The Blue Dragon Clan’s Very Suspicious Little Chick - Chapter 64

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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 64

So Rim managed, at last, the faintest smile.
“Yes, Clan Leader. I, So Rim, have carried out your orders and returned safely.”
Cheong-un reached over and gave So Rim’s shoulder a gentle pat.
“We’ll hear the details once we’re inside.”

***

A month later.
Hong Bi, in the White Phoenix Palace, spent her mornings in lessons and her afternoons at embroidery.
“Miss, the thread is tangled again. You’re holding the needle far too tightly.”
At her maidservant’s correction, Hong Bi’s fingers stilled.
Hong Woo must be in Innate Ability training by now, while she sat locked away in her room gripping a needle like a fool.
What if her Innate Ability was meant to surface, only to wither and fade before it could even bloom?
The maidservant, watching Hong Bi’s jaw clench with frustration, rose from her seat first.
“Shall we make the rest homework and have you examined on it tomorrow?”
On the embroidery frame the maidservant set down, the flame pattern mark that had been etched on Hong Woo’s cheek was already taking convincing shape.
“Ugh!”
Hong Bi made her meager rebellion by flicking her embroidery frame aside—though even in her frustration, her hands moved with restraint.
She couldn’t help it. If the frame shattered, she’d have to start from the beginning.
She hated embroidery. Absolutely hated it.
Hong Bi left her scattered frame where it lay and walked outside.
Young servant girls who had been chattering in the back courtyard yelped at the sight of her and scattered like startled birds.
Watching them flee, she found herself thinking of the children at the Azure Dragon Palace.
Was the weather as fine there today?
Were they playing together and having fun?
None of them had Innate Abilities yet either, so at least they’d all be equal—no one getting singled out.
Aran’s voice echoed unexpectedly in her mind.

“Is there really no one who could help you more properly?”

Someone to help me….
It was easy to say, but who would ever bother with someone like her?
Hong Bi walked through the back courtyard with a bitter laugh, kicking at the flowers as she passed.
When one snapped beneath her foot, she felt immediate regret.
The broken stem, its head drooping limp to the ground, seemed too much like a mirror of her own future.
Just then, a sharp voice called out from the Embroidery Workshop behind the main residence.
“Okdan! You’re the one who worked on Miss’s formal robe, aren’t you? You’ve torn out all the embroidery—what were you thinking?”
Okdan…?
Hong Bi’s ears pricked up.
Normally she wouldn’t have cared whether a servant girl was being scolded or not, but Aran’s words came back to her.

“There’s a maidservant at the Azure Dragon Palace I’m very close to. Her name is Okdan, and she’s really kind.”

Curiosity drew Hong Bi toward the Embroidery Workshop, where she heard the aggrieved maidservant’s voice again.
“I didn’t do it! I’ve never even touched such a fine garment….”
Hong Bi stopped just outside the slightly open door of the Embroidery Workshop.
“I was told you were assigned to it. Are you really going to stand there and lie to my face?”
Still, just because this girl shared a name didn’t mean she was as kindhearted as the child at the Azure Dragon Palace.
A servant of such lowly station would be impossible to reason with….
Yet even as she was being scolded further, the girl named Okdan persisted stubbornly.
“I—I can fix it! I know how to do embroidery!”
Speaking up like that would only earn her more reproach. She had no sense of strategy.
Even so, Hong Bi found herself curious about this girl called Okdan.
She pushed the door wide open without a word, and the maidservants gasped in alarm.
“Miss? What brings you here…?”
Hong Bi pointed directly at the garment and spoke.
“I’m the one who ruined it.”
It was a lie, of course.
Confessing to something she hadn’t done—it was unlike her to bow before her mother with such a falsehood.
The Supervisor Maidservant’s eyes widened accordingly.
“Begging your pardon? You, Miss?”
“Yes, I’ll fix it. Hand it over.”
“Miss, but how could you possibly—”
“I’ve been learning embroidery lately, haven’t I?”
Hong Bi snatched her garment from the flustered maidservant’s hands and cast one more glance at Okdan.
The girl was covered in freckles, grimy as a smudged wall.
‘What conversation could I possibly have with her?’
But having come this far, there was no turning back now.
“You—come along and help me a bit.”
Hong Bi spoke curtly, clutched the garment, and swept out of the Embroidery Workshop.

