The Beloved Baby Priestess of the Twelve Zodiac Gods - Chapter 71

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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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Episode 71
“When did you find out?”
“Not long ago.”
“……Are you all right?”
At the hesitant question, Arin looked at Mu Je.
“It’s just…… I feel like I’m a burden to my family. I’m not good enough, and I keep troubling them.”
“…….”
“Don’t tell the family I know. I’m just feeling a bit frustrated…….”
“I won’t. I understand that feeling too.”
“You do?”
Arin’s eyes widened in surprise. The Mu Je she knew was the flawless, perfect Twelve Zodiac member.
Mu Je’s lips moved slightly.
In truth, he had planned to reveal to Arin today that he was Seol.
But hearing Arin’s candid confession gave him courage.
If he was going to continue spending time with her, she would have to know his secret too.
“Actually, I have a problem no one else knows about. That’s why I lived in the Twelve Zodiac Divine Village.”
“You lived in the Twelve Zodiac Divine Village? But I’ve never seen you there before…….”
“We met long ago. Though I wasn’t in this form.”
Mu Je thought it better to show than to explain in words, and he transformed.
Arin, watching him transform without warning, clapped her hand over her mouth before she could even process what was happening.
“Gasp!”
Scales that glimmered with a silvery sheen.
Eyes of deep gold staring directly at her.
Arin froze at the realization that Mu Je was Seol.
Noticing her distress, Mu Je transformed back into his human form and continued speaking.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. As you know, I had to keep my time at the Twelve Zodiac Divine Village a secret.”
“……I see.”
“Are you angry with me?”
Mu Je studied Arin’s expression with concern.
Arin didn’t answer at once, only moving her lips slightly.
“I’m just a bit surprised. ……And worried that maybe I did something wrong…….”
Arin touched her warming cheeks.
As she recalled the things she’d done around Seol without knowing he was Mu Je, she didn’t know where to look.
When Arin averted her gaze, an anxious Mu Je took her hand.
“I liked you even when I was Seol. So you don’t need to worry about whether you made a mistake.”
“But…… why did you hide that you lived in the Twelve Zodiac Divine Village? I heard it was something to be proud of…….”
“I didn’t enter officially.”
Mu Je smiled bitterly.
“I can’t control my own power. Staying in my transformed state was the only way I could manage it.”
For someone known as a prodigy, it was a problem he’d never imagined facing. Arin murmured sympathetically.
“So you pretended to be Seol.”
“Yes.”
Then Mu Je spoke as if sharing the deepest secret.
“I only have half of my Yeouiju now. The Black Horse Clan took the other half a few years ago. That’s why my eyes are so red. The Yeouiju doesn’t obey me well.”
As Mu Je opened his heart with a melancholy expression, Arin held her breath.
“Gasp.”
For a White Dragon, the Yeouiju was the source of power itself.
It was as if a Spirit Core had been stolen.
The eyes Arin had thought beautiful were actually a sign of his pain.
“Are you…… all right now? Does it not hurt?”
Arin asked worriedly, closing the distance between them.
Pleased by her concern, Mu Je rested his cheek gently against her hand.
“It wasn’t all right before…… but it’s gotten much better thanks to you.”
“Thanks to me? I haven’t done anything…….”
“When I’m near you, my power grows calm.”
“…….”
Now that she thought about it, Mu Je’s eyes had indeed become more golden recently.
Arin was struck by the fact that her presence eased his pain.
“So I can help you?”
“Yes. Of course, if you don’t want to…….”
“No, I want to help. If it gets hard, you can hold my hand anytime, okay?”
Arin wrapped both her hands around Mu Je’s.
“So don’t hurt yourself, Mu Je.”
At her earnest whisper, Mu Je bit his lower lip.
Then he mumbled, as if sulking.
“I should be thinking about that kind of thing. What if I end up depending on you too much?”
It was a secret he’d kept hidden ever since the Yeouiju began acting up.
Even his father, who’d learned of it, had scrambled to keep it concealed.
The way Arin naturally accepted his weakness and offered comfort without judgment left him uncertain how to respond.
