The Beloved Baby Deer of the Hwangryong Family - Chapter 149
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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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‘Dragon Spirit, are you perhaps referring to the Landscape Vine?’
[That’s right. Those children followed your will to prevent that wicked deer from playing tricks, didn’t they?]
Seo-yu’s mouth opened slightly as she blinked her eyes.
‘Come to think of it, Seollin said that before too. That the earth listened to my words.’
Back then, Seo-yu had wondered if she might have developed special abilities herself.
But it was so different from the special abilities that the Great Antlered Deer Family beastfolk possessed that she couldn’t be certain it was her own power.
‘If that really was the power I possessed…’
Perhaps she might be able to escape from this place on her own.
But there was one problem.
‘Um, Dragon Spirit.’
[Yes. I’m listening.]
‘How do I use this power?’
[What?]
Dragon Spirit asked back with an expression as if he was dumbfounded.
Seo-yu felt a bit embarrassed but stubbornly continued her question.
‘But I don’t understand how I made the vines grow on that hill.’
[Why are you asking me that? Jeongdam would know your power well… Ugh! What are you doing!]
Seollin came flying and rammed into Dragon Spirit with her body.
[That, that crazy bird!]
Dragon Spirit, who was suddenly sent flying far away, shouted, but Seollin spoke to Seo-yu with a calm face as if nothing had happened.
[Seo-yu, when handling innate power, you don’t need any special method. You just need to speak your wishes. Just like you’ve been doing all along.]
‘Just like I’ve been doing…’
Suddenly, she remembered what the Qilin Family Head had told her in the Heavenly Medicine Forest.
‘It’s not difficult. Just carefully touch the soil like this and convey what you want to say. Then your heart will be communicated.’
Although her hands were tied now and she couldn’t touch the soil, she could still convey her heart.
‘But who should I ask for help?’
Seo-yu looked around the dark surroundings and discovered green stems growing in the corner where the clay pots were placed.
‘It’s Blue Thorn Vine!’
It was a plant that grew well in shady and humid places, a type commonly seen in the mountains. It seemed that seeds had blown into the cool storage shed and sprouted.
Blue Thorn Vine was a medicinal herb very familiar to Seo-yu. The leaves were used for burn medicine, and the roots were good for arthritis, so she had often gathered them.
However, as its name suggested, sharp spines protruded from the vine stems.
Seo-yu too had often been pricked by vine spines and bled while climbing mountains in her childhood.
Back then, those stinging spines felt hateful, but now it seemed she could receive help from them.
‘Blue Thorn Vine, could you use your spines to untie my rope?’
Seo-yu looked at the Blue Thorn Vine with earnest eyes and pleaded inwardly.
‘If you help me, I’ll be able to go meet my family.’
Then something unbelievable happened.
As if responding to Seo-yu’s earnestness, a clear green aura that bloomed from her body gently embraced the Blue Thorn Vine that had been crouching in the corner.
Hissss—
The reaction was immediate. The greenish vine trembled as if stretching, then began growing at a terrifying pace.
The delicate stem quickly hardened, and the downy spines transformed into thick, sharp claws like those of a beast.
The Blue Thorn Vine that had grown long approached Seo-yu’s side in an instant, like a spirit answering its master’s call.
Then it immediately moved behind Seo-yu’s back and wrapped its stem around the rope binding her hands and feet.
Scrape.
Slice!
The hard spines moved like saw blades, beginning to gnaw through the rope.
It was an amazingly delicate movement that didn’t leave a single scratch on Seo-yu’s tender skin.
Snap!
Soon, with a dull sound, the pressure constricting her hands and feet disappeared. The severed rope fell limply to the floor with a thud.
“Ah…!”
Seo-yu quickly brought her freed wrists forward and rubbed them.
Having finished its task, the Blue Thorn Vine smoothly retreated and rustled its leaves. It looked like a puppy waiting for praise.
Seo-yu stroked the soft leaves with an overwhelmed expression.
“Thank you, Blue Thorn Vine. Thanks to you, I’m saved.”
Rustle—
As if satisfied with that, the vine gradually shrank back to its original form.
Then it accidentally bumped the clay pot lid with a thunk! The vine flinched and stopped moving.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. I’ll clean it up.”
Seo-yu giggled and soothed the vine. Only then did the reassured vine return to its place. Fortunately, the vine seemed more vibrant than before.
Seo-yu stood up with her freed body and was just about to close the clay pot again.
‘Huh?’
Seo-yu, who had seen something, suddenly hesitated. Her pupils dilated instantly.
