A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 266

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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 12
* * *
Nam Goong Baek’s hand trembled as he gripped the teacup.
“So all of this… the Matriarch arranged it? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“That’s right.”
“You deliberately spread that drug called Confusion Elixir throughout Wuhan, and you had Gyeon Young Hoo lure us into the forest?”
“I just said so.”
Nam Goong Baek was utterly speechless.
When he set his teacup down on the table with a sharp clink, Dok Bi Jo smiled faintly.
“Either way, you two are both my unofficial disciples. I couldn’t just stand by and watch you walk toward ruin.”
Nam Goong Baek spoke through pursed lips.
“We would have confessed our true identities soon enough on our own.”
“Oh, spare me! As if you would.”
Dok Bi Jo gazed toward some distant place, her tone tinged with melancholy.
“Between lovers, concealing one’s true heart is poison.”
Nam Goong Baek said nothing, lowering his head.
He could not fathom the weight behind her words.
In his past life, he had heard Hong Seol speak of this.
Han Seo Jin Immortal, the elder of Changnyeong Sect, had been Dok Bi Jo’s beloved.
Because they could not be honest with each other, the bond between them had fractured.
Though they parted ways, with each passing spring when peach blossoms bloomed, they yearned for one another achingly.
Dok Bi Jo’s voice, tinged with regret, resonated softly through the Tea Room.
“So you two must never harbor secrets from each other. Do you understand?”
“Yes!”
“Yes, absolutely.”
Hong Seol and Nam Goong Baek answered with resolve.
“By the way, that Dang Yi Woon has improved considerably in skill.”
Nam Goong Baek’s brow furrowed at the familiar name.
“Surely… you don’t mean Dang Yi Woon created the Confusion Elixir?”
“Indeed. Quite skillfully done, wouldn’t you say?”
Dok Bi Jo laughed, covering her mouth with her sleeve.
Nam Goong Baek gritted his teeth, thinking of his friend.
“So Hong Seol and I alone knew nothing, and we’ve suffered all this time…!”
“Both of you?”
As if that were absurd, Dok Bi Jo turned to Hong Seol and asked.
“Furball, you already suspected, didn’t you? That I was involved in all this?”
Hong Seol nodded slightly. Seeing this, Nam Goong Baek’s eyes widened.
“Hong Seol, you… When exactly did you…?”
His blue eyes trembled finely with a sense of betrayal. Hong Seol quickly waved her hands in denial.
“No, no, no! Just last night! It wasn’t long ago!”
Hong Seol deliberately avoided Nam Goong Baek’s gaze as she chattered on.
“A ferocious beast devoid of killing intent, a drug with no real effect, and being locked within a formation so we could spend time alone together. No matter how I look at it, something was off.”
He had to admit she had a point.
Nam Goong Baek himself had harbored doubts about certain details.
– I grant you one final day of opportunity. The Black Cloud Pavilion Master instructed me to convey this to you.
But I never imagined that message meant I was being given a chance to honestly confess that I am a wolf-human.
‘Come to think of it, after last night, I resolved to make that confession anyway. Perhaps I owe the old woman a debt of gratitude….’
Nam Goong Baek stole a glance at Dok Bi Jo, who was grinning at him.
In my past life, she had taught me the Bright Mirror Sword technique and passed half a decade’s worth of cultivation to Hong Seol.
Thanks to the Bright Mirror Sword, everyone recovered their past-life memories, so she was arguably the benefactor of the entire Nam Goong Family.
‘Now that I think about it, I’ve never once called her Master.’
In childhood, I called her Grandmother, and in formal settings, Pavilion Master—nothing more.
‘I wonder if she feels slighted.’
Nam Goong Baek’s reverie was broken by Hong Seol’s continued chatter.
“Most importantly, I caught a glimpse during the fight! There was a tattoo on the shoulder of the person wielding that great sword.”
The black feather with a crimson-stained tip was the emblem of the Black Bandit Gang that Dok Bi Jo commanded.
“If that person is the leader of the Black Bandit Gang, then the Black Cloud Pavilion Master must be your older sister, or at least someone closely connected to her.”
“Correct.”
Dok Bi Jo clapped her hands together.
“Well then, since everything has been resolved, I should take my leave.”
Dok Bi Jo rose to her feet, and Hong Seol stood up as well, her eyes suddenly glistening.
“Already?”
Dok Bi Jo was constantly wandering the Jianghu. Seeing her face at all was a rare occurrence, so Hong Seol’s reluctance was understandable.
“I am, after all, a figure of the Heterodox Sects. What business would I have lingering long in a place where the Martial Arts Alliance holds sway?”
Dok Bi Jo was well aware that her presence beside Hong Seol and Nam Goong Baek would do nothing to enhance their reputation.
“…Still, please do attend the wedding ceremony.”
Nam Goong Baek’s voice, suddenly heard, startled Dok Bi Jo.
Nam Goong Baek turned his head away, his face flushing as he continued.
