The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 338

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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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Special Side Story: Chapter 8
* * *
My childhood memories were exceedingly hazy. I suffered from recurring fevers, and by the time I was old enough to move about, I could not venture beyond my chamber.
But that did not make me a fool.
In my memories, my mother was a foolish woman. I heard she had escaped safely from the Byeok Family, who had been after me, but returned to that place upon hearing that my adoptive mother wished to see her before passing, only to be captured.
The desire to see her had been a lie from the start. My adoptive mother had long since passed away. What could she have—
And soon after, I lost even my foolish biological mother.
“Sell them to the most wretched and arduous place.”
“You need not worry, sir!”
The slave merchant bowed so deeply his head seemed ready to snap off.
“Did not the Grandmother request this? To spare their lives out of compassion. How could I disobey the Grandmother’s final words!”
“As expected of the Family Head. Your benevolence knows no bounds!”
After that, the slave merchant who took me away died at the hands of Cheon Gwi-jo.
“Remarkable. An unusual constitution indeed. Hmm, this might prove quite entertaining.”
To survive beneath Cheon Gwi-jo, I had to kill the other children. At some point, Cheon Gwi-jo began teaching martial arts not only to me but to the other children as well, forcing them to kill one another.
“P-please… spare me.”
“If you want to live, then kill me.”
“N-no. How could I… kill a person…”
It was a repetition I had heard countless times, and I grew weary of listening. I simply reached out and covered the child’s mouth. Soon after, the child could never speak again.
Watching this, Cheon Gwi-jo would sometimes cackle with delight.
“Ahahaha! Now this is a true monster!”
Even when I killed the other children, I felt nothing. They would have died to Cheon Gwi-jo anyway if I had not killed them. In this world, the weak were meant to perish.
Thus I survived in Cheon Gwi-jo’s Lair. And then… I encountered Baek Li-yeon.
The moment I saw her, I could tell. Baek Li-yeon despised me greatly. What I knew best was hostility.
Baek Li-yeon would smile brightly at others, but the moment she saw me, her expression would harden. Whenever she found herself too close, she would flinch and try to distance herself.
She clearly hated me. So why did she make such a choice in that moment when the debris came crashing down?
“Ui-gang! Are you all right? Where is Yeon? Where did Yeon go? Why are only you two here…?”
“…”
Baek Li-ui-gang’s face was vacant, as though his soul had fled.
Namgung Wan seized Baek Li-ui-gang by the collar and growled at him.
“Why won’t you answer! I’m asking where she went!”
“…”
Namgung Wan, bursting with frustration, released Baek Li-ui-gang and turned to face me.
Namgung Wan gripped my shoulder as though he might shatter it and shouted.
“You tell me. Why are only you two here! Huh?”
“…”
“Speak! Why is no one saying anything!”
I recounted what had just transpired.
“I and that girl reported ourselves to the Grand Patriarch, and we were swept away by the debris.”
Only then could I properly comprehend what had occurred.
Yes. That child died to save him.
To save him….
Namgung Wan muttered as if he couldn’t believe it.
“Why would you…?”
Indeed. He was curious too.
“No, why in the world…! If only you all hadn’t…!”
The impact of being thrown to the ground like discarded refuse sent him into a coughing fit. Namgung Wan, staring down at him coughing with bloodshot eyes, let out an anguished cry of rage and shattered a boulder with his bare hands.
“Why of all things! Such a foolish act…!”
Baek Li-ui-gang helped him up with unfocused eyes.
“This is not the children’s fault, so stop. The child has endured hardship…. She lives, she is alive.”
He thought while coughing.
Nonsense. She must be dead. Swept away in that landslide and surviving?
In the distance, he could see where the landslide had clawed its way through.
All traces of the Ruined Village that had once stood there had vanished completely.
There was no way she could have survived.
Even though he thought so clearly, his heart inexplicably raced.
He believed this pounding was what he felt because she would be alive.
Yes. She would be alive. No, she had to be alive. This was not where she was meant to die.
And when I saw her again, I would ask. Why did you save me, when you have a father who loves you so dearly, and I am someone you despise?
So I searched. Wanting to ask why she had saved me. I searched and searched and searched again. Later, I even forgot why I was searching for her. I simply desperately hoped that she was alive.
And for the first time, I came to understand my mother’s actions, even if only a little.
* * *
The May Palace on Seoshan.
The insular May Palace, which did not receive outsiders, was the same and monotonous every day. But for the past few days, an excited atmosphere had taken hold, and quite a few people from the lower village had been coming and going.
Then one day. A man with long hair disheveled and covered in blood suddenly appeared in the deepest courtyard of the May Palace.
