A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 267

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————

Special Side Story
The wind blew with considerable bite.
The Nam Goong Estate Manor was in the throes of winter preparations.
Hong Seol crouched in a corner, resting her chin on her hand as she observed the bustling activity.
Servants of both sexes hurried about in clusters, their hands moving with practiced efficiency.
Among them, one man in particular caught Hong Seol’s attention.
“Why are you moving so sluggishly, Mae Ran!”
The man’s voice was coarse, like phlegm rattling in a throat, and his face matched that roughness in every way.
“Hmm….”
Before I could stop myself, a dissatisfied sound escaped my lips.
As the salt-cured pork was exposed to the smoke of burning straw, a savory aroma began to drift upward.
They were preparing cured pork—a winter delicacy for storage.
“You’ll catch cold, Miss! Please go inside at once.”
Mae Ran, the servant who had been fanning the straw fire with hurried motions, scolded Hong Seol.
“I’m wearing such a thick padded robe—what’s there to be cold about….”
Barely had Hong Seol finished speaking when delicate snowflakes, as soft as a kitten’s fur, began to drift down gently.
“Hurry now!”
Pressed by Mae Ran’s insistence, Hong Seol had no choice but to retreat to her quarters.
“Tsk, how tedious.”
It had already been two weeks since I obtained leave from the Martial Arts Alliance and returned to the Nam Goong Family Estate.
On the first day, I was reunited with my family in tears; on the second, I visited an inn with Pal Shin Woo and ate my fill of fine cuisine.
On the fourth day, I met Lady Hong at the Fabric Shop and had new clothes tailored.
After that, there was little to do but circulate my inner energy morning and evening.
“Baek Elder Brother is rarely visible during the day either….”
He was the young master of the Nam Goong Family, returned after half a year. It was natural that he be occupied.
“Perhaps I should read a book.”
I picked up a volume that lay on the writing desk and sprawled out lazily.
“Records of Ancient and Modern Customs?”
It was a book documenting the customs of various places throughout the Central Plains passed down through the ages.
As I was halfheartedly flipping through the pages, I suddenly sat upright.
“That’s it!”
I had thought of a way to pass the long winter nights entertainingly.
* * *
Crackle, crackle.
The pleasant sound of a bonfire echoed across the broad courtyard of Changcheon Pavilion.
I glanced at the book tucked under my arm and checked the materials before me several times over.
There were several strips of supple bamboo, brilliantly white paper, fragrant ink, and a brush.
As I wove the bamboo strips into a frame and wrapped the paper around it, the materials took on the unmistakable shape of a sky lantern.
“So if I write wishes on this and send it aloft, they’ll come true?”
“Yes, Elder Brother! According to this book, it’s a custom derived from the ‘Kongming Lanterns’ created long ago by the elders of the Je Gal Family.”
Hong Seol’s eyes sparkled as she nodded repeatedly, several times over.
The sight was so endearing that the man standing beside her lips curved into a gentle smile.
“I don’t really have any wishes…”
The words spilled from Nam Goong Baek’s lips without thought. Hearing this, Hong Seol grumbled in dissatisfaction.
“How can there be anyone in this world without a single wish?”
At her words, Nam Goong Baek smiled once more.
Truly, there was nothing left for him to desire.
After crossing the long years, I had reunited with Hong Seol, and we had even become betrothed.
If there was one concern, it was only that the wedding day still lay far in the distance.
‘If only the Martial Arts Alliance’s commanding general hadn’t summoned me…’
Nam Goong Baek recalled the image of Je Gal Hyeop, the Heavenly Prodigy, and unconsciously clenched his teeth.
“Actually, now that I think about it, I do have one wish that comes to mind.”
At those words, Hong Seol’s face lit up with joy.
Nam Goong Baek wielded his brush like a sword, writing his wish without hesitation.
[Please allow me to marry Seol Ah as soon as possible.]
Whether Je Gal Hyeop’s heart changed or the Martial Arts Alliance was struck by lightning and rendered unable to conduct business—that was heaven’s work to decide.
What mattered was hastening the wedding with Seol Ah.
Nam Goong Baek lit the candle inside the lantern with fervent devotion.
Up it soared.
His lantern rose brilliantly into the pitch-black night sky.
Feeling strangely satisfied, Nam Goong Baek turned to look beside him.
Hong Seol had just set down her brush and was releasing her own lantern into the air.
As Nam Goong Baek watched her, a small question suddenly arose in his heart.
‘What wish did Seol Ah make?’
Could it be the same desire to hasten the wedding day as his own?
If that were the case, Nam Goong Baek was prepared to do whatever it took to remove Hong Seol from the Martial Arts Alliance.
His reputation and the prestige of the Nam Goong Family meant nothing to him.
To do that, he needed to know what Hong Seol had written on her lantern.
‘Peeking is wrong, but I have no choice. It’s for the sake of fulfilling Seol Ah’s wish…’
Nam Goong Baek drew upon his inner power and focused it into his eyes.
Then the round, childlike characters written on the surface of the bright lantern floating upward into the sky came into view.
In that moment.
Nam Goong Baek turned to stone.
* * *
Four days later.
“So Baek refuses to eat breakfast again today?”
At the stern voice of the Patriarch Nam Goong Ho, Servant Mae Ran bowed her head apologetically.
“Yes.”
“I simply cannot understand this.”
Nam Goong Ho shook his head and picked up his chopsticks. Only then did the family begin eating in unison.
Similarly, Hong Seol picked up her chopsticks and fell into deep contemplation rather than eating.