“After all, you are our Master.”
The title of Master.
It was the highest honor the young lord of the Nam Goong Family—an organization steeped in Orthodox principles—could bestow.
Dok Bi Jo did not give a definitive answer, but smiled with genuine pleasure.
“Here, consider this a wedding gift from me, given in advance.”
Thud.
A heavy wooden chest rose onto the tea table. Hong Seol and Nam Goong Baek carefully opened it, curiosity kindled.
Their eyes widened simultaneously as they peered inside.
“This can’t be…!”
“No, Sister! We can’t accept this!”
But when Hong Seol and Nam Goong Baek looked up, Dok Bi Jo had already vanished.
Eternal Peach Blossom Wine.
A peach liquor imbued with the meaning of “never parting forever.”
The precious alcohol left behind by Han Seo Jin Immortal, the lover of Dok Bi Jo—the only one of its kind in the world.
It stood in elegant splendor, as if blessing the path ahead for Hong Seol and Nam Goong Baek.
* * *
Evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon.
Hong Seol and Nam Goong Baek sat side by side atop the Pavilion roof of the Martial Arts Alliance.
“What did the Commander say?”
Hong Seol had just returned from meeting Je Gal Hyeop moments before.
She had come to deliver a wooden box containing the antidote pills for the poison of the marriage contract.
“Ah, it seems bringing you back from Anhui was worthwhile after all? He looked delighted, eager to assign you the next task.”
Contrary to his hopes, Nam Goong Baek hung his head low.
“Sigh. I thought perhaps he might recognize this merit and send you back to me quickly.”
It seemed my wedding would be postponed to some distant future.
Nam Goong Baek sighed, gazing at the sky turning crimson, and spoke softly.
“Whenever the sun begins to set, I think of you.”
“Why is that?”
Hong Seol tilted her head curiously.
“Because it was when you cried in front of me for the first time.”
He was referring to the day, shortly after Hong Seol had first arrived at the Nam Goong Family Estate, when she had quarreled with Nam Goong Do, the young master of the Branch Family Residence.
As Nam Goong Baek recalled that day, mischief suddenly welled up within him, and he added with a teasing tone.
“Yet you were the one who left claw marks on Nam Goong Do’s face—so why were you crying?”
“Goodness, Elder Brother, you’re impossible.”
Hong Seol laughed at his playful jest.
The two sat side by side in silence for a long while, admiring the sunset.
“Seol, is there nothing you hide from me?”
It was a question Nam Goong Baek posed without much thought. Yet Hong Seol hesitated.
“Well, actually….”
“…There is something you’ve been hiding?”
Hong Seol’s face flushed, and she nodded slightly.
“I already knew you were a wolf before you told me.”
“What?”
Nam Goong Baek sprang to his feet in shock.
“How on earth….”
Hong Seol laughed awkwardly.
“Did you forget that I had mastered the Twelve Beast Martial Art?”
The Twelve Beast Martial Art.
The exclusive secret technique of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace that allows one to command twelve beasts.
And among those twelve beasts, there was certainly….
‘…a dog included.’
I was caught.
If that were the case, Hong Seol must have realized I was a wolf the moment I drank the Chaos Heavenly Liquid and transformed into a human form.
If I were truly just a dog, there’s no way Hong Seol wouldn’t be able to communicate with me.
Gyeon Young Hoo, you must have deliberately refrained from telling Hong Seol that I was a canine shapeshifter.
“Still, I was happy about it. After all, Elder Brother honestly told me the truth about your identity.”
As Hong Seol laughed with a soft giggle, Nam Goong Baek felt himself melting away entirely.
What else mattered? When Seol smiled so brightly like that.
“I promise you. I’ll always be honest with you about everything.”
“That’s wonderful! But sometimes, secrets like this one aren’t so bad, are they?”
“What?”
“You were incredibly adorable. The way Elder Brother looked so anxious as a baby wolf, afraid of being discovered.”
Nam Goong Baek covered his flushed face with one hand.
“Sigh, you’ve truly mastered the art of teasing me now.”
Was there anyone else in this world who could manipulate the Young Master of the Nam Goong Family so easily in the palm of their hand?
“Still, I don’t mind. Not if it’s you.”
At Nam Goong Baek’s words, Hong Seol stuck out her pink tongue playfully.
“Even if I tease you like this for the rest of our lives?”
Nam Goong Baek nodded. In that moment, his body swayed.
Whoosh!
Hong Seol threw herself into his embrace.
Soon, his large hands wrapped firmly around her shoulders.
Nam Goong Baek bent down and buried his face in the nape of her neck.
“In return, always smile like that. By my side.”
Though peach blossoms fade from life someday, and winter comes with a chill that bites at the nose.
What we hold in our hands, we shall never release.
From the wooden box beneath their feet, the fragrance of peach blossoms rose softly into the air.
And, true to its name.
The two of them were never parted again.
Side Story Complete

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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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