The Beloved Baby Priestess of the Twelve Zodiac Gods - Chapter 37

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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 37
“Really? Is that so?”
The moment the misunderstanding was cleared after four days, Muje was visibly delighted.
But the response that followed from Do-yeong left Muje utterly flustered.
“Yeah, looks clearly male to me. Want me to check?”
As Do-yeong reached out with a mischievous grin, Muje bolted away at once.
“What a funny one. Picky about people, are we?”
“She’s shy with strangers.”
Arin gestured to Seol-i, who approached hesitantly and rubbed her head against the girl’s hand.
At that endearing sight, Arin’s expression softened.
“Ha, though I’ve got to say—why’d you name a male after a female? Doesn’t suit her.”
“But Seol-i liked it too. Right, Seol-i?”
At Arin’s prompting, Seol-i looked away, pretending not to listen.
Do-yeong watched this with an impish smile and murmured under his breath.
“Doesn’t seem like it.”
“That’s odd…….”
It was as Arin stood staring at Seol-i with a puzzled expression.
Do-yeong, who’d seemed to have something on his mind all this while, ventured carefully.
“Nothing troubling you lately, little one?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Oh, just—anyone suspicious trying to get close to you all of a sudden?”
He’d already given Hyeoksu a stern warning, but greedy sorts never knew when to give up.
Given that he hadn’t been spotted at the market lately, he might’ve already left town.
Meanwhile, Arin, oblivious to it all, simply smiled brightly.
“No one. Ever since then, I’ve only been going to the Orphanage anyway.”
“You visit that place quite often?”
“Hehe. It just… feels good to know that I’m helping someone.”
Since sponsoring a gift last time, Arin had been visiting the Orphanage regularly to look after the children there.
They reminded her so much of her own former self that she couldn’t help but keep them in mind.
If she hadn’t met her father, she would’ve been no different from those street children.
So today, too, she planned to go.
“In any case, I’ll pick you up before it gets late.”
Once Do-yeong left, Arin prepared for her outing.
Today was the day she’d receive a gratitude plaque from the Orphanage.
On the way to the Orphanage.
While Cho-ryeong spoke with a staff member, Arin gazed out the window and spotted Do-hun.
‘I was told that area was dangerous because it’s the Slums…….’
Do-hun was just then disappearing into a dark Alley.
The Orphanage staff had warned her many times never to go that way.
Even knowing it was probably needless worry, Arin found herself following without quite meaning to.
‘I need to bring him back quickly……!’
By the time she reached the spot, Do-hun had vanished from sight, and Arin stood momentarily stuck—then a bright idea occurred to her.
‘Let me try the method the Divine One taught me.’
The Method of Perceiving Essence.
In this place, Do-hun should be the only one bearing the aura of a Zodiac Animal, so finding him would be simple.
Arin focused her energy into her eyes. In that moment, her eyes sparkled like stars, and Muje caught the sight.
‘Her eyes…….’
It felt strikingly similar to when Yeo-ryeong used Divine Power.
Arin quietly surveyed her surroundings, and once she sensed the familiar aura, she quickened her pace.
Patter-patter-patter.
The child’s small steps grew urgent.
She feared she might lose him again, and was terrified of finding herself trapped alone in this place.
Just as she rounded the corner into the Alley ahead.
“Gasp!”
There, instead of Do-hun, was another child.
A child clutching a mangled arm—slashed, by the look of it—and breathing in shallow, pained gasps.
His face had turned deathly pale from blood loss.
Arin recognized him at once.
It was the black-haired boy she’d seen fighting the dumpling shop owner before.
‘What do I do?’
He seemed to have taken quite a beating; there was no way around stopping for treatment.
His eyes were shut, and she worried he might be dead.
“Hey, are you all right?”
Arin had just reached out her hand when it happened.
The boy’s eyes snapped open and he lunged at her.
Crack!
In that instant, a bolt of lightning descended between Arin and the boy.
