The Beloved Baby Deer of the Hwangryong Family - Chapter 7
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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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Swoosh—
‘She must have fainted.’
Hwang Hyeon-rang, the head of the Yellow Dragon Family, came to a simple conclusion about the feather-light weight he felt on his back.
‘More importantly, what was that?’
Flying leisurely through the vast upper sky and glancing at the cliff, he tilted his head.
‘If my instincts aren’t wrong, that was definitely…’
He deliberately circled slowly through the sky, following the traces, but the presence he had felt moments ago had already vanished without a trace.
‘I’ll have to ask this child about it later.’
Hyeon-rang glanced at his back and flew even higher, escaping the precipice.
His reason for setting foot in the Western Territory, despite ruling the Eastern Territory, wasn’t solely to congratulate the new head of the Four Spirits Bureau.
‘I don’t have time to attend celebration banquets. Tell them I won’t be participating.’
‘However, Family Head, the head of the Kirin Family says he will attend the Great Antler Deer Family’s event.’
‘That man Gi Tae-ha?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then I have no choice. I’ll visit the Western Lands.’
It was to meet Gi Tae-ha, the head of the Kirin Family, who had been living in seclusion for several years now.
Hwang Hyeon-rang had sent numerous communications to the Kirin Family to meet him, but had received countless responses saying only ‘It’s not possible right now.’
However, he had a reason why he absolutely had to meet Gi Tae-ha.
So despite his busy schedule, he had made the effort to visit the Western Lands, but…
‘Is the head of the Kirin Family not here yet?’
‘Pardon? I’m sorry to say, but only the Young Family Head is scheduled to attend today.’
‘I heard the family head would be attending.’
‘We initially received that message, but… he said it would be difficult and that he would send the Young Family Head instead.’
It was another wasted trip.
He thought about meeting the Young Family Head as a consolation, but his business wasn’t something that could be easily shared.
In the end, feeling frustrated and planning to return alone first, he encountered a child falling from the cliff.
More precisely, it would be correct to say he ‘came to encounter’ her.
Only after reaching safe ground did he release his Beast Transformation and look down at the tiny little girl in his arms.
She had a scent he had smelled often since coming to the Western Lands.
‘A deer? Is she this small because she’s not an adult?’
It was when his gaze fell upon the horn that was as small as her body.
“Ugh…”
The child’s eyelashes fluttered as she lifted her eyelids.
Blink, blink.
His reflection appeared in her large eyes, and soon her pupils dilated as if they might burst.
“D-d-d-dragon, Dragon Lord!”
“I’m not a small dragon, but the Golden Dragon.”
It was meant to make her laugh, but the child’s pale white face became even more ashen.
Hyeon-rang belatedly realized that he had no talent for jokes.
“R-really the G-Golden Dragon, hic!”
Seo-yu was so startled that she began hiccupping while trying to catch her breath.
Seo-yu, who was about to quickly pat her chest, was suddenly surprised by the face that appeared right before her eyes.
Under thick eyebrows, deep golden eyes like molten gold held a cool chill. Even his straight nose bridge and tightly closed lips gave him the impression of a cold, handsome man.
He was certainly beautiful, but perhaps because of his large build and sharp features, she didn’t dare think of him as pretty.
‘This person is the Golden Dragon Family Clan head?’
But why are our eyes meeting?
Seo-yu, who had unconsciously opened her mouth, was belatedly startled. The Golden Dragon Family Clan head was holding her in his arms.
What kind of trouble am I causing!
“S-sorry… hic!”
An apology and hiccup came out simultaneously. Seo-yu covered her mouth with her small hand and rolled her eyes around, not knowing what to do.
Seeing this, Hwang Hyeon-rang set Seo-yu down.
‘Should I pat her back or something?’
He was familiar with nursing, but had never encountered this type of situation. He had only happened to save a child and wasn’t naturally gentle by nature.
Hyeon-rang awkwardly raised his hand, but soon realized he didn’t need to step in.
“Gasp!”
As soon as her feet touched the ground, the child held her breath and suddenly began pressing firmly near her wrist.
He wondered what she was doing, but before long the child quickly stopped hiccupping.
Hyeon-rang narrowed his eyes.
‘Did she just press an acupoint?’
Hyeon-rang was a bit surprised by the calm action that didn’t match her young age.
The child soon bowed her head politely.
