The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 28

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

Chapter 28
* * *
I glanced back at Seok Ga-yak, who trailed behind me while carrying a potted plant. When our eyes met, he flashed a bright smile. I wrinkled my nose and turned my head away sharply, only to hear his cheerful laughter ring out.
Once I learned that Grandfather had returned home, I told Seok Ga-yak that something had come up and ordered him to leave. But he ignored my words and continued following me. When I insisted he go back, he only widened his eyes in surprise and questioned me in return.
“Why? I’m the one who told you about it.”
“…So you taught me this from the start just to pull this off?”
“Yeah. Is that a problem?”
Seok Ga-yak was brazenly confident.
“Besides, you said you’d use my gift. That means I have the right to see it.”
“How would you know what I’m going to do?”
“I don’t know. But I doubt I’ll be disappointed no matter what.”
And he grinned mischievously.
With no time to argue back and forth, I had no choice but to ignore his presence following behind me.
From the outside, Subaekdang appeared quiet with no apparent problems. And unfortunately, Seok Ga-yak managed to enter Subaekdang without incident.
‘I was sure he wouldn’t be able to get in!’
I had expected the guards at the entrance to stop Seok Ga-yak. I was planning to separate him here without any fuss, telling him to wait outside.
But I never expected Seok Ga-yak to be such a smooth talker!
He claimed to be Seok Tae-ui’s nephew and insisted he had been asked to check on my condition, so he absolutely had to come along—and he talked his way through.
Once inside Subaekdang, Seok Ga-yak looked around leisurely as if he were in his own home. As we passed through the neatly arranged garden, we hadn’t even gotten close to Jeongbang yet when I already heard Grandfather’s angry voice.
I sighed and spoke.
“…You can’t go inside Jeongbang.”
“Yeah. I wasn’t planning to go that far anyway.”
As we approached the building, Jang Seok-ryang, who was guarding the front of Jeongbang, came out and saw us both, his expression darkening.
“How did you get in here? And who is this boy beside you?”
I bit my lip slightly and spoke.
“He’s Seok Tae-ui’s nephew and came to find me today.”
“My name is Seok Ga-yak.”
Jang Seok-ryang looked not just taken aback but slightly irritated.
I quickly bowed my head and apologized.
“I’m sorry. I was in a hurry and came in without permission. Seok Ga-yak only followed me out of concern.”
“My apologies.”
Seok Ga-yak bowed along with me.
Jang Seok-ryang spoke in a suppressed voice.
“…No matter that he’s Seok Tae-ui’s nephew, you shouldn’t carelessly bring outsiders into Subaekdang. Please come back later after receiving proper permission…”
At that moment, Grandfather’s voice filled with anger flowed out.
“…I give you three choices.”
Jang Seok-ryang’s attention turned to that voice, and his gaze left me for a moment.
I also listened intently.
“…If you leave, neither you nor your child will ever see me again.”
And hearing it all, I was quite shocked.
Grandfather drew his sword far sooner than I expected.
The three choices Grandfather had given Aunt Baek Li-ui-ran seemed to offer options, but in reality, she could only choose one.
Leaving Baek Li Pyo at the Baek Li Estate and departing for Sogajang, her husband’s residence.
Aunt would never abandon the Baek Li Estate. The third option of taking all the children and leaving was essentially nonexistent from the start.
What remained was whether Aunt or Baek Li Pyo would stay at the Baek Li Estate.
She would leave Baek Li Pyo behind.
Who would acknowledge an aunt who couldn’t leave even one child at the Baek Li Estate?
Baek Li Pyo had to remain at the Baek Li Estate as Baek Li Pae-hyuk’s grandson to have any hope for the future.
This was all part of Grandfather’s plan as well—the child was still young, so by separating him from his mother who would spoil him and disciplining him strictly, wouldn’t he grow up properly?
How ruthless he truly was.
And I’m sorry, but I couldn’t let things proceed according to Grandfather’s wishes here.
I opened my mouth toward Jang Seok-ryang.
“Doesn’t this feel similar to last time?”
“Last time?”
“When Grandfather was furious then as well. The target has changed this time, but…”
Jang Seok-ryang immediately recalled it—the day Baek Li-ui-gang had knelt begging for the Heavenly Fate Golden Marriage Pill. It could be seen as similar to that day.
But the roles were reversed. And on that day, Baek Li-ui-gang had overcome the crisis because of me.
Was it all mere coincidence? Jang Seok-ryang swallowed involuntarily.
At that moment, the child blinked and asked.
“Commander Jang, may I go inside?”
“…Very well.”
Permission was granted. The servant at the door reported respectfully, as if he hadn’t heard any of this conversation.
“Family Head, Miss Baek Li-yeon has arrived.”
After a long silence, Baek Li Pae-hyuk’s voice rang out.
