A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 256

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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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Side Story, Episode 2
“The truth is, I owe Je Gal Hyeop a debt from long ago.”
“You, miss?”
Mae Ran, unaware of Hong Seol’s past life, tilted her head in confusion once more.
“Yes. That’s why I promised to work under Je Gal Hyeop for a year once I came of age.”
Now that the coming-of-age ceremony was complete, the time had truly come to honor that promise.
Yet for Mae Ran, all of this was nothing but bewildering.
Above all, the household’s entire atmosphere seemed to collapse whenever Hong Seol was absent.
“D-did the family head approve? Does the former family head know of this as well?”
“Yes.”
Hong Seol nodded, her expression troubled.
She had already informed both of them on the very day she received the message.
“I didn’t teach that Je Gal Hyeop the Mirror Sword Technique for this!”
“…It would have been better if that Je Gal Hyeop had died in the Changnyeong Mountain Valley like in the previous life.”
Recalling the image of her grandfather running about in fury and the family head’s cold expression, Hong Seol swallowed hard.
But a promise was a promise.
No matter how long ago it was made, even in a previous life and in childhood, it had to be kept.
Hong Seol owed Je Gal Hyeop far too much.
From the corpse demon incident at the Changnyeong Sect to uncovering the truth behind the letter Je Gal Seon had received.
‘And that’s not all. In the final battle against the Heavenly Demon, he even sacrificed his own life.’
So Hong Seol had to go.
But when Mae Ran asked her next question, even Hong Seol’s firm resolve faltered.
“Does the young master know of this?”
“…No.”
“I-I see.”
At that moment, startled, Hong Seol suddenly lifted her head.
“What do you mean, something I don’t know?”
A long shadow had stretched across the doorway of Hong Seol’s quarters.
‘Oh, it’s my brother!’
With heavy footsteps, Nam Goong Baek drew steadily closer.
“Mae Ran, tell me. What is it that your mistress is hiding from me?”
*Gulp.*
The sound of Mae Ran swallowing seemed to echo all the way to where he stood.
“I, well, that is…”
Unable to betray her mistress or ignore the young master’s command, Mae Ran’s gaze suddenly shifted.
At the end of that gaze lay a letter resting upon the desk.
In the suffocating silence, Nam Goong Baek slowly examined the surface of the letter.
Upon discovering a familiar seal, his blue eyes blazed with icy fire.
“Je Gal Hyeop…?”
“I-I shall go to the Kitchen and prepare some tea.”
Sensing the unusual atmosphere, Mae Ran quickly slipped away.
In an instant, only Hong Seol and Nam Goong Baek remained in the Inner Chamber.
“Well, you see, that is to say….”
Before I could even finish my stammering words, he closed the distance between us in a heartbeat.
No matter how many times I witnessed it, his movement technique remained mysteriously exquisite.
My eyes widened.
‘Brother really does use the footwork he’s honed his entire life for such purposes. Is that even appropriate?’
I could have easily evaded, but I chose to stand my ground instead.
In an instant, my slender waist was caught firmly in his large grasp.
“Hehe.”
I gently pressed my forehead against Nam Goong Baek’s chest, feeling quite satisfied.
When I did this, the fragrant oil scent clinging to his silk collar would transfer to me, and it felt wonderful.
“These moments are the best.”
At those words, the resolve Nam Goong Baek had firmly mustered to argue with me wavered for an instant.
“…Really now, Seol.”
He exhaled deeply.
“So Je Gal Hyeop that scoundrel has summoned you to the Martial Arts Alliance after all.”
Nam Goong Baek’s perception was as sharp as his footwork.
He had discerned the entire situation from a single seal stamped on the letter.
“You know it was a promise made long ago.”
“It was merely idle talk from a child.”
“I’m not just any child—I’m the successor of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace and….”
I flushed as I continued.
“…the future wife of the Nam Goong Family’s young master.”
At those words, Nam Goong Baek’s lips trembled slightly.
My heart shouldn’t soften yet.
Barely holding back my weakening resolve, Nam Goong Baek spoke with firm determination.
“Then I shall accompany you to the Martial Arts Alliance as well.”
At that, Hong Seol’s entire face flushed as she shook her head vigorously.
“No, that won’t do.”
“Why not?”
Nam Goong Baek, who had expected me to welcome his proposal, furrowed his brow.
Wuhan, where the Martial Arts Alliance’s headquarters is located, is quite a prosperous place.
Countless goods and treasures flow there along the Yangtze River.
And the greatest of these is ‘talent’.
It’s a place where countless young martial artists gather, eager to make their mark.
‘Of course, half of them would be men.’
If they had eyes, they would surely covet my betrothed!
The moment this thought reached Nam Goong Baek, he unconsciously tightened his arms around me.
“Why can I not accompany you?”
Hong Seol squeezed her eyes shut and cried out.
“I, I simply cannot concentrate on my work!”
At her words, Nam Goong Baek, momentarily dazed, peered into Hong Seol’s face.
Hong Seol could not bring herself to meet Nam Goong Baek’s gaze and turned her head away, murmuring.
“You want to spend every single day playing around with your older brother. That would just turn into a honeymoon, wouldn’t it?”
“Then, is that not acceptable?”
“It absolutely is not.”
