The Blue Dragon Clan’s Very Suspicious Little Chick - Chapter 2

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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 2

Four days later.
In the back courtyard of the Main Palace, two young servants huddled close together, whispering.
“Did you hear? Some bird was born in a nest at Cheong-yeon Pond!”
“Really? Is that true? What kind of bird?”
“I don’t know! But I’ve seen the Clan Leader carrying something small and precious in his arms for days now. Could it be that bird?”
A girl with her hair in two braids shook her head skeptically.
“No way. He’s probably just carrying the youngest young master. I heard he was born so frail.”
Just then, another girl wearing an apron suddenly interjected.
“No, I saw it too! What the Clan Leader’s carrying isn’t the youngest young master!”
“So it really was a bird?”
The girl in the apron nodded eagerly in response to her friend’s question.
“Yes, it’s a baby bird! Snow-white and so tiny! When it chirps, it’s impossibly adorable!”
“Chirping? Are you saying the Azure Dragon Clan Leader is carrying around something like a chick? You weren’t dreaming?”
“No! I actually just ran an errand to bring Millet Porridge for the baby bird. It was just a small bowl—the size of a soy sauce dish—with barely a spoonful in it!”
The other two girls’ eyes widened.
“Really? You’re saying that’s true? But why would such a busy Clan Leader suddenly start carrying a bird around like that?”
“Oh, that? Hee-rim explained it to me, but what was it called…? It was some difficult word….”
The girl in the apron thought hard, then the answer came to her.
“Oh, I remember! Imprinting!”
“Imprinting…?”
The girl nodded.
“Every newborn bird in the world thinks the first creature it meets after being born is its mother. That’s what they call Imprinting.”
“So… our Clan Leader became the baby bird’s ‘mother’…?”
The servants looked at each other, tilting their heads in confusion.
It was certainly a strange story.
The Azure Dragon Clan Leader as a baby bird’s mother…?

Unaware that she had gained a mother, not a father.
Not far away, Aran caught a fragrant scent in her sleep.
“Peep…?”
(Oh, is this my favorite millet porridge…?)
Smacking her lips dreamily, a sweet and aromatic drop of Millet Porridge fell into her open beak.
Aran swallowed it down without even opening her eyes.
“Peep….”
(Mm, delicious…. Not too thin, not too thick, the perfect consistency…..)
After that, her beak opened and closed reflexively.
“Chirrup….”
(Hmm, neither hot nor cold, just the right temperature…..)
By the time the bowl was nearly empty, Aran’s tiny belly had grown even rounder.
Pleased and contented, Aran nestled her head back into the familiar warmth she’d grown accustomed to.
Something neither too soft nor too hard enveloped her tender newborn body with both comfort and security.
Then, as if she were swaying in a gentle swing, her body rocked pleasantly back and forth.
“Coo….”
(Wait, this is definitely a trick…. I was supposed to ascend and go to the Celestial Realm…..)
But for someone who’d been tricked, wasn’t this remarkably comfortable? A warm back, a full belly….
How long had it been since she slept so peacefully without a care in the world….
In the end, Aran fell back asleep again, as if washing away the exhaustion of a hundred years.

***

A week had passed since Cheong-un began carrying the baby bird in the crook of his arm.
The mysterious bird, whose sparse white feathers had jutted out irregularly on the first day, now shone with renewed vitality thanks to a week of good feeding and careful tending.
Her fluffy white plumage gleamed with a soft luster, and her two thin, wrinkled legs had filled out with healthy pink flesh.
Small as a fist though she still was, and spending nearly all her time asleep with her eyes barely open.
Hee-rim, unable to let the Clan Leader personally tend to such a small creature, took turns feeding the bird her formula, though this acceptance came with no real understanding of the situation.
Watching his lord read at ease with one free arm, Hee-rim felt the itch rise and asked outright.
“Surely it’s not a Phoenix, is it? The book makes that even more certain, doesn’t it?”
“What? You dare question me, boy?”
The book Cheong-un held in his hands was the Phoenix Parenting Manual: 108 Secret Methods for Raising Fire Birds.
A week ago, after resolving to take the chick in as his youngest, he had dispatched the Blue Tiger Corps to ‘acquire’ it from Phoenix Palace.
By heaven, his lord had actually ordered a theft……
Hee-rim’s shock was profound, though if his lord regained his senses through the manual, he supposed he might overlook it once or twice.
But Cheong-un opened his mouth with an untroubled expression, shattering his attendant’s hopes entirely.
“It is undoubtedly a Phoenix.”
I’ll go mad if this keeps up.
There it was again—that endless talk of Phoenixes.
In truth, not knowing that Cheong-un possessed Future Sight, Hee-rim had every reason to reject such a claim……
But unfortunately for him, Cheong-un was both Clan Leader of the Azure Dragon Clan and Lord of the East.
A man of absolute authority—so long as he committed no treason, he held the right to do as he pleased with all matters of the East.
With an unhurried gesture, Cheong-un closed the manual.
“Well, now that I know everything we need, we simply require a nanny. According to this, a Phoenix must learn both to walk and fly, so a nanny is essential.”
At that moment, the chick that had clung so stubbornly to Cheong-un’s forearm suddenly went rigid, its head snapping up.
“Chirp?”
(What? No! I don’t need a nanny!)
A nanny?
For Aran, this was urgent enough to shed in a heartbeat the exhaustion that had clung so persistently for an entire week.
But since the chirping still fell on ears that could not comprehend……
Cheong-un stroked the chick’s round head fondly, speaking with satisfaction.
“Look at that—your eyes are growing so wide and round. I do wish Hui would hurry back so she could interpret what the little one is saying.”
What?
There was a Beast Language Communication user in this household?
Bring her at once—!
“Chirp, chirp—!”
(Listen here, you Azure Dragon! Hear me out! I’m telling you, I don’t need a nanny—!)

