A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 42

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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 42
* * *
The Yi Yak Hall within the Nam Goong Family Estate carried the sharp, acrid scent of fresh medicinal herbs.
Standing alone in the center was Medicine Master Bing Yu Hua, her presence reminiscent of gently falling snowflakes.
Her gleaming silver hair and eyes as blue as the sky held an ethereal mystery.
“Sigh.”
Even her gentle exhale seemed to materialize as white breath.
She was indeed worthy of the Nam Goong Family’s reputation as their greatest beauty.
Clink.
I began organizing the medicine containers I had brought myself.
Sensitive and meticulous as I was, I rarely entrusted even the arrangement of herbs to others.
There were moments when my composure would crumble, however….
“Mother!”
This was precisely such a moment.
Like seeing my three sons again after so long without their faces before me.
“Mother!”
“Wail!”
Heuk and Jeok, their eyes glistening with tears, came rushing toward me and threw themselves into my embrace.
“We missed you so much, Mother!”
“Whimper.”
Heuk and Jeok clung to me for a long while, all dignity forgotten.
“….”
While the others expressed their joy, Nam Goong Baek alone stood quietly at a distance, his expression blank.
Seeing him still maintain that wall, my throat tightened.
“Baek.”
I gently soothed the two sons reluctant to let go and rose, then embraced Nam Goong Baek tightly.
My hand softly patted his back, conveying deep affection.
“Let me see your face, Baek. Are you well?”
“…Yes.”
Despite Nam Goong Baek’s reply, I examined his body carefully in several places.
“Exhale.”
Only after confirming there was truly nothing amiss did I finally allow myself to breathe easier.
Heuk and Jeok refused to leave my side.
“What have you brought us this time, Mother?”
Nam Goong Baek alone remained a step removed from the warm family scene, quietly leaning against the wall of the Yi Yak Hall.
“I’ve brought Dong Ja Ginseng to support yang energy, Bing Gwa to supplement yin energy, and a Soul Returning Pill that the Abbot of Shaolin specially gave me.”
“Wow! That’s incredible!”
They were rare treasures indeed. Nam Goong Heuk, knowing quality when he heard it, whistled in amazement.
Then the naive Nam Goong Jeok asked a question.
“Does this mean we can finally cure the First Brother’s poison addiction now?”
“That is….”
Bing Yu Hua’s head drooped heavily, her white lashes glistening with sorrow.
At the sight of her, Nam Goong Baek, who had been leaning against the wall of Yi Yak Hall, quietly turned and stepped away.
Click.
As he opened the door, the figure who had been standing outside all this time was revealed.
It was Nam Goong On, the current patriarch of the Nam Goong Family Estate and father of Baek, Heuk, and Jeok.
“Baek?”
“….”
Nam Goong Baek passed by him in silence, his head bowed.
From his demeanor, it was already clear that Bing Yu Hua had failed to find a cure for Nam Goong Baek.
“Hmm.”
Nam Goong On let out a bitter cough and stepped inside.
The effect was immediate.
“For the Patriarch to visit Yi Yak Hall in person.”
Bing Yu Hua’s demeanor, which had been warm and maternal moments before, shifted in an instant.
Distinctly cold.
“Children, you two step outside for a while. We shall dine together this evening.”
At Bing Yu Hua’s words, Heuk and Jeok scurried out of Yi Yak Hall.
“I pay my respects to the Patriarch of the Nam Goong Family Estate.”
Bing Yu Hua bowed to Patriarch Nam Goong On, her posture impeccably formal and without flaw.
“Please rise, madam.”
At Nam Goong On’s words, Bing Yu Hua clasped her hands and rose, her head still bowed.
“You must have endured much hardship on your long journey, madam.”
With Nam Goong On’s words, an awkward silence fell between them.
How he wished he could embrace his wife’s shoulders, whom he had not seen in so long.
“….”
Nam Goong On opened his mouth as if to speak, but only his lips moved.
Behind the standing Bing Yu Hua, various unpacked belongings were still visible.
Her medicine cabinet, now empty, as well.
Noticing that Nam Goong On’s gaze lingered there, Bing Yu Hua spoke with a chill in her voice.
“My medicine cabinet has been emptied.”
“Indeed.”
“From the state of things, it does not appear they were given to my children. Who took those medicines?”
