The Youngest Daughter of the Snake Family - Chapter 1

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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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Episode 1
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The once-peaceful Astropel Family Territory was thrown into chaos overnight.
An unprecedented incident had occurred.
It had begun with a mysterious egg of unknown origin.
The thing was absurdly small and seemed to lack something, yet a chick had hatched from it, chirping “Peep, peep” as it emerged.
How it had slipped among the succession eggs remained a mystery—the cause was never determined.
Baon, the caretaker responsible for managing the eggs this time, was sweating profusely.
“Could someone have placed it as food for the young masters who were just born?”
“It seems you’d like to be thrown in as food.”
“That was a slip of the tongue, sir.”
Baon quickly corrected himself and stepped back. The figure before him was more than capable of making good on such a threat.
Kaid Astropel.
He was the Family Head of the Astropel Clan, personally commanding all his kinfolk at the fore.
The patriarch bore the strongest manifestation of their lineage’s mighty power and its proportional cruelty and savagery—qualities running deeper in him than in any other.
His distinctively dangerous aura and black hair with crimson eyes were the symbol of the Astropel Clan.
Though Baon knew he wouldn’t actually be cast aside as food, he also understood that failure to comply would leave nothing of him to bury—so he cleared his throat nervously.
“I examined whether it bore the Pheromone of a Guardian, but I found no such trace.”
“Was it abandoned?”
“That is a possibility. If not that, then……”
Perhaps the Guardian could no longer care for the young one.
Either way, the news was far from welcome for a chick barely born.
It was as good as having nowhere to return.
“The sluggish growth appeared to stem from its inability to absorb the Pheromone smoothly.”
“I see.”
“What shall we do with it?”
Baon asked about the disposition of the chick.
Kaid looked into the basket set upon the desk.
Even as they discussed its fate, the chick slept soundly, its beak hidden beneath its wings, its body curled into a perfect sphere, blissfully ignorant.
Nothing could be more peaceful.
It knew nothing of what awaited it ahead.
For a newly hatched creature, the absence of a Guardian meant death.
Had it been discovered in another clan, it might have been protected until adulthood—but not here.
In the Astropel Clan, which upheld the brutal law of Survival of the Fittest, the weak had no place.
“Take it outside the territory and abandon it.”
“Very good.”
Baon picked up the basket with an expression suggesting he had expected nothing less, ready to carry out the order.
At that moment, a small head suddenly popped up from within it.
“Peep?”
The chick had awakened.
Just roused from sleep, it tilted its head as if trying to make sense of what was happening.
Its small, plump wings fluttered weakly, not yet fully under its control.
Then, catching sight of its own wings, it startled in alarm, floundering in confusion.
At the sight, Kaid’s brow narrowed.
“The egg was small, and it seems the mind is defective as well.”
“……Yet it’s rather cute.”
“Pointless sentiment.”
“You truly wish it abandoned?”
At that moment, remarkably, the chick’s movements ceased.
It appeared to have understood their words.
Had the chick been born a serpent, this would have been unremarkable, but for a chick, it was extraordinary.
It seemed the young one had absorbed at least some Pheromone within the egg after all.
To judge by how well it understood the language of the clan.
Baon’s eyes sparkled with intrigue.
“Then I shall abandon it and return.”
“Peep!”
“It is the Family Head’s command.”
“Peep! Peep!”
Eyes fixed on the chick, Baon recited the statement as though reading from a textbook.
With each word, the chick responded with passionate intensity, fluttering its wings vigorously.
Baon examined the chick carefully once more.
Just as he’d suspected.
Faint though the Pheromone was, it unmistakably carried Kaid’s scent.
“I can sense the Family Head’s Pheromone.”
“I know.”
“……But will you truly abandon it? Once it’s thrown beyond the territory, it will be torn to shreds immediately.”
“Are you suggesting my Clan should raise it?”
His characteristic acrid Pheromone rippled through the air.
