The Blue Dragon Clan’s Very Suspicious Little Chick - Chapter 67

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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 67

But judging by Min’s tone, attempting to say so would only guarantee they’d spend the entire night arguing.
Yeon resigned herself and changed the subject.
“In any case, I hate the Gyore Ceremony…….”
Her voice was hollow.
Min nodded limply, as though she too had given up.
“I’m not saying I love it either. I’m glad to see Baek Sa-heum and Hong Bi, but every year something terrible happens.”
“I wish this would be the last time…….”
The twins arrived at the same conclusion before finally settling into their respective beds for sleep.

***

The night before the Journey to Imperial Capital.
Nan-yeong, who stood guard outside Aran’s chamber, heaved a sigh so heavy it seemed the floor might cave in.
The Four Celestial Gyore was to blame.
After Aran had pretended not to hear her sighing several times, she finally spoke up.
“Nan-yeong, I can hear you, you know.”
Nan-yeong muttered under her breath.
“I meant for you to hear me, Miss…….”
Nan-yeong had been Aran’s guard for a long time—ever since the incident with the Shadow Ears.
Through strange accidents and mishaps that had sent her through several changes in guardianship, only Nan-yeong, the youngest, had clung to her side like a true sister, unwavering in her devotion to Aran.
For such a loyal companion, the Four Celestial Gyore was undoubtedly an unwelcome occasion.
“My kind-hearted mistress becomes possessed by some sort of restless spirit the moment she sets foot in the Imperial Palace, abandoning me to go night-wandering, and how could I not worry?”
“When all the while you only visit your friends and nothing bad happens anyway.”
“And now you won’t even promise me you won’t do it anymore?”
Aran pressed her back against the opposite side of the door Nan-yeong faced.
“I always come back at the promised time.”
“Without even asking your father’s permission before you leave! You make me out to be a liar every single year.”
“Father worries too much.”
“Too much, my foot……!”
This time Nan-yeong could hold back no longer and cried out sharply.
“It’s a fact anyone can see—you end up in danger every time there’s a Four Celestial Gyore!”
“But you know as well as I do—my life isn’t hanging by a thread only during the Gyore.”
“Hanging by a thread……really?”
Nan-yeong flung the door open in indignation.
When Aran turned and smiled brightly, Nan-yeong pounded her own chest repeatedly.
“Don’t speak so carelessly! You’ll bring real trouble down on yourself……!”
“Don’t worry, Nan-yeong.”
Aran spoke with perfect ease and rose from her seat in one fluid motion.
“This one doesn’t die. Haven’t you seen how much the heavens favor me?”
She had seen it.
Nan-yeong herself had witnessed how the will of heaven moved on Aran’s behalf, how miracles occurred again and again to save her life.
She had long seen how the youngest of Xuanwu Palace, born of the heavens’ decree, cherished Aran as dearly as his own life.
Yet just as Cheong-un remained anxious for Aran, so did Nan-yeong.
If the heavens truly cherished Aran so dearly, why did they not simply remove the dangers that bound her from the start?
Why did they wait until Aran’s life flickered like a candle before the wind before finally plucking her from the brink?
“If you can’t even watch your words……!”
Nan-yeong watched Aran lie down on the bed, then quietly shut the door behind her.
After that, she whispered softly to herself.
“You speak with such ease, Miss, because you’ve never seen how much I pray for you.”

