The Morning Star Baby Wants a Family - Chapter 76

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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 76
“So you’re planning to keep doing this from now on?”
Slap!
Yeon-ri snatched the small spear from Hae-na’s hands.
“It seems Tamlang Seongggun has been far too indulgent with you. Do you think that no matter what reckless thing you do, your remarkable older sister will always be there to clean up your mess?”
Yeon-ri’s fierce reproach bore an uncanny resemblance to the expression Seowan wore when scolding me.
Hae-na’s eyes widened in surprise.
“…Were you worried about me?”
At the child’s unexpected words, Yeon-ri’s face contorted.
Hae-na bowed her head awkwardly.
“Thank you. Though you didn’t have to worry….”
“…Is that really what matters right now?”
Yeon-ri clicked her tongue, her teeth clenched.
Hae-na blinked with a determined expression.
“I don’t want to be used by others either. And I hate the thought of you being put in danger because of me.”
“Fine. As long as you don’t pull stunts like today, it should be manageable.”
At Yeon-ri’s cynical remark, Hae-na’s gaze shifted away.
“That’s… something I’ll think more carefully about going forward.”
Hae-na retrieved the small spear from Yeon-ri’s hand with caution as she spoke.
A sneer played across Yeon-ri’s face.
“What could a child like you possibly accomplish? You think I can’t do what my younger sister has done?”
Even at the threat, Hae-na merely blinked. The child gave a small nod.
“You won’t be able to.”
At Hae-na’s audacious words, Yeon-ri let out a hollow laugh.
“Because Pagun Seongggun was concerned about me. It seemed he wanted to grow closer to my sister. And my sister treasures me very much.”
A faint sense of pride bloomed across Hae-na’s face as she finished speaking.
“Besides, I won’t just sit idle either.”
Hae-na spoke with spirited conviction.
“I’m far more selfish than Pagun Seongggun thinks. So… as long as I can survive, I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Though she appeared like a puppy standing before a tiger, an unchildlike resolve flickered in Hae-na’s eyes.
Hae-na possessed a remarkably fierce will to live.
She could have died for her beloved sister Seowan, yet even that thought terrified her when she dwelled on it.
Cold sweat gathered in Hae-na’s small clenched fists. She swallowed hard.
Though I spoke with false bravado, I trusted that Yeon-ri’s nature was not truly as harsh as her interrogation suggested.
‘…Still, one can never be certain.’
Yeon-ri had genuinely worried about me, yet her sharp questioning of Hae-na was equally sincere.
Whether she was a good person or a bad one.
‘I truly cannot say.’
She was far too complex to categorize so simply.
It was precisely when tension settled into Hae-na’s eyes.
“Sigh….”
Yeon-ri exhaled a long, weary breath.
Her expression, which had been coldly rigid, softened in an instant.
Yeon-ri’s face bore the weight of exhaustion. She furrowed her brow and pressed her temples repeatedly with her fingertips.
Hae-na’s eyes widened at the sight, and she quickly asked.
“Does your head hurt? Should I fetch some medicine for you?”
At Hae-na’s question, Yeon-ri regarded the child with a weary gaze.
A sigh escaped her lips, which had been moving wordlessly.
“This foolish thing, and here I am….”
Foolish? Hae-na’s lips pursed.
Yet too frightened to protest, Hae-na gently wiped away the cold sweat lingering on Yeon-ri’s forehead.
Yeon-ri, her face etched with weariness, waved her hand dismissively.
“That’s enough. Now go.”
“But you’re in pain….”
“I’m fine now. Off with you.”
“Yet you said you would harm me if I did…?”
At Hae-na’s relentless questioning, Yeon-ri’s expression became hollow.
“I won’t lay a hand on you. Go now. I cannot fathom what calamity might befall me if I don’t heed your words.”
Yeon-ri closed her eyes tightly, then opened them, speaking in an exhausted voice.
“Is there anything else you need?”
“No, no!”
Hae-na answered hastily, pressed a small cloth into Yeon-ri’s hand, and hurried toward the door with quick, light steps.
