‘Father wouldn’t be interested in that lowly person,’

What about Nam Gung Lin’s rumors? Nam Gung Lin was neglecting her martial arts training.

What Nam Gung Jin Cheon hated most was someone with no talent who also made no effort.

Even if she had no talent, if she had at least made an effort, Nam Gung Jin Cheon would have paid attention to her.

‘It’s already a meaningless assumption.’

Nam Gung Lin had carefully crafted her lazy image.

Even if she was young, the martial arts world wouldn’t go easy on her.

Nam Gung Hyun Jong’s eyes turned red.

He knew Nam Gung Jin Cheon well.

His cold-hearted father would surely not pay any attention to the talentless and worthless Nam Gung Lin.

‘He’ll ignore her.’

Nam Gung Lin’s matter was trivial.

She couldn’t incur his father’s hatred over such a small thing.

Perhaps it would be better to use this opportunity to remove Nam Gung Lin completely from his father’s sight.

Nam Gung Hyun Jong opened his mouth.

“I should go to Father.”

[This is the timeline separator]

It’s warm.

I tightly hugged the object in my arms. It was a warmth I hadn’t felt in a long time.

‘It must be the cold winter.’

But I no longer felt the frosty chill. I wriggled and gripped it even tighter.

[Hey you! Loosen your grip.]

I blinked my eyes.

It was because of the sudden voice ringing in my ears.

‘What?’

[I said let go!]

I slowly opened my eyes.

The first thing I felt was the soft touch of the blanket.

‘Soft?’

I blinked blankly.

The blanket in my room was terribly rough. It was strange to feel such a soft touch.

[To think this dimwit is my chosen descendant. Looking like a dumpling…]

“Dumpling?”

Dumpling, really. Objectively speaking, Nam Gung Lin was very cute.

I sometimes wore my hair in buns, but that was just my hairstyle, I didn’t resemble a dumpling.

[Hmph, no matter how much you deny it, you’re just a cute dumpling. Perhaps a bit too cute.]

I didn’t know how to take this comment that could be an insult or a compliment.

More importantly, where was this voice coming from?

My arms tensed up involuntarily.

Then I heard another cry in my ear.

[Didn’t I tell you to loosen your grip!]

I looked at the dagger in my arms.

‘No way…’

A sword that talks?

[That’s right! I’m the sword you’re holding.]

Even if I’ve transmigrated into a novel, is this possible? A sword that talks.

‘There was no such setting when Ji Cheon Wu had the sword.’

I stared curiously at the sword in my hand. It was truly an old dagger.

A rusty dagger that the Nam Gung family would throw away without a second thought.

There was a reason Ji Cheon Wu treated it like an antique.

The dagger had no use other than emitting a warm energy.

That dagger was now talking to me.

[A child of Nam Gung… so small and weak-looking?]

‘Who are you, dagger mister?’

[W-what? Mister?]

I looked down at the sword in my hand with a strange expression.

The dagger seemed to tremble as if angry.

In the Heavenly Demon Sovereign, there were often descriptions of the dagger trembling. Was it always angry at those times?

Well, Ji Cheon Wu habitually called the dagger a useless object, so it had reason to be angry.

[Dagger mister, do you not know who I am?!]

‘Who are you then?’

[I’ll have you know… Ah forget it. What am I doing with this child?]

I heard the dagger mister click his tongue.

[I can’t say in detail, but in the past, I was a great warrior! Called the best in the world.]

The dagger mister’s claim of being a great warrior didn’t seem very credible to me.

But I nodded anyway.

Only then did the dagger mister seem to calm down.

[By the way, kid, why did you collapse?]

‘I was hungry and had a fever. I used to collapse often.’

[What? Why would a child of Nam Gung collapse from hunger? And they left you alone with a fever?]

The dagger mister’s voice was full of bewilderment.

It was incomprehensible for other Nam Gung children, but not for me.

[And why is your body in such terrible condition! Haven’t you learned martial arts?]

‘No one taught me martial arts. After my father passed away, my uncle took charge of me, but he said I had no talent and shouldn’t learn swordsmanship.’

[What? He said you shouldn’t learn swordsmanship because you have no talent? How can such a thing happen in this world!]

For some reason, the dagger mister seemed very angry.

He trembled furiously, then suddenly went quiet.

As the dagger mister fell silent, I recalled the last scene I had seen.

