Precious Daughter of the Greatest Martial Arts Villain

Chapter 2

I’m sorry, but I had to stop crying.

My crying was putting Seoryeong’s life in danger, and my throat hurt so much that I couldn’t scream anymore anyway.

Still, after crying for ten straight days, I did learn something: no matter how much I cried, my depressing reality remained unchanged.

The fact that I was in a Wuxia novel, that I was the daughter of the villain in this martial arts world, and that I was destined to be killed by the male lead—none of it had changed.

I had thought I had hit the jackpot in this life...

Having been miserably poor in my previous life, I had thought I was being rewarded for my suffering in this one.

That was why I didn’t mind not seeing my parents for my first one hundred days.

I had grown up as an orphan in my previous life anyway, so I had very few expectations for my parents in this one. Moreover, I had Seoryeong, who felt like a real sister, by my side. It wasn’t like I was lacking affection in any way.

Those were the good days...

After I discovered that I was in a Wuxia novel, specifically in the Demonic Sect, which was the stronghold of villains, my room, which was once the most comfortable place in the world, suddenly felt unbearably uncomfortable.

The male lead of this novel was Ak Wuryeon. He had been kidnapped by Cheon Ma at age three and would be raised as the Vice Sect Leader until he escaped at age twenty-three.

Through various strange chance encounters, he would become a master martial artist within five years and attack the Demonic Sect, becoming the typical protagonist of a Wuxia novel.

The reason Ak Wuryeon could overthrow the Demonic Sect was because he had help from the Martial Artists’ Alliance, who had publicly declared the Demonic Sect and Cheon Ma their enemy a long time ago.

They had been waiting for a chance to get rid of the nest of evil, so they would eagerly follow when Ak Wuryeon took the lead.

That was around the time I—Cheon Lihwa, I mean—would get killed, at twenty-three, in the prime of my youth.

However, I couldn’t totally hate him for that. From his point of view, he was just getting revenge on Cheon Ma for killing his parents.

Of course, if Cheon Lihwa had been kinder, she wouldn’t have died like that.

She thought nothing of the lives of others, and she didn’t consider those beneath her to be human.

She was even disliked by her own fellow villains, so no one lifted a finger to help her as she was dying at the hands of Ak Wuryeon.

That wasn’t to say he liked me at all right now, though. He already hated me even though I wasn’t even a year old yet, probably because he remembered being kidnapped by Cheon Ma, himself.

Since he had the male lead buff, he was a genius who even remembered being in his mother’s womb.

As the daughter of his enemy, it was only natural that he hated me.

When I had read the novel, I had wondered when that nut job was going to get killed off, but since that now meant me, I couldn’t let that happen!

Anyway, after crying out my eyes for ten days, I’d let off enough steam, so now it was time to seriously think about how I was going to survive. I definitely didn’t want to die like that.

* * *

“I see she isn’t crying today.”

I had stopped crying because it was too draining. It was so bad I thought I might even start coughing up blood, so I had decided to stop.

Even though I wasn’t crying, that didn’t mean I was welcoming Cheon Ma, though. I’d just come to the realization that crying was a waste of time.

“Hmm...” Cheon Ma stared at me intently, as if he found it fascinating to see me in a state other than when I was crying.

Can you please stop staring at me? You’re making me uncomfortable.

I pursed my lips and blew raspberries at him, something I did because I knew it would produce a lot of saliva.

Ptooey!

A glob of spit from my mouth landed on Cheon Ma’s face.

Seoryeong, who had been watching with a smile, rushed over. “S-sect Leader! Are you all right?!”

“Mmm...”

Hmm. Mmm. Die. Is that all you know how to say?!

I couldn’t fathom someone with a personality like that dating, let alone having a kid with someone.

“Forget it.”

Cheon Ma refused the handkerchief being offered by Seoryeong and used his internal power to evaporate the saliva on his face. He looked at me again.

My spit attack didn’t seem to faze him at all. He got even closer this time.

Ugh, am I that fascinating to look at? Fine, you can go ahead and look.

Though it’s a little embarrassing to say it myself, I was a pretty baby. With big round eyes, a sharp little nose, and plump lips, I was adorable even to my own eyes.