As Hae-na quietly opened the door and was about to close the sliding panel behind her, a faint voice reached her ears.
“…I won’t forget what happened today.”
It was neither a sharp threat nor a cold mockery.
In her rough manner of speaking, there lingered an awkward sincerity.
Nod, nod.
Hae-na smiled brightly without a word and nodded her head vigorously.
* * *
The child’s face, illuminated by the flickering lamplight, brightened visibly.
The child, nodding earnestly, carefully closed the door.
A soft click sounded, and the shadow cast through the door gradually receded.
In the quiet room, only the faint sound of the candle’s wick burning away echoed softly.
Yeon-ri exhaled what must have been her countless sigh.
‘That reckless creature.’
I never anticipated being swayed to this extent.
The half-sister of the new Tamlang Seongggun.
A fortunate young girl who bore the Yul surname despite lacking the blood of the Yul Family.
Watching Seowan lavish such excessive care upon the child, Yeon-ri inwardly scoffed.
Doting on a child who could not even continue the family line.
‘What’s so remarkable about something no bigger than a rat’s bell?’
Thus, on the first day Hae-na secretly visited my room.
Yeon-ri believed she had discerned Hae-na’s purpose.
Raising a child as a spy or assassin was hardly uncommon.
The moment the candlelight flickered as the child entered and closed the door, Yeon-ri seized her consciousness, which threatened to dissolve into agony.
‘Let me see what she’s doing.’
A single moment of carelessness had left Yeon-ri with a bone-deep lesson.
She would not repeat the same mistake twice.
‘Either worsen my condition or kill me.’
Either way, the moment the child’s hand touched me, Yeon-ri was prepared to burn without leaving even bone behind.
Yet Hae-na did not lay a single fingertip upon me.
She drew the curtains across the window to block the moonlight streaming into the room, and filled the empty pitcher with water.
That was all.
The child left the room quickly, as though her task were complete.
It was a visit mercifully brief.
“….”
Slowly rising, I gazed at the pitcher with bewildered eyes.
Water sloshed inside the pitcher that the child had carefully returned to its place.
‘Was it poisoned?’
Surely not something so crude.
Yet the water in the pitcher contained no poison. It was merely water drawn from the well outside.
The absurd result only deepened my confusion.
The child came again the next day.
She did the same thing—drew the curtains and filled the empty pitcher with water.
But this time, Hae-na lingered in the room a little longer.
I felt the cold sweat beading my forehead gradually dry.
By some means I could not fathom, the child was wiping my brow.
It felt like a faint tapping sensation at her fingertips.
After Hae-na finished wiping away the sweat, she departed listlessly, only to return again the next day.
‘What on earth is she doing?’
The moment I meant to frighten her into confession, I lost control of my spiritual energy.
When I could not even breathe through the agony of my body being torn asunder, the child’s hand caught me.
I felt my rampaging spiritual energy slowly subside through those small hands.
‘Why?’
How could a child—not even a Celestial Being—possess such power?
Uncertain whether I had discovered her secret, Hae-na watched me nervously.
Yet the child returned to the room once more, finished wiping my brow, and spoke.
‘I hoped that Pagun Seongggun would not suffer.’
‘And… I was relieved that you were safe.’
“Haa….”
Yeon-ri exhaled another exasperated sigh.
Truly, what an irksome child.
She offered counsel that went in one ear and out the other, and hurled threats so hollow they couldn’t possibly land.
Yet Yeon-ri could not mock Hae-na’s foolishness.
Because, as the child had said, I survived thanks to her.
Tsk.
That young thing didn’t even know how to keep accounts.
She likely believed that turning a blind eye to today’s events would settle the matter entirely.
But Hwa-yeon-ri was not so naive as a child.
Kindness and enmity weighed equally upon the scales.
Having received something far too precious, I must repay it without fail.
“First, I must ascend to the Capital.”
The eyes that had been squeezed shut opened wide, and her golden-red gaze blazed with crystalline clarity.

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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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