The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 166

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

Chapter 166
* * *
“Are you here? Yes, I am.”
“Jang Vice-Commander, please come in.”
Beside Jang Seok-ryang, who had entered through the door, stood Jeggal Hwa-mu, dressed with an unexpected neatness.
‘How did he get here?’
The family was in such turmoil that outsiders could barely enter, yet he had made his way into Subaekdang.
Jeggal Hwa-mu crossed the threshold with a faint smile, composedly fanning himself with a folding fan as he strolled through the chamber. Perhaps it was because we hadn’t seen each other in so long—I found it difficult to tear my gaze away from him.
At that moment, Jang Vice-Commander cleared his throat lightly and spoke.
“The Family Head spoke with the Jegal Family Head today. On his way back, the Jegal Family Head expressed a desire to meet with you, young lady, and so….”
My confusion dissolved.
Jang Seok-ryang continued carefully.
“And young lady, the Family Head has learned of all the assistance you received from the Jegal Family Head.”
“I see.”
I had told grandfather that it would be fine to reveal everything at an appropriate time. It seemed Jang Seok-ryang had explained that he was acting on my request.
Jang Seok-ryang looked somewhat uncomfortable and hesitated before speaking.
“So… the Family Head already knew before I could tell him the truth.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“That he knew from the beginning that you weren’t the one keeping Gwak Eomeom.”
Jeggal Hwa-mu interjected with the answer, then turned to Jang Seok-ryang and said.
“You may go now.”
I frowned and looked at Jeggal Hwa-mu.
‘He’s commanding people from another family as though it’s the most natural thing.’
As I watched Jang Seok-ryang bow slightly and prepare to leave, a sudden realization struck me with a start.
‘Wait, if Jang Vice-Commander leaves, I’ll be alone with Jeggal Hwa-mu?’
An urgent desire to flee the chamber suddenly overwhelmed me.
As though reading my thoughts, Jeggal Hwa-mu laughed brightly.
I hastily averted my gaze.
After Jang Seok-ryang departed and silence settled over the chamber until the female servant returned with refreshments and a teapot, I noticed what she had brought was peach blossom tea.
‘Well, he drank peach blossom tea every time he visited our residence, so it’s hardly a secret.’
The fragrant aroma wafted through the air, and I, who had been watching cautiously, finally opened my mouth.
“How are you….”
“Thank you….”
By sheer misfortune, we both spoke at the same moment.
Jeggal Hwa-mu and I both looked at each other with expressions somewhere between laughter and tears.
“You first….”
“You go….”
Jeggal Hwa-mu gestured with his fan for me to speak first, and I shook my head.
“No, you speak first.”
Jeggal Hwa-mu nodded in agreement and began to speak.
“How are you feeling?”
“….”
I regarded Jeggal Hwa-mu with an odd expression.
“Why?”
“Is it a habit of yours?”
Jeggal Hwa-mu tilted his head curiously.
“You ask me how I’m feeling every time we meet.”
Was this one of Jeggal Hwa-mu’s methods for understanding another person’s thoughts?
But at my words, Jeggal Hwa-mu’s brows drew together slightly.
“I’ve said something like that every time?”
“Yes.”
I lifted my teacup and nodded slowly.
Jeggal Hwa-mu, who had seemed lost in thought, also nodded slowly.
“Now that I think about it, that’s true.”
Then he gazed at me and smiled gently.
“I suppose I wanted you to smile.”
I nearly spilled the tea in that instant.
I set down the teacup with trembling hands.
Jeggal Hwa-mu spoke in an amused voice.
“Look at your expression.”
I felt heat flooding my face as though it might burst.
‘Have I truly lost my mind? No, no, no!’
I cried out silently within and rubbed at the goosebumps rising along my arms.
“How can you say such things so casually? Do you have no shame?”
Had it been the right choice to be alone with him?
“Since you’ve already figured it out anyway, why keep pretending?”
“….”
Jeggal Hwa-mu tilted his head slightly. He looked languid.
“You didn’t even contact me about what happened.”
“You could have used your secret network.”
A faint smile lingered at Jeggal Hwa-mu’s lips as he spoke with a somewhat melancholic tone.
“I’m truly disappointed. Still, I wanted to hear it directly from you.”
“….”
“Am I being strange?”
“….”
Of course you’re being strange!
It felt as though only I remembered that confession from that day.
Jeggal Hwa-mu observed me with curiosity instead, then smiled with evident delight.
“Before your regression, you’d never been courted? Am I your first?”
“That’s not true!”
“Yes. Right. That’s correct. No, it’s not.”
“Could you close your mouth over there?”
Jeggal Hwa-mu, his lips pressed firmly shut, laughed with wide eyes.
I clenched my teeth and hurried to change the subject.
“Thank you for helping with this. It would have been difficult without you.”
“Are you just going to say thank you and leave it at that?”
“….”
I had received considerable help.
