A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 10
Resting in her soft palm was a small round object wrapped in Korean paper and bound with twine.
It was a fragrant pellet—dawn grass crushed beneath stones, shaped into a sphere, and dried in the sun for four days.
‘So that’s why he was gathering grass that night….’
Nam Goong Ho extended his hand as though entranced.
Tap.
Hong Seol gently dropped the fragrant pellet she had made onto his palm.
The sharp, pungent aroma enveloped his nose in an instant, and Nam Goong Ho’s face naturally contorted. Seeing this, Hong Seol spoke quickly.
“I heard that you dislike the scent of dawn grass.”
“That’s not true.”
Nam Goong Ho found himself lying without thinking.
“But here….”
Hong Seol pointed to his forehead, where deep creases had long since settled.
Nam Goong Ho, caught red-handed, released a small sigh.
“Very well, I confess—I do not care for this grass’s scent. Yet since you offer it as a gift, I am truly grateful.”
He was driving the point home with gratitude, lest Hong Seol ask for the gift back.
“This is not merely a gift.”
“What do you mean?”
Nam Goong Ho asked, his expression bewildered.
“It is something to ease your worries.”
Though trembling greatly, Hong Seol spoke with conviction, her large eyes steady and resolute.
“If you burn this at your bedside, you will sleep soundly tonight.”
“Ah….”
Nam Goong Ho finally understood. Someone must have told her that he had not been sleeping well lately.
‘And this child made the fragrant pellet herself.’
Her soft palms worn raw from rolling it.
It was a luxury he had never experienced while raising his three grandsons.
Nam Goong Ho gazed at the fragrant pellet resting in his palm, his expression uncertain.
Sensing his doubt, Hong Seol hastily added:
“It may be unfamiliar here at the Nam Goong Family Estate, but in my home, we use dawn grass in this way.”
Though it is no longer my home now….
Hong Seol’s face clouded as she inadvertently summoned a memory she wished to forget.
“That….”
Nam Goong Ho, flustered, struggled to find words of comfort.
Hong Seol shook her head with dignity, casting off the dark memory herself.
Then she spoke to him with mature conviction:
“Even if you dislike the scent of dawn grass, you must burn it.”
‘My, how the child has grown.’
Nam Goong Ho was inwardly astonished and fell silent. Hong Seol seized the moment to press her point once more:
“The sharp scent will fade if you endure it for just a moment.”
His expression was so serious that I suddenly felt the urge to tease the child.
Nam Goong Ho, unusually playful, decided to pout a little mischievously.
“But the smell is absolutely dreadful. What am I to do about that?”
Hong Seol, who had looked momentarily flustered, seemed to steel herself and planted both hands firmly on her hips, her small face set in a grave expression.
The sight reminded me of the adults who had scolded me during my childhood.
“Y-you must endure it regardless! I chewed through every bitter piece of stir-fried Nam Goong Soo O, so you can too!”
Nam Goong Ho found himself at a loss for words, and then a helpless laugh escaped him.
‘Heh, what a capable little thing this child is.’
“I’m saying all this for your sake, sir.”
Hong Seol added the words carefully, watching his reaction.
“Very well. I shall do as you say.”
As Nam Goong Ho answered readily, the tension in Hong Seol’s face melted away.
“There is something I wish to discuss with you.”
Frightened by the sudden gravity in his tone, Hong Seol’s spirit deflated as she cautiously gauged his mood.
“W-what is it?”
The forceful insistence from moments before about burning the incense had vanished entirely.
“It is about how you address me. ‘Your Grace’ sounds rather stiff.”
“Then… Patriarch?”
“No, that seems too distant as well, does it not?”
Then what on earth should she call him?
Nam Goong Ho watched as Hong Seol tilted her head in confusion.
The stern lines around his mouth gradually softened.
“Yes. I think it would be best if you called me Grandfather.”
* * *
Early the next morning, a mountain of sunrise grass had been piled high before Hong Seol’s quarters.
Standing before it with a bewildered expression was Nam Goong Soo O, the steward of the Nam Goong Family Estate.
He, who managed all the household affairs, had just arrived here upon Nam Goong Ho’s orders.