‘This isn’t the time for this. It was definitely Grandfather.’

My face turned pale.

Nam Gung Jin Cheon of the Heavenly Demon Sovereign, my grandfather.

Except for when my father went missing, I had never seen his face and had forgotten about his existence.

Un Ryeong always used to tell me about him.

The martial arts world is ruthless.

A world where strength is everything.

Among them, Nam Gung Jin Cheon was at the very top of the pyramid.

In the Heavenly Demon Sovereign, Ji Cheon Wu often described Nam Gung Jin Cheon as a man without blood or tears.

[Nam Gung Jin Cheon was a man without weaknesses. Ji Cheon Wu sometimes wondered if he even had blood.

He was such a cold-hearted man that it seemed not a drop of blood would come out even if he was stabbed with a sword.]

‘I shouldn’t have caught his eye.’

Even in the original work, Grandfather didn’t like Nam Gung Lin that much.

To be precise, it was closer to dislike.

My ultimate goal was to survive. And to survive, it was better not to catch Grandfather’s eye.

‘He’ll find me suspicious. I might even be kicked out.’

At that time, I was rummaging through the storehouse.

The sight of me wandering around an old storehouse with a high fever must have looked very suspicious.

Moreover, I was smaller and weaker than the other Nam Gung children.

Poor physique and a thin body.

I was unsuitable as a martial artist in many ways.

‘Plus, my reputation is already the worst.’

Because of the rumors spread by Nam Gung Hyun Jong, people thought I didn’t attend training because I was lazy.

As Un Ryeong said, Nam Gung Jin Cheon might judge me as useless.

‘Should I try to persuade him that it doesn’t cost much to raise me? I’m confident about eating little.’

I fell into contemplation.

Should I escape from the Nam Gung family now?

But there was no way for an eight-year-old child to survive in the dead of winter.

‘Even if I escape from the Nam Gung family, I’d freeze to death before long.’

That’s when it happened.

Commotion began to be heard from outside.

“Father, it’s probably nothing. Lin always used to play strange pranks. This must be one of those too.”

“That’s right. We’ve had trouble because of Lin many times while you were away, Family Head.”

I blinked blankly.

The familiar voice belonged to Nam Gung Hyun Jong. Nam Gung Hyun Jong asked, as if seeking agreement from others.

“There’s no need to call a doctor. You know Lin’s behavior, don’t you?”

“She does tend to behave strangely, so that seems likely.”

“Is there really a need to waste the Family Head’s time?”

There was only one person Nam Gung Hyun Jong would call father.

My grandfather, Nam Gung Jin Cheon, was coming to where I was.

Grandfather didn’t respond to people’s words.

Creak.

The sound of the door opening was heard.

And I held my breath at the sight of the person entering.

Grandfather and the family elders were coming in to see me. He looked almost the same as when I first saw him.

As if time had passed him by, he still exuded a powerful aura.

Behind Grandfather, the warriors of the Nam Gung family could be seen. Most of them were my distant relatives.

‘Did they stop in the middle of a banquet to come?’

If I were an ordinary child, I would have thought they ended the banquet out of concern for me.

But except for Grandfather, the only emotion on the faces of the others was annoyance.

Some people were looking at me as if irritated.

Behind Grandfather was my uncle, Nam Gung Hyun Jong.

Seeing him, my body stiffened involuntarily.

I hugged the sword in my arms tightly.

Then I felt the sword tremble again.

[Kid, don’t grip so… What’s going on? Why are you trembling?]

I couldn’t answer the sword’s chatter.

Grandfather’s cold eyes turned towards me. After staring at me for a while, he slowly opened his mouth.

His gaze was directed exactly at my arms.

“You’re thin.”

I felt fear at Grandfather’s words.

‘Is he wondering why a child of the Nam Gung family looks so unimpressive?’

Most children of the Nam Gung family were big-boned and sturdy. It was because they grew up under systematic management from a young age.

But I hadn’t even received proper care, let alone food. So I couldn’t help but look unimpressive to Grandfather.

“Why were you collapsed in the storehouse?”

Before I could answer his question, Nam Gung Hyun Jong rushed over to me.

“You’re awake!”

I shrank back and retreated, cowering. Nam Gung Hyun Jong’s face as he looked at me was full of concern.

As if he was really worried about me.