Seoryeong especially would melt like butter when I’d smile and my eyes would crinkle into little crescents.

Since the servants that would come in and clean my room reacted the same way, I knew it couldn’t just be me who thought so.

However, I could see that Cheon Ma wasn’t staring at me because he thought I was cute. If anything, he was staring at me like I was the subject of an experiment.

Watching those emotionless, indifferent eyes on me truly felt disgusting. It wasn’t like I was a monster or some animal at the zoo.

I couldn’t help but be frustrated.

Why, you ask? Well, watch this.

“Goo goo!”

I reached out at Cheon Ma with my hand. It was a sudden attack, but he easily dodged it.

He didn’t just slightly evade me—he dodged my attack as if he had used martial arts to move back far out of reach. Was that really necessary?

It wasn’t like I had cooties or anything.

He narrowed his eyes at me, like he was trying to figure out why I was suddenly doing something I had never done before.

This was why I was frustrated.

I wanted to go the typical route of parental stories, where the baby girl would gently melt the heart of her initially indifferent father and eventually wrap him around her little finger, but that just did not work on Cheon Ma.

Those fathers were at least human, not emotionless monsters like him.

Gah, woe is me.

Truthfully, it wasn’t like I had anything spectacular in mind.

Since I couldn’t really do anything for the moment, I just wanted to get the attention of the most powerful man in the Demonic Sect.

How else was I going to get him to teach me martial arts?

In the original novel, Cheon Lihwa despised getting dirty or sweaty, so she never learned martial arts, but I was different.

Even if I had to roll around in the dirt until my face was unrecognizable or my body stank to high heaven, I was going to learn martial arts no matter what so I could eventually run away from the Demonic Sect and stay alive.

In order for a woman to live alone in Zhongyuan, she needed to at least have enough martial arts skills to protect herself.

Yes, that’s right. I’m going to escape from this villainous lair—run away to the ends of the earth if I have to. Surely Ak Wuryeon won’t chase me that far, right?

I planned on hiding in the boonies and waiting for him to take down the Demonic Sect, basically, until the entire timeline of the novel played out.

The problem was Cheon Ma. I wasn’t confident that I could convince him to teach me some of his skills.

Even now, he was staring at me with a stony look on his face. He could probably even break rocks with that face.

I glanced at Cheon Ma for a moment before looking away. I figured I should just give up on him and find someone else to help me.

There probably wouldn’t be anyone who actually liked me, but as the daughter of the Sect Leader, surely I could beg someone to teach me martial arts?

Just then, someone opened the door and walked in.

I gasped.

Before I could even see her face, I knew I had never seen her before. Nobody smelled as strongly of perfume as her.

Who the heck is this lady?

With her neatly pinned-up hair, crimson attire, and painted red lips, she was a beautiful woman.

“Oh, Sect Leader! I didn’t realize you’d be here,” she said with a coquettish smile. She covered her mouth while her eyes crinkled prettily into crescents, making it hard to look away from her.

However, not only did Cheon Ma not look at her, he acted like she didn’t exist.

Maybe her pride was wounded, because her smile stiffened for a moment. Then, like that had never happened, she smiled even more brightly.

“So the rumors about you coming to visit our daughter lately are true. I’ve spent all this time recovering, so I haven’t been able to visit. I feel so grateful to you for taking care of her. Thank you so much.”

Huh? I have a mom?

Had the novel ever mentioned Cheon Lihwa’s mother?

From what I remembered, Cheon Lihwa never yearned for nor even mentioned her mom.

The novel only mentioned Cheon Ma, so I just automatically assumed she was dead. I hadn’t realized she was still alive.

She approached me and scooped me up from my crib without even asking for permission.

“My daughter~ Oh, how you must have missed your mother~ I missed you a lot too!”

Ack, her perfume! Lady, get away from me!

I frowned as I pushed her face away, but then she forcibly hugged me with that same smile plastered on her face. She was clenching so hard that her sharp jawline became even more prominent.

Hrmph! You think I’m that easy?! You show up after all these months and try to act like my parent when even Cheon Ma doesn’t try to do that?! It’s so obvious that you don’t even like me!

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my side, as if I had been poked by a skewer.