***

Aran squirmed at the word “nanny” as though breaking out in hives, but only for a moment before the exertion drained away and sleep claimed him once more.
Then, memories long buried rose from the depths to meet him in dreams.

“Ugh, how unsightly. They say this is the illegitimate child of the youngest lady who passed?”

In the distant past, now faded even in memory, Aran had been his family’s shame.
Born from an egg the youngest daughter of the Phoenix Clan had suddenly laid—before she had ever been wed—a thorn in everyone’s side.
When his mother, frail from the start, could not withstand childbed fever and left the world mere days after his hatching, all reproach fell upon the orphaned, unwanted chick she left behind.

“An Unmarked Phoenix, no less. How absurd.”
“Poor, foolish mistress—to lose her life bearing such a creature.”
“And these dark eyes? What common bird could the gentle lady have compromised herself with? Or perhaps she suffered some dark misfortune……”

Filthy rumors spread through the palace, leaving the remaining family with no reason to welcome a bastard who bore not even a single common Marking.
When Aran was about a week old, Ju Sang-ryun, the Clan Leader of the Phoenix Clan and Aran’s grandfather, asked the nanny with clear displeasure.

“Still can’t walk? Why?”

Aran’s inadequacy had made even the nanny ashamed.
Instead of tending a chick bearing the Flame Marking to inherit the clan, she was forced to nurture this pale, pitiful scrap of life—and her resentment showed.
The nanny answered as though she had been waiting for this very question.

“The child hatched a full week late, so even walking lags behind. It will likely not survive……”
“Chirp……”
(No, Grandfather. I can do it. Please, just give me a little more time……!)

Ju Sang-ryun did not so much as consider the chick’s desperate plea. He simply pretended not to hear.

“I wondered what on earth to do with this motherless scrap of life, but heaven helps those who help themselves.”
“Peep……?”
(Grandfather……?)
“Keep yourself quiet for as long as you draw breath.”

For Ju Sang-ryun, it was a matter of extraordinary convenience.
A child with no father and no Marking—base and shameful—could die young without incident.
Once the Clan Leader’s tacit permission had been granted, the nurse’s boldness knew no bounds.

“Peep…….”
(Cold…….)

Aran’s cradle was pushed against the coldest north-facing wall.

“Peep, peep…….”
(Hungry…….)

Food was given sparingly.
Because of this, Aran could barely toddle at the age when a Phoenix should naturally have taken flight, and the household seemed to have forgotten her entirely.
Months passed, and the scorching southern summer arrived.
The nurse left the cradle under the blazing sun and abandoned it for the entire day, not giving Aran a single drop of water.

“Peep……!”
(Thirsty……!)

When Aran, her head swimming, tumbled from the cradle, rain fell—like the very waters of life itself.

“Chirp!”
(Water!)

Drenched and pitiful, Aran drank the rainwater while staggering about, but her strength gave out and she collapsed.
Then someone approached and wrapped Aran in a dry cloth.

“Goodness, who are you? Poor thing.”

The owner of that tender voice was Okdan, a maid of Sewadap Hall—the lowliest of all servants in Phoenix Palace.

***

The next morning.
Aran’s eyes flew open and she gasped for breath.
It had been so long since she dreamed of Okdan.
“Chirp…….”
(My dear Okdan…… are you well?)
Then she felt a cool gaze upon her.
“Peep……?”
(What……?)
Aran turned to see a tall, slight boy standing there, watching her intently.
“What about you? Can you already speak?”
He understands!
Aran had finally found a being who could comprehend her words!
The Azure Dragon Clan’s Rather Suspicious Chick, Chapter 2
E-book Release Date | August 5, 2026

Author | Ravioli
Publisher | Odd Eye
Submissions / Inquiries | [email protected]

UCI | G720:N+A101-20260722065.0002
List Price | Not for Sale

© Laviolet 2026

This digital book is protected under copyright law.
This digital book is published under contract with the author, and unauthorized reproduction, copying, distribution, or sharing without written consent from both parties is prohibited.

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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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