The Dragon Family’s Beloved Baby Cat - Chapter 28

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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 28

 

The interior of the statue that should have been empty.

 

At its center, a single dark red gem was embedded, emitting an eerie light.

 

The gem pulsed with faint vibrations like a living heart, thump, thump, releasing sticky black energy around it.

 

Since ordinary humans other than Moa couldn’t see that energy, Jin Dowoon was startled for a different reason.

 

“That… isn’t that Grandfather’s ring!”

 

For some reason, in the gift the Emperor had sent years ago.

 

The ring of the previous Head of Jinryong Clan was embedded.

 

[Oh, this?]

 

Somi, who was sharing senses with Moa from inside the bracelet, suddenly let out an exclamation.

 

“Hm? Why, Somi?”

 

So as not to disturb Jin Saheon and Jin Dowoon who looked serious, Moa whispered in a small voice.

 

[There’s a similar smell coming from the underground dungeon down there?]

 

“Underground dungeon?”

 

At the words that slipped from Moa’s mouth, Jin Saheon and Jin Dowoon’s expressions hardened.

 

“Did you say underground dungeon?”

 

Jin Saheon asked with a frightening face, unable to hide his urgency.

 

Startled, Moa nodded reflexively.

 

Crack.

 

The sound of bones twisting came from Jin Saheon’s fist.

 

The underground dungeon was Jinryong Clan’s reverse scale.

 

The deepest and darkest place of Jinryong Clan.

 

A place forbidden even to the clan’s direct descendants, the ‘Sealed Prison’.

 

Originally, it was a place only for those among the direct descendants who had committed very grave sins.

 

There was Master Seon Jin Wonbaek, who had been afflicted with an unknown madness and a curse that rotted his entire body since before the flood, and had confined himself there.

 

Jin Dowoon’s grandfather, who had attacked his daughter-in-law Jaseonghwa and nearly committed a heinous crime without even recognizing his own grandson.

 

‘Aaaaaaahhhhh!’

 

Jin Saheon recalled Jin Wonbaek’s final scream of despair over what he had done after regaining his senses, and clenched his bleeding fist tightly.

 

‘Father…’

 

Master Seon had entered the Sealed Prison himself, saying that a sinner who tried to harm his family was not worthy of enjoying comfort.

 

Into a prison that made one forget the sense of time and space, giving eternal suffering.

 

“Father, we need to open the Sealed Prison immediately and check…!”

 

“No. It can’t be opened.”

 

Jin Saheon shook his head painfully.

 

Jinryong Clan’s Sealed Prison was an absolute barrier. While one could enter from outside, there was no way to bring out someone who was inside.

 

“Why? Can’t it be opened at all?”

 

To think such a place existed.

 

Half curious, half puzzled and sympathetic after reading the hearts of the suffering father and son.

 

Moa tilted her head and asked.

 

Then Jin Saheon’s gaze fixed on Moa.

 

‘Perhaps…’

 

There was only one way to safely open the Sealed Prison.

 

When a new order was born in the clan.

 

That is, ‘when a new direct bloodline was born and officially registered in the clan’.

 

‘What could that method be?’

 

Without knowing what the circumstances were, Moa thought she wanted to help achieve something that Jin Saheon and Jin Dowoon seemed so desperate about.

 

Were the hinges rusted? Was the door warped?

 

If it was crumpled and wouldn’t open, she would try banging on it with force to open it.

 

As Moa pondered in curiosity, she saw Samyeongrok sparkling in her vision.

 

‘Oh, right!’

 

It was time to receive some unknown good ability!

 

Moa received the reward for the auxiliary mission she had completed by saving Yehui while being carried in Jin Saheon’s arms.

 

Ding!

 

-‘Thread Network’ skill is activated.

 

That was the moment.

 

“Uhhh…”

 

Moa’s vision spun around.

 

Suddenly the world had changed bizarrely.

 

On the ceiling and floor, on the bodies of passing servants, even on Jin Saheon and Jin Dowoon.

 

She could see tens of thousands of threads tangled like spider webs between all the beings in the world.

 

‘Why are there so many!’

 

Some were gray, some were black.

 

As countless lines of relationships poured in all at once, her head throbbed.

 

“Ugh, urgh…”

 

[Moa! Close your eyes! You have to think you won’t look for it to turn off!]

 

When Moa lightly dry-heaved, Somi urgently shouted from inside the bracelet.

 

Moa squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head vigorously.

 

‘I won’t look! I don’t want to see! Turn it off!’

 

Then the threads disappeared as if by magic.

 

Only then did her stomach settle down, and Moa buried her face in Jin Saheon’s chest, breathing heavily.

 

She had been so dizzy she almost vomited.

 

“Are you suddenly feeling unwell? What’s wrong?”

 

When Moa panted, the flustered Jin Saheon stroked her small back and asked.

 

Thinking about it, Moa had experienced many things today. She had seen terrible sights and been falsely accused.

 

It was obvious that the tender child would have been shocked.

 

“I should probably lay her down to rest.”

