The Morning Star Baby Wants a Family - Chapter 65

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

Chapter 65
“Sob… sob… hiccup… wail…”
Hae-na wept openly for a long time.
With tears flowing freely and having held them back for so long, they would not stop easily.
“Stop crying now. You’ll collapse again at this rate.”
Seowan, who had been comforting the child, gently separated Hae-na from his embrace.
Her face, blotched and swollen, was a mess of tears and mucus.
As Seowan reached to wipe Hae-na’s cheeks with his sleeve, he paused at the dirt clinging to the fabric.
The moment he turned slightly to fetch a cloth, her brow furrowed ever so slightly.
“Ah.”
Hae-na, with an almost supernatural sensitivity, snapped her head up at the sound.
“Are you hurt?”
The child, whose tears had stopped abruptly, asked with urgency.
Her voice came out nasal and somewhat difficult to understand.
“It’s nothing. My shoulder just stiffened for a moment.”
Seowan tried to brush past it casually, but unfortunately, there were more than two people present in this room.
“Your shoulder? Is your right shoulder still causing you pain, Seowan?”
Cheon-eul, who had been quietly observing the situation, spoke gently.
Hae-na’s eyes widened at this, and she turned her head toward him.
Seowan shot him a fierce glare, but Cheon-eul’s expression remained perfectly innocent.
“Your shoulder?”
Hae-na sniffled and pressed further.
Before Seowan could explain, Cheon-eul continued.
“It’s understandable. The Royal Physician said you need at least a week of rest, did he not? Yet you’ve only been in bed for a single day, and…”
He trailed off, staring directly at Seowan.
Hae-na’s gaze followed, scanning his soiled garments and the dirt-covered black cotton of his sleeves.
“Sister!”
Hae-na cried out in alarm.
Her eyes, filled with concern, busied themselves examining Seowan from head to toe.
“Are you badly hurt? How did this happen? You’re injured, so where on earth have you been!”
Her rapid words carried a note of reproach.
Seowan’s eyes widened slightly at this unfamiliar side of the child.
“Your wounds haven’t reopened, have they? You need to see the Royal Physician right away…”
Hae-na fretted and fluttered about like a chick.
She looked ready to leap from the bed at any moment.
Seowan exhaled softly and soothed the child.
“Calm yourself. I’ve already shown the Royal Physician and received treatment. The outing was unavoidable.”
Hae-na’s urgency subsided somewhat at this.
Yet her eyes remained worried as she spoke.
“Why did you go out? Did the King issue a command?”
The child was right. Seowan smiled faintly.
“Now that we’ve found Gaeyang’s water vein, shouldn’t we verify as soon as possible whether the water flows properly?”
Cheon-eul objected, claiming his body hadn’t fully recovered, but Seowan left Gaeyang Palace the moment his pain subsided enough.
It was partly due to the King’s orders, but also to prevent any unforeseen dangers.
It was Hae-na’s power that had shattered the massive cave and drawn up the water.
There was a chance some of that energy might still linger.
She bound Cheon-eul to Gaeyang Palace with the excuse that Hae-na couldn’t be left alone, then wandered throughout Gaeyang.
But nowhere did she detect any strange energy.
Only farmers grinning from ear to ear as they channeled water into the rice fields offered endless thanks.
‘A fortunate turn of events.’
Everyone believed Seowan had resolved it, and Hae-na, who had been asleep all this time, had finally awakened.
Unlike Seowan’s serene expression, Hae-na’s face turned deathly pale upon hearing this.
“Um, well, sister…”
Hae-na hesitantly broached the subject, gauging the reaction.
She had no idea how to explain it.
“I’m sorry. Cheon-eul found out…”
In the end, Hae-na confessed everything straightforwardly.
Just as she braced herself for a stern scolding and sealed her lips shut—
“There’s no helping it.”
A calm voice came from above her head.
The child’s mouth fell slightly open as she looked up at her sister.
“It’s okay that it was discovered?”
“No. But this time, there was no other choice, was there?”
That wasn’t quite right…
