The Dragon Family’s Beloved Baby Cat - Chapter 26

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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 26

Yehui thought she had misheard and made a dumbfounded expression.

It was a dragon statue cast from pure gold, bestowed by the Emperor.

To call a statue that was even called a sacred relic a piece of scrap metal.

“M-Master…? What do you mean by that…?”

While Yehui gaped in bewilderment, Jin Saheon took long strides forward instead of answering.

His leather shoes stopped in front of the golden dragon’s head rolling on the floor.

Clang-!

A sharp, almost vicious cracking sound echoed through Naedan.

The golden dragon’s head, kicked by Jin Saheon’s foot, flew through the air and crashed into a corner.

“Kyaaaah!”

Yehui screamed and crouched down.

“…Hmm, excessively light.”

Jin Saheon rubbed his chin and muttered quietly.

Gold is quite heavy.

Moreover, this statue was large enough that he shouldn’t have been able to kick it without properly channeling his inner strength.

After the craftsmen sent by the Emperor several years ago had installed it themselves, no one had touched this statue.

They had only heard that it was a pure gold statue and a sacred object bestowed by the Emperor for friendship.

“M-Master!”

The servants’ jaws dropped as if they would touch the floor upon seeing him kick the Imperial symbol with his foot.

But Jin Saheon didn’t bat an eye.

He knelt on one knee in front of Moa, who was standing dazedly before the statue.

The perpetual snow-like gaze that had frozen everyone just moments ago melted like spring snow when he faced Moa.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

Saheon’s large, rough hands carefully examined Moa’s cheeks and shoulders.

“…Uh, yes. It doesn’t hurt.”

“You must have been very startled by the heavy thing falling. Let me see.”

Saheon took Moa’s small hand and brushed off the dust that hadn’t been cleaned.

Yehui stared blankly at the scene. Her mind went blank and her thoughts nearly stopped.

“Th-that, Master…? Isn’t that a sacred relic bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor! This is treason…!”

Yehui cried out with a trembling voice.

This didn’t make sense. This couldn’t happen logically.

No matter how much he was the head of Jinryong Clan, the foremost among the twelve Sega, he couldn’t so blatantly ignore the Emperor’s authority.

Then, Saheon’s hand that was brushing dust off Moa stopped abruptly.

He slowly turned his head to look down at Yehui.

The worried gaze from before was nowhere to be found, only cold eyes that glinted like a predator eyeing its prey.

“However, this is strange.”

Saheon murmured lowly.

“Miss Bukgung. You are neither a person of Jinryong Clan nor of the Imperial Court.”

“…Pardon?”

“How do you know whether that is a sacred relic bestowed by His Majesty or just a decorative item of our Sega, and speak of treason?”

“…!”

Yehui’s heart sank.

She was at a loss for words.

This golden dragon statue had no information plaque attached to it.

Even its form was a dragon, so at first glance, it would be reasonable to think it was a sculpture made by Jinryong Clan itself.

For an outsider like her to immediately know it was a gift from the Emperor was unnatural.

It would be impossible unless she had thoroughly studied and memorized the internal affairs of Jinryong Clan beforehand.

“Th-that’s… I heard it through rumors…”

Yehui rolled her eyes and made excuses, but Jin Saheon’s lips hardened even more.

“Rumors, you say. Our clan has never boasted about that monstrosity.”

Jin Saheon had no fondness for the Emperor.

Rather, knowing some of the Imperial Court’s secrets related to the throne, he was closer to disliking the current Emperor Dan Hyeonwoo.

Receiving this statue as a gesture of friendship right after his enthronement was unavoidable as it was the Emperor’s will, but he had secretly considered it a monstrosity.

“As if you studied beforehand to enter my house.”

Saheon took a step closer.

Yehui couldn’t even breathe under the overwhelming pressure.

“…!”

Cold sweat streamed down Yehui’s back.

She was being suspected.

That monster-like man had discovered that she wasn’t just a simple dependent, but an undesirable element who had entered with a purpose.

Saheon sneered at the trembling Yehui.

“Well, fine. It doesn’t matter how you knew. What’s important is.”

He turned his gaze to point at the cross-section of the statue lying on the floor.

“His Majesty certainly said this statue was cast from thousand-year steel and pure gold, an indestructible sacred relic.”

His voice lowered and froze the air in Naedan.

Jin Dowoon’s eyes lit up as he understood the meaning of his father’s words.

He had never suspected Moa, but he was wondering how to extricate the child from this situation.

However, if his father’s words were correct…

“It broke just because a mere five-year-old child touched it?”

“Th-that’s…!”

“Miss Bukgung. If your words are true, it must be one of two things.”

Saheon spoke coldly as if driving in a wedge.

“Either the Imperial craftsmen embezzled public funds and stole the materials.”

“Ah…”

“Or His Majesty dared to mock Jinryong Clan by sending a fake that would break at a touch, calling it a token of friendship.”

Yehui’s face turned white as paper.

The situation had taken a strange turn.

