A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 221

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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 221
There, Hong Seol was surrounded by valiant warriors ready to protect her and people who cherished her deeply.
Yet Nam Goong Baek’s words only shattered the dam holding back Hong Seol’s sorrow.
“…Brother!”
Though Nam Goong Baek heard the tremor in her voice, thick with unshed tears, he turned away with cruel resolve.
His fists clenched, he walked deeper into the cave.
Alone, forsaken, suppressing the desperate urge to look back.
Then, distant commotion stirred the air—the Changcheon Division warriors had come to seal the entrance.
‘Perhaps this is for the best. After what I’ve said, Seol will surely hate me.’
She was clever enough to understand that my journey to Sichuan was necessary.
I had already hinted at it to Father beforehand.
“Father, if I may be so bold, I wish for Seol to be sent to Sichuan.”
Nam Goong On, who had initially raged against the idea, eventually accepted it after hearing Nam Goong Baek’s reasoning.
‘Have I truly done all I can for Seol…?’
As I moved away from the entrance, darkness crept in around me.
Luminous pearls had been embedded throughout, but their faint glow was insufficient.
This was a loneliness I would have to grow accustomed to—an endless, suffocating darkness.
“Brother….”
Then, from far behind at the cave entrance, a desperate voice reached me.
“…You will show your face on my next birthday, won’t you?”
Nam Goong Baek continued walking inward without answering.
“If not then, at my coming-of-age ceremony—you will surely come then…won’t you?”
A coming-of-age ceremony was a young woman’s rite of passage into adulthood.
Hong Seol was scheduled to have her ceremony on her sixteenth birthday.
It was somewhat later than other children from martial arts families.
But it was the wish of Nam Goong On and Bing Yu Hua—to let Hong Seol, who had lost her childhood, grow into adulthood at a gentler pace.
‘Seol’s coming-of-age ceremony….’
I longed to witness that moment. Yet I knew it was not my place to do so.
“Brother…!”
It would have been easier if she had only questioned and raged at me as before.
Hong Seol’s voice—growing smaller and trembling—pierced my heart with unbearable pain.
Thud.
The pitiful cry of a helpless young child ceased only when stone sealed the entrance.
Now, complete darkness surrounded me.
Then.
As I took one step inward, a dreamlike vista opened before my eyes.
The green fireflies I had seen at Deng Peak filled the cave in countless numbers.
“How could this…?”
At my feet lay an open pouch, its mouth gaping wide.
It was the very pouch Hong Seol had hurled at me moments before.
I don’t know what method he employed, but that small cat had brought fireflies all the way from Deng Peak.
There was only one reason.
To show me this sight before I entered seclusion.
“Seol Ah, why must you be so tender-hearted….”
Why must you wound my heart so?
‘Please, Seol Ah. I beg you to find happiness.’
If that were possible, I would spend my entire life sustained by the memory of touching foreheads with Hong Seol in the Bamboo Forest.
After a long while, Nam Goong Baek opened his eyes.
Still, his surroundings were filled with that gentle green light.
This moment of solitude was devastatingly lonely, yet paradoxically, it was not lonely at all.
* * *
Hong Seol’s fourteenth birthday.
Nam Goong Baek did not appear.
Hong Seol’s fifteenth birthday.
Nam Goong Baek did not appear.
And at Hong Seol’s coming-of-age ceremony either….
Nam Goong Baek ultimately did not appear.
Instead, a box carefully wrapped in silk arrived.
It was Dang Yi Woon’s gift celebrating Hong Seol’s passage into adulthood.
Inside the box lay a hairpin carved from white jade.
The delicate peony ornament adorned with pearls was exquisitely beautiful.
The same beautiful flower that had bloomed in the Back Garden the day Hong Seol and Dang Yi Woon first met.
It was a sign that Dang Yi Woon still waited for Hong Seol as he had that day.
Upon seeing it, the cruelest words spoken by the one she had most longed for echoed through Hong Seol’s mind.
‘Marrying Dang Yi Woon and departing for Sichuan might not be so bad.’
Her complexion was clear and refined, her eyes deepened with maturity.
Now fully grown, Hong Seol held the hairpin quietly in one hand, her gaze cast down with melancholy.
* * *
Dozens of red lanterns filled the Estate Grounds.
Outside the grounds, the steward distributed large mooncakes to passersby.
Those who received them spoke their blessings.
“What a joyous occasion!”
“Such generosity! The bride and groom shall surely live as well as any!”
In the vast hall, elaborate peonies cut from red paper fluttered in the breeze.
The floor was lavishly carpeted with precious silk.
Upon it, phoenixes and dragons embroidered in golden thread gleamed distinctly.
As the bride and groom completed the three ritual bows, the hall seemed ready to lift away from the shower of blessings.
“Truly a perfect pair!”
“May you support each other and know happiness for all your days!”