Though not elixirs of immortality, they were rare tonics that nourished the meridians and invigorated the spirit.
The fact that they had been used without her permission to restore someone else’s body was something Bing Yu Hua could not bear.
Nam Goong On carefully opened his mouth.
“There is a girl.”
“A girl?”
“A pitiful child. She was abandoned by her own family and left to die, but Father brought her here.”
“…Her own family, you say?”
“The Myo Estate Girl.”
“My lord!”
Bing Yu Hua’s sharp cry pierced the empty air.
“My dear. But surely you understand—the plight of a child abandoned by her own mother.”
Nam Goong On reached out without thinking. But Bing Yu Hua, her face drained of color, stepped back.
“No.”
Her face overflowed with shock and resentment.
“You were always like that. Always putting something before our family. Even that night when the bandits came!”
In that moment, both of them recalled simultaneously that day three years ago when torrential rain had poured down.
* * *
The rain fell in sheets.
On that day of relentless downpour.
Before the Patriarch’s Residence of the Nam Goong Family Estate, an uncommon sight was unfolding.
“My lord, must you truly go out on a night like this?”
Bing Yu Hua, her swollen belly cradled in her arms, had rushed out and seized the hem of Nam Goong On’s robe just as he was preparing to mount his horse.
“The rain is falling so heavily.”
Bewilderment crossed the face of Nam Goong On, the young patriarch of the Nam Goong Family Estate.
She was a woman of such resolve that she had abandoned martial arts at the distant Northern Sea Ice Palace to marry him.
It was uncharacteristic of her to speak such words over mere rain.
He lowered the foot he had placed in the stirrup back to the ground.
“Come here. The night is cold.”
Nam Goong On lifted the hem of his robe to shield his wife from the rain.
The maidservant who had been rushing over with an oiled paper umbrella hesitated and withdrew.
Nam Goong On gazed at his wife’s bright face nestled against his chest.
His wife, cradling her swollen belly, appeared anxious today.
“With Father away on Martial Alliance business, if you leave too…”
Nam Goong On bent down to meet her eyes and gently cradled her cheek in his hand.
“Bandit gangs are running rampant. They roam from village to village, taking the lives of children and women, do they not?”
Thinking of his wife and Baek, Heuk, and Jeok, he could not bear to remain idle.
“But…”
“I will order the guards at Dongcheon Guard doubled from usual. Do not worry yourself so, and rest well.”
“My lord…”
Nam Goong On placed a firm hand upon his wife’s belly and smiled gently.
“I will return in haste before our daughter arrives. In the meantime, gaze upon the baby clothes you have already sewn and think only pleasant thoughts.”
“…You must return quickly. You must!”
“The moment I have dealt with those bandits, I shall turn my horse around and return.”
Nam Goong On, having gently soothed his wife, turned away with reluctance in his heart.
He too was deeply troubled at leaving his wife so close to her time.
Yet he could not remain.
It was the duty and righteousness of the Nam Goong Family.
‘She’s in her final month—it’s only natural that all manner of worries plague her mind. I should prepare a gift on my way back to lift Bing Yu Hua’s spirits.’
Only after settling on this thought did his feet finally move.
And a day later, when he returned.
The Nam Goong Family Estate Grounds had become a complete battlefield.
Moans of wounded Dongcheon Guard warriors echoed mournfully throughout the Estate Grounds.
But the vile beasts that had blackened the roofs the night before had already fled.
“What in the world!”
Nam Goong On, eyes blazing with fury, drove his horse straight into the heart of the Inner Hall where no one could normally ride.
He headed directly for the Medical Pharmacy.
The beasts’ target had clearly been here—the closer he drew, the more bodies lay strewn about.
‘My love… Please, please…’
As he approached with desperate urgency, the familiar acrid scent of medicinal herbs was overwhelmed by the thick stench of blood.
Creak.
The moment his trembling hand barely touched the door handle, a sharp voice cut through from within.
“Who goes there!”
Though blood seemed to cling to the throat, the tone was sharp as a blade.
“Hah… hah…”
Yet the ragged breathing revealed someone pushed to the absolute limit.
“No one shall pass this threshold before I draw my final breath!”
Nam Goong On could bear it no longer and burst through the door.
“My love!”

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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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