The Dragon Family’s Beloved Baby Cat - Chapter 87
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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 87
A few days later, a guest came to visit the Jinryong Clan.
It was Saem Lin.
Fortunately, thanks to her helping Moa at the Imperial Palace, much of the Jinryong Clan members’ hatred had disappeared, allowing her to be guided to Moa.
“Sister Rin!”
Moa ran over joyfully.
It was the first time seeing her face since the incident at the Imperial Palace.
“Why did you come? Are you here to visit?”
Moa asked with a bright smile.
But Rin’s expression was strangely dark.
“Gasp, don’t tell me something happened to Baeksa?!”
Moa was startled, thinking something had happened to Baeksa, whose treatment had been temporarily halted.
Fortunately, Rin shook her head slightly and opened her mouth.
“…I have something to tell you.”
“Huh?”
“Just the two of us. It’s important.”
Rin’s voice was low.
Moa sensed something was amiss and took Rin’s hand.
“…Okay. Let’s go to my room.”
Moa led Rin toward her room.
After asking Sehui for refreshments, Moa watched Rin’s expression once the door closed.
‘What could have happened to Sister?’
It was the darkest and most hesitant face she had ever seen on her.
“Moa. Do you know what our clan does?”
Moa tilted her head.
She remembered recently learning about the Twelve Families.
Among them, Saryeom House was…
“They said it’s a clan that deals with poison and sorcery!”
“Right. That’s what it used to be.”
Rin smiled bitterly.
“But now it’s different.”
“Huh…?”
Rin’s voice trembled.
“Our clan is… the Emperor’s alchemy experiment site.”
Moa’s eyes widened.
“…What did you say?”
“The Head of the Manor.”
Rin gritted her teeth.
“He sold out the clan.”
“Your… Father?”
“Yes. To the Emperor, the entire clan.”
Moa was speechless.
Rin’s hands were trembling.
“At first, a few commoners were the test subjects.”
Rin continued.
“But it gradually increased. Now…”
Rin closed her eyes.
Moa noticed her face was excessively pale and worried.
Moa’s small hands gently touched Rin’s slender hands.
Due to the size difference, rather than wrapping around them, they only covered the back of her hands slightly.
But the distracted Rin followed Moa’s guidance and wrapped both hands around the warm teacup.
“…Now most of the clan members are puppets.”
“Puppets?”
“Dolls that move according to the Head of the Manor’s orders. They have no will of their own.”
Right now, there was no one by Rin’s side. Everyone around Rin were just the Head of the Manor’s puppets.
This was the reason why Rin had been so desperate, why she couldn’t easily trust anyone and had to grovel under the Emperor.
Because her father had sold everything in the clan, including herself.
Moa’s face turned pale.
“But what about the Guardian Spirit? They wouldn’t just stand by and watch such things happen!”
At Moa’s outcry, Rin shook her head.
“Sasamyeong has also been corrupted. Tainted by alchemy, not in their right mind.”
Moa was shocked.
The Guardian Spirits Moa had seen so far were Jinryongnyeong, Haejeoryeong, and Somi who was by her side.
Excluding Somi, they were all like nature itself.
For humans to corrupt and transform nature with forbidden sorcery, was that even possible?
She couldn’t imagine an existence like Jinryongnyeong being tainted by alchemy.
“Sister…”
Moa asked carefully.
“Are you okay, Sister?”
Rin was silent for a moment.
Then she slowly shook her head.
“I was also…”
Rin’s hands trembled.
“A test subject.”
“…Sister.”
“Since I was young, since before I can remember.”
Rin’s voice cracked.
“Having all kinds of poisons injected, alchemy carved into me…”
Rin slightly opened her collar to reveal part of her shoulder.
There were traces where alchemy had been carved, still remaining.
Rin’s entire body was covered with alchemy for the Emperor.
Some had already served their purpose and ended, while others were still working for his well-being.
They were traces of evil that would never disappear for life.
“Sis, Sister.”
“If it weren’t for Baeksa, I would have become a puppet too.”
Tears welled up in Moa’s eyes.
Why Rin had been so cold and sharp.
Why she seemed sad somewhere even while following the Emperor’s orders.
Now she understood everything.
“Baeksa blocked some of the poison.”
Rin continued.
“That’s how I was barely able to maintain my sense of self. And I protected my younger brother in exchange for obeying the Emperor and doing bad things.”
“The cold blood disease wasn’t something recent…?”
Moa knew that the cold blood disease of Saryeom House hadn’t appeared in just one or two generations.
