The Beloved Baby Deer of the Hwangryong Family - Chapter 60
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
“The thing is, a dolphin saved me.”
“A dolphin?”
“Oh, but the dolphin turned into a turtle. Then it became a seal. It kept changing. At the end, it became a person… Huh?”
Seo-yu, who had been confused, suddenly sat up. Li-han, startled by her sudden movement, supported her.
Urgency seeped into Seoyu’s voice.
‘There was definitely a boy there. That child saved me!’
Hyeonrang calmly helped Seoyu lie back down on the bed and said.
“Seo-yu, there was only you at that spot. No one else was visible.”
“That can’t be… That can’t be.”
“That can’t be… That can’t be right.”
At Hwang Hyeon-ya’s explanation, Seo-yu shook her head vigorously.
Seoyu shook his head at Hyeonya’s explanation.
Muttering, Seo-yu now busily searched around her chest area.
“My pouch is missing! I brought my pouch with me…”
Seo Yu, who had been muttering, now busily rummaged through her belongings here and there.
Hwang Hyeon-ya picked up a small pouch from the table beside the bed and handed it to her. It was the very pouch containing the Jeongdam Herb.
“This thing?”
“Ah! Thank goodness!”
Yi-ryeong tilted her head.
Seoyu took it and held it preciously to her chest.
“Yi-ryeong unnie, this is…”
Lee-ryeong tilted her head in confusion.
“It’s the Jeongdam Herb that Master entrusted to me. I almost lost it, but I protected it.”
“You protected… it?”
“Sister Iryeong, what about this?”
Still feeling proud thinking about it, Seo-yu forgot about her dizzy head and enthusiastically began explaining.
“This is the Jeongdam herb that my master entrusted to me. I almost lost it, but I managed to protect it.”
“You’re saying you went to get the Jeongdam Herb in that situation?”
Li-han’s face contorted with anger.
“Yes, Lord Rihan! I planted it thinking it might grow in Cheongmyeong Valley, but suddenly a whirlpool appeared. I almost got swept away looking for it! What I did was tie a sturdy seaweed stem around my wrist…”
‘Why is he angry? Oh, perhaps…’
But somehow, the surroundings gradually became quieter.
“It’s true that I planted it on my own, but the Jeongdam Herb wasn’t damaged. Look, Li-han sir. The roots are fine too…”
She hoped to clear up the misunderstanding, but Li-han’s expression hardened even more.
Rihan’s face contorted with anger.
“Pardon?”
‘Why are you angry? Oh, could it be…’
“Some… herb like that…”
Hurt, her voice naturally became smaller.
“I admit I planted it on my own, but the jeongdam herb isn’t damaged. Look, Lord Rihan. The roots are perfectly fine and…”
I had hoped to clear up the misunderstanding, but Rihan’s expression only hardened further.
“That’s not it.”
“What?”
“What’s the big deal if some herbs like that get damaged? Why go looking for them?”
“Th-that kind of herb…?”
My voice naturally diminished from being hurt.
‘Master will surely understand.’
She looked at Hyeon-ya with such feelings, but Hyeon-ya’s expression was also not good. Hyeon-rang was the same.
Seo-yu, feeling intimidated, mumbled.
“I just… I just want Bi-yeon to get better quickly… and since you said there isn’t much Jeongdam Herb left, I wanted to protect it…”
“No one ever told you to do that.”
At Li-han’s words, Seo-yu froze for a moment.
That’s right. No one had told Seo-yu she had to do that. She had simply done it on her own.
‘But…’
Her heart pounded anxiously.
It felt as if she had returned to her time at the Great Antlered Deer Family.
If she did nothing, they said she was useless, and if she tried to do something, they scolded her.
“Then, then what should I do?”
Her throat was choked up and her voice wouldn’t come out properly, but Seo-yu barely managed to continue speaking.
“I don’t know how to do much. I can’t use a sword like Yi-ryeong and Brother Li-gon, I’m not smart like Li-han… and I can’t be dignified like Hyeon-rang…”
Seo-yu’s voice grew smaller and smaller.
“If I’m not helpful at all, then I become a burden. I don’t want that. Then, then I won’t be able to…”
The last words were almost like talking to herself.
“…stay here anymore.”
Ever since that day when Nok Su-jeong pushed her off the cliff.
The thought ‘Why?’ never left Seo-yu’s mind.
Why did the young lady hate me so much?
Why did I have to die there?
Why did Father leave me at that household?
Why couldn’t I live with real family like others?
Why, just why…
After countless questions, Seo-yu found an answer.
‘It’s because I’m lacking.’
Because I don’t know how to do anything, and I’m a bad child who only makes others feel uncomfortable.