***

Okdan, dragged all the way to Hong Bi’s quarters, threw herself flat on her face in terror.
“I-I beg your pardon, Miss. But I really can’t do embroidery well at all. I’ve never even touched a young lady’s clothing before….”
“But you said you know how to stitch, didn’t you? Were you lying?”
Hong Bi’s accusation came sharp as a blade, and Okdan’s head snapped side to side.
“No! No, Miss, I wasn’t lying!”
“Then show me.”
Hong Bi thrust the sewing basket forward, and with hesitant fingers, Okdan selected gold thread and drew it through a needle.
Her hands trembled as she held the needle.
“Easy—you’ll hurt yourself if you keep shaking like that. Steady now.”
Hong Bi felt a pang of regret at the whole affair.
“Y-yes! Yes, Miss!”
She seemed flustered, all scattered thoughts.
But the moment Okdan’s hands began to move, the mangled flower pattern started to recover its proper shape, stitch by stitch.
Before long, the embroidery was as neat as it had been at first.
“Wonderful.”
Hong Bi’s admiration drew an embarrassed bow from Okdan.
“Thank you for trusting me with something so precious, Miss….”
“But isn’t that not who you are at all?”
Okdan replied, her face troubled.
“True enough—but the Supervisor Maidservant will blame herself because of me.”
“Then I’ve helped you, haven’t I?”
Okdan tilted her head at the odd question, uncertain but agreeing nonetheless.
Without this, she would have faced nothing but punishment from the Supervisor Maidservant—perhaps a cut in wages—and lost any chance to restore the garment.
Embroidering the clothing of direct bloodline members was properly the Supervisor Maidservant’s work.
“Well then. This.”
Hong Bi suddenly thrust something forward.
“In return, you’ll do my homework for me.”
Okdan stared at the embroidery frame Hong Bi extended, taken aback.
On the palm-sized frame was something stitched that looked rather like a dried persimmon.
“This is…?”
“My Pattern Mark.”
Okdan bit her tongue before she could ask if it was a persimmon. The direct bloodline of the White Phoenix Palace took great pride in their Pattern Marks.
“Don’t make it too good. Do it roughly, like I would.”
Okdan cradled the small frame carefully and asked, “But your Pattern Mark is already so beautiful—how could I dare make such poor work of it?”
Hong Bi looked up, startled.
“Beautiful? My Pattern Mark?”
Confusion crossed Okdan’s face.
Truth be told, despite the clumsy stitching, the round mark near Hong Bi’s eye was lovely—delicate as a magnolia petal.
“Why not? It’s like a pale pink flower petal.”
But this was the first time anyone had ever praised Hong Bi’s Pattern Mark.
In the White Phoenix Palace, everyone was too busy singing the praises of Hong Woo’s and her uncle’s brilliant flame Marks.
She had heard her late aunt spoken of fondly, how she’d carried such a resplendent flowered Mark—but her own unfinished, delicate round Mark had never earned a single word of praise from even her own parents.

“Well, still.”
Hong Bi barely managed to suppress the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
“If I make it too beautiful, it’ll be obvious someone helped me. I’m really quite terrible at this.”
At that, Okdan blinked her dark eyes and asked again.
“But why must you embroider at all? You’re a noble of the direct bloodline of the White Phoenix—surely there are many other things you should be doing.”
Hong Bi gave a little shrug.
“I don’t have an Innate Ability yet.”
Perhaps it was because she was speaking to a servant of lower station. Hong Bi found herself voicing aloud the words she’d always kept locked away, spoken only behind her back by others.
“Grandfather must be worried I’ll be useless forever.”
She’d never actually said it aloud before, only brooded over it in silence—but hearing herself speak the truth felt oddly liberating.
“That can’t possibly be true!”
Yet Okdan looked genuinely startled, as though she’d heard something terrible.
“If that were the case, it would be terribly unfair. I—I do hope you’ll awaken a wonderful Innate Ability and make him proud of you…!”
Words no one had ever said to her.
So Hong Bi’s own secret longing, the one she’d only ever whispered to herself, was now being spoken aloud by a maidservant she’d only just befriended—as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
“I hope so too.”
Hong Bi felt tears threatening to spill and quickly looked away, her voice barely steady.
“In that case, you’ll do my embroidery assignments from now on, won’t you? Don’t worry about me managing without it.”
“Eh…? No, I couldn’t possibly……”
Hong Bi laughed at Okdan’s flustered response.
Perhaps next time she saw Aran, she’d have something to boast about.
That there was an Okdan at the White Phoenix Palace just as kindhearted as Okdan of the Azure Dragon Palace.
That this other girl was skilled at embroidery and loved her Pattern Mark just as much.

***

Nine years later, summer in the Azure Dragon Palace.
On the Training Ground, where the midday heat shimmered thick and heavy over the packed earth, a now thirteen-year-old Aran sparred against Min.
The Azure Dragon Clan’s Peculiar Duckling | Chapter 64
E-book Release Date | 2026.08.05

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

UCI | G720:N+A101-20260722065.0064
Retail 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 reprinted, reproduced, distributed, or shared in any form without 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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