“But why?”
At his pleading tone, childlike and endearing, Hong Seol burst into delighted laughter and caressed his cheek.
“Je Gal Hyeop, Commander-in-Chief, did not earn the Martial Alliance Master’s favor through wisdom alone. My older brother foresaw this and imposed conditions.”
“Conditions?”
“I can only bring one Servant to the Martial Alliance.”
“What?”
Nam Goong Baek started to cry out, then caught himself, fearing it would startle Hong Seol.
Instead, he barely suppressed his anger and asked.
“An escort? You cannot even bring an escort to Wuhan?”
He asked this knowing full well that with Hong Seol’s abilities, she needed no one like Wi Sa for the journey.
He simply wanted any excuse to remain at her side.
But Je Gal Hyeop was not the sort of commander to fail to anticipate such a move.
Hong Seol replied with troubled eyebrows, knitting them downward.
“Twenty escorts to accompany me have already departed toward Hefei, he said.”
“…So the Commander-in-Chief played such a trick.”
Veins stood out starkly across Nam Goong Baek’s clenched fist.
“Then I must respond in kind.”
Hong Seol tilted her head in confusion.
Save when looking at her, Nam Goong Baek showed little change in expression, yet now one corner of his mouth curved upward in a subtle smile.
The reason became clear within days.
* * *
Beneath the crystalline sky of Wuhan, unmarred by a speck of dust, the main headquarters of the Martial Alliance stood in magnificent splendor.
Between the crimson pillars of the Cheonmu Hall at its center, a clear and resonant voice rang out.
“Myo Hong Seol of the Martial Arts World, pays respects to the Martial Alliance Master and Commander-in-Chief.”
It had been nearly a month since Hong Seol received Je Gal Hyeop’s letter.
“Ah, welcome! I look forward to your contributions within my Martial Alliance.”
Eon Soo Ryang, the Martial Alliance Master, gazed upon Hong Seol, who had clasped her fists in salute, his expression warm as if beholding his own daughter.
Yet Je Gal Hyeop, standing beside him, appeared distinctly displeased.
He stared at those before him with an expression of dissatisfaction for some time before finally opening his mouth quietly.
“I distinctly ordered clear spring water to be brought, yet fallen leaves—utterly meaningless—have been mixed into the basin.”
Je Gal Hyeop’s gaze fixed upon the man standing beside Hong Seol.
A silver-haired man with a sword-like object wrapped in cloth slung across his back, his face adorned with a subtle smile.
Nam Goong Baek, the young master of the Nam Goong Family.
So he had followed Hong Seol all the way to Wuhan after all.
Even though I had said beforehand that only one servant could be brought along!
Yet Nam Goong Baek remained unmoved by Je Gal Hyeop’s disapproving gaze.
“I am not a fallen leaf—I am a servant.”
“A fallen leaf that rolled in here has the audacity to claim otherwise! The young master of the Nam Goong Family arrives at the Martial Arts Alliance without so much as a word of notice.”
“I have not arrived to assault anyone. I have come as a servant to attend to Miss Hong Seol.”
“….”
Faced with Nam Goong Baek’s unrelenting response, Je Gal Hyeop, the seasoned commander-in-chief of the Martial Arts Alliance, found himself at a loss for words.
‘Have all the young people these days become so shameless?’
Yet the young man before him continued to respond with perfect composure.
“Was it not you, Commander, who said that one servant could accompany her?”
“What!”
Unable to bear it any longer, the Alliance Master Eon Soo Ryang stepped forward.
“Enough of this talk, young master. How could you possibly fulfill the role of a servant?”
Even the direct counsel of the Alliance Master himself did not sway Nam Goong Baek in the slightest.
The Alliance Master Eon Soo Ryang asked in exasperation.
“Tell me, is there any servant’s work your hands are actually capable of performing?”
“I can do whatever a servant does. Grooming, preparing tea, brewing medicine, running errands….”
As the words tumbled forth, the Alliance Master Eon Soo Ryang’s mouth fell open.
“If needed, I would not hesitate to warm my lady’s bedchamber, so please do not concern yourselves, honored elders.”
‘W-warm? What do you mean, warm?’
Upon hearing Nam Goong Baek’s words, Hong Seol’s ears flushed crimson.
“A-ahem.”
The Alliance Master Eon Soo Ryang turned his head away and cleared his throat.
“Young people these days really are….”
Commander Je Gal Hyeop was shaking his head in disbelief.
While all stood in shock, Nam Goong Baek continued speaking with perfect composure.
“I understand that the nights in Wuhan are still cold. Is it not the duty of a servant to prepare a warming vessel and attend to their master’s sleeping quarters?”
With those words, Nam Goong Baek withdrew a bundle from his back.
As he unwrapped the rolled cloth, a flat ceramic vessel in the shape of a bottle came into view.
It was a hand warmer—a vessel filled with hot water to warm the body.
“….”
Had Cheonmu Hall ever been this silent before?
For a long moment, the silence was so complete that even the scurrying of mice across the rafters could be heard.
But it did not last.
“So the young master of the Nam Goong Family carries a warming vessel instead of a sword—it seems you have no pride at all.”
Je Gal Hyeop’s sarcastic remark sent a chill through the hall.

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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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