The Dragon Family’s Beloved Baby Cat - Chapter 100

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 100

“I couldn’t heal everything.”

“….”

“That’s why the connection with Goseol is unstable. If I had done better, it would have been fixed right away….”

Moa’s voice gradually became smaller.

The words ‘But it’ll get better with time’ were mumbled so quietly they could barely be heard.

“I’m sorry.”

Danhwi looked at Moa for a moment.

Her tearful face, her self-blaming eyes were bright red.

“Fool.”

“…Huh?”

“There’s something else you should apologize for.”

Danhwi struggled to lift his hand and gently touched his finger to the back of Moa’s hand.

“I made you worry.”

“That’s… true.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing, oppa!”

Moa sniffled.

“You did that to protect me!”

“…I got caught.”

Danhwi smiled wryly.

“How ridiculous! The bruises on oppa’s wrist and… what is this condition of your body….”

Danhwi looked down at his own wrist.

Dark handprint marks were clearly visible.

“…It showed, huh.”

“Are you stupid, oppa? Don’t do that again!”

Danhwi didn’t answer that.

Instead, he squeezed Moa’s hand tightly.

“…Thank you for healing me. If it weren’t for you, I would have died.”

At those words, Moa’s eyes became sharp.

Moa’s eyes turned into triangular shapes like 10:10 on a clock, then she bared her teeth like a chihuahua.

She was about to get angry, thinking ‘Oppa got hurt because he helped me first!’, but the door slid open and her guilt-mixed anger lost its way.

“Your Highness!”

The one who rushed in was the physician Siheon.

Following him, Dowoon and Rin also entered.

“You’ve regained consciousness!”

“…Yeah.”

When the unfamiliar physician showed a relieved and pleased expression, Danhwi nodded with a reluctant expression.

Danhwi, whose wariness had awakened, tried to sit up.

But he staggered from lack of strength.

“Please don’t overexert yourself, Your Highness!”

Siheon hurriedly approached.

“…I’m fine.”

Danhwi barely managed to raise his upper body, then carefully observed the unexpected combination of people surrounding him.

“The Master of the Jinryong Clan pays his respects to Crown Prince. Moa sensed something wrong with Your Highness’s condition, so we came to the Imperial Palace together.”

Dowoon introduced Yeongang as his younger brother, then sat next to Moa along with Rin.

Only then learning Yeongang’s identity, Danhwi felt embarrassed about being on guard the whole time and secretly relieved.

He had been inwardly curious about the boy who had been sitting close to Moa’s side the entire time.

“How is the situation in the Imperial Palace now?”

“His Majesty the Emperor has not yet regained consciousness.”

Dowoon informed him of the current situation with the court physicians attending and the fact that a lockdown order had been issued.

Only then realizing that Siheon alone had helped him, Danhwi nodded.

“To think you helped me alone, thank you.”

“You honor me too much! I merely did what was naturally required!”

Saheon’s ears turned slightly red. As a physician, this was almost his first experience practicing medicine on someone and receiving thanks.

Moreover, since the other party was the Crown Prince, Saheon forgot about the hardships of caring for Danhwi alone and felt like he could fly.

“From our conversation outside, he seemed to be a sincere and good talent. He also hasn’t been touched by dirty hands.”

Rin hinted to Danhwi that he was someone untouched by the Emperor’s influence.

Since things had come to this, he would be a convenient person for Danhwi to keep nearby, as even the eunuchs couldn’t be trusted.

‘By the way, the rampage worked properly.’

Danhwi was inwardly satisfied.

Though he had paid a great price himself, the Emperor also hadn’t escaped unharmed.

“What about the court ministers?”

“They’re probably in chaos. Since the adults decided to leave political matters to them and come here immediately, we haven’t been able to assess that yet.”

At Dowoon’s answer, Danhwi fell into thought for a moment.

‘I need to move before the Emperor wakes up.’

He felt grateful to Moa once again.

If Moa hadn’t saved his life like this, and if the Emperor had awakened before him?

Danhwi would have died by now.

‘I can’t use Goseol’s power.’

Right now, he didn’t have Goseol’s power.

He could sense it, but couldn’t use it.

‘If I can’t subdue the Emperor with force….’

He would have to fight with politics.

Since he couldn’t confidently present Goseol and claim the throne, he couldn’t immediately depose the Emperor.

However, if he didn’t want to die helplessly like this, he had to struggle somehow.

At minimum, he needed to build enough power that the Emperor couldn’t carelessly touch him.

“…Siheon.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Do I have any allies inside the Imperial Palace?”

Siheon hesitated for a moment.

His head slowly turned.

“…To be honest, there are almost none.”

“…I suppose so.”

It was the answer he had expected.

The Twelve Families had originally held mostly honorary positions considering their clan power.

So after ascending the throne, the Emperor had won over most of the court’s working officials to his side.

