-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: Chapter 112
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Cheonghae approached her, one step at a time.
“My heart yearns to kill you on the spot, to expose your deeds to everyone, and to utterly crush your family…”
Cheonghae clenched his fist.
“I am barely holding myself back.”
Soran’s mind raced.
‘Did Hwangryongdaeju tell everything before he died?’
But would *that* person… really have confessed everything?
The one who had wanted to make his own child the Family Head and place him at the pinnacle of Namgung?
‘No. There’s no way he would have said that much. There’d be no way to prove Soryong is Horak’s child.’
He would die before selling out his own child and lover. So…
“…Yes.”
“…”
“I… asked Jeokryongdaeju to select the people I wanted as inner hall guards.”
Soran decided to hide her relationship with Hwangryongdaeju to the very end.
Not yet, she couldn't be sure she was exposed yet…
“I must have been blinded by the money they offered. As you know, I am a merchant’s daughter, so I can’t escape my nature…”
“You intend to deny it to the very end, don’t you?”
Cheonghae’s voice, escaping through his tightly pressed lips, was so cold it felt frozen.
Soran’s arms, wrapped around her body, trembled subtly.
“From now on, I will speak plainly, so you won’t even think of playing games.”
“...?”
“If you wish to save your son, it would be best to speak honestly.”
Soran’s heart dropped with a thud. Her trembling body stiffened instead.
‘He knows everything.’
What she had tried so desperately to hide became meaningless; Namgung Cheonghae’s voice was resolute.
Thump. Thump-thump.
Though he was said to be the calmest and most rational of the three sons, the blood of Namgung ran deep.
His rage, the chilling aura his fury exuded, froze the dungeon cell and plunged it into darkness.
“Th-that…”
Soran collapsed, kneeling.
“That child… he knows nothing…. That child…”
At that moment, Cheonghae’s face was tinged with despair.
‘Your aunt is in an illicit relationship with Hwangryongdaeju. The child born from them is Soryong.’
When he first heard those words, he didn't believe them. He couldn't.
At the very least, he wished the part about Soryong was a lie.
He was a child he had raised for thirteen years, thinking of him as his own. No matter how much of a troublesome child he was, he had loved him as his son.
‘There’s no way to prove he’s a biological child. So, question her as if you know everything. There’s no more certain proof than a confession.’
Don’t ask, just press her.
And true to those words, Soran admitted everything. How futile.
“…You… you shattered me… shattered everything I had. Do you know that…?”
Yeon Soran’s infidelity and Soryong’s existence were Cheonghae’s flaws and proof of his incompetence.
Who would recognize someone who couldn’t even grasp the issues within his own family as the Family Head?
Even if it wasn’t entirely his fault.
It was the moment Cheonghae’s lifelong goal—to be recognized by the family and become the Family Head—crumbled.
“…I’m sorry. It’s all my fault. So please, don’t cast out that child. Our Soryong truly knows nothing…!”
“Are you not worried about Ung?”
Cheonghae’s gaze twisted with fury.
Ung was also his child, yet her plea, thinking only of the child she had with Hwangryongdaeju even at this moment, was sickening.
“As of today, Ung has lost his mother too. Even if you deceived me and held another in your heart! Ung is also your child…!”
“…”
“Ung, are you not worried about him at all?”
Yeon Soran’s eyes wavered. Her lips trembled.
“Ung… doesn’t he have his biological father alive…?”
“Ha…”
A sigh, mixed with utter disbelief, escaped him.
Cheonghae and Soran had not shared a passionate love. Yet, it could be said they had shared warmth.
For whatever reason they became a couple, whether it was merely a union based on conflicting interests.
He had been a decent husband, and she a decent wife. Or so he had thought.
“You continue to make me miserable, even to the end.”
“Please… save Soryong. He is also of Namgung blood…”
“Blood is blood, yes. But the problem is that he is the blood of a man who tried to sell out the family.”
He wanted to strip Soryong of his family name and cripple his cultivation, but the child was innocent.
This incident would wound the child, and that wound would torment him for life.
“…Soryong will be sent to his maternal relatives. Not telling him the truth is my final consideration for him.”
Cheonghae turned away resolutely.
