The Beloved Baby Priestess of the Twelve Zodiac Gods - Chapter 93

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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 93
When Arin suddenly mentioned a tree, Mu Je stared at her blankly for a long moment.
After a pause, he recalled the incident in the forest and opened his mouth.
“You don’t mean that ginkgo tree from back then?”
“Yes. I found traces of your Yeouiju Power being used at that tree. Since you’re the owner of the Yeouiju, I thought you’d already figured it out…….”
Only then did Mu Je realize Arin had been talking about something entirely different, and his face flushed crimson.
He’d nearly babbled on in complete oblivion.
As Mu Je went rigid as stone, his lips barely moving, Arin asked softly.
“You really didn’t notice?”
“I’ve been wearing this bracelet.”
Mu Je raised his wrist, and the bracelet jangled softly.
While wearing it, he could resist being drawn into the Zodiac Animal Power’s influence, though the tradeoff was that his senses grew duller.
“I suppose it’s time to take it off.”
“Will you be all right?”
Arin asked with concern. It had been some ten years since Mu Je had last behaved strangely, entranced by the Yeouiju.
Yet his expression remained calm. It was something he’d have to do eventually anyway.
“You need my strength.”
“That’s true, but……. If you don’t want to, I’ll find another way.”
At Arin’s stubborn insistence, Mu Je let out a soft laugh.
Arin had always been constant.
He’d grown closer to her since learning of his weakness than he had before—a testament to her upright nature.
Especially that warm heart of hers, the way she cared for the vulnerable—it struck him as beautiful beyond measure.
He had spent a very long time believing it was his duty to protect her.
“I’ve waited for a long time to finally be of use to you.”
Mu Je took Arin’s hand and brought it to his lips, pressing them gently against the back of her hand.
Their eyes met, and his gaze grew deeper, more intense than ever before.
The sensation of his lips against her hand was impossibly vivid.
Arin found herself holding her breath without thinking, staring at him.
“If it’s an order from you, I’ll overcome even fear.”
…….
“So all you need to do is say one thing. Help me.”
With each word Mu Je spoke, her hand grew warm and tingly.
A prickling, electric sensation crept up her fingertips.
“Ah.”
A soft gasp escaped Arin’s lips, and she startled, quickly covering her mouth with her other hand.
Seeing that endearing reaction, Mu Je felt an urge to simply pull her close and hold her.
He was wrestling with that surging emotion when——
“Step back.”
A sharp voice cut through the moment, and Woo Hyeon positioned himself between Arin and Mu Je.
His face showed clear displeasure at finding them alone together during his brief absence.
Mu Je turned to Woo Hyeon with a cool expression.
Even beneath that ice-sharp gaze, Woo Hyeon remained unmoved.
“Sorry to interrupt, but it’s time to go.”
“Oh, is it already that late?”
Arin checked her pocket watch belatedly and started in surprise.
“Mu Je, then next time we can talk again…….”
“Let’s go.”
Woo Hyeon cut off her words and swiftly draped the Silver Qi Robe over her shoulders, urging her forward.
Watching the two of them vanish like lightning from a clear sky, Mu Je exhaled a breath tinged with frustration.
Sigh.
Moments later, as he washed his face, Mu Je found himself remembering the warmth lingering on his fingertips and the sensation of his lips against her hand, his face flushing once more.
Eventually, he sank to the floor, his head drooping as though bowing to the earth.
“I’m losing my mind.”
* * *
On the path back to Maehwadang.
Arin walked in a daze, lost in thought.
‘When we were young, holding hands was nothing at all.’
The careful grip that had held her just now felt entirely different from what she remembered.
Those fingers, somewhat thicker and larger than a child’s, bore the calluses unique to a swordsman.
Yet despite how carefully his hand had held hers—as though cradling fragile glass—the lips that had pressed against her skin carried not a trace of carefulness.
The vow spoken with lips pressed together felt impossibly sweet.
If Woo Hyeon hadn’t burst in when he did, Arin’s heart would have shattered right there.
