The Morning Star Baby Wants a Family - Chapter 5

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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 5
It was Chung-yeon’s voice. I sprang from my seat and rushed toward the door.
“Yes!”
I answered with vigor, straining to push open the heavy sliding door. Through the widening gap, my eyes met Chung-yeon’s startled gaze.
“Miss, why did you open the door yourself? You need only call for me.”
“I… I’m sorry.”
I closed my mouth again, sealing my words.
In truth, it was unthinkable for me to speak casually to the maidservant who attended me.
Yet it felt utterly foreign to me.
Among all the servants of the Yeon Family, there was not a single one I could address without formality.
Chung-yeon, perceiving my hesitation, smiled gently.
Propriety mattered, certainly, but it seemed the newly arrived young lady required more time to acclimate.
“There’s nothing to apologize for. I only wish for you to feel at ease with me.”
Chung-yeon carefully took my hand and examined it for any injuries.
“Please speak to me as you wish, Miss. But from now on, allow me to open the door, won’t you? I worry the weight might injure your hands.”
Chung-yeon’s voice carried no reproach, only warmth. I nodded uncertainly.
“You seemed weary, so I didn’t wish to disturb your rest. Now then, you must be hungry?”
With those words, Chung-yeon seated me in a chair and began arranging dishes upon the table, one by one.
Soon a neat and abundant spread was complete. Warm broth in fine bronze bowls, glistening rice, vegetable side dishes, and even seasoned beef strips.
My mouth watered involuntarily.
I recalled the meal from last evening. My mind had been so turbulent that I’d scarcely tasted anything.
“Please eat, Miss.”
Chung-yeon placed a spoon in my hand as she spoke.
I wanted nothing more than to devour the food at once, but there was something I needed to ask first.
“Um, Chung-yeon.
At my careful address, Chung-yeon’s expression darkened.
“Would you call me simply Chung-yeon? The formality feels so distant…”
Her voice grew dejected, her face on the verge of tears.
Startled, I hastily corrected myself.
“Yes, yes! Chung-yeon… no, Chung-yeon!”
Then Chung-yeon smiled brightly, as though nothing had happened.
Unaware that I’d fallen for her ruse, I simply laughed along with her.
“Yes, Miss. What is it?”
“There’s something I’d like to ask, if you don’t mind?”
“Of course. What troubles you?”
At her kind words, I gazed at the table before me. The food was beautifully arranged.
At the Yeon Family, we were grateful for mixed grain rice and a few vegetable dishes.
But the food given to the children in the Underground Facility was far more dreadful than that.
Because of it, most of the children were always hungry.
I shared my portion with them, but it was never enough.
“Those children in the Underground Facility… you know, the ones who were there…”
Chung-yeon nodded upon hearing the softly murmured voice.
Hae-na met her gaze with an anxious expression.
“Were they all rescued safely? There were some sick children among them… They all wanted to go home.”
Chung-yeon answered with a bitter smile.
“Of course. Their identities were all verified, and they’ve been returned to their parents. The sick children are receiving treatment from the physicians at the Royal Medical Institute by the King’s command.”
Hae-na’s face brightened considerably.
Chung-yeon smiled back and urged her to eat while the food was still warm.
Only then did Hae-na pick up her utensils. The child’s face glowed as she ate with earnest appetite.
Chung-yeon’s eyes grew distant as she watched her.
Chung-yeon’s words were not false. Yet there was one thing she had concealed.
Most of the abducted children were commoners without celestial bloodlines, or possessed only the faintest traces of minor star lineages.
Thus they showed no severe rejection to the forcibly infused energy.
Malnutrition from prolonged confinement in squalid conditions was their only affliction.
But one child—the Fourth Prince—was different.
The Fourth Prince had been abducted because Yeon Ki-mun, during his covert operations, had mistaken him for a member of a minor noble house.
Realizing that returning the prince would expose his entire scheme before the Palace could discover him, he accelerated his experiments, desperate to succeed before the Fourth Prince was found.
The Fourth Prince had received the most energy infusions, and the collision with his own innate power had caused the deepest internal injuries.
Judging himself unable to endure further, the child attempted escape.
The powers of the stars each possessed different affinities. Among them, the solar power wielded by the Royal Family stood in direct opposition to the lunar force.
The Fourth Prince fled the residence on the night of the full moon.
