The Morning Star Baby Wants a Family - Chapter 46

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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 46
Seowan placed a piece of white fish flesh into the child’s mouth and continued speaking matter-of-factly.
“You were spouting nonsense, so I set you straight. Now eat your rice.”
Hae-na’s eyes widened in disbelief. Nothing serious? How could this possibly be nothing serious?
“Wait, sister. Sister, please wait a moment.”
Hae-na swallowed the fish without chewing and spoke urgently. She had already set down her spoon.
“Geomun Seongggun and Cheon-eul proposed to you, didn’t he?”
“No.”
“But he asked why you wouldn’t marry him!”
“Yes, he asked that. But he never said we should marry.”
Wasn’t that the same thing?
Hae-na nearly cried out in protest to her sister. The child clenched both fists with a frustrated expression.
“He makes jests about marriage as casually as eating rice. I wonder what new bad habit he’s picked up this time.”
As Seowan spoke, her brow furrowed subtly.
Hae-na opened her mouth the moment Seowan finished speaking.
“What if it wasn’t a jest?”
“What?”
“What if it wasn’t a jest but sincere? So… what if Cheon-eul truly cherishes you?”
At the child’s earnest tone, Seowan let out a soft laugh.
“Cherish me? Him?”
It was the reaction of someone who had heard something absurd.
“I was nothing but a commoner until I suddenly became Tamlang Seongggun. He must have found that interesting, that’s all.”
“Please don’t call yourself that…”
Even as Hae-na immediately corrected Seowan’s word choice, her expression remained unconvinced.
‘It didn’t seem like mere interest.’
Cheon-eul’s eyes had been calm. Though he smiled, they were transparent—neither malicious nor kind.
Hae-na remembered the moment his gaze shifted from her to Seowan.
His jade-green eyes suddenly brightened like flowers blooming. The quiet eyes sparkled with joy.
Cheon-eul only smiled genuinely when looking at Seowan. It was an emotion so vivid it seemed tangible.
“What if he truly meant it?”
The memory of his rigid, motionless back from days ago surfaced. Hae-na glanced up at Seowan hesitantly.
“If he really does propose a marriage arrangement… what will you do, sister?”
Cheon-eul’s feelings mattered, but what truly mattered was Seowan’s own will.
Hae-na waited for her answer with a trembling heart. But what came back was a stern finger pointing at the rice bowl.
“That won’t happen. Stop chattering and eat your rice.”
* * *
The next day, Hae-na sat on the Main Hall Veranda, swinging her legs.
The sky was clear and cloudless. But the child’s face was dark as could be.
‘Does she like it, or does she dislike it?’
At least from Hae-na’s perspective, Cheon-eul was the most suitable match.
Part of it stemmed from his status and position, but the greatest factor was the simple fact that I loved Seowan.
Yet if Seowan did not wish it, none of it mattered.
Just as Hae-na released another heavy sigh, a commotion erupted from beyond the door.
“It cannot be done. Absolutely not, under any circumstances!”
It was Chung-su’s voice, raised in protest.
Though Seowan’s Office was located in the Main Residence, it lay at a considerable distance from the Main Hall Veranda.
‘What could this be about?’
Hae-na rose to her feet, brushed the dust from her skirts with quick pats, and made her way toward Seowan’s Office.
The office door stood half-open, and through the gap she glimpsed Chung-su clutching a letter bound with crimson cord tightly to his chest, while Seowan regarded him with an icy gaze.
Hae-na’s eyes fixed upon the crimson cord binding the letter.
“Oh?”
The girl’s eyes widened, and she darted into the room with a rush.
“Has a marriage proposal arrived for you, sister?”
Hae-na asked with hopeful anticipation in her voice. Could it perhaps be from Cheon-eul?
But Seowan shook her head.
“No, I wrote it myself. It is meant to be sent to Seol Family’s Second Son.”
“That is precisely the problem! Why would you send such a thing?”
Following Seowan’s calm response, Chung-su’s shrill protests erupted anew.
“The Seol Family? Is that not the very household whose son fled in the dead of night with a servant girl after they previously submitted a marriage proposal to the mistress?”
