A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 157

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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 157
“Surprised? I too have only heard rumors of this place—this is my first time seeing it with my own eyes.”
Maeng Woo Hee casually tapped her finger against the ground to taste it, and her expression darkened.
“Ptooey, ptooey!”
“Valley Lord!”
“It’s fine, Ya Pae. I have built up resistance to most poisons, have I not?”
Maeng Woo Hee turned her gaze toward Hong Seol and spoke.
“There is still a salty taste lingering. It seems someone harbored a deep grudge indeed.”
Those who had divided the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace into two factions and set them against one another.
And those who had scattered salt across the ruined Estate Grounds, ensuring that every trace of life was utterly extinguished from the land.
‘Who could it possibly be? Did everyone who lived here perish, leaving no survivors?’
If so, how was I ever born?
Hong Seol bit her lip in frustration. She had journeyed all this way to find the Nam Man Beast Palace Ruins, yet there were no clues—only heartache.
Nam Goong Ho and Tian Tong Gai, who had quietly come to stand behind her, gazed at Hong Seol with expressions of sympathy.
The sun was already beginning to set.
“We shall have to make camp here for the night.”
At Maeng Woo Hee’s words, the warriors of Five Poison Valley began erecting tents one by one.
Taking advantage of the commotion, Tian Tong Gai quietly asked Nam Goong Ho a question.
“Have you mentioned to the children the wooden chest that Wu Hen Shen Tou left behind?”
Another wooden chest that had been beside the secret manual of the Twelve Beast Martial Art.
The contents within were something Hu Gae had been searching for throughout his entire time in Nam Man.
Nam Goong Ho answered curtly to Tian Tong Gai’s question.
“Speaking of it now would be of no use whatsoever.”
“I understand.”
Tian Tong Gai asked nothing further and turned away. He knew better than anyone that Nam Goong Ho was the one whose heart burned with the most urgency.
In the meantime, Hu Gae ambled slowly toward Maeng Woo Hee.
Maeng Woo Hee seemed fascinated by the Nam Man Beast Palace Ruins and was looking around in various directions.
Ya Pae observed from a distance so as not to intrude.
Hu Gae bowed respectfully with clasped fists.
“Valley Lord, after today passes, I intend to return to the Central Plains with Elder Tian Tong Gai. I have owed you so much during this time that I wished to express my gratitude.”
Maeng Woo Hee returned the bow. Young as she was, she was unmistakably a valley lord in moments like these.
“You have already repaid any debt many times over. It is thanks to everyone here that I was able to maintain my position as valley lord.”
“Ah, but compared to how the previous valley lord saved my life, it is nothing. In fact, that is why I wished to share an interesting fact with you, Valley Lord.”
“An interesting fact?”
“Having spent so long in Nam Man, surely I have heard countless stories? Among them are legends connected to this Southern Barbarian Beast Palace.”
“What might that be?”
“Come closer….”
Hu Gae gestured, then whispered something softly into Maeng Woo Hee’s ear.
Suddenly, Maeng Woo Hee’s face flushed crimson.
“Ah, um, that is, hic!”
Strange sounds would occasionally spill from my lips unbidden.
When Ya Pae sensed the disturbance from afar and rushed forward, Maeng Woo Hee raised a hand to stop him. Then she met Hu Gae’s eyes and asked.
“Is that truly the case?”
“Why would I deceive the Valley Master with falsehoods?”
“Thank you. Thank you so much!”
Maeng Woo Hee moved her feet swiftly and departed that place. Then, taking Ya Pae with her, she hurried off in some direction.
No one knew that Nam Goong Baek’s ears, wandering alone through the ruins from a distance moments before, had perked up.
* * *
The place Maeng Woo Hee dragged Ya Pae to was a small pond that had long since been filled in.
Judging from the remaining pebbles and scattered ornaments scattered about, it must have once been quite a picturesque place.
“What is here, Valley Master?”
Despite Ya Pae’s question, Maeng Woo Hee simply gazed at what had once been a pond for a long while.
Then it happened.
“Elder brother.”
At the suddenly heard voice, Ya Pae doubted his own ears.
In an instant, his muscular frame tensed rigid with alertness.
There was only one being in this world capable of making the warrior Ya Pae react thus—the Valley Master of O Dok Valley, Maeng Woo Hee.
“Valley Master!”
Maeng Woo Hee was laughing with a mischievous expression.
“Elder brother, when it’s just the two of us, you don’t need to speak so stiffly.”
