A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 168

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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 168
“They demanded that I reveal Hong Seol’s true identity to them. They kept asking what happened inside the Earth Tunnel that caused her to collapse.”
Yang Do Jin spoke without trembling, his words measured and precise.
“They seemed to believe her collapse was connected to her identity… but I refused to give them the answer they sought, no matter what.”
Exclamations erupted from various corners of the room.
“Such spirit from one so young! The Beggar Sect truly lives up to its name!”
“Indeed, a child who understands propriety!”
“No, I kept silent not out of understanding propriety.”
Yang Do Jin gazed steadily at Hong Seol’s blinking face as he spoke.
“That day, I swore an oath to protect her identity.”
Though she had known this already, Hong Seol’s nose tingled with emotion.
‘Do Jin…’
The unflinchingly righteous Yang Do Jin continued his account.
“After that, they beat me senseless and left me at the edge of the Back Alley. I clearly heard them deliberating—’What do we tell the Nam Goong Family?’ they said.”
“…”
At the mention of the Nam Goong Family, a chilling silence enveloped the gathering.
“I suspected the ‘Nam Goong’ they referred to was not the main family. After all, the main family came searching for us in the Earth Tunnel themselves—the Patriarch personally.”
Everyone’s gaze turned toward Nam Goong Ho, the Patriarch.
Nam Goong Ho nodded gravely, confirming that the young beggar’s words were entirely correct.
Tian Tong Gai continued the account.
“I was away searching for Wan Li Yi Xian at the time, so I only learned of the incident much later. Once I did, I sent disciples to track down those ruffians… but I was too slow.”
Tian Tong Gai’s wrinkled eyes gleamed with suspicion.
“The first one was stabbed to death at an Inn just days ago, I heard. The second was found as a corpse in the River.”
Tian Tong Gai whispered in an ominous tone.
“The third was found dead, his head shoved into a feed trough in the Stable. Of course, the culprit remains unknown. Can this truly be coincidence?”
Nam Goong Yeol brazenly tilted his chin upward and replied.
“How would I know anything about that?”
“Hah, indeed.”
A man utterly devoid of honor or propriety.
Tian Tong Gai seemed to regard Nam Goong Yeol with disgust at his shameless deflection.
“Who in the Branch Family Residence would be curious about this child’s identity? And to go so far as to commit murder to silence her? Such malice could not exist without deep resentment.”
Yet Nam Goong Yeol did not back down. He seemed determined to press forward shamelessly.
“Over the years, countless people have tarnished the Nam Goong name. It is commonplace for street ruffians to die in territorial disputes, unknown to heaven and earth.”
He extended a finger, pointing at Hong Seol’s small head.
“And above all, why would I be curious about this child’s identity in the first place?”
The atmosphere grew murmuruous with discussion.
Truth be told, Nam Goong Yeol’s words held merit.
Motive.
Nam Goong Yeol had no clear motive to be curious about Hong Seol’s true identity.
Hong Seol bit her lip quietly.
‘This was the weakest link all along. Of course they’re attacking it.’
“It seems there are those in the Branch Family Residence curious about your identity.”
After hearing what Yang Do Jin had told me before, I released the Young Rats.
It was to discover what had made Nam Goong Yeol begin suspecting me.
But it had been useless.
Yet I couldn’t simply remain silent now.
If I wasn’t careful, the momentum would shift entirely to Nam Goong Yeol’s favor.
“M-maybe they were curious about my identity because Grandfather favors me so much.”
I stammered out my excuse. Nam Goong Yeol laughed as if utterly dumbfounded, letting out a hollow chuckle.
“What threat could that possibly pose to me? You’re merely a child Father took in out of late-life compassion. You don’t know your place.”
“But, but…”
Cornered, I flinched.
The tower I’d carefully built over the past fortnight was on the verge of crumbling.
Meanwhile, Nam Goong Yeol had regained his composure. He clearly understood it was his turn to attack.
“One final question. What reason would I have to be curious about your identity in the first place?”
“That, that is…”
“I know the answer to that.”
A neat shadow fell across the entrance of the Patriarch’s Residence.
The Wi Sa guards who recognized him sheathed their blades upon Nam Goong On’s instruction.
Then Nam Goong Baek slowly emerged from behind them.
He looked gaunt and unrecognizable after the past fortnight, yet his azure eyes still gleamed with brilliant intensity.
Outwardly, he appeared so composed he hadn’t even broken a sweat.
But beads of perspiration glistened on his forehead, unable to be concealed.
It was clear he had rushed here for some urgent reason.
“Older brother…!”
Nam Goong Baek flinched at the sound of my voice, but his gaze was directed elsewhere.
At the Beggar boy with that endlessly honest face—Yang Do Jin.