At the stench of that potent toxin, Baon’s expression twisted in discomfort, and he took a step back.
“Chirp… chirp chirp…….”
The chick trembled with fear at Kaid’s Pheromone, quivering violently.
As it huddled into the blanket, crying out in terror, Kaid hesitated and withdrew his Pheromone.
“Chirp chirp… chirp chirp.”
Hearing it cry out mournfully, yearning desperately for someone, Kaid pressed his fingers to his brow.
It was common knowledge that a Demi-human Beast, upon being born into the world, imprints upon whoever supplied its initial Pheromone and follows them as its Guardian.
When the chick’s eyes met his own—still frightened, yet desperately seeking him out through its cries—Kaid’s brow furrowed, and he waved his hand dismissively.
“Do as you see fit, Baon.”
* * *
What on earth is happening?
I still couldn’t believe what had befallen me.
Was I dreaming?
No matter how hard I tried to make sense of it, I could only rub my eyes in confusion. But when I opened them again, the situation remained unchanged, and I tilted my head in bewilderment.
How am I even alive?
Originally, I was a young Demi-human Beast living alone in a small territory in the Eastern Region.
I didn’t know who I was. All I knew was that I could walk on four legs and had a tail.
No one had ever told me who I was—a consequence of having no Guardian.
In the Eastern Region, it wasn’t unusual for a young Demi-human Beast to live alone.
The strong Clans fought fiercely over territory, so blood and strife perpetually swept through the East.
I had barely managed to cling to life when my last clear memory was of a terrifying predator chasing me.
I was certain I couldn’t survive, yet here I was, breathing and alive.
And when I opened my eyes, I had become a bird.
A bird.
Me, a bird.
Unable to process the shock, I tried to cover my eyes when I saw small, plump wings.
“Chirp!!”
This cannot be happening!
I shook my head frantically. At first I thought I must be mistaken, but no matter where I looked, there were wings.
I buried my face in the blanket to escape reality.
The soft fabric almost made me forget myself for a moment, but I snapped back to awareness.
What on earth was this situation?
I looked anxiously around my surroundings. No one had explained to me what was happening.
And besides…….
“Are you suggesting my Clan should raise it?”
A bird or not, calling me ‘it’ was too much.
Sigh.
I let out a breath and collapsed onto my side.
I’d endured too much in that fleeting moment. I’d only just woken, and I was already exhausted.
Sway, sway.
I surrendered myself to the swaying Basket and watched the man called Baon.
Where was he taking me?
Surely he wasn’t really taking me outside the territory to abandon me?
In this form, I couldn’t possibly survive alone.
To think I would be alone again the moment I was born. My heart sank.
It seemed I was destined to be alone in this life too.
Sensing my fixed gaze, my eyes met Baon’s pale blue ones.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Chirp. Chirp. Chirp chirp.”
“I haven’t a clue what you’re saying.”
“Chirp chirp. Chirp chirp!”
“If word gets out that there’s a bird here, someone might come to eat you. A snake, perhaps…….”
Chirp. I covered my mouth with my short wing.
I huddled close and scanned my surroundings when Baon thrust the basket right up to my face.
“No matter how many times I see it, it’s remarkable. That you understand speech.”
The blue eyes narrowed into vertical slits.
I squeezed my eyes shut. Good grief. He really is a snake.
I’m a bird, and Baon is a snake.
Knowing that snakes were predators to birds, every feather on my body stood on end.
“It was only a jest.”
“Chirp. Chirp-chirp……?”
“That rather went over your head, didn’t it.”
Baon spoke lightly. My chest flooded with relief.
Becoming a bird, everything truly felt attuned to a bird’s nature.
Now I had to worry about being devoured by snakes the moment I hatched. My circumstances were pitiable.
Staring glumly at the basket’s floor, I felt Baon’s footsteps halt.
“This is where you’ll stay from now on. The Family Head has permitted it, so there should be no trouble.”

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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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