A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 43

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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 43
Within that room, Bing Yu Hua—who had abandoned martial arts long ago—barely managed to hold up a heavy sword with trembling arms.
The strain was so immense that the whites of her eyes were completely bloodshot, the vessels rupturing beneath the surface.
As if she were weeping tears of blood.
Bing Yu Hua’s vision was obscured by the blood streaming down her face.
Thud.
At that moment, something struck the wooden floor of Yi Yak Hall with a sharp sound.
It was a snow-flower-shaped hairpin.
Nam Goong On had purchased it at the Market District on his way here.
“My lady!”
Nam Goong On rushed forward and embraced Bing Yu Hua with desperate urgency.
“My husband…?”
Bing Yu Hua’s throat tightened as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Is it really you…?”
“Are you hurt? The children? Mother?”
At his words, hot tears welled up in Bing Yu Hua’s eyes.
“Why did you take so long…?”
“What are you saying!”
“You promised you’d come quickly… but you were… so… late…”
Behind the sobbing Bing Yu Hua, I could see his mother already collapsed on the ground and his son unconscious.
Nam Goong On’s face drained of all color.
“Mother! Nam Goong Baek!”
In that moment, the unconscious Bing Yu Hua crumpled to the floor.
“My lady!”
Nam Goong On caught her light frame in his arms. Cradled against his chest, Bing Yu Hua’s lips had turned completely pale and trembled slightly.
“I told you… not to go… like that…”
With those words, Bing Yu Hua lost consciousness.
“My lady! Is anyone here!”
Nam Goong On, his face ashen, suddenly looked down at his palm. It was stained with warm, sticky blood.
‘No, it can’t be!’
Alarmed, Nam Goong On examined Bing Yu Hua more carefully.
The hem of her skirt was completely soaked with blood.
* * *
After that day, the relationship between them changed.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that Bing Yu Hua changed.
Even now, three years later, it remained the same.
“…The breach of the Nam Goong Family Estate that day was due to spies that the Sichuan Poison Sect had planted in advance.”
She, who had always been sensitive and meticulous, transformed into someone honed sharp as a blade.
Driven by a single resolve: to protect her child.
“Can you truly be certain, Merchant Lord, that this pitiful child is not a spy from the Myo Ga Jang?”
“That is mere speculation. Moreover, I have investigated from every angle, yet found no connection between that day’s incident and the Myo Family Estate.”
It was the truth.
The Nam Goong Family had searched relentlessly for the mastermind behind the assassins.
Yet the investigation proved difficult.
No evidence remained.
Had it been a band of vengeful bandits, they would have targeted the Treasure Storage where countless treasures lay dormant.
Had it been martial artists coveting the Nam Goong Family’s techniques, they would have ransacked the Record Hall where secret manuals were kept.
But remarkably, the assassins had targeted only the Yi Yak Hall.
The problem lay in this fact: the Medicine Master, Bing Yu Hua, had been treating her mother-in-law Lady Wi’s ailing shoulder at that very moment.
And by coincidence, the eldest son, Nam Goong Baek, had been present as well.
“Had even a single wounded assassin remained, matters might have been different.”
Then by any means necessary, I would have forced them to speak.
Nam Goong On’s face darkened with regret.
The assassins who had torn through the Yi Yak Hall that day had retreated with equal swiftness.
The moment distant hoofbeats were heard, they fled with remarkable speed.
They had carried away not only their wounded but even the corpses of their own fallen comrades.
“All that remained at the scene was this.”
Nam Goong On withdrew a short blade from his robes and displayed it.
A curved sword with a handle crafted from buffalo horn inlaid with silver, its blade slightly bent.
It was the object that had been piercing a scrap of paper beside the fallen Nam Goong Baek.
A paper inscribed with the characters “Weak Age Poison.”
That was the name of the poison that had afflicted my son.
‘According to the Sichuan Poison Sect’s assessment, it is a poison that kills upon reaching twenty years of age, with no known antidote.’
If they had not killed the Nam Goong Family’s eldest immediately, there could be only one answer.
Resentment. Profound and bitter resentment.
But from where could such resentment stem?
Martial families inevitably accumulated countless debts and grievances.
I could not be certain who harbored such fierce vengeance.
“I have investigated exhaustively, yet found no martial family in the vicinity of Anhui using such a weapon.”
“But that is not proof that it was not the Myo Family Estate!”
At those words, Nam Goong On fell silent.
Someone had to bear Bing Yu Hua’s fury. She had already lost the child in her womb, and would soon lose her eldest son as well.
‘That someone must be me.’
For it was Nam Goong On himself who had left her behind under the guise of duty and righteousness.
I could not forgive myself either.
Bing Yu Hua spoke through gritted teeth.
“If Baek comes to such an end… I will never forgive you.”
