The Beloved Baby Deer of the Hwangryong Family - Chapter 41

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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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Li-han clicked his tongue.

He thought he was having all sorts of useless thoughts when he came out to work.

Just then, a rumbling sound came from beside him. It was the sound coming from Seo-yu’s stomach.

‘What a handful.’

Li-han, who had been holding back a sigh, finally asked first.

“Is there anything you want to eat?”

“I-I’m fine with anything.”

“There’s no food called ‘anything.'”

“Uh, um…”

At his blunt reply, Seo-yu rolled her eyes around. Her face looked troubled.

“Never mind. I’ll buy something myself, so wait here.”

She couldn’t even properly choose something to eat.

Li-han headed toward a stall selling snacks.

Rice cakes shaped into round balls and covered with bean powder looked quite appetizing.

“Young master, would you like some rice cake?”

“Yes. Pack up a reasonable amount.”

After paying, Li-han casually looked around and inadvertently glanced at the stall next to him.

The stall was filled with various small items.

Hair ribbons, ornamental pendants, handkerchiefs… things that young girls would mainly like.

He suddenly remembered Seo-yu looking enviously at the child receiving a gift.

It wasn’t that he had any particular good feelings toward the young deer, but Li-han also had a younger sibling, so he couldn’t help but feel concerned.

When he turned his head slightly, he saw Seo-yu tidying her hair with her fingertips.

She had been constantly touching her hair since earlier, apparently quite bothered by her hair that had become disheveled in the wind while flying.

“I’ll buy this one too.”

After deliberating, Li-han eventually purchased an additional item and returned to Seo-yu.

“We’ll eat dinner when we get back, so satisfy your hunger with this for now.”

Seo-yu, who had been obediently standing in place as instructed, received the rice cake from Li-han.

Seo-yu hesitated at the injeolmi that gave off a fragrant aroma of bean coating.

“May I really eat this?”

“Don’t you like rice cake?”

“I love it!”

Seo-yu answered hastily, then immediately spoke once more with emphasis.

“I really, really love it.”

“Good then.”

Li-han’s voice was utterly indifferent, but Seo-yu didn’t mind.

She simply carefully picked up the injeolmi covered with bean powder and put it in her mouth.

The soft rice cake made chewy sounds as she chewed, and the nutty bean coating and sweet taste spread throughout her mouth.

“Mm!”

It was so delicious that she couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

‘Is it really that tasty?’

Li-han couldn’t understand Seo-yu at all, who looked like she owned the whole world over just one rice cake.

“I’m not particularly hungry, so you can eat it all.”

“Th-thank you.”

She was eating so hastily that even her pronunciation when giving thanks was all garbled.

‘As if someone might steal it from her.’

Li-han let out a hollow laugh and watched Seo-yu’s wheat-colored hair blowing in the wind before putting his hand in his pouch.

When he came to his senses, he realized it was a gift he had bought for Seo-yu.

“Take this too if you want it.”

“This is…”

Seo-yu blinked her eyes. What Li-han handed her was a hair ribbon made of clear blue silk.

‘Could he really be giving me a gift?’

No way. Why would the young master give me a gift?

“Are you… giving this to me?”

Seo-yu asked cautiously while thinking it couldn’t be possible. But Li-han nodded briefly.

“Yes. It’s not particularly expensive, so if you don’t like it, you can throw it away…”

It really was a gift for me.

Before she could stop herself, her eyes reddened. Tears formed drop by drop. Her nose tip and throat were both hot.

Sensing something strange, Li-han cut off his words and asked back.

“Why are you crying?”

“N-no, I’m… *cough*, I’m not crying.”

Seo-yu shook her head vigorously. The intelligent young master didn’t seem to believe her, but she also wiped her eyes with her sleeves.

“Thank you, young master. I truly thank you.”

Seo-yu smiled slightly while holding the hair ribbon preciously in both hands.

Earlier, watching the mother and daughter exchange birthday gifts had made her very envious and heartbroken, but that sadness felt like it flew away all at once.

Seo-yu looked at the hair ribbon in her hands several times, then glanced around before asking Li-han.

“Um, young master. If it’s alright with you, could I think of this as my birthday gift?”

“…Birthday?”

“O-of course I won’t tell other people that I received it from you, young master. It’s just that I don’t know when my birthday is… so I’ve never received a birthday gift before. But I heard it’s in winter, and since it’s winter now…”

Seo-yu, who had been rambling with reddened eyes, became dejected. She thought the young master might have been offended.