***

Though everyone worried with a single heart, the Gyore came on as it always did.
“I’ll be back soon, Father.”
Aran parted from Cheong-un, whose expression was far from pleased, and boarded the carriage with difficulty.
There had been many occasions when Hwi-na and Su-ryeon had volunteered to accompany her as guards, but for the past several years, they had stopped.
Whichever way she looked at it, this journey would bring forth some calamity that couldn’t be prevented. Better, then, to move only the essential personnel.
For Aran, it was a welcome relief.
In exchange, the contingent of Azure Dragon Guard that accompanied them resembled a military campaign.
Cheong-un had voiced his concerns about the ceremony’s safety so many times that the Imperial Palace couldn’t bring itself to refuse the increase in escorts.
As a result, the procession from Azure Dragon Palace stood out as the most magnificent among all the Four Celestial Palaces that appeared at the ceremony.
And the splendor was not mere show—each carriage bore barriers and talismans for protection.
As the carriage departed, Aran released a sigh she’d been holding back.
Yeon, seated beside her, spoke in a whisper.
“Don’t the talismans seem to have increased?”
Aran of course had sensed it, but she hadn’t expected Yeon—who hadn’t yet awakened her Supernatural Ability—to notice the change.
Aran shrugged as if unmoved.
“You’re right. I hope they do some good.”
Min giggled from across the carriage.
“Father really is something. Aran, the Celestial already watches over you day in and day out, but when we go to the ceremony you’re basically invincible—doesn’t he realize that? We’re even bringing that fearsome youngest one from Xuanwu.”
Aran feigned interest in the landscape outside the window.
From beside her, where Aran was playing dumb, Yeon lowered her voice.
“A few days ago I heard Hee-rim and Father talking, and they said Tae-o might inherit the Sogazu position.”
“Inherit the Sogazu position?”
Aran’s eyes widened.
And with reason—Xuanwu Palace already had a Sogazu.
Tae-o’s letters, which arrived two or three times a week, had mentioned nothing of the sort.
Min, who had gasped in shock, finally gathered herself enough to speak.
“Wait, isn’t the Xuanwu Palace Sogazu something like twenty-four years older than us? He’s practically a grandfather, and Tae-o defeated him?!”
“A grandfather?!”
Even so, the man hadn’t yet reached forty……
As Aran, who by her own reckoning had lived over a hundred and ten years, found herself indignant without quite meaning to, Min burst out laughing.
“Oh my, our dear grandmother—your spirit is older than anyone’s. Don’t be upset!”
Yeon, as if entirely deaf to the bickering between Aran and Min, simply continued her story.
“Apparently the Xuanwu Palace Sogazu has been unable to manage Tae-o’s Supernatural Ability for quite some time now.”
Of course he couldn’t.
Aran, who had lived over a hundred and ten years, was seeing a Spirit Being like Tae-o for the first time.
This year he had turned thirteen.
Tae-o had now become a Spirit Being who was simply off all scales.
Late as the realization came, Aran found herself wondering if the Celestial had truly entrusted her with his care back then.
To look after Hyeon Tae-o of Xuanwu House.
Or was it rather Hyeon Tae-o of Xuanwu House looking after her?
What use was even the mightiest of Phoenix if that was the case?
Tae-o’s growth had been overwhelming enough to fuel such thoughts.
The number of times he had pulled Aran’s party back from the brink of danger was now beyond counting on five fingers.
Last year it had been especially severe.

***

The previous year, when the ninth Four Celestial Gyore Ceremony was held, the Imperial Capital was swept by an unexpected plague—smallpox.
The direct heirs of the Four Celestial Palaces who had come to attend the ceremony found themselves confined to the Imperial Palace far longer than usual as the Imperial Capital fell under lockdown.
In Aran’s memory of her past life, such a thing had never occurred.
By the time one was twelve, Aran had already met her master and was wandering the length and breadth of the empire.
Had a plague swept the Imperial Capital, there was no way she could have remained ignorant of it.
The premonition was deeply unsettling, but to pass through the plague-ravaged Imperial Capital and return to Azure Dragon Palace risked spreading the disease there—a disaster. So she remained, her feet bound, confined to the Imperial Palace, and the pestilence crept in anyway.
Even as they were forced to remain within the Palace walls, the plague penetrated deeper still.
Regardless of rank, many fell ill.
Palace servants died helplessly, and they lost several of the Azure Dragon Guard without ceremony.
Because the House of Azure Dragon passed down a Healing Ability through its bloodline, the twins choked back tears, blaming themselves for their helplessness.
The Imperial Palace did what it could to shield the heirs of the Four Celestial Palaces from the plague, but it was not enough.
In the end, the twins and Aran herself fell ill and began to languish from the pestilence.
Among the children who attended the ceremony, only the Crown Prince Geon-u and Tae-o never contracted the disease.
The problem was that Aran’s condition grew steadily and alarmingly worse.
The Imperial Palace sent court physicians every day to examine her, but there was no improvement.
As a Phoenix who had lived through long ages, Aran had a premonition.
Perhaps this life would be a short one. It seemed she would not easily overcome this plague.
She had always thought it was fine whenever she was summoned to the Celestial Realm, but now that it had actually come to this, she found herself reluctant.
She had worked so hard all this time to protect Geon-u, and Baek Sa-heum had been well taught too.
She had wanted to see the twins awaken their Supernatural Abilities.
Min might even become a Ten-Thousand-Year Dragon.
Aran, isolated and battling the fever that roiled through her body in the depths of night, suddenly felt a cool presence beside her.
She thought the divine being had come to fetch her at last.
Aran let out a faint chuckle and muttered.

“Are you taking me now? I haven’t finished raising all your descendants yet…….”

The divine being, unexpectedly, denied it.

“Not yet.”
The Azure Dragon Clan’s Many Suspicious Chirpings — Episode 67
E-book Publication Date | August 5, 2026

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

UCI | G720:N+A101-20260722065.0067
List Price | 100 Won

ⓒ Ravioli 2026

This e-book is protected under copyright law.
This e-book has been published under the author’s agreement, and unauthorized reprinting, reproduction, 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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