Barely reaching the Palace, the child collapsed immediately after revealing the identity of his captor.
His already-damaged body was further ravaged by the full moon’s lunar influence.
Seowan was facing severe censure for harboring a member of a family that had committed treason.
If the Fourth Prince died as things stood, it would be difficult to guarantee that Seowan could continue to shield Hae-na.
Above all, Hae-na had worked in the Underground Facility.
Seeing how she immediately asked about those children upon waking suggested she had grown quite attached to them. I could not bear to tell her that one of them was in critical condition.
“It’s delicious…”
Chung-yeon, lost in troubled thoughts, quickly redirected her attention at the small voice.
Hae-na was gazing at the beef strips with sparkling eyes.
She had eaten so little that it looked as though a mouse had nibbled at it.
Chung-yeon burst into genuine laughter. The young lady she had newly taken under her care was quite endearing.
“Please eat more, Miss. The Cook prepared a great abundance for you.”
Chung-yeon picked up fresh chopsticks and cut a generous piece of beef, placing it onto Hae-na’s spoon.
The hesitant child smiled shyly.
* * *
“I’m so full…”
After the meal, Hae-na walked through the Garden, gently patting her distended belly.
She had eaten everything given to her because the Cook would be sad if food were left behind, and now her stomach felt ready to burst.
Chung-yeon, satisfied, changed Hae-na into fresh clothes and sent her outside to play.
Hae-na walked forward with several sighs, yet her face remained bright.
‘The children are all safe.’
Though shameless for prioritizing her own life first, Hae-na genuinely worried for those children.
‘That child made it home safely too, didn’t she?’
Walking through the meticulously maintained Garden of the Yul Household, Hae-na fell into thought.
Two days before the Government Military arrived, a child had escaped from the Underground Facility.
Among all the children, she was the most afflicted yet remarkably spirited.
That girl, who always glared at Hae-na with hostile eyes, had ultimately managed to flee the Underground Facility.
When Yeon Ki-mun learned of this, he flew into a rage.
Hae-na had been hiding in the wall closet precisely because she had been caught helping that child escape.
Less than two days after the girl’s flight, the Government Military stormed in.
So it was probably fine.
Hae-na admired the Garden with a faint smile playing at her lips.
Between towering trees and a small Pond, summer flowers bloomed in delicate clusters.
‘What flower is this?’
When I lived at the Yeon Family Mansion, I was too busy to even dream of viewing gardens.
I was forbidden from leaving the Yeon Family Mansion grounds.
Until now, the only flowers I knew were the clover blossoms from which an uncle had crafted a flower ring, and the azaleas we used for making flower pancakes.
All of these were flowers I’d never seen before, and they were all beautiful.
After gazing in rapt absorption for some time, Hae-na stopped before the Pond.
True to the Yul Clan’s mastery of water, the pond was crystalline clear.
Within it, I could see several large carp swimming.
My reflection on the surface felt unfamiliar.
Hae-na blinked several times before crouching down before it.
The master of this Residence—Tamlang Seongggun Yul Seowon.
That person said I was her blood relative. Her sister.
Hae-na’s face flushed.
Sister.
Family.
It was the first time in my eight years of life that I possessed such a thing.
Whenever the children in the Underground Facility cried, they wept for their parents, their sisters, their brothers.
I pitied them, yet sometimes felt a quiet sorrow knowing I had no one to long for.
But now I did.
More precious than expensive silk robes, more delightful than the finest delicacies.
‘I mustn’t go seeking her out recklessly.’
With the rank of General Commander, she must be terribly busy.
I shouldn’t intrude and disturb her.
‘But perhaps we might meet by chance?’
If we did, I wanted to greet her properly and call her sister.
Hae-na’s lips moved silently, practicing the word.
“U-um…”
Mm.
I’d never said it before, so the word wouldn’t come easily.
Hae-na exhaled a deep sigh and clenched her fists tightly.
“Um… ni. Sister. Hello, sister. Um, um sister.”
I needed to practice beforehand so I could say it properly when facing her.
As Hae-na earnestly repeated the word to the pond, she felt a presence behind her.
“Why do you call out like that?”
“Kyaaah!”
Startled by the sudden voice, Hae-na jumped and fell hard on her backside.
When I turned around, I saw a dark blue garment.
Lifting my gaze, my eyes met a pair of sharp blue irises.
It was Seowan.

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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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