The moment they arrived at Maehwadang, Woo Hyeon spun around and growled.
“You’d waltz into a locked room alone with a man without a shred of caution?”
“What choice do I have if I don’t want my identity exposed?”
“You wait for me next time. Who knows what that bastard might try.”
“It’s not a bastard—it’s Baek Mu Je.”
“Does that matter?”
Woo Hyeon’s bristling only confused Arin further.
“Mu Je has no reason to harm me.”
“How can you be so sure? Don’t you remember what Master Gold Tiger said—that all men are wolves?”
“Why are you acting like my father? I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Ha!”
Woo Hyeon drove his fist into his own chest in frustration.
The memory of what he’d witnessed moments before made fury boil up inside him.
‘Cunning bastard.’
The moment they were alone, he’d reached for her hand—that scholar’s face masking something entirely different.
“You took too long coming back. Where exactly did you go just to get a drink of water?”
When the accusation turned back on him, Woo Hyeon faltered.
Unfamiliar with the Academy’s layout, he’d had to retrace the path he knew.
He was afraid of getting lost again.
It was then that Cheong Yoo Hee had blocked his way.
‘Hi there. I’m Cheong Yoo Hee.’
Normally he would have ignored her and walked past without a word.
But her hair was black—exactly like his—and he couldn’t turn away.
‘Who are you?’
‘How are you walking around without a Stabilizer?’
‘…What?’
‘When you use your power, don’t you get exhausted? Don’t you hear strange voices in your head, or get sudden urges to kill without knowing why?’
When she rattled off symptoms only he knew about, the air between them turned sharp.
Reading his agitation, Cheong Yoo Hee’s voice grew oddly cheerful.
‘Are you sure your power is truly only yours?’
‘You’re not working with the Black Horse Clan, are you?’
He’d tried to drag her away right then, but she leaned in close and whispered instead.
‘You look like you want to die. If you stay as you are, you will. But you already know that, don’t you?’
‘…’
‘Hehe, as your sibling, I’ll show you some mercy.’
She pressed something into his palm and smiled with unmistakable intent.
‘If you need more, come find me anytime. I’m curious about the source of your power too.’
‘…’
‘I trust you’re not foolish enough to tell the Gold Tiger Clan about meeting me today.’
The way she spoke—as though they were on the same side—left him deeply unsettled.
Yet at the same time, it was the moment he’d been waiting for all along.
When Woo Hyeon said nothing, Arin eyed him suspiciously.
“What? You’re being awfully quiet. Where did you really sneak off to?”
“The privy. Satisfied?”
“Ugh.”
Arin wrinkled her nose and covered it with her sleeve.
Woo Hyeon flicked his tongue indifferently.
“I’m leaving!”
As Woo Hyeon left Maehwadang without Arin, his eyes had turned cold.
He made straight for Do Gyeong’s Study Room.
“What brings you here?”
Do Gyeong greeted him flatly, but Woo Hyeon’s face had turned grave.
“They’ve made contact.”
At those words, Do Gyeong’s eyes sharpened.
Assigning Woo Hyeon as Arin’s escort had been precisely to lure out the Black Horse Clan.
“She thought of me as one of them. Or rather, that I couldn’t help but become one of them.”
Woo Hyeon produced the Spirit Medicine Cheong Yoo Hee had given him.
A small black orb, gleaming like a bead.
On the surface, it looked no different from Spirit Medicine meant to replenish one’s vital energy.
It was likely a drug needed by those who, like herself, had undergone Yeonghaek experiments.
Had she been someone who feared death, she would have wavered easily at Cheong Yoo Hee’s words——but she was not.
“You described my symptoms in detail, said I’d die if I didn’t take this, and even helpfully told me the name. Rather convenient, wouldn’t you say?”
Woo Hyeon dismissed the threat with a lightness that suggested her own death held no weight in her mind.
It was a response befitting one who, since childhood, had chosen the hour of her own passing.

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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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