The Beloved Baby Deer of the Hwangryong Family - Chapter 24

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Seo-yu, who had unconsciously recalled her wish, shook her head vigorously.

‘No. I shouldn’t hope for anything.’

Even after getting scolded for being greedy and getting caught, here I am doing it again.

I’m really such a greedy person.

[Seo-yu, aren’t you giving us water?]

[Didn’t you bring new water today?]

Seo-yu, who had been dejected and blaming herself, quickly perked up at the soil’s pleading voice.

“I brought some! Today it’s water I drew from the Eastern Well.”

It had been three days since she received the key to Hyeon-ya’s Herb Garden.

Seo-yu had been bringing different water every day to a small corner of unplanted land.

“How is it?”

[Mm! It’s good!]

[It’s not as good as the water we had in the Forest, but it’s drinkable!]

One day Spring Water, another day Rainwater, and today Well Water.

She had given various types of water to the soil, but the reaction was never bad. Fortunately, water seemed to be less affected by the demonic beast poison.

‘But why did the soil in the Front Courtyard say they were thirsty?’

However, the contaminated soil was dying of thirst despite drinking the same water. It was as if it was rejecting the water.

For land that cannot survive without water, this was an extremely serious problem.

‘At this rate, it will eventually dry up and die…’

Beast-people take antidotes made from Jeongdam Herb, but contaminated land cannot be purified without the roots of Jeongdam Herb.

Even if the contamination isn’t serious yet, if the poison seeps deeper into the soil, crops will become more dangerous.

If such a day comes, all the people of the Eastern Region might starve to death.

“Ugh, no!”

Just imagining such a horrific scenario made Seo-yu jump up from her seat.

At times like this, she needed to study harder and find some kind of solution.

“I’ll go inside and look at some books for a bit!”

And so Seo-yu headed off to the Medical Room.

[But what was Seo-yu saying shouldn’t happen?]

[She said ‘ugh’ shouldn’t happen?]

[Who’s ‘ugh’?]

[Don’t know?]

The soil left behind chattered among themselves.

* * *

Don’t you ever get tired of it?

Isn’t that enough?

Take breaks so you don’t hurt yourself.

If someone asked Hyeon-ya what words he had heard most often in his life, he could choose those three sentences without hesitation.

Of course, excluding the useless evaluations about his personality.

That’s how much Hyeon-ya was the type of person who, once he focused on something, had to see it through to the end.

However, Hyeon-ya had never once thought that such a trait was bad.

Rather, he couldn’t understand why other people looked at him strangely.

And for good reason—wasn’t working hard much better than doing things half-heartedly?

“Hmm, hmm. To neutralize the side effects and increase the efficacy…”

He had certainly thought that way until he saw his small, young disciple—barely reaching his waist—reading a book while watering the herb garden.

“Seo-yu.”

“Ginger has warm energy… Yes! Did you call me?”

Seo-yu, holding the watering can, looked up a beat late.

Hyeon-ya looked down at Seo-yu with his arms crossed.

‘Dark circles under her eyes. Her eyes are bloodshot too.’

Except for her adorably cute face, it was an appearance very familiar to him.

Because that’s exactly how he had looked when he lived in the library in his youth.

“Are you perhaps staying up all night studying?”

“Ah, well…”

Seo-yu rolled her eyes and looked around nervously before drooping her shoulders. She seemed to think she was going to be scolded.

‘I wasn’t planning to scold her.’

Honestly, it was admirable. To have such an eager disciple who wanted to learn.

He was just worried that she might harm herself.

For the first time, Hyeon-ya understood why other people had meddled in his affairs.

“Don’t overdo it. If you don’t sleep properly during your growing years, you won’t grow tall.”

“Yes, Master.”

When he patted her head before his disciple could habitually say she was sorry, Seo-yu finally showed a relieved expression.

“I’ll send you some red bean tea, so brew it and drink it. It’ll be good for recovering from fatigue.”

“Thank you! Hehe.”

She even laughed brightly at his additional words.

At first, she had been so tense that she could barely smile, but lately she would occasionally laugh out loud like that.

‘Children should laugh.’

