The Little Baby Snake of the Vermilion Bird Family - Chapter 64

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 64
“Well then, thank you so much!”
Baeksa lifted her head brightly and offered a greeting with newfound courage.
The other children laughed warmly, and soon they were chattering away on a new topic altogether.
“Actually, I wanted to say hello at the Divine Beast Festival last time, but the atmosphere wasn’t right.”
“That’s true—it was strange, wasn’t it? My mother told me to just stay quiet.”
Yeon’s laugh was awkward as the memory of that Divine Beast Festival surfaced.
‘That was when Ahee was there…….’
Both Ahee and she had occupied uncertain positions back then.
That’s why Baeksa hadn’t been able to greet the other children and had spent the whole time alone.
She was grateful to her uncle for being considerate of her and arranging this chance to meet children her own age.
“Should we call you Baeksa?”
“Oh, you can just call me Yeon. You don’t need to use an honorific.”
“What? No, that won’t do! You’re the daughter of Ju Myeongyeong! We can’t speak so casually.”
Je-ui spoke firmly.
The moment Ju Myeongyeong’s name was mentioned, Je-ui’s eyes sparkled.
“Ju Myeongyeong is a noble lady of this Namto and the sister of the Divine Lord. We must speak respectfully to you as well!”
Je-ui’s voice trembled with excitement.
“Either way, I’m so happy to meet you. I adore the White Vermilion Bird.”
“Do you know much about my mother, Je-ui?”
“Well, um…… she went missing even before I was born, so I’ve never actually met her, but there are many books sold about Ju Myeongyeong.”
“Books?”
“Yes! There’s one called ‘The White Vermilion Bird’—it’s so famous they’ve made plays of it. It’s a book about Ju Myeongyeong’s story.”
“I want to see it too!”
Baeksa clasped her hands together, eyes shining.
‘The White Vermilion Bird story.’
Just imagining it seemed wonderful.
Besides, Baeksa had learned to read and write fairly well now.
Reading an entire book alone would be difficult, but she’d managed to work through passages with some effort.
Je-ui’s face brightened at Baeksa’s eagerness.
“Yes! Or we could go see the play together next time. They perform it on the street. If you’d allow us…… oh.”
Je-ui, who’d been chattering away happily, fell silent.
She’d just remembered that Baeksa had been kidnapped recently when she’d gone to the marketplace.
But Baeksa shook her head.
“Next time, if my uncle permits it, let’s go see it together! If I ask nicely, he might allow it.”
The kidnapping had been a frightening and terrifying memory for Baeksa.
But when she ranked it alongside other scary memories, it didn’t occupy the foremost place.
There were other, truly terrible memories.
‘During the kidnapping incident, my family came to rescue me.’
So while it might have been a nightmare for her family, it wasn’t such a nightmare for Yeon.
Therefore, going outside wasn’t so frightening.
“Wonderful! Then let’s go see it together next time!”
“We can all watch the play and eat something delicious afterward.”
“Why don’t you visit the Ha Clan Estate? My mother will treat you magnificently. She’s quite fond of you.”
“The Ha Clan, you say…….”
Baeksa’s eyes widened as she belatedly remembered the Ha Clan Head.
‘So it was her!’
The one who’d been first to greet Baeksa when the Spirit Treasure recognized her bloodline.
The one who’d swiftly silenced any unseemly chatter among the other Beast-kin.
“I’ve seen the Ha Clan Head before, though from a distance.”
“Wow, really!? My mother likes you immensely. She has a weakness for small, cute things.”
Small and cute?
Since she was a snake, she was somewhat removed from the category of cute.
But she did seem to fit the description of small.
“So please do visit the Ha Clan next time. My mother would be absolutely delighted.”
“I will!”
“Come visit our clan too, Yeon! You’ll have so much fun, I promise.”
The young Beast-kin chattered excitedly, each adding their own words. Among them all, Baeksa laughed brightly.
But then.
“……Hmm?”
Something strange caught Baeksa’s eye.
It looked like a small wooden splinter, protruding from near Je-ui’s heart.
