The Dragon Family’s Beloved Baby Cat - Chapter 22

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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 22

Creak.

The door slowly opened with the sound of hinges.

“Let’s put the bed over here…”

“Hmm, the luminous pearl should be placed over there…”

The movements of the three men who had been bickering came to a complete halt.

“…Honey?”

“Mother!”

A woman standing at the doorway, leaning against the wall. It was Jaseonghwa.

Though she still had no color in her face, the shadow of death had completely disappeared. Even as she breathed heavily, a faint smile played at the corners of her lips.

“The house is… so noisy that I couldn’t possibly stay lying down.”

At her playful scolding, Jin Saheon rushed over with tears welling up and supported her.

Yeongang ran over quickly, repeatedly calling for Mother while tugging at her skirt.

Dowoon bit his lips tightly and turned his head slightly.

Jaseonghwa tightly grasped her husband’s hand and directed her gaze downward.

A small child peeking out between the men’s legs.

She could see a little one standing on tiger hide with cloud-like short hair that seemed to hold moonlight, fluffy and hanging down, eyes wide open.

Jaseonghwa’s eyes rippled gently.

“…Hello.”

She approached Moa and with difficulty bent one knee to match Moa’s eye level.

“So you’re the little physician who helped me.”

“Uh… Moa can’t save people though…”

But looking at the results, since Jaseonghwa was alive, wasn’t it the same thing?

Moa fidgeted in confusion.

When her eyes were closed, she had just thought of her as a very pretty older sister.

But when Jaseonghwa opened her eyes and light entered her pupils, she became completely different.

Just like how a portrait comes to life when light is added to the eyes, Jaseonghwa’s gentle and kind nature emanated from her gaze.

Moreover, seeing how she gave one hand to Jin Saheon while stroking and checking on her sons with the other.

‘She wasn’t an older sister.’

She’s like a princess mother!

Moa’s lips parted as she froze in surprise.

“Little one?”

When she was freezing cold, Jaseonghwa had felt the light of gentle divine power.

The gentle force that had melted her frozen self. Seeing Moa, she immediately knew whose power it was.

She reached out with trembling hands and carefully cupped Moa’s cheeks.

“Little one, come here.”

As Moa approached hesitantly, Jaseonghwa pulled her into a tight embrace.

Moa’s eyes widened.

The sudden scent of ‘mother’ overwhelmed her, leaving her not knowing where to put herself or what expression to make.

“Thank you, truly thank you.”

A tearful voice reached Moa’s ears.

The moment Jaseonghwa saw her family, she instinctively realized that Moa had helped everyone.

Yeongang who had been constantly ill, Dowoon who had lost his emotions and stopped visiting her quarters, and even her husband who must have suffered watching his family fall apart.

After holding Moa for a long while, Jaseonghwa looked around the room with tear-filled eyes.

The rough tiger hide, the strangely positioned luminous pearl, even the empty room.

Confirming the clumsy but sincere efforts of the men, she burst into laughter.

“The room is a complete mess. Men, really.”

At her joke, smiles finally spread across the men’s stiff faces.

“Rather than here… there’s a room that would suit you better.”

After carefully putting shoes on Moa’s feet, Jaseonghwa took her hand and stood up.

“Huh…?”

Wasn’t this room supposed to be my room?

Puzzled, Moa followed Jaseonghwa with curiosity.

Before she knew it, rather than following Jaseonghwa, she was moving as if supporting her, and they stopped at a room that seemed to be placed in the center of Naedan.

It was a location close to the quarters of all the direct descendants of the Jinryong Clan.

“This place is…”

Jin Saheon, who knew well where this room was, looked down at Jaseonghwa with concern.

Dowoon and Yeongang’s expressions also hardened.

That place was like an unspoken taboo within the family.

However, there was no longer any pain or shadow on Jaseonghwa’s face.

“Honey, will you be alright?”

“Of course. There’s no need to keep it empty any longer.”

Jaseonghwa answered firmly and opened the door.

Following behind, Moa looked around the spacious room.

It was as large as the previous room, but felt much more cozy and warm.

It didn’t seem like anyone lived there, but it gleamed as if it had been carefully cleaned every day.

The wallpaper was also a lovely pale pink.

“Wow…!”

“The color has faded a bit…”

Looking at the walls, Jin Saheon smiled bitterly.

“I had the inside cleaned regularly, but there was nothing we could do about the wallpaper fading.”

Jaseonghwa spoke with a similar expression, then examined several pieces of furniture with calm eyes.

“We’ll need to remove some furniture that doesn’t fit.”

“If you’re okay with it.”

Hearing the couple’s conversation, Moa tilted her head, then noticed the worried expressions on the brothers’ faces behind her and widened her eyes.

“What’s wrong? Whose room was this?”

At Moa’s question, Dowoon’s expression became awkward.

“This was… supposed to be the youngest’s room.”

It was Jaseonghwa who satisfied Moa’s curiosity.

“The youngest?”

“Yes.”

Jaseonghwa touched her flat belly with a slightly sad expression.

“Long ago, my youngest who became a star without seeing the light of this world… this was where they should have stayed.”

Moa’s eyes widened.

A dead baby’s room. Normally, she might have thought it was scary.

But somehow, Moa felt her heart grow heavy.

This room wasn’t filled with the cold air of death, but only with the love of a family who had waited for a child to be born.

“I don’t know if it was a girl or boy. They were supposed to be born in spring.”