Thanks to her bringing life to the always quiet medical room, she was a lovely disciple in many ways.

‘Come to think of it, that Li-han has been quiet.’

Since their conversation together in Hyeon-rang’s office, Li-han hadn’t taken any particular action.

He had expected Li-han to go to Seo-yu right away and say something, so it was unexpected.

‘There’s no way he’s been convinced in such a short time.’

Li-han wasn’t originally a child with a bad nature.

However, his wounded memories were too vivid, so he couldn’t easily accept others.

While Hyeon-ya had no intention of sending away a disciple who would become a skilled physician in the future, he couldn’t force Li-han to accept Seo-yu either.

What could he do? They would become friends while fighting.

Hyeon-ya, who had no great talent for child-rearing, decided to think of it that way.

“Are the twins coming to pick you up today too?”

“Those two have an exam today. So I’m going alone today.”

“Well, the watering is done for now, so go and rest. It’s fine to finish early for once.”

“Yes! Then I’ll see you tomorrow, Master.”

Seo-yu bowed politely at the waist, tidied up her tools, and left the herb garden.

Hyeon-ya chuckled softly as he watched Seo-yu quickly focus on her books, then turned his gaze to the field.

Hyeon-ya’s eyes fixed on the medicinal herbs sparkling with green light.

“Hmm?”

Hyeon-ya tilted his head.

Somehow, lately the herbs seemed to be getting fresher day by day. If it were because the weather was warming up, it wouldn’t make sense since it was getting colder outside.

‘Did we change the fertilizer?’

No. We never did that.

The physicians belonging to the medical room would never touch the herb garden without Hyeon-ya’s permission.

‘Seo-yu only watered them. That child wouldn’t have done anything without telling me.’

Maybe it was just his imagination.

They looked very lush and green, but there hadn’t been any dramatic changes, so that was probably the case.

‘I must be feeling excited.’

When Hyeon-rang had said that, he had retorted asking what nonsense that was, but having an obedient disciple certainly made things more relaxed in many ways.

Just as Hyeon-ya was thinking it wasn’t such a bad feeling and shrugging his shoulders.

A sigh was escaping from Seo-yu’s small lips as she left the medical room.

“Research really is difficult.”

Seo-yu diligently read books every day. She also thoroughly examined the research records that Hyeon-ya had given her.

However, there was too much difficult content for Seo-yu, who had only just learned to read, to understand.

But asking the earth wasn’t easy either.

‘The soil friend from the west doesn’t know too many things.’

The soil that came from the Kirin Family’s territory didn’t know much about outside affairs. Once she could no longer give it new water, her questions ran out too.

‘I wanted to be helpful somehow.’

Seo-yu’s shoulders drooped as she lost confidence.

Of course, she hadn’t expected to quickly accomplish what even the smart physicians couldn’t do.

But when everyone else was working hard at their tasks, she felt so pathetic being unable to do anything alone.

Seo-yu trudged listlessly to the front yard and crouched down in front of the herb garden.

She was upset, but still couldn’t skip what she had to do.

“Hello?”

Seo-yu spoke to the contaminated herb garden every day.

She hadn’t heard a response even once since the first day, but she still made sure to say at least one word without fail.

“Not in the mood to talk today either?”

[….]

“That’s okay. You’re not feeling well, that’s why. Right?”

Actually, Seo-yu was frustrated too.

It would be nice if it said something, anything. Then she could help.

She had thought such things inwardly.

But she quickly felt remorseful.

‘The earth talking to me is something to be grateful for. It’s not something that’s natural, so I shouldn’t force it to help me.’

When she was still in the Western Region, Seo-yu had once resented the earth for not helping her find Snow Scale Flowers.

That had been truly wrong behavior. Only after hitting the innocent earth did Seo-yu realize how shameful her actions had been.

‘I must never do that again.’

After reflecting once more, Seo-yu carefully reached out her hand and gently patted the soil of the Herb Garden.

“It must be really hard for you, right? I’ll study hard and make sure you don’t hurt anymore.”

[….]

She still couldn’t hear the earth’s voice, but somehow the soil touching her hand felt warmer than usual.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————