The Blue Dragon Clan’s Very Suspicious Little Chick - Chapter 54

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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 54

In a world that had known nothing but fear, my mother was my only anchor.
Whenever her touch reached me or her voice sounded, the savage Darkness would bow its head and retreat.
But my mother, struggling to save me, left this world far too soon because of it.
Robbed of my only support, I was swallowed whole by the Darkness.
The world became nothing but shadow and deafening noise, and the cries of the young Imperial Dragon calling for help were devoured by that blackness—no one could hear them.
Sometimes I would catch the scent of my mother’s clothes and lose myself in memory; sometimes I would see her only in dreams.
That was the only way I could find myself again, however briefly.
Then one night, a fire broke out in the Prince’s Palace.
After the Portrait—the last thing I had of my mother—burned to ash, I could no longer remember her face.
The Darkness had seized control of me, scrambling my memories into ruin.
By now my sight had grown so clouded that I could no longer tell whether I was a dragon at all, or if I had simply been born from Darkness itself.
The voices of others always seemed distant, as if wrapped in fog, and nowhere I looked could I find a familiar face.
There was nothing I wanted to know, nothing I wanted to eat.
I would sometimes jolt awake in the middle of an action, as if rousing from sleep, and in those moments I would cry out in horror at the terrible things I had done before losing consciousness again.
It was one such night.
Months after losing the Portrait, my mother came to me.
I thought I had forgotten completely. I believed I would never recall her again.
But my mother came.
“Mother……”
I wept endlessly in the embrace I had longed for.
“Mother, please…… take me with you too……”
Even if it meant falling into hell, I would follow her.
My world was already hell itself—anywhere she was, I would gladly go.

***

When I opened my eyes to the morning sun’s warmth for the first time in ages, a crisp autumn breeze drifted through the open window.
Two eyes that had recovered their golden gleam blinked slowly.
I rose slowly and looked around.
The walls, still bare since the fire, remained unchanged, yet somehow I could sense my mother’s presence.
“Mother……”
I called out softly, reaching into empty air. The sound of her voice from last night echoed still in my ears.

“Do not be afraid, child.”
“Do not abandon the Imperial Dragon within you.”
“You are not alone. I will help you.”

It was truly my mother.
At that thought, my Golden Eyes sparkled brilliantly.
My gaze came to rest on a single book wedged into the shelf.
“Spirits……”
It was the book about the Four Celestial Palace that I had been reading before I lost the Portrait and nearly lost my mind.
“That’s right—the White Tiger could see spirits.”
Then could I see my mother’s spirit? That young White Tiger’s as well?
Wait—I remember something about the Four Celestial Palace children coming by, something about ceremonies……
Why are my memories so unclear?
“Nam Sang-gung!”
At my urgent call, Nam Sang-gung rushed in with her face drained of color, bowing so deeply her body nearly folded in half.
“Your, Your Highness……? Are you unwell?”
I looked down at Nam Sang-gung, who kept averting her eyes, and my brow furrowed.
“Lift your head.”
“Yes……?”
Nam Sang-gung raised her head slightly in confusion, but even this small act of obedience set her trembling with fear.
“……Are you hurt?”
I asked very quietly.
A dark bruise still marked her forehead—too deep to hide even with powder.
The bruise had come from when she tripped and fell after Je Geon-u shoved her while she was attending to his needs.
Yet Nam Sang-gung felt almost relieved when she realized that the prince didn’t even remember the incident.
“I beg your forgiveness, Your Highness. I was clumsy and mistepped on the stairs, and I’m afraid I…….”
Then Je Geon-u, who had been sitting on the bed, suddenly rose and approached Nam Sang-gung with hesitant steps.
The child stood quietly before the lady-in-waiting, who flinched as though the messenger of death himself had drawn near, and gently traced the bruised skin of her forehead.
“Tell me the truth. Was I…… like that?”
Nam Sang-gung lowered her head again. Then she answered with steady resolve.
“No, Your Highness.”
She fought back the rising tears so her young master wouldn’t see them fall.
“It was not something you did. It wasn’t like that at all.”
The child, who had been someone other than himself for most of the past year, seemed to understand something all at once.
That something terrible lived inside him, and that while he struggled to escape from it, he too became equally terrible.
The Golden Eyes, which had flickered with light for a moment, grew dim with exhaustion, and a soft voice emerged once more.
“I’m sorry I can’t remember. Does Nam Sang-gung hate me now? Have you come to hate me?”
Nam Sang-gung gasped and lifted her head again.
She saw the golden eyes of the prince who had returned to himself. She saw clearly how her own face was wholly reflected in those irises.
She recognized that her master was this kind of person by nature, that he was capable of apologizing for his wrongs.
Trembling, she wrapped her arms around the prince, desperately hoping that light would not fade again.
During that brief month following the Four Celestial Ceremony last spring, Nam Sang-gung had glimpsed Je Geon-u’s true self.
A tender and innocent child, one the same age as her own son. He merely suffered from a terrible affliction.
Nam Sang-gung, who saw him every day, could not possibly fail to notice how different the child of yesterday was from the child of today.
“I don’t hate you, Your Highness. Not at all.”
She clenched her jaw to hold back her tears, but as she patted the boy’s small body, she could not help but let them flow.
“I waited, and you’ve come back to me like this.”
Je Geon-u, feeling another person’s warmth for the first time in an age, wept.
For one barely five years old, life had been nothing but an endless succession of hardship and loneliness.
Nam Sang-gung, who could no longer pretend not to know this truth, held the prince close and wept with him.

