The Beloved Baby Deer of the Hwangryong Family - Chapter 45

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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 couldn’t open his mouth for a long while. His throat was completely blocked, and he didn’t know what to say.

He had learned to read from a young age and still read books every day, but he had never thought deeply about love.

‘Love is the feeling of not wanting someone to get hurt…’

Li-han suddenly looked at Seo-yu’s hands covered in dirt.

On her exposed hand, he could see fresh scratches that seemed to have formed recently. They were marks from scraping against something.

So… against something like straw.

Li-han’s gaze fell on the straw pile heaped below the rock.

‘She might have gone to the Mountain Summit. Seo-yu said she wanted to practice Cloud Bridge crossing.’

‘What! How can a child without wings cross that place!’

‘You’re the one who told our youngest to do it, brother.’

‘Yi-ryeong, just wait a moment. Anyway, brother, let’s go up the mountain together… Brother! Let’s go together!’

Earlier, his mind had been too urgent to think about it, but now he could see it hadn’t been just a day or two of practice.

A child who was afraid of even flying on a safe back due to memories of falling from a cliff had practiced falling from that high place every day.

Could that really have been as easy as it sounded?

Could it really have been nothing to her?

“…Then what about you, Seo-yu?”

Those words came out of his mouth without him realizing it.

“Is it… okay for you to get hurt?”

Seo-yu blinked slowly. Then she smiled brightly. It sounded like the young master was worrying about her.

“I’m fine. I’m really sturdy, and even if I get hurt, I heal quickly…”

“No, you’re not fine.”

“Huh?”

Seo-yu hesitated at his firm words. Li-han spoke again with strength in his voice.

“Where in the world is there a person who’s fine with getting hurt?”

Li-han covered his face with one hand. Seo-yu thought she saw something glittering between his fingers.

“You getting hurt, Seo-yu, is not fine at all either.”

But still…

Seo-yu, who had been thoughtlessly thinking ‘I don’t have anyone to worry about me anyway,’ stopped short.

It was because she belatedly realized that now there was someone who would worry about her.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Seo-yu.”

“Young master, I’m fine. I’m really fin…”

“You’re not fine. Don’t say you’re fine.”

It was so unfamiliar that she was blankly repeating the same words, when Li-han carefully embraced her.

“From now on, I’ll protect you so you don’t get hurt too. I promise.”

The touch that gently patted her small back was affectionate.

Seo-yu felt as if she had become exactly like the heart in Li-han’s hands.

‘Li-han must cherish me too.’

Drip.

After a single tear flowed down without her realizing it, a very clear smile bloomed on Seo-yu’s face.

* * *

After pushing Seo-yu off the cliff, Nok Su-jeong hid the fact.

However, the news that the child had disappeared reached Father’s ears before long.

Eventually, it became known that Seo-yu had been running errands for the siblings, and Nok Su-jeong could no longer hide the truth.

When she was forced to tell the truth, Great Antler Deer Family Head Nok Sa-pyeong became greatly enraged.

“I clearly told you that whatever you do is fine, but don’t let that child leave the household!”

“But Father! That girl didn’t do the errand I gave her properly!”

Su-jeong felt wronged. She couldn’t understand why she had to be scolded when it was that girl who did wrong.

If she had just done what she was told properly from the beginning, this wouldn’t have happened.

‘It’s all because of that girl.’

What happened that day was something even Nok Su-jeong hadn’t anticipated.

Who would have known that the stupid girl who always obediently followed orders would have such clever thoughts?

Thanks to that, an unexpected accident occurred, so whenever Su-jeong thought of that day, she felt frustrated in many ways.

‘If she had just quietly brought the Snow Scale Flower, I would have been engaged to the Qilin Family Young Master by now.’

Because she got scared for no reason and hid the truth from Father, time just passed aimlessly without even having a single conversation with the Qilin Family Young Head on the day of the banquet.

Unaware of such circumstances, Nok Sa-pyeong shouted in bewilderment.

“An errand? You disobeyed this father’s command for a mere errand!”

Nok Su-jeong scowled fiercely. She was already annoyed, and now Father was making a fuss too.

‘Brother, are you just going to watch?’

When she looked at her brother Nok Su-gyu with that meaning, Su-gyu swallowed a sigh and stepped forward.