Relief washed over him.
He’d grown used to standing before a wall that seemed to block him at every turn.
But now that Arin supported him, that wall no longer felt so suffocating.
Just then, Arin patted Mu Je’s hand.
“You can lean on me. We’re friends, after all.”
Words he’d wanted so badly to hear.
Yet strangely, he felt a pang of regret.
It was an ambivalence that had lingered ever since learning that Arin was the daughter of Hongsaga.
Meanwhile, Arin was grateful that Mu Je had spoken of his weakness so honestly.
Especially when she recalled how he’d been considerate about her inability to use Beast Transformation, her heart grew warm.
“Thank you, Mu Je. For keeping my secret all this time. I promise I’ll keep yours too.”
Her chest felt lighter somehow. As a breeze picked up, Arin tidied her hair.
“This feels strange. Now that I know you’re Mu Je, it feels like we’ve grown closer than before.”
“You don’t hate me?”
“Hehe, not at all. How could I ever hate you?”
Arin laughed brightly.
“You’re so kind.”
Faced with her words, Mu Je couldn’t find anything to say in return.
He could only stare at her, dazed.
“I like you too.”
“Hm?”
“……I feel the same way.”
Mu Je mumbled evasively, covering his mouth with his hand.
The moment those words left his lips, he couldn’t help but understand.
‘I must like her.’
Unable to meet Arin’s eyes, Mu Je fixed his gaze on the innocent lake below.
His reflection on the water’s surface was flushed as crimson as the evening sky.
* * *
The day of Yeon Ha Je’s preliminary ceremony.
The Twelve Zodiac Divine Temple was packed with crowds eager to witness the event.
It was the day when the next generation of Twelve Zodiac Family Heads would showcase their abilities.
Seats for the current Family Heads and their direct lineages were arranged at the front of the stage.
Arin took her seat beside Do Gyeong and Do Yeong, and happened to find herself next to Hwangbo Yeong Jae of the Hwangwu Clan.
“We meet again? How have you been?”
Yeong Jae greeted her warmly, and Arin waved back.
Do Yeong, witnessing this, blinked rapidly.
“Wait—how do you two know each other?”
“We met at the gathering last time. You were there when I brought snacks, weren’t you?”
“Oh, that day.”
Do Yeong scratched his cheek with a reluctant expression.
He felt sorry for having been unable to properly look after Arin that day because of his upset stomach.
If he’d gone with her then, such rumors would never have spread.
It was then that Arin responded cheerfully.
“Thanks to Young Lord Yeong Jae that day, I had such a wonderful time.”
“I’m glad. But are things better now? That day, Father was quite angry.”
“Father was angry?”
“You didn’t know? He spoke sternly to those children who were talking carelessly about you, then left.”
When Yeong Jae brought up that day, Do Yeong hurriedly cut him off.
“Hey…! Don’t bring that up.”
He was frantically worried that Arin might learn of the rumors.
Meanwhile, the subject of concern herself—Arin—remained notably composed.
“Yes. Everything’s fine.”
Do Yeong was the one caught off guard instead.
“You little rascal—you knew about this?”
“Mm-hmm. I’m okay.”
“Really?”
“Mm-hmm. Really.”
When Arin broke into a grin, Do Yeong exhaled with relief.
“Goodness, how much I’ve worried about this.”
“Hehe, thanks.”
Seeing that the siblings took it well, Hwangbo Yeong Jae chimed in.
“That’s right. Honestly, these days more people are curious about how you two became close than about your origins.”
“Really?”
“I hear the Crown Prince was invited to Byeol Palace as well?”
“What? How did you find out?”
“Many people saw the two of you there. I’m surprised you didn’t know about it.”
Arin felt oddly disoriented by the changed rumors she hadn’t even noticed spreading.
Playing with Mu Je had become so familiar and natural that she’d never thought it would become a topic of conversation.
Hwangbo Yeong Jae’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Now I see it—it seems His Highness was considerate of you. Thanks to him, the unseemly rumors about you have quieted down.”

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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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