But Ya Pae shook his head with a stern face.
“I cannot. If my mind becomes lax like this, I may make mistakes, and then your authority would suffer, I say…!”
“Here, a birthday gift.”
Before Ya Pae could finish speaking, Maeng Woo Hee smiled broadly and held out a pair of jade earrings.
“Eh?”
Ya Pae, taken aback, wavered.
“You remembered my birthday?”
With so much happening this year, I was certain you would have forgotten….
“What are you saying? How could I forget my elder brother’s birthday?”
A pure smile bloomed at the corners of Maeng Woo Hee’s lips as she recalled the past.
“Was I eight years old then? We entered the Deep Forest together and got lost, and my elder brother carried me on his back and walked through the entire night to get us out.”
At those words, Ya Pae’s eyes softened gently.
“How do you remember all of that? Truly, the Valley Master is brilliant.”
He chuckled softly, barely audible.
“…That day when we encountered the tiger, I truly thought it was the end.”
“So did I. When my elder brother gripped his axe and wedged himself between me and the tiger, I genuinely thought I would die.”
“The scar from that day still remains on my chest. Truly, I shudder to think what would have happened if we hadn’t encountered the search party that came looking for us.”
“That pond was where we were trying to go that day.”
“What?”
“The nursemaid told me before bed. She said there was a small lotus-shaped pond deep in the forests of Nam Man.”
Maeng Woo Hee, who had been hesitating, continued speaking.
“If you make a marriage vow there, it means you’ll love only each other as husband and wife until the day you die. You remember that, right?”
“Yes, I remember, but….”
What on earth was the young Valley Master trying to say?
Ya Pae’s eyes wavered in confusion.
“Then you also remember when I said I would marry my brother that day?”
“Pardon?”
“That wasn’t a lie, was it? And conveniently, we have a lotus-shaped pond right in front of us….”
Maeng Woo Hee laughed shyly.
“What do you say? Marrying me. I’d really like to have a husband.”
“That’s….”
“Of course, I could take a second husband or a third husband later…. But if you do well, I’ll only ever look at you.”
“That’s not possible.”
“What do you mean it’s not possible?”
“First of all, you are the Master of O Dok Valley, and I’m merely a warrior. I wouldn’t be of much help to your future, is what I mean.”
Maeng Woo Hee scoffed as if she had anticipated this level of resistance.
“Rejected. Thanks to the Human-Faced Spider, my future is already secure. It means I can choose a husband as I please.”
This time, veins bulged on Ya Pae’s forehead.
“But what about age? You’re only eleven years old, Valley Master, while I’m already sixteen. That’s hardly appropriate.”
At those words, Maeng Woo Hee’s eyes narrowed.
With that burly frame, he looked like he’d already passed twenty-five, yet he was only sixteen.
It was a fact that amazed her every time she heard it.
That amazement was heightened all the more because Ya Pae held the position of chief guard despite his young age.
‘Of course, it’s because Ya Pae’s skills are exceptional….’
Ya Pae’s martial prowess, which had already been outstanding, had grown brilliantly ever since the day he faced the tiger.
Maeng Woo Hee had come to understand that this growth stemmed from his desire to protect her.
“Ya Pae, do you happen to know how old the previous Valley Master was when he married?”
“Eleven years old.”
“Right. That’s the age recognized as a true adult in O Dok Valley. And how old was my mother at that time?”
“Sixteen. But——”
Maeng Woo Hee shrugged her shoulders.
“But what? Is there some problem? Or….”
Maeng Woo Hee suddenly turned around and kicked at the back of Ya Pae’s knees.
“Ugh!”
Unable to evade the Valley Master’s kick, Ya Pae dropped to one knee.
“Were you about to say that things are different because I’m a woman? How presumptuous of you, Ya Pae.”
Ya Pae heard soft laughter ringing in his ears.
Faced with her commanding presence, Ya Pae’s mind became utterly bewildered.
But it didn’t end there.
Splash.
Maeng Woo Hee placed one foot upon Ya Pae’s knee and drew an axe from her waist.
The curved jade ornament attached to the axe handle gleamed brilliantly—the symbol of O Dok Valley’s authority.
Maeng Woo Hee tilted Ya Pae’s chin upward with the end of the axe handle adorned with the jade ornament and spoke.
“Ya Pae, by the authority vested in me as master of O Dok Valley, I command you.”
Maeng Woo Hee’s lips curved into a sly smile.
“Become my husband.”

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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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