“Th-thank you for saving my life. I am from the great…”
Seo-yu, who had almost revealed her family clan without thinking, quickly shut her mouth.
The Golden Dragon Family Clan head must have come here to congratulate her adoptive father.
If she carelessly revealed her surname and he offered to take her back to the family clan, the situation would become very troublesome.
“I-I’m called Seo-yu. I don’t have… a separate surname.”
Among the servants, there were naturally orphans. Such children had no particular surname.
Fortunately, the Golden Dragon Family Clan head seemed to understand her words and nodded. He glanced at Seo-yu’s leather belt and asked.
“Are you an herb gatherer? Did you fall while gathering medicinal herbs?”
“Y-yes… I mis-stepped… sob.”
Seo-yu, who was barely managing to answer, finally burst into tears.
She had nearly been pushed off the cliff to her death, but couldn’t reveal the truth and had to say it was her own mistake – this situation was too heartbreaking.
‘Do you really want to die? Do you want rumors to spread that I’m the sister who killed her younger sibling?’
Nok Su-jeong’s outstretched hand in that final moment, and her words calling her “sister,” tormented Seo-yu’s heart even more.
‘Those were words I wanted to hear at least once….’
It wasn’t that she had trusted Nok Su-jeong.
Seo-yu had already realized deep in her heart that she could never truly become a member of the Great Antler Deer Family.
It was just painfully sad that the first time she heard the word “sister,” it was used as a tool to kill her.
‘How am I supposed to live now?’
All she had was a single withered Snow Scale Flower that had become utterly useless, and a body with pathetically ugly horns.
‘I can’t even go to the Kirin Family now.’
Since the Snow Scale Flower she had struggled to obtain was stolen, even the chance to visit the Kirin Family had disappeared.
Drip, drop.
Thinking that even her last hope had vanished, thick tears began falling.
“I’m, I’m sorry….”
Seo-yu was hurriedly trying to bring her sleeve to her eyes.
Swoosh.
Hwang Hyeon-rang lowered his posture to meet Seo-yu’s gaze and suddenly brought his hands to her face.
And then.
“…?”
Using his thumbs and index fingers on both sides, he pulled down the corners of her eyes while pulling up the corners of her mouth to create a smiling expression.
‘Why, why is he doing this?’
The ridiculous expression that didn’t suit his consistently indifferent face left Seo-yu flustered, not knowing how to react.
Then Hyeon-rang awkwardly removed his hands and muttered.
“When my first child was born, my wife told me to do this when the child cried.”
“….”
“Though I never got to try it on my son.”
His last words somehow sounded lonely.
Seo-yu found herself envying the young master of the Yellow Dragon Family, whose name she didn’t even know.
‘To have parents who care for you like this.’
Thud.
Feeling melancholy about something she had never experienced, Seo-yu was about to lower her head when she looked up in surprise.
The head of the Yellow Dragon Family had placed his hand on top of her hair.
“Seeing that you’ve stopped crying, it seems to work on you.”
The corners of his mouth, which had been pressed in a straight line, curved into a gentle arc.
Seo-yu stared at Hyeon-rang in a daze.
‘If someone like this had been my father….’
How happy would she have been.
It was the moment when Seo-yu, who had dared to dream of something she shouldn’t and couldn’t wish for, clenched her fists to keep from crying.
‘Huh?’
Her head spun and her vision turned white and blurry.
Wobble.
“Hey…!”
With Hyeonrang’s voice filled with bewilderment as the last thing she heard, her strength gave out and her body slid down as it was.
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Seo-yu had a pleasant dream.
It was a dream of riding fluffy clouds and flying freely through the sky.
“I understand. I understand, so close your eyes and rest now.”
A gentle voice that seemed to soothe her also put her mind at ease.
Thanks to this, Seo-yu slept peacefully without any worries for the first time since she was born.
It was after some time had passed that a somewhat familiar scent drifted into her nose.
‘…Is this the smell of Blood Membrane Grass?’
It was a fresh fragrance that strangers might mistake for flowers, but it was a familiar medicinal herb to Seo-yu.
It was a higher-grade ingredient than Cucumber Grass and a representative medicinal herb used to make hemostatic medicine.
‘Someone must have gotten injured on the mountain and came…’
Seo-yu, who had been thinking with a hazy mind, was startled.
Wait, I fell from the cliff.
At this lightning-like realization, Seo-yu’s eyes snapped wide open.
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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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