The Ignored Granddaughter of a Murim Family - Chapter 68

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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 68
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A week flew by like an arrow. My wounds healed smoothly, and everything proceeded as planned—I would enter Changung Pavilion on schedule. There wasn’t much I needed to prepare, save for one thing: an anxiety I couldn’t quite shake.
“Don’t forget the assignments I gave you!”
“Okay.”
“Try to stay in the Residence Quarter as much as you can. I’ve already asked the Female Servant to look after you properly.”
“Okay.”
“Just ‘okay’? Don’t you have anything else to say?”
“Okay. Um… well…”
Yalyu lowered his gaze, lost in thought.
I couldn’t help but smile softly.
Now that I thought about it, Yalyu and I had spent quite a long time together.
I suddenly recalled our first meeting—a child so gaunt he looked like a ghost, his eyes devoid of any spark of life, rolling about aimlessly.
Compared to then, the Yalyu before me now was utterly transformed. His once-pallid cheeks had filled out with a porcelain-like luminescence, and his distinctly dark hair, crimson lips, and the small beauty mark beneath the slight upturn of his eyes created an enigmatic aura.
He looked like a beautiful doll. Perhaps his lack of expressive changes made it feel even more pronounced.
I reached out toward Yalyu. My palm, cradling his cheek, felt the warmth radiating from his skin.
“Why?”
“It’s fascinating.”
“What is?”
“You’re… well, you’re really warm, aren’t you?”
“You’re cold.”
“Ah, is that so?”
If I felt warm to him, then he must feel cool to me.
It was such a basic fact, yet the warmth kept drawing my hand back.
“I’m sorry.”
As I tried to pull my hand away, Yalyu hastily caught it.
“It’s fine. It feels refreshing. I like it.”
“Really?”
I traced the beauty mark beneath his eye with my index finger.
“Are you truly certain?”
“I’m truly certain.”
The day the stitches were removed, I’d told Yalyu we’d be apart for about two weeks for my hand treatment, and my worry had been considerable.
But surprisingly, he accepted it readily.
“It’s because of your hand treatment, right? There’s no helping it.”
As he spoke, Yalyu leaned his cheek against my hand as if nuzzling it.
“Don’t worry. I’ll wait patiently.”
“…You’re like a puppy.”
“Do you like puppies?”
“I do. They’re adorable.”
Yalyu’s eyes curved with a smile, pleased by my words.
* * *
As I exited the Residence Quarter, Shim Bu-gwan was waiting. The path to Changung Pavilion was quite long. Along the way, I exchanged pleasant conversation with Shim Bu-gwan about recent events.
“Thanks to the location you indicated, Miss Baek, we were able to clear away the collapsed rocks and recover Jo Chung’s remains. His family wishes to express their gratitude. We are truly grateful.”
Before leaving Palgwae Village, I had roughly pointed out where the Royal Tomb had collapsed and fallen.
It seemed they had gone ahead and cleared the rocks from that area.
“Then you weren’t able to open the entrance to Man Shin-ui’s Meditation Chamber?”
“That’s correct. Our abilities were insufficient.”
“Wow, it must be incredibly difficult.”
Even the Namgung Clan, with their considerable knowledge of mystical formations, had failed to open it.
‘If I hadn’t possessed the ability Man Shin-ui granted me….’
I shuddered at the chilling thought.
After traversing the winding, densely packed Bamboo Forest for some time, a grand Pavilion came into view. Though this was my second visit to the Namgung Clan, I had no idea such a forest existed here.
“That is Changung Pavilion.”
At the Pavilion Shim Bu-gwan indicated, Namgung Wan and So Bu-in were waiting outside.
So Bu-in hurried toward me.
“Was the journey difficult? I should have gone with you instead of just sending Shim Bu-gwan.”
After my injury, So Bu-in had visited my Residence Quarter to apologize. Since then, she had been sending nourishing foods daily—so much that I could barely finish them alone.
‘I shared everything with Yalyu.’
The memory of those plump, rosy cheeks I had touched before coming here filled me with satisfaction. And as if that weren’t enough, she had sent mountains of precious gifts.
I smiled brightly in response.
“From the Bamboo Forest onward, Shim Bu-gwan carried me, so it wasn’t difficult at all!”
Something seemed to occur to So Bu-in, who asked carefully.
“Oh! Now that I think about it… I heard that Namgung Ryu-cheong carried you. Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“My goodness.”
So Bu-in covered her mouth with her hand, eyes widening.
“Why do you ask?”
“Oh, it’s nothing….”
“Didn’t I tell you? Only someone like Baek Li-yeon could rein in that boy Namgung Ryu-cheong.”
So Bu-in cast a sidelong glance at Namgung Wan.
