The Morning Star Baby Wants a Family - Chapter 51

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

Chapter 51
“This is strange. It should have been discovered somewhere.”
Seowan furrowed her brow slightly, lost in thought.
I couldn’t sense any stagnant water.
According to the village elders, there were no overflowing wells, and both the stream and river had actually dropped in water level.
I knew better than anyone that their words were true. Which made this all the more puzzling.
“It doesn’t seem like it was diverted to another region either. With such a massive volume, if it had been moved, it would have caused flooding.”
Yet the problems had only surfaced in Gaeyang. I clicked my tongue in frustration.
“Let’s search a bit more. If the water somehow flowed to another region unexpectedly, we’ll need to find the reason and resolve it.”
I concluded briefly and smiled down at Hae-na, who was clinging tightly to my side. She lifted her head and gestured lightly.
“First, we need to put out the most urgent fire.”
Fluffy clouds began forming across the reddening sky. I glanced back at the farmers huddled together.
“Take us to the driest rice field.”
The farmers’ eyes widened in unison.
“My lady, me! It’s me! My field is the driest!”
“What’s that fool saying? My lady, my field is the worst. The ground is so cracked it’s a disaster!”
They began arguing with each other about who should go first.
I didn’t hesitate and strode forward purposefully.
I had already determined which field was the driest while inspecting the land today.
In truth, the farmers’ quarrel was meaningless.
I confirmed that Hae-na was following along in quick steps and continued walking. My nearly black dark gray hair swayed with each stride.
Cheon-eul stood still for a moment, watching. Just as he was about to move, I spun around abruptly.
My carefully sculpted face drew near in an instant. Then my rough hand seized his wrist firmly.
“Don’t stand there like an idiot. Come on.”
I began pulling him along. Cheon-eul stumbled forward, his feet dragging.
His gaze, helplessly being dragged along, fixed on the hand gripping his wrist.
Unlike my cold expression, the hand clasping his wrist was burning hot.
“Sister, could you please go a bit slower?”
Hae-na, walking beside me, murmured worriedly. I stopped.
“Is it hard for you to walk? Should I carry you?”
“No, not me. It’s Cheon-eul. He seems unwell. His face is turning red…”
At that, I turned to look at Cheon-eul. My face drew suddenly close.
Cheon-eul swallowed hard. Her face was just a hand’s breadth away.
Straight eyes and a sharp nose. Fair skin and red lips came into view.
A face I had memorized. Yet this was the first time I had seen Seowan’s face this close.
I had thought her harsh and cold, but seeing her up close, there was something delicate about her features.
Her thick eyelashes, the contours of her face, and her slightly upturned eyes were as finely drawn as if by a fine brush.
Her deep blue eyes gazed at me quietly. Suddenly her hand drew near and touched my forehead.
At the sensation on my forehead, I startled and stepped back. Then she withdrew her hand.
She took a step back. We were at our normal distance again.
The hand that had been gripping Cheon-eul’s wrist vanished.
“Tell me if it hurts.”
Seowan offered a brief rebuke before gesturing toward the sky. At her command, the clouds that had been taking shape began to scatter once more.
“It’s getting late, so we’ll finish the rest tomorrow. Go back and rest now.”
She spoke to the gathered people with her back turned.
Though her words weren’t directed at Cheon-eul, they were clearly a consideration for him.
Seowan was often rigid as a needle, yet she frequently revealed this softer side.
It wasn’t something I didn’t know, yet I felt a strange flutter in my chest.
“Cheon-eul.”
Hae-na came rushing over and looked up at me. The child had been worried about my pallid complexion the entire time.
I gazed at the girl’s anxious face and offered her a gentle smile before approaching Seowan with Hae-na in tow.
“I’m fine, Seowan. There’s no need for that.”
I wasn’t in pain. I felt foolish from mulling over Hae-na’s question, but I could speak with certainty about my physical condition.
In the past, I would have shamelessly feigned injury and teased Seowan about her concern, but today I had no such inclination.
“Here you are complaining, yet your mouth works just fine.”
Seowan narrowed her eyes as she spoke. It sounded like reproach, yet also like concern.
Either way, it unsettled my mind. I concealed my turmoil and smiled with an unruffled expression.
“Truly. If my body were in poor condition, I would have begged Seowan to examine me.”
I smiled nonchalantly, and Seowan clicked her tongue before turning away.
“Spouting nonsense means you’re not as hurt as all that. I see.”
She took Hae-na in hand and began walking toward the rice fields she had originally intended to visit.
I followed silently in Seowan’s wake.
After walking for roughly a quarter hour, we arrived at the rice fields near the residential area. It appeared the fields had dried out even more, likely because the people drew their water for daily use from here.
It was I who first wielded my spiritual power. A strand of wind spiraled upward from my fingertips.
The wind, growing steadily larger, soon swept across the sky where red and blue hues mingled.
The wisps of cloud scattered throughout the heavens gathered according to the wind’s guidance.
Once the shape took form, the wind stilled. Simultaneously, the air grew parched and the clouds began to swell.
Wind gathers the clouds, and water fattens them.
The pristine white cumulus clouds merged together, obscuring the sky, and soon darkened to black.
Patter, tap.
A few cold droplets fell, tickling Hae-na’s nose.
The frequency increased gradually, and soon it began pouring down with a rumbling sound.
Whoooosh―.
The rain fell as fiercely as a summer monsoon.
It was then that Seowan was about to open her collar to shield Hae-na from getting wet.
A round barrier of spiritual energy materialized above the sisters’ heads.
The loud patter of rain that had been thundering down suddenly softened as though it had entered an enclosed space.
“Wow….”
Hae-na, nestled in Seowan’s arms, let out a small gasp of wonder.
In the meantime, the child’s hair and collar had become slightly damp.
Seowan, who had shaken off the water, looked toward Cheon-eul.
Through the rain-blurred and darkened vision, Cheon-eul’s eyes met hers, and he smiled.
His lips moved. Buried beneath the sound of rain, it seemed he was saying something to Seowan.
Seowan read his words by following the shape of Cheon-eul’s mouth.
The man’s lips moved slowly, but with unmistakable clarity.
Have I ever
left you behind
in the rain?
When Cheon-eul finished speaking, his rosy lips curved into a graceful smile.
Seowan regarded his pale, rain-soaked face with an unreadable expression.
Cheon-eul and Seowan had summoned rain countless times before.
And each time, Cheon-eul would conjure a barrier to keep Seowan from getting wet.
It was the kind of treatment one might afford a noble lady from the Gaeyang region.
She had told him more than once that she was accustomed to being rained upon, yet Cheon-eul would waste his spiritual energy creating barriers for her every single time.
‘I thought he’d forgotten, given how poorly he seemed.’
She was grateful, given that she had brought Hae-na out with her.
But it irritated her that he himself was being drenched by the rain.
It was just as Seowan clicked her tongue softly and tried to pull Cheon-eul inside the barrier.
Rumble, crack!
A great thunderclap echoed from the gathering storm clouds. Hae-na’s shoulders flinched in alarm.
Before she could even comfort the child, a flash of lightning blazed across her vision. Another deafening thunderclap shook the ground.
“Um, sister. Look at that.”
Hae-na, who had instinctively buried herself in Seowan’s embrace, asked in a trembling voice.
The child’s slender finger pointed toward something.
At the tip of that finger stood a massive tree, smoke rising from it.

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