The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 306

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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 306
* * *
With each passing day growing warmer, the green branches of willows along the River Bank swayed above the water’s surface, their blossoms in full bloom.
It was a perfect day for traveling by boat. The weather was ideal for clearing one’s thoughts as well.
We traveled northward along the River and disembarked at a Dock. Once the sailors unloaded our luggage, we caught a carriage from among those gathered at the Dock and departed.
In my hand, I carried a small letter—news received through Jeon Seo-gu of the Beggar Sect.
“Father and Uncle Namgung Wan have reconciled well, it seems.”
“That’s fortunate.”
“Indeed. And when Uncle Namgung Wan learned you had left, he became furious and kept bellowing that he’d break your legs.”
“Don’t worry about it. That’s just Father’s manner of speaking.”
….
I bit my lip, suppressing a laugh. Then, moments later, I realized something startling.
“…My stomach feels unsettled.”
Namgung Ryu-cheong gazed at me with concern.
“You were fine on the boat. What’s wrong?”
“I know. I thought I was completely recovered. Perhaps it’s because I haven’t traveled by carriage in so long?”
I murmured weakly, leaning my head against the wall.
The fresh air drifting through the slightly open window helped ease my nausea somewhat.
Then I felt hands grasping my shoulders. My tilting body was guided down, and the next moment I found myself lying in the carriage, my head resting against his firm thigh.
“Lie down. You’ll feel better soon.”
I gazed up at him silently.
On the day Namgung Ryu-cheong told me to enter closed-door cultivation, I apologized to him and haltingly laid bare everything—my worries and conflicts.
Having never spoken of such things before, I was completely exhausted by the time I finished pouring out my heart.
Fighting would have been easier. Exposing one’s inner self was far too difficult and painful.
And when I expressed my concerns about the succession of the Namgung Clan, Namgung Ryu-cheong cut me off decisively, saying it was not something I needed to worry about.
His conclusion was simple: do what I wished to do.
‘What I wish to do.’
Namgung Ryu-cheong raised his hand as if to cover my eyes.
“…Stop looking.”
In the darkness, I felt a lukewarm warmth.
Once I entered closed-door cultivation… I would not feel this warmth for a long time.
Moreover, Father would become the So Family Head, and I, his only daughter, would become the successor. Just as Namgung Ryu-cheong is now.
Namgung Ryu-cheong’s avoidance of contact with Uncle Namgung Wan was likely also connected to the succession issue.
‘Will Ryu-cheong truly be able to wait for the time I spend in closed-door cultivation?’
After traveling for another two days, I was finally able to leave the carriage. We secured a room at a newly built, clean Inn and set out on foot along the road.
We hesitated briefly at a fork in the path, but aside from that one moment, we proceeded with familiarity.
After walking for about an hour and a half, as noon arrived, a very small Village appeared, barely more than a hamlet.
Could there be twenty houses? Behind a wooden fence, crudely constructed, stood dilapidated dwellings.
In the Courtyard of one house, a child in tattered clothes played on the ground covered in dirt, and a woman who appeared to be the mother was with him.
I spoke as I gazed at that house.
“That’s where I lived until I was five years old.”
Namgung Ryu-cheong’s eyes widened in surprise.
At his puzzled gaze, I smiled faintly and continued.
“The people living there now are strangers to me.”
After gazing at the place for a moment, I turned deeper into the path. Following a narrow trail worn by occasional travelers, a small tomb came into view.
“Hmm?”
I was startled and glanced around the surroundings.
Honestly, I had expected the tomb to be difficult to find. It must have been neglected for over a decade.
Yet someone appeared to be maintaining it—everything was immaculately clean.
Namgung Ryu-cheong asked.
“Who is it?”
“The woman who raised me before I met my father.”
“….”
“She was my mother’s servant, I’m told.”
I had learned this from Yalyu. My mother gave birth to me, then had her servant feign death and flee with me.
But the Demonic Cult would never allow someone to escape so easily.
The servant wasn’t poisoned with bloodseal, but with something similar. She became addicted to it and died while raising me, unable to endure any longer. I tried to recall her many times, but I couldn’t remember her face or name at all.
“This is truly my first time here.”
“Your first time?”
“Yes. I’ve never come here once.”
It was partly because I had never lived a life with the leisure to reflect on the past… and partly because it was a memory I didn’t wish to revisit.
“Excuse me.”
I spun around in alarm. I had been so lost in thought that I hadn’t noticed someone approaching from behind.
“What brings you two to this place?”
A village woman cradling a child asked with a cautious gaze. She was the woman who had been staying in the shabby house we had passed earlier.
‘What should I say?’
Instead of me, who stood flustered and silent, Namgung Ryu-cheong clasped his hands respectfully and bowed before answering.
“…We came to pay our respects to someone resting in this place.”
