A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 175

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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 175
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Before the Patriarch’s Residence, roughly a hundred people lay prostrate in the spacious courtyard.
Every one of them bore scorch marks and soot on their clothing—unmistakable signs of having survived the inferno.
“Oh no, oh no!”
“We’re all as good as dead!”
“Please, save us! Please!”
Pitiful sobs leaked out from among the prostrate figures.
Skilled martial artists from the Nam Goong Family Estate formed a tight perimeter around them.
“Just a moment, please!”
Hong Seol, her diminutive frame weaving between the warriors, strained to peer into the crowd.
The warriors wore expressions of awkwardness but made no move to stop her. They all knew well the circumstances surrounding this young cat-eared lady.
Hong Seol barely managed to squeeze her small head between the warriors.
Her dark eyes widened to the size of fists.
“Only… only this many survived…?”
It was incomprehensible.
Even by the most conservative estimate, nearly a thousand members of the Myo Family Estate had perished, leaving only this handful.
There was something else that troubled her.
Not a single martial artist from the Myo Family Estate was visible among the survivors.
Those lying prostrate were nothing but servants and attendants.
‘How could this be?’
Had anyone survived that inferno, those trained in martial arts should have possessed the advantage.
Yet that only servants and attendants without any cultivation had survived made no logical sense at first glance.
But Hong Seol’s true concern lay elsewhere.
Hong Seol gently tugged at the sleeve of the Changcheon Swordmaster standing beside her like a stone Buddha.
The Changcheon Swordmaster, who had been deliberately ignoring her, wore an awkward expression.
“Young lady…? You shouldn’t be here…”
Before he could finish his obligatory protest, Hong Seol blurted out urgently.
“What happened to the heir of the Myo Family Estate?”
“Pardon? The heir of the Myo Family Estate…?”
“My… my younger sister, or rather…”
Hong Seol trailed off, her head drooping low.
The child who had lived in light all this while, even as I was confined in that dark storage room.
There was a time when I envied everything she possessed with unbearable intensity.
The bracelet our father gave her, the fan our mother wielded for her, even the sweets the servants brought to her.
Sometimes that envy had twisted into resentment toward her.
But now I understood.
She was simply the true daughter of the Myo Family Estate, nothing more.
What I endured was only because Patriarch Myo Wi Heon and Je Gal Lady were lacking—it was never the fault of myself or Myo Ga Ryung.
‘Patriarch Nam Goong On said it himself. Children must be protected.’
Therefore, Myo Ga Ryung was indeed someone who needed protection.
Hong Seol had grown considerably—enough to understand this truth.
“Regarding Myo Ga Ryung, we found no trace of her.”
At the Changcheon Swordmaster’s whisper, Hong Seol lifted her head sharply. Her dark eyes brimmed with sorrow.
“Please, tell me more. I’m begging you.”
When the Changcheon Swordmaster met Hong Seol’s gaze, he could not endure it. He turned away with a sigh and lowered his voice.
“What I tell you must remain secret.”
Hong Seol nodded vigorously.
“When we arrived, the entire estate grounds were already ablaze. We extinguished the flames with haste, but the Myo Family Patriarch was already discovered as a corpse.”
Ah, Father!
Hong Seol blinked blankly, her eyelashes trembling.
The man who once cradled her in his arms and sang her lullabies.
“Moreover, that corpse bore… No, I shouldn’t.”
“Please tell me the truth. I’m asking you. I have the right to know!”
Unable to resist the small hands that continued tugging at her sleeve, the Changcheon Swordmaster relented and continued.
“The Myo Family Patriarch’s body already bore the marks of a blade.”
Shocked, Hong Seol staggered backward several steps.
That Myo Wi Heon bore wounds meant someone had murdered him before the fire was set.
But who could it possibly be?
Myo Wi Heon, the greatest master of the Myo Family Estate and the one who had perfected the Fierce Tiger Divine Claw?
Hong Seol stood in stunned silence, her face still reeling from the shock, before she barely managed to open her lips.
She needed to ask about the person she both despised and pitied most.
“Mother… I mean, what of Je Gal Lady?”
“She… vanished without a trace.”
“What?”
It was then that Hong Seol’s eyes widened.
A sharp, cutting voice called out to her from somewhere.
“Miss! Miss Hong Seol!”
