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Chapter 32
“Ah, um, hello. My name is……”
Baeksa was fumbling as she tried to introduce herself.
“You don’t even have a name yet, right? What exactly are you trying to introduce?”
Ahee shot back sharply.
Baeksa froze in place with her mouth hanging open.
Seeing that, Sirang stomped her feet anxiously and said,
“Ahee-nim!”
“Why? I just want to look around the place where Mother used to live.”
Ahee naturally called Myeongyeong “Mother,” yet no one could bring themselves to correct her or scold her for it.
Sirang looked at Ahee helplessly.
The other attendants standing behind her silently gestured for her to just step aside.
But Sirang soon seemed to make up her mind and shook her head.
“Even so, you haven’t formally asked for permission, so I can’t allow it. Someone is still officially living here, and—”
“You’re strange.”
Ahee muttered.
“Pardon?”
Sirang asked back.
“If someone should move aside here, shouldn’t it be that child?”
Ahee pointed at Baeksa with her finger, and Baeksa blinked her large eyes.
“That child has nothing to do with Myeongyeong-nim. She has no connection at all. She can stay here, but I can’t even look around?”
Everyone present was left speechless by Ahee’s question.
In truth, those who knew Myeongyeong’s face had all gasped the moment Ahee stepped into this residence.
Seeing Ahee standing in Myeongyeong’s quarters felt as if Myeongyeong herself had returned.
And everyone who saw her thought the same thing.
Ahee is Myeongyeong’s daughter.
Without a doubt.
So in this situation, if Ahee insisted on seeing her mother’s residence, who could possibly stop her?
Before Sirang became any more troubled, Baeksa hurriedly stood up and walked over to her.
“Sirang, let’s step outside for a little while. Ahee-nim, please take your time looking around.”
Baeksa had already been thinking that she should eventually give up the room she had been staying in to Ahee anyway.
Stepping aside for a while wasn’t difficult at all.
Just as Baeksa grabbed Sirang’s sleeve and was about to quickly leave—
“No. I’ve already seen enough.”
Ahee abruptly turned around coldly.
“I’ll be living here soon anyway. I can look at it then.”
“Ah, um……”
“Until then, you can use it all you want.”
With light, cheerful steps, Ahee skipped out of the room, and the attendants followed after her with troubled expressions.
Baeksa and Sirang remained standing there blankly, staring at Ahee’s retreating figure.
The gentle, affectionate, lovable Miss Ahee was nowhere to be seen.
She had acted sharp and sensitive, as though Baeksa had stolen something that belonged to her.
But Baeksa understood Ahee’s feelings a little too.
From Ahee’s perspective, she had returned home after seven years, only to find someone living in her mother’s room.
So maybe she had a right to act a little prickly.
‘But then why does my chest hurt so much?’
As Baeksa blinked her eyes, Sirang hurriedly picked her up and comforted her.
“Miss, please don’t pay too much attention to what Ahee-nim said. She’s just a bit sharp-tongued……”
“No, Sirang. It’s okay. She wasn’t wrong.”
Baeksa hugged Sirang tightly and gave her a soft smile.
The child glanced toward one corner of the garden.
There was a lotus flower that Baeksa had bloomed herself, and the pond water that had been purified.
And not just the pond water.
The place that Ju Jeokseo had opened only for Baeksa.
Joo Myeongyeong’s backyard had gradually become beautiful thanks to Baeksa diligently absorbing the corruption whenever she came and went.
But it still wasn’t enough to absorb all of it completely.
‘It needs more time.’
Couldn’t Ahee wait just a little longer?
Then maybe she could make the backyard even prettier before returning it.
And perhaps then, Ahee would forgive her a little for having lived here.
It would feel like repaying her for staying here.
As Baeksa continued thinking that, she buried her face into Sirang’s shoulder.
“Miss, are you really okay……?”
“Yes……”
She wanted to keep thinking good thoughts, but her chest hurt too much to continue thinking happily.
She missed Hwayeong, Doeui, and the Head of the Family.
“How is Baeksa?”
“Ahee-nim visited Baeksa-nim’s residence, and since then she hasn’t seemed to have much energy.”
After receiving the report, Ju Jeokseo let out a sigh.
Ahee resembled Joo Myeongyeong perfectly, but there were still things bothering him, so he had postponed officially bringing her into the family.
At the same time, he thought Baeksa, who had only recently arrived at the estate, might be troubled by Ahee, so he had specifically instructed people not to let Ahee go near Baeksa.
‘And they couldn’t even stop her.’
The servants became endlessly soft whenever they saw Ahee’s face, so much like Myeongyeong’s.
Even he himself would freeze momentarily whenever he saw Ahee’s face, as if young Myeongyeong had returned.
So for those who had served Myeongyeong closely, how much harder would it be?
But unlike Myeongyeong, Ahee was difficult to read, so he had intended for her and Baeksa to meet gradually.
Yet she had already gone to see her.
Ju Jeokseo first fiddled with the spiritual treasure.
If only it would react to anyone.
But since Ahee’s return, it had not moved even once.
The retainers said its power had weakened.
‘Impossible.’
The treasure had reacted recently.
And though faint, he could still feel power remaining within it.
If Ahee were truly Myeongyeong’s blood relative, then the treasure should react eventually.
But if she wasn’t Myeongyeong’s bloodline…
Ju Jeokseo shuffled through documents.
After searching for quite a while, he found documents concerning the funding sources of the Song family that had been under investigation.
The finances of Song Hyeon’s family had shown strange movements starting ten years ago.
Ju Jeokseo had noticed it keenly and recently reopened the investigation into the Song family’s sources of funding.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
Of course, just because things were uncertain didn’t mean he intended to throw Ahee out immediately.
First of all, Ahee’s face resembled Myeongyeong too much, and the items found with her were real.
Moreover, just as he had taken in and cared for the homeless Baeksa, his principle was never to cast out a child.
But if the Song family head had deceived