The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 221

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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 221
As I tilted my head slightly to observe the scene, the scattered strands of hair gradually settled.
The incense stick that had caught my eye had burned down to merely a stub. It seemed like not much time had passed, yet an entire week’s worth of incense had already been consumed.
Creak.
The sound of the Family Shrine door opening echoed through the air.
Baek Li-ui-gang emerged and his expression hardened upon seeing me and Namgung Ryu-cheong.
“What are the two of you doing here?”
Namgung Ryu-cheong’s expression grew rigid as he bowed his head slightly.
My father surveyed the shrine and replaced the incense stick that had nearly burned away entirely. Then he turned to face us once more.
“The two of you, alone in the shrine at this hour without a single attendant. Had anyone other than myself witnessed this, what would become of Yeon’s reputation?”
Namgung Ryu-cheong remained silent.
In place of his silence, I rose from my seat and took hold of my father’s arm.
“Father, let’s go.”
My father cast one final glance at Namgung Ryu-cheong before turning and leaving the shrine with me.
* * *
Rather than returning to the Guest Room, my father headed toward the Pond. As we passed through the narrow path lined with flowering trees, the moonlit surface of the pond came into view.
After walking for some distance, I spoke up.
“Father, you heard everything, didn’t you?”
My father, who had been silent until now, finally broke his silence.
“Was there any need to go this far? He’s a good boy. And that boy… cared for you deeply.”
“You knew about it too, Father?”
“Yes.”
My father exhaled a short sigh and continued.
“How could I not notice? His gaze always ended with you.”
“…”
Even Father had noticed.
Feeling an inexplicable sense of embarrassment, I brushed my flushed cheeks lightly as if to cool them.
“And you also…”
“Yes?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
I regarded my father with confusion before speaking in a somewhat petulant tone.
“Father, do you wish for me to marry Ryu-cheong? If I go to the Namgung Clan, I’ll barely see his face once a year.”
“It is a pity. But if it means you can be happy, then that is not a problem.”
I pouted slightly.
He was truly a wonderful father who prioritized his child’s happiness above all else.
At that moment, my father suddenly asked in a carefully measured tone.
“Did your grandfather perhaps instruct you to do this?”
“Grandfather? No. But he did tell me he would pass the family to me. Since I’m clever, I understood immediately.”
My father’s expression became slightly weary, as if questioning why I would say such things at this moment.
My father exhaled a faint sigh and spoke.
“You really haven’t changed at all. Not when you were six, and not now that you’re twenty.”
‘Of course not. Most children grow mentally as their bodies mature, but I had already reached full mental development by then.’
Unlike me, Namgung Ryu-cheong had grown considerably in spirit, yet his obsessive nature remained unchanged. Even I couldn’t predict whether he would ever let it go.
“Didn’t I tell you before? I said I’d live with Father my whole life. Don’t you remember?”
“You did. But… wasn’t that when you were little?”
Father smiled calmly.
“How could you possibly remember that?”
“I thought you’d forgotten because you approved of my marriage prospects.”
“That’s not it at all.”
I brushed the hair from my temple and gazed into empty space. There was nothing left to say anyway. Father had heard everything, so there was no need to continue.
After walking in silence for a long while, Father suddenly spoke.
“…Now that I think about it, you inherited that trait from your mother.”
“Pardon?”
I looked at Father in surprise. This was the first time—even counting before my regression—that Father had ever brought up my mother on his own.
My mother.
Father had never spoken to me about her, yet I wasn’t entirely without clues.
A woman I’d seen in dreams, more than once.
A rather suspicious figure who had freed me from prison.
At first, I didn’t understand. But on the day of my coming-of-age ceremony, when I applied light makeup and looked in the mirror, I suddenly realized it—that woman resembled the adult version of me.
The ability to secretly extract me from prison.
The bearing of someone trained in martial arts.
Alive, yet revealing nothing of herself, and Father making no effort to find her…
Watching Father gaze at the moon reflected in the pond, I understood.
The moment to ask had arrived.
“Father, what kind of person was my mother?”
* * *
After that day, it was Namgung Ryu-cheong who began avoiding me instead.
But unlike me, his avoidance was painfully obvious. The members of the Baek Geom Unit staying at the inn even subtly suggested to both of us that we should reconcile if we’d quarreled.
From what I heard, Namgung Ryu-cheong seemed quite aggrieved about it.
Eventually, Father, unable to bear watching him wander about with such an anguished expression every day, took Namgung Ryu-cheong somewhere for a time. When they returned, his complexion had improved, and he departed from Ak-yang.
