Chapter 22
"What are you doing?"
Peng Mugang spoke with a stern face as Yeo Un-hwi suddenly bowed his head.
Yeo Un-hwi raised his head and replied.
"I've always wanted to sincerely apologize like this if I ever had the chance to meet you."
"Does that mean you regret your past choice?"
"No, that's not it."
"Hm?"
Peng Mugang's eyebrow twitched and his demeanor changed at this unexpected answer.
It was a subtle shift, but one that would have made an ordinary person pale.
However, Yeo Un-hwi, the scholar who supposedly knew nothing of martial arts, strangely seemed unfazed as he continued speaking.
"I don't regret my choice that day. Then and now, my wife is my reason for living. And now we have our daughter Yul too. So even if I went back to that day, I would make the same choice. I would end up leaving this place to protect my love for my wife."
"So then. What do you mean by apologizing?"
"That was about causing you both distress due to our actions, regardless of how things turned out."
Peng Mugang's eyes narrowed as he looked at Yeo Un-hwi.
Something... felt quite different from the Yeo Un-hwi he remembered.
The man he saw that day... had been unable to even raise his head, let alone speak in his presence.
"...You seem to have changed."
"Do I?"
Yeo Un-hwi smiled slightly.
"I'm willing to do anything to protect my family. That's what being a family head means, I've learned."
"I imagine you're wondering why we've returned."
Indeed. Peng Mugang had not yet heard their reason for coming back.
It didn't seem to be out of regret for the past... neither his daughter nor this man gave that impression.
"To be frank, what we want is neither money nor honor. We simply ask that you please accept us to live within the Peng Family."
"What brazen words."
"Yes, I know it must sound that way. But I no longer want my wife to live estranged from her family, enduring pain. And I want Yul to know she has other family too."
"And the one who caused all this has the nerve to say..."
"But I'm sincere. I want to give my wife back her family, even now. Please accept us, Father-in-law."
Yeo Un-hwi looked at Peng Mugang with an utterly serious expression.
Peng Mugang silently stared back at Yeo Un-hwi.
Setting aside their reason for returning, he hadn't expected that timid scholar to act like this.
Above all, Yeo Un-hwi's eyes. Those eyes...
But even so, to Peng Mugang, Yeo Un-hwi was still the thief who had run off with his daughter in the night.
"Hmm..."
Peng Mugang narrowed his eyes as he looked down at Yeo Un-hwi, who had bowed his head.
However, contrary to his resentful feelings, his deliberation didn't last long.
"Very well. I'll allow it. I'll permit you to live here."
"Thank you!"
Yeo Un-hwi immediately raised his head, answering with a bright expression.
"But while I may accept Seo-yeon and my granddaughter, you'd best be prepared. Even if that soft-hearted Seo-jin is fine with it, this Hebei Peng Family won't be easy for a weak scholar like you to adapt to."
"I came prepared."
"Hmph, you speak well. Of course, I have no intention of lending you any support, so you'd best abandon any such expectations."
"Yes. I'll gladly accept that as well."
Watching Yeo Un-hwi answer so spiritedly, Peng Mugang waved his hand dismissively.
"That's enough. You may go now."
Yeo Un-hwi bowed respectfully to Peng Mugang before slowly leaving the Family Head's room.
Watching his retreating figure, Peng Mugang snorted.
There was no way a scholar who knew nothing of martial arts could overcome the Hebei Peng Family's hostility.
He'd surely be crying in no time, within days.
'But what is he thinking?'
For someone claiming to willingly endure everything for his family, that man's eyes seemed far too confident.
Peng Mugang found that point extremely puzzling.
What on earth was he relying on?
Peng Mugang's gaze turned towards the door Yeo Un-hwi had left through.
He had definitely changed somehow.
After that day, Yul's family began staying at the Peng Family.
Though Paeng Seo-yeon's old room was still there, Yul's family was given lodging in the annex.
Paeng Seo-yeon was no longer alone, after all.
Her old room was too small for her husband and daughter to stay together.
So Dan Hee-young quickly arranged for them to stay in the annex.
No matter how long Paeng Seo-yeon had been away from the family, returning after years, the fact that she was the eldest daughter of the Hebei Peng Family remained unchanged.
Moreover, Family Head Peng Mugang had not rejected her and had ultimately accepted her return. Everyone had seen how her mother Dan Hee-young and Great Young Master Peng Seo-jin were overjoyed at her return, so no one dared treat her carelessly.
And then there was Paeng Seo-yeon's daughter, Yeo So-yul.
