The Dragon Family’s Beloved Baby Cat - Chapter 67

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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 67

Pale skin and jet-black hair.

Her long, narrow eyes curved gently. It gave the impression of a snake smiling with its eyes.

Moa tightly gripped Jin Saheon’s sleeve as she looked at the girl who had been waiting for her.

“His Majesty has told me so much about you. You truly are as lovely as a doll. Thank you for accepting the invitation. I am Rin, the eldest daughter of Saryeom House.”

Saryeom Rin greeted her gracefully.

Her etiquette was as perfect as Yehui’s.

Moa came to her senses and returned the greeting.

“…Hello. I’m Jin Moa of Jinryong Clan.”

“Master will be escorted to the Guest Hall. The Inner Residence where the ladies’ tea gathering is held strictly prohibits men from entering.”

“I understand. However, since my daughter is still young, I will have her personal maid accompany her.”

When Jin Saheon gestured, Yehui, who had been standing behind them, stepped forward.

Yehui was dressed to complement Moa’s appearance and stood close beside Moa with fire in her eyes.

Though she maintained a respectful attitude befitting a maid, she wore the insignia of the North Palace Family to show she was not of common birth.

Her gentle smile subtly conveyed that she would bite anyone who tried anything inappropriate.

“Then Miss Jin, please come this way. Master, you can follow that maid over there.”

Rin instructed a maid standing behind her to guide Jin Saheon, then headed toward the Inner Residence with Moa and Yehui.

As they stood before the gate separating the Inner Residence from the Outer Residence, Rin suddenly positioned herself between Yehui and Moa.

“The maid stays here. Go rest over there and enjoy some refreshments.”

As soon as Rin finished speaking, maids from Saryeom House swarmed out from within the Inner Residence and surrounded Yehui.

It was a semi-forceful pushing.

“I am the young miss’s personal maid! The young miss is still young and needs care. I will stay by her side!”

When Yehui stubbornly resisted, Rin sighed and looked at Moa.

She shook her head as if feeling sorry.

“Oh my, aren’t you treating Miss Jin too much like a baby? Everyone praises Miss Jin for being smart, but was she a baby who can’t do anything without her maid?”

It was an obvious provocation.

It was the perfect timing for an ordinary child to shout ‘No! I can do it by myself!’ out of wounded pride.

Rin intended to make Moa dismiss her maid with her own feet.

But Moa widened her eyes and tilted her head.

“Huh? But I am a baby.”

“…What?”

“I’m five years old, sister. Since I’m a baby, of course I can’t do things alone. My sister Yehui has to feed me and wipe my mouth too.”

When Moa made her demand so confidently, Rin’s smile cracked for a moment.

She had tried to provoke shame, but overlooked that Moa wasn’t old enough to feel such shame.

“But, still…”

“Sister Yehui, let’s go together! I’m thirsty.”

Moa was prepared to use any means necessary to protect herself.

When Moa finally tried to enter while holding Yehui’s hand, Rin’s expression hardened coldly.

She eventually abandoned courtesy and thrust the rules forward.

“No.”

Rin blocked Moa’s path.

“This is a rule set by His Majesty the Emperor. Only the invited children can enter the Inner Residence. Maids are absolutely forbidden from entering.”

Rin presented a letter containing the Emperor’s orders.

The atmosphere grew heavy when the Emperor was mentioned.

If she insisted further, it might only cause trouble for Yehui, who was just a maid.

Moa quickly calculated the situation.

Their determination to separate them physically was firm.

‘I have no choice. They really seem to be planning something.’

Moa let go of Yehui’s hand.

But her wariness only grew, wondering if this was really something that required such thorough security.

“…I understand. If His Majesty decided it, we must follow it.”

“Young miss!”

“Sister Yehui, I’ll be back. I’ll play with the sisters. Eat lots of delicious things.”

Moa tried to reassure Yehui with a brave front.

Yehui bit her lips in frustration, but she couldn’t defy the imperial command.

As Yehui’s figure disappeared, pushed away by the maids, Rin’s lips curved up in a sinister smile again.

“How good you are, Miss Jin. Shall we go again?”

Rin snatched Moa’s hand as if catching her.

She gripped it tightly with force, as if Moa might try to run away.

That hand was as cold as a corpse.

The Inner Garden they were guided to was eerily beautiful.

Purple flowers were in full bloom, and vine plants coiled around the pillars like snakes.

The air was filled with a mysteriously relaxing sweet fragrance.

-Warning: Magical poison detected in the air.

-Effect: Amplifies magical suggestion that breaks will and forces truth-telling.

-Action: Divine power purifies the toxin, so no threat.

‘The fragrance was originally bad, but it seems to have no effect on me.’

Moa tilted her head, having learned about it belatedly from the watch’s warning.

She thought she felt something slightly strange, but soon it didn’t bother her at all.

In the pavilion placed in the garden sat five or six girls around Moa’s age.

When Moa appeared, they swarmed toward her like bees.

