A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 17

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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 17
A single gust of wind across the azure sky.
There is movement, yet the eye perceives it not.
Whoosh!
The blade descended faster than sight could follow, like wind brushing across the heavens.
“Oh!”
Without thinking, I raised my wooden sword to block Nam Goong Ui Gyeol’s strike descending from above.
“Hmm.”
A smile bloomed at the corner of his mouth, as if pleased.
“Well done. Can you predict what the next move will be?”
“Since I blocked the downward strike, my flanks would be exposed….”
I continued, lost in thought.
“I think you’ll slash diagonally across my waist.”
“Then how should the opponent defend?”
“Hmm. Lower the blade to the left to block while stepping back with my feet like this?”
I spun gracefully, retreating beyond the reach of Nam Goong Ui Gyeol’s attack.
“Ha-ha!”
Nam Goong Ui Gyeol’s laughter echoed across the Training Ground.
“Teaching someone this responsive is a first since Nam Goong Baek!”
I blinked.
“Nam Goong Baek… senior brother?”
“Senior brother?”
“Well, since we study under the same master….”
The Commander of the Changcheon Division served as a substitute for the patriarch in instructing the direct line descendants.
Yet Nam Goong Ui Gyeol paused, uncertain whether his relationship with Nam Goong Baek could truly be called that of master and student.
“Is that not correct?”
“Well, it is, but ‘senior brother’ isn’t a term commonly used within the family.”
Worried I’d made another mistake, I felt sudden anxiety.
“Then, what should I call the young master?”
“Would ‘older brother’ not suffice?”
Older brother…
The unfamiliar title made me blush without realizing it.
“Well, in any case.”
Only when Nam Goong Ui Gyeol continued speaking could I escape the embarrassment.
“In the past, everyone said Nam Goong Baek possessed talent worthy of succeeding the Grand Patriarch.”
Nam Goong Ui Gyeol’s expression darkened as he finished.
‘Why does he speak of it as if it were ancient history?’
I couldn’t comprehend it. The martial prowess I’d witnessed from Nam Goong Baek recently seemed extraordinarily exceptional.
Nam Goong Ui Gyeol’s correction pulled me from my thoughts.
“You didn’t properly receive my wooden sword strike just now, did you?”
Oh.
So he noticed after all.
Nam Goong Ui Gyeol’s stern voice rang out above my slightly flinching head.
“Understanding swordplay with your mind is one thing, but without sufficient stamina, you cannot evade your opponent’s blade.”
He crossed his arms firmly.
“From now on, I shall personally take responsibility for developing your physical endurance, Miss Hong Seol.”
Unlike the forced training before, he would calibrate it to precisely what my body could withstand.
Of course, even at that level, I would be gasping for breath.
* * *
“Haa, haa!”
What on earth was that sound?
It was as if some small creature were panting and struggling.
A Changcheon Division warrior who had slipped away from his own training pressed his ear against the Inner Hall Training Ground door.
He kept his presence completely suppressed, lest the Changcheon Division Commander notice.
“What is that sound!”
He was startled not long after.
The Changcheon Division Commander’s voice, which usually drove them like demons during training, sounded different today.
“Excellent work! Miss Hong Seol is clearly a genius.”
Very different indeed.
What kind of training was happening in there that warranted calling someone a genius?
Unable to contain his curiosity, the warrior pressed his eye to the crack in the door.
An unbelievable sight unfolded before him.
“One, two! One, two!”
A little girl, barely half his height, was running across the Training Ground in martial robes.
Around her impossibly thin waist were wound three layers of rope.
At the end of the rope was tied a stone no larger than two adult fists.
For the burly Changcheon Division Commander, it would have been suitable as a pebble for a children’s game.
But the child was clearly struggling with even that.
Beads of sweat dotted her forehead, scattering like jewels with each step she took.
The warrior sighed involuntarily.
‘Oh no, that little girl’s feet will wear right through!’
How could such a small child train with such dedication?
Seeing this sight, he thought of his junior comrades sprawled lazily across the Training Ground.
‘You lazy bastards! What’s so difficult about two hours of basic footwork and a thousand sword strikes!’
Heat rose in his head.
Now he finally understood why the Commander was so furious.
With that thought, he trudged heavily toward Oe Dang.
Soon, the screams of warriors echoed from the Training Ground used by the Changcheon Division.
* * *
It was a rare afternoon without training.
“Sometimes you must rest to grow swiftly. Would a leisurely stroll not serve you well?”
I walked through the Inner Hall as Nam Goong Ui Gyeol had suggested, with Mae Ran at my side.
“There’s a Back Garden nearby with many plum trees, Miss. The blossoms are in full bloom these days—quite worth seeing. Shall we go?”
“Yes.”
At my docile reply, Mae Ran smiled warmly, and I followed suit with a bright grin.
“Thank you for coming with me, Mae Ran.”
“Oh, Miss, that’s simply my duty.”
True to Mae Ran’s words, the Back Garden was ablaze with plum blossoms. Each time the breeze stirred the petals, their fragrant perfume rippled through the air in all directions.
The sunlight was magnificent. In the moment I squinted against the brilliant rays, my eyes narrowed slightly.
“Wait just a moment, Miss. I’ll fetch a parasol at once!”
“Oh, wait!”
Before I could even grasp her sleeve, the nimble Mae Ran was already dashing away.
I murmured softly to myself.
“Being alone here is rather unsettling.”
No matter how I tried to calm myself, perspiration continued to seep into my palms.
‘Surely the three grandsons of the Nam Goong Family wouldn’t come here to view the blossoms?’
I still found the second and youngest brothers burdensome.
They approached me without hesitation, whenever and wherever.
Bursting through doors to inquire after my health was merely their affection. Huk and Jeok constantly pestered me to share tangerines or sail paper boats on the pond.
‘Those two are just like the overzealous twins from the Myo Family Estate.’
During my days confined to the Storage Room, Myo Geum Myung and Myo Eun Myung visited me most frequently.
They were collateral branch boys from the Myo Family Estate, near my own age.
The snacks Geum Myung and Eun Myung passed through the window to me, always hungry as I was, felt like salvation itself.
Chattering away with them brought genuine joy.
I believed they were my only friends—until the day Geum Myung gave me a rice cake that made me ill.
“Ugh!”
After eating the cake, I rolled across the cold Storage Room floor, drenched in cold sweat.
“Brother must have given you spoiled cake by mistake. Here, drink this medicinal broth and you’ll be right as rain!”
At those words, I barely managed to crawl to the window, where I received a small ceramic bowl from Eun Myung. Without hesitation, I drank it down.
But something was wrong.
Rather than subsiding, the pain intensified.
My hands and feet swelled rapidly, and even my eyelids puffed up painfully.
Clatter!
The empty ceramic bowl slipped from my swollen hands and rolled across the floor.
Lying face-down, I could barely lift my head as I asked weakly.
“Eun Myung… is this medicine… did something go wrong…?”
Then I heard laughter from above my head.
“See, brother? I told you she’d drink rotten weed water if I gave it to her.”
“Really? Eun Myung, you’re so clever.”
‘Those children deceived me.’
I lay there weeping endlessly, tears streaming down my face.
‘I thought of those children as friends….’
The greater torment began after that day—the twins’ relentless harassment.
They hurled stones at my forehead, leaving wounds, and spat down at me from the windows.
‘The same must be happening at the Nam Goong Family Estate, isn’t it?’
Black and Red had approached me with false kindness at first, but they might betray me and reveal their true nature later.
Just like the collateral branch twins of the Myo Family Estate.
Because of this, I found myself terrified of Black and Red, despite—or perhaps because of—their interest in me.

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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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