The Beloved Baby Deer of the Hwangryong Family - Chapter 59
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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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Seo-yu was swept up in the whirlpool, being pushed around by the currents.
Even in the midst of this, she didn’t forget to tightly grip the pouch containing the Jeongdam Herb, lest she lose it.
However, no matter how hard she tried to endure, it was impossible to overcome the endlessly surging currents.
‘I can’t breathe…’
Something was wrong as her breathing became increasingly difficult. Not knowing how to swim properly, she flailed about wildly, and her stamina was nearly depleted.
‘Master, Sister Yi-ryeong, Brother Li-gon… Lord Hwang Hyeon-rang, Lord Li-han…’
Ga-ram and Eun-hyang who had always been kind to her from the moment they first met, and the servants who had chatted pleasantly with her every dawn.
As the faces of the Golden Dragon Family members came to mind one by one, Seo-yu felt like she might cry.
If she died like this, she would never see them again.
‘I haven’t even saved the Jeongdam Herb yet…’
There were far too many things she hadn’t accomplished to leave now.
She hadn’t healed the sick Madam, nor had she found a friend for Jeongdam and Seol Lin-hwa.
‘I don’t want to die…’
Even when Miss Su-jeong had pushed her and she fell from the cliff, she hadn’t thought this way.
Back then, she was scared but ultimately resigned herself to it.
Because she knew there was no one who would come to save her, no one who would wait for her.
That’s why she had only thought of Blackie. At that time, besides Blackie, there was no one by her side she could rely on.
‘I’m sorry…’
I guess I won’t be able to tell Blackie how grateful I was after all.
Just as her consciousness began to fade despite her attempts to hold on, a large shadow fell over Seo-yu’s face.
The shadow snatched up Seo-yu’s body in an instant and swiftly escaped from the whirlpool.
‘Who…?’
Opening her eyes with difficulty, Seo-yu realized she was lying on the back of a dolphin.
But the dolphin’s entire body was pitch black.
Just like her friend Blackie whom she had left behind in the Western Lands.
She had seen whales many times while coming to the Dragon Palace, but this was the first time she’d seen a dolphin that was completely black without a single marking.
While she was thinking how fascinating it was, the dolphin that had escaped Cheongmyeong Valley gently picked up Seo-yu with its mouth and set her down in a safe place.
Now that the violent currents that had been shaking her entire body were gone, she finally felt like she was alive.
However, not all problems had been solved.
“Gasp…”
Even though she had escaped the whirlpool, she still couldn’t breathe.
It seemed that the air bubble she had received from the turtle and swallowed when entering the Dragon Palace, which allowed her to breathe in the sea, had slipped out of her mouth during the chaos.
“Squeak— Squeak?”
The black dolphin tapped Seo-yu’s cheek as if telling her to get up.
Seo-yu wanted to give the whale some kind of response, but no words came out.
When she could only barely move her lips, the dolphin’s eyes widened as it tilted its head this way and that.
“Chirrup?”
Soon the dolphin hurriedly brought its two flippers together and made a gesture as if choking itself.
It looked exactly like it was asking ‘Can’t breathe?’ so Seo-yu barely managed to nod her head.
Then, amazingly, the dolphin’s body began to ripple and change.
‘Is its… form changing?’
She was so dizzy that she wondered if she was seeing an illusion, but it was definitely not a mistake.
The dolphin, which had become a black form rippling like a shadow, soon turned into a turtle. Its entire body was still pitch black.
The turtle, frantically flapping its front paws, became an octopus with many legs, then a seal with a round body, continuously transforming into different creatures.
How many times did it repeat these changes in such a short time?
Poof—
A boy appeared through the mist-like black smoke.
This time it had become a human.
‘Beau…tiful.’
Seo-yu had this thought even as her consciousness was fading.
He was such a beautiful boy.
The boy with jet-black hair and obsidian-like black eyes appeared to be around the same age as Seo-yu.
The hesitating boy took a deep breath, then approached Seo-yu with his cheeks puffed out.
Even after coming close enough for his breath through his nose to touch her face, he didn’t stop.
Soon, warm air was transmitted to her.
Seo-yu’s eyes closed.
* * *
‘My body feels heavy.’
Seo-yu felt as if her body was like a cotton ball that had absorbed so much water it was drooping heavily.
She wanted to fall back asleep immediately, but she couldn’t.
“…Yu-ya, try to wake up.”
