The Blue Dragon Clan’s Very Suspicious Little Chick - Chapter 42

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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 42

The moment Aran startled and turned to flee.
Sa Heum suddenly began to bow in her direction.
“Chirp???”
(Why, why is he doing that? Oh no, what do I do? Should I just take off?)
Aran hovered in place, fluttering her small wings up and down.
As Sa Heum finished his clumsy but respectful bow, his bright orange eyes—luminous even in the darkness—gleamed as he murmured softly.
“Immortal, have you come to help me?”
Damn it, this is crazy.
He’s recognized me!
Aran nearly lost her grip on the branch in shock.
“Cheep-cheep…….”
(Immortal? I don’t know anything about that…….)
I’m just a bird, nothing more—I know nothing of wicked tigers!
She shook her head as if to convince herself, yet the fervent gaze from within the room remained undiminished.
Aran had no choice but to turn her head and look at the tiger-man whose face poked out through the window.
Above his dark complexion, white hair curled adorably, just like Aran’s own, and his large eyes looked far too innocent to belong to a tiger.
But the moment their eyes met, tears began to well up in the corners of the young one’s eyes.
Then his small head drooped sadly.
“……So that’s not it, then? I suppose there’s no reason for you to concern yourself with someone like me.”
“Chirp, huh?”
(Ah, no, wait—why would I even cry over this?)
In the end, Aran—with the tender heart of an old woman—felt her resolve crumble.
“Cheep-cheep…….”
(Goodness, my life. Have I truly been reborn to be a caretaker…….)
Grumbling all the while, she drew closer to the palace hall and settled down on the windowsill.

***

“Chirp.”
(The child’s Spiritual Vision has opened wide already.)
Sa Heum wiped his damp eyes at Aran’s approach, then quickly knelt.
The sight of him stirred memories of the disciples he had tended in his past life, and the great Crimson Phoenix’s heart grew softer still.
“Sigh, yes.”
Wait—he understands bird speech and even has manners……?
For Aran, who had always been weak to children, this was quite a trial.
She hadn’t wanted to know about why this wicked tiger had fallen…….
But as she looked at Sa Heum’s hands resting neatly on his knees, she clearly saw an Ability Control Device fastened around one arm.
Yet the fact that he had grasped her identity immediately showed that he possessed perfect Spiritual Vision—unaffected enough by the control device to perceive her nature entirely.
Just then, the young White Tiger began to crumple his small lips and shed tears.
“I, sob, I was born with my Spiritual Vision already fully open…….”
How adorable…….
No, not because he’s cute…….
At this point, Aran had no choice but to listen to what the tiger had to say. Because.
The Baek Family of the Western Lands.
Known as the Empire’s guardians, the Baek Family passes down Protection and Combat Abilities through each generation.
Moreover, a true White Tiger is born with Spiritual Vision—the ability to perceive human souls—and in her past life, Aran had never known that such White Tiger-men actually existed.
The direct descendants of the Baek Family labor constantly to open their Spiritual Vision, yet she had heard it was rare for even a sliver to open before old age.
But Sa Heum, the right hand of the tyrant, had been a true White Tiger from birth, seeing souls from the moment he drew his first breath.
Perhaps they had kept it hidden from the public precisely because it would be inconvenient to be summoned about constantly?
Given that she had never heard any mention of the Baek Family’s sole heir being a true White Tiger, that seemed to be the case.
“My mother and father were proud, saying I was a true White Tiger, but I…… I’m just so terribly afraid…….”
The young tiger-man continued, wiping away his tears.
“I’m frightened every morning when I open my eyes. What if I recognize again that someone’s loved one is about to die……?”
“Chirp?”
(……You can see people’s lifespans?)
When Aran asked, Sa Heum nodded.
“Those with too little time left appear very faded. It’s almost impossible to tell them from spirits.”
“Chirp?”
(Spirits appear to you too?)
Tears rolled down Sa Heum’s cheeks with each nod of his head.
“Oh, old and vicious spirits are truly terrifying to look at…….”
After deliberating, Aran asked again.
“Squeak?”
(Then what was so frightening about the Guardian’s Ceremony?)
At that, Sa Heum’s face went pale as if recalling that day, and he shrank backward.
He looked as though he wanted nothing more than to flee.
But when Aran did not press him and simply waited, he hesitantly approached again and spoke in a hushed voice.
“Ah, but Father said this must be kept as a secret for our family alone…….”
The child’s clenched fist trembled violently.
What was this?
Was the Baek Family hiding something?
Now Aran postponed even her plan to go to the Prince’s Palace, fixing her full attention on Sa Heum.
If the Baek Family harbored a secret at this juncture, it must surely be something significant—her instinct, honed by a hundred years of unlucky existence woven together by threads of misfortune, insisted as much.
“Squeak.”
(It’s all right, little one. I won’t breathe a word of your secret to anyone.)
Once Aran had made her promise, the frightened tiger spoke in a trembling voice.
“What I saw during the Guardian’s Ceremony was…… His Highness the Prince.”
What followed was so soft it sounded almost like wind.
“His Highness was the most…… terrifying thing I have ever seen, more than any spirit before.”