The warrior guarding the courtyard was startled and drew his sword, crying out.
“Who are you!”
“Where is the Owol Palace Master?”
A disciple of the Owol Palace Master, who appeared late to the commotion, confirmed the man’s face and cried out in alarm.
“Everyone, lower your swords! And bring the Palace Master here!”
But before the Owol Palace Master arrived, the man collapsed to the ground first.
* * *
The Owol Palace Master gazed at the sleeping quarters with troubled eyes.
Even with the windows open, the thick smell of blood lingered in the room, and blood continued to seep from the bandages wrapped around the man on the bed.
“If you’ve regained consciousness, you should get up.”
As the man slowly opened his eyes, the Owol Palace Master continued.
“It seems an explanation of what this situation is would be necessary.”
“How many days?”
“A week has passed since you collapsed.”
“The news is late. The Crown Prince is dead. He died a week ago.”
The Owol Palace Master’s complexion shifted dramatically.
“That means you’ve now…!”
The Heavenly Demon Divine Sect had fractured into three factions after Cheon-ma’s death—the Crown Prince, the Right Envoy, and Chong Gun-sa—each locked in a protracted and stagnant succession struggle. Yet suddenly, Chong Gun-sa’s forces vanished from sight, and thereafter the Crown Prince and Right Envoy clashed.
Two years ago, Chong Gun-sa’s forces abruptly reappeared, swiftly toppled the Right Envoy, and absorbed his power. And now, even the Crown Prince had fallen.
“I never knew you harbored interest in such a position.”
“Interest?”
“Was it not what you desired?”
“Gung-ju, why do you suddenly speak such nonsense?”
“….”
Whether he wished it or not, once he had stepped into the succession struggle, it became a world of victor’s supremacy where only one could survive.
In the end, it was he who claimed victory.
The Owol Palace Master spoke.
“So why have you come here?”
“I was caught in the Crown Prince’s self-detonation when I killed him.”
Just as I unleashed the Absorption Demon Art toward the Crown Prince, I came under attack and couldn’t defend completely. The Crown Prince must have deliberately seized that moment.
The damage from the self-detonation was severe enough, but the greater problem was that the Cheon-ma’s power I had stabilized began to rampage anew.
“I cannot yet trust the Sect.”
“And we are trustworthy, is that it?”
To such an absurd question, a puzzled gaze returned.
“That’s why I remain alive, is it not?”
“….”
“Of course, I spared you partly from fear that the Crown Prince would seize the Sect if I died.”
Beneath the pallid complexion, only the vivid crimson lips curved smoothly upward.
“Let us call it mutual exploitation. You desired the succession struggle to continue eternally, weakening the Sect’s power in the process.”
The Owol Palace Master spoke in a cold, glacial tone.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. The May Palace is independent from the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect. This is not a place for you.”
As he tilted his head, long black hair cascaded onto the sleeping quarters.
“Gung-ju, there is now nowhere in this world I cannot reach.”
“….”
“The May Palace is, regrettably, far too weak to obstruct my path.”
“….”
“Gung-ju, you asked if I harbored resentment toward you. Then tell me—when a worm gains the power to crush other worms freely, how do you suppose it would feel?”
The Owol Palace Master’s gaze grew cold and sharp. Soon after, he spoke with resolute conviction.
“You will not return to the Sect.”
“Do as you wish.”
“…What?”
“I said do as you wish. You seem quite dissatisfied even with that.”
“….”
Such unexpected mercy only served to cloud the mind further.
“Ah, though there is one condition—you must not tell anyone of my presence here.”
Yet the Owol Palace Master was hardly in a position to spread word that Cheon-ma lingered here, so this hardly qualified as a condition worth mentioning.
The Owol Palace Master, who had been silent, finally spoke.
“…Are you perhaps considering pursuing a different path as the future Sect Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect….”
The Owol Palace Master trailed off mid-sentence upon seeing the look in his eyes, then muttered dejectedly.
“…That can’t be it.”
He spoke as though amused by such a notion.
“Garbage must be kept in one place to prevent the stench from spreading everywhere, wouldn’t you agree.”
“That’s hardly a thing for one standing at the very top of that garbage heap to say.”
“And the Palace Master would be nothing more than a cockroach that scurried out of the trash bin.”
Ignoring those words, he closed the window the Owol Palace Master had left open.
“Well then, since you’ll likely be staying for some time, please do not venture beyond the Byeolchae. We find it difficult to extend our courtesy any further than this.”
And several days later, he came to understand the true reason the Owol Palace Master had instructed him not to leave the Byeolchae.

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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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