‘Something must have happened on the day the lanterns were released.’
There was no other explanation for why Baek Elder Brother would suddenly abstain from food and drink overnight.
‘What on earth could it be?’
But the real problem emerged moments later.
A servant sent by Nam Goong Baek arrived bearing unexpected news.
“The Young Master requests permission to enter seclusion for a time.”
At those words, Nam Goong Ho’s beard bristled instantly with fury.
“What!”
The Young Master of the Nam Goong Family, on the eve of his betrothal, was entering indefinite seclusion of his own accord?
Just as Nam Goong Ho’s fist, blazing with rage, was about to splinter the table, Hong Seol swiftly rose from her seat.
“I’ll go speak with Elder Brother, Grandfather!”
* * *
Three days locked away in his quarters.
Nam Goong Baek stared intently at the mirror reflecting his face.
Within it lay undoubtedly a young nobleman whose complexion had grown pallid.
Yet it failed to satisfy its owner.
“It’s still… rather plain, isn’t it.”
Sigh, how am I to live with this face.
Nam Goong Baek cupped his face in his large palms and hung his head.
“With this face, I cannot win Seol’s affection.”
The words Hong Seol had written on the lantern not long ago remained vivid in Nam Goong Baek’s mind.
[Please let me meet a handsome new man!]
Those words meant only one thing—his face did not please Hong Seol.
Nam Goong Baek suddenly lifted his head as if seized by resolve.
“Seclusion is the only answer.”
If I spend a year or two consuming grain substitutes and drinking only dew, perhaps the worldly grime will shed away and my appearance will improve.
That was precisely why Nam Goong Baek had volunteered for closed-door cultivation.
“But if, by some misfortune, even seclusion proves useless…”
Then he might truly be abandoned by Hong Seol.
His hand, which had been touching his gaunt cheek, fell away weakly.
A sound came from beyond the door. Nam Goong Baek’s brow furrowed.
He had ordered the servants not to approach his quarters for a time—who dared defy the command of the Nam Goong Family’s Young Master?
“Did I not tell you to withdraw!”
Nam Goong Baek flared with anger.
“It’s me, Elder Brother.”
At that familiar voice, he immediately regretted his outburst.
“S-Seol!”
Hong Seol’s voice came bright and unbothered.
“I brought the jerky I just made for you, Elder Brother. It’s so chewy and delicious!”
“I won’t eat it. Leave.”
Four days of continuous fasting had left my stomach hollow.
Though the savory aroma of pork fat made my insides churn, I had no intention whatsoever of letting that braised pork touch my lips.
‘Such an oily dish would surely damage my appearance.’
But Hong Seol was relentless.
“I’m coming in!”
Creak.
At the sound of the door opening, I hastily covered my face with my sleeve.
“Goodness, it’s been so long! Please, let me see your face, Elder Brother.”
Hong Seol, cradling the bowl of braised pork at her side, suddenly thrust her face forward.
“That won’t do.”
I quickly turned away, but it was futile.
As I twisted my head this way and that, our eyes met directly.
In that instant, Hong Seol broke into a bright smile.
“Even after four days, you’re still so handsome.”
“…What?”
I, momentarily dazed, asked with a pallid expression.
“Did you not think my face was hideous?”
“How could that be? You are Anhui’s finest, no—the Central Plains’ finest gentleman!”
“Then why did you write on the lantern…?”
I began without thinking, then caught myself like a clam snapping shut. But Hong Seol had already caught on.
“You really are something, Elder Brother.”
Hong Seol’s eyes widened for a moment, then she laughed carelessly and rose to throw open the window. A crisp winter breeze flooded my chest.
Outside, the male and female servants continued their winter preparations in full swing.
“Do you see that man over there?”
I sharpened my vision toward where Hong Seol pointed.
There stood an ugly man who looked as though he reeked of earth.
He was loudly nagging at Mae Ran, who stood beside him.
Hong Seol continued with a displeased expression.
“That man is Mae Ran’s lover. He mistreats her whenever he gets the chance, and he even cheated on her recently!”
I looked as though I had no idea why she was telling me such things.
“So I wrote a wish on the lantern. That Mae Ran would meet a handsome new man.”
“!”
I stood frozen as though struck by a vital point.
“So, that is, it was all a misunderstanding on my part…?”
“Yes, exactly. How could I possibly be wishing for a handsome new man?”
Hong Seol smiled brightly once more, then placed the bowl of braised pork on the table.
“Even when you become a grandfather, Elder Brother will still be the finest gentleman in the world to me.”
“…You’re lying.”
“I’m not. Will you stop liking me when I become a grandmother, Elder Brother?”
The moment Hong Seol deliberately pouted.
Nam Goong Baek pulled her into his embrace.
From her waist to her neck, two shadows melded together without the slightest gap.
His heartbeat—thump, thump—now coursed along her skin.
“…Don’t ever say such things again.”
Nam Goong Baek asked softly, his voice trembling.
“Tell me. Does this feel different from the day I first held you?”
“…No.”
“Even now, the sight of you stirs my heart so. Therefore….”
This feeling could never change for all my life.
Though neither spoke the words aloud, they harbored the same thought.
Winter reigned outside, yet whenever they were together, it felt as though spring breezes always blew at their backs.
And on some day when those spring breezes swept through, they would finally pledge eternity to one another.
Nam Goong Baek resolved to wait for that day without weariness or impatience, gladly and willingly.
For the small cat beside him was more than worthy of such devotion.
Special Side Story: Complete

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————