The Morning Star Baby Wants a Family - Chapter 84

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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 84
Hae-na clutched her skirts and ran with all her might.
Seowan’s face, which had been blurred in the distance, gradually drew closer.
Hae-na threw herself into her sister’s arms.
“Sister!”
Though they had only been apart for a brief moment, her voice brimmed with joy.
Hae-na, gripping her sister’s sleeve, looked up at Seowan.
“Were you having fun?”
Seowan stroked Hae-na’s hair, and the child giggled in response.
Nokchung Palace was far grander and more imposing than Hwi-seo’s residence.
Yet to Hae-na, it felt nothing but unfamiliar.
The Palace Attendants she had never seen before kept bowing their heads to Hwi-seo and her as they passed, which made her deeply uncomfortable.
Hwi-seo, too, found the vast and labyrinthine Nokchung Palace equally unfamiliar.
The two children had been sitting idly in the corridor, waiting for the adults’ conversation to conclude.
Hae-na, whose feet had been fidgeting with anxiety, immediately brightened the moment she heard Seowan’s footsteps.
From Seowan’s embrace came the familiar, comforting scent of her sister. In that warmth, her anxious heart seemed to settle.
“Yes. Now let’s go home….”
Hae-na, about to continue with a bright smile, froze in surprise.
It was only then that she noticed the face of the person standing beside Seowan.
Hae-na looked up at Seowan with a bewildered expression.
Why had she come with Yeon-ri instead of Cheon-eul?
“Come with us, Hae-na.”
At that moment, a blunt voice came from behind.
Turning around, Hwi-seo approached with a fresh expression on her face.
“You suddenly ran off like that—you startled me. I wondered what was wrong….”
“Oh, I’m sorry!”
Hae-na immediately released her sister’s sleeve and approached Hwi-seo.
As the child grasped Hwi-seo’s hand firmly, her beautifully shaped lips, which had been pressed together in a pout, trembled slightly.
“Don’t leave me behind next time.”
“Okay, I won’t.”
Hae-na answered with a carefree laugh, then looked back up at her sister.
“Are you finished with your duties? Can we go home now?”
At those words, Hwi-seo’s expression darkened for a moment, but Hae-na, standing beside her, did not notice.
“No, there’s still a bit more to do.”
Seowan spoke with a faint smile to Hae-na.
She wanted to ask what had happened with Yeon-ri, but now was not the right time.
“Fourth Prince. Will you be taking Hae-na to Nok-yo Palace?”
Though her manner toward Hae-na was not particularly kind, Seowan remembered how Hwi-seo had shielded Hae-na behind her back in Yeon-ri’s presence.
At those words, both children’s faces brightened at once. Before Hae-na could even speak, Hwi-seo took a step forward.
“Then we shall take our leave. We shall see you later, Tamlang Seongggun.”
The boy offered a flawless greeting, then turned on his heel—still holding Hae-na’s hand firmly.
Seowan watched Hae-na being led away by Hwi-seo with a blank expression, feeling a peculiar heaviness settle over him.
It seemed there would be more questions he needed to ask.
* * *
Back in Nok-yo Palace, the children devoured the refreshments the Palace Attendants had provided, then spread a thick straw mat beneath the shade of a willow tree and settled down.
“Look at that. A rabbit cloud.”
“Wow, and there’s a bird cloud right next to it!”
The two of them chattered animatedly, finding endless shapes in the drifting clouds above.
Kwon Court Lady approached the children, who lay side by side and giggled with delight.
“Tamlang Seongggun and Geomun Seongggun have arrived.”
Hae-na’s head snapped around at once. As she began to sit up, her sleeve was gently tugged.
“Hwi-seo?”
Hae-na turned to him with wide, curious eyes.
The brightness that had filled Hwi-seo’s face moments before had vanished entirely.
“Next time…”
When will you come again?
The unspoken words hung trembling on his tongue.
His lips pressed firmly shut.
“I want to go to the Yul Family Residence too.”
Hwi-seo murmured quietly.
“Should I ask my sister? She’ll definitely say yes.”
“No. I can’t.”
At Hae-na’s immediate offer, Hwi-seo shook his head.
“Before, I could slip away freely whenever I wished. I had little to do within the Palace anyway. But since that incident…”
Hwi-seo trailed off. Yet Hae-na understood his meaning at once.