‘What is that?’
When Baeksa tried to look at it more closely, the wooden fragment vanished without a trace.
“Yeon? What’s wrong?”
“Oh, it’s nothing!”
Baeksa hastily shook her head.
She might have been mistaken, and she couldn’t burden Je-ui with baseless worry.
But.
‘I should tell my uncle about this.’
She couldn’t let anything that unsettled her pass unspoken.
Especially not after the Ghost Dragon Kidnapping Incident.
It was better not to overlook even small details.
But this wasn’t the moment to bring it up, so Baeksa continued the conversation.
As she did, that fragment she’d glimpsed for just an instant remained in her mind.
***
To the crystalline laughter of the children, like pearls rolling away, smiles spread across the faces of those watching from a distance.
“There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Exactly.”
Hwaryeong and Doeui, hidden in the brush, exchanged words as they watched Yeon playing happily with the children her age.
“Needless worry, I tell you.”
Ju Jeokseo chided the young ones.
Hwaryeong’s eyes rolled toward Ju Jeokseo.
He spoke as though unconcerned, but in fact he too was quietly concealed beside Hwaryeong and Doeui, watching.
Ju Jeokseo had also worried that Baeksa might be very nervous meeting friends for the first time.
He spoke with a suppressed laugh.
“And what would Father say?”
Doeui picked up the thread.
“Nothing, really.”
“Quiet, you boys.”
Having confirmed that Baeksa was playing well with children her own age, he rose from his spot.
As he stood, he gave both Doeui and Hwaryeong a firm tap on the head, then turned his gaze toward the small snake-child in the distance.
When she first arrived, she only cried and seemed to know nothing but how to sit still.
Now she smiled brightly and laughed quite well.
Ju Jeokseo, observing her quietly, turned to leave.
A smile played at his lips as he turned away.
***
“Yeon, can we see you again next time?”
“Come visit our clan! Play with all of us!”
“The Bird Beast-kin hold a flying race each summer to see who’s fastest. Come watch, Yeon!”
The young Beast-kin were so reluctant to part that even as evening approached, they didn’t think of going home.
Only when the families came to fetch the children was the gathering finally dispersed.
Baeksa walked out to the gate to see the children off.
These were the first friends she’d truly met since coming to the Vermilion Bird Family Estate, and she wanted to see them off all the way to the gate.
“How was it? Did you enjoy yourself?”
Ju Jeokseo gently drew Baeksa close and asked.
The child nodded, beaming.
“Yes!”
“What made it so enjoyable?”
“We promised to meet again. They even invited me to visit their homes.”
Baeksa continued, her face flushed with excitement and her voice animated.
“If I’d known meeting friends would be this much fun, I wish I’d come out of the Detached Villa and explored earlier.”
“But you came out now and met your friends, didn’t you? Everyone has their own pace, remember.”
“Yes, my own pace…… oh, that’s right!”
Baeksa turned her head sharply and grabbed Ju Jeokseo’s sleeve tightly.
“Uncle, I saw something strange in the chest of Je-ui from the Ha Clan.”
“Something strange?”
“Yes, a sort of fragment…… it was rippling in Je-ui’s chest and then disappeared very quickly.”
“A fragment, you say? What sort of fragment…….”
That was when Yo Nyeong came rushing toward them in the distance.
Behind her stood Doeui, his head wrapped tightly in black cloth.
Yo Nyeong, who’d come running in panic, stopped before Baeksa and Ju Jeokseo.
She spoke in urgent, gasping breaths.
“Gasp, please, Family Head, there’s a crisis!”
“A crisis?”
“All of the Ghost Dragon Fragments stored in the Research Laboratory have disappeared!”
At Yo Nyeong’s cry of alarm, the gazes of Ju Jeokseo and Baeksa met for an instant.
Fragments!
Baeksa retraced her memory.
‘The fragment I saw in Doeui’s hand, and the one I glimpsed in Je-ui’s chest…….’
The two fragments aligned perfectly in her mind, clicking into place.
In the next moment, both their faces went ashen.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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