It was then that silence hung heavy.
Something caught upon Nam Goong On’s keen martial senses.
“Who goes there!”
* * *
“I-I’m so sorry!”
Hong Seol’s face had gone pale as she bent at the waist, her hands pressed firmly against her lower abdomen.
“I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, truly.”
Her eyes trembled with fear, the eyes of a frightened child. She was breathless in her haste to explain herself.
“I thought it was all right since Wi Sa let me in. I promise, it’s the truth.”
Nam Goong On exhaled softly.
It was indeed he who had instructed Wi Sa, who guarded the Yi Yak Hall, to allow Hong Seol entry whenever she came.
“Very well, I understand. Come closer and pay your respects to the Medicine Master.”
The child approached hesitantly, gauging the mood with cautious steps.
‘Is this child truly from the Myo Ga Jang…?’
Bing Yu Hua found Hong Seol’s demeanor thoroughly irritating.
“Formalities are unnecessary.”
At Bing Yu Hua’s frigid words, the child’s feet froze as though encased in ice.
Nam Goong On called out in protest.
“My lady.”
“I shall consider the greeting given. And that dress…”
Bing Yu Hua’s gaze, sharp as frost, swept across Hong Seol’s attire.
Hong Seol happened to be wearing the silk garment Nam Goong On had prepared for the child.
Though Hong Seol had protested vehemently, Nam Goong On had insisted she wear it until her new clothes were finished.
“Now I understand precisely what manner of child you are.”
The words were edged with lethal coldness. Hong Seol’s small shoulders trembled, and she quickly lowered her head.
“My lady!”
Nam Goong On called to Bing Yu Hua once more, but she did not spare him a glance.
“I am occupied with organizing medicinal herbs. Please take your leave.”
Hong Seol lifted her frightened eyes to Nam Goong On, tears clinging precariously to her lashes.
Nam Goong On sighed heavily before speaking.
“Do as the Medicine Master commands, Hong Seol.”
“Y-yes… I shall withdraw at once.”
With her head bowed, Hong Seol departed the Yi Yak Hall in the same hurried steps with which she had arrived.
Once her presence had faded, Nam Goong On spoke with grave weight.
“Do you not pity that small child?”
“To me, she is merely a child who may well be a spy for the Myo Ga Jang.”
“Hong Seol suffers from the Yin-Yang Severed Meridian condition.”
At Nam Goong On’s words, delivered with the force of a hammer blow, Bing Yu Hua’s complexion shifted.
“What… did you say?”
“Precisely as I stated. That child possesses a constitution that would allow her to master the Yin-Yang Divine Art once her ailment is cured. In other words, our Baek’s very life hangs upon that child’s will.”
Bing Yu Hua’s pale fingers began to tremble.
“You mean to say…”
“I wish for you to heal that child, my lady. For her sake and for our Baek’s.”
“Does Nam Goong Baek know of this as well?”
“Not yet. I am uncertain whether the Yin-Yang Meridian can even be healed, and I did not wish to offer false hope only to have it snatched away.”
Bing Yu Hua fell silent, her lips pressed firmly together.
Indeed, how many times had she cycled through hope and despair during all these years?
In the midst of it all, her own son had become a boy with hollow, vacant eyes.
It had been long since he set down the sword he once cherished. When the Changcheon Master forced him to train, he would comply, but nothing more.
The boy who once wielded his blade with brilliant, sparkling eyes was gone forever.
A moment of silence settled between them.
Lost in bitter memories, neither noticed a white rat’s tail slip quietly into the shadows of the corner.
After a long hesitation, Nam Goong On spoke softly.
“And if it is possible… please treat that child with a little more kindness. He is always longing for his mother.”
At those words, Bing Yu Hua suddenly recalled her late mother-in-law, Lady Wi.
“Yu Hua, I know well that your heart is warm. But the people of this world must look closely to see it.”
These were words Lady Wi had spoken in life as she braided her daughter-in-law Bing Yu Hua’s silver hair with her own hands.
“So when you see those who are young and weak, treat them with a little kindness for my sake.”
Her mother-in-law, who had never scolded her and was endlessly gentle, had died with a blade through her heart while protecting Bing Yu Hua.
‘For my sake, treat them with a little kindness…’
As those words—which felt almost like a dying wish—returned to her, Bing Yu Hua’s heart grew heavy with melancholy.
It was the moment she lowered her head.
“Medicine Master, Lady Hong from the Fabric Shop has arrived.”
The words came from Wi Sa, who guarded the Yi Yak Hall.
Lady Hong had been waiting to offer her greetings after hearing that Bing Yu Hua had returned.
At the welcome news, Bing Yu Hua’s face brightened faintly.
“Very well, escort her to the Tea Room. Tell her I shall be there shortly.”

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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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