That small, adorable child only needed a week to steal the hearts of the Peng Family members.
From the family elders to the warriors and servants, everyone loved Yul.
It seemed she might have been born with a talent for being loved by people.
And so, Yul's family was naturally and smoothly being accepted into the Peng Family.
Except for one person - Yeo Un-hwi.
"That's him, right? The one who ran off with Young Lady Seo-yeon in the night."
Warriors whispered behind Yeo Un-hwi's back as he passed by.
Their eyes were not at all friendly.
If anything, they were hostile.
"That's right. He's quite handsome, living up to his face value."
"But what good is being handsome? I hear he doesn't know a thing about martial arts, just a scholar."
"What? He doesn't know any martial arts at all? Good heavens."
"I wonder what he was thinking, coming back here with Seo-yeon. The nerve of him."
"I know, right?"
"From the looks of it, he must be after money. What else could it be?"
"Or maybe he plans to leech off Seo-yeon and live in luxury here for the rest of his life."
"Either way, it's truly the worst, isn't it?"
"Bah, surely our Family Head won't stand for this."
"Hush, don't you know? Even the Son of Heaven can't control his children's hearts, so how much more difficult must it be for the Family Head? Right?"
"Heh. How did our Peng Family end up with such a good-for-nothing? Tsk tsk."
The warriors clicked their tongues in unison.
Yeo Un-hwi was the husband of Paeng Seo-yeon, the eldest daughter of the Hebei Peng Family.
Normally, even if speaking behind his back, they should have used respectful language towards Yeo Un-hwi.
But in their eyes and hearts, Yeo Un-hwi was not their superior, but a parasite who had come to suck the lifeblood of the Hebei Peng Family.
The atmosphere was unanimously disapproving of Yeo Un-hwi.
But what could he do?
Yeo Un-hwi had resolved to willingly endure all of this, so he paid no mind to such talk even when he heard it.
The most important thing to him was that his family was safe.
That alone was enough.
But seeing this attitude, people gossiped even more, calling him shameless and lacking any sense of embarrassment.
"Sigh..."
Paeng Seo-yeon was lost in worried thoughts as she paused while drinking tea.
Yul was sound asleep on the small bed beside her.
"...You look very concerned."
Dan Hee-young, who was drinking tea with her, said as she looked at her daughter.
Paeng Seo-yeon looked slightly startled before shaking her head.
"What? Oh, no, it's nothing."
"Nothing? Do you think I don't know you? It's because of your husband, isn't it?"
Dan Hee-young had already started calling Yeo Un-hwi "son-in-law."
She had come to like how attentive and caring Yeo Un-hwi was towards her daughter.
There was certainly a time when he had been the most resented man in the world to her.
But given how things had turned out, Dan Hee-young had decided to accept Yeo Un-hwi as her son-in-law for the sake of her daughter's happiness.
Although he didn't know martial arts, that wasn't very important to Dan Hee-young.
Paeng Seo-yeon nodded at her mother's words that had hit the nail on the head.
She too had heard how people viewed Yeo Un-hwi and what they whispered about him.
Though she tried hard to ignore it, the mockery and slander towards her husband was getting worse by the day, making it increasingly difficult for her.
But there was nothing she could do about it right away.
That fact left Paeng Seo-yeon feeling incredibly frustrated and upset.
"I understand how you feel, but that's something your husband has to deal with on his own."
"Of course, if your father stepped in, he could do something about it for a short while. But what about after that? Even that has its limits. In the end, it's something your husband has to overcome himself."
Moreover, her father Peng Mugang had made it clear from the start that he would never intervene on Yeo Un-hwi's behalf.
So even that wasn't a possibility at all.
"Yes, Mother. I know."
Seeing her daughter's face darken despite her answer, Dan Hee-young felt uneasy as well.
How could she not understand her daughter's feelings?
But she had no choice but to tell her the truth.
Of course, Dan Hee-young didn't know how Yeo Un-hwi could gain the acceptance of the family members and be truly welcomed as one of them.
The only thing certain was that it would be incredibly difficult.
This was a martial family that valued only martial arts within the framework of the Orthodox Faction's chivalry.
In a martial family, one's strength in martial arts alone determined how highly or lowly they were regarded.
Moreover, the Hebei Peng Family was one of the most prestigious among such martial families, counted as one of the Five Great Families of the martial world.
Indeed, no one expected that he, a mere scholar, could possibly adapt to this Hebei Peng Family.
No one except Yeo Un-hwi himself.