“Let her in!”
The servant opened the door for me to enter and swept aside the deep navy curtain.
The first thing that came into view was the twins already drenched in tears and Aunt sobbing prostrate at Father’s feet.
Behind them, I met the eyes of Baek Li-myeong, whose gaze seemed to ask why I had come here.
Grandfather shouted in an angry voice.
“So the Subaekdang is your private chamber! Coming and going as you please like this. And you even brought someone without permission!”
Although Seok Ga-yak hadn’t entered the Jeongbang itself, I couldn’t escape Grandfather’s keen perception. Receiving the flower pot from Seok Ga-yak under Grandfather’s piercing gaze, I was startled.
Why was it so heavy? I had thought it would be light since Seok Ga-yak held it so effortlessly!
As I crossed the threshold, I stumbled greatly under its weight.
In that moment, both Baek Li-ui-gang and Baek Li Pae-hyuk flinched. Even Seok Ga-yak watching from behind held his breath, worried I might fall.
Though unintentional, I had captured everyone’s attention in an instant, and I barely managed to set the flower pot down in the center of the hall. Those who had been holding their breath relaxed.
But there was one who showed a completely different reaction.
Baek Li-ui-ran. Her aunt’s eyes, bloodshot and inflamed, were filled with anger and resentment.
Meeting Aunt’s gaze, I hid slightly behind Baek Li-myeong to avoid it. Though Baek Li-myeong was kneeling, he was still tall enough to shield a six-year-old child.
“…?”
Baek Li-myeong looked at me bewildered, as if asking why I was acting this way. I tugged at his sleeve pleadingly, asking for his help.
Baek Li-myeong flinched at the sharp glare from my aunt, nearly pushing me away before hesitating. Then he straightened his posture and shielded me from her.
All of this happened in the briefest moment. Baek Li-myeong’s judgment, almost instinctive, proved correct. As he moved to protect me, I saw Grandfather’s gaze soften ever so slightly.
“…You!”
My aunt cried out in disbelief at Baek Li-myeong’s protective stance toward me.
“Baek Li-myeong, what on earth are you doing right now?”
“Aunt, please calm yourself.”
At Baek Li-myeong’s words, my aunt gasped in shock.
‘I knew it would come to this.’
Baek Li-myeong was an opportunist through and through. What mattered to him was only his own safety. He always sided with whoever benefited him most, depending on the circumstances of the moment.
Right now, he was pretending to protect me from my aunt just to receive less punishment from Grandfather.
I stared at the straight back of his head before me.
‘Simply driving my aunt away won’t be enough.’
If Baek Li Pyo pretended to come to his senses under Grandfather’s authority and my aunt feigned submission and obedience, they would eventually be called back.
After all, Grandfather had never said he would prevent her from returning for life.
Though Grandfather was the Family Head of the Baek Li Family, the Matriarch—my grandmother—was still in good health and could not be ignored. As long as she lived, my aunt would inevitably return.
She would likely come back in two or three years at the earliest.
‘By then, I’d be eight? Or perhaps nine years old?’
And the moment she returned, she would turn the blade she had been sharpening all this time against Father and me.
‘I cannot allow that to happen.’
To prevent it….
The one who drove my aunt and the twins away could not be me.
It had to be Baek Li-myeong. I would make him cast them out instead.
My aunt, running out of patience, shrieked.
“Baek Li-myeong! Have you lost your mind? Get out of the way! Are you really taking that woman’s side right now?”
“Baek Li-ui-ran!”
Grandfather’s fury erupted, but it was too late to stop my aunt, whose eyes had already rolled back.
“Baek Li-yeon, how dare you appear before me…!”
My aunt, who had been shrieking wildly, suddenly went limp and collapsed.
“Mother!”
“Sister!”
The twins and my uncle cried out in alarm.
“Your sister seemed quite agitated, so I took the liberty of intervening.”
Only then did I understand what had happened.
‘…Father just knocked my aunt unconscious?’
I hadn’t even seen how he did it. And Father’s indifferent expression, as though it were nothing at all, felt strangely unfamiliar.
‘No, come to think of it… he was always like that.’
Grandfather gestured irritably.
“Enough. Still unable to come to her senses! Tsk. Baek Li-ui-gang, no—Baek Li-ui-muk, take Baek Li-ui-ran to the Residence Quarter and return.”
“…Understood.”
My uncle carefully lifted my unconscious aunt and left the hall.
“Mother! Mother!”
The startled twins rose to follow their aunt, but Grandfather’s voice thundered through the hall.
“Who gave you permission to stand?!”
The twins flinched in terror and quickly knelt again. Grandfather regarded them with disdain before turning his gaze toward me. His eyes were sharp as blades.
“So then, what brings you here?”

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