Looking back, everything was all her fault for being inadequate.
So while living at the Golden Dragon Family, Seo-yu did her best not to be seen in a bad light.
She studied writing every day, even sacrificing sleep time so as not to forget what Hyeon-ya taught her, and she memorized all the characters marking medicinal materials because she didn’t want to be a burden to the people in the medical room.
She had said she helped the maid every dawn because she wasn’t a morning sleeper, but that was actually a lie too.
She did it because she thought if she did one more thing, she wouldn’t be disliked. Even when she was so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open, she went out every day for that reason alone.
She didn’t want to be hated that much. She wanted to do well in this place.
But here she was in this state again.
This time she really wanted to do well.
“If I did something wrong again… I’ll definitely fix it next time…”
So she hoped they would forgive her just once. Then she would do better next time.
For Seo-yu, there was never a next time, so it was really hard to say those words.
“Seo-yu.”
Hyeon-rang’s gentle voice flowed into her ears. Seo-yu couldn’t bring herself to lift her head.
“You have never once been a burden to us.”
She felt a light weight on top of her head. Soon, gentle hands were stroking her hair.
“Rather, you brought gifts to our family.”
“I haven’t done anything…”
Seo-yu’s flustered eyes darted around. A small laugh could be heard.
“Didn’t laughter come to us because of you?”
“…”
“If you knew how quiet our family was before you came, you’d be surprised.”
Dragon Moon Night comes every year.
But for the Golden Dragon Family, Dragon Moon Night had been no different from a non-existent event for the past few years.
Hyeon-rang couldn’t remember how long it had been since he enjoyed a festival so comfortably and festively like this.
And it wasn’t just Dragon Moon Night.
Even when they came to the Dragon Palace where Bi-yeon was sleeping, the children ran around excitedly instead of being depressed.
After seeing Bi-yeon, they didn’t return to their quarters to cry in secret.
Truly, the daily life of the Golden Dragon Family had changed.
All of this was a gift from this child, Seo-yu.
“You even became the disciple of my eccentric younger brother who used to be busy chasing away disciples.”
“Who’s calling who eccentric?”
Hyeon-ya grumbled with an incredulous tone.
“Look, Seo-yu. This is how Hyeon-ya is. Even when his older brother speaks, he won’t stay quiet.”
“Then say something worth staying quiet for…”
Hyeon-rang smiled mischievously as if to show off. Seo-yu, who finally lifted her head, smiled a little.
Then she saw Li-han quietly crying.
‘Just how has she lived to say such things?’
Li-han felt hurt.
Li-han knew well enough that Jeongdam Herb was a precious medicinal herb.
But no matter how precious an herb might be, it couldn’t be more important than a human life.
It was such obvious common sense, and she had only said something out of worry that it might happen again next time, but the child turned pale.
Then she talked about her qualifications to remain in the household.
Everything really felt wrong.
‘I’d rather cry.’
Watching the child shrink and tremble even though no one was scolding her made her chest feel stuffy and filled her with rage.
Because prostrating herself flat when she had done nothing wrong seemed so familiar to her, because it seemed so natural to that child.
That’s why she kept tearing up.
“…?”
Li-han, who had been shedding thick tears, unconsciously looked up at the approaching shadow and froze.
Seo-yu was simultaneously pulling at her eyes and mouth with both hands. This created a very strange expression that was neither smiling nor crying.
“What are you…?”
When she asked in confusion, the child’s eyes, which had been gloomy all along, suddenly sparkled.
“The, the Family Head told me that doing this would stop the tears. He said Bi-yeon taught him this long ago.”
The tears did indeed stop. Out of bewilderment. Out of absurdity.
But Seo-yu was delighted even by that and smiled brightly.
“Hwang Hyeon-rang, it really worked!”
Hwang Hyeon-rang looked in turn at Li-han, who was so stunned he forgot his tears, and at Seo-yu, who looked proud watching Li-han.
Seeing Seo-yu’s bright smile, he suddenly remembered something Bi-yeon had once said.
‘Hwang Hyeon-rang, you think too much.’
‘How can a person live without thinking?’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about. Sometimes you need to act as your heart leads you. Look at me.’
‘Since you’re here, Bi-yeon, I have to live thinking things through.’
‘What?’
He had brushed it off as a joke back then, but in this moment, Hwang Hyeon-rang felt he understood why Bi-yeon had said those words.
“Seo-yu.”
Bi-yeon, just as you know me, I know you too.
You’re someone who would do anything to see the children smile.
“Would you become family with us?”
And so Hwang Hyeon-rang decided to firmly reinforce the fence that would keep the children always happy and smiling, for when Bi-yeon would return someday.
The fence called family.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————