“Last night, I slept soundly without waking even once. It is all thanks to the incense that our Seol-ah made for me.”
“Pardon?”
“Go tell Seol-ah that from now on, she is to continue making this old man sunrise grass incense without fail.”
“Yes, understood.”
The loyal steward bowed and withdrew, but
he could not make sense of the current situation. Two things troubled his mind.
The first mystery was the identity of the child called Seol-ah.
‘I heard the Patriarch recently picked up a girl of unknown origin. Her name was Hong Seol, if I recall correctly?’
That much seemed plausible. To look after the weak—was that not the righteousness and compassion a martial artist should possess?
But when had he grown so close to the child as to call her Seol-ah?
The stubborn Patriarch who insisted on calling even his own grandsons only by their colors—White, Black, and Red.
‘How on earth did this child win over the Patriarch’s heart?’
The second concern was the suspicious efficacy of that incense.
‘I distinctly remember delivering incense pellets made from sunrise grass to the Patriarch last month through the Medical Pharmacy.’
Back then, he dismissed them as useless, but now he claims they’re remarkably effective.
The only difference is who made them.
Suspicious, I had the Medical Pharmacy verify the pellets’ composition, and the results were exactly as expected.
“The ingredients are identical to what we produced.”
If that were the case, Nam Goong Soo O could only draw one conclusion.
‘It’s purely a matter of mindset.’
The Patriarch had clearly been enchanted by this unfamiliar girl’s charm, and now he believed the pellets crafted by her hands possessed special efficacy.
‘If he keeps an unknown child at his side, the elders’ interference will be considerable….’
Then again, he was never one to concern himself with such matters.
Nam Goong Soo O steadied his turbulent thoughts.
‘What does it matter? If the Patriarch can sleep peacefully, that’s all that matters.’
For him, the Patriarch’s peace of mind was paramount—because his own tranquility depended upon it.
With the Family Head away, the Patriarch Nam Goong Ho was the highest authority in the Nam Goong Family.
Which meant that the more displeased Nam Goong Ho became, the more difficult Nam Goong Soo O’s position grew.
Therefore, Nam Goong Soo O felt nothing but gratitude toward this mysterious child before him.
“Did you sleep well last night, young lady?”
He bowed respectfully as he spoke to Hong Seol.
“I am Nam Goong Soo O, the steward of the Nam Goong Family. I have come at the Patriarch’s behest.”
Mae Ran’s voice emerged with a note of difficulty.
“The young lady is quite shy, you see.”
Hong Seol, looking frightened, peeked out from behind Mae Ran, her head barely visible.
“Young lady, you should greet the steward.”
Only after Mae Ran gently urged her did Hong Seol murmur softly.
“Hello.”
The sight of her flushed cheeks and trembling lips was rather endearing.
‘Is this why everyone speaks so fondly of having daughters?’
Even Nam Goong Soo O, typically unmoved by most things, found himself momentarily captivated.
Nam Goong Soo O cleared his throat and continued.
“The Patriarch sent me to tell you that thanks to the incense pellets you made, he slept very soundly last night.”
At those words, Hong Seol’s face brightened like the sun breaking through clouds.
‘I cured Grandfather’s insomnia. I’m a useful child!’
“Which is why we would very much like for you to continue making incense pellets for us.”
With that, Nam Goong Soo O discreetly produced a small stone mortar.
He had brought it along thinking it would be far easier than pounding herbs with rocks.
Originally meant for grinding sesame seeds for cooking….
It was small enough for Hong Seol to handle comfortably—much smaller and lighter than the actual medicinal herb mortars.
“The Patriarch says that only the pellets you make yourself possess true efficacy.”
At those words, the child nestled in the maid’s skirts answered with sparkling eyes.
“Really? I’ll make as many as you need!”
Mae Ran, the attendant, startled at the spirited tone in Hong Seol’s voice—one she had never heard before.
Nam Goong Soo O extended a finely crafted box with a generous smile gracing his features.
“Additionally, he sent this as payment for the medicine.”
Hong Seol’s eyes widened.
“This is… this is…”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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