The Dragon Family’s Beloved Baby Cat - Chapter 56

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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 56

“Ah… Father…!”

Jin Saheon’s voice trembled violently.

He couldn’t believe it.

The monster with rotting, festering flesh that had lost its reason while screaming was nowhere to be found.

Instead, an old man sat there with silver hair glinting in the moonlight.

Though he was gaunt from his ordeals, just regaining his sanity made him look like the Sword God in his prime from ten years ago when he commanded the world.

“Calm yourself.”

As Jin Saheon tried to approach urgently, Jin Wonbaek warned him in a low voice.

It wasn’t a voice filled with killing intent.

He gestured with his eyes toward the small life in his arms and whispered sternly.

“Your voice is too loud. Won’t you wake the child?”

“…!”

Only then did Jin Saheon understand why his father had been frozen like a statue without moving.

It wasn’t because of the chains binding him.

He had been holding his breath, afraid that any movement might wake the child in his arms.

“This child saved me.”

Jin Wonbaek said as he carefully brushed Moa’s disheveled hair with his rough hand.

“This little one pulled me out from the hellish pit of fire.”

“…”

“And this fellow too.”

When Jin Wonbaek shrugged his shoulder, a white dragon popped out from behind it.

Seeing the palm-sized white dragon, Jin Saheon’s eyes widened.

“Could it be White Dragon? How did it become so small?”

-Hmph!

White Dragon snorted, then rubbed its head against Moa’s cheek.

“Even though it’s smaller, its temperament remains the same.”

Jin Wonbaek looked pleased even seeing White Dragon clinging more to Moa than to himself, its master.

“Mmm…?”

Suddenly Moa twisted her body slightly and fussed in her sleep.

Both Jin Saheon and Jin Wonbaek immediately stiffened and waited for the deep wrinkles on the child’s brow to disappear.

“…I’ll hold her.”

“No need. Why should you hold my benefactor?”

Jin Wonbaek flatly refused his son’s offer.

“Because she’s my daughter before she’s Father’s benefactor.”

“What?”

Startled, Jin Wonbaek looked back and forth between Jin Saheon’s face and Moa’s face.

“How many years have passed? She’s too adorable to say she resembles you…”

Jin Wonbaek had lost track of time since entering the Sealed Prison.

“It’s been nearly three years. Moa is five years old and I adopted her recently.”

At the mention of an adopted daughter, Jin Wonbaek’s expression hardened.

Jin Saheon worried briefly that he might not welcome the adoption.

But Jin Wonbaek’s next words made Jin Saheon’s tension melt away.

“Ah, I should have adopted her first.”

“Father!”

“This adorable one is my granddaughter? Well, well.”

They say joy comes after suffering.

Jin Wonbaek extended his arms with a face that wondered if he had come to heaven.

“Untie these. A baby should sleep comfortably.”

“Haah…”

Jin Saheon silently sighed and approached, gripping the seal tightly and crushing it.

When he channeled his inner energy into the chains, they crumbled unable to withstand it.

Thanks to this, Jin Wonbaek rose from his seat holding Moa without the sound of rattling chains.

“Let’s go. There are many waiting outside.”

Jin Wonbaek looked down kindly at Moa sleeping soundly in his arms as if finding her adorable, then walked out the door.

Meanwhile, outside the annex.

Jaseonghwa and the retainers who had been waiting anxiously all raised their heads at the sound of the door opening.

Moonlight passed through clouds, brightly illuminating the figure walking out from the darkness.

“…Father?”

Jaseonghwa covered her mouth.

There stood an old man with the same kind appearance as before the curse took hold.

In his arms was his youngest daughter sleeping peacefully.

“Everyone step back. My granddaughter is sleeping.”

At the calm demeanor of Master Seon who had been tormented by curses and madness, everyone’s eyes widened in shock.

It had certainly seemed like a condition that could never be cured, but now he looked perfectly fine except for being much thinner.

‘Master Seon’s madness… has disappeared?!’

‘He looks very normal!’

The retainers who had served Jin Wonbaek felt their eyes moisten.

Jin Wonbaek left the retainers behind and approached his daughter-in-law who stood dazed.

“My dear.”

“…Fa-Father. Are you really, truly Father?”

“Yes. You must have suffered greatly because of this worthless father-in-law.”

Jin Wonbaek’s eyes deepened.

Every time he had lost his reason and raged, she was the daughter-in-law whose heart had been torn apart trying to hold the family together.

Moreover… the last thing he saw before entering the Sealed Prison was her terrified face resisting as he charged at her in murderous madness.

“…I’m sorry. I have no face to show you.”

“Sob…”

At his sincere apology, Jaseonghwa finally burst into tears she had been holding back.

They were tears mixed with fear, resentment, and relief.

“No. Just that you’re alive… I’m grateful that you’ve returned like this, Father.”

Jin Wonbaek hesitantly tried to pat his daughter-in-law’s shoulder.

But before he could, Jaseonghwa unconsciously stepped back, leaving him awkwardly frozen with his hand in the air.

“Th-this is.”

Jaseonghwa belatedly realized that the shock from that day when she nearly died was still inside her.

Her concern for her father-in-law was genuine.

‘Die! I will kill everyone in this house! I will surely do it!’

But when she recalled how he had charged at her like a demon, spewing black poison into the air…

Cold sweat instantly broke out on Jaseonghwa’s spine.

Jin Saheon looked at his wife with a worried face, noticing her hesitation.

But this was something she had to overcome herself, or simply not see.

Afraid that even speaking up might burden her, he quietly dismissed the retainers with gestures and cleared the area.