A moment later, Nam Goong Baek turned his gaze directly toward Nam Goong Yeol and spoke.
“I know why you became curious about Seol’s identity, Uncle.”
“Oh? Do tell.”
“When Seol was in her cat form, I called out this child’s name once.”
Nam Goong Baek turned his cold gaze toward his cousin, Nam Goong Do.
“It was the day you were tormenting me.”
“Wh-what!”
Nam Goong Do’s eyes darted about nervously.
A cold smile played at Nam Goong Baek’s lips.
“You haven’t forgotten, have you? That day you were banned from entering the main residence?”
“…What!”
“After leaving the Patriarch’s Residence that day, you hid in the corner like a rat and eavesdropped, didn’t you? When I called this child Hong Seol.”
A twisted smile crossed Nam Goong Baek’s face.
“Did you truly believe that I, the eldest grandson of the Nam Goong Family, would fail to notice such a presence?”
I had simply chosen not to point it out, thinking that with my banishment from the main estate, there would be no further encounters.
“Just as my brother said—a corpse already marked for death—so you looked down upon me, it seems.”
At those words, fierce anger began to surge through the Patriarch’s Residence.
Rage at a mere young master of the Branch Family daring to slight the eldest grandson of the Nam Goong Family.
In particular, Changcheon Master Nam Goong Ui Gyeol clenched his teeth so hard it seemed he would strike down Nam Goong Do the moment he received permission.
Nam Goong Ho, who had waited in silence until now, spoke with weighty deliberation.
“Nam Goong Do, I ask you not as your grandfather, but as the Former Patriarch of the Nam Goong Family. Is everything Nam Goong Baek said the truth?”
Nam Goong Do shook his head violently, his expression twisted.
“G-Grandfather, no! I remember nothing at all! Neither calling the cat Hong Seol, nor speaking words too vile to repeat!”
At that, Nam Goong Baek smiled faintly, barely perceptible.
—Perhaps if I carved sword marks into that ugly bridge of his nose instead of claw marks, his memory would return.
Nam Goong Do trembled at Nam Goong Baek’s voice transmitted directly into his ear.
“You bastard…! I’m telling you I have no such memory!”
“That is precisely what surprises me, brother. That you possess a mind capable of remembering the cat’s name was Hong Seol.”
Nam Goong Baek delivered his final words with a sidelong glance.
Patriarch Nam Goong On’s voice rang out.
“Indeed, the circumstances warrant suspicion. Had I known the girl staying at Chang Cheon Pavilion was a ‘cat-form human’, I too would have been curious. Why does the Former Patriarch harbor such a being?”
Nam Goong Yeol countered swiftly.
“Yet brother, even if everything the young beggar and my nephew said were true, it would merely suggest my curiosity about the child. There is no evidence anywhere of collusion with the Myo Family!”
The brothers’ gazes met, sparks flying between them.
“Hmm.”
Since these were his sons’ affairs, Nam Goong Ho could not hastily take either side.
The elders of both the main and branch families felt the same.
The Patriarch’s Residence had reached a perfect stalemate.
Nam Goong Yeol’s gaze turned toward Hong Seol with lethal intensity.
‘Well then, what will you do now, little one?’
That was when it happened.
A white rat scurried forward and climbed up Hong Seol’s collar.
The moment the rat whispered something into Hong Seol’s ear—
“Sigh.”
The sound of Hong Seol’s exasperated breath reached even the triumphant Nam Goong Yeol’s ears.
Moreover, her shoulders rose high toward the sky with that sigh, then dropped as if collapsing to the ground.
“Siiiiigh.”
“…What are you doing?”
Hong Seol opened her mouth as if at a loss.
“I already told you… A cord twisted three times over cannot be broken.”
“What do you mean?”
Hong Seol gazed quietly toward the entrance of the Patriarch’s Residence.
Before the wide-open doors stood a gaunt man, bound tightly, who had appeared without warning.
Yang Do Jin rushed forward and took the end of the rope from the Beggar who stood before the man, receiving the binding that held him.
“Come here!”
As Yang Do Jin grasped the rope’s end and pulled, the man stumbled forward helplessly, dragged along without resistance.
He was unmistakably an ordinary person with not a shred of inner energy to his name.
The man whom Hong Seol had confirmed finding through the Beggar Sect this very morning.
The man she had worried might not arrive in time.
‘Thank heavens he came when we needed him…!’
He was precisely the third silken thread needed to bind Nam Goong Yeol completely.
Nam Goong Yeol’s expression shifted as he recognized the man’s face.
“You, you’re definitely—!”
Hong Seol asked with evident surprise.
“Oh my, it seems you know each other?”
Got him, this bastard!

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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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