Certainly, when Baek Li-yeon first arrived at the Namgung Clan, Namgung Wan had instructed that she not become entangled with Namgung Ryu-cheong. Yet now his words had suddenly changed.
However, with her recent worries about her son’s behavior dissipated and the world seeming brighter, So Bu-in decided not to concern herself with such trivial matters.
“Baek Li-yeon, whether it’s your influence or not, these days Namgung Ryu-cheong gets along well with Seo Ha-ryeong.”
“Gets along well?”
My eyes widened in surprise.
‘This is the first I’m hearing of it.’
So Bu-in gently continued while stroking my head.
“Indeed. Seo Ha-ryeong hasn’t missed a single day of training and is doing wonderfully. This is the first time that boy has spent so much time with someone his own age.”
“That’s… wonderful.”
Yet I distinctly remembered hearing Seo Ha-ryeong swinging a wooden sword at a training dummy, grinding her teeth and muttering, ‘That wretched Namgung Ryu-cheong—one day I’ll break that arrogant nose of his.’
Well, even rivals can be friends.
That’s when Namgung Wan spoke.
“Enough of this. Let her go now. How much longer do you intend to keep her?”
So Bu-in sighed, gripping my uninjured hand tightly.
“You’re being too much, sir. Even if it does help with treatment, how could you possibly think of leaving such a young child alone in Changung Pavilion?”
“Ryu-cheong went in at seven years old and stayed for a whole year! And you’re fussing over just two weeks?”
“How can you compare Ryu-cheong and Yeon? Don’t you feel sorry for Yeon having to stay alone?”
“It’s already decided.”
So Bu-in held my hand and whispered softly.
“Once you go in, you cannot come out for two weeks. You don’t have to force yourself to go.”
But even with her lowered voice, Namgung Wan’s keen hearing caught every word.
“Who said anything about forcing her? I asked Yeon properly!”
I smiled and replied.
“You’re right, sir. I said I would go.”
So Bu-in’s beautiful eyebrows drooped as she spoke in a melancholic tone.
“Well, if that’s truly the case, I’m relieved… but…”
She seemed worried that I had agreed out of fear from Namgung Wan’s intimidation. In my past life, I had no memory of my mother from the beginning, and in this life, I had never seen her either. So whenever I saw the kind So Bu-in, my feelings were complicated.
‘Perhaps I’m envious.’
Suddenly, I found myself missing Father.
So Bu-in continued.
“I only learned this morning that you’d be entering Changung Pavilion. How could you not tell me such a thing…! Sigh, the clothes I had tailored at Bang-ui-gak will arrive tomorrow, but I won’t be able to see you wear them until after two weeks.”
My eyes widened.
“More clothes?”
“Of course. The ones I had made before were autumn clothes, and these are winter clothes. I still need to have spring clothes made as well.”
“…”
“Clothes aren’t going to run away on legs. What does it matter when you wear them?”
As So Bu-in, who had been adjusting my garments, rose to face Namgung Wan, he suddenly clamped his mouth shut. Then So Bu-in, turning back to me with a gentle smile once more, gestured toward the Female Servant.
“I’ve packed a few things here to make your stay more comfortable. If only you’d told me a few days earlier, I could have prepared much more…”
So Bu-in’s Female Servant was holding a bundle as large as my torso. I wondered what on earth it could contain…
But could I even carry that?
Namgung Wan looked at it with exasperation and spoke.
“Why are you sending so much? Everything she needs is already provided inside.”
“I’ve simply packed a few things to help her stay comfortably.”
“A few…?”
Before So Bu-in could retort, Shim Bu-gwan quickly interjected.
“Only So Bu-in could be so thoughtful! I’m truly impressed by your consideration, madam. But madam, do you think young Miss Yeon can carry this?”
“But these are truly only the essentials… Yeon, will it be too heavy for you?”
After several rounds of negotiation, we reduced the luggage by about thirty percent until it became something I could carry.
‘Sigh, I haven’t even entered Changung Pavilion yet, and I’m already exhausted.’
I truly turned back one last time, just before entering.
‘He’s not coming.’
Namgung Ryu-cheong never showed up after all.
‘I thought I wouldn’t see him for a fortnight, so I figured his face wouldn’t appear.’
I cast aside my lingering regrets and stepped into Changung Pavilion. The interior was shrouded in darkness as if it were the dead of night. Light filtered through the open doorway, but it was woefully insufficient to illuminate the space completely engulfed in shadow.
‘What on earth does this place look like?’
As the door closed, the incoming light gradually diminished until it vanished completely with a resounding thud. And I gasped, my mouth falling open in astonishment.
“What… what is this?”
In a space where mere moments ago I couldn’t see even an inch ahead, a vast meadow stretched out before me.

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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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