The Beloved Baby Deer of the Hwangryong Family - Chapter 9

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The horn that had been deliberately concealed by creating space when drying her hair was now exposed.

Seo-yu hastily raised both hands to cover her horn and quickly bowed her head.

“I’m, I’m sorry!”

The people of the Great Antlered Deer Family said it was unlucky just to look at her half-grown horn.

They also said it was proof of her stupidity that she couldn’t even properly perform Beast Transformation to hide her ugly horn.

To upset the feelings of those who had been so kind to her when she had nothing.

‘You’re really lucky. A mutant like you wouldn’t be welcomed anywhere, yet you have a place to live.’

Perhaps she would be driven out of the Golden Dragon Family immediately too.

‘Fool, I’m such a fool.’

What Miss Su-jeong always said was right. She truly was beyond help. She was such a fool that in her excitement, she had forgotten that her horn was strange.

As Seo-yu blamed herself alone, the two people questioned her.

“Pardon? What do you mean?”

“Why are you sorry?”

Hesitating, Seo-yu answered in a shrinking voice.

“Because I… only have one horn…”

A brief silence fell. It was when Seo-yu couldn’t bring herself to lift her head.

“Miss, would you look here for a moment?”

Cho Ga-ram placed a mirror in front of Seo-yu. Looking at it unconsciously, Seo-yu’s eyes widened.

“Wow…!”

Her hair, which had always been like dried, twisted straw, now flowed with luster and sparkled golden.

With her neatly combed back hair let down long and her unruly sideburns gently braided and tied back, she looked like a completely different person.

“Look. Don’t you look like a fairy?”

“Yes!”

Seo-yu, who had unconsciously nodded and answered loudly, felt embarrassed and quickly added.

“Not me… the pretty hair.”

“Oh my, how cute. To my eyes, you look like a fairy, Miss. Isn’t that right, Eun-hyang?”

“That’s how I see it too.”

Ga-ram gently pushed Seo-yu’s shoulder forward so she could see the mirror better, and Eun-hyang calmly agreed.

“Having one horn isn’t a problem at all in this place.”

In this place…

Though she couldn’t understand what those words meant, unlike the characteristically cold hands of snake beastkin, the affectionate voice was full of warmth.

Was that why? She found herself wanting to simply believe what the two people said.

Seo-yu gazed long at the beautiful young lady in the mirror.

* * *

“You didn’t bring back the medicine you were told to get, but brought a child instead?”

What greeted Hwang Hyeon-rang when he returned to the office was his aide Ji Hwan-wol.

Passing by Hwan-wol and sitting in his chair, Hwang Hyeon-rang replied.

“The Kirin Family only sent the Young Family Head. Even if we bring it up, they’ll just keep repeating that a meeting is difficult right now.”

“That’s problematic. But this isn’t something we can carelessly bring up to the Young Family Head either…”

Hwan-wol, who had been lamenting, trailed off his words.

No matter how frustrated he felt, it couldn’t compare to his master who had a wife that hadn’t opened her eyes for five years already.

Hwan-wol quickly changed the subject.

“Then what about that child? She had horns.”

“Right. Because she’s a deer.”

“I know deer antler is good medicine, but taking a beastkin’s horn is clearly illegal. Add kidnapping to that and it’s a serious crime. Above all, Madam lying in her sickbed would never want…”

“Hwan-wol, stop talking nonsense.”

“Yes.”

Unlike his cold appearance, Hwang Hyeon-rang was a warm-hearted master. When such a master became serious, it was better not to push further.

When Hwan-wol made a gesture of putting a lock on his mouth, Hwang Hyeon-rang sighed and spoke.

“She was falling from the cliff. If I left her alone, she would have crossed the River of Death as is, so I couldn’t just watch.”

“What? That’s truly heavenly fortune. She must have been destined to survive.”

“It wasn’t luck. Someone called me there.”

Puzzlement settled in Hwan-wol’s eyes.

“Called you? Who called the Family Head?”

“A voice.”

“So who was it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Huh?”

Hwan-wol made an irreverent expression as if asking what nonsense this was. But Hwang Hyeon-rang had no other way to explain it.

