The Beloved Baby Deer of the Hwangryong Family - Chapter 114
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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At those words, Gi Tae-ha recalled the letter that had been sent from the Golden Dragon Family not long ago.
It conveyed news of his wife awakening from her long slumber, expressing deep gratitude to the Qilin Family for providing the Jeongdam Herb.
Looking back, he had found it strange even then.
It wasn’t as if they had been providing the Jeongdam Herb for just a year or two, yet it felt quite odd that such dramatic effects had suddenly appeared this year.
At the time, he had simply thought that what people commonly call a miracle had occurred…
But Su-jeong was saying it wasn’t anything like a miracle.
‘Snow Scale Flowers aren’t related to demonic poison. However, since they greatly enhance recovery power, they could have increased the detoxification effect of the Jeongdam Herb.’
Though the exact facts would need to be tested through experimentation, it was a sufficiently convincing hypothesis.
‘The child called Seo-yu, she’s said to be Hwang Hyeon-ya’s disciple.’
Hwang Hyeon-ya was a physician from the Golden Dragon Family whom he knew well.
His scholarship was outstanding enough to compete with his younger brother for the position of head of the Medical Academy, and he prided himself on unique ideas, so he might have tried new approaches with Snow Scale Flowers.
‘Why are you taking so long? It’s about time to go capture that girl.’
Su-jeong, who had been glancing sideways at Gi Tae-ha, felt the need to drive the point home.
She broke the silence and burst into tears.
“Sob, I’m sorry, Family Head. It’s all my fault. I was foolish. As her older sister, instead of just protecting my younger sibling, I should have somehow persuaded her…”
After feeling Gi Tae-ha’s gaze upon her, she wept even more sorrowfully.
“Hic, if the Golden Dragon Family Head only took Seo-yu as his daughter because of the Snow Scale Flowers… I’m truly so sorry I don’t know what to do…”
The reaction came immediately.
“I understand what you’re saying. Indeed, this doesn’t seem like a matter we can simply overlook.”
That’s right!
While pretending to hold back tears and sniffling, Su-jeong inwardly swallowed a bitter smile.
All this trouble had been worth it to hear those words.
“However, it doesn’t seem like something to hold only you responsible for.”
“Yes, right away… Pardon?”
Su-jeong, who had been expecting to hear orders to immediately capture Nok Seo-yu, unconsciously frowned before quickly smoothing her expression.
“I must have instructed you to be careful not to let information about Snow Scale Flowers leak outside, but if it wasn’t kept and was even concealed, shouldn’t the head of the Nok Family properly take responsibility?”
Such a rigid person!
Su-jeong suppressed her rising temper. Both father and son of the Qilin lacked flexibility.
While their frustrating personalities annoyed her, her insides grew increasingly anxious.
‘I need to deal with Nok Seo-yu quickly.’
Choa and the maid Choa had introduced said this matter must absolutely not be revealed to the household.
Father was already on Seo-yu’s side so he wouldn’t help Su-jeong, and Elder Brother also wouldn’t disobey Father’s orders.
Su-jeong had agreed with those words.
So she hadn’t brought a single family member to the festival, using the excuse of having something to help with while secretly bringing only guard warriors. All to pressure Seo-yu and drag her to the palace.
But the plan had gone awry, and far from sending Nok Seo-yu to prison, she had only made herself look like a fool.
Unable to quell her anger, she had even exposed Nok Seo-yu’s secret that Father had so earnestly entrusted to her, but now that it had come to this, her heart was pounding.
‘If Father finds out, he’ll be furious that I didn’t listen to him.’
So she had to clean this up quickly. If she could drive out Nok Seo-yu before her own mistake was discovered, Father wouldn’t say anything.
Su-jeong quickly added her words.
“Of course Father feels terribly guilty about it too. But shouldn’t questioning Seo-yu come first?”
