A Baby Cat Who Commands the Dog Clan - Chapter 46

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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 46
A profound longing bloomed within me, as tender and desperate as a newborn kitten seeking its mother’s warmth.
Even knowing that this mother was the very one who had abandoned me, I could not still the trembling in my heart.
“I… could I perhaps go as well?”
The words escaped my lips before I could stop them.
“Hong Seol.”
Nam Goong Ho did not scold me.
He merely spoke my name.
Yet I could feel the weight of his discomfort in those few syllables.
“I understand it must be difficult, since I am not truly a child of the Nam Goong Family…”
“No, that is not it.”
Sorrow threaded through Nam Goong Ho’s voice.
“If word spreads that you are here, it could bring danger. Rumors might circulate that you are a cat-human, and moreover…”
Your mother might attempt to harm you again.
Nam Goong Ho could not bring himself to finish. I hung my head low.
‘Grandfather is right.’
I know this. And yet…
‘I miss Mother.’
Even now, I can still hear the lullaby she used to sing before I slept.
Tears threatened to spill, so I rubbed my eyes furiously with my fists.
“My child…”
Seeing me like this, Bing Yu Hua’s expression softened with compassion.
“The porridge is too spicy…”
Bing Yu Hua peered into my porridge bowl. Half of the plain egg congee remained, untouched by even a drop of chili oil.
“My child, once you finish your breakfast, shall we take a walk together?”
Bing Yu Hua, sensing my troubled heart, led me from the Inner Chamber.
It was then.
“Father.”
Nam Goong Baek suddenly spoke up to Nam Goong On.
“I too wish to accompany you on this journey to An Hui Province.”
* * *
The carriage wheels began to turn with steady momentum.
They rolled toward the Yuseong Gate Estate Grounds.
My heart raced within that carriage.
‘At last, I will see Mother’s face again!’
Though I cannot speak to her.
That thought dampened my spirits slightly.
“Still, it is something.”
“Hmm?”
Nam Goong Heuk, who had been buried in the seat, suddenly straightened his posture.
“What did Jeok just say to you?”
“Oh, it’s nothing at all!”
“If you have something to say, spit it out clearly. If you keep stammering like that when you get to Yu Seong Mun, the other disciples won’t let you off easy.”
“Um….”
“Besides, they’ll probably bring up that story about your pants getting stripped off last year again.”
“Heuk.”
“Yes, I’ll stop.”
At Bing Yu Hua’s reproachful tone, Nam Goong Heuk buried himself back into his seat.
Beside him, Nam Goong Baek gazed out the window with an expressionless face.
For someone who had volunteered to go, his expression held little hope.
But Hong Seol had no leisure to observe such things.
She was too busy calming her frantically pounding heart.
‘I almost got caught by Heuk oppa!’
The azure martial robes symbolic of the Nam Goong Family, adorned with cloud-shaped ornaments.
Even the fluffy, shaggy hair covering the eyes.
Right now, I was the perfect image of Nam Goong Jeok, the youngest young master.
* * *
A few days prior, Jeok had suddenly come alone to my quarters.
“Sister!”
I was quite startled to see that Heuk, who always stuck to Jeok like a horseshoe to a hoof, was nowhere in sight.
“Jeok? You came alone?”
“Shh.”
With an urgent demeanor, Jeok seemed to have something pressing he wanted to tell me.
“Mae Ran, could you bring us some tea?”
Bewildered by the situation, I dismissed the maidservant Mae Ran.
Moments later, what came from Jeok’s mouth was enough to make me faint dead away.
“Sister, go to An Hui Province!”
“What?”
“You want to go to An Hui Province, don’t you? I don’t want to go. So if you use this….”
What Jeok offered were two masks that looked like pale human skin.
What they call human skin masks.
“W-what is this, Jeok!”
At the squishy sensation, I recoiled in shock. Jeok laughed brightly.
“I secretly took it from the warehouse—it’s what Changcheon Division uses!”
“They use masks made from human skin there?”
What kind of thing would even Heuk struggle to wear!
Jeok shook his head vigorously.
“No! This one’s made from pigskin!”
Looking closely, I could see coarse pig hair remaining in places. Only after seeing that did I finally relax.
“With this, you can go to An Hui Province looking like me!”
Hong Seol tilted her head as she held the soft, flabby pig-skin mask in her hands.
‘How on earth could this possibly work?’
No matter how she looked at it, simply wearing this didn’t seem like it would be enough to pass herself off as someone else.
“Look at this! Hehe.”
Jeok pulled from his pocket a worn book inscribed with 【Elementary Face-Changing】.
“It’s a face-changing technique that the warriors of Changcheon Estate learn!”
