The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 247

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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 247
* * *
After finishing my conversation with the woman from Heukssi, I walked back lost in thought.
Pretending ignorance, I continued walking until I had moved far from the residential area, then glanced over my shoulder.
“Enough. Come out.”
Yalyu emerged smoothly from the darkness. Though he revealed himself in front of me, there was no sense of his presence at all. Had he not been someone of considerable skill, one might not have sensed him even if he were standing right there.
“So my cover’s blown now. Are you just going to follow me around openly? Really?”
I was exasperated by the bare-faced Yalyu, who merely smiled as if my words were correct. Yet relief washed over me at the same time. The fact that he still held some interest in me.
If he had interest, he wouldn’t have followed me like this in secret, would he? Of course, I still couldn’t tell whether that interest was for better or worse.
Bare-faced Yalyu raised the corners of his mouth and spoke.
“What will you do wandering about at night without guards?”
“Are you worried someone might ambush me under cover of darkness?”
“It’s better to be careful.”
“I don’t know. Isn’t it you who’s the greatest danger to me right now?”
“Is that so.”
Yalyu smiled and tilted his head slightly. His demeanor was utterly composed.
After scanning the surroundings, Yalyu asked.
“Your leech… seems to have something to do?”
A leech…
I didn’t need to ask who he meant by that name.
I narrowed my eyes and looked at Yalyu.
“If he’s a leech, then so are you.”
One leech left, and now another has attached itself to me.
Yalyu closed his mouth and blinked. Then he opened it again.
“Why does that matter? What’s important is that we’ve met.”
“….”
This time, I closed my mouth.
Yalyu, his face wearing a smile, asked in a curious voice.
“So what were you doing with that leech in the chamber?”
I looked at him with startled eyes.
“How did you even…?”
Yalyu answered in an offhand tone.
“Don’t worry. I didn’t enter the pavilion or plant anyone there. There are so many people who’ll share information for the right price. Besides, you’re quite conspicuous.”
“….”
“So what did you do in the chamber?”
I narrowed my eyes and looked at him before speaking.
“Pay money and find out.”
“Ah, you’re too much.”
I let out a slight laugh. Hearing us exchange such nonsense, it felt as though we had returned to how things used to be.
I gazed at Yalyu, who seemed buried in darkness.
‘Perhaps it was fortunate that we met again now, after all.’
There were things I couldn’t properly ask because we had met so suddenly and parted just as abruptly.
I slowly opened my mouth.
“Why did you appear before me on the day I first came to Muuhan? You knew I was chasing you—why did you run?”
It was strange. Yalyu, who knew about my abilities, would have realized I’d sense him the moment he came within my range of perception.
‘Yet he deliberately revealed himself, only to suddenly flee.’
There had to be some reason behind it.
At that moment, Yalyu answered lightly.
“I wanted to see you.”
“…What did you say?”
“I originally planned to watch from a distance. But once I saw you, I wanted to see you closer, so I gradually approached… and made a mistake.”
As Yalyu finished speaking and smiled, his expression seemed radiant.
“…”
I clenched my fists tightly. I released my lip that I had been biting and asked.
“You wanted to see me? Why?”
“What were the two of you doing in the chamber?”
“…”
My clenched fist tightened with force. If you won’t answer, neither will I. That was the meaning I read from his words.
Yalyu tilted his head as if asking why I was acting this way, looking at me with widened eyes. His attitude was infuriating.
I pressed him further.
“What were you doing in the chamber?”
“Yes?”
“I didn’t like Namgung Ryu-cheong’s face, so I hit him. Satisfied?”
Yalyu nodded.
“Ah… I understand. He does look like he deserves a beating.”
“And now I’m starting to want to hit you too.”
“Ha ha. Would you like to?”
His attitude suggested he wouldn’t mind at all.
I stopped glaring at Yalyu and let out a sigh.
“Yalyu, let’s stop with the frivolous talk now. Speak seriously.”
“Serious talk—I like that.”
Yalyu nodded and looked at me.
“What should we talk about? Hmm, yes. Are you curious about your aunt? I still haven’t found her. Do you have any news on that front?”
I waved my hand. I hadn’t even found a trace of my aunt yet.
I pressed my head briefly and spoke.
“Did you do what happened to the Byeok Family Head?”
“Ah, the Byeok Family Head. That happened too.”
Yalyu, as if just remembering, answered brightly.
“That’s right. I did it myself.”