“…I’m sorry. I made an unreasonable request, didn’t I?”

Li-han was silent for a moment.

At first, he couldn’t understand himself for unconsciously buying a gift, then he couldn’t understand the child who was overly amazed by such a trivial gift.

And now he didn’t want to understand the situation.

‘She’s never received a birthday gift before?’

That alone made him guess what kind of environment Seo-yu had lived in. For a moment, Li-han felt as if he’d been hit in the back of the head.

And he hoped he was mistaken.

If it were true, wouldn’t the child be too pitiful?

“Your thoughts are your own freedom. I have no authority to say anything about it.”

Though his feelings were complicated, Li-han answered while trying to seem indifferent. Seo-yu blinked as if interpreting his words.

“It means do as you please.”

Li-han awkwardly turned his gaze elsewhere, while Seo-yu, holding the hair ribbon in her hand, smiled very brightly.

* * *

A day passed, and Seo-yu headed to the Cloud Bridge as usual.

Unlike the past few days when she could only tremble, she was now able to approach closer to the cliff.

But simply looking was not enough.

‘In the end, I need to be able to jump off the cliff myself.’

Seo-yu thought she needed to get used to falling.

If she, who had no wings, just jumped off the cliff, it would be a disaster.

So to be able to jump safely onto the Cloud Bridge without getting hurt, she first needed to know how to jump from high places.

‘How should I practice falling?’

She needed a practice method that wouldn’t cause injury and could be done secretly.

‘If something soft like clouds could cushion me, I wouldn’t get hurt… Wait, soft?’

Then she came up with the idea of laying something soft on the ground and jumping onto it.

That evening, Seo-yu asked Yi-ryeong and Li-gon to help her gather all the straw and straw bundles together.

“But why straw all of a sudden?”

“I want to pile up lots of straw and practice falling onto it. That way I can practice without getting hurt, don’t you think?”

“Oh, that really would work!”

“We’ll quickly gather it for you!”

The twins and Seo-yu went around diligently collecting straw and piled the straw bundles under a large rock.

Next, they decided to think of the softly laid straw bundles as the Cloud Bridge and practice jumping onto them.

Of course, before Seo-yu tried it, Yi-ryeong and Li-gon experimented first.

“Oh, it really doesn’t hurt?”

“With this, our youngest can definitely practice!”

The twins, who had taken turns jumping from the rock onto the straw bundles, looked at Seo-yu and nodded as if giving permission.

However, they warned her to be careful since she could get hurt when doing it alone.

“Then I’ll try it this time.”

Seo-yu climbed onto the large rock and took a deep breath. Even though it was just a rock where she could clearly see below, not a dizzying cliff, her body stiffened completely.

Her body kept trying to step back in fear, but Seo-yu stood firm.

She absolutely didn’t want to give up.

‘I want Young Master Li-han to be happy.’

Before, she had simply wanted to prove her own usefulness. But now it was different.

Seo-yu simply wished for Li-han, the twins, and everyone in this family clan to be happy.

She wanted to share with others the joy and emotion that Li-han had given her.

To do that, she had to heal Madam who was sleeping in the Dragon Palace. Madam’s health would mean everyone’s happiness.

That feeling summoned courage.

“Ahhh!”

Seo-yu finally succeeded in jumping off the rock.

“How is it, youngest? Does it hurt a lot?”

“That was scary!”

“I’m fine.”

Though fear was greater than pain, Seo-yu answered bravely. And starting from that, she climbed up and down the rock several times.

After climbing up and down the rock that was somewhat high for Seo-yu’s height several times, sweat poured down like rain and she was exhausted, but her mind felt refreshed instead.

‘I’m getting more and more used to it.’

At this rate, the day she could jump directly onto the Cloud Bridge wouldn’t be far off.

After finishing her practice, Seo-yu returned straight to her quarters and checked on her flower pot. It was the pot where Snow Scale Flower and Jeongdam Herb were planted side by side.

“I’m back, you two. Today I practiced falling from a rock for the first time.”

Seo-yu, who was about to water the pot while speaking gently as if whispering to real friends, rubbed her eyes with an “Huh?”

But no matter how many times she closed and opened her eyes, the scene before her didn’t change.

Seo-yu’s eyes looking down at the flower pot eventually widened in amazement.

“Oh my goodness…!”

In the jade-colored flower pot that Hyeon-rang had given her, the Snow Scale Flower that had definitely been withered until just recently was sprouting new buds.

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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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