When he said his farewell to me, he’d recovered enough to act as though that conversation had never happened.
I asked Father what he’d said to him, but goodness—Father said it was a secret!
That Namgung Ryu-cheong boy, making secrets with my father!
* * *
At the end of April, the Murim Alliance announced it would hold the Heavenly Martial Arts Tournament.
The event was scheduled for September.
The timeline allowed ample time for news to spread throughout the Jianghu and for preliminary rounds to be held at regional branches of the Murim Alliance.
Sitting askew in my chair, reading the tournament proclamation, I suddenly looked toward Father.
After studying his composed face for a moment, I spoke earnestly.
“Father, why don’t you participate as well?”
“What?”
“If it’s Father’s face, everyone would think it’s a losing expression….”
“Nonsense.”
Father cut me off without a hint of amusement, his expression turning serious.
‘How boring….’
He was not a man who appreciated jokes.
In any case, this martial arts tournament would be of unprecedented scale.
Not only was it being held after a very long time, but what truly excited the Jianghu masters was the championship prize.
The victor always received an enormous monetary reward, the benefit of immediately securing a position within the Murim Alliance, and a special prize.
Since the prize changed each time, what people were most curious about whenever a tournament was held was what the prize would be this time.
For instance, the prize during the year Father won the championship was the Great Restoration Elixir of Shaolin.
Shaolin’s Great Restoration Elixir was a tremendous spiritual pill comparable to the Gongjing Stone Jade. Even with Shaolin’s secret techniques, it took numerous monks decades to produce just a single one.
“When Father participated, you defeated Uncle Namgung Wan in the semifinals, didn’t you? How was it?”
I asked with sparkling eyes.
Father, who had left home immediately after coming of age, was gradually making a name for himself.
But it was a match between the fourth son of the Baek Li Family and the sole heir of the Namgung Clan. Naturally, everyone had predicted Uncle Namgung Wan’s victory.
“Wan had poor luck in his bracket at the time.”
“Poor luck in his bracket?”
“Yes. Before facing me, he had to fight against Byeok Ki-hyeon of the Byeok Minor Family.”
Byeok Ki-hyeon—wasn’t she Yalyu’s mother? I was quite surprised to hear that name suddenly mentioned here.
Jin-jin’s eyes brightened as he spoke carefully.
“I’ve heard about it from my master too. They say the Namgung Minor Family Head had already suffered too many defeats before facing the Fourth Young Master.”
After bringing us news of the tournament, Jin-jin had been listening to our conversation with great interest.
Jin-jin was also planning to participate in the tournament this time.
“That’s right. It would be good for you to know that matches in the tournament end much faster than you’d think. But back then, Byeok Ki-hyeon and Wan fought for nearly two hundred exchanges. In the end, Wan won, but I was able to observe all of his swordsmanship.”
“I see.”
“And when I faced him, I won in just three exchanges….”
Father trailed off and picked up his teacup.
“Three exchanges? Hahahaha! He must have been furious!”
Father nodded.
Three exchanges—that was practically losing before even having a proper match, wasn’t it?
Where did Namgung Ryu-cheong’s competitive spirit come from? Everyone said he inherited it all from Father, yet he lost in just three exchanges to Father….
He must have been so angry and frustrated that he couldn’t sleep.
And besides the Great Restoration Elixir, the most famous prize was the secret manual of someone called Geom-seon from 150 years ago.
Since Geom-seon had no disciples when she passed away, her martial arts were as good as lost to history.
To obtain that secret manual, what could have become a war among the Orthodox Martial Arts Sects was instead contained within the format of a tournament.
And there had never been a tournament as fierce as that one. Someone had even tried to steal the manual midway through, and there were enormous casualties—it was practically a war, they said.
And this tournament’s prize was equally tremendous, rivaling that of Geom-seon’s secret manual.
* * *
Time passed, and it was mid-May.
I returned home briefly to celebrate my birthday.
Gifts arrived from all corners upon hearing it was my birthday. At first, receiving so many presents was novel and delightful, but now they had become nothing but a nuisance.
Gifts from those close to me were tolerable enough. However, presents from people I barely knew, sent in hopes of growing closer, required rejection and explanation—a tedious cycle that only multiplied my burdens.
I approached the central table in the chamber where gifts were piled high.
I opened the topmost box among them.
Inside lay a vivid peach blossom branch ornament, its flowers crafted from pale amber stone that gleamed with subtle, ethereal beauty.
“Ah, that is a gift sent by Namgung Prince.”

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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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