The Blue Dragon Clan’s Very Suspicious Little Chick - Chapter 43

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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 43

Aran moved toward the room where the sound was coming from and pushed her beak through the window gap.
She applied force to crack the window open just enough and peered through the narrow opening to see a small child thrashing about on the bed.
Whether it was simply because he was curled up so tightly, she couldn’t say, but he was far smaller than Tae-o.
“Get—get away from me! Get out!”
Was it merely a dream?
The young prince jerked upright, seized the nape pillow, and hurled it at the Nurse Court Lady standing guard beside him.
“I said get out!”
Thud!
The Nurse Court Lady barely dodged the pillow as it struck the wall and rolled across the floor.
Trembling and pale, the court lady retrieved the pillow and left the chamber at the young prince’s command.
Aran shook her head slowly.
How could someone entrusted with the boy’s care abandon a prince tormented by nightmares like this?
Yes, Je Geon-u was the crown prince.
At his whim, palace attendants could lose their positions or even their lives, so their fear was understandable.
And yet he was barely five years old.
Left alone, Je Geon-u collapsed onto the bed and began to cry, his sobs wretched and uncontrolled.
“Sob—sob—Mama. Mama….”
He gathered up a large garment woven of red silk and clutched it to himself. The small hands that gripped it trembled with desperate urgency.
It looked like a woman’s robe—perhaps something the dead empress had worn.
“Waaaaah, Mama….”
Good heavens.
After hearing from Sahum that two spirits dwelled within the young prince, Aran found herself viewing the tyrant Je Geon-u with something approaching pity.
She took a deep breath to steady herself.
But the horrors of her past life burned too vividly in her memory to afford the prince such mercy.
If Sahum spoke truly—if Je Geon-u were merely being controlled by some ancient malevolent spirit—then perhaps one prince’s life could be sacrificed to save the world.
She could not hesitate.
Aran flew to the spot near the weeping child.
From around her neck, she carefully withdrew the Jeolmaeksan Bracelet and let it fall into the water cup at the young prince’s head.
They said the young prince yearned for the dead empress without ceasing.
Aran intended to show him a vision of that very empress and compel him to drink the water.
She gazed up at the portrait hanging in the prince’s chamber.
It was the portrait of a beautiful and virtuous-looking woman in a yellow Gonryongpo.
The empress—the one the young prince was crying out for with such anguish.
As the Jeolmaeksan pearls began to dissolve into the water, Aran’s eyes flushed red and intricate patterns bloomed at their corners.
In the same moment, the empress in the portrait began to gradually take on substance.
Her eyes, with their slight downward slant, shone with a soft brown light, and her thin lips curved into a gentle arc.
Even the ornate golden hairpins securing her elaborate upswept hair seemed to glimmer with life.
As she began to walk, the whisper of fabric brushing against itself could be heard, though it seemed the crying child’s sobs were still too loud for him to notice.
Aran concentrated with all her will.
Fortunately, she only needed to manifest the empress herself rather than the entire surroundings, but to make the sound and sensation convincing, she had to pour everything her young body possessed into the effort.
When at last the empress sat upon the bed, it tilted slightly beneath her weight.
Slender, graceful hands reached out and embraced the young prince’s sobbing shoulders.
As her hand patted gently against him, Je Geon-u’s weeping began to subside.
Now she merely needed to soothe him a little more and get him to drink the water.
Once the boy’s body had weakened sufficiently, she would show him a truly horrific vision.
It was a distasteful thing to do, but there was no choice.
Aran knew what this child’s future held.
At that very moment, the young prince lifted his head with a shuddering breath.
Where golden eyes had dimly wavered, suddenly clarity returned like clouds breaking apart.
“Mama…?”

