The Beloved Baby Priestess of the Twelve Zodiac Gods - Chapter 96

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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 96
Woo Hyun’s hand had gone cold with tension as he waited for Arin’s answer.
Why was his heart racing over this?
He was just about to stare at her lips, waiting for a response.
“I just… I’ve never seen you get along with anyone else before, so it’s not exactly that I mind you being a woman or anything……”
At Arin’s casual reply, Woo Hyun felt his energy drain away.
“So what you’re saying is, you don’t care if I fool around with other women?”
“What kind of answer are you even fishing for?”
The more bewildered Arin’s expression became, the more irrationally angry Woo Hyun felt.
‘Wretched girl. I mean nothing to her at all, do I?’
Every time Baek Mu Je appeared, she’d blush and steal glances at him.
Yet even though he was always by her side, nothing but words that displeased him ever left her pretty lips.
“You spend all your time fooling around with Baek Mu Je—why can’t I do the same?”
“W-why are you bringing him up now!”
Her startled reaction only soured his mood further.
Woo Hyun thrust his face closer.
“You’re the one who’s too aware of him, aren’t you? Did you fall for his pretty face like all the other girls?”
……
“Instead of lecturing me, you should be careful yourself. We’re not children anymore. This playacting as friends has to stop.”
At his cutting remark—barbed with self-interest—Arin said nothing.
She’d already been troubled by the strange atmosphere that hung between her and Baek Mu Je whenever they met lately.
“Don’t you think we’re more than friends?”
The fact that she was still clinging to the word “friends” suggested that Baek Mu Je was having a hard time of it too.
In that case, there was no need for him to step in and bridge the gap between them.
Woo Hyun, who had been staring at her downcast face, finally spoke.
“To anyone watching, you look like childhood sweethearts.”
……
“Stop worrying about useless things and finish your assigned task.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
Arin’s expression finally eased as she resumed her work.
“Someone’s coming.”
Shortly after Arin spoke, Chung Yoo Hee appeared in the distance, heading their way.
Woo Hyun tensed and blocked her path.
“What? Why are you here?”
“Someone said you were in this area.”
Chung Yoo Hee answered warmly, glancing past Woo Hyun’s shoulder at Arin.
Then she leaned in as if to pat his shoulder, whispering in his ear.
“I’d like to talk to you privately for a moment.”
Woo Hyun bristled and seized her wrist.
“Come on.”
“My, how forceful.”
Chung Yoo Hee let herself be pulled along, calling back to Arin.
“I’ll borrow him for just a moment.”
Arin, wearing the Silver Qi Robe, answered with a slight nod of her head.
After confirming that the two had moved out of earshot, Arin muttered softly to herself.
“Are those two really something?”
* * *
The moment they were alone, Woo Hyun released Chung Yoo Hee’s wrist.
“I told you not to come find me when I’m with the young Priestess. If she finds out, it’ll be a mess.”
“Don’t be like that. I brought you good news.”
At the mention of good news, Woo Hyun flinched.
“An answer came?”
“Yes. He said it’s fine for you to come.”
“Then……”
“But there’s a condition. He says you have to bring the young Priestess with you.”
“That won’t work.”
Woo Hyun flatly refused, and Chung Yoo Hee let out a laugh.
“Then I’ll have to tell him it won’t be possible. But you know this is your first and last chance.”
“I told you before. The young Priestess doesn’t fully trust me. She doesn’t even know my face.”
“So what are we supposed to believe in you for?”
Chung Yoo Hee leaned against the tree, her legs crossed, dragging a long fingernail across her chin.
“You understand well enough—making that Stabilization Agent is incredibly difficult. There are limits to what we can give away for nothing.”
“Are you blackmailing me right now?”
“How could we? We simply want confirmation that you’re on our side.”
“……Why the sudden interest in the baby Priestess, anyway?”
“I don’t know myself. His interests require no reason.”
“You’re not hiding anything from me, are you?”
