The Morning Star Baby Wants a Family - Chapter 86

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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 86
Seowan’s expression grew distant and hollow.
The child was right—such a life was terrifyingly lonely and desolate.
Familiarity had never dulled my understanding of its true nature. I did not wish for Hae-na to walk the same path I had.
My hand gently traced the small, tear-stained face.
Unlike my rough palm, the child’s cheek was impossibly soft.
Yet she was so small, so fragile.
Even a single scratch seemed too cruel a wound for her to bear.
I feared what would happen if she reached out to the world too hastily, only to return grasping a blade.
‘If that were the case….’
If she never reached out, she would never be hurt.
Loneliness seemed preferable to suffering.
Then Hae-na leaned her face against my hand.
Blind, pure affection filled my palm.
In that moment, I understood.
The child who had first reached out and grasped my hand.
How profoundly she had transformed my life into something vibrant and whole.
“I love you, and Cheon-eul, and Chung-yeon and Chung-su too. So I don’t think I can do what you said, older sister….”
Hae-na gripped my arm tightly with her small hands.
“But from now on, I’ll be more careful. Much, much more careful so that you won’t be in danger.”
Children did not know the world’s terrors.
“But if it’s someone I love, shouldn’t I help them not become desperate, rather than suspect them?”
Yet because they did not fear, they possessed a courage and tenderness all their own.
I smiled, my brows softening.
If one never reached out, one could never be wounded.
But neither would one ever feel the warm embrace of another’s hand in return.
I had wanted Hae-na to be safe because I wished for her to be happy.
She was still gazing up at me intently.
Her eyes held the certainty that I would provide an answer.
“Well, I’m not entirely sure myself.”
It was not the answer she had expected—her eyes widened in surprise.
“But perhaps we can discover it together from now on.”
I answered with a strange mixture of emptiness and clarity.
No one possessed the answers to all the world’s problems.
Each person must find their own answers, learning through endless experience and collision with the world.
A brave and virtuous child would surely find a good answer.
I smiled gently, and Hae-na’s face brightened in response.
“Yes!”
She answered spiritedly with a radiant smile. I reached out and gently stroked her hair.
“So then, first of all.”
“….”
“If something like this happens again, you must never hide it from me.”
The smile vanished from Seowan’s face in an instant.
“I need to ask how many situations would force you to use your spiritual power without choice. The response will differ depending on the location, so you’ll need to tell me that as well.”
Hae-na’s lips pressed shut. The child’s head bowed like ripened grain in the wind.
The scolding continued for nearly half an hour.
After delivering a long and exhaustive lecture, Seowan asked sternly.
“Do you understand?”
“Yes, yes!”
Hae-na nodded frantically.
Seowan’s method proved remarkably effective.
Hae-na now found her older sister’s stern expression sitting before her far more terrifying than her fiery anger.
‘I’d rather copy a passage from a book a hundred times….’
The child thought with a vacant expression.
Seeing Hae-na like this, Seowan let out a soft laugh and spoke.
“Good. Looking at your face, I’m certain you’ll behave yourself at least until the wedding.”
“I’ll behave myself after that too….”
Hae-na, who had been murmuring weakly, suddenly lifted her head.
The mention of the wedding brought someone to mind. Not someone she particularly welcomed.
“Sister. Did you send a message to the Second Prince?”
As far as Hae-na knew, Seowan had given him no response whatsoever.
Not the marriage proposal that had come to Hae-na, nor even the courtship the Second Prince had conveyed through Yeon-bi toward her.
Hae-na herself wasn’t fond of Seowan exchanging correspondence with the Second Prince.
But as a member of the Royal Family, shouldn’t she at least send a refusal?
“Why waste even a single sheet of fine paper on someone so unworthy?”
Contrary to Hae-na’s worried heart, Seowan’s voice remained composed.
Hae-na’s eyes drooped.
“There was no need to convey it through correspondence, so don’t worry too much about it.”
Hae-na tilted her head in confusion. Seowan smiled faintly and spoke.
“By now, he should already know.”
* * *
Clang!
A ceramic brush washer shaped like a turtle crashed against the wall, producing a deafening shatter.
Crack!
Shards scattered in all directions.
One sharp fragment grazed the cheek of a Palace Attendant, but instead of crying out, he clenched his teeth and bowed his head.
“What did you say?”
A man’s low voice sounded above the Palace Attendant’s head as he stared down at the dark wooden floor.
At the toneless voice, the Palace Attendant’s hands trembled.
He had already reported the facts clearly to his master.
He was not truly asking because he had failed to hear.
Yet if he did not answer, his head might truly fly from his shoulders, so with trembling hands hidden within his sleeves, he opened his mouth.
“Just moments ago, Tamlang Seongggun, Geomun Seongggun, and Pagun Seongggun entered the Medical Pavilion of Nokchung Palace.”
It was the exact same answer he had given before, not a single particle different.
At that, the Kitchen Master and Second Prince Tae Hyeon-o let out a short laugh.
The anger contained in that brief sound set the Palace Attendant’s shoulders trembling faintly.
His vision flooded crimson.
He swung his arm wide and hurled whatever lay in his grasp.
Crash, bang!
A vase painted with orchids shattered, and an intricately wrought silver incense burner lost its form, crumpling inward.
The edge of the inkstone hurled with such violence gouged a deep depression into the floor.
The Palace Attendant stood motionless with his lips clenched tight.
A wise choice. Second Prince Tae Hyeon-o was so consumed with rage that he wished to tear apart everything within sight.
“Haah….”
The elegantly appointed bedchamber lay in ruins as though a tempest had swept through it.
Yet the fury would not abate, so Hyun-o exhaled deeply.
Tamlang Seongggun had sided with the First Prince.
I had promised him magnificent wealth and power, even tolerating his crude demeanor and granting him opportunity twice over.
Despite such generous treatment, Tamlang Seongggun had cast aside my mercy by choosing the First Prince.
A profound humiliation gnawed at my entire being.
Yet what enraged me most was not Seowan.
‘Hwa Yeon-bi, that wretched woman.’
Crunch. The sound of teeth grinding leaked from between my clenched jaws.
I had sent her to Gaeyang to check Tamlang Seongggun, yet instead of obeying my command, she swiftly betrayed me.
‘How dare she…!’
My black eyes flashed with savage fury.
Had it not been for me, she would have crawled upon the ground her entire life, yet she showed no gratitude and bit the hand that fed her.
‘Foolish and inadequate.’
Hwa Yeon-bi was truly a stupid woman.
She had come to me shamelessly claiming she wished to become a Celestial Being, yet when I asked her to kill her sister, she shook her head in refusal.
I curled the corners of my mouth upward with a bitter taste.
It seemed she had ultimately devoured her sister’s heart.
That must be why she had grown so audacious, believing she no longer needed to receive the dagger from me.
Truly a foolish choice.
All the others, save Hwa Yeon-bi, had unhesitatingly slit their own blood relatives’ bellies the moment they received the dagger.
Yet among them, had even one ever betrayed me?
From the moment they shed blood with the dagger, they had only two choices.
Follow me, or abandon their status as Celestial Beings.
By now, Hwa Yeon-bi must surely be beginning to feel the abnormalities spreading through her body.
At the fastest, four days. At the slowest, a week.
Hwa Yeon-bi would soon return to this place and throw herself at my feet, trembling.
‘Let’s see if you can endure this.’
Hyun-o’s face twisted into something cruel.
A dog that dared bite its master would learn what became of such insolence—this insufferable woman would be made to understand the price of her defiance.
Then, a sinister thought crept into his mind.
‘What if Hwa Yeon-bi never returns?’

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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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