“The Seol Family is among those who firmly support the First Prince. It was their third son who fled—the second son is said to be too timid for such conduct.”
“Does that matter now? If we initiate a marriage proposal to a family that has already brought shame upon the Yul Household, we shall become the laughingstock of the entire realm!”
As though his very chest might burst, Chung-su struck himself repeatedly. Hae-na approached Seowan and grasped the hem of her robe.
“Sister, do you have some acquaintance with Seol Family’s Second Son?”
“I have seen his likeness in a portrait.”
Seowan answered without hesitation. At this, Hae-na’s brows drew downward as she looked up at her sister.
“Must you truly send a proposal to him specifically? Is there no one else?”
“There is no one, young mistress. All those countless suitors have vanished without a trace, as though the earth itself swallowed them.”
Chung-su answered Hae-na’s question with a lament, then continued after releasing a sigh so heavy it seemed the ground might collapse beneath it.
“All the households that support the First Prince are those where sons are precious commodities. Among them, many are already married or far too young.”
“…”
“Those who remain either bear ill repute or come from families of far too modest standing. After careful deliberation, Seol Family’s Second Son was the best choice available.”
As the lengthy lament continued, Seowan clicked her tongue in irritation.
“You know full well how this stands, yet you persist in making excuses. Hand it over. Entrusting this to you was clearly a mistake.”
“Absolutely not, I will not! At the very least, you must make them send a proposal first!”
Seowan’s patience exhausted, she moved to drive Chung-su from the office.
It was then that Hae-na hastily seized her sister’s arm.
“Mistress.”
A Servant Girl who had hurried over stopped before the office, then respectfully held aloft the golden scroll she carried with both hands.
“A letter has arrived from the Palace.”
Gold signified the Tae Royal Family—and more specifically, the King himself.
Hae-na’s eyes widened in surprise. Seowan’s expression hardened in an instant, and she strode forward to accept the scroll.
She unrolled the King’s edict and swiftly read through its contents.
As her deep blue eyes traced across the paper, her brow furrowed deeper with each passing moment.
After finishing the letter, Seowan set it down on the table with an audible thud, then exhaled a frustrated sigh.
“So it’s gone exactly as you wished.”
Chung-su, unable to comprehend, looked at Seowan with a bewildered expression.
“I’ll need to visit Gaeyang.”
Seowan spoke while regarding Chung-su with evident displeasure.
Gaeyang was a region located in the southern part of the Cheonmang Kingdom, and it was the nation’s largest granary, blessed with vast plains.
Situated inland, Gaeyang was a place of abundance and peace.
It was where generations of farming folk had settled, so rebellion had never occurred there, and its distance from the borders kept it safe from invasion.
“Why must you suddenly go to Gaeyang?” Hae-na asked, looking up at her sister with confusion.
Seowan answered gently.
“I hear the lack of rain for an extended period has disrupted the harvest. The King has commanded me to go and resolve this matter.”
Beyond their respective positions, the Seven Star Army had the duty to safeguard the kingdom at the King’s command.
Among them, since water—which Tamlang Seongggun controlled—was essential to agriculture, such matters often arose during the summer months.
“If you depart now, you’ll need at least a month before you can return, won’t you?”
Seowan’s lips twisted at the sight of Hae-na’s beaming face. She clicked her tongue softly.
As this was the King’s command, Seowan had to prepare and depart immediately. And as Chung-su had said, she would need at least a month before she could return.
Leaving without receiving a response to the marriage proposal was tantamount to a refusal.
With no one to receive a reply, the marriage proposal would inevitably be postponed beyond a month.
Seowan cursed inwardly the words she couldn’t voice aloud before the child.
‘When I said I wouldn’t marry, they came at me like a pack of dogs.’
Now that she actually intended to marry, everything had descended into chaos. Yesterday it was Cheon-eul, today it was Chung-su, and now this edict.
The edict mentioned another member of the Seven Stars as well. It was someone she particularly didn’t wish to encounter.
“I suppose I’ll have to see that wretch again soon.”
Seowan murmured quietly. Hearing those words, Hae-na’s eyes slowly widened.

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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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