“You did it yourself?”
“Yes. Before I came to Muuhan. Don’t worry, Yeon. They deserved to die.”
I contorted my face. When exactly had he found time for such a thing? If I calculated the time it would have taken for news to reach Jeon Seo-gu, it wasn’t impossible.
I steadied my voice with effort and asked.
“Are you saying you took revenge?”
“Hmm, it seemed like I did before… but not this time.”
“Not this time? Then why…?”
“Still, I have to do what needs to be done.”
“What needs to be done?”
“Yes. Trash needs to be cleaned up, doesn’t it? It was something I had to do, so I did it this time.”
Yalyu tilted his head and spoke.
“Are you just curious? Or are you angry? If you think about what the Byeok Family Estate has done to your family until now, you should be pleased instead.”
I looked at Yalyu and said nothing. I realized that whatever I said would be pointless.
It was something I could have sensed from our first meeting. Even afterward, I deliberately averted my gaze, tried to comfort myself that it would be fine, and pretended not to notice. But I felt it. Yalyu placed little value on human life.
“Yalyu.”
Without thinking, I grasped both his arms.
His gaze turned to my hands holding him. His eyes seemed both startled and pleased.
“Stop now. Let’s end this here. All right?”
“Why should I do that?”
“Do you remember that Cheonsan Yeom-je died to save you?”
“Well… there’s a flaw in that statement.”
A large, hard hand slowly covered the back of my hand.
“Cheonsan Yeom-je didn’t save me. He saved someone who would carry forward the advancement of martial arts. If I hadn’t been the Extreme Yang Body, would he have spared me even a shred of attention?”
Considering Cheonsan Yeom-je’s nature… I couldn’t deny it. His first impression had been the worst.
Yalyu continued speaking matter-of-factly, as if merely stating facts.
“No. Rather, the Namgung Clan would have killed me immediately.”
“That would never happen.”
“Right. You would have stopped them.”
I felt heat seeping between my fingers. Yalyu’s gaze shifted away from me, toward empty space.
“If I find a suitable child and pass on the advancement of martial arts to them, their wish will be fulfilled too. I can do at least that much.”
My hands, which had been holding Yalyu, were now interlaced. Though I felt intense heat where we touched, somehow it felt cold.
“And Yeon. Do you know what I want?”
The expression vanished from Yalyu’s face, which had worn a smile all along. It was the expression of Yalyu I knew.
No—when he tried to strike my neck, wasn’t he smiling?
I no longer knew which was Yalyu’s true expression.
Yalyu lifted his interlaced hands and rubbed them against his own cheek.
“Because I cherish you.”
It was an abrupt statement. And I understood that this was Yalyu’s answer to the question of why he wanted to see me.
* * *
“What is the meaning of this?”
I looked at the young man groaning as he lay on the sleeping quarters and asked.
“Phew, what? Baek Li-yeon? You didn’t leave after all?”
Jang Cheol tried to speak as he moved the towel covering his face, but a groan escaped him and his body went rigid.
The young man beside Jang Cheol cried out urgently.
“Hey, don’t move!”
Jang Cheol’s condition was dire. Though the bleeding seemed to have stopped, dried blood caked his hair and stained his clothes, while his arm had taken on a sickly blue-purple hue.
I apologized to the young man restraining Jang Cheol and stepped closer to him.
The moment my hand touched his discolored arm, a cry pierced the air.
“Agh!”
“M-Miss, if you touch it carelessly—”
“Ahhh! Ah!”
“Stop being dramatic. I’m just examining it.”
“How would you know by looking? Leave it alone! Don’t touch it! Ow!”
After a careful examination.
“It’s not a complete fracture. Just a crack and some displacement.”
Jang Cheol, who had already torn away the towel from his face, shouted with a complexion drenched in cold sweat.
“How would you know that?”
“My health was poor when I was young, so I studied medical texts extensively.”
The young man in the chamber spoke with admiration.
“Ah, truly remarkable, Miss Baek Li.”
I swallowed a sigh inwardly.
So much for the main tournament. And worse still.
‘Of all things, his right arm…’
His sword hand. I couldn’t guarantee there would be no lasting effects.
Since I wasn’t particularly close to Jang Cheol, my presence in his chamber would only be awkward.
After exchanging a few words with Jang Cheol’s companion in the chamber, I left immediately. Then I turned to look at Jin-jin, who had exited with me.
“What on earth happened here?”

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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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