Hong Seol, who had been standing dazed, slowly turned toward the voice.
A face she had thought she would never see again was there.
The servant of the Myo Family Estate who had tormented her so relentlessly.
“Chung Ok…?”
Chung Ok, who had been prostrate, crawled forward on her knees with rapid, frantic movements toward Hong Seol.
“Ah, Miss! Please save me! Please save me!”
She moved as though she had discovered a lifeline in the terrible Nam Goong Family.
As Chung Ok finally reached her side, her eyes rolling back, she grasped Hong Seol’s arm firmly.
Or rather, she tried to.
Had not four Changcheon Swordmasters simultaneously struck down at Chung Ok’s wrist with their blades in that very instant.
“Ahhhhh!”
Chung Ok let out a scream of agony.
“Back away!”
“How dare you lay hands on the young lady of the Nam Goong Family!”
Clang, clang, clang!
Spear and sword crossed repeatedly between Chung Ok and me.
Yet despite everything, seeing Chung Ok’s face after so long made my stomach churn violently.
Without thinking, I stumbled backward a few steps.
The Changcheon Division warriors standing guard around me had vanished from my sight.
The fact that this was the Nam Goong Family Estate had long since slipped from my mind.
“P-please… go away…”
I didn’t even realize I was speaking in formal tones.
“I don’t want to… I won’t go back to that storage room again…”
“Young lady?”
“Young lady!”
“I’m sorry… I just missed Mother… that’s why I did it…”
There had been a small kitten who came here after being chased away from visiting Mother that day.
The icicles hanging from the eaves that I saw then were vivid in my memory.
The bitter winter I endured in that storage room afterward remained achingly clear.
“I’m so cold… so very cold…”
I wrapped my arms around myself and trembled.
My small frame, clad only in thin garments, shook uncontrollably.
That was when it happened.
Whoosh.
A warm fur cloak descended onto my shoulders.
When I turned my head, a silver-haired boy with an expressionless face looked down at me.
Nam Goong Baek had approached without my noticing and draped his own robe over me.
I looked up at his bright face, eyes brimming with tears.
“Brother Baek…?”
A gentle, indifferent voice echoed near my ear.
“Seol Ah. You are no longer at the Myo Family Estate.”
Hearing those words, I blinked several times and looked around.
Magnificent blue-glazed tiles gleaming with pride.
Pavilions rising several stories high and neatly laid stone paths.
The Training Ground I knew well, the Back Garden where I had plucked spring greens, the Record Hall and Kitchen I had visited countless times.
And above all, this place was filled with people who cherished me.
The Changcheon Division warriors who had cheered with all their hearts during my first sparring match with Nam Goong Jong Woo.
The servants of Chang Cheon Pavilion who brought me delicious food whenever they had a chance.
Nam Goong Ui Gyeol, the Changcheon Master, who was always ready to rush to my side even while commanding his troops.
Bing Yu Hua, the Medicine Master, who couldn’t take her eyes off me even from a distance.
Nam Goong On, the Patriarch, who believed in my talents and intellect more than anyone.
And Nam Goong Ho, the Grand Patriarch, who had brought me from that hellish life to the Nam Goong Family Estate.
And then….
“I am here.”
A firm, warm hand gripping my small one tightly.
When had it started?
‘I was never alone….’
After glancing once at Nam Goong Baek’s composed profile, I turned my gaze back to Chung Ok.
Chung Ok was no longer a fearsome presence to me.
Her hair hung disheveled and unkempt.
Her cheeks were covered entirely in soot marks, and the corners of her eyes were filled with dried tear stains.
Her lips were split and cracked in multiple places.
In short, she was nothing more than a pitiful servant no longer worth fearing.
Emboldened, I cried out loudly.
“It’s that servant! That servant is Je Gal Lady’s trusted accomplice!”
It was an accusation that she would surely know the whereabouts of the vanished Je Gal Lady.
As Patriarch Nam Goong On, standing at a distance, nodded, the Changcheon Swordmasters seized Chung Ok by both arms and dragged her forward.
“Ah, Miss!”
Terrified, Chung Ok turned back, her eyes wide with fear.
Despite her desperate calls, I stood firm and unyielding, and Chung Ok’s face twisted into something demonic.
“You insolent little cat!”
In that instant.
Boom!
The sound of a sword striking the ground echoed as if the very earth trembled.

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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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