 

With a serious face, Jin Saheon realized that the nearest room where he could lay Moa down was Jaseonghwa’s chamber, and quickened his steps.

 

“Should I call a physician?”

 

Jin Dowoon, who was following alongside, asked with a worried expression.

 

Moa shook her head and kept swallowing the dry heaves that kept rising in her throat.

 

‘But earlier, there was something sparkling.’

 

Even in that dizzying moment, there was one thing that had caught Moa’s attention.

 

Unlike the other dull threads, a thick rope that shone exceptionally bright.

 

It was a very beautiful and enchanting color.

 

Unable to contain her curiosity, Moa slyly opened her eyes slightly.

 

‘Should I take just one more look?’

 

When she concentrated and tried to look only where she wanted to see, the ability turned on again.

 

Moa’s gaze turned toward the space between Jin Saheon and Jin Dowoon who was walking beside him.

 

‘…Wow.’

 

A thick, solid golden rope that started from Jin Saheon’s chest and connected to Jin Dowoon.

 

It was emitting an enchanting and brilliant light.

 

She could see other threads extending in different directions from both of them, but what caught Moa’s eye immediately was that beautiful rope.

 

It looked so pretty and warm that she wanted to touch it.

 

‘One, two, three, four…’

 

As Moa watched such beautiful ropes extending in different directions and counted them.

 

She suddenly realized.

 

‘This must mean family.’

 

As Somi’s explanation about the ability to see connections came to mind.

 

Moa stared at that light as if mesmerized, then slowly lowered her head to look down at her own chest.

 

I wonder if I have such pretty threads too?

 

‘….’

 

There was nothing.

 

Not a single thread was connected to Moa’s body.

 

Uncle and brother were bound so firmly like that, but Moa was all alone without any connections.

 

Like a stranger who had been mixed in by mistake.

 

‘I have… no one.’

 

It was natural, but seeing it with her own eyes made a corner of her chest ache sharply.

 

Moa truly had no one.

 

Moa bit her lips tightly and turned off the skill. If she looked any longer, tears would start streaming down.

 

The group arrived at Jaseonghwa’s room.

 

Dowoon went outside with Yehui, who still hadn’t regained her senses, leaving only Saheon, Moa, and Jaseonghwa lying on the bed in the room.

 

“Honey, what is all this commotion about?”

 

Jaseonghwa was worried about what was happening outside, but her frail body wouldn’t move as she wished today, so she could only worry anxiously.

 

“Wife, please don’t be startled and listen.”

 

Saheon thought Moa, who had squeezed her eyes shut, had fallen asleep, so he laid her down on one side of the bed and sat beside Jaseonghwa.

 

Neither of them knew that Moa, with her eyes tightly closed, had her ears perked up listening.

 

Saheon confessed the shocking facts he had discovered so far, including the red gem and ring that came from the statue.

 

“Father-in-law…”

 

Master Seon had been a very reliable and caring father-in-law to Jaseonghwa.

 

He had cherished his daughter-in-law who had married from far away.

 

He was such a healthy and wise person that he was always the most dependable elder of the clan.

 

Because of that, the incident where he suddenly couldn’t overcome an illness that came one day and attacked them in madness was an enormous shock to her as well.

 

Jaseonghwa covered her mouth and shed tears at the words that all these incidents within the clan might be the Imperial Court’s conspiracy.

 

“Let’s open the Sealed Prison right now and save Father!”

 

“It cannot be opened. It cannot be broken from the outside no matter what method is used, and even if it could be done, the interior would collapse.”

 

“Then, then what do we do? Does Father have to suffer like this for the rest of his life?”

 

Jaseonghwa asked weakly while sobbing.

 

Moa, who had been listening quietly, had to suppress her hand that wanted to move to comfort Jaseonghwa.

 

Through Jin Saheon and Jaseonghwa’s conversation, she had guessed many things.

 

She wondered how she could comfort Jaseonghwa and Jin Saheon, who had comforted and embraced her.

 

“The door can only be opened when a direct blood relative within the clan dies or is born and registered in the family records, or when Jin Ryong Spirit permits it.”

 

Since the Sealed Prison was a jail for confining guilty direct descendants, all the keys that could open it were related to the clan.

 

It was impossible for a family member to suddenly die or be born.

 

Jaseonghwa felt frustrated by the difficulty of solving the problem.

 

“Jin Ryong Spirit isn’t answering our calls right now…”

 

The giant blue dragon, Jin Ryong Spirit, who was the guardian spirit of Jinryongseoga.

 

At some point, Jin Ryong Spirit had stopped appearing when the clan he protected called for him.

 

They thought he must be sleeping somewhere in the house, but the problem was that such a thing had never happened once in the long history of Jinryong Clan.

 

None of them knew a way to summon Jin Ryong Spirit.

 

“Ah, Father…”

 

Jaseonghwa’s tears fell drop by drop, creating round grayish marks on the blanket.

 

“There is one more method we could try.”

 

“What method? Oh, surely not…”

 

Jaseonghwa’s gaze fell upon Moa.

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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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