She remained frozen like that for a moment.
Whoosh!
Seo-yu clenched her fist tightly and quickly turned around.
And she was confused.
“…There’s nothing there?”
Just moments ago, Su-jeong’s figure had been reflected in the glossy clay pot lid.
So Seo-yu thought Su-jeong had come to find her again to cause trouble.
‘I must have been too sensitive.’
She hadn’t expected to encounter Su-jeong in such a way, so she was genuinely startled.
Seo-yu composed herself and turned back around.
But Su-jeong’s figure was still visible in the clay pot lid. Su-jeong was quietly looking down at the clay pot.
“Young Miss Su-jeong… huh?”
But strangely, when she turned around, Su-jeong wasn’t visible. Seo-yu was dumbfounded.
‘I definitely saw the Young Miss though?’
Then, long hair caught Seo-yu’s eye. The straight hair without a single curl was far from her own.
The color was different too. Instead of the usual golden color, she saw a dark brown-black.
Sensing something strange, Seo-yu hurriedly opened the clay pot’s lid.
Her reflection appeared clearly like a mirror in the water that filled it completely.
Crash!
Shocked, Seo-yu dropped the lid. The lid that fell to the floor shattered into pieces, but Seo-yu had no time to worry about that.
“Th-this can’t be possible…”
What was reflected in the water was not Seo-yu herself.
A face like a terrible nightmare—Su-jeong was there.
* * *
The Dragon Clan had always been blessed with good intuition for generations.
Among them, the senses of Eung-ryong, the greatest dragon, were beyond question.
Not only their five senses, but even their sixth sense was unparalleled, which is why they were always called the greatest warriors.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
Golden Dragon Li-han, who inherited that bloodline, trusted his instincts and shot up from his seat. He immediately left the sarangchae.
Since he had already noticed that Seo-yu wasn’t in the adjacent room, there was no need to waste time.
‘It’s toward the back garden.’
Following the traces of human presence wasn’t difficult either.
The reason Li-han had allowed Seo-yu to meet privately with the Young Family Head of the Great Antlered Deer Family was because he possessed such abilities.
Indeed, people were gathered at the pavilion in the center of the sarangchae’s back garden.
Using his dragon’s unique power to enhance his vision, the surrounding scenery came into clear view despite the distance.
Food was splattered everywhere, and bowls lay broken and scattered. Something had definitely happened.
Li-han hurried toward that direction.
Fortunately, he could see familiar golden hair near the pavilion entrance. It was definitely his younger brother.
“Seo-yu!”
But strangely, Seo-yu didn’t turn around. Even though they were close enough for his voice to be clearly heard.
Li-han quickly approached closer and called out to Seo-yu again.
“Seo-yu?”
“…”
Only then did Seo-yu turn around. A beat late, Seo-yu’s mouth opened.
“Oh, Elder Brother. You came?”
“Yeah, Seo-yu. Did something happen by any chance…?”
Li-han, who had been approaching with relief, unconsciously stopped in his tracks.
‘What is this?’
Something felt strange.
What was before his eyes was definitely his beloved younger brother Seo-yu.
The sparkling golden hair, the large round eyes, the round forehead—everything was the same.
Yet somehow he felt an inexplicable sense of discord.
It was an unpleasant feeling, as if he needed to put distance between them immediately.
It was a strange sense of rejection he had never felt even during the time when he was wary of Seo-yu.
When Li-han didn’t come any closer, Seo-yu tilted her head. That expression was unmistakably Seo-yu’s.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
What am I even thinking.
Li-han shook his head. Having barely managed to stand side by side with Seo-yu, Li-han looked at the pavilion and asked.
“The pavilion is a mess. What happened here?”
“The maid accidentally dropped the tray. All that precious food fell everywhere.”
“So that’s why all the dishes are broken. You weren’t hurt, were you?”
“I was hurt! Look here.”
Seo-yu held out her hand with a tearful expression.
“What?”
Startled, he examined her hand and indeed found a scratch on the back of it. It looked like a fragment had flown and scraped past.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like as serious a wound as he’d thought.
“Elder Brother, my hand stings so much. I want to go to the Medicine Hall… Would you take me there?”
Seo-yu, who never made a fuss over nothing, was unusually clutching her hand and drooping her eyebrows.
‘She must have become softhearted since coming to this place.’
That seemed to be why Seo-yu felt different from usual in various ways.
‘But still, this feeling is…’
Though that didn’t explain this strange sense of rejection he felt.
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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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