The Blue Dragon Clan’s Very Suspicious Little Chick - Chapter 32

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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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Episode 32

“Young miss!”
Before the words had even finished, the door swung open with a creak and Sorim came rushing in.
Even with the cloth headwrap on, Sorim’s palms still looked enormous as she cradled Aran’s cheeks in her hands.
“Goodness, young miss! You’re alright, aren’t you? Let me see. Has the fever broken?”
Judging by her reaction, it seemed I’d been quite ill.
But my head was clear now, perfectly lucid.
Aran felt embarrassed and looked up at Sorim.
“Um, hi? Was I really sick for long?”
In her fluster, her tongue tangled over the words.
Tears spilled from Sorim’s glistening eyes at last.
“Oh, young miss…….”
“Um…….”
Aran found herself in an awkward position.
Had she really been ill for a very long time? How many days had she been bedridden?
This was troublesome. What should she do about feeling sorry?
As she wavered between apologizing or staying silent, Sorim briskly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
“My goodness, I’m so silly. I’m just so happy to see you……. But goodness, your speech has come back so well! We were so frustrated wondering how you’d manage!”
“Right? I know!”
When Aran chimed in, Sorim laughed through her teary eyes.
As they spoke, small footsteps came pattering in, and the twins came racing in.
“Aran!”
The twins cried out in unison and threw themselves at her simultaneously.
“Yeon-a! Min-a……!”
How she had longed to embrace them……!
Aran spread both her arms wide with enthusiasm.
But her plump little arms were far too short for what she’d hoped, and the twins were as heavy as stones.
Thump!
Aran ended up tumbling backward along with the twins.
In that instant, Suryeon’s gravelly voice rang out.
“Hey, you two! What do you think you’re doing to your youngest sister right after she wakes up?!”
The twins yelped and drew back as a firm grip gently cradled Aran’s head and helped her up.
“Did you sleep well, Aran?”
For some reason, Suryeon’s eyes were moist at the corners.
“Big brother.”
The moment Aran called him that, Suryeon leaned down eagerly.
“What about me, Aran? You used to greet me and your eldest brother in sign language all the time. What about me?”
In the end, Aran had to swallow her embarrassment and speak his name.
“Suryeon……, hello.”
Suryeon’s face brightened instantly, and his sand-colored eyes grew misty.
“Hello, our little one. You really are a Beast-person, aren’t you…….”
Suryeon was wonderful in most ways, but he sometimes said the most ridiculous things.
As if she couldn’t say no to the great Phoenix.
Just then, another voice came from the doorway.
“Our daughter, you’re awake?”
The very one who had caused Aran to gain human form half a year earlier than in her past life.
He who had tended to Aran so carefully over the past year, and whom she now wished to protect—the Azure Dragon.
Cheongun, the Great Lord of the East.
“Father……!”
A sound caught in her throat, rough and trembling.
Aran, who hadn’t yet taken her first steps, crawled awkwardly in her urgency and clung to the hem of Cheongun’s robes.
Cheongun bent his waist and lifted Aran high above his head.
“My, you’re precious. Congratulations, Aran.”
Cradled securely in his strong arms, Aran broke into a radiant smile.
A great celebration was being held this day in Azure Dragon Palace.