It was truly because an unidentified voice had called him.

— Help! Save that child!

He could have ignored it since it might be a trap, but he couldn’t.

It was because he felt an intense energy there, even if just for a moment.

An energy that Hwang Hyeon-rang knew, but had disappeared long ago.

But it was too significant a story to carelessly speak aloud.

‘Maybe I was mistaken.’

Until he was certain, Hwang Hyeon-rang decided to refrain from speaking.

Instead, he recalled the moment when the young girl was falling from the towering cliff.

At first, Hwang Hyeon-rang thought the girl was trying to end her own life.

Because she was dying quietly without screaming once or struggling.

Moreover.

‘Those were eyes that had given up on life.’

Hwang Hyeon-rang knew such people’s gazes well. It was a look he had seen often on the battlefield.

However, just before closing her eyes, the girl reached out her hand once as if she had discovered someone.

Eyes filled with joy couldn’t be seen as belonging to someone who had chosen death themselves.

So Hwang Hyeon-rang saved the girl.

Even if that hadn’t been the case, he would have saved her, but even his momentary hesitation disappeared.

“How did she end up falling?”

“They said she slipped while gathering medicinal herbs.”

“Didn’t you just say she fell from a cliff? She looked to be only seven or eight years old at most, yet she climbed all the way up there to gather medicinal herbs?”

“So they said.”

“Those people from the Western Lands are out of their minds. They act all noble while being utterly vicious.”

Hwan-wol clicked his tongue and asked.

“But why did you bring her all the way here? If she needs treatment, the Western Lands would be much better.”

Especially when their supply of quality medicinal herbs was already running low.

Though he couldn’t bring himself to voice that last part as it seemed too heartless, it was his honest feeling.

The Eastern Lands ruled by the Golden Dragon had been at war with demonic beasts for nearly ten years now. Naturally, the cost of medical supplies was astronomical.

If it were simply a matter of money, that would have been better. In that case, Hwan-wol wouldn’t have had to voice such concerns to Hwang Hyeon-rang.

But the problems facing the Eastern Lands weren’t limited to that alone. His master was wise, so he would understand without needing it spelled out.

‘Well, even knowing all this, he’s not the type to turn his back on the weak.’

That’s why he was a master truly worthy of respect, but at times like this, it also felt frustrating—truly, the human heart was fickle.

While Hwan-wol swallowed the words he couldn’t bring himself to say, Hwang Hyeon-rang, who had been lost in thought, answered the question.

“Because she didn’t want to.”

“…You’re saying she wanted to leave the peaceful Western Lands to come to the Eastern Lands where demonic beasts run rampant? You’re joking, right?”

Hwang Hyeon-rang answered with silence instead of affirmation.

‘The Great Antlered Deer Family would be closest in this area.’

‘No…’

‘Hmm?’

‘No, please, the Great Antler… household is, absolutely…’

The child had shown great resistance to the mention of the ‘Great Antlered Deer Family.’

Even though she hadn’t regained consciousness, she struggled desperately to shake her head, her movements frantic.

‘I understand. I understand, so rest now.’

The moment when she finally relaxed her body as if exhausted after hearing those words was still vivid in his memory.

‘She said household. I should look into whether the Great Antlered Deer Family has any missing children.’

The child claimed to be an orphan, but he knew that wasn’t true.

However, if it was a household she didn’t want to return to even while dying, she might as well be an orphan.

If he abandoned such a child and left, could that really be called saving her?

‘Hwang Hyeon-rang, killing is such an easy thing. You can do it with one hand. But saving someone is such a difficult thing. I’m not interested in living an easy life.’

It was the moment when a beloved voice echoed through Hwang Hyeon-rang’s mind.

“Um, Master.”

Hwan-wol brought him back to reality. His voice was unusually cautious for someone pretending not to know.

“The young masters will return in a few days. When they find out you’ve brought back only a deer girl instead of medicine, Young Master Li-han will be furious. Moreover, your current physical condition is…”

When health was mentioned, Hwang Hyeon-rang’s eyes darkened for the first time.

“Ji Hwan-wol.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————