Muje had unleashed Divine Power to shield Arin.
“Yelp!”
Arin cried out in shock, and the boy recoiled in terror as well.
A lightning strike from a clear sky—it made no sense.
Startled, they put distance between themselves and stood wary of each other.
“Who are you? Are you with them?”
The boy clutched at his injured arm, his voice low and threatening.
“No, no! I was looking for someone.”
“Then stop being a nuisance and get out of here.”
The boy staggered backward, leaning against the wall.
Watching his complexion grow worse by the second, Arin found her feet rooted to the ground.
“No, this won’t do…!”
If she left him like this, he’d surely die without proper treatment.
She’d sensed a powerful Zodiac Animal’s presence and followed it here.
But this wasn’t Do-hun—it was that other child from back then, and Arin was caught off guard.
‘So this child is a Zodiac Animal after all.’
Remembering the wild, dangerous look in his eyes when they’d met by chance at the noodle shop, she felt afraid—yet she steeled herself and took another step closer.
“I told you not to come near.”
“But—but you need treatment for your wound!”
Arin untied her hair ribbon. It was the only thing she had that could serve as a bandage.
“I won’t hurt you. Please, don’t be wary of me.”
…….
The boy, having lost his strength, made no move to stop her.
Arin approached carefully, applied Emergency Ointment to the wound, and bound it with her hair ribbon.
He let out a small groan.
“Does it hurt?”
When the boy whimpered, Arin bent down and gently blew on the wound.
When her mother had done this when she was small, it made the pain seem less severe.
“Better now? It should hurt less, right?”
Her natural kindness froze the boy in place.
This girl appeared out of nowhere and immediately tended to his wounds without hesitation.
There was no such thing as kindness without a price in this world.
She must have some hidden agenda.
“Who are you?”
Yet for all his suspicion, the girl seemed as harmless as they come.
What unsettled him was the color of her eyes.
She was clearly a Zodiac Animal, and appeared to be a daughter of a noble house.
Seeing Arin, who must have grown up in the happy family he’d never had, the boy felt inferiority creep into his chest.
Then Arin pressed the ointment container into his hand.
“Keep this. You need to apply it several times so the wound doesn’t reopen. Otherwise it might hurt for a long time.”
Watching her hand over the expensive ointment so casually, the boy’s eyes flickered with something else.
His own miserable circumstances felt all the more glaring in contrast.
“So you think I’m some beggar.”
The boy threw the ointment container to the ground.
“Get out. This time I really will attack.”
When the boy’s eyes flashed with killing intent, Muje was about to step forward—but then:
“That’s enough. Touch one more member of our family, and I won’t hold back.”
Do-hun had appeared from nowhere, placing himself between Arin and the boy.
Arin blinked as she noticed Do-hun protecting her.
“Do-hun?”
Do-hun glanced down at Arin briefly, then fixed the boy with a sharp rebuke.
“Repaying kindness with malice is not the right path.”
“I never asked for your help in the first place.”
“Is that so? To my eyes, it looked like you were throwing a tantrum, begging for help.”
At Do-hun’s provocation, the boy’s fists clenched tight.
But he couldn’t rush forward recklessly. The man clearly looked stronger than he was.
“Tsk!”
The boy vanished without a word of thanks.
Arin watched the direction where the boy had disappeared when Do-hun spoke.
“What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I saw you, so…”
“Don’t tell me you followed me.”
At his reproachful tone, Arin wrung her hands nervously, afraid of being scolded.
Do-hun stared at Arin as she honestly admitted to trailing after him.
‘Brother,’ she’d called him…
It wasn’t exactly a welcome word, but there was no need to show it.
“Let’s go home.”
Do-hun said nothing more and scooped Arin into his arms.
“Oh!”
“Stay still. At your pace, it would take forever.”
When Arin obediently wrapped her arms around his neck, Do-hun continued.
“If you get hurt, Father will worry. Don’t do this again.”

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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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