***

While Aran flinched in alarm, the phantom empress she had conjured simply gazed down with a serene smile.
The young prince grasped at the phantom empress’s robes and wept bitterly.
“Um—Mama, Mama…! Mama, why are you only coming now? I was so, so very frightened…!”
Aran’s throat tightened.
She simply couldn’t bring herself to feed him the water.
Not today.
She needed to find out if there was any way to drive out the corrupting force that had taken hold of Je Geon-u’s body.
He was just a child, after all.
The Empress in her vision spoke in a whisper thin as wind: “I’m sorry, little one.”
She held the weeping Geon-u quietly until he fell asleep.
Aran’s vision, weakened by her depleted strength, began to crumble.
Soon only the hem of her robe and her hand remained, but that much seemed enough for the child drifting in the borderlands of sleep.
The illusion she could no longer sustain dissolved, leaving only Aron and the sleeping boy alone in the Sleeping Chamber.
Aran gazed at the peacefully slumbering child with a tender ache in her chest.
“Chirp.”
(Hold on. Let me find a way to save you.)
She overturned the teacup, spilling the water in which the Jeolmaeksan Bracelet had dissolved.
The sound was rather loud, but Geon-u remained deep in sleep.
Wobbling through the window, the Eastern Palace where she’d been staying suddenly felt impossibly far away.
By the time she’d fluttered her wings a few times, each beat a struggle, she’d rested several times over when she heard soft footfalls.
Beneath the tree, Aran let herself collapse into the small palm extended toward her.
“I knew it would come to this.”
Tae-o stroked the exhausted Aran gently.
“Did you use the Jeolmaeksan Bracelet?”
When Aran shook her head, Tae-o chuckled softly.
“Good girl, our Aran.”
Was he teasing her or praising her?
She couldn’t tell, but her consciousness faded away entirely regardless.

***

Tap!
Yeon stirred in her sleep, thinking she’d heard a strange sound, and opened her eyes.
It was still the dead of night, and beside her Min-i slept soundly, oblivious to the world.
“Mm, what is it…?”
But the moment Yeon closed her eyes again, the sound came once more.
Knock!
Finally, Yeon rubbed her eyes and sat up.
“Ahem, I could’ve sworn I heard something…”
She’d barely gotten upright when another tap rang out, and she realized what the sound was.
Someone was tossing pebbles at the window.
It was the sort of prank Min-i usually pulled, but Min-i was sleeping right over there…
Yeon dragged herself from bed and made her way to the window.
Puzzled, she opened the shutters and a crumpled paper ball flew in.
Yeon picked up the ball and went to the lamp to unfold it.
Sure enough, neat handwriting was carefully inscribed on the wrinkled paper.

「Lose the guards for a bit. Aran’s in trouble.」

The irritatingly precise handwriting was unmistakably Tae-o’s.
“Ugh, why should I?”
Yeon crumpled the paper ball again and flung it into the corner of the room, then thought better of it and picked it up once more.
“Wait—did Aran sneak out alone?”
The possibility suddenly seemed very real.
If not, Tae-o—who was perfectly capable of playing the good boy in front of Aran—would have no reason to show up in the middle of the night like this.
“Good grief…!”
Aran really deserves a scolding!
Did she actually manifest her true form?
If anyone finds out she’s the Vermilion Sparrow, what then?
Anxiety seized her, and Yeon bolted from the room still in her nightclothes.
The guards jumped in alarm at Yeon’s sudden appearance.
“Young Master? What brings you out at this hour?”
Damn, I’m out here, but what in the world do I say?
“Wait, I was dreaming!”
Yeon stretched out a finger and suddenly pointed at the opposite wall.
“There, I saw a spy hiding over there!”
Clumsy as the lie was, it represented Yeon’s best effort—someone genuinely incapable of deception.
“……Yes?”
One of the guards who had hesitated for a moment crouched down on the ground and looked up at Yeon.
Then he asked very carefully.
“Young master, it seems you’ve had a nightmare. Shall I call Instructor Seong for you?”
“No, absolutely not!”
That was the last thing that could happen.
Instructor Seong was sleeping in Aran’s room.
If Aran had slipped out without permission, Seong So-rim was precisely the person who must not wake.
“It might just be a nightmare, so…….”
Yeon fumbled for an excuse.
“Can’t you two just come with me over there for a moment? I’m too scared to go alone…….”
The guard laughed and spread both arms wide.
“Let’s go together, young master. I’ll carry you.”
Yeon immediately swatted his hands away, protesting.
“No, Yeon isn’t a baby!”
Sorry for getting angry for no reason. Really, really sorry…….
“I can walk on my own! But it is scary, so you two have to hold my hand!”
Fortunately, even this clumsy approach worked…….
Yeon was able to take both guards stationed at his quarters away for a while.
Then he had to insist for some time that something seemed to be lurking in the tree shadows by the empty wall.
Ugh, Aran, you.
What are you up to tonight?
If there’s something fun happening, why won’t you take me along? Why do you always take only Tae-o!
The Suspicious Chirping of the Azure Dragon Clan — Episode 43
E-book Publication Date | 2026.08.05

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

UCI | G720:N+A101-20260722065.0043
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 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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