The Morning Star Baby Wants a Family - Chapter 80

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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 80
Hae-na’s gaze followed the direction Hwi-seo’s fingertip indicated.
It was a small pond nestled beside the weeping willow.
Circular leaves drifted lazily across water so clear the bottom was visible, and among them bloomed a single water lily.
Delicate petals of pale pink unfurled in layered abundance.
Hae-na’s sunset-hued eyes fixed upon the flower, and seeing her expression, Hwi-seo’s face darkened.
The first thing Hwi-seo had planted in the courtyard of Nok-yo Palace was a willow seed.
His brothers had each planted a grand tree in Cheonlim Garden and their own palaces, tending them with care.
Hwi-seo lacked the power to nurture a seed into a mature tree.
Yet the tiny seed had grown into a willow sapling, and he had rejoiced watching its roots take hold in the earth.
‘Father King and Mother Queen will be amazed.’
Father King and Mother Queen loved their youngest, Hwi-seo.
But Hwi-seo, frail since birth, had never once been the object of their pride or high expectations.
When they turned their faces toward his older brothers and sisters, their expressions bloomed with warmth, yet toward Hwi-seo they bore only a pitying light.
‘Hwi-seo, you need not do anything.’
Father King, Mother Queen, and even his older brother Un-heon had all told him this.
Though their words were surely meant with affection, each time Hwi-seo heard them, his heart twisted.
You need not do anything.
Un-heon, the First Prince, would become Crown Prince, and there were three other brothers besides the Second Prince to support him.
Hwi-seo was young, yet he was perceptive.
He understood that words like “you need not do anything” were little different from “you are of no use.”
Even as a half-blooded royal who could not properly wield his celestial power, his parents loved him.
But they had four other children they loved.
Children who, unlike him, possessed complete celestial power and had more important duties than lying in a sickbed.
From birth, Hwi-seo had been entrusted to a Nursemaid Court Lady, and he grew up seeing his parents only on days when Father King summoned the Royal Family.
They were the parents of a nation before they were his parents.
Sitting at a sick child’s bedside, holding his hand—such things naturally fell to the wayside.
For all his cleverness, his youth left him yearning for his parents’ attention.
Like his eldest brother managing state affairs, like his sister assisting Mother Queen with palace governance.
Instead of hearing “it’s fine,” he wanted to hear “well done.”
That was why he had struggled so desperately to recover his health.
So when he had nurtured the willow sapling with his own power, he immediately told King and Queen.
He wanted them to know he had potential. He wanted recognition, like his other siblings.
Yet when Mother Queen visited his palace after so long, her face was no different than usual.
‘You seem fully recovered now. How fortunate, my dear.’
Instead of marveling and praising him, his mother embraced him tightly and gently stroked his back.
After inspecting his quarters and the palace attendants, she left Nok-yo Palace, promising to visit again when time permitted—a promise of uncertain frequency.
Father King’s subsequent visit differed little.
He smiled broadly and stroked Hwi-seo’s head, but that was all.
‘I cultivated it entirely myself. Not a single attendant watered it after I planted the seed.’
At that, Hwi-seo pointed to the willow tree and spoke once more.
‘It’s small now, but it will grow quickly. When that happens, surely….’
As Hwi-seo continued speaking, he bit down hard on his lower lip.
Seeing his son’s distorted expression, Father King knelt down himself to meet his gaze.
‘Are you disappointed because it’s too small?’
At the tender question, Hwi-seo shook his head. But his father, smiling faintly, gently placed his hand upon the willow sapling.
The size that had matched Hwi-seo’s height suddenly shot upward. In the blink of an eye, the sapling had become a magnificent tree.
‘There, is this better now?’
Before Hwi-seo could answer, a Palace Attendant approached and whispered quietly to the King.
‘Your Majesty. The Second Prince requests an audience.’
‘That child?’
