The Martial Clan’s Unwanted Granddaughter

Chapter 6

***

My father positioned himself to block me from Grandfather’s sight. “Father, please. Yeon has just woken up.” His voice was calm, as though he hadn’t just been yelling at me a moment before.

How insulting to my father to mistake him for that bastard! I rebuked myself for making such a foolish mistake. The man who’d beat me in that run-down house could never compare to my real father. I glanced at Father and froze in place. His eyes were bloodshot and red-rimmed.

W-was he crying? When? Why?

“You’d think I’d been bullying her.” Grandfather said, affronted. “You do recall that these are my rooms?”

Father paused in place and immediately bowed. “Forgive my impudence.”

“Forget it,” Grandfather replied, though he didn’t bother to hide the condescension on his face.

Father’s ears were turning red with embarrassment. He coughed drily and busied himself adjusting the pillow and blankets supporting my back.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Keeping in mind that Grandfather was listening, I carefully asked, “Father, where... am I?”

“We are in Whiteguard Hall,” he said. “We moved you here after you collapsed.”

Whiteguard Hall? Surprised, I looked around the room. No wonder the room looked so refined: Whiteguard Hall was the name of my grandfather’s living quarters. It was true that these were the rooms closest to the main hall where I’d fainted, but... I was never allowed in here before.

In the process of scanning the rest of the room, I locked eyes with my grandfather. Seeing me flinch under his tiger-like gaze, he raised his white eyebrows and opened his mouth as if to speak, but was interrupted by the sound of a voice beyond the door.

“Lord Euigang, the medicine is here.”

“Bring it in immediately,” Father said.

Grandfather’s lips sealed shut as his aide entered the room. He was a man about fifty years old whom I’d seen standing by my grandfather’s side in the main hall, as well as the person Father had been speaking to before I’d woken up. I believe his name was Jang Seokryang.

Father leaped up to take the tray holding the bowl of medicine from him. “I didn’t expect you to bring this in yourself.”

“I only took it from the maid a moment ago,” Jang Seokryang replied. “I needed to speak with Lord Baengri, so I thought I might as well.” He met my eyes for a brief moment and smiled benevolently at me.

Huh...? Despite spending over a decade living in the Baengri estate, I’d never once spoken with Jang Seokryang in my last life. He’d never once smiled at me when we’d crossed paths, either.

Father sat down on the bed with the tray in his hands. The bitter smell of medicine tickled my nose, and I scrunched up my face at the sight of the dark liquid filling the bowl to the brim.

“Imperial Physician Seok said it shouldn’t be too bitter,” Father said.

“Imperial Physician Seok?” I repeated. He was a famous doctor who’d once worked for the royal family, hence his title. I thought I was examined way later on in my last life...

Seeing the doubt on my face, my father explained to me gently. “Imperial Physician Seok is an extremely talented physician. Your grandfather rushed him here to treat you.”

“Grandfather did that?”

“That’s right. Physician Seok finished your examination while you were unconscious. He’ll be staying for three days, and your grandfather has permitted you to remain in Whiteguard Hall to be treated until he leaves.”

I stared at Grandfather in wonder. He had personally called for Imperial Physician Seok? Not only that, but he had also allowed me to stay in his quarters. No other relative had ever been permitted to stay in Grandfather’s living space, not even his eldest son Euimook or his first grandson Myung.

I quickly bowed my head in acknowledgment. “Thank you, Grandfather.”

Grandfather scoffed and clicked his tongue. “No need for gratitude. If you’re sick, you ought to speak up about it instead of suffering in silence like a fool. No one here is a mind reader.”

“I’m sure she understands now,” my father interjected. Grandfather glanced at his pleading face for a moment then turned sharply away, his robes flaring dramatically with his movements.

“Keep an eye on the situation. I’d hate to see the great Baengri clan have to dispose of a body,” he said, leaving the room with Jang Seokryang. I let out a sigh of relief.

Father stirred the medicine with slow strokes to let it cool. He smiled, but it was tinged with unhappiness. “He might talk like that, but he’s done a lot for you.”

I nodded and grabbed onto the edge of my father’s robe. “Father, does that mean you’re staying in Whiteguard Hall as well?”

“That’s right. I just can’t trust anyone else to care for you.”

I fought the urge to clap with joy. Everything was going according to plan. I had managed to prevent Grandfather and Father’s relationship from turning sour. I could tell, because if Grandfather had been angry with my father, he would have never permitted him to stay here.

Father handed me the bowl of medicine, and I downed it with a beaming smile.

“Blurgh.”

“Take it slow. Don’t throw up!”

* * *

My stomach felt bloated from all the medicine, and I couldn’t lie down for fear of bringing it back up. Father propped me up with a comfortable pillow placed behind my back.