“Kyaa! Miss Jin, welcome!”

“My goodness! She really is like a doll! Look at that skin, it’s like rice cake!”

“Oh my, you’re so cute!”

The girls surrounded Moa, cheering and starting to touch her here and there.

They stroked her cheeks and hair, and fondled her hands.

While their welcoming greetings were polite and friendly, their actual behavior was like appraising a curious pet or a newly bought toy.

“Ugh, that tickles…”

“Oh my, even your voice is cute!”

Most of them were retainers of Saryeom House.

Since all these beautiful and kind sisters kept praising her as pretty and cute, Moa’s heart couldn’t help but flutter with excitement.

“Our youngest, sister will hold you!”

Before she knew it, Rin was speaking casually to Moa and acting friendly like a real sister.

Rin sat Moa on her lap.

She tried to escape, but Rin’s arm strength was stronger than expected. It felt like a snake coiling around its prey.

“Here, aah~ This is a sweet made from tea leaves bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor.”

Rin pushed a snake-shaped cookie into Moa’s mouth.

It was excessive kindness that couldn’t be refused.

Moa shook her head vigorously at the mention of the Emperor.

“I don’t like sweets!”

It was obviously a lie. But at the thought that tea leaves bestowed by the Emperor might contain terrible poison, she shouted that for now.

“Oh my… I prepared so many thinking Moa would like them…”

Rin made a sad expression.

Moa felt a slight pang of guilt in her chest.

‘So far, she’s only been kind to me…’

But thinking she had to be wary of the Emperor, she steeled her heart.

“Eating too many sweets makes your teeth hurt.”

“I see. If you don’t like it, it can’t be helped. Do you dislike tea too?”

“I hate it, I hate it.”

Unexpectedly, when Moa refused, Rin pushed the plate of sweets far away.

Instead, another round of praise followed, along with time spent combing her hair and showing off cute, pretty dolls.

“This one is my friend.”

“Miss Jin, my father bought me this doll. Isn’t this friend cute too?”

“Wow, so cute!”

Rin and the other girls showed off cotton dolls that were supposedly popular these days to Moa.

Each had brought their doll dressed in clothes identical to what they were wearing.

Moa clapped her hands and praised them as she looked at the sight.

“Doesn’t Moa have any friends?”

“Friends?”

“Yes, I mean special friends.”

Rin asked gently while combing through Moa’s hair with her hand.

Rin’s hand brushed against the nape of Moa’s neck.

In that instant, Moa’s heart sank.

Friend. Older Brother Danhwi.

‘Did that villain tell her to ask about this?’

They already knew she had met Danhwi, so why?

Flustered Moa’s eyes wavered slightly.

“Friends? Um, Goseol! I’m friends with Goseol!”

“Not a bird. I mean human friends. Someone very lonely and… sick.”

Rin’s eyes stared piercingly at Moa.

She was smiling, but her eyes weren’t.

They were like the eyes of a snake searching for a mouse hole.

‘Goseol doesn’t meet people much in the Imperial Palace… how did she know it’s a bird?’

Moa gulped.

[She’s definitely testing you because she knows everything!]

Somi warned Moa to be careful.

“I don’t know. I don’t have any human friends.”

When Moa played dumb, Rin made a “hmm” sound through her nose.

Then she put on a sad expression as if she might cry at any moment and let out a long sigh.

“I was hoping you might understand my heart if you had a sick friend…”

“Why? Is your friend sick?”

“I have a friend I really cherish, and they’re on death’s door.”

Rin’s hand trembled slightly.

She pulled out a small birdcage covered with cloth from under the tea table.

When she removed the cloth, inside was a blue bird with all its feathers fallen out and bleeding, breathing heavily.

“…Gasp!”

Moa held her breath.

The blue bird’s condition was terrible.

“Even the physicians can’t heal it. But I heard rumors that Moa is a ‘miracle child.'”

Rin took Moa’s hand and guided it over the birdcage.

“I love this bird so much. Please… couldn’t Moa just go ‘ho~’ once?”

The girls around them joined in.

“That’s right, Miss Jin could definitely do it!”

“Please do it just once, okay? Lady Rin is so sad.”

“Just do it once, please? It’s my wish.”

It was coercion disguised as a request.

If she refused here, she’d become a ‘heartless child,’ and if she touched it to heal, her identity as an ‘ability user’ would be exposed.

‘So this was to confirm it…’

Moa’s face hardened.

The Emperor was still suspicious of Moa’s abilities.

So he was definitely trying to confirm her abilities by exploiting her sympathy.

[Moa, don’t touch it! It’s dangerous!]

Somi’s warning rang out sharply.

[That bird is cursed. If you let even a little divine power flow out, it will react immediately and turn red!]

It was indeed a trap.

Rin brought Moa’s hand almost touching the bird’s body with desperate eyes.

A trap targeting Moa’s nature of instinctively wanting to help when seeing a suffering life.

But Moa decided to break that trap in a five-year-old’s way.

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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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