The Beloved Baby Deer of the Hwangryong Family - Chapter 137

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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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Originally, Yeong-gwi who possessed divine power could read traces of sorcery cast by one another.

However, the last time Yi-eon had sensed the aura of his own kind was very long ago, when he had just left the Northern Lands.

That day, Yi-eon’s Mother cast sorcery to hide his existence in order to give Yi-eon freedom by breaking the established prohibition that ‘the Yeong-gwi clan cannot leave the Northern Region.’

More than five years had already passed since then, yet Yi-eon had never once encountered traces of Yeong-gwi.

But to discover sorcery carved by his own kind on none other than the Golden Dragon Family Head.

That alone was hard to believe, but what was even more surprising was the type of sorcery cast on the Golden Dragon Family Head.

‘That was definitely a curse.’

Curses were also a type of sorcery, so it wasn’t something Yeong-gwi couldn’t cast.

However, the Yeong-gwi clan never cast curses on others. It wasn’t because their nature was so virtuous that they couldn’t commit evil acts.

Sorcery was originally a special ability that exercised divine power to twist the laws of nature.

Thus, sometimes they would summon storms to cause confusion among enemies, set up powerful barriers to seal spaces, and even glimpse fragments of the future.

Such tremendous abilities naturally came with appropriate consequences.

‘Who on earth would cast such a curse while shaving away their own life?’

Yeong-gwi sorcery had backlash.

If one forcibly summoned storms in a quiet area, the price would be that clouds and streams in the surrounding area would dry up, making the land barren.

Especially sorcery like curses that contained malice to harm life had even more severe backlash.

The moment a Yeong-gwi cast a curse, they too had to bear the exact same curse.

‘Moreover, a curse related to Beast Transformation…’

It wouldn’t lead to immediate death, but it was a cruel curse that weakened the most fundamental power of beast-people.

The problem was that Yeong-gwi sorcery was only effective when the Yeong-gwi exercised their power.

To maintain the curse, they had to continuously use divine power, and to properly exercise divine power, they had to undergo Beast Transformation.

In the end, the Yeong-gwi was essentially torturing themselves. The Yeong-gwi who cast such a curse would be feeling pain close to death by now.

‘I’ve never heard any bad stories about Golden Dragons in the north… What on earth is going on here?’

As far as he knew, there was no conflict between the two clans. Nor did the Golden Dragon Family Head seem like someone who would particularly earn others’ resentment.

‘Why on earth?’

Yi-eon could no longer concentrate on his book.

* * *

“Your pulse is beating a little fast, but there’s no major problem.”

When Hwang Hyeon-ya finished the medical examination, Yi-ryeong, who had been stuck to the bed, quickly asked.

“Really? Dad really isn’t hurt anywhere, right? Uncle isn’t lying, is he?”

“Hwang Yi-ryeong, don’t you trust Uncle?”

“Of course not! Uncle lies and says he’s busy when he doesn’t want to play with us. Even when he’s not busy at all.”

“…I keep telling you that’s not a lie.”

Hwang Hyeon-ya hung his head at the perfect logic and gestured to Hwang Hyeon-rang lying on the bed to get up.

It was quite an insolent action, but Hwang Hyeon-rang had always been a soft elder brother to his younger sibling. Even now that his sibling had grown up and become the owner of the Medical Room.

Hwang Hyeon-rang got up without complaint and patted the heads of the three children who had followed him to the Medical Room in turn.

“I’m sorry for making you all worry. But as Hwang Hyeon-ya just said, this dad is fine, so I hope you all don’t worry too much about it.”

“Father, please don’t get sick.”

“That’s right, Dad. You can’t be sick. If you’re sick, Mom gets upset.”

“…If you’re feeling unwell anywhere, you must tell us.”

The three siblings, clinging close to the bed, spoke in turn. Hyeon-rang’s gaze turned to Seo-yu’s drooping head, her spirits clearly dampened.

‘She must be blaming herself.’

It seemed she thought the recent visit to the Qilin Family and her beast transformation was the cause.

Hyeon-rang wanted to tell her it wasn’t so, that it was just a stubborn illness acting up, but he couldn’t. There were too many listening ears.

“Yes, you’re all right. Dad will be more careful.”

As the head of a family and as the children’s father, Hyeon-rang didn’t want to show weakness.

If Seo-yu hadn’t figured it out herself, Hyeon-rang would never have revealed his illness. Just as he had with the other children.

However, his clever youngest daughter, who had discovered his incurable disease, seemed deeply troubled and hurt by it.

‘How wonderful it would be if this were an illness that could be cured overnight.’

Then he wouldn’t have to make the children so upset like this.

Hyeon-rang felt bitter, but for now, all he could say was that he would be careful.

In a situation where he couldn’t freely visit the north, a complete cure would be nothing short of a miracle.

“I’ll take care of Elder Brother, so you all go back and do what you need to do. Having everyone here just makes things chaotic.”

