The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 137

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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 137
Jegal Family Head brushed back his disheveled hair.
“You’re quite perceptive.”
“When you said there was a problem with accumulating more memories… it’s connected to this, isn’t it?”
Jegal Family Head sighed and rested his chin on his folded knee.
“That’s right. It seems I end up forgetting things that don’t seem particularly important. Well, I never expected to be caught here of all places.”
“…You forget?”
Jegal Family Head laughed awkwardly.
“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have even known that I’d forgotten this memory. Don’t worry about it.”
“…”
Isn’t that even more terrifying?
Jegal Family Head reached out and stroked the White Cat as he spoke.
“Did I ever name you and the cat?”
“Yes.”
“So what did I say back then?”
“…You asked me to name the cat, and so I told you not to pull any tricks.”
“Haha, tricks? Would you like me to name it even now?”
The playful tilt of his head was exactly the same as before. I suppose that was something to be grateful for.
“And then you suddenly said you’d decided on a name.”
“Ah, you decided?”
“Yes.”
“That’s interesting.”
Jegal Family Head, who had been gazing into empty space for a moment, shook his head.
“Hmm, I really have no memory of it at all. That I decided on a name. What could it have been? What else did we talk about back then?”
“…”
I bit my lip. Despite his memories having vanished, Jegal Family Head seemed completely unbothered.
Jegal Family Head reached out and toyed with my hair. Normally I would have brushed his hand away immediately, but this time I let it pass. And as I searched my memory, I recounted the conversation as it came back to me.
After listening quietly for quite some time, Jegal Family Head finally spoke.
“Ah, I understand now.”
“You understand?”
“Yes. I must have named it Gyeol.”
“Gyeol?”
“Yes. Hwa-gyeol. It’s my sister’s name.”
His bright smile appeared almost innocent at first glance.
‘He named the cat after his dead sister.’
Jegal Family Head continued playfully.
“If I forget again, you can just remind me then.”
I looked down at the White Cat and spoke softly.
“…Gyeol.”
Wait, this is a bit strange.
Since I knew that was the name of Jegal Se’s Sister, I couldn’t bring myself to call her so casually… Hmm. When I wore that reluctant expression, the Jegal Family Head spoke.
“Me too.”
“Huh?”
“Call me by my name now too. Okay?”
My expression grew even more reluctant. Now that I thought about it, I had naturally begun speaking informally with him.
Knock, knock. Just then, a knock at the door cut through the Jegal Family Head’s words.
Then Mu-yeong spoke.
“Family Head, Miss. Forgive the interruption during your conversation, but Baek Li-ui-gang has arrived.”
“…My older brother Li-myeong has come?”
Mu-yeong answered my question.
“Yes. He says he has something to discuss with you briefly.”
“Ugh, how irritating.”
“…Huh?”
Startled by the unexpected response, I looked at the Jegal Family Head. With an expressionless face, he looked at me and spoke.
“What if we just killed him?”
“…What did you say?”
“Is there any need to keep him alive?”
“….”
“If you just agree, I can kill him without anyone knowing.”
What was this madman saying? My mouth fell open without thinking. And I lowered my voice to speak.
“…You really could kill him without anyone knowing?”
The Jegal Family Head opened his mouth with a completely delighted expression.
“Of course….”
“No, that won’t do.”
The Jegal Family Head let out a deep sigh.
“What a shame… truly a shame.”
Why are you disappointed?
I regarded the Jegal Family Head with a cold expression as he wore a sullen look.
* * *
Warm wind entered through the window. The Old Servant who had brought the medicinal broth tried to close the window and light incense.
“No, don’t light it.”
A soft boy’s voice stopped him. The Old Servant quietly withdrew with the empty broth bowl. The boy, whose eyes had been gently closed, slightly lifted his eyelids.
“Mu-yeong.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I hear I’ve named the White Cat. Did you know?”
“No, sir. I did not know.”
Jeggal Hwa-mu exhaled deeply.
With his eyes closed, he chuckled softly. Had anyone seen him, they might have suspected he was mad.
“I disliked myself for this very reason. Yet in the end, it comes to this.”
Jeggal Hwa-mu’s hand trembled faintly. The sharp, biting pain—like ants gnawing through his mind—was gradually pushed back by the medicine’s effects.
I pushed past the pain and focused on another plane of perception. In that hazy vision, I could see Baek Li-yeon walking slowly with her Cousin Brother, engaged in conversation.
“Ah, now that I think about it, does Yeon still have no information regarding her biological mother?”
“Not yet.”
“Is that so? That’s not necessarily bad. But just in case, keep searching. And if you find any traces… you know what to do, right?”
“Yes. I will handle it cleanly.”
* * *
Baek Li-myeong clenched his teeth and cast a sidelong glance at Baek Li-yeon following behind him. They had just come from causing quite a commotion at the Residence Quarter.
