The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 258

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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 258
Father called me over, signaling that I should stop.
“Yeon.”
I shrugged and stepped back.
The Hyeonmu Unit Master exhaled painfully before speaking.
“When I learned of what happened here, I had already received martial instruction from the Alliance Leader. My sister was already married to him with two children. What could I have possibly done?”
Wi Ji-baek’s fate was already intertwined with the sect’s. Moreover, if Wi Ji-baek’s conduct were exposed, how could his nephews and nieces ever hold their heads high?
Namgung Wan spoke coldly.
“Excuses, excuses….”
The Hyeonmu Unit Master stared at Namgung Wan in silence before opening his mouth.
“Namgung Minor Family Head, you also had a beloved sister, didn’t you? If you were in my position, what would you have done? Could you have easily exposed this matter? Could you have dragged your sister and nephew into the mud with your own hands?”
Fire flashed in Namgung Wan’s eyes.
“How dare you! Comparing my blood to such filthy business?”
Namgung Wan moved toward the Hyeonmu Unit Master, but Father blocked his path.
The Hyeonmu Unit Master continued.
“I tried my best to restrain the Alliance Leader in every way I could. He was never this severe originally. If that man hadn’t been inciting him…!”
Following the Hyeonmu Unit Master’s gaze, all eyes turned to the Byeok Family Head.
The Byeok Family Head, who had been hunching his shoulders and watching nervously throughout the conversation, suddenly jumped to his feet.
“W-what are you suddenly saying, Hyeonmu Unit Master!”
Anger hardened in the Hyeonmu Unit Master’s voice, as though he had abandoned all restraint.
“Did you think I wouldn’t know that your family incited the Alliance Leader? You seduced him into this because you wanted a position at any cost!”
“That’s ridiculous! The one doing the seducing is an idiot!”
Well, I had to agree with the Byeok Family Head on that point.
The accusation continued. The Hyeonmu Unit Master shouted with indignation.
“No, before you appeared, the Alliance Leader listened to my words!”
“Listened? You still don’t understand the Wi Alliance Leader properly. He was just pretending to be a good man in front of you! Tsk, tsk. We only learned about it because the Wi Alliance Leader was…!”
The Byeok Family Head, who had been shouting, suddenly clamped his mouth shut. He looked startled at his own slip of the tongue.
Namgung Wan raised an eyebrow and spoke.
“The Wi Alliance Leader was what? Why did you stop? Now I’m curious.”
“N-nothing important.”
“I’ll be the judge of that. Continue.”
“….”
That was the moment.
Thwack!
His robes fluttered as the Byeok Family Head tumbled across the floor.
“Ugh!”
The Byeok Family Head groaned and rolled several times. Before he could even regain his senses, he was kicked repeatedly.
With the Byeok Family Head weeping and sniveling before him, Namgung Wan brushed off his robes and spoke.
“Ui-gang, did you properly interrogate this man?”
Namgung Wan drew his own conclusion before Father could even answer.
“That’s impossible. I’ll interrogate him properly myself.”
Namgung Wan grabbed the Byeok Family Head by the collar and hauled him to his feet.
“Stop whining. It wasn’t even a hard kick.”
The Byeok Family Head, startled, clutched at the wrist gripping his collar and cried out toward my father.
“G-Great Martial Master! This wasn’t the agreement! You promised to spare my life….”
Namgung Wan cut off the Byeok Family Head’s words.
“Who said anything about killing you? Just shut your mouth.”
His rough, unfiltered tone made it clear his anger had reached its peak.
The Byeok Family Head, dangling in the air and thrashing about, let out a cry that sounded almost like a scream.
“B-Byeok Ki-hyeon!”
“….”
At the name that suddenly burst forth, Namgung Wan stopped in his tracks.
Namgung Wan asked with a hardened expression.
“…Byeok Ki-hyeon? Why is her name coming up here?”
His question mirrored my own thoughts exactly.
Byeok Ki-hyeon.
Yalyu’s mother’s name.
Why was her name suddenly appearing in this situation?
“B-Because the Wi Alliance Leader was after Byeok Ki-hyeon! That’s how I learned the Wi Alliance Leader’s true identity!”
The strength drained from Namgung Wan’s grip. The Byeok Family Head’s legs, which had been dangling in the air, touched the ground, and he collapsed as if his legs had given out beneath him.
The Byeok Family Head continued in a terrified voice.
“That woman Byeok Ki-hyeon wasn’t bad-looking, was she? The Wi Alliance Leader tried to make advances on her, but when she wouldn’t yield… ah, he came looking for her father instead.”
“….”
Just as I was about to speak, a voice came from beside me first.
“And then?”
It was Namgung Ryu-cheong.
Namgung Ryu-cheong asked with a voice sharp and rigid as steel.
“What happened after that?”
The Byeok Family Head stammered and couldn’t continue.
…A terrible premonition washed over me.
The Byeok Family Head glanced nervously in all directions before speaking.
“That… honestly, I don’t know the details. How would I know everything my father and the Wi Alliance Leader did? Besides, even in my current state, I’m still your elder! Why are you speaking to me like that?”
This insane….
‘Even now!’
Just as I was about to spring up, Namgung Ryu-cheong gently pressed down on my shoulder.
Namgung Ryu-cheong commanded.
“Restrain him.”
The Namgung Warriors twisted the Byeok Family Head’s arms so he couldn’t move. And Namgung Ryu-cheong’s back blocked my view of the Byeok Family Head.