The gentle expression on his father’s face hardened slightly. But he soon rose, saying he understood.
‘Don’t overexert yourself. I’ll visit again next time.’
Father King left those words behind and departed from Nok-yo Palace.
Left alone, Hwi-seo gazed intently at the willow tree that had grown so large.
What had seemed so endearing as a sapling now felt worse than a weed on the street.
The pond was something Kwon Court Lady had created for Hwi-seo.
Unable to resist her persistent urging that anything would be fine, I had coaxed a water lily to bloom, but I never told my parents about it.
It was merely a single small flower. Nothing grand enough to boast about to anyone.
‘I shouldn’t have shown it.’
Watching Hae-na’s round head of hair as she gazed at the water lily, Hwi-seo felt belated regret.
I had simply wanted to divert her attention elsewhere because that dumpling-like thing was crying.
There happened to be a pond nearby, so I brought her there, that was all.
Even thinking that way, seeing Hae-na silently looking down at the pond, my heart pricked painfully.
It seemed I had harbored some small hope. After all, she was the foolish sort who delights at the smallest things.
‘How stupid.’
A bitter aftertaste lingered. Hwi-seo, who had briefly reproached himself, tapped Hae-na’s shoulder lightly.
“There’s nothing much to see anyway, so let’s go inside. Kwon Court Lady is―”
Just then, Hae-na’s head whipped around.
She turned so quickly that her hair, caught by the wind, swept across her cheek and flowed down.
“Really?”
“Huh?”
“Did you really make that water lily bloom?”
Hae-na’s eyes had grown wide, sparkling brilliantly.
Hwi-seo nodded awkwardly.
Then Hae-na’s face brightened like afternoon sunlight flooding through.
“That’s amazing!”
Her excited voice rang out clearly.
Her small hands quickly grasped both of Hwi-seo’s hands.
In the next moment, Hae-na’s flushed face drew close.
“The leaves are so perfectly round, and every single petal is arranged without a single flaw. Of all the flowers I’ve ever seen, this is the most beautiful!”
Under the torrent of praise, Hwi-seo’s cheeks flushed crimson. The boy averted his gaze hesitantly.
“It’s just an ordinary water lily. It’s not even that large, and it’s not a rare variety….”
“It’s not an ordinary water lily. You made it bloom!”
Hae-na cried out loudly.
The water lily was truly beautiful.
And it held profound meaning because it had bloomed through Hwi-seo’s power.
‘In the past, even attempting to use a little spiritual energy was difficult for him.’
Unlike before when he greeted me from inside the room, now he stood beneath the sunlight and wielded his spiritual energy.
The water lily, which had bloomed without a single blemish, radiated vitality from every fiber of its being.
“You’re truly amazing. I wish I could have seen it bloom….”
Hae-na’s smile never faded from her face.
At that radiant expression, Hwi-seo’s heart tingled with warmth.
It was a flower that had always looked clumsy no matter how much he tried.
Hidden beneath the shadow of the willow branches, its appearance had been utterly unremarkable.
But the moment Hae-na called it magnificent, it was as if a single ray of sunlight had pierced through the leaves.
His shimmering golden eyes lowered gently.
That was when the still pond began to ripple.
Plop, plong.
Between the round leaves, small flower buds began to lift their heads one by one, then gradually unfurled into delicate blooms.
“Oh!”
Hae-na gasped in wonder. In an instant, three more water lilies had bloomed.
The pond, which had held only a single floating flower, now blossomed with radiance.
Both Hae-na and Hwi-seo stared at each other with wide, astonished eyes.
“…pfft.”
“Ahaha!”
Soon the children burst into laughter.
Even the melancholic Hwi-seo had his eyes crinkled in mirth.
Clear, crystalline laughter like rolling water droplets rippled outward.
The laughter that had continued for some time was halted by a cold voice from beyond the closed gate.
“I already know you are within, yet do you intend to continue this transparent deception?”

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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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