“I never said I’d just leave it alone. First, Su-jeong, I’m thinking of confirming whether what you said is true. I’ll send a communication tube to the Golden Dragon Family so I can have a separate conversation with The Child.”
So Gi Tae-ha was saying he would proceed with the matter following proper procedures.
Su-jeong was flabbergasted. How long was she supposed to wait for that? She couldn’t just let time drag on like this indefinitely.
‘When are these guys going to come… They’re here!’
Su-jeong, who had been biting her lips nervously, brightened at the familiar presence she felt from outside. It was definitely the guard warriors.
“There’s no need for that! I already called for them in advance.”
“Called for them? You mean that child?”
Gi Tae-ha’s brow furrowed slightly, but Su-jeong didn’t notice as she nodded her head.
“Yes. Since it’s a mistake I made, I thought I should be the one to clean it up.”
Just then, a voice calling for Su-jeong could be heard from outside.
“Miss Su-jeong, are you inside?”
“Yes, come in!”
At Su-jeong’s confident permission, as if she had already become the master of the Qilin Family, Gi Tae-ha silently hardened his expression.
Regardless of that, Su-jeong was so delighted that things were finally going according to her will that she couldn’t see what was around her.
“Family Head, it’s late but I’ll try to restore everything back to how it was.”
She was just thinking about getting rid of the troublesome burden and unconsciously swallowing the humming that was about to escape.
* * *
Right after the Great Antlered Deer Family’s guard warriors took Seo-yu away.
Cho-ok, who had hidden behind the tent and watched the entire scene, fell into deep thought.
The small figure of Seo-yu being dragged away surrounded by large warriors was still vivid in her eyes. So was Seo-yu’s flustered expression as she turned her head to look this way.
‘Shouldn’t I inform the Golden Dragon Family?’
Cho-ok bit her lips nervously.
She had definitely waved her hand telling Seo-yu to run away.
With all her might, she had tried to warn her of danger with her whole body.
But Seo-yu hadn’t noticed Cho-ok’s desperate signal, and ended up being caught by the guard warriors.
‘But… what if I inform them and it gets revealed that I was involved?’
The ill-tempered Su-jeong wouldn’t just let it slide. If she was lucky, it would end with a birch rod beating, but if Madam found out, she could be kicked out of the household.
Cho-ok recalled the maid who had been kicked out recently for crossing Su-jeong just like she had.
That girl hadn’t done anything wrong. Su-jeong had just been in a bad mood.
‘That could happen to me too.’
Her heart sank.
If she caused trouble and got kicked out from the Great Antlered Deer Family, which had risen to the position of Sa-ryeong-ryeong, there would be no place for her in the Western Region.
If she was branded as someone who tarnished the household’s honor, no one would accept her anywhere.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t worried about Seo-yu. But not as much as her own safety.
She had already been kicked out once by Miss Su-jeong. She didn’t want to experience that humiliation again.
‘…That can’t happen.’
Cho-ok shook her head and comforted herself.
‘I definitely told Miss Seo-yu to run away. Just doing that much was enough of what I should do.’
That’s right. She had done her best.
Cho-ok had rushed to find Seo-yu the moment Su-jeong summoned her guard warriors. Honestly, it was an act that involved tremendous risk.
If Su-jeong had caught her, there was no telling what might have happened to her on the spot.
‘Actually, this might be better for me.’
If Seo-yu disappeared with this opportunity, the situation might improve.
Su-jeong’s nerves had been particularly sharp lately all because of Seo-yu, so things could be quiet for a while.
So Cho-ok could just live cowardly as she always had.
Cho-ok already knew well how comfortable and carefree that path was.
‘Right, it’s not my fault.’
Just as Cho-ok was comforting herself and about to take a step forward.
A question suddenly popped into her mind.
‘…Then what did Miss Seo-yu do wrong?’
Unlike Su-jeong, Seo-yu had been consistently kind since childhood and had never once harmed anyone.
Far from it, she had been kind even to Cho-ok, who had helped Su-jeong torment her.