Yehui had pushed the plan that ‘Moa broke the sacred relic,’ but Jin Saheon flipped it by saying ‘the Imperial Court deceived Jinryong Clan.’

“Jin Dowoon.”

“Yes, Master.”

Jin Dowoon, who had been standing like a shadow, stepped forward.

He too had grasped his father’s intention immediately and was smiling coldly.

“We must write a letter to the Imperial Palace immediately. Say that the sacred relic His Majesty sent was shattered just by brushing against a child’s collar. Sternly protest asking what he takes Jinryong Clan for to send such crude trash.”

“I shall obey your command. I will hold them responsible for negligent management of tribute goods and demand punishment of those involved and massive compensation.”

“N-no!”

Unable to endure it, Yehui screamed and prostrated herself on the floor.

At this rate, far from Moa disappearing, the Emperor would be in trouble.

And that responsibility would fall entirely on her for failing the mission.

“Th-this child pushed it very hard! I’m sure that’s what happened!”

Yehui trembled and pointed at Moa.

Then Saheon reached out and lifted Moa up.

The face of the cold politician from before disappeared, leaving only worried eyes.

“Uncle. But I didn’t push it.”

“Yes, I know.”

“The lady pushed it.”

Yehui flinched at Moa’s words.

Moa looked at Yehui. Yehui hated her and had set a trap with lies.

Moa was just young, not stupid. She knew this situation was meant to torment her.

However.

‘Somi didn’t tell me that it was wrapped around her so painfully.’

Just as Somi had said, black threads coiled around Yehui’s neck like a snake, strangling her.

Though there were no visible traces on the surface since they were threads caused by a curse, Moa could see Yehui suffering.

Yes, more than clearly enough.

‘Sister isn’t bad.’

Moa recalled the chestnut story that Jaseonghwa had told her.

She had only raised her thorns because she was in pain.

And those thorns weren’t Sister’s will, but those black threads.

“But Sister didn’t cut Dragon’s neck. The black threads cut Dragon’s neck. I saw it clearly.”

“…!”

At the words ‘black threads’ that came from Moa’s mouth, both Jin Saheon and Dowoon’s eyes sharpened simultaneously.

Especially Jin Dowoon, who had suffered enough being bound by ‘black chains’, couldn’t help but react sensitively.

‘Could it be….’

Jin Saheon’s eyes narrowed.

He knew that Moa could see things that they couldn’t see.

So there was no reason not to believe Moa’s testimony.

A descendant of the Northern Palace Clan who appeared at a sudden time.

Since it was a debt of gratitude formed by his father, the former Master, and she was just a young girl alone, he hadn’t thought to verify her true intentions.

However, now that the fact she could be a spy had been revealed.

He couldn’t easily let go of Yehui, who might provide clues about the ‘something’ that had tormented his clan.

“Huu-uk….”

Yehui sobbed, paralyzed with fear.

They had said that when the time came, she would automatically carry out her mission without needing to do anything, but when exactly would that time come?

Yehui vaguely thought she had been assigned a mission of killing.

That she would need to approach with a harmless appearance and gain trust for that purpose.

However, far from gaining trust, now that she had been immediately exposed, there was no power to protect her.

‘That Person’ had never once appeared before her, and only his subordinates had tormented and brainwashed her.

It was probably so they could pin everything on Yehui and make excuses if things went wrong.

She had vaguely thought he must be someone of high status, but listening to Jin Saheon’s story, she had an intuition.

‘That Person must have been His Majesty the Emperor.’

Since she had caught His Majesty’s attention, it was inevitable that her clan was destroyed and she was reduced to being manipulated as a worthless puppet.

‘No one will be able to save me.’

Moreover, it was Yehui who was in the wrong.

Even though she had the excuse of doing it to survive, she had infiltrated another clan as a spy and framed others.

Now she was dead. Everything was over.

Yehui’s face turned deathly pale.

That was when it happened.

“Sister.”

Moa slipped out of Saheon’s arms and approached Yehui.

Yehui flinched and tried to back away, but Moa firmly grasped Yehui’s trembling hands with both of hers.

“Don’t be scared.”

“…What?”

“Those bad threads are tormenting Sister, right?”

Moa’s clear eyes met Yehui’s wavering pupils.

There was no resentment or hatred. Only deep compassion and firm resolve.

“Even now they’re strangling Sister’s neck. They hurt you if you don’t do as they say, right?”

The curse that tormented and controlled her.

Yehui herself had never actually seen what it was.

But seeing Moa speak as if she could see it clearly, both her pupils shook.

“I’ll save you.”

“…!”

The moment she heard words she had given up on from someone she never expected, Yehui’s entire body swayed with shame and emotion.

“I’ll remove those threads so they can’t torment Sister anymore.”

Moa understood.

Just as she had come to this house and been saved, that sister also needed salvation.

To take out the tender chestnut hidden inside the burr, one had to embrace it without fearing the thorns.

“Ahhh…!”

Yehui wailed with tears.

While Moa patted her in confusion.

Ding!

In one corner of Moa’s vision, Samyeongrok sparkled as it displayed a new auxiliary mission.

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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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