***

When Aran and Hong Bi headed to the Lecture Hall together, Je Geon-u was already there, waiting in his seat.
Yesterday he’d barely arrived in time before the lesson began—had his wits finally sharpened?
All her sleepless effort ought to bear some fruit.
Aran took her seat beside Je Geon-u and exchanged a silent greeting with the Twin, who had arrived early.
Hong Woo, sitting in the back row, darted his gaze back and forth between Hong Bi and Aran, but whether he exercised his eyes or not made no difference to anyone.
A minor Phoenix attending to the great work of a grand Phoenix was nothing but entertainment, trivial as peanuts.
There was no time to spare for such distractions.
She was stealing glances at Je Geon-u’s expression when he turned his head and looked directly at Aran.
“……Hello.”
The Imperial Dragon’s golden eyes fixed on Aran without wavering.
“Good morning, Your Highness.”
Hong Bi, still nervous about the mistake she’d made in yesterday’s lesson, bowed her head in surprise.
“Good morning, Your Highness the Prince.”
Je Geon-u studied Aran closely, as he had at the Four Celestial Ceremony, but in the end managed only a vague smile.
Had he lost even the energy to feign arrogance?
Hyeon Tae-o and Baek Sa-heum arrived as the awkward silence deepened.
Aran gave a small start when Je Geon-u immediately turned to look at Baek Sa-heum in the back row.
She’d been worried he might show an overreaction, perhaps fainting again.
Yet when Baek Sa-heum drew a sharp breath of surprise, Je Geon-u spoke first.
“Hello, Baek Sa-heum.”
……He called him by his name? Only him?
Everyone watched in astonishment as Baek Sa-heum stammered his reply.
“Ah, good morning, Your Highness the Prince.”
The timid young Tiger’s voice trembled pitifully.
Je Geon-u exchanged only a glance with Hyeon Tae-o, then looked at Baek Sa-heum once more as though he had something else to say, but the instructor arrived just then and the conversation ended.

***

“Aran, the weather’s nice today—should we explore the Imperial Palace? A servant told me there’s a beautiful pond nearby.”
Hyeon Tae-o hurried over to Aran the moment class ended and spoke eagerly.
Before Aran could answer, Hong Bi cut in.
“Oh, you mean Red Lotus Pond? Grandfather told me about it too—he said it’s absolutely beautiful!”
Then, as if waiting for their cue, the Twin jumped in.
“Wow, can we go too?”
Hyeon Tae-o’s expression darkened.
If the Twin was going, Baek Sa-heum would insist on coming along, and it looked like Hong Bi would follow too.
He had no desire to drag such a crowd around with him.
Perhaps he should put it off for another time?
Just as Hyeon Tae-o was deliberating, an unexpected voice interjected.
“Red Lotus Pond, you say? Shall I show you the way?”
It was Je Geon-u, the Crown Prince.
The Azure Dragon House’s Dubiously Suspicious Chick — Episode 54
E-book Release Date | August 5, 2026

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

UCI | G720:N+A101-20260722065.0054
List Price | 100 Won

© Ravioli 2026

This e-book is protected under copyright law.
This e-book is published under agreement with the author, and unauthorized reproduction, duplication, 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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