded as if to say I should continue.
‘What should I write next…?’
As I pondered, I wrote down the next character. Father watched until I finished, then picked up the still-wet paper to examine it. After studying it with furrowed brows for a long while, he turned to me with a look of surprise.
“Isn’t this my name?”
He recognized this black blob!
I nearly burst into applause at Father’s true love.
‘Meaning’ and ‘Strong’.
It truly was a name befitting Father.
“Yes, that’s right!”
I laughed bashfully with a little giggle.
“….”
But Father said nothing. When I lifted my head to look at his face, I was startled. His eyes were red.
‘What? Surely not? Again?’
Father, were you always this sentimental?
“I wasn’t even by your side, yet you still remembered your father’s name first.”
I hopped down from the chair by stepping on it, and with my sleeve, I pressed firmly against Father’s glistening eyes.
“Why cry over something like this, Father? I’ll write it for you many, many more times.”
Father exhaled softly and embraced me.
“You shouldn’t stand on the chair.”
“….”
“It’s dangerous.”
“…Yes.”
It was just as Father gently set me down on the floor. A cough sounded from beyond the door, followed by a voice.
“Ahem, ahem, Fourth Young Master, Fourth Young Master, are you there?”
“What is it?”
“The Family Head has sent someone.”
Father’s expression hardened and he straightened himself. But his red eyes were announcing that I had made him cry!
“Let them in.”
I was startled, having naturally expected him to ask them to wait a moment.
“Oh, Father…!”
I tried to stop him, but the Servant who had received permission was faster—he opened the door and stepped inside.
And when the Servant saw Father’s face….
“Gasp!”
He froze in shock.
“What is the matter?”
“….”
“I say.”
“Oh! N-no, I, I, I apologize. I momentarily lost my composure.”
Tears from the Fourth Young Master? Had he not just imagined it?
Yet the Servant lacked the courage to look at the Fourth Young Master’s face again.
“The reason I came was… well… um….”
The Servant fumbled for words before finally remembering.
“Ah! The Family Head requests that you share the midday meal at Subaekdang. Young Master Baek Li-ui-myeok and Miss Baek Li-ui-ran, along with the younger young masters and young mistresses, will also be attending.”
“I understand.”
“And the Family Head specifically asked that Miss Yeon attend as well.”
Father’s expression hardened into stone.

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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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