“Ah, is that so?”
The village woman’s wariness melted away easily, and she smiled.
“We serve as the caretakers of this tomb.”
I then collected myself and asked.
“Caretakers?”
“Yes.”
“Who asked you to do this? I actually thought there would be no one managing it.”
“A servant of some high-ranking person came and entrusted it to us. I don’t know much about it… except that every year since the first time, they send money without fail. What was his name again? Wudu?”
“…Eon-du?”
“Ah, yes, that’s it.”
It was my father. He had arranged for the maintenance all this time.
The village woman adjusted the child in her arms and asked with a curious expression.
“But has something happened recently?”
“Pardon?”
“Suddenly there are many more visitors. For years, people only sent money and never came in person, but not long ago some women arrived. They all wore swords too…”
I could guess who they were.
* * *
I returned to the County where the Inn stood.
Namgung Ryu-cheong spoke.
“Baek Li Dae-hyup and your mother—they resemble each other.”
“They do.”
Those who had come seeking the tomb were likely Mother’s subordinates.
I had wondered why Father became entangled with someone like Mother, and now that mystery seemed to be unraveling.
Rather than return directly to the Inn, I walked through the streets.
Venturing deeper from the newly established Inn, the Market Street came into view. It was not particularly large in scale.
From steamed bun stalls belching steam to rows of vendor stalls, merchants were busy hawking their wares. And in one alley, I could see young beggars eyeing a person in tattered clothes as they passed.
I felt the gaze of those children upon us. The young beggars crept toward us, then suddenly scattered in all directions.
I surveyed the street with a puzzled expression, while Namgung Ryu-cheong was already staring at the source of this commotion.
A man appeared, a broad sword at his waist, emanating an aura that proclaimed to all: I am a petty thug of the Black Sword Faction.
The man helped himself to food from the vendor stalls and asked if business was good, while the merchants fawned over him.
Apparently quite notorious, those who recognized him flinched in alarm, keeping their distance or turning away entirely.
In the midst of this, someone must have offended him, for he suddenly kicked over a vendor’s stall.
“What?”
Namgung Ryu-cheong, already displeased, immediately questioned me.
“What’s wrong?”
“Wow, that bastard’s still at it.”
“…Do you know him?”
His lukewarm tone carried an unspoken question: do you actually know such a lowborn creature?
“Know him? Well, I suppose. I got beaten by that bastard before.”
Namgung Ryu-cheong’s expression hardened instantly.
“Wait.”
Namgung Ryu-cheong charged directly toward the man.
I couldn’t remember his name, but he had been the leader of the beggars back when I lived here begging. He was the one who took what I had gathered and delivered it to his superiors. It seemed he had joined the Black Sword Faction.
Namgung Ryu-cheong approached the man and spoke a few words. The man, growing bold, drew his sword against Namgung Ryu-cheong, but in the next instant, with a sharp crack, the man went flying. Then Namgung Ryu-cheong began trampling him methodically.
Startled onlookers gathered to watch, and soon others from the same faction as the man appeared, drawn by the commotion.
They naturally met the same fate as the squinting man.
The squinting man muttered the villain’s lines.
“You, you, you bastard, how dare you touch the Heuk-ung Faction…”
Namgung Ryu-cheong skillfully played the role of righteous enforcer.
“Go tell the Heuk-ung Faction Leader.”
What followed was whispered so softly I had to strain to hear.
After that, she lowered her voice to a whisper, and I had to concentrate just to hear her.
“Namgung Ryu-cheong.”
The narrow-eyed man and his companions departed with ashen faces, and the dramatic confrontation came to an end.
The wind that swept across was refreshingly crisp. I brushed the strands of hair dancing in the breeze behind my ear and gazed at the sky. I could hear people marveling at Namgung Ryu-cheong’s martial prowess and appearance.
As I stood alone with a small smile, Namgung Ryu-cheong approached me. When I looked at him, I doubted my own eyes. He was holding a steamed bun.
Feeling my astonished gaze, Namgung Ryu-cheong spoke.
“Weren’t you looking at it because you wanted to eat it?”
“….”
“…Or not?”
Suddenly, the situation struck me as absurdly funny. A hollow laugh escaped me unbidden.
“Do you know? I met my father here, at this very spot.”
The person who had cared for me in my earliest years died. I became a vagrant wandering the streets. Then my biological father, dressed in fine clothes, found me.
I had gone days without food, and unable to bear the hunger any longer, I had just stolen a steamed bun. I was caught and beaten mercilessly.
The steamed bun had already left my hands, trampled and crushed on the ground.
It was then that Namgung Ryu-cheong reached out to me with a startled expression.
His palm brushed my cheek, and only then could I understand why my vision had grown blurred.
I too reached toward him and grasped his cheek. Then I stepped closer, raised my head, stood on my toes, and kissed him.
