The Morning Star Baby Wants a Family - Chapter 20

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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 20
The air within the Yul Family Residence carried a faint dampness.
It was early summer, and the estate encompassed a rather substantial pond.
Yet the breeze that drifted through felt as crisp as an autumn morning, carrying with it a subtle, pleasant fragrance.
‘What could it be?’
Had someone carrying a sachet of incense walked past the window?
As Hae-na pondered this curiously, she sensed a presence beyond the closed door.
“Chung-yeon?”
Those who visited my room were almost invariably Chung-yeon. Assuming it was her, I hurried forward and opened the door.
But standing beyond the threshold was not Chung-yeon—it was a strikingly handsome man.
He wore his silver hair in a loose, long braid and donned a jade-green long robe embossed with gold leaf.
Graceful eyes, long lashes, skin pale and unmarred, lips a vivid crimson and beautifully shaped. Even the black mole beneath his left eye.
Every element harmonized as though composed into a single masterpiece. He was beautiful as a celestial maiden.
“Wow….”
I gasped without thinking. At that, the man smiled, his jade-tinted eyes crinkling.
Only then did my senses return, and I stumbled backward three paces.
With both fists clenched, the child asked.
“W-who are you?”
His clothing alone revealed he was no ordinary servant. I had never seen this man within the Yul Family Residence before.
I scrutinized him with cautious eyes. I glimpsed silken silver hair and eyes of jade-green shot through with gold.
In that moment, a passage I had just read flashed through my mind.
Silver hair, jade-gold eyes.
“Geomun Seongggun…?”
“My, you don’t give me a chance to answer.”
The man chuckled softly.
The way he covered his mouth was more graceful than most women, yet his large hands and deep voice unmistakably belonged to a man.
Upon that face, the words ‘avoid contact if possible’ seemed to materialize before me.
I deliberated. The instruction to avoid contact aligned with the need for caution.
‘But this is Geomun Seongggun.’
Having encountered someone of such standing, should I prostrate myself, or should I simply report this uninvited intruder?
The scales within my heart tilted subtly toward the latter.
Yet the child could not easily act upon it.
Before me stood Geomun Seongggun, the second star among the Seven Stars. If he harbored ill intent, I would perish without so much as a whimper.
“Have you come to kill me?”
In the end, I asked cautiously. The man laughed and spoke playfully.
“Well, who knows.”
I rushed to the window, my gaze darting urgently outside.
At the sight of me cornered like a desperate squirrel, the man laughed aloud.
Simultaneously, the fragrant breeze that had blown past moments before filled the room entirely.
The wind lifted me gently and set me down softly before the man.
The Kitchen Master reached out and gently brushed back Hae-na’s slightly disheveled hair.
“Rest assured. You are someone Seowan cherishes, are you not? I have no wish to earn her displeasure.”
Hae-na blinked in confusion. The wind that had enveloped her body moments before had vanished without a trace.
“Do you know my sister?”
At the child’s question, the Kitchen Master smiled crookedly.
“Of course. I know her well.”
It was a beautiful smile, yet something about it felt deeply wrong. The Kitchen Master continued softly.
“I am to be your sister’s betrothed.”
Betrothed. Betrothed?
Hae-na’s eyes widened as she turned the word over in her mind. At that same moment, urgent footsteps echoed from beyond the door.
Screech, bang!
The sliding door, which had been slightly ajar, burst open with a loud crash. The figure who appeared was Seowan, her expression terrifyingly fierce.
Both their gazes snapped toward Seowan at once.
Hae-na’s face brightened as though she had come back to life.
“You’ve arrived, Seowan?”
The Kitchen Master called out to her with a smile as warm as spring sunlight. But Seowan walked past him as though he were invisible.
Seowan strode toward Hae-na and scooped the child into her arms in one swift motion.
Before Hae-na could even protest, her face was buried against Seowan’s chest.
Suddenly held by her sister, Hae-na went rigid. It was the first time Seowan had embraced her this way.
She had initiated embraces before, but never had Seowan held her first—and certainly never like this, lifting her completely off the ground.
