The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 339
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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 Episode 9
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His body recovered with remarkable speed. When he first arrived at May Palace, he had been little more than a corpse, yet the rate of his healing was beyond belief. It was all thanks to Cheon-ma’s power.
The only Owol Palace Disciple who came and went from the Byeolchae to attend to him watched him as though he were some sort of monster.
On the day he deemed himself sufficiently recovered.
He left the Byeolchae to depart. He intended to slip away as silently as he had arrived.
It was then that a white bird descended from the sky toward him, suddenly diving at him and beginning to peck at his hair.
It didn’t hurt, but it was irritating. With an indifferent gaze, he reached out to break the white bird’s wing—
“Nak-nak!”
A child’s voice. Something about it felt unpleasant, and his hand froze. The moment he looked at the child, he realized his bad premonition had been correct.
A boy came running toward him and leaped up to grab the white hawk’s leg.
“I’m so sorry! I looked away for just a moment.”
The boy appeared to be around seven years old. His attire—a shimmering sky-blue fabric embroidered with silver thread—was both practical and refined, marking him as a child of noble birth.
His aristocratic features and haughty expression bore a striking resemblance to someone.
“Wait, hold on! Are you alright? You’re not hurt, are you?”
The boy, struggling to restrain the fluttering hawk, looked at him and his mouth fell open. His aristocratic composure shattered entirely.
He observed the scars on the boy’s left arm and the right arm secured with a splint around the neck.
“Your arm?”
“Oh, it was broken! But it’s all healed now!”
“Why?”
“Mother told me not to, but I did it anyway….”
“Did Yeon break it?”
The boy only then realized that the name Yeon this dangerous, charming man had spoken referred to his mother.
This perilous, captivating stranger had casually called his mother by her name with such familiarity, and the sentence itself made no sense.
“My mother broke my arm?”
The white hawk took flight again as the boy’s grip weakened, but this time it didn’t attack Yalyu—instead, it soared high into the sky.
“Did Yeon permit you to tame that hawk using Jegal Family techniques?”
“What, what do you mean?”
“Training that hawk using the Jegal Family’s sorcery.”
The boy’s mouth fell open.
“How did you know that, sir?”
“Don’t answer a question with a question.”
At the irritated tone, the boy’s eyes widened in surprise.
“So you only resemble that one in appearance.”
“Sir?”
He waved his hand dismissively.
“Answer the question.”
The boy hesitated before speaking.
“I told the Jegal Family Head. I said I wanted one too. My older sister has a white cat, but I don’t have anything!”
The Jegal Family Head.
‘So that fellow was alive after all.’
When I seized the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect, I received reports several times about the Jegal Family Head’s troublesome antics. But this was the first time since awakening that I truly acknowledged his existence as a concrete entity.
I spoke as the thought occurred to me.
“Jeggal Hwa-mu—that bastard wouldn’t willingly reveal anything.”
“Actually, it’s a secret. I’m only telling you, sir.”
“A secret?”
“Yes. Even Mother and Father don’t know.”
“….”
A faint spark of interest flickered through me.
I gestured with my chin for the child to continue.
Though no one else was present, the child still lowered their voice to a whisper.
“The Jegal Family Head told me he’d reveal it later, when I grow up and marry someone from the Jegal Clan!”
“Marry?”
“Yes! The method of taming Gyeol-i is apparently a secret technique of the Jegal Clan. So he said only someone from the Jegal Clan could know it, and if I grow up and marry into the Jegal Clan, then he could tell me!”
What began as a whisper grew louder as the child’s excitement mounted.
Then, noticing my expression, the child added defensively.
“Mother and Father married against Grandfather’s wishes anyway….”
“So you think that makes it acceptable for you?”
“And my older sister has Gyeol! So I should have someone too!”
Within the child’s dark eyes, what appeared to be brilliant blue flames burned fiercely.
I spoke.
“You truly are foolish, just like that bastard.”
“Sir?”
At that moment, the white falcon that had flown away returned, circling above my head. Immediately after, someone came rushing toward this place.
“Huff, huff. …Sir.”
A woman dressed in the robes of May Palace froze upon seeing me and the child.
The woman who approached quickly moved the child behind her and fell to her knees with a thud.
“P-please spare us. This child is the grandson of the Palace Mistress. The child knows nothing, so they won’t reveal your presence here. Please, I beg for your mercy….”
It was a natural reaction for someone from May Palace who didn’t understand the situation.