So the cold blood disease wouldn’t have been caused by the poison that Baeksa blocked.
When ‘cold blood disease’ was mentioned, Rin’s eyes turned cold.
“If it weren’t for that disease, it wouldn’t have come to this.”
Instead of asking why, Moa sent a look that showed she was listening.
Rin was currently informing Moa of the situation while simultaneously pouring out her own blood and pus that she couldn’t tell anyone about.
She wanted to let Rin say as much as she wanted to say.
“The cold blood disease that runs in our clan is extremely painful. The Head of the Manor wanted to cure the disease.”
“Then could it be…?”
The reason he handed over everything of the clan to the Emperor with his own hands was easy enough to guess.
“That’s right. The Emperor cured the Head of the Manor’s cold blood disease. The price was everything he possessed.”
Even if it was treatment through forbidden arts, the Head of Saryeom House escaped from the cold blood disease he had cursed so much.
“The Emperor came to own everything in the clan, including me. But…”
He didn’t cure the cold blood disease of other clan members, including Rin.
Instead, like throwing treats to an obedient dog, he irregularly provided antidotes.
“Why does Sister belong to her father? Sister isn’t anyone’s property!”
Moa shouted indignantly.
Since she hadn’t experienced cold blood disease, she couldn’t just blindly blame the Head of the Manor.
But still, it was unfair for Rin to be treated like a toy just because she was his daughter!
“Sister’s father abandoned Sister!”
Tears welled up in Moa’s eyes.
She had thought only her own birth parents, who abandoned her in front of the orphanage on the coldest day, had done something bad.
But thinking of Danhwi suffering just for having a villain brother, or Rin’s father who raised his daughter but made choices only for himself without considering her feelings, she felt only confusion.
“Sister, it must have been so hard for you…!”
Moa jumped up and hugged Rin tightly.
The cozy and sweet scent of a baby wafted over.
Tears unknowingly welled up in Rin’s eyes.
She was someone who wouldn’t blink an eye even if people died or suffered pain worse than death.
But being held in the most harmless and soft embrace in the world, tears finally welled up.
But they didn’t flow down.
It seemed like her tears had dried up from crying too much already.
“…Yeah.”
Instead, Rin answered quietly.
“It was hard.”
Moa hugged Rin for a while and patted her back.
Just like what mom and dad would do.
Silence flowed in the room for a moment.
Rin suddenly broke the silence and spoke.
“Moa.”
“Yes.”
“I have a favor to ask.”
Rin took Moa’s hand.
It was a trembling hand.
“We need to strike against the Head of the Manor.”
Determination filled Rin’s eyes.
“Help me.”
Moa looked at Rin.
A face trying to hold on so as not to crumble.
But within it was contained long suffering and desperation.
“I can’t do it alone.”
Rin continued speaking.
“The Head of the Manor is too strong. There’s also Sasamyeong…”
“…”
“But if someone helps me, I think it might be possible.”
Rin’s voice trembled.
“Please, Moa. I’m begging you.”
Moa thought for a moment.
She knew it was dangerous.
They said Saryeom House had a corrupted guardian spirit.
But…
“Sister.”
Moa gripped Rin’s hand tightly.
“What I can do for now is cure Baeksa’s cold blood disease.”
Only after hearing Rin’s story could Moa understand why she had been so obsessed with asking her to cure the disease.
It was because she was the only hope to cure the hereditary disease without being dragged around by the Emperor.
“…Yeah.”
“Sister saved my life. In the Imperial Palace. And you’re also my friend…”
Moa smiled.
“Let’s talk to my father together. I can’t decide on my own. Instead, I’ll keep rolling around and pestering him until Father gives permission!”
Rin stiffened slightly.
“Sister should roll around with me too. If that still doesn’t work, we’ll ask my older brothers too, and I’ll ask Older Brother Haesoo as well. If we all roll around together like kimbap, Father will listen to us!”
Moa took Rin’s hand.
She was suggesting they throw away etiquette and roll on the floor, but somehow Rin’s heart felt lighter.
“You can trust my father. Grandfather too, and Mother too, they’re all good adults.”
Rin was silent for a moment before asking.
“…Can I trust them?”
“Yes. I promise.”
Moa held out her pinky finger.
Rin looked at the childish way of making promises, then hooked her pinky finger.
“…Alright. I’ll trust your clan.”
Moa smiled brightly.
A sincere smile also appeared on Rin’s lips.
“Come on, let’s go! To pester Father!”
Moa said she would offer bribes and rummaged through the snack box she had hidden in the room before getting up.
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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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