“Youngest, you can’t keep sleeping. Okay?”
It was because of the voices that occasionally reached her through her hazy consciousness.
‘Sister Yi-ryeong, Brother Li-gon?’
The earnest and anxious voices kept calling her, so she couldn’t close her eyes in peace.
But her eyelids were so heavy. She kept feeling like she was sinking into water.
“Seo-yu is really okay, right?”
“As I said before, there’s no problem with her breathing. If something was wrong, I would have noticed by now.”
“Then why can’t she keep opening her eyes!”
Li-han’s voice rose.
Just as the air was about to turn cold, Hwang Hyeon-rang spoke calmly.
“Li-han, yelling at Hyeon-ya won’t change the situation. You know that too.”
“…I’m sorry, Uncle. I got too excited.”
“It’s okay.”
But Hwang Hyeon-ya’s voice wasn’t normal either. It was clearly tense.
‘It’s because of me.’
Seo-yu wanted to quickly open her eyes and tell them she was fine. That way, everyone wouldn’t fight.
‘I have to… wake up…’
When she forced herself to exert strength, her body trembled.
“You two, come out for a moment.”
Like the excellent physician he was, Hyeon-ya keenly noticed the change in Seo-yu’s condition.
Hyeon-ya moved the twins who had been clinging to the bed back and quickly approached to check her pulse.
Relieved, Seo-yu took a deep breath. Her chest rose and fell greatly.
Before long, she was able to lift her eyelids, though with difficulty.
Blink, blink.
In her slowly brightening vision, the faces of the Golden Dragon Family members came into view one by one.
The first face she saw was Hyeon-ya’s. Her usually calm master’s face was filled with worry.
Beside him stood Hyeon-rang. When their eyes met, he bit his lip but gave her a gentle, reassuring smile.
Remembering the day she first opened her eyes in the Golden Dragon Family, a strange sense of relief came to Seo-yu’s anxious heart.
And Li-han was…
“Seo-yu!”
Li-han was sitting on his knees right beside the bed. His usually neat clothes were wrinkled, and his hair was disheveled.
Seeing his bloodshot eyes, she could tell how much he had worried.
‘I’m alive, I didn’t die.’
With that thought, seeing the people looking down at her with worried eyes, tears naturally welled up.
‘Everyone was worried about me.’
It was the first time anyone had cherished her this much. And there wasn’t just one such precious person, but several.
“Youngest!”
“Yi-ryeong! The youngest just barely opened her eyes!”
Li-gon stopped Yi-ryeong who was rushing to embrace Seo-yu.
In the meantime, Hyeon-ya checked her temperature, pulled her eyelids to examine her pupils, and conducted a thorough medical examination.
“Are you conscious? Do you know who I am?”
“M-Master…”
Her voice was hoarse and the words didn’t come out well, but Seo-yu tried her best to speak clearly.
“Yes. That’s right, Seo-yu. I’m your master.”
Only then did Hyeon-ya let out a long sigh he had been holding back.
‘Master Hyeon-ya!’
‘What? Did something happen?’
‘A vortex has occurred in Cheongmyeong Valley! It seems Miss Seo-yu has been caught in it…!’
The messenger had suddenly rushed over to deliver the news while Hyeon-ya was examining Bi-yeon’s condition.
The shock was so great that for a moment, Hyeon-ya doubted his own hearing.
What happened next wasn’t clear in his memory. He had rushed out late, transformed into his beast form, and went straight to Cheongmyeong Valley, but Seo-yu was nowhere to be seen.
Even the Dragon Palace Warriors were mobilized to search the entire area, and when they found the child sleeping as if dead, it felt like the sky was falling.
If not for his sense of duty to properly examine Seo-yu’s condition, he probably wouldn’t have been able to maintain his sanity.
“This place is…”
Seo-yu slowly rolled her eyes.
“This is the Dragon Palace. Do you remember what happened? If it’s too painful, you don’t need to force yourself to recall it.”
Even though she had regained consciousness, he couldn’t be completely at ease yet. There might be problems with her cognitive abilities, so he had to check thoroughly.
Only then could he provide a diagnosis that would be even slightly more helpful to Seo-yu.
“I am….”
Seo-yu carefully retraced her memories.
She had tried to obtain the Jeongdam Herb but got caught in a whirlpool, and her breathing gradually became more difficult. Just when she thought she was going to die, someone saved her.
That’s right, a dolphin. It was a black dolphin.
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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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