The Youngest Daughter of the Hebei Peng Clan Is a Truly a Very Famous Little Heavenly Demon - Chapter 9
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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9.
‘Good heavens.’
After hearing the whole story, I was struck with bewilderment.
So the person before me is apparently ‘Pengdori’s’ father.
‘He wasn’t the grandfather?’
Honestly, my misunderstanding was unavoidable.
Unlike Ju Sohui who looked to be in her very early twenties, the man looked like an ordinary man in his forties.
Moreover, the two of them didn’t use any particular titles in front of me.
It’s common for martial arts masters to live long lives. So seeing two people with such an apparent age gap.
‘Ah. This person must be around my grandfather’s age!’
That’s what I thought.
And for good reason, since he said father!
Contextually, it would have been much more natural to think he was Ju Sohui’s father!
But as it turned out, father was simply still at the Transformation stage, so he aged honestly without any rejuvenation.
I looked back and forth between my biological mother and father in confusion.
‘No matter how I look at it, this seems like a criminal pairing.’
The shocking truth was that Ju Sohui was actually a whole zodiac cycle older.
“Madam, you’ve worked hard.”
“You’re the one who suffered mentally, Baek. Now that Doa has returned, I plan to refrain from going out for a while.”
Regardless of appearances, the two had a good relationship.
Peng Baek also, though not as much as Ju Sohui, showed extreme paternal love toward his daughter…
Right. What was there to hide.
“Is there anything you need?”
“Meeting our baby again like this feels like a miracle. It’s all thanks to the Emperor’s great virtue.”
“Baby, um… Won’t you give father a hug?”
This is fucking burdensome.
‘Ugh. Good grief.’
Ju Sohui at least looks like a twenty-year-old beauty on the outside, but this one is just an ajusshi.
Of course, with his distinct features and strong impression, I get the feeling he must have been quite handsome in his prime. He must have been good-looking to have won over that Ju Sohui.
But that’s the past.
His current face value is that of a man in his forties, you know?
Would family affection suddenly spring up just because some ajusshi I don’t know starts going ‘my precious daughter’? Huh?
If some unknown ajumma did that, I’d scream and run away!
Keuaaak.
‘I never had a dad to begin with!’
For me, who was an only child from a single-mother household, this father who suddenly popped up was high difficulty.
So even knowing I was being unfilial, I subtly avoided father, which seemed to cause some misunderstanding.
After spending several days at the Peng Family, Ju Sohui came to visit my room.
“Baby, are you all ready for bed?”
“Y… Yes. Mother.”
Ju Sohui, who had entered with a serious face, smiled gently.
It was an expression consistently kind and dripping with tender affection. As I slowly turned my head away from that heavy love, Ju Sohui asked in a pitying tone.
“I have something I want to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Do you find it difficult to face grown men?”
“…Pardon?”
Huh.
My expression went blank at the completely unexpected statement.
But seeing my reaction, Ju Sohui embraced me as if thinking ‘I knew it,’ her expression darkening as a bonus.
“If you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to. I just… as a mother, want you to live happily. Your father feels the same way.”
“Um.”
“Yes. I won’t ask anymore.”
No, what exactly are you talking about.
While I was flustered, Ju Sohui stood up with a troubled expression, as if she wouldn’t touch on my wounds anymore.
“Rest well.”
“Mother. I think there’s some misunderstanding.”
“What misunderstanding?”
“I…”
My words, which I was trying to quickly clarify, got stuck.
How should I put this.
A middle-aged ajusshi sending affectionate glances gives me physiological chills?
‘That’s too unfilial! Besides, normally at my age, having a father in his forties or fifties would be normal…!’
Even if I made excuses about not having experienced harsh things, it was obvious they wouldn’t believe me.
There were countless scar stickers on this body that I couldn’t even count.
Honestly, if someone else had a body like this, I would have pitied them quite a bit too.
I just did character customization, but now I’m pitiful. Damn it!
“Don’t worry.”
Ju Sohui looked at me struggling and smiled kindly as if she understood everything.
“No matter what kind of child you are, the fact that you’re my daughter won’t change. Even if you did very bad things.”
Hiccup.
Having committed countless bad deeds in the game (eating hearts, massacring villages, creating blood ghouls, etc.), I felt guilty and shut my mouth.
Ju Sohui, unaware of my inner thoughts, stroked my cheek once and went outside.
Even dismissing the maid, I was left alone and lay on the floor groaning.
Ah. This is uncomfortable. I want to leave.