“Mmm…”

Unable to find words of comfort, Moa pouted sadly.

Then Jaseonghwa gently stroked Moa’s head.

“You brought spring to us.”

“…”

“So now, the owner of this room is you, little one.”

At Jaseonghwa’s words, Jin Saheon nodded.

Dowoon and Yeongang’s expressions finally relaxed.

Instead of burying the pain, the mother’s choice to fill it with new happiness.

It was a signal that the Jinryong Clan was finally moving away from past wounds toward the future.

“Thank you…”

Moa sniffled and nestled into Jaseonghwa’s embrace.

Between the pale pink wallpaper, the shadows of five family members stretched long.

***

Late at night when everyone was preparing to sleep, intoxicated by happiness.

In contrast to the warm lights of Naedan, cold night wind was blowing in front of Jinryongseoga’s massive main gate.

Clatter, clatter.

Through the darkness, an old and tattered carriage arrived.

“Hey there! Open the gate!”

A blood-covered coachman pounded on the door. Guards approached with spears aimed.

“Where do you bastards come from! If you don’t back away immediately…!”

“I came… to collect on a promise.”

The carriage door opened, and a pale-faced girl stumbled out.

The girl’s clothes were covered in dirt and torn in places.

But when the guards saw what she held out with trembling hands, their faces turned to shock.

A jade token glinting under the moonlight.

It was the blood oath token left by the previous head of the manor.

“I am Bukgung Yeohi, daughter of the Bukgung family. My clan has been destroyed… I came here having nowhere else to go.”

The girl collapsed to the ground with a thud and lost consciousness.

No one saw the dark threads writhing within her shadow.

Jin Saheon, who received the urgent report, came outside frowning.

An unwelcome guest on what should have been the happiest night.

But he couldn’t refuse the token that contained the previous generation’s oath.

“…Give her the vacant Cheongbindang.”

The finest guest quarters of Jinryongseoga, which had just been vacated as Moa moved her belongings to Naedan.

It was the moment its owner changed.

***

Warm sunlight flowed along the pale pink wallpaper.

“Mmm…”

Moa, who had rolled away from her bedding and curled up on the tiger skin, smacked her lips.

In her dream, giant ribs were floating around.

The glossy, glistening ribs were Moa’s favorite food.

To catch the rib bones that seemed within reach but kept running away, dream-Moa took a powerful running start. Hiyah!

Thwack-!

“Ack!”

A dull impact sound and scream erupted simultaneously.

Yeongang, who had been sleeping properly on his back, bolted upright with an “ugh” from Moa’s kick.

“Hey you… you little brat!”

Yeongang, angry from being hit while sleeping, trembled and tried to yell at Moa.

But seeing her sleeping peacefully without a care in the world, he couldn’t bring himself to curse and just grumbled.

Yeongang glared at Moa who was sleeping soundly with soft puffing sounds, then stretched and pulled her soft cheek pressed against the pillow.

“Mmng, meanie.”

When Moa waved her hands around, Yeongang dodged this way and that and whispered “Wake up!”

“Mmm, ribs…”

“Talking about ribs! You almost broke my ribs, you know?”

When Yeongang grumbled and shouted, only then did Moa drowsily open her eyes.

She saw Yeongang looking thoroughly annoyed in front of her.

“Oh! You didn’t abandon me?”

“What’s that supposed to mean!”

“I thought you’d get bored when I woke up and leave me behind.”

“I’m so loyal though…!”

“Mmhm, good boy, good boy.”

Moa soothed him with a nonchalant tone and let out a big yawn.

Getting hit while sleeping wasn’t enough, and now being forcibly treated like a child made Yeongang a bit sulky.

But seeing Moa sitting there with drowsy, sleepy eyes looking cute, he couldn’t scold her harshly and just suffered internally.

“What’s all this commotion so early in the morning.”

With a low, subdued voice, Dowoon opened the door.

He had been pacing in front of Moa’s room under the pretense of morning greetings, then came over after hearing the noisy sounds.

“Hyung! This is unfair! She kicked me while sleeping!”

“Now that your insomnia is cured, you should start studying martial arts again for your health recovery.”

“But how can you avoid it while sleeping? Why does hyung always take the little one’s side!”

Yeongang jumped up and down in frustration, then noticed Dowoon staring intently at the hand he was holding while bickering with Moa, and chuckled.

“I get it. You’re jealous that the little one only sleeps with me! Right, hyung!”

Dowoon acted as if he wouldn’t even dignify that with a response and completely ignored him.

However, when Yeongang spotted his brother’s lips twitching slightly, his mood immediately improved and he giggled.

Dowoon left his brother to giggle by himself and approached Moa, who was sitting there drooling and dazed, gently wiping the corner of her mouth with a silk cloth.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah! Did you sleep well too, oppa?”

“Yes. If you want to sleep more, you can. I’ll make sure no one wakes you until the sun is high in the sky.”

Dowoon’s eyes were as sweet as if honey would drip from them.

Moa, who had been blinking drowsily while holding the cotton doll Sehui brought her, soon shook her head.

“I’m hungry!”

“Geez! Why isn’t anyone coming! The little one is hungry!”

Yeongang, who had been grinning by himself, jumped up at the three words Moa declared loudly and ran out the door.

“I’ll go raid the entire kitchen!”

It was a lively morning.

But Moa didn’t know.

While she was wandering in dreamland, a dangerous visitor had entered their peaceful home.

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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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