“Father, actually that child tried to steal the Snow Scale Flower.”

“What? Steal the Snow Scale Flower? Don’t tell me you found the Snow Scale Flower?”

The children had discovered the legendary medicinal herb that the Qilin Family had been so desperately searching for!

Greatly surprised, Nok Sa-pyeong forgot his anger and urged the children on.

“Tell me in detail.”

When Father showed interest, the siblings exchanged glances.

Seeing Su-jeong raise her eyebrows with satisfaction, Su-gyu began to speak.

“Yes. Though Nok Seo-yu is lacking in other ways, her Herb Gathering Skill alone was exceptional. When we asked if she could find the Snow Scale Flower, she said she thought she knew where it was.”

“And then! So you really obtained the Snow Scale Flower?”

“Yes. But it seems she got greedy and tried to run away with it.”

“What!”

Nok Sa-pyeong furrowed his brow deeply.

“Is that really true?”

Nok Su-jeong didn’t miss the chance to make excuses.

“That’s right! When I told her to hand it over, she struggled and fell off the cliff by herself. How could I catch her? There’s no way I’d fall too.”

Nok Sa-pyeong, who knew his daughter’s personality well, realized those words weren’t true, but right now there was something far more important.

“I understand for now. Then where is the Snow Scale Flower? You have it now, right?”

Nok Sa-pyeong swallowed his saliva.

Among the family heads living in the Western Lands, there was no one who didn’t know how desperately the Qilin Family was searching for the Snow Scale Flower.

However, after several years of not even finding a trace, rumors had begun circulating that they might have mistaken legend for reality.

But if the Great Antlered Deer Family had obtained such a Snow Scale Flower?

Not only could they speak boldly to the Qilin Family, but they would become a much more trusted family than they were now!

Su-jeong, who noticed her father’s changed attitude, pulled up the corners of her mouth in a smirk.

“Of course I have it. I told you I protected it, didn’t I? I’ll go get it now.”

Su-jeong immediately headed to her room and grabbed the pouch containing the Snow Scale Flower.

As she took a step and casually opened the pouch, Su-jeong frowned.

‘What’s this? Why is it like this? I even put snow in it, so why does it look wilted?’

When she had just snatched the pouch, it had been transparent with a brilliant glow, but now the light seemed dim and it looked somewhat wilted, appearing to be in a slightly different condition.

‘Did something go wrong?’

She had stored it in snow as Nok Seo-yu had said, and hadn’t touched it otherwise.

‘Whatever. It’s still a Snow Scale Flower anyway.’

Su-jeong, who had been pondering, shrugged her shoulders. Su-jeong didn’t know much about medicinal herbs to begin with.

She had never studied them earnestly, and figured it was better not to start at all since she’d only be inferior to that Nok Seo-yu anyway, so she had given up.

She could just make Nok Seo-yu do it, so there was no need to do it herself.

‘Now Nok Seo-yu is gone, but I can just find more workers.’

Su-jeong snorted and returned to her father.

“It’s right, isn’t it? The Snow Scale Flower?”

“Oh, yes. These transparent petals emitting a subtle light! That’s right, it’s correct! Well done. Very well done! I’ll send a communication tube to the Qilin Family Head immediately!”

Nok Sa-pyeong, who confirmed the Snow Scale Flower, burst into laughter with great joy.

Then suddenly his expression hardened as he spoke to Su-gyu.

“We need to strictly control the household members’ tongues. Absolutely no word must leak out that Seo-yu has disappeared. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Father.”

Nok Su-gyu answered obediently.

Honestly, he doubted whether controlling their tongues would work properly.

Father wouldn’t know since he worked at the Imperial Palace, but it had already been nearly ten days since Su-jeong had hidden the truth.

Among the household members, stories that Nok Seo-yu had run away somewhere were already widespread, so he wondered what difference giving warnings now would make.

However, since it wouldn’t be his responsibility even if things went wrong, Su-gyu agreed to do so.

This time Nok Sa-pyeong spoke to Nok Su-jeong.

“Su-jeong, tell me exactly where that child fell. She might still be alive, so I should send people to check.”

At those words, Nok Su-jeong complained.

“Father, what exactly is that kid to you that you keep going on like this? Honestly, I don’t understand.”

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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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