The Beloved Baby Priestess of the Twelve Zodiac Gods - Chapter 44

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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 44
Meanwhile, Cho Ryeong caught the smile playing at Do Hoon’s lips and ventured a light remark.
“You seem to be in good spirits lately.”
“Hmm?”
“It suits you.”
Cho Ryeong offered a faint smile, tapping her own mouth pointedly.
Only then did Do Hoon realize he’d been smiling, and his eyes wavered with the discovery.
Since his mother had passed, every Memorial Day left him melancholy.
Yet here he was, less than a day away from it, and it seemed he’d forgotten his mother entirely.
“You’re talking nonsense.”
“Miss Arin has made quite an effort, you know.”
“What effort?”
“She asked me about you every day, wanting to lift your spirits. What you like, what you dislike—things like that.”
……
“Isn’t it nice having such a sweet younger sister?”
“Not at all. I never wanted one.”
Do Hoon answered reflexively and turned to leave.
……
……
Just as Arin returned from washing her hands, they collided directly, and Do Hoon froze.
‘What did I just say?’
Worried she might have heard, he searched her face, but Arin smiled as though nothing were amiss.
“Did you wait long?”
Then she pressed something into his hand.
‘She didn’t hear?’
But given the faint trembling of her hand, it seemed she had heard every word.
Do Hoon, caught between apology and uncertainty, looked down at what Arin had given him.
It was a Pressed Flower Bookmark.
“What is this?”
“I saw a pink rose on a walk the other day, and it was so beautiful. Pink roses mean happiness, you know. If you keep this with you, you’ll be happy too.”
……
At the word happiness, Do Hoon’s expression twisted.
‘Do Hoon, I will carry all the dark clouds of the world so that my son will always be happy.’
His mother’s habitual refrain surfaced unbidden.
Her words had taken root: the better Do Hoon thrived, the more his mother’s final years were shrouded in darkness.
It tormented him—the feeling that he had taken his mother’s happiness wholesale for himself.
Do Hoon’s smile turned bitter.
“I don’t deserve happiness.”
“What?”
“So I can’t accept this.”
He returned the bookmark and hurried away.
His movements were desperate, as though remaining here a moment longer would be unbearable.
Confronted with such abruptness, Arin blinked.
She’d known he was uncomfortable around her, but this reaction was different—she didn’t know how to respond.
‘He looked sad.’
Uneasy that she might have made a mistake, she stiffened until Cho Ryeong spoke.
“Are you all right, Miss?”
“I think I made a mistake.”
“I don’t believe it’s your fault, Miss. I suspect he simply misses his mother—like a nestling yearning for its dam.”
Cho Ryeong gestured to the young bird.
After its parents had died, it had cried itself into exhaustion; now that it had regained its strength, it called out plaintively, searching for its mother.
Perhaps in Arin’s presence, he had forgotten his grief—only to have it crash down upon him now.
“I only wanted him to smile.”
“You’ve done what you could. He simply needs time alone.”
Cho Ryeong patted Arin’s shoulder and tried to lead her inside.
But lost in thought, Arin suddenly bolted toward the door.
“I’ll be back shortly!”
“Miss!”
Despite Cho Ryeong’s protests, Arin pursued Do Hoon.
‘Where did he go?’
She thought he’d followed right after her, but Do Hoon was nowhere to be seen.
Arin hesitated over whether to use her Ability when it suddenly struck her—the place where they’d first met.
‘Oh, that’s where Jin Kyung’s Quarters are. It looks like Do Hoon went there again.’
The moment Cho Ryeong’s words came back to her, Arin’s instincts sent her running toward Jin Kyung’s Quarters.
By the time she reached it, gasping for breath, she spotted Do Hoon in the distance.
“Brother!!”
At Arin’s cry, Do Hoon—who had been about to step inside the quarters—turned around.
“How did you know this place?”
“Huff, huff—here, take this!”
Ignoring his question, Arin thrust the bookmark into his hands.
“I don’t need it—”
“It’s my happiness to give! Huff—happiness, when you share it, huff—it doubles, remember? So you have to take it!”
The illogical reasoning made Do Hoon’s brow furrow inward.
“Why do you keep being so annoying?”
Arin didn’t shrink from his sharp tone.
She took a deep breath, steadied herself, and spoke with firm conviction.
“Because I want you to be happy.”
“Then why are you praying for my happiness?”
He was sick of happiness that came only through Jin Kyung’s prayers on his behalf.
To a man who desperately hoped no one would ever pray for his happiness again, Arin’s gesture felt deeply uncomfortable.
“What if I end up taking your happiness too?”
“Brother, are you an idiot?”
“…What?”
It was an unfamiliar insult for someone who’d only ever been called a genius.
Arin planted her hands on her hips and scolded him.
“Happiness gets better the more you share it! People are naturally happy when the person they care about is happy. How can someone smart like you not know that?”
Her barrage of words left Do Hoon looking bewildered.
Had this little one always been such a talker?
When Arin, who usually smiled so gently, opened her eyes fierce and spoke with such force, Do Hoon found himself at a loss.
“No returns. I’ve already used up so much of my happiness praying for your wellbeing.”
Arin pulled out Pressed Flower Bookmarks from her pocket by the handful.
‘She made this many?’
He couldn’t begin to fathom how much happiness she’d spent praying for him.
In that moment, Do Hoon remembered something he’d forgotten.
There was once when he’d questioned the words his mother had always spoken like a curse.
He’d forgotten what she’d said then, but now, hearing Arin’s words, it came back to him.
‘If I take all Mother’s happiness too, doesn’t that make Mother unhappy?’
‘No. Your mother is happy just seeing our Do Hoon happy. So Mother will bear all the hardship.’
With a pale, ailing face, Jin Kyung had smiled so beautifully.
The memory made Do Hoon’s eyes begin to burn.
“…You really are impossible.”
He tilted his head upward to hold back the tears, letting out a laugh.
“Ha-ha.”
Of all times for this to surface now.
With Mother’s Memorial Day approaching, he must be growing sentimental.
Fortunately, Arin didn’t notice Do Hoon holding back his tears.
“See, you smiled, didn’t you? Right, brother? Hehe. Look, you’re already happy.”
As Arin laughed along smugly, Do Hoon gathered his composure.
This small child was trying so hard for him—he couldn’t keep responding with such sharp edges.
Do Hoon gripped Arin’s bookmark firmly in his hand.
“You’re right. You have a point.”
“Hehe.”
“You really don’t know the meaning of giving up, do you?”
“Well, you’re my brother. Father used to say family is always on your side, no matter what. I’m on yours.”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
Do Hoon smiled and ruffled Arin’s hair.
Arin didn’t even protest at his touch—she just beamed with genuine joy.
Looking at that innocent smile, Do Hoon had to admit he’d been seeing her through tinted lenses all this time.
‘This small child accepted me as family long ago and took me into her heart.’
Just as Cho Ryeong had said, these past few days with Arin had brought him an uncommon peace, free from the usual turbulence of his emotions.
Every year, as the Memorial Day drew near, a heavy stone seemed to settle upon my heart.
But today—today brought only relief.
It was surely thanks to Arin, standing right before me.
Do Hoon had been circling around something that weighed on him all along, and now he ventured to ask.
“Tell me—don’t you miss your parents?”
He needed to know what Arin truly thought of Hong Sa House.
It was the largest obstacle to accepting her.
If he had given her his heart, only to have her return to Hong Sa House, no wound could cut deeper.

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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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