He bowed his head to his father, who had waited silently at his request.
“I apologize for causing trouble. Now, I will follow Father’s will.”
“You’ve done well.”
Namgung Mucheon patted his son’s shoulder. It was a casual gesture, but it held trust and comfort for his son.
Namgung Mucheon looked at the Yeon Family bloodline who had made a fool of his son.
Unable to withstand his oppressive gaze, Yeon Soran trembled and lowered her head.
“F-Father-in-law.”
It was too late to deny it now.
However, Yeon Soran could admit her wrongdoings and still act with such confidence because she had something to rely on.
The great merchant guild that held control over the markets of Henan and Hubei: the Yeon Family of Manjeonsangdan.
‘As long as my family is involved, they won’t be able to inflict a severe punishment.’
From the beginning, this marriage was a transaction for mutual benefit.
Namgung gained Manjeonsangdan’s commercial rights and shrewdness, while Manjeonsangdan gained Namgung’s name and martial power.
Therefore, if a problem arose in this marriage, it would immediately escalate into an issue between the merchant guild and the family. Namgung would want to handle the matter as quietly as possible.
“Whatever punishment you inflict… I will accept it… gladly…”
“It will by no means be sweet.”
A palm-sized piece of paper drifted down in front of Soran. Soran, with a bewildered expression, took the paper and held it up.
“Father-in-law, this is…?”
“Read it.”
Only then did Yeon Soran confirm the words written on the paper. Her eyes widened significantly.
[Daesura Hyeolgyo]
“F-Father-in-law…”
“You seem to know. Read it.”
Yeon Soran’s hands trembled violently.
It was the name of the cult she had joined eight years ago, at Hwangryongdaeju’s behest.
Hwangryongdaeju had said back then:
That the Cult Leader’s power was strong enough to rival the strongest person in the world, and this cult would surely rule the world.
That if they remained bound by the restriction for just ten more years, it would be a great help to their plan to seize Namgung.
On that day, Yeon Soran joined the cult, and she had lived for eight years having completely forgotten that fact.
‘W-why is this…’
Why did this name suddenly appear? Why this name…
“Read it.”
There was no way she could read it.
The moment she uttered those words, her body would be torn to shreds and she would die.
“F-Father-in-law… don’t you need my family… my maternal family’s power? I-I will speak to my father and ask him to hand over more of the Henan market. If it’s my request, he surely…”
“I told you to read it.”
Her lips trembled uncontrollably. Her face was already streaked with sweat and tears.
“D-didn’t you want to expand the guild’s business? I know powerful guild masters in Jiangxi and Zhejiang. If Father-in-law takes their influence…”
“I will not say it again. Read it.”
Namgung Mucheon’s imposing aura crushed Yeon Soran.
Yeon Soran clutched her throat, gasping, desperately trying to draw breath.
Cheonghae watched her with a shocked gaze, and Namgung Mucheon took a step closer to such a Yeon Soran.
“I have already sent people to the Yeon Family. Your father is indeed a merchant to his core. He entrusted your fate to Namgung and handed over the Henan market you spoke of.”
Yeon Soran’s maternal family, Manjeonsangdan, whom she had trusted so implicitly, abandoned her the moment they heard the news.
They had calculated the cost between their daughter and Namgung.
Yeon Soran’s teeth clacked together.
“Did you think a mere Yeon Family could be a threat to Namgung?”
How foolish.
“Read it.”
Yeon Soran trembled and prostrated herself on the ground.
The dungeon floor was dirty and cold, but she had no time to worry about such things.
“P-please forgive me, Father-in-law. I-I’ll do anything…! I-I know who trapped Young Master Cheongun eight years ago. I can tell you everything. So please…!”
Yeon Soran burst into tears.
“Please… save me…! Please… *sob*…!”
Eight years ago.
The day Cheongun became an invalid, the first daughter-in-law died, and Seolhwa was lost.
Almost no one within the family truly knew what happened that day.
Though there had been an attack by masked figures, there was no clue about them, and Cheongun, who had directly witnessed them, had remained confined to his room for a long time.
“That incident…”
The dungeon cell rumbled with a thud.
“…was it something perpetrated from within the family…?”