At Hyeon-ya’s dismissal, the three siblings had to leave the medical room.

Seo-yu headed to the library to find Yi-eon, lost in thought.

‘Somehow it seems like the intervals between Father’s pain are getting shorter. Today he was in pain even without using beast transformation…’

Could the curse have gotten worse in the meantime?

Perhaps the curse had noticed that she was making plans to defeat it.

With that thought, Seo-yu felt anxious and uneasy. She was so worried that the evil curse would torment and trouble Father again.

‘I need to hurry and deliver the letter to Yi-eon!’

What was truly fortunate was that Yi-eon, who lived by the sea, might know news from the north.

Seo-yu hurried to her room to get the letter, not wanting to miss even the smallest hope.

* * *

“Yi-eon, would you like to go to the village together tomorrow? There’s a village on the mountainside, and the rice cakes covered in bean powder are really savory and delicious.”

“Anywhere Seo-yu introduces would be wonderful.”

“Hehe, then we’ll go together tomorrow. Oh, right! Please take care of the letter too!”

Seo-yu waved her hands cheerfully as usual and disappeared down the corridor.

Yi-eon watched her until the end before returning to the guest room and immediately took out the letter. He felt sorry to Seo-yu, but he thought he should know what was written inside.

‘Seo-yu seemed to know that the curse on the family head was connected to Yeong-gwi.’

He couldn’t understand how Seo-yu had figured out the sorcery cast by their clan, but otherwise there would be no reason to specifically seek out people from the north.

Swoosh—

Yi-eon carefully opened the letter and read through what Seo-yu had written. It was clearly a letter written with care to convey her intentions accurately.

Among it, there was a particular passage that caught Yi-eon’s attention.

‘Medicinal herbs that grow in shadows?’

Come to think of it, Seo-yu had said there were medicinal herbs that needed to be found in the north.

The antidote that could cure the family head must be those very herbs.

‘But I’ve never heard of medicinal herbs that can break curses…’

Though he had hoped otherwise, Seo-yu seemed unaware that it was a curse. If she had known, she wouldn’t have bothered looking for medicinal herbs.

However, shadows were inseparably connected to his clan, the Yeong-gwi.

It was hard to dismiss as mere coincidence that medicinal herbs were related to such shadows.

‘What’s going on here?’

His head spinning from this incomprehensible puzzle, Yi-eon carefully resealed the letter and put it away before lying down on the bed.

However, even as the deep night settled with everyone asleep, Yi-eon could not easily close his eyes.

The image of Seo-yu’s tearful expression when the Golden Dragon Family Head was suffering lingered before his eyes like an afterimage, making sleep impossible.

‘…What if Seo-yu later finds out that the illness is actually a curse?’

Yi-eon roughly knew how people thought of the Yeong-gwi.

A clan that betrayed the nation out of vain greed.

This was the beast-people’s cold assessment of the Yeong-gwi.

‘Seo-yu might come to hate the Yeong-gwi too.’

Though he was used to being hated for no reason, if Seo-yu of all people distanced herself from him because he was Yeong-gwi, the pain would be too unbearable to endure.

But if he acted rashly, his identity might be discovered.

If they found out he had secretly escaped the Northern Region and was using divine power at will, he would be imprisoned in the Imperial Prison forever.

Yi-eon knew how dangerous and forbidden such actions were. His mother had emphasized this countless times.

Even so.

‘I need to find out what’s happening to the Golden Dragon Family Head. For Seo-yu’s sake, I must ease his suffering.’

Yi-eon didn’t want to turn away from the sins his clan had committed.

Though his mother told him to hide his identity forever and live quietly, after meeting Seo-yu, Yi-eon had learned how joyful it was to interact with others and live a life where his name was called.

So if possible, he wanted to atone in their place and show Seo-yu that the Yeong-gwi weren’t evil beings.

Having steeled his resolve, Yi-eon quietly steadied his breathing.

Swoosh—

Soon Yi-eon’s form began to blur. Conversely, the shadow cast by moonlight grew increasingly distinct. He soon became a complete shadow.

Yi-eon became a shadow and headed toward Hyeon-rang’s bedroom.

He didn’t forget to dissolve his presence into the darkness of night so the Dragon Clan, particularly sensitive to beast-people’s presence, wouldn’t notice.

Gliding through windows, tiny cracks in walls, door gaps… following small crevices untouched by light, Yi-eon instantly entered the bedroom.

Hyeon-rang was in deep sleep with his brow slightly furrowed.

Yi-eon stood beside the bed in shadow form. The powerful aura told him the curse placed on him was no simple matter.

‘Can I break the curse?’

It was uncertain, but he couldn’t not even try.

Even if he couldn’t break the curse, he might at least discover which Yeong-gwi had committed such an act.

‘Spirit Blood, please read the traces and reveal the past I don’t know.’

Immediately after silently reciting the sorcery, Yi-eon’s shadow seeped into the area around Hyeon-rang’s heart.

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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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