Crack!
“W-What are you… Aaaaaahhhhh!”
A faint light flickered, and something clattered to the ground. I didn’t bother to check what it was.
Namgung Ryu-cheong spoke.
“Answer only what is asked.”
Heavy, ragged breathing echoed from beyond Namgung Ryu-cheong’s broad shoulders.
Honestly… his temperament truly burns like fire.
I never would have anticipated this, not with Father and me present.
Then the Hyeonmu Unit Master spoke.
“Namgung Prince, that’s enough. Let me explain.”
Namgung Ryu-cheong turned to face the Hyeonmu Unit Master. In doing so, I could see the Byeok Family Head’s condition. One side of his face was caked with blood.
The Hyeonmu Unit Master sighed before speaking.
“The Byeok Family Head delivered Byeok Ki-hyeon to the Alliance Leader.”
“Delivered? What do you mean?”
“Exactly as I said. I heard Byeok Ki-hyeon was here at this mountain manor for a time.”
“….”
“….”
My mind struggled to process the words.
‘So… could it be that the person who escaped from this place…?’
I found myself drawing a sharp breath, my hand covering my mouth.
As we exited through the submerged cavern, I had thought that an ordinary woman without martial training would struggle to escape. And I had harbored a fleeting question about how the previous escapee had managed to leave this place alone.
‘But it was Byeok Ki-hyeon.’
So she truly had learned martial arts to make her escape….
“Byeok Ki-hyeon escaped the mountain manor, and the great commotion that followed is how we learned of this place.”
The Hyeonmu Unit Master’s gaze fixed on the Byeok Family Head.
“From what I’ve gathered, the Alliance Leader apparently proposed marriage to Byeok Ki-hyeon, but something went wrong….”
Suddenly, the Byeok Family Head erupted in fury.
“Yes! Does that slave think she’s actually a member of the Byeok Family?”
Father, who had been silent, finally spoke.
“Did Byeok Ki-hyeon refuse the marriage to the Wi Alliance Leader?”
The Wi Alliance Leader, who had been pestering her, claimed she had refused—naturally….
“Refuse? Never! That wench said without hesitation that she would obey when her father ordered the marriage.”
“…She said she would?”
“Yes!”
I couldn’t fathom what she had been thinking in accepting, but many followed their parents’ wishes in matters of marriage without question. Byeok Ki-hyeon may have been such a woman.
Then what in the world was the problem?
The Byeok Family Head shrieked like a madman.
“Marriage to the Wi Alliance Leader? Her, of all people!”
“What…?”
“A dirty bloodline daring to reach so high. If that wench married the Wi Alliance Leader, how much would others mock us!”
What on earth was he saying now?
It seemed I wasn’t the only one confused. Everyone wore the same bewildered expression I felt.
The truth was far more sordid than if Byeok Ki-hyeon had simply rejected the marriage proposal and been forced into it anyway.
Byeok Family Head continued speaking.
“So I advised my father—should we really go through with marrying Wi Alliance Leader to Byeok Ki-hyeon? Let’s arrange the marriage with my sister instead, and if Wi Alliance Leader still wants Byeok Ki-hyeon, we can just let him toy with her and discard her.”
“….”
“But that fool Wi Alliance Leader refused, saying he had no reason to marry anyone but Byeok Ki-hyeon!”
Of course he did!
Byeok Ki-hyeon was a rising star at the time—flawless in martial prowess, talent, character, and appearance.
But the Byeok Family? Without Byeok Ki-hyeon, they were merely a mid-tier sect of no consequence.
“So what did Wi Alliance Leader say then? That there was no one in the Byeok Family who satisfied him? Ridiculous! What are we lacking? What right does that lowborn wretch have to be so proud? Everyone obsessed over Byeok Ki-hyeon, Byeok Ki-hyeon! Nothing went right because of that woman!”
My father spoke in a measured tone.
“I was never close with Byeok Ki-hyeon, but I know she devoted herself sincerely to the Byeok Family. So why….”
Byeok Family Head cut off my father’s words and shouted.
“Sincerely? Ha! We fed and sheltered her—isn’t that natural? We even corrected her lowborn nature, and she dares to climb above us?”
So it was… jealousy.
Byeok Ki-hyeon was born a slave, yet she gained entry to the Byeok Family through talent alone. She swiftly surpassed the abilities of the Byeok bloodline and transformed the family’s martial arts—once dismissed as mediocre—into something worthy of respect.
Moreover, impressed by her talent, the Hyungsan sect—one of the Nine Great Sects—sought her as a disciple.
When other members of the Byeok bloodline learned this and tried to go in her stead, the Hyungsan sect wanted only Byeok Ki-hyeon.
Byeok Ki-hyeon refused the offer, unable to abandon the Byeok Family’s kindness, and the Hyungsan sect, impressed by her character, took her on as an outer disciple and taught her some of their martial techniques.
Had it ended there, it would have been a tale of virtue—but the Byeok Family lacked the capacity to accept such a Byeok Ki-hyeon.
As everyone stood speechless in shock, Namgung Ryu-cheong’s frigid voice shattered the silence.
“I have one question.”
“What more could you possibly ask…!”
As Namgung Ryu-cheong pointed his blade, Byeok Family Head flinched and fell silent.
Namgung Ryu-cheong spoke.
“Does Yalyu have involvement in this matter?”
Byeok Family Head’s face twisted.
“He does! That bastard is the son of Wi Alliance Leader!”

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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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