“Hiding? What do you mean?”
Chung Yoo Hee maintained her position of feigned ignorance, so Woo Hyun decided to cut his losses.
“Do as you like. I’m out. Go figure it out somewhere else.”
Seeing him turn to leave, Yoo Hee caught his arm.
“You’re impatient. If luring the baby Priestess is difficult, there are other methods.”
Yoo Hee pressed something into Woo Hyun’s palm.
“Hide this in something Baek Mu Je uses.”
What she’d handed him looked like some kind of Talisman.
It was clearly unsettling at first glance, and Woo Hyun’s brow furrowed.
“What is this?”
“Who knows? A special gift for my poor friend?”
“Your friend—you mean Hong So So?”
“That’s right. She’s utterly besotted with Baek Mu Je. You know as well as I do they were nearly engaged.”
“Mm.”
“This is simple enough, isn’t it? No threat to life.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Woo Hyun ventured carefully, “You’re certain? It won’t harm him?”
“I told you it won’t. What good would harming Baek Ryong do? He’s dying anyway soon.”
“Fine. I understand. Don’t change your story later.”
When Woo Hyun accepted without refusing, Yoo Hee let out a laugh.
He stuffed the Talisman into his pocket, then paused mid-turn to throw down a warning.
“Don’t act the way you did just now anymore. The baby Priestess suspects something between us.”
It bothered him that Arin showed not the slightest interest in him, and he spoke with visible irritation.
At his thinly veiled threat, Yoo Hee let out a snort.
“Is that so? Then wouldn’t it be better to pretend to be lovers so you’d see each other more often?”
“Absolutely not!”
Woo Hyun cried out so sharply that Yoo Hee blinked.
“A man who refuses me—that’s rare. Do you have a woman you like, perhaps?”
“That’s none of your business.”
Woo Hyun answered curtly and left Yoo Hee behind without hesitation.
As she watched him go, the corners of Yoo Hee’s mouth curved upward in a suspicious smile.
* * *
“Who asked to meet whom?”
Do Gyeong’s voice was savage as he asked, and So Cheon’s face grew tense.
“The head of the Hong Family, Hong I Jin, wishes to see the young lady……”
Bang!
Before So Cheon could finish, the sound of the desk being struck hard echoed through the Study.
So Cheon stared at the desk now split with a crack and held his tongue.
“After ten years of never requesting an audience, he comes in person. And to see a daughter he abandoned?”
Do Gyeong bared his canines, his words a low growl that chilled the air around them.
Judging by the fact that Yeo Ryeong had arrived earlier than the scheduled date, it seemed Hong I Jin truly intended to meet Arin.
“Has Arin been told?”
“Not yet. However, if we refuse outright, he appeared ready to cause a disturbance.”
“This is absurd timing, out of nowhere.”
Already frayed by the matter of Arin’s Succession and Yeo Ryeong’s illness, Do Gyeong’s nerves were raw.
They had been preparing carefully for this gathering, and now this annoyance.
Do Gyeong wracked his mind for a way to refuse the meeting entirely, and resolved to stall.
“Tell him to wait for now.”
Forever.
The instant Do Gyeong smiled crookedly at his own thought—
Arin walked into the Study.
“What are we waiting for?”
“Well, that would be… so you wouldn’t meet Hong I Jin… ah! Miss.”

Do Gyeong broke off mid-sentence and looked up at Arin with a start of surprise.
He’d spilled everything from his own mouth, and his expression betrayed his bewilderment at having done so.
So Cheon simply kept his mouth shut, offering only silence to his master’s foolish behavior.
After a moment, Arin spoke.
“The Hong Family head wants to see me?”
“Well…….”
Do Gyeong grimaced as though he’d tasted something foul.
“I don’t know why that bastard insists on meeting you either. I told him to just wait, and honestly, it’d be better if you never saw him at all——”
“But we haven’t done anything wrong. Why would you go that far?”
At Arin’s words, Do Gyeong exhaled a heavy sigh and revealed what he truly felt.
“Because I’m afraid that fool will hurt you again.”

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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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