“Yeon,” Father said somberly, looking down at my tiny hands clasped in his. He raised his head to meet my eyes. “Why have you been hiding it from me all this time?”

“What do you mean?”

“That your handmaid and the other servants were neglecting their duties whenever I was away.”

He had naturally heard the conversation outside the main hall along with everyone else. I saw the pain in his eyes and hurried to reassure him. “They were all right when you were around,” I said.

“I know. They were looking down on you,” he said. “You collapsed in front of others today, but if you’d been alone, then I...” Father’s face fell as he spoke, as if the thought was too much to bear.

Since reaching adulthood, Father had never spent more than two consecutive weeks in the Baengri clan compound. But after my qi deviation he’d stayed by my side for a month straight, as if in repentance for his constant absence. And then he’d left me just once, for just a few short hours to beg my grandfather for the pill, only for such a thing to happen.

Unable to restrain his growing fury, Father leapt up from his seat. “That’s it. I’m going to speak with Mother about this immediately.”

I grabbed my father’s robe again. “Father, no, you can’t.”

Father’s mother, one of Grandfather’s concubines, had passed away a long time ago. The “Mother” he was referring to was Son Danhu, the woman Grandfather had married after the death of his first wife. This matriarch of the Baengri clan was known as the Grand Madam or the Esteemed Lady. She had given birth to four children, but two had died of disease at a young age, leaving only Uncle Euimook and Aunt Euiran.

The important thing to remember was that Grandmother hated my father. If my father went to Grandmother to express his dissatisfaction about the way she runs the household... There’s no way that conversation will end well. He’d only be torn a new one for being an undutiful child who dares to meddle in his mother’s duties.

Father gently removed my hand from his robe. “Mother should know about this. If this incident were to fall on outside ears, what would they say about her?”

Ah! Now that would be great. There’s nothing I could want more than this incident falling on every ear outside. But unlike me, Father seemed genuinely concerned for my grandmother’s reputation. Could it be that he didn’t realize that she hated him?

No, of course not. But that didn’t change anything. Because that’s the right thing to do.

I smiled bitterly. “It’s no use.”

“What do you mean?”

“Father, would the problem be solved if Grandmother scolds the servants?”

“Of cour—”

I shook my head firmly. “Sure, if she punishes them, things might seem to improve.”

“Seem...?”

“Yes, it would only seem that way.” Would the servants really acknowledge that they were in the wrong?” I asked.

“Shouldn’t we do our best to... make them do that?” Father hesitated but pushed on, unwilling to give up.

I threw another question at him. “Would punishing the servants within our quarters be the end of it? What about the others?”

Could the others not have realized that my servants were neglecting me? I’d passed by more than a few servants on my way to the main hall from our living quarters. But although I was sweating and shaking, not one helped me or asked me what was wrong, only whispered about me with the others.

They don’t want to involve themselves with me. Not with the granddaughter scorned by the head of the family.

Father grew pale as he realized what I was implying.

“Nothing will change unless Grandfather accepts me,” I said.

Father’s face crumpled. After a long silence, he finally asked quietly, “Do you resent your grandfather?”

“No.”

“You don’t have to lie to me.”

“I’m telling the truth.”

Father still didn’t seem to believe me.

I fidgeted my fingers while I contemplated how I could make Father understand what I was trying to say.

“I’m... really all right. I understand why Grandfather acts the way he does.”

“You do?” Father asked.

“He’s only angry with me because he loves you so much.”

Father looked at me expectantly, waiting for an explanation.

I slowly continued, “I mean... wouldn’t it be stranger if he wasn’t angry about my existence?”

“Stranger? In what way?” Father asked.

How could I explain this to him from a child’s perspective? Ah, forget it.

“If Grandfather had said, ‘What’s wrong with having a child out of wedlock? A new granddaughter? That’s fantastic,’ wouldn’t that have been stranger?”

Father looked at me, dumbfounded. “You— You’re only six years old! How can you say such things?!”

Oops, was that a bit too much for my age? I jumped into Father’s arms to distract him. Taking advantage of his surprise, I said, “Because Grandfather is Father’s father.”

“What?”

“I’m happy to have you as my father, but I’d be sad if you lost yours because of me.” Is this more childlike?

Father gently patted my back without saying another word. I couldn’t see his face, so I had no idea what he was thinking, or if my words had reached him.

The novel had never discussed how Grandfather felt about Father. All I knew was that, just like my relationship with Father, his relationship with his own had only worsened over time. But I would never forget the sight of Grandfather’s bloodshot eyes at Father’s funeral.

That alone was more than enough to let me sympathize with my Grandfather.