Nine days since returning home (not really).
Running away is already urgent.
* * *
“How was the young miss’s reaction?”
“It was as you said.”
Ju Sohui, having visited Dori, pressed her forehead while looking at the Peng Family’s doctor.
“When I asked if she feared men, she looked stunned as if struck. While an ordinary woman might be one thing, there’s no particular need for that child, who’s at the late Peak stage, to fear ordinary men…”
“If childhood memories remained as trauma, it would be possible.”
“You mean memories.”
“Looking at the young miss’s body, there are countless overlapping scars. These are traces from repeatedly cutting the back and abdomen. …Those aren’t battle scars.”
Peng Baek, who had been listening to the conversation between the doctor and his wife, clenched his fists tightly.
‘Those Blood Sect bastards who wouldn’t be satisfying even if chewed up, I will never forgive them.’
Even as a child, she was a cute kid who would toddle after her father.
But his returned daughter’s body was covered in wounds. Moreover, she couldn’t remember anything from the past, so even though she’d come to her own home, she was clearly uncomfortable and awkward.
From a parent’s perspective, nothing could be more heartbreaking.
The pain of losing a child is commonly called the sorrow of severed bowels , describing grief like having one’s intestines torn.
Such pain remains as wounds that don’t easily fade no matter how much time passes.
Separate from the joy of getting their child back… the regret and sadness of ‘what if that hadn’t happened’ would remain forever.
For a long time, until the wounds dulled by time became scars.
“What should I do?”
Peng Baek asked the family doctor with an anguished heart.
She was a female physician brought in at Ju Sohui’s strong insistence. Thanks to that, she who could examine Dori’s various parts also felt as heavy-hearted as the Peng couple.
The Peng Family, who had fed and educated her when she was wandering the streets, were great benefactors.
She already knew well that these benefactors had suffered for a long time after losing their child.
So she had been very happy to learn that the Peng Family’s precious daughter had returned and she could examine her.
‘How could anyone treat a young child like that.’
They were very old scars.
The relatively recent sword wounds were common battle scars, but whip marks carved over ten years ago couldn’t have been from fighting.
Some were even self-inflicted wounds.
Considering the young lady’s age, a child not even ten years old had tried to kill herself.
Though she had revealed everything about her condition, she couldn’t bring herself to reveal this one thing and hid it. Sharp-witted Ju Sohui had probably already noticed though.
“We have no choice but to approach slowly so as not to stimulate the young lady’s bad memories. She won’t be used to it, so keep the servants away for now.”
“Can’t she recover her memories from before age five?”
“It will probably be difficult. Didn’t you also forget everything about what happened in your early childhood, Patriarch?”
The doctor shook his head.
“Memories from early childhood naturally fade away. The young lady especially went through repeated traumatic experiences after that, so recovering those memories would be nearly impossible.”
“I see.”
Peng hung his head with a sorrowful expression.
Ju Sohui quietly patted her husband’s hand.
“Baek, don’t be too heartbroken. What lies ahead is more important than what’s past. Moreover, the life of a martial artist is very long.”
“…Yes, my lady.”
A tender atmosphere flowed between the two. The doctor, watching the harmonious couple as usual, carefully made a suggestion.
“Um, and I heard the young lady wandered the roads for a long time. So being confined only inside the house probably isn’t good for her.”
“Then what should we do?”
“Since she’s a martial artist, even simple physical movement would help shake off her mental illness. When her condition improves, she could even go on trips.”
Ju Sohui fell into thought.
This was her precious daughter who had returned home after a whole ten years.
If she could follow her heart, she’d want to keep her in her arms for ten years to match her suffering, no, twenty years – double that.
“Um, may I possibly go outside?”
But that wouldn’t work.
Ju Sohui recalled her daughter who had been reading her mood. It was obvious she found life inside the house stifling, and it pained her to see her daughter reading the mood of such an incompetent mother.
‘But not right now.’
Setting aside her physical condition, in Ju Sohui’s eyes as a Hyeongyeong master, her daughter who had reached the peak level was too… fragile.
What if she went somewhere and encountered other transcendent or Hwagyeong masters and met with trouble? To avoid losing her again, minimum safety measures were necessary.
After a moment of thought, Ju Sohui made her decision.
* * *
“What?”
I asked back in disbelief.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Memorize all of these secret manuals.”
Ju Sohui, carrying a mountain of books, declared in a serious tone.
“Let’s aim for you to become transcendent within a month.”
“?”
Did I mishear something?
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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