The Beloved Baby Priestess of the Twelve Zodiac Gods - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 12
The golden rat bit the back of Ahyeon’s hand as he tried to drag Arin away.
The bite was fierce, laden with the weight of past grievances.
“Ow!”
Ahyeon, startled, attempted to shake the rat free, but it held fast.
The golden rat bit down until blood beaded on his skin, then stationed itself before Arin with obvious satisfaction, standing guard.
“Brother!”
Soso, alarmed, wrapped a handkerchief around Ahyeon’s bleeding hand.
Ahyeon glared at the rat, bewildered by the sudden assault.
Only then did he notice one of the rat’s ears was torn, and his eyes widened.
“So you’re that one from before…!”
The rat wore a silent bell on one ear—one that made no sound at all.
And its fur, unlike when he’d first seen it, now shimmered with a golden hue.
“Or am I wrong?”
Ahyeon hesitated, uncertain, but the golden rat turned to Arin and squeaked.
– Squeak squeak?! (Are you all right? Have I come too late?)
Fortunately, Arin appeared unharmed.
– Squeak squeak squeak squeak. (Those mad people—coming at me in a cowardly pack like that?)
The golden rat turned its baleful gaze on Ahyeon and Soso as if readying for vengeance.
“That look. Yes, it’s definitely him.”
Only then did Ahyeon recall the rat he’d used as a plaything—a target for amusement—days before.
“What’s with that bell? Does it have an owner now? Did someone dye its fur for it in the meantime?”
At Ahyeon’s arrogant words, the golden rat let out a quiet, contemptuous laugh.
– Squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak. (Oh yes. Lucky me to have found you. Back then I couldn’t reveal myself, so I let it slide. But not today—not ever again!)
Geumgeum, who had been waiting only for the moment of revenge, immediately let out a sharp whistle.
In an instant, rats materialized as if from nowhere, swarming and encircling Ahyeon and Soso.
“R-rats, brother! There are so many rats!”
Soso shrieked in terror and burrowed into Ahyeon’s arms.
Surrounded by more than a hundred rats, Ahyeon felt the fear just as keenly.
“How cowardly—calling your friends to help!”
– Squeak squeak. (If you don’t like it, call yours.)
Geumgeum stuck out his tongue and swiped one paw beneath his eye in a deliberately insulting gesture.
Seeing the rat stand upright on its hind legs like a human, Ahyeon was struck with horror.
“What kind of rat does that!”
“D-do something, please!”
As Soso clung to his clothes, Ahyeon scanned the surroundings.
Spotting a nearby climbable tree, he abandoned Soso without hesitation and scrambled up.
“Brother!”
Soso shrieked and hurried after him into the branches.
– Squeak squeak squeak. (Ah, so it’s a monkey, not a snake!)
Geumgeum’s delight only grew. The rats began closing in on the tree, tightening the circle.
Just as the spirited revenge was reaching its height—
Yeo-ryeong and Dogyeong arrived, having heard the bell that Geumgeum had rung.
Dogyeong caught sight of Arin sprawled on the ground and was aghast.
“Child!”
He’d just cleaned her up and fed her, and here she was wallowing in dirt again.
In that moment of exasperation, he couldn’t have kept his eyes off her for a heartbeat.
“Ah, sir! Please don’t come any closer!”
At Arin’s cry, Dogyeong halted his advance.
Though he could have caught up to her easily, he spoke with measured calm.
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding…”
But Arin didn’t wait to hear him finish.
Seizing his moment of inattention, she bolted off in the opposite direction.
“Sigh.”
Dogyeong watched her retreating form and let out a dry breath.
He could have sprinted after her at once and seized her, but he feared the frightened child might hurt herself in the struggle.
Having already spotted her footprints, tracking her would be simple enough.
Dogyeong picked up one of Arin’s shoes that had fallen to the ground.
“I’ll leave this to the Divine Priestess.”
“Yes. Do what you can to mend things between mother and child.”
With Yeo-ryeong’s permission, Dogyeong slipped away in the direction Arin had vanished, moving with unhurried grace.
Even so, Ahyeon and Soso remained clinging to the tree, their bodies rigid with fear.
“Geumgeum. That’s enough.”
Squeak-squeak. (But I was just getting started.)
Geumgeum released the rat with a reluctant smacking of his lips, clearly disappointed the game had ended.