Only after a long moment did I pull away from him. Namgung Ryu-cheong seemed to have turned to stone.
“I love you.”
“….”
The statue could not speak.
I smiled brightly at the statue.
“Let’s go home.”
“….”
“But I still think secluded cultivation training will be boring.”
Namgung Ryu-cheong’s eyes finally showed some reaction. His lips still could not open, but his gaze revealed the unspoken question of what I intended to do about it.
“I have a question for you. Answer me honestly. Ryu-cheong, do you truly have no lingering attachment to the Namgung Clan?”
“I don’t.”
“I see. Do you know something?”
“Tell me.”
“I have no lingering attachment to the Baek Li Family either. I truly did my very best.”
“….”
Yes, I truly did my very best.
And I wanted to remain beside my father rather than the family. Now, there was someone standing before me whom I wanted to be beside even more than my father.
I kissed the corner of his mouth once more. Namgung Ryu-cheong turned to stone again with a slight start.
‘This is fun.’
I touched his firm cheek teasingly and asked.
“And even if you have no lingering attachment to the Namgung Clan, I do. I regret that you’re giving up the Namgung Clan.”
After speaking to Namgung Ryu-cheong at the dock, I could finally understand the confusion that had been clouding my heart.
“I’m sorry to Namgung Wan and So Bu-in. They’ve been so kind to me. How sad will they be if I take you away like this?”
“…You don’t need to worry about that.”
“Ryu-cheong, I love you—how could I not care?”
“….”
“And you feel the same way, don’t you?”
“….”
“You want me to inherit the Baek Li Family, don’t you? Why? You don’t even particularly like the Baek Li Family.”
Namgung Ryu-cheong, who had been silent, finally spoke.
“…Because you have the proper qualifications. If not you, then who would inherit it?”
“That’s exactly what I want to say! If not you, who has the proper qualifications, then who would inherit the Namgung Clan?”
Namgung Ryu-cheong grasped my wrist as I rubbed my cheek.
“So what do you want to do?”
“You said it yourself. Let’s discuss it together. That’s truly the right thing to do.”
I embraced Namgung Ryu-cheong with my other hand and whispered.
“So what about this?”
* * *
“A letter? From whom?”
“The young master and Miss Baek Li sent it, asking that both Baek Li Dae-hyup and So Ga-ju read it together….”
Before Shim Bu-gwan could finish speaking, Namgung Wan snatched the letter from his hands with lightning-quick movements.
“These two run away the moment I arrive, and now they’re sending letters like this?”
As Namgung Wan unfolded the letter and read through it rapidly, his eyes suddenly fixed on one spot. Then they widened as if they might burst from his skull.
The moment Shim Bu-gwan counted to three in his mind, a roar erupted.
“What, what, what is this! Marriage?! Have these two completely lost their minds?”
Namgung Wan read the letter again, unable to believe it.
[…And so we have married. Originally, this wasn’t the plan, but having become one before Heaven and Earth, we inform you of this through this letter.]
Namgung Wan felt the back of his neck stiffen as he shouted.
“You said Ui-gang saw this letter too? Ui-gang! What did Ui-gang say!”
“Baek Li Dae-hyup read the letter and… took to his bed. It seems he had no idea. He only said they were going out for some fresh air before closed-door training….”
Namgung Wan hurriedly finished reading the letter. His hands trembled as he held it.
[…We discussed the matter of succession, but we haven’t reached a conclusion yet. Ryu-cheong thinks he should remain with the Baek Li Family because of me, while I believe it’s right for me to go with Ryu-cheong to the Namgung Clan.]
As Namgung Wan read frantically, he suddenly noticed something odd and read it again.
“What are these two saying? Ryu-cheong is on the Baek Li Family’s side and Yeon is on the Namgung Clan’s side?”
“Miss Yeon is on the Namgung Clan’s side? As expected of Miss Yeon, she thinks deeply.”
“Miss? What do you mean ‘miss’!”
“Now that they’re married, shouldn’t we call her ‘miss’?”
“Would you like to marry the Grim Reaper?”
“….”
Having momentarily lost his composure and beaten Shim Bu-gwan like a punching bag for no reason, Namgung Wan suddenly came to his senses and continued reading the letter.
[So we’ve decided to travel and convince each other about why we each should remain with our respective families.
Therefore, Father, please support Ryu-cheong. Uncle, you should support me.
Uncle, but I don’t think I’ll win? Honestly, this isn’t really my specialty. So please, both of you, stay healthy until we return.]
So Father, you support Ryu Chung. And you can just support me, sir.
“Sir, but don’t you think I’m going to win? To be honest, I have a feeling this might actually be my specialty. So please both of you stay healthy until we come back.”
Namgung Wan squeezed his eyes shut and steadied his ragged breathing. After a long moment, he opened his eyes and spoke.

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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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