Hae-na hesitated, her conscience pricking her as she tried to respond.
Seowan was speaking of something different from what she meant.
‘Ah.’
At that moment, Hae-na understood.
Even if she hadn’t summoned the wind inside the room, the moment she emerged from that cave, it was already beyond salvaging.
Certainly, there had been no way around it.
Still, Hae-na’s shoulders drooped dejectedly without reason.
“Why do you look so glum, little one?”
Then Cheon-eul spoke to her gently.
“Surely you don’t think I’d make things difficult for you. Nothing will happen.”
As the words continued softly, a glimmer of hope kindled in Hae-na’s previously downcast eyes.
As if seeking confirmation, the child’s gaze turned toward Seowan.
“Isn’t that right, Seowan?”
At Cheon-eul’s question, seeking permission as it were, Seowan nodded slowly.
After everything that had transpired, her trust in Cheon-eul had grown considerably.
Still, there was a need to drive the point home, so before Hae-na awakened, Seowan had issued a brief warning.
‘If you breathe a word of this, I’ll kill you.’
It was a soft threat.
Yet Cheon-eul smiled beautifully and nodded without hesitation.
It was still an incomprehensibly blind emotion, but this time, at least, it was fortunate.
Hae-na’s eyes widened as she looked back and forth between Seowan and Cheon-eul.
It was a secret she’d been told not to share even with Chung-yeon. But Cheon-eul said it was fine….
‘Is it because he’s my betrothed?’
Once married, they would become family.
Hae-na’s pale cheeks flushed crimson.
Contrary to her worries, she was delighted that Seowan seemed to have opened her heart considerably to Cheon-eul.
“Hehe.”
It was when Hae-na, her hands clasped tightly together, let out a small laugh.
“Is there anything else you’re curious about?”
Cheon-eul asked gently.
There was something suspicious about the question, but Hae-na, oblivious, nodded vigorously.
The moment Cheon-eul smiled broadly and snapped his fingers, the firmly closed door swung wide open.
Creak, bang!
Beyond the door stood a line of Servant Girls holding clothing, fragrant oils, and all manner of washing supplies.
“Well then, both of you should bathe.”
Turning his back to them, Cheon-eul spoke with a smile as ethereal as a celestial maiden.
* * *
An hour later, Hae-na lay sprawled across the bedchamber, refreshed and clean.
Seowan sat in a chair, but her face too bore the same exhausted expression as Hae-na’s.
“While it cannot compare to my residence in the Capital, the skill of the Gaeyang Palace Servant Girls is quite commendable.”
Cheon-eul, his smooth face composed, brought the tea cup elegantly to his lips as he spoke.
I could sense Seowan’s glare, but I pretended not to notice.
When faced with the battalion of Servant Girls, Seowan had firmly refused them.
‘That’s enough. Just leave the bathwater and go.’
I had quietly agreed from behind my sister’s back.
But Cheon-eul had gently shaken his head.
‘How could you bathe a child with an injured arm? Please entrust me with this until it heals completely.’
‘By what authority do you speak?’
He didn’t even blink at Seowan’s harsh retort.
‘Why, as Seowan’s betrothed, of course.’
At his honeyed voice, several of the Servant Girls flinched.
‘Hae-na will bathe here with Seowan as well. And please don’t worry too much about the Servant Girls. They are all those I have already vetted.’
Having finished his words with a gentle tone, Cheon-eul looked at the Servant Girl standing foremost.
The one receiving his gaze bowed respectfully.
Cheon-eul did not possess military prowess equal to Seowan’s, but he excelled in rhetoric and negotiation.
In merely a few days of stay, he had already won over all the Servant Girls of the Hall.
‘…All right.’
In the end, Seowan clicked his tongue softly in agreement, and Hae-na found herself deposited among a throng of Palace Servants.
Their touch was gentle, and true to Cheon-eul’s word, Seowan’s bathing tub was placed right beside Hae-na’s own.
Hae-na, who had been tense among these unfamiliar faces, finally allowed herself to relax.
But unfortunately, the real problem was something else entirely.

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