“Face-changing technique… you mean a method to alter one’s appearance?”
“Yes! With just a pig-skin mask alone, you can only hide your own face… but if you add this!”
Ah!
Hong Seol suddenly clapped her hands together with a sharp sound.
“I could become Jeok! But then again…”
A shadow of concern crossed Hong Seol’s face. Jeok, noticing her troubled expression, asked.
“What’s wrong, sister?”
“Well, it’s just…”
Hong Seol felt uneasy about deceiving the adults.
‘Unlike Jeok, I’m not a child of the Nam Goong Family. I can’t afford to cause unnecessary trouble.’
Yet it was also true that she longed to see her mother, even from a distance.
‘What should I do?’
Jeok’s heart grew anxious as he watched Hong Seol hesitate. With determination set in his mind, Jeok grasped Hong Seol’s collar with his small fingers and shook it.
“Don’t worry, sister! We absolutely won’t get caught!”
“But…”
“The face-changing technique of Changcheon Estate is of very high caliber. I’ve heard that even the Changcheon Master once disguised himself as an inn clerk for several days while lying in wait, and no one ever found out!”
Of course, using the Bone-Shrinking technique to reduce his physique had played a part.
Hong Seol’s eyes widened at those words.
Nam Goong Ui Gyeol, whose expression was as fierce as they come, had disguised himself as an inn clerk?
If that were possible, there was no way Jeok and Hong Seol would be discovered.
“Really…?”
“Of course! Since you and I are similar in height and build, it’ll be even more flawless!”
“Alright! How do I do it?”
At Hong Seol’s words, an excited Nam Goong Jeok flipped open 【Elementary Face-Changing】 with a whoosh.
“Hmm, it feels just like applying an illusion formation to the face. If you do it like this…”
The two of them spent a long time with their foreheads pressed together, studying the face-changing technique.
After two days had passed that way, they achieved results that were quite usable.
“Sister, how do I look?”
Jeok, wearing the pig-skin mask and having applied the face-changing technique, twisted his hair up in two loops and stretched both arms forward with all his might.
“Heavenly Thunder Divine Form!”
He was mimicking Hong Seol, who had sparred with Nam Goong Jong Woo not long ago.
Even his high, melodious voice seemed to capture Hong Seol perfectly.
“Flawless!”
An delighted Hong Seol clapped her hands in applause.
“Jeok, you’re amazing! All that practice with your voice really paid off!”
“Hehe, thank you.”
Jeok, who had always appeared simple-minded, now straightened his shoulders like a proper heir of the Nam Goong Family.
Now it was Hong Seol’s turn.
Jeok examined Hong Seol’s face—which he was now impersonating—carefully, and suddenly frowned.
“If I tie the bangs like this with the silk ribbon my sister gave me…”
“Don’t use the blue silk ribbon. That will hide your face even better.”
After considerable effort, the impersonation was complete.
Hong Seol looked into the mirror placed beside her. There, just as when she first saw it, was Jeok with disheveled hair covering his forehead.
“Success!”
“It worked!”
The two children, their appearances now transformed, faced each other and smiled broadly.
* * *
The banquet hall prepared by Yu Seong Mun was a pavilion overlooking a small pond.
True to the sect’s name—”Willows Form a Grove”—it was a place where graceful willow leaves offered respite.
The tables in the pavilion were laden with delicacies from mountains and seas, along with fragrant spirits.
“The Nam Goong Family has arrived!”
The moment Wi Sa announced this, the sect leader of Yu Seong Mun rushed out to greet Bing Yu Hua and the children.
“Master Bing! It has truly been far too long.”
“I trust you have been well, Sect Leader.”
“Of course.”
The people of Yu Seong Mun welcomed Bing Yu Hua with genuine warmth, for she had once cured the illness of Yu Seong Mun’s sub-leader.
“But why is it so difficult to see your face!”
“That is entirely my oversight.”
Bing Yu Hua simply smiled gently.
“Ah, forgive me, my mind is scattered. Everyone, please pay your respects. This is Bing Yu Hua, the Medicine Master of the Nam Goong Family.”
“Welcome, Master Bing!”
“To meet the renowned Master Bing in person is a joy beyond measure.”
“Since it has been so long, let us dispel our longing, hahahaha!”
Most were familiar faces.
Moreover, all of them were eager to exchange even a single word with her.
There was hardly a martial family in An Hui Province that did not wish to establish connections with the Nam Goong Family.
Save for one place.
‘The Myo Ga Jang.’
The family that had abandoned an innocent child because she could not cultivate martial arts.
‘That woman came here?’
Bing Yu Hua’s eyes turned cold as she surveyed the pavilion.

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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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