Chapter 3
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As I mentioned previously, my grandfather has three sons. The youngest son among them is the third young master, Kang Ryun, who is my uncle.
Currently, he is known to have been ruined by the Shimokgye Realm…
‘However…’
The truth was that he was never ruined.
Rather, he came down to the Shimokgye Realm of his own will and then went from being considered a loser to being the reigning king in one year.
The so-called ‘King of the Abandoned’.
In just five years, Kang Ryun resurrected splendidly, and became the most influential person in the running to becoming the next heir.
My first uncle and father, who were fighting each other, now had to form a coalition force to keep him in check.
“…Why are you here?”
Few people knew that Kang Ryun, known to be missing, was the same person as the object of fear known as the “Relay Master” in the Shimokgye Realm.
I was now going to have this person on my side.
I don’t like the fact that he’s been looking down at me in such an elegant way, but he was a very handsome man.
A beautiful face that seems to have been carefully drawn by gently swinging a carefully trimmed brush at once.
With his thick eyebrows raised, he stared at me with wariness in his eyes.
But I didn’t feel discouraged at all.
“Aran is greeting her uncle after a long time.”
My name is Heeran.
If you call it ‘Aran’ by adding ‘A’ instead of ‘Hee’, it then becomes a kind of nickname.
I am brazenly calling myself a nickname that he doesn’t use.
It’s like I have always been the niece that he adores.
Kang Ryun seemed to be terrified at my brazenness.
“This is rather abrupt but…what the hell is that messy look?”
I smiled, carefully sweeping down to the spot where my nanny’s blood had been stained onto my clothes.
“Ah, this just happened. I’m sorry to have let you see me in such a disgraceful manner. However, I have an urgent request that could not be delayed.”
“Request…”
Kang Ryun frowned at me.
Even so, there was barely any relationship between him and I.
Not only that, my father who is the second young master Kang, didn’t even have a connection with his mother.
The blood that connected us was much fainter, and the bond of family was nothing more than a show.
It was only natural that he would react in such a hostile manner when I suddenly came to visit out of the blue.
“What on earth is your father doing, that you would come all the way here to visit me?”
“But visiting Uncle is the reason why Aran came here.”
I smiled broadly.
“I came here because I wanted to become my uncle’s adopted daughter.”
A cold silence lingered in the air for a moment.
“…What?”
An incredulous reply greeted my statement
Perhaps he finally understood what I was trying to say, and the incredulous expression became annoyance flashed onto Kang Ryun’s face.
I did not mess up my smile, and kindly repeated my words again.
“Aran said that she wants to stop being her uncle’s niece now.”
“Are you crazy?!”
It was a much more intense rejection than I had anticipated, but it didn’t matter.
‘Because soon you won’t be able to refuse .’
“I know why my uncle came down here.”
The reason that Kang Ryun came down to Shimokgye on his own will was a secret that only Kang Ryun himself and his closest aides know.
However, after he rose to prominence in the succession battle for the Black Heavenly Gate, people then understood why.
‘Of course, I know why.’
“Uncle, aren’t you currently suffering from tae-yin-yang vein disease?”
Suddenly the air in the room, which had been quiet as if a mouse had died, dropped to below freezing.
The place where I met Kang Ryun was in a naturally formed cave.
The strange shaped rocks were arranged haphazardly, and the place where he was standing resembled a stone statue like that of an emperor.
The momentum that Kang Ryun burst out from him as he sat on the platform weighed heavily down upon the space as if one was suffocating from the pressure.
Soon after, he got up from his seat like a lion and began to descend the stairs in a leisurely manner.
At the same time, the unbearable pressure continued to weigh down upon me.
‘This…’
No, this wasn’t just about living.
The power emitted by this man made the air fluctuate wildly, and the aggression is now solely aimed at me…
‘…Heart Sword!’
Before I could even move, the hostility of the man who had achieved a level that transcended beyond mere human beings was being sharply aimed at my neck.
The man who questioned me was as cold as ice.
