The Beloved Baby Priestess of the Twelve Zodiac Gods - Chapter 76

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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 76
Now that the White Dragon Clan leader knows, he’ll move heaven and earth to entangle his son with Arin.
And the timing makes it worse—Mu Je’s weakness has been laid bare before the world.
As Do Gyeong’s face clouded with conflicting thoughts, Arin looked up at him.
“Father.”
At the worry in her voice, Do Gyeong smoothed away his troubled expression.
“It’s not that you trouble me. It’s just that my daughter is so remarkable—her father has much to worry about.”
“I should have been more careful.”
“At least with all that rain, no one will have noticed your strength.”
Though of course it was the downpour itself that had forced Arin to use her power in the first place.
In the distance, he saw Do Hoon and Do Young racing toward them.
With them came the rat that Geumgeum had sent.
“Father!”
Do Hoon spotted him and Arin, his voice rising in alarm.
Do Young rushed up behind him, his words tumbling out in a rush.
“Arin! Where on earth have you been! Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been?”
“Brother…”
Arin’s face crumpled as she drew out the word, her only thought that she’d worried them all again.
Just as Do Young was about to launch into a lecture, Do Gyeong cut him off.
“It’s settled now. Keep quiet—there’s no profit in drawing attention.”
“But why does the child look like that? Like a soaking wet puppy! What were you doing while she was out in the rain!”
In an instant, Do Young had neatly turned his accusations toward Do Gyeong.
At such shameless ingratitude, Do Gyeong’s eyebrows twitched.
Arin, having no defense even with ten mouths, simply bit her lip and looked away.
Now that she thought about it, she’d put on a fine dress only to be thoroughly drenched.
The ornaments that Cho Ryeong had so carefully arranged had vanished without a trace.
“Oh no.”
Only now grasping the reality of her situation, Arin let out a small groan.
“So you’ve only just realized what you’ve done.”
At Do Hoon’s brief reproach, Arin nodded miserably.
“I’m sorry.”
“It seems the daughter causes more trouble than the sons. Turn your back for a moment and she vanishes right before your eyes.”
To Do Gyeong’s disapproving tongue-click, Arin protested softly, her face hidden.
“But you said I could do whatever I wanted…”
“Look at this now. Now she’s even talking back?”
“Hehe.”
As Arin tried to disarm them with laughter, the expressions on Do Gyeong’s, Do Hoon’s, and Do Young’s faces softened.
Do Young released his hands from his hips and spoke.
“Aw! She’s too cute to stay angry at!”
Do Hoon added his voice in support.
“That’s right. Honestly, compared to the trouble Do Young causes, this is nothing.”
“Exactly! If it were me, I’d already have a broken leg!”
At Do Young’s thoughtless agreement, Do Gyeong let out a hollow laugh.
He clearly had no intention of scolding Arin.
At times like this, an adult had to set an example.
Once they reached the Lodging, Do Gyeong planted his hands on his hips and issued a stern warning.
“For causing trouble, tonight there will be no lullaby—and no father.”
“Wail…”
As if struck by sudden disaster from a clear sky, Arin looked up at Do Gyeong with pitiful eyes.
“I’m scared to sleep alone.”
“So timid a child ignores her father and ventures beyond the Forbidden Gate?”
“Ugh…”
Unable to deny her fault, Arin twisted this way and that, at a complete loss.
Moments later, she grabbed hold of Do Gyeong’s pant leg.
“I’m sorry. You don’t have to sing the lullaby—just sleep with me, please?”
Her large eyes blinked up at him, and Do Gyeong faltered for an instant.
He carefully averted his gaze from hers and spoke with forced severity.
“No. That won’t do.”
“Piii…”
With a deflated expression, Arin followed Cho Ryeong toward the bath.
The child kept glancing back, her expression heart-wrenching.
Do Gyeong barely made it to the adjacent room, leaning against the wall with a heavy sigh.
“Sigh. It’s my own daughter, but I could die of how adorable she is.”
He’d almost fallen for the glint in Arin’s eyes and found himself on the verge of tickling those soft cheeks instead of following through with punishment.
That night, Do Gyeong had to restrain his own feet as they moved toward Arin’s room—as though he himself were the one being punished—and force himself to sleep.
