The Beloved Baby Priestess of the Twelve Zodiac Gods - Chapter 85

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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 85
Everyone began changing clothes and washing the children, and shrieks erupted from every corner.
“Ow! Hold still for a second! Eek.”
“Don’t scratch! How dare you not know who I am……!”
Amid the chaos and clamor, the space where Arin and Se Yeon stood remained calm and orderly.
“There’s a lot of grime behind the ears and around the navel — you need to pay attention to those spots.”
“Like this?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Under Arin’s steady direction, her group finished bathing quickly and efficiently, while the other teams remained loud and frantic.
For young ladies who had spent their whole lives being waited upon, this was their first time doing such work, so their fumbling was only natural.
Se Yeon, observing them quietly, murmured softly.
“They seem more of a hindrance than a help.”
“Still, it’s a little better than having no one.”
“Arin is too kind, really.”
“Kind? She deliberately sent Do Hoon somewhere else.”
“So that’s why I haven’t seen him.”
“He’ll probably be back in the afternoon. He went to Forest Village.”
“Isn’t that already been cordoned off?”
“There might still be people left behind, just in case.”
A few days ago, the village nestled in the forest had been devastated by a demon.
Because it was so far from the main areas, relief efforts had been delayed, and the damage was considerable.
Some of the children here were originally from Forest Village.
“The demons have been causing trouble in our jurisdiction too lately.”
Se Yeon gazed toward the forest, her face full of worry.
A flock of crows flew unpleasantly between the trees.
“I hope nothing’s happened.”
Just as the tasks were winding down.
A child lingered near Arin, fidgeting.
Noticing the child seemed to have something to say, Arin called out in a gentle voice.
“What is it? Do you need something?”
“Well…….”
The child glanced around before leaning in and whispering into Arin’s ear.
“Did someone go into the forest?”
“Hmm?”
“You mustn’t go into the forest. People get eaten there.”
Puzzled by the cryptic words, Arin tilted her head.
The child, frustrated, tugged at Arin’s sleeve.
“We need to bring my friend back quickly.”
* * *
Meanwhile, Do Hoon and Woo Hyun were searching through the forest.
The entire forest was already cordoned off, and not a trace of human presence could be felt.
Woo Hyun swept his gaze across the surroundings while grumbling.
“It looks like everyone’s evacuated anyway.”
“There might still be someone hiding out of fear.”
“Wouldn’t the Shrine Maiden Regent just use her power and finish it quickly?”
“You can’t rely only on Divine Power like that.”
At Do Hoon’s sharp rebuke, Woo Hyun shrugged his shoulders.
He didn’t really want to trouble Arin either.
It was just that he could only be with Arin when she was acting as the Shrine Maiden Regent, so he’d spoken out of longing.
As Do Hoon was exploring the area, he suddenly covered his nose with his sleeve.
“Since when has there been miasmic fog around here?”
“Fog, you say?”
“Cover your nose.”
At Do Hoon’s command, Woo Hyun sensed the danger and covered his nose as well.
Fog that didn’t belong on such a clear day.
The two men climbed a tall tree to escape the fog’s reach.
Looking down at the forest from above, Do Hoon muttered quietly.
“So that’s why relief efforts were delayed.”
There was a strange tree at the point where the fog gathered.
A massive ginkgo tree, originally known as the Divine Tree that protected the village.
The miasmic fog rising from the ginkgo tree pooled in uneven patches throughout the forest.
Wherever the fog gathered, plants withered as though their vitality had been drained away.
The faint signs of numbness suggested the work of a demon—there was no doubt about it.
Woo Hyun rolled one shoulder back, squinting against the haze.
“I did wonder why my body felt so heavy.”
“We’ll need to contain the area and report this.”
Do Hoon first sealed off the tree that appeared to be the source of the miasmic fog with an earthen wall.
A rectangular prison fashioned from the Zodiac Animal Power was nearly complete when it happened.
Suddenly, the fog surged toward something unseen.
* * *
The moment Arin heard the child’s report, she made for the forest alone.