“Still, come visit me again.”
Hwi-seo murmured stubbornly, his gaze downcast.
“I’ll make more honey cakes for you. Even though it’s summer now, we can pick cherries and tangerines from Cheonlim Garden.”
“…”
“Since I’m of royal blood, I can obtain rare treasures that Tamlang Seongggun cannot.”
How much longer will Hae-na continue to seek me out?
It was a wretched thought, but sometimes Hwi-seo wished Hae-na were unhappy at the Yul Family Residence.
Then she would come to see me.
She might stay by my side always, for I am forever alone.
But today, watching Hae-na’s radiant smile as she rushed toward her sister, Hwi-seo could no longer harbor such thoughts.
Hae-na looked happy.
The girl who once wept endlessly in the Yeon Family now smiled like sunlight itself.
“I’m not particularly skilled at much, but I’m confident in waiting. So…”
Visit me sometimes.
You’ll prefer your sister, I know, but you care for me a little too, don’t you?
Hwi-seo was about to say something.
Smack!
“…Huh?”
Not until Hae-na’s small hands gripped both his cheeks.
Hwi-seo’s lips pressed firmly shut as his eyes blinked.
Hae-na’s round eyes had hardened into a fixed stare. She looked furious.
A wave of hurt surged through him.
It’s not like I’m asking you to come every day. You said you’d wait. So why can’t you do this?
Just as he was about to pull his hands away, Hae-na spoke with deliberate precision.
“What don’t you do well?”
“…”
“You’re smart. You speak clearly and logically, and you’re brave—unlike me, a coward.”
Hae-na continued rapidly, her voice tinged with frustration.
“You even made the most beautiful flower in the world bloom, so why would you say that?”
Hae-na’s finger pointed sharply toward the pond. Hwi-seo’s eyes widened slightly.
“I’ll come again. I don’t need tangerines or cherries or anything else.”
Along with her firm voice, a small pinky finger extended toward him.
“I’ll definitely come before you have to wait too long.”
Hae-na’s face as she spoke was perfectly resolute, without a trace of hesitation.
Hwi-seo gazed at the child endlessly.
Seeing Seowan and Cheon-eul enter Nok-yo Palace through the Main Gate, Hae-na urged him on.
“Hurry!”
Hwi-seo hooked his pinky finger around Hae-na’s without thinking.
The small finger gripped his tightly.
“It’s a promise. You understand, right?”
The words Hwi-seo wanted to say flowed from Hae-na’s lips instead.
When Hwi-seo nodded, Hae-na broke into a bright smile.
“Today was really fun. Let’s play again next time!”
At those innocent words, Hwi-seo felt something catch in his throat.
But since he didn’t want to cry pathetically, Hwi-seo turned his head away.
“Come on, Hae-na. Let’s go now.”
Seowan approached and bowed respectfully to Hwi-seo before lifting Hae-na into his arms.
“…Come again.”
Before she turned away, Hwi-seo murmured softly. Hae-na’s eyes widened at his words.
“Yes!”
The child answered brightly.
* * *
A short while later, at the Yul Family Residence.
“Sigh…”
Hae-na, seated at the table in her room, exhaled deeply.
Hwi-seo’s face, which I had seen before leaving the Palace, kept haunting my thoughts.
Though the same age as me, Hwi-seo often seemed far more mature than I did.
Yet today, as Hwi-seo clutched at my skirts, his face appeared younger than his years.
That lonely expression, so thoroughly caked with resignation, looked so sorrowful that I desperately wished to do something for him.
‘Could Hwi-seo possibly visit the Yul Family Residence?’
I understood that secret outings were forbidden due to his kidnapping, but if we exercised even greater caution than before….
As I fell into contemplation, the door opened and Seowan entered.
My eyes brightened the moment I saw her.
‘Perhaps if I ask my sister, it might work.’
Seowan was among the strongest in the Cheonmang Kingdom. The King himself would feel assured with her.
It would be a troublesome request, but I still wanted to at least broach the subject for Hwi-seo’s sake.
“I came because I have something to ask you for a moment.”
Before I could speak, Seowan approached and said this.
I nodded, deferring my own request for now.
After a brief silence, Seowan’s question followed.
“What happened between you and Pagun Seongggun?”

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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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