When I thought about it, I had used Jeggal Hwa-mu like a subordinate far more often than he had given orders to Jang Seok-ryang like a subordinate.
‘I used him so naturally….’
But I felt wronged.
Whenever I tried to handle something myself, Jeggal Hwa-mu would meddle from beside me, tempt me with offers to help, and persuade me with all manner of words!
He said it was only natural that he help since I had saved his life….
‘This is why you shouldn’t trust verbal agreements.’
I spoke with slight reluctance.
“Well… I understand. Is there anything you want?”
Jeggal Hwa-mu answered as if he had been waiting for this.
“Yes. There is one thing.”
“….”
Why did I feel so anxious?
“…What is it?”
“Don’t get angry.”
“What?”
“Don’t get angry when you hear what I have to say.”
Jeggal Hwa-mu smiled brightly.
“Mm, I understand.”
I gave Jeggal Hwa-mu a slight glare.
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
Jeggal Hwa-mu just laughed and then spoke.
“Why won’t you answer my earlier question?”
“What question? Oh, how I’m feeling?”
Jeggal Hwa-mu nodded.
I couldn’t say, ‘I feel quite bitter because of you.’
As I hesitated for a moment, Jeggal Hwa-mu spoke again.
“You’ve accomplished something you’ve been planning for so long. You don’t seem as happy as I’d expect?”
I was about to say it wasn’t true and that I was happy, but instead I sighed and spoke.
“…There are other victims.”
Jeggal Hwa-mu clicked his tongue and shook his head.
I twisted my mouth.
I couldn’t keep Baek Li-myeong asleep indefinitely. Eventually, he realized the truth—that he had lost his inner strength. Naturally, chaos erupted. At first, he denied it was possible, but later, with his weakened body, he destroyed everything in his chamber while wailing before finally collapsing, or so I heard.
The only saving grace was that he still didn’t know it was my aunt who had made him this way. But it wouldn’t be long before he found out.
Jeggal Hwa-mu exhaled a long sigh and opened his mouth.
“I suppose I should tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“The truth is, I’m the one who had Baek Li-myeong poisoned.”
I frowned and looked at Jeggal Hwa-mu.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I made your aunt target Baek Li-myeong.”
….
I stared at Jeggal Hwa-mu in bewilderment.
Jeggal Hwa-mu had orchestrated my aunt’s vendetta against Baek Li-myeong?
“How?”
“I spread word among your aunt’s circle of acquaintances that Baek Li-myeong had nothing on Baek Li Pyo.”
….
I understood what had happened.
Baek Li-myeong had nothing on Baek Li Pyo—it was something anyone might say. The only weight it carried was that it came from the Jegal Family Head.
But if such words reached my aunt’s ears, everything changed.
My aunt surrounded herself only with mediocre sycophants who fawned over her. They would have eagerly relayed the Jegal Family Head’s praise, eager to please her.
And my aunt was a woman who had lived her entire life under the shadow of inferiority toward my father. Jeggal Hwa-mu’s words would have sounded like honey to her ears.
Then, when the rift between Baek Li-myeong and the Twin Cousins deepened, my aunt felt as though she herself had been insulted. The fact that Baek Li-myeong had sided with me must have reopened her deepest wounds.
At that moment, she likely thought something like this.
If only Baek Li-myeong were gone, wouldn’t my son become the heir to the Baek Family?
What Jeggal Hwa-mu had done was nothing remarkable. He had merely spoken words calculated to provoke, having read my aunt’s character perfectly.
Jeggal Hwa-mu smiled as he spoke.
“But if I hadn’t done this, she would have targeted you instead. I couldn’t let you consume a poison whose exact composition we didn’t even know, could I?”
Since it was his doing, there was no need for me to blame myself.
This was what Jeggal Hwa-mu wanted me to understand.
“I’m sorry.”
His face showed no trace of genuine remorse.
….
I truly didn’t know what to say.
He had done it out of concern for me.
But what if something had gone wrong and Baek Li-myeong had died, and we’d found no evidence at all?
“And there’s one more thing I should tell you.”
“What is it?”
“About that Buddhist Monk.”
“The one my aunt was hunting?”
Since he was at a distance, we had first extracted his confession that he’d given my aunt the poison, and only then had we begun bringing him in. There was still much to uncover.
How exactly he had made the poison, why he had given it to my aunt, why he had fled—and so much more.
This time, Jeggal Hwa-mu’s expression was genuinely apologetic.
“She’s dead.”
“What? Why all of a sudden!”
Jeggal Hwa-mu’s pale blue eyes grew serious.
“Blood parasites emerged from her body.”
I widened my eyes.
Blood parasites.
Crimson worms that burrowed into the human body as parasites.
And without periodic doses of a special antidote, they inflicted excruciating agony on their host before bringing death.
Wasn’t it obvious this was a tool meant for sinister purposes?
Precisely. The Demonic Cult used them to control people.

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