She’d asked Se Yeon to handle cleanup in her absence, though the other had wanted to follow.
‘People just collapse when the fog rises.’
According to the child’s account, the forest dwellers had died not from a demon, but from the miasmic fog itself.
Though she’d need to investigate further, Arin’s pace quickened with worry that Do Hoon and Woo Hyun might be injured.
The fog lay shallow across the forest floor, just as the child had described.
‘This isn’t ordinary mist.’
When she examined it with Divine Power, thin root-like strands—delicate as nerve fibers—seemed to writhe with life.
Arin used her power to keep them from drawing near.
She was nearly at the village when it happened.
The fog suddenly thickened, cutting off her path.
As the encirclement tightened, Arin panicked and pushed harder with her power, but she was hemmed in on all sides—trapped.
“Damn.”
The earthen wall prison Do Hoon had built loomed in the distance.
If she carelessly dispersed the fog with her power, it might destabilize his barrier.
She was reaching out to send a signal to Do Hoon when it happened.
A gust of wind suddenly swept around her, and the fog scattered.
Cut cleanly as though by a powerful sword aura, the air cleared and her vision opened.
“Do Hoon?”
She opened her mouth, thinking it might be him, but no answer came.
That struck her as strange, and she tilted her head in confusion.
Do Hoon came running up moments later and grabbed her shoulder.
“Are you all right? What are you doing here?”
“Ah, I was worried about you, so I came to check.”
Arin answered slowly, her eyes darting around the area.
The cleanly severed fog no longer advanced, keeping its distance.
Do Hoon pulled her toward a safer spot and opened his mouth to speak.
“If this were dangerous, I’d have found and dealt with it already. But are you hurt?”
“Hm? You didn’t help me just now?”
“Help you?”
As confusion crossed Do Hoon’s face, Woo Hyun—who’d caught up from behind—clicked his tongue.
His expression, fixed on some distant point, made his displeasure painfully clear.
“We found a suspicious tree over there. It looks like a Divine Tree that’s been corrupted. I think you’ll need to examine it directly, Priestess.”
At Do Hoon’s words, Arin turned her gaze toward where the ginkgo stood.
Inside the earthen wall, an eerie force rippled and churned.
“Right. I need to see what’s happening there.”
As Arin and Do Hoon started forward together, Woo Hyun suddenly veered away from the group and hurled his dagger into the darkness.
Without a sound, Munje—who’d been following invisibly—swept the blade aside in a single motion.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“You should stop creeping around behind her like that.”
“That’s none of your concern.”
“Why not? I’m her guard.”
Woo Hyun snorted and folded his arms across his chest.
“Don’t interfere with my duties—go back to your post.”
“I’m not the one who’s intruded on anything here.”
Munje intoned his words quietly, as though the other wasn’t worth his effort.
Truth be told, he’d only meant to show his face at the Relief Facility’s event today for a brief moment.
But when Arin headed into the forest alone, he’d become concerned and followed her.
He’d thought the fog had hidden his presence well enough.

That stubborn one recognized Munje at a glance.
It was possible precisely because they despised each other so thoroughly.
“I told you. Stay away from Arin.”
“Why should I listen to you?”
“If anything happens to Arin because of you, I won’t forgive it.”
“Save your worry. The Gold Clan Leader appointed me as her personal guard. No matter how much you bark at me to disappear, I’m the one who has to stick by Arin’s side, aren’t I?”
Woo Hyun snorted arrogantly, and Munje’s face darkened.
“I should have just cut you down then.”
“Did you think I’d go quietly?”
Woo Hyun’s aura turned menacing—a far cry from his former, incomplete power.
Munje, by contrast, kept his gaze fixed with aloof precision, making no use of the Zodiac Animal Power.
Woo Hyun, interpreting this as contempt, let out a low growl.
“Are you really arrogant enough to think you can beat me without even using your Zodiac Animal Power?”

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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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