“This little girl is bold. To dare repeat the rumors that you heard of from somewhere to be uttered in front of me, did you expect a new bond of flesh and blood from this clan?”
I clenched my teeth to endure being crushed by his energy.
‘I can’t be thrown out without saying anything!’
Tsk.
“That’s funny. If I was stupid enough to expect that…rather than coming to you, wouldn’t I have gone to see my biological father instead?”
“…”
Kang Ryun was speechless. A subtle change appeared in his eyes from my words.
It was then that his energy gradually softened.
I hurriedly raised my strength against the pressure and then spoke quickly.
“First, listen to what I have to say. If you think that I am speaking a bunch of nonsense, you can kill me then.”
“You want me to listen to the nonsense coming from Kang Seong’s daughter?”
I got annoyed as he kept talking about my father.
“You’ll find out if I’m suspicious or not. Since I was born, I have lived only in Soswalheon with a nanny until now. I have seen my father no more than three times a year.”
At that moment, Kang Ryun suddenly frowned.
“Soswalheon?”
He stared at me as if to determine the authenticity of my words and let go of his energy with a sound.
“Okay. Let’s hear what you’re trying to say.”
Once I managed to take a breath, I answered quickly before I missed the opportunity.
“The tae-yin-yang vein disease is the type of disease in which the Chi and blood are distorted as a side effect of being born with a powerful, innate ingenuity from birth.”
If you get this disease, you could easily build up your stamina to an unmatched level.
However, it is said that each time someone uses their strength or even during practices, they’ll suffer from great pain.
In the past, Kang Ryun clenched his teeth through his pain and achieved a high level of power.
In the end, he was diagnosed with not only being unable to bear the rest of the pain of being too strong, but also dying.
“In order to cure Uncle’s illness, we will need a herb.”
It was a rare herb that was said to bloom only once in a thousand years between the glacial and nephrite plants.
Legend has it, it was discovered in this area before it became Shimokgye.
Kang Ryun snorted.
“What you mean is that you came down to the depth of the Shimokgye Realm in anticipation of a miracle that you’re not even sure exists?”
It’s a myth that can’t even be certain of its own existence.
‘That’s an interesting expression.’
I asked with an attitude to match how he asked me..
“Aren’t you in a situation where you have to search for a needle in a hay sack?”
“You’re being cheeky to your elders.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
Most people would have l shaken their heads, saying that Kang Ryun’s behavior is almost insane.
But I thought there was a human side to him.
‘You have no choice but to die anyway’
Moreover, if you come to the Shimokgye Realm, you could even find useful people from among those who have been pushed out of the bloody battle of the Black Heavenly clan and turn them into forces.
But that’s to be filed away for the future.
Anyway, in this situation, the fate of the man in front of me was still up in the air.
If he can’t find the legendary harmony plant, he will die under the stigma of being imprisoned in the Shimokgye Realm by a direct blood relative of Mazon.
Unlike that of a man who was about to face a tragic end, Kang Ryun leaned toward me.
“Then what do you expect from a man looking for a needle in a hay sack and following him all the way down here?”
“My stepmother killed my nanny.”
“What?”
Kang-ryun smiled as if he was full of energy.
“So? Are you going to get revenge?”
“Yes.”
So far, I’ve been working hard to achieve it.
I tried to keep my simple and lovely life without going against my stepmother’s wishes. Desperately, I killed my existence and tried to live as if I never existed.
But my stepmother couldn’t even stand me living comfortably. I am a threat to her regardless of how quiet I am living.
She didn’t even touch me and instead killed my own people in a horrific way. Revealing just how much she hates me, and at the same time…
‘She thought it was funny…’
Even if she kept me alive, she’s underestimating that I won’t be able to get revenge.
It can’t be a shocking thing.
So I swore upon my loved ones’ deaths.
“Of course I will get revenge. It will be the most terrifying nightmare for someone who cannot even beg to die.”
For that to happen, this person was absolutely necessary.