***

In the end, Aran heard an astonishing tale.
Through Sa Heum’s Spiritual Vision, there were two souls inside Prince Je Geon-u, and one of them was so ancient and vile that it reeked.
The Prince’s soul was only around five years old—how could it be so old?
“Chirp? Squeak?”
(Two? Are you certain that’s what you saw? Has anyone else appeared that way to your eyes besides the Prince?)
Sa Heum shook his head.
“No, I’ve never seen anything so horrible. The Imperial Dragon Soul in His Highness is weak and small, just like me……. But that, that black thing torments the Imperial Dragon Soul……!”
Good heavens, what was all this?
So Je Geon-u was possessed by something? He wasn’t inherently wicked?
No, wait.
If that were true, this becomes rather complicated…….
But could they simply dispose of the boy like that?
“Squeak?”
(Did you tell the family head? What did he say?)
“He only worries about me……. He doesn’t say it outright, but I think he believes I’m frightened and seeing things that aren’t there.”
That was understandable enough.
A malevolent spirit dwelling in the Prince, visible only to the youngest child still waddling about. The Baek Family would find that distressing indeed.
After further thought, Aran pressed on.
“Chirp……??”
(It’s…… rather a difficult thing to ask, but do you think it might be possible for you to separate those two souls? To drive out the black one, perhaps?)
Sa Heum shook his head once more.
“I’m s-sorry. I don’t know such things……. I’m only…… terrified to even look, so frightened…….”
What could a child know when he’d collapsed from fear?
Aran simply nodded.
“Squeak.”
(Yes, you must have been so frightened. I understand your heart. You’ve endured well.)
“It would have been better if a braver tiger had been born to the Baek Family instead of me. I…… even if I was born a True White Tiger, someone like me is useless.”
After hearing his entire story, Baek Sa Heum was completely innocent.
She wondered how such a good and timid child had been so easily swayed by orders.
Aran regretted that over these past days, while attending to Tae-o and watching the unremarkable cousins of the Vermilion Bird clan, she had paid no attention whatsoever to Sa Heum, isolated as he was.
“Chirp.”
(No, you will become an extraordinarily great and magnificent, brave White Tiger. A very famous one.)
Though his fame was indeed infamous, Aran believed she was, in any case, not lying.
“Really? That can’t possibly be…… you’re lying, aren’t you?”
Had Aran truly grown a touch easier just from exchanging a few words?
Sa Heum thrust out her lip in a pout.
“Because of me, Father has gotten into terrible trouble. Since I’m so pathetic…… the other children from the Divine Guardian Palaces must hate me too, right? Everyone else looked so clever and brave.”
“Chirp, chirp.”
(They don’t have Spiritual Vision, so they understand nothing. You’re smarter than all of them, little one.)
“When Father says that, I never believe it. But I really hope you mean it, sir.”
“Squeak.”
(Tsk—this sage doesn’t tell lies.)
Even as Aran soothed Sa Heum, her mind worked frantically.
So now, what was she to do about Je Geon-u?

***

She took flight from the Western Palace Hall, and the Jeolmaeksan Bracelet around her neck felt remarkably heavy.
By the time she arrived at the Prince’s Palace, she had made her decision.
Though she did not know the exact location, she found the Prince’s Sleeping Quarters almost at once—guided by what sounded like the anguished cry of a wounded animal.
“Ahhhhh……please, stop! Get—get away……!”
The Suspicious Chirping of the Azure Dragon Clan — Chapter 42
E-book Publication Date | August 5, 2026

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

UCI | G720:N+A101-20260722065.0042
List Price | 100 won

ⓒ Ravioli 2026

This e-book is protected by copyright law.
This e-book has been published under contract with the author and may not be reprinted, copied, distributed, or shared without the written consent of 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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