Only then did Ahyeon and Soso, finally assured of safety, climb down from the tree.
“Thank you for your help, Divine Priestess. A swarm of rats came out of nowhere—we were so terrified. Your Divine Power truly does drive away even vermin.”
At the admiration in his voice, Yeo-ryeong’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“So you’re the one who’s been tormenting my Geumgeum.”
“Pardon?”
Ahyeon didn’t immediately grasp her meaning, so Yeo-ryeong cradled Geumgeum in her arms.
“……Ah?”
Ahyeon stared at Geumgeum and Yeo-ryeong with a slack-jawed expression.
“The animals of the Twelve Zodiac are to be honored and cherished. Did the Hong Family Head not teach you this?”
“N-no, that’s not—”
“Normally, it would be proper for me to deal severely with one who lays hands on my Spirit Animal, but given yesterday’s commotion, I shall show restraint.”
That the rat he’d been playing with turned out to be the Divine Priestess’s Spirit Animal—of all things.
‘How was I supposed to know a Spirit Animal in disguise? I had no way of knowing!’
The first time he saw it, it looked like nothing more than an unusually large rat.
Had he known it was the Divine Priestess’s Spirit Animal, he never would have handled it so roughly.
Ahyeon thrust out his lower lip in an expression of grievance.
Seeing him refuse to apologize even now, Yeo-ryeong spoke with pity in her voice.
“What good is strength when your character is so twisted?”
“…….”
“It seems you take after your father in this regard as well.”
There was no point in speaking further—it would only exhaust him.
Yeo-ryeong swallowed her remaining words and departed unhurriedly with Geumgeum.
Her indifference felt like that of one who had never held any expectations in the first place.
Feeling this, Ahyeon trembled with shame.
‘So the Divine Priestess was coming to see me.’
‘Me?’
‘Even Father was chosen by the Divine Priestess and went to the Twelve Zodiac Animal Village early.’
When he’d spoken with his father, he’d believed he would be recognized by the Divine Priestess and go to the Twelve Zodiac Animal Village together with him.
But Soso had fallen out of the Divine Priestess’s favor, and now he himself had touched her Spirit Animal.
‘What if I’m not invited at all?’
Ahyeon, who knew little of the Divine Priestess, felt his future darken before him, leaving him stunned.
An heir who never received an invitation to the Twelve Zodiac Animal Village was only half a heir.
‘How could something that’s a Spirit Animal of the Divine Priestess look so ordinary? If I’d known, I wouldn’t have done it!’
Feeling wronged, Ahyeon stomped away, huffing with resentment.
Left alone, Soso stared after Ahyeon’s retreating back with a troubled expression.
“This is all because of that girl.”
Turning her anger on the blameless Arin, Soso’s face hardened as she glared savagely in the direction where Arin had disappeared.
* * *
Meanwhile, Arin hadn’t managed to run very far.
When Ahyeon had shoved her, she’d twisted her ankle.
She was already weakened from not eating well, and her body ached in addition to the injury.
Yet Arin didn’t stop. The thought that she might die if caught here consumed her mind entirely.
As she continued running with what little strength remained in her undernourished frame,
Arin failed to notice a stone jutting up in her path.
“Ah!”
Her exhausted legs gave way beneath her.
‘I’m going to fall!’
Just as she was about to pitch forward,
Dogyeong, who had been maintaining a steady distance behind her all along, closed the gap in a single bounding stride.
“Little one!”
With that cry, Dogyeong caught Arin.
“Gasp!”
The hands at her waist were large and warm.
As if worried she might hurt herself, Dogyeong steadied her upright.
“You must have a death wish for your nose.”
Arin’s eyes went wide at the sudden appearance of Dogyeong.
She’d thought she’d run quite far away, yet here she was, caught so easily in his grasp.
It had never occurred to her that Dogyeong had been holding back his speed all along.
Dogyeong regarded the disheveled Arin with a look of utter bewilderment.
Just last night he’d felt satisfied, having fed and settled her properly.
But the Arin before him now looked as though she’d rolled across the ground—her clothes were wrinkled and caked with mud in countless places.
“What in the…”
Even the two sons of the Geumho Family didn’t play this roughly.
Looking at her skirt, torn in places he couldn’t even identify, a sigh escaped him unbidden.
“Worse than my sons?”

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