When they had gone to the Palace before, Seowan had lifted her down from the horse, but that had been more of a simple lowering than a true embrace.
Seowan’s arms were warm and carried a pleasant scent. Hae-na smiled broadly and nestled deeper into the embrace.
Because of this, Hae-na did not notice that the air in the room had become rapidly desiccated, the moisture transforming into blades of water that now pointed directly at the Kitchen Master.
“What brings you here, Cheon-eul?”
Seowan held Hae-na protectively in her arms, her killing intent pouring forth. Yet the Kitchen Master—Yeo Cheon-eul—merely smiled beautifully despite the murderous gaze.
“I heard you had taken in such an adorable child, so I came merely to see her face. But I must say, I’m hurt, Seowan. Must we always have business to conduct in order to meet?”
Seowan did not answer. At this, Cheon-eul’s beautiful eyes narrowed slightly.
“It seems you truly do cherish this child. The woman who would not show her face even when I asked so earnestly now comes running at the first hint of the child’s involvement.”
“….”
“Had I known this would be the case, I should have taken the child with me. Then I could finally introduce you to my residence, could I not?”
At the gently scratching, laughter-tinged voice, Seowan’s teeth ground together audibly. She spoke in a low, venomous whisper.
“Perhaps I should tear your mouth apart so you’ll stop spouting nonsense.”
Hae-na, whose attention had been elsewhere, widened her eyes at those words.
“No, don’t!”
Hae-na lifted her head and cried out. Overwhelmed by emotion, Seowan had momentarily forgotten the child was listening, and her own expression shifted to shock.
The water blades, reflecting their master’s turbulent emotions, lost their form and scattered to the floor.
With a splash, the droplets fell directly onto Cheon-eul.
“…Your welcome is rather violent, I must say.”
“It is more than an uninvited guest deserves.”
“Uninvited guest? Seowan, even I can be wounded by such words.”
At my measured response, the water scattered across the floor gradually began to reform into the shape of a sword.
Hae-na shifted nervously, her eyes darting between Cheon-eul and Seowan.
‘He doesn’t seem like a bad person.’
Of course, he was somewhat suspicious, and the book Seowan had given me did warn against meeting him.
The wind that enveloped Hae-na’s body was remarkably gentle. It carried no malice whatsoever, only kindness.
Besides, there was still considerable time before Seowan arrived. If Cheon-eul had wanted to harm or abduct Hae-na, he could have done so easily.
“Sister.”
Hae-na called out to Seowan, rolling her eyes expressively. His gaze immediately shifted to the girl.
“Did you have a betrothed?”
Seowan’s face crumpled.
“That’s absurd.”
“But that person just said you had a betrothed….”
“It’s nonsense. Forget it.”
At his curt dismissal, Cheon-eul’s laughter rang out.
“That’s not entirely untrue. If I don’t give up, won’t Seowan eventually become my betrothed?”
“Your death will come first.”
At the cold reply, Cheon-eul laughed once more. Hae-na, watching them both in turn, tilted her head in confusion.
She couldn’t fathom what kind of relationship they had.
For someone nursing an unrequited love, Cheon-eul’s demeanor was far too bright, and Seowan, while clearly exasperated, didn’t seem to be treating him as a true enemy.
In fact, compared to when he had confronted Hwa Yeon-bi of Pagun Seongggun, he almost seemed familiar with him.
Whether this was a bad relationship or not.
Hae-na, her expression uncertain, asked carefully.
“Could you perhaps be friends…?”
At that question, Seowan hesitated for a long moment.
“…Not enemies.”
That was the best answer Seowan could manage.
Yeo Cheon-eul of Geomun. The Prime Minister of Cheonmang Kingdom and the maternal relative of the First Prince, a strong candidate for the crown prince.
A strange man who pestered Seowan about marriage yet never formally proposed, who didn’t stand by her side but didn’t reject her either.
“Still, keep your distance from him. He is one whose true intentions cannot be discerned.”
As Seowan cautioned Hae-na once more, Cheon-eul made a plaintive sound of disappointment.
Seowan cleanly ignored his protest and asked.
“So. What is your real business here?”

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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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