***

Meanwhile, in the Imperial Capital.
The Emperor pushed away his breakfast tray, barely touched, and spoke in a low voice.
“Summon Minister Hwa Gyeom.”
Hwa Gyeom, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, had stepped beyond his official title to become the Emperor’s closest advisor in recent years—and had once been the late Empress’s brother.
Moments later, Hwa Gyeom entered quietly.
“Well then, how fares the Crown Prince?”
Since the Empress’s passing, and especially during the six months of her grave illness, Crown Prince Geon-u’s condition had been consistently poor.
The greater concern was that the Emperor’s own health had deteriorated as well.
Though no specific illness had struck him, headaches came frequently, and he’d fallen into a deep melancholy—tormented by fear of death as he kept vigil beside the dying Empress.
Beyond that, propriety forbade the Emperor from visiting his young son daily.
So the Emperor had taken to sending Hwa Gyeom in his stead to observe the boy’s condition.
After all, Hwa Gyeom was the Crown Prince’s uncle before he was a subject.
“He improves, Your Majesty. There is no cause for alarm.”
Despite Hwa Gyeom’s smile, the Emperor’s brow furrowed sharply.
“Is that so? Yet I heard yesterday that the Crown Prince’s Palace was in turmoil all day.”
Hwa Gyeom answered smoothly, as though he’d prepared for the question.
“His Highness’s hands are still clumsy, and there was merely a small accident—nothing worthy of your concern, sire.”
“…Minister.”
The Emperor pressed his temples as if a headache were mounting and called him by his title.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I do not doubt your loyalty, but the Crown Prince is no longer an infant. How long can we continue to simply indulge him? Geon-u is my only legitimate son. One day he must ascend the throne.”
“…Yet he is but a pitiable child, not two years past losing his mother.”
Hwa Gyeom spoke tenderly in defense of the Crown Prince, comforting the Emperor even as he did.
“Some wounds require time to heal. I, Hwa Gyeom, swear to do all in my power for His Highness’s recovery.”
The Emperor slowly nodded.
In truth, his headache was too severe to dwell on the matter further.
“See that you call often and observe his progress.”
“I shall, sire. Leave it to me, and do preserve your own health above all.”
The corner of Hwa Gyeom’s mouth lifted ever so slightly—barely perceptible to anyone watching.
He slipped from the audience chamber and made his way straight to the Crown Prince’s Palace.
A woman with a long gash across her cheek hurried to receive him, bowing her head.
It was Nanny Do, her face split open days ago when the Crown Prince threw a medicinal soup bowl at her.
The swelling in her face had not subsided at all, as if the wound threatened to reopen.
“How is His Highness?”
Nanny Do answered the question with practiced ease.
“He suffered terrible nightmares through the night. Only after I gave him the late Empress’s robe could he finally sleep.”
“And the night before?”
This time the nanny’s answer came slowly. Her clasped hands trembled.
Hwa Gyeom recognized that she was reluctant to speak of something and opened his mouth with a heavier tone.
“I have come to observe His Highness on the Emperor’s behalf, but I too am his blood. As one guilty of sending my sister before me, how could I not tend carefully to my nephew?”
“It is that, well—the day before, his tutor Si-gang
(*the Crown Prince’s master)
came to console him and drew a picture for His Highness….”
Nanny Do’s lips trembled for some reason.
“His Highness threw down his ink stone, spilled the ink, and then—he was delighted, rare as that is….”
Hwa Gyeom tilted his head slightly.
“Delighted?”
Since the Empress’s illness had turned grave, Crown Prince Geon-u had rarely smiled.
If the Crown Prince had been delighted, it should have been a matter of some joy—yet there was no smile on the nanny’s face, not even a hint of color. It was strange.
The nanny hesitated, her gaze darting away as she spoke.
“Yes. After Master Si-gang withdrew in alarm, His Highness rubbed the spilled ink about for some time and played….”
“Please speak frankly.”
At Hwa Gyeom’s urging, Nanny Do retrieved a folded sheet of paper from a nearby shelf.
“This…this is what remained from that moment.”
Hwa Gyeom unfolded the paper without much thought, but his expression hardened at what lay before him.
There, traced only in ink, were a pair of eyes that chilled the soul and a mouth stretched wide in a grotesque grin.
“…Who has seen this picture?”
Nanny Do answered at once.
“Only one of the servant girls besides myself, but I made certain she held her tongue.”
“A maid?”
As Hwa Gyeom moved to press the matter further, Nanny Do tilted her head subtly toward one of the attendants standing behind her.
When Hwa Gyeom glanced over, he recognized the girl.
He nodded, satisfied.
“Indeed, most prudent of you. I shall keep the painting safe. Then, I’ll call again soon.”
After bowing, Hwa Gyeom turned to leave, and the smile that had lingered at the corner of his mouth slowly faded.
As he made his way out of the Crown Prince’s Palace toward the palace gates, he nodded to himself with unmistakable gravity.
“Faster than expected.”
If that were so, then tomorrow held nothing but promise.
Before departing, he handed one of his servants a small ceramic container with a lid, instructing him to deliver it to Myeong-i, a maid in the Crown Prince’s Palace.
“Tell her that Nanny Do was injured while attending to a family matter, and I’ve had this special remedy prepared out of sympathy. Since it’s precious, she should apply it directly to the matron’s wound herself.”
That the small ceramic vessel, no larger than the palm of a hand, contained enough deadly poison to fell an ox—this, not even the servant knew.
The Azure Dragon Clan’s Strangely Suspicious Beast-person | Chapter 32
E-book Release Date | August 5, 2026

Author | Ravioli
Publisher | Odd Eye
Submission / Inquiry | [email protected]

UCI | G720:N+A101-20260722065.0032
List Price | 100 won

© Ravioli 2026

This e-book is protected under copyright law.
This e-book is published under contract with the author and may not be reproduced, distributed, or shared in any form without written consent from both parties.

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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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