The groom’s face, as he acknowledged the guests’ congratulations, appeared somewhat tense.
The bride’s face, however, was obscured by a red veil known as the “Crimson Bridal Veil,” making it impossible to see her properly.
Behind the groom and bride, strung along the long beaded curtain, were characters that writhed like dragons.
“A hundred years of harmony… and… consideration? Is that right?”
Yang Do Jin, who had been struggling to read the brushwork in a low voice, scratched the back of his head.
He had grown into a robust man, strong enough to hold his own against most merchants.
Yet those broad shoulders seemed to be shrinking inward at this very moment.
“No, it’s ‘A Hundred Years Together in Old Age.’ Look closely—the shape of the character at the very bottom is different.”
The one offering this gentle explanation was none other than Hong Seol.
Hong Seol often patiently explained characters to Yang Do Jin, who still made mistakes from time to time.
“It means a husband and wife living together through the long years, growing old side by side.”
Yang Do Jin furrowed his brow as if he still didn’t understand.
“But the wedding has been delayed so long already that the bride seems to have aged quite a bit…?”
“Shh! You can’t say things like that, Yang Do Jin.”
That was right.
Today was the wedding day of Deng Xiao Xiao and Jin Yeon Hu, the second son of Cheong Ryoo Moon.
Since he had agreed to become a live-in son-in-law, holding the ceremony at the Deng Family Estate was nothing unusual.
However, there was a reason the wedding was being held three years after the betrothal gift was presented.
“The groom has been quite active as a martial artist of the Martial Arts Alliance—truly impressive!”
“I heard he’s eliminated the remnants of the Demonic Cult more than twenty times!”
Even here, that cursed Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was the problem.
The Demonic Cult’s movements had become increasingly active of late.
Now they openly rummaged through various places across the Central Plains, beyond Xinjiang where the Thousand Ten Thousand Great Mountains lay.
Sects known to possess elixirs of immortality became their primary targets.
Because of this, the Nam Goong Family had fortified their defenses thoroughly.
Even now, with Hong Seol at the Deng Family Estate, ten martial artists from the Changcheon Division stood guard outside.
‘Rumors spread throughout the Central Plains that a great battle between the righteous and demonic forces would soon erupt.’
Even those who had come to the wedding felt it.
While congratulating the bride and groom, worry filled their expressions.
“I hear that even lay disciples from Kunlun, which borders Xinjiang, have returned to strengthen their defenses.”
“The Five Great Families are also assembling martial artist units in preparation for contingencies.”
“The Martial Arts Alliance doesn’t seem to be sitting idle either.”
The Martial Arts Alliance responded by dispatching martial artist units to locations where members of the Demonic Cult were expected to appear, based on intelligence gathered.
Thanks to proper interrogations of the Demonic Cult’s spies captured in various places, a considerable amount of information had accumulated.
The one overseeing this entire operation was none other than Je Gal Hyeop, the Supreme Commander of the Martial Arts Alliance.
“It’s been a while, little one… or rather, I suppose I can’t call you that anymore!”
At the familiar voice, Hong Seol’s eyes brightened as she lifted her head.
“Supreme Commander!”
A white silk fan covering his smiling mouth swayed gently.
Je Gal Hyeop, the Heavenly Scholar wearing a scholar’s robe, still possessed that smooth tongue of his.
“I heard you were busy… how did you manage to come all the way here?”
“Ah, the second young master of Cheong Ryoo Moon is someone I hold particularly dear among my subordinates.”
Hong Seol immediately grasped the meaning behind Je Gal Hyeop’s words.
‘So he’s saying I’m the General’s most prized servant….’
That explained why So So’s wedding had been delayed for so long.
“By the way, you little brat—when do you intend to keep your promise?”
He was referring to the agreement Hong Seol had made: in exchange for helping drive out Je Gal Seon in the past, I would serve under Je Gal Hyeop for one year.
A chill ran down Hong Seol’s spine.
‘He’s saying he needs a second servant for the General….’
Yet Hong Seol had already received Je Gal Hyeop’s kindness and favor.
I had no intention of shirking my debt of gratitude. But now was simply not the time.
“I haven’t yet completed the task I must accomplish, sir.”
My plan was to head straight to the Martial Arts Alliance the moment I perfected the Yin-Yang Divine Art.
But the devilishly difficult Yin-Yang Divine Art continued to hold me back.
“I see. I’m not so thick-headed as Byeok Chang Ho that I can’t understand your circumstances. So then.”
Je Gal Hyeop’s voice took on a subtle tone.
He then revealed his true purpose for attending the Deng Family Estate’s wedding ceremony.
“Instead, I have one small favor to ask of you.”
“A, a favor, sir?”
“Yes. Come closer and lend me your ear.”
After hearing Je Gal Hyeop’s request moments later, Hong Seol was so startled that I hiccupped.
“What? You’re telling me to go to the Northern Sea Ice Palace…?”

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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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