Suddenly Jaseonghwa’s gaze fell on Moa sleeping peacefully.

‘When I said the chestnut was admirable~ Sister Yehui only says nice things now.’

Seeing the child’s face reminded her of a conversation from a certain day when she had told her that people sometimes attack their surroundings like chestnuts.

‘Father was… just under a curse.’

Except for Jin Saheon, all the family members had been cursed at least once.

Curses weren’t something you could remove or escape just by wanting to.

She looked calmly at her father-in-law’s face.

Jin Wonbaek now wore an expression of such shame and wretchedness, as if he had no face to show his daughter-in-law.

If he could sink into the ground, he might have burrowed underground and hidden himself.

‘Later, when you become pregnant, Moa will say you’re a good and pretty child!’

He also recalled how Moa had laughed cheerfully while saying this before being adopted as a daughter.

The child had truly followed Jaseonghwa’s words with pure sincerity.

She had saved Yehui like that, and even lifted the curse on her sons.

Now she had undoubtedly saved even her father-in-law.

“Please don’t leave anymore, Father.”

“…!”

She mustered her courage and grasped Jin Wonbaek’s hand that he had extended then lowered.

Jin Wonbaek, who hadn’t expected her to take his hand first, was momentarily flustered before nodding his head.

In Jin Wonbaek’s vision, having barely taken one step toward reconciliation with his daughter-in-law and feeling relieved, he saw his grandsons standing awkwardly at a distance.

“Our eldest grandson and youngest child.”

Jin Wonbaek looked at his grandsons with pained eyes.

Especially Jin Dowoon, who had shown him such a disgraceful sight, remained heavy on his heart, and seeing how distant he was, it seemed his eldest grandson felt the same way.

“I’m sorry, Grandfather….”

Seeing his recovered grandfather, Jin Dowoon’s legs gave out and he collapsed to his knees right there.

Guilt washed over him because he had briefly considered harming his grandfather.

Seeing Jin Dowoon unable to lift his face, Jin Wonbaek slowly approached.

Supporting Moa with one hand, he stroked his eldest grandson’s head with the other.

“Dowoon. Lift your head. It’s not your fault.”

“But I dared to….”

“Because you stood in my way then, I can be here today.”

If no one had stopped him and he had harmed Jaseonghwa—

He would never have been able to get such an opportunity.

Jin Dowoon felt his eyes welling up at his grandfather’s forgiveness.

“Thank you.”

His grandfather’s words of gratitude completely dissolved the knot in Jin Dowoon’s heart.

At the same time, it also resolved the unresolved anger about ‘Grandfather trying to kill Mother.’

Only today could he truly receive forgiveness from his grandfather and also forgive him.

“I’m not the youngest child anymore.”

Yeongang, who had been standing awkwardly next to his older brother, corrected Jin Wonbaek’s words.

“Ah, that’s right. In the meantime, a little blessing came into our clan.”

Jin Wonbaek’s gaze turned to Moa in his arms.

Moa was moving her lips like a bird’s beak, oblivious to the commotion around her.

At that adorable sight, Jin Wonbaek’s lips curved up foolishly.

“Our Gangah has grown so much. And now has a little sister too.”

“That’s right. Now Moa is the youngest child.”

Yeongang nodded awkwardly.

Meeting his grandfather again after he had disappeared long ago brought both joy and awkwardness.

Time would resolve this awkwardness.

“What the world’s greatest physicians couldn’t cure, this child accomplished.”

“Moa is a genius.”

Yeongang nodded with a serious expression.

“She’s a treasure that Heaven has bestowed upon the Jinryong Clan.”

Jin Wonbaek looked around at his family and declared solemnly.

“From today, I will personally protect this child. If anyone so much as touches a hair on her head, I won’t let them get away with it.”

***

A few days later, at the Imperial Palace.

A shout echoed in the Emperor’s study.

“What?”

After reading the letter from Jinryongseoga, the Emperor trembled his hands in disbelief.

“Jin Wonbaek… has recovered?”

That couldn’t be possible.

The curse he had cast was not a simple one.

It was a forbidden curse that could never be broken.

The letter stated that after destroying Jin Wonbaek’s ring that came from inside the dragon sculpture the Emperor had previously bestowed, his illness was cured.

‘It’s not something that can be treated in such a way!’

However, he didn’t know how to break it either, and since it was the first time he had used such forbidden arts on Jin Wonbaek, he couldn’t be certain.

His plan to bring down the Jinryong Clan seemed to be falling apart piece by piece.

The sensation of the ground beneath his feet, which had been solid, collapsing further fueled his anger.

“…There might be some little rat interfering with my plans.”

The Emperor crumpled the letter with bloodshot eyes.

But he soon coldly regained his composure.

Anger alone wouldn’t solve anything.

He was an old man who had been called the Sword God even ten years ago.

He didn’t know how much the curse had eaten away at his condition, but once recovered, it would mean a clan with both the former and current greatest warriors under heaven.

It was infuriating that he had suffered so much to plant the curse on Jin Wonbaek, but….

“Summon someone.”

A eunuch appeared smoothly from the shadows.

“Send a message. Say that as an apology, I will send the ‘Imperial Physician’ for the mistress of Jinryongseoga who is gravely ill.”

The Emperor’s lips curved up with a sinister smile.

He needed to spy. What was Jin Wonbaek’s condition? Had the curse really been broken, and who had brought about such a result….

And.

“Tell him to very slowly cut off the breath of the daughter-in-law Jin Wonbaek cherishes most.”

The Emperor fingered a small medicine bottle placed on the table.

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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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