‘How should I fight?’

While Danhwi was lost in thought.

Commotion was heard from outside.

“Your Highness!”

With hurried footsteps, the door opened and the adults from the Jinryong Clan entered.

“Father!”

Moa called out to her father in joy.

“Has the lockdown been lifted?”

Danhwi asked Jin Saheon.

“Ah, fortunately you’ve regained consciousness. The lockdown has been temporarily lifted. It seems they had no choice when the heads of the Twelve Families pressured them.”

Jin Saheon answered.

“The family heads…?”

“Jinryong, Haejeo, and Sa Yeom protested.”

Jin Saheon said while glancing at Rin.

Just before departing for the Imperial Palace, Rin had used the Saryeom House’s seal ring to create a document stating that the Saryeom House would stand with the Jinryong Clan.

“Three families…”

He had thought the Jinryong Clan would be fighting a lonely battle, but hearing that two more were joining them, the tension in Danhwi’s stiff shoulders eased slightly.

“Please tell me the current situation.”

“His Majesty the Emperor is still unconscious. The physicians say his divine power circuits have been severely damaged.”

“Hmm…”

“And rumors are spreading among the court ministers.”

“What rumors?”

“Rumors that Your Highness the Crown Prince tried to harm His Majesty the Emperor.”

Danhwi’s eyes turned cold.

“…Who spread them?”

“It’s not certain.”

“Well, I have no allies in this Imperial Palace anyway.”

Danhwi pressed his forehead.

‘They beat me to the punch.’

Before the Emperor could even wake up, the Emperor’s faction had moved first.

It was a strategic move to brand him as a traitor.

“…I’ll have to clarify things first.”

“Will that be possible?”

“I have to announce the facts. That I didn’t harm the Emperor, but that the Emperor tried to harm me.”

At those words, Siheon, who had been quietly listening with a crumpled expression, gasped.

He was already in a dangerous situation beside the Crown Prince, and now that he had heard even this, he realized he had truly stepped onto the path to the underworld.

‘I-if I don’t become an ally now…’

While Siheon was contemplating his bleak future where a new path had suddenly opened up, Danhwi raised his wrist.

“The evidence is my body.”

Jin Saheon stared at the wrist marked with dark handprints.

Seeing the large handprints left on the frail wrist of someone who lived with restricted food intake made his head burn with anger anew.

‘Worse than a beast. To do that to such a small child…’

Though Danhwi was excessively mature for his age, he was still a child who shouldn’t have had to endure such things.

“…There need to be people who will believe you.”

Jin Saheon answered while sharpening knives in his mind, and Danhwi nodded.

“That’s why I was going to ask. Can the Jinryong Clan stand on my side?”

Sensing they had reached a definitive turning point, Moa clenched her fists tightly.

“We are already Your Highness’s subjects.”

“Thank you.”

“The Saryeom House will also join.”

Rin added.

“As the new head, to atone for the previous head’s sins.”

“…Thank you.”

Danhwi nodded to Rin.

“The Haejeo Family is our ally, so they’ve already declared they’ll stand with us.”

“Three families…”

It was a subtle number.

Then Jin Saheon smiled slightly.

“If things go well, it’ll probably be five.”

“How so?”

Dowoon asked instead, firmly holding the hands of his siblings who had stuck close to his side and gasped in surprise.

Seeing Moa’s bottom wiggling, he was certain she wanted to know the method.

“Father went to meet the former head of the Inhoesega. They’re old comrades-in-arms. Mother is making contact with her family.”

“Wow…!”

Moa exclaimed softly in admiration.

If they added Jaseonghwa’s family, the Jaseosega, and the Inhoesega, it would mean five of the Twelve Families were uniting their will.

Though it wasn’t half, five was a number that could wield considerable power.

“Then… as soon as we have their agreement, we’ll have to announce the facts to the court.”

Until then, the Emperor must not wake up.

Seeing the conversation seemed to be ending, Siheon squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them and shouted.

“So that you may plan for the future! This humble one will go prepare medicinal herbs!”

Five families, and one more physician who would be Danhwi’s only ally in the Imperial Palace, though weak, had been added.

***

The next morning, the court ministers gathered.

When Danhwi entered, the ministers’ gazes focused on him.

Terrible rumors were circulating that the Crown Prince had tried to harm the Emperor.

Moreover, since the Crown Prince had appeared alone before the court ministers without the Emperor, the rumors felt more directly real.

Along with a chilling silence, gazes reached Danhwi.

“I will clarify directly.”

Danhwi opened his mouth.

“It is true that His Majesty the Emperor and I both collapsed at the same time.”

“…!”

“But I did not try to harm His Majesty.”

Danhwi raised his wrist.

The dark handprints were revealed before everyone’s eyes.

“These are His Majesty’s handprints.”

The murmuring grew louder.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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