Perhaps that was why Su-jeong particularly hated Seo-yu. Because she was fundamentally different from Su-jeong, a good person.
Sometimes to the point of seeming foolish.
‘But Cho-ok, I’m not afraid of Miss Su-jeong or you anymore.’
So with her still frail and small body, she would say such ridiculous things.
‘That’s just Miss Seo-yu being strange, and I’m scared.’
That’s when her gaze fell on the small mirror hanging in the tent.
Her cheeks, which had been swollen red and inflamed, had now completely healed with the swelling gone. The scratches from fingernails were no longer visible either.
It was all thanks to the ointment Seo-yu had given her.
Cho-ok quietly touched her cheek that no longer stung and murmured softly.
“…I shouldn’t have accepted that.”
Cho-ok was still afraid of Su-jeong. She had neither the courage to fight against her nor the spirit to oppose the household she belonged to.
But.
Even so.
‘Blonde hair… right.’
She couldn’t forget the small kindness Seo-yu had shown her that day.
‘Blonde hair, blonde hair…!’
Cho-ok frantically ran out into the street to find the Golden Dragon Family members.
* * *
“Please tell my parents… no, Master and Elder Brother are at the herb exhibition hall up ahead. Could you at least call those two first? Please?”
Walking as if being dragged, Seo-yu pleaded with the warriors.
“That’s not within my jurisdiction.”
However, the guard warriors didn’t even pretend to listen and just repeated the same words like parrots.
They even surrounded Seo-yu with their large frames as they walked, making it impossible to see outside, as if she were trapped by walls on all sides.
‘If I suddenly disappear, everyone will be worried…’
Seo-yu was more afraid of being unable to contact her family than being dragged off to some unknown place like this.
Eventually, Seo-yu arrived somewhere.
“Yes, come in!”
As expected, Su-jeong’s voice could be heard from inside.
“Please enter.”
Regardless of her will, her back was pushed and she was forced to enter the room.
‘Whoa.’
Because of this, Seo-yu nearly fell over but barely managed to regain her balance and compose herself.
Seo-yu, who had been crouching awkwardly, raised her head and flinched.
“Oh my, what should I do. Are you alright?”
Su-jeong was extending her hand with a pitying expression. As if telling her to take her hand.
For a moment, that image overlapped with the past Su-jeong who had pushed her off the cliff’s edge.
Seo-yu instinctively shrank back and took a step backward.
Su-jeong, who had been turning her back to Gi Tae-ha, openly frowned, but she soon composed her expression and spoke as if hurt.
“So now you don’t even want to hold my hand.”
Seo-yu doubted her ears.
‘Now?’
The two of them had never once held hands. The only times their bodies had touched was when she got hit for rubbing Su-jeong the wrong way.
Come to think of it, her attitude was strange too. Su-jeong was treating her with a gentle face and tone that Seo-yu had never seen before.
Confused by the change she couldn’t adapt to at all, Seo-yu belatedly realized that there was another person in the room besides Su-jeong and herself.
The person she had temporarily forgotten about while her mind went blank during the journey here.
‘This person is the Qilin Family Head…’
The head of the Qilin Family, Gi Tae-ha, was standing right before her eyes.
The Qilin Family Head she was seeing for the first time was truly a beautiful person.
Unlike Hwang Hyeon-rang who looked dignified and reliable just by looking at him, he exuded a soft and gentle atmosphere.
‘…What is this? This comfortable feeling.’
For some unknown reason, he was a person who gave a strange feeling of inner peace just by looking at each other.
Perhaps this was the Qilin Power, called the origin of Medical Arts.
Meanwhile, Gi Tae-ha’s gaze was also directed toward Seo-yu.
From the moment Seo-yu raised her head, his eyes remained fixed on The Child’s face without moving even an inch.
‘Why?’
It was certainly a child he was seeing for the first time, yet strangely, The Child didn’t feel unfamiliar to him.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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