* * *
The next day, the Twelve Zodiac Family Heads gathered in the Conference Hall in small groups, as if by prior arrangement.
They had sensed the strange commotion that had erupted the previous night.
In particular, the rain that had poured for nearly half an hour was unmistakably the work of the White Dragon Clan.
Power that dulled the senses and scattered the surrounding qi.
The lightning and thunder that fell across a wide area seemed designed to conceal something.
The Rain Formation was crude and unfinished for something bearing the mark of the White Dragon King.
Most peculiar was that it had been mingled with the power of the Black Horse Clan.
It was an anomaly that anyone of the Family Head rank would have sensed.
White Dragon and Black Demon combined.
This was why everyone had gathered at the Main Palace—the White Dragon needed to explain.
Chung Hae Ju, who had been waiting for Baek Hyeon Je, muttered with his chin propped on his hand.
“Truly. You hold a celebration and play games elsewhere. Aren’t you underestimating us?”
He then turned his gaze meaningfully to Hong Yi Jin.
“Especially you, Hong. You must have been shocked yesterday. That power—it was clearly Baek Mu Je’s.”
At the probing remark, Hong Yi Jin did not answer immediately, instead tapping the table with his fingers.
The Rain Formation that had spread so widely was immense power, too great to belong to a child.
The problem was that it was far too imperfect.
If the formation broke, the user would likely suffer internal injuries—a reckless method.
It was a ruthless formation, as though the user didn’t care if their own body was damaged.
‘He’s been hiding a problem with Baek Mu Je.’
Having reached this conclusion, Hong Yi Jin spent a sleepless night and arrived here at dawn.
Then Baek Hyeon Je and Do Gyeong entered the conference hall together.
As the two came in together, Hong Yi Jin’s gaze turned sharp.
“How do you come together?”
Chung Hae Ju laughed slyly and straightened his posture from its sprawl.
“Hmm. Now I see the Gold Clan Head was in on this game all along?”
His voice was tinged with mockery, his eyes cold.
In the stiffened atmosphere, quite different from usual, Baek Hyeon Je opened his mouth.
“I understand everyone came here because of yesterday’s disturbance. I’ll explain everything.”
The reason the two of them had arrived late was to properly settle the matter from the previous night.
Baek Hyeon Je, having received a report from Ji Cheon about Arin’s abilities, had many questions.
‘So it was your daughter who improved my son’s condition, not the Priestess. Could it be that you discovered the full extent of that child’s power and took her away from the Hong Clan on purpose?’
‘I only learned of it after bringing her with me. At the time of discovery, Arin’s condition was quite poor.’
‘Poor?’
‘She was confined in a separate building of the Hong Clan estate, receiving no proper care. If I hadn’t found her when I did, she would already be gone.’
‘Are you saying the Hong Head abused the child? Why on earth?’
‘Arin cannot perform Beast Transformation.’
When Do Gyeong mentioned Arin’s inability to transform, Baek Hyeon Je immediately understood.
Hong Yi Jin had always shown an excessive obsession with the family’s status and the abilities of the Twelve Zodiac.
Though Baek Hyeon Je had judged him not so incompetent as to cast out his own child, he let out a low hum.
‘A poor father. He didn’t even recognize what remarkable power that child possessed.’
‘You needn’t worry about being deprived of Arin. Hong Yi Jin has already signed a document relinquishing custody.’
‘Hmm. It doesn’t seem like such a simple matter. He’ll surely try to approach and convince the child. If the child wishes to return? Then it would be difficult to stop.’
As Baek Hyeon Je posed his concern, Do Gyeong chuckled softly.
‘Then I’ll simply work harder to ensure that doesn’t happen.’
‘Gold Clan Head.’
‘Hong Yi Jin is unfit to be a father. I’m not so foolish as to let the child in my care be taken by a scoundrel.’
Do Gyeong’s affection for Arin was something Baek Hyeon Je had witnessed with his own eyes, so it rang true.
Yet Baek Hyeon Je hesitated before broaching something even more important.
‘Ordinarily, you’d be aware that the child is meant to be Mu Je’s match.’

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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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