The moment they returned to the Residence Quarter, Father was waiting. He had already received word of Baek Li-yeon’s situation and was prepared. I thought things had gone well and was about to lodge a complaint with Father directly. But then…
“Baek Li-myeong! What on earth were you thinking!”
Instead, Father pressed him, demanding to know why he had hidden the fact that Baek Li-yeon had recovered her dantian. What possessed him to conceal such a thing?
‘I was deceived too!’
He insisted to Father multiple times that he himself had been fooled, but Father refused to believe him.
Baek Li-myeong clenched his fists. Quarreling with Aunt Baek Li-ui-ran, who had neither ability nor restraint, was manageable. But he had no intention of confronting Grandmother. Surely Grandmother would also believe that he had deceived her.
To prove his innocence, he needed to bring Baek Li-yeon along. Baek Li-myeong observed her once more, noting how she seemed lost in deep thought, and composed himself.
“Yeon, why did you do that?”
“Huh? Oh, right. What do you mean?”
“Do you have any idea how difficult you’ve made things for me?”
She had forgotten that she had come to the Garden with Baek Li-myeong and had been with him.
‘That’s understandable.’
I forced the tangled thoughts aside and looked at Baek Li-myeong.
“First, I apologize for not properly congratulating you at the time. I never imagined you would recover your dantian. I was certainly caught off guard then. Congratulations.”
I gave a perfunctory nod.
My mind was still churning from the earlier conversation with the Jegal Family Head, and this situation felt tedious and utterly meaningless.
Baek Li-myeong continued with a smile on his face.
“But because of what happened then, there’s been a slight misunderstanding. So come with me for a moment to see Grandmother.”
“I don’t want to.”
“What?”
“Why should I?”
“…You!”
Baek Li-myeong’s voice rose sharply, and I saw him press his lips together tightly. He was visibly struggling to suppress his rising anger.
Baek Li-myeong continued.
“Didn’t I tell you? You’ve put me in a difficult position. So…”
“Brother, because of me?”
I cut off Baek Li-myeong’s words and looked at him directly.
“No. It’s because of your attitude.”
“What, what are you—what are you saying right now?”
He looked flustered, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
With a gesture that had now become familiar to me, I unfolded the Spirit Veil.
“…!”
Baek Li-myeong flinched in surprise and glanced around nervously. He seemed to have recognized the Spirit Veil.
‘At least he’s not a complete fool.’
Well, he did have his own work ethic. To serve as Family Head in a martial family, one needed to possess at least a minimum level of skill.
“Now… what is… surely not?”
Baek Li-myeong, whose eyes had been darting about, stumbled backward. His face was filled with shock.
“You… you’ve already… already manifested sword energy?”
A misunderstanding, I’m grateful for.
According to Father, the normal sequence was to manifest sword energy first, then create sword formations afterward. If I reversed that logic, it meant that if I could deploy sword formations, I could naturally produce sword energy as well. Just as Father had misunderstood.
“H-how… how already…!”
I simply smiled faintly. That alone was enough. Baek Li-myeong began breathing heavily, almost convulsing.
“Brother, I’ll probably be entering closed-door cultivation soon.”
“…”
“And you just need to refrain from touching me.”
“T-touching you?”
“You know what I mean, don’t you?”
I closed my eyes slightly and brushed my hair back behind my ear as the wind swept it across my face.
“My goal is to live peacefully with Father.”
“…P-peacefully?”
“Yes. Peacefully.”
Baek Li-myeong, who had been staring at a child two heads shorter than himself with fear-stricken eyes, stammered incoherently before fleeing the scene.
I grew melancholy. Would I survive? I simply hoped my head wouldn’t be severed, that I could live peacefully with Father. I never imagined such a simple wish could be so difficult.
Cheon-ma, regression, reincarnation, Man Shin-ui.
My thoughts tangled together in confusion.
Another day was drawing to a close. The stars scattered across the pitch-black curtain of night, where no moon yet hung, were busy flaunting their existence, while on the ground only the light of stone lanterns dimly illuminated the area beneath my feet.
And from beyond the garden wall in the distance, a flickering light gradually drew closer to me.
I ran toward it with a bright smile.
“Father!”
* * *
That early autumn, quite a commotion arose regarding the truth of my martial prowess, but I ignored it all, received permission from Grandfather through correspondence, and entered closed-door cultivation.
The Baek Li Family’s closed-door cultivation chamber was a cave called Baek Young-yu Cave. It was a cavern composed entirely of pure white stone, and it emanated a soft glow while being filled with a gentle energy.
It felt somewhat unfamiliar. The atmosphere was quite different from Changung Pavilion, which had been the Namgung Great Family’s closed-door cultivation chamber.
But I soon adapted and before long realized something. Baek Young-yu Cave harmonized exceptionally well with the martial arts of the Baek Family.
While inside Baek Young-yu Cave, I felt disconnected from the world and could not perceive the passage of time. When I emerged after completing three sessions of closed-door cultivation, Grandfather’s birthday celebration was imminent.
It also meant I had turned eleven years old.

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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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