The child was clearly a descendant of the Orthodox Sects and the Orthodox Martial Arts World, while I was a figure of the Demonic Cult—and my presence here was supposed to be secret. There was no telling when I might simply reach out and employ the easy method of silencing them permanently.
“Get out. Before I actually kill you.”
Crushed beneath my killing intent, the woman from May Palace trembled with a sickly pallor, yet she could not bring herself to leave.
Since absorbing the power of Cheon-ma, I had no reason to suppress my murderous intent. I had already shown mercy once with a warning.
As I reached out toward the woman from May Palace who ignored my words, the child behind her spoke.
“Sister, go.”
“B-but Hee….”
“You said before I actually kill you. If Sister doesn’t leave and I end up killing you, what then?”
Though the child must have felt the killing intent directed at the woman, their face remained composed except for a slight pallor.
At that moment, the voice of a young girl echoed from a distance.
“Namgung Hee! Where are you!”
The Unknown Boy urged them on.
“Hurry, please. I wish Sehwa could come here too?”
The Woman from Heukssi gazed at the Unknown Boy, her expression crumbling as if she might weep. She gritted her teeth, forced her trembling body upright, and departed.
He narrowed his eyes. No matter how foolish one might be, the Woman from Heukssi’s demeanor would have revealed that something was amiss. Yet the boy remained composed… that was curious.
“Do you know who I am?”
“No, but…”
The boy, who had hesitated for a moment, opened his eyes wide and stared directly at him.
“Nag-nag hates evil. You are evil, aren’t you?”
“And you know this?”
At that moment, he saw the boy’s fingertips trembling violently.
The child bit his lip and spoke.
“…If you weren’t, Nag, Nag-nag would have killed you.”
In an instant, the boy felt his chin seized. Standing on his tiptoes, he grimaced in pain.
A faint murmur reached his ears.
“There’s something useful about you after all.”
“Let, let me go.”
Then, from far below at the gates of May Palace, an aura that could not be hidden emanated. A soft voice carried on the wind.
“Where are these children playing? Mom and Dad have arrived, yet they won’t come out to see us.”
In that instant, his gaze, his thoughts, his feet—his entire being—turned instinctively toward the direction of that voice.
After killing Chong Gun-sa, he could have visited Baek Li-yeon whenever he wished. He had passed near the Baek Li Estate and even clashed with the Murim Alliance members she commanded. But he always left before Baek Li-yeon arrived after seeing the signal flare.
He had never once laid eyes on her. There was one thing that troubled him.
He murmured to himself.
“Still, it’s not the same.”
He opened his mouth and spoke to the boy.
“Tell your mother something for me.”
After delivering his message to the child, he flicked his hand away.
“Oof!”
When the crumpled boy lifted his head again, no one remained.
Upon the rocky outcropping of May Palace’s mountain, overlooking everything unilaterally. Though his form was smaller than a pinky finger, his keen perception allowed him to see everything—from her silken hair soft as thread, to the subtle movements of her pupils within eyes of gold that seemed to contain melted sunlight.
Baek Li-yeon crossed the palace gates and encountered the Female Servant of May Palace. Upon hearing the message relayed by the servant, Baek Li-yeon’s eyes widened and her feet struck the ground.
Baek Li-yeon passed through several pavilions and arrived at the Byeolchae in an instant. Her long, flowing hair settled softly.
“Hee!”
“Mom! Waaahhh!”
The child, who had been lying on the ground as if drained of all strength, stumbled into his mother’s embrace.
“Why did you take so long! Sniff sniff!”
Baek Li-yeon held the child tenderly and lifted her gaze. Her golden eyes pinpointed his location in an instant.
Yet the place where he stood offered only one-way vision. Their eyes met, and yet they did not meet.
He smiled without realizing it. His suspicion had been groundless after all. He had wondered if he might come to regret his past actions, but he found that he did not.
The woman he desired was not one who trembled helplessly, paralyzed by fear, unable to even look at him properly. It was one who could gaze directly like this, one who could leap into death itself.
“Don’t cry. Mother is here now, so everything will be alright.”
Namgung Ryu-cheong arrived at the Byeolchae, cradling a young girl in his arms. The girl, who appeared to be the same age as the Unknown Boy, possessed a delicate, beautiful face that looked lovely even when wearing a stern expression—the kind of appearance that would naturally elicit words of affection from anyone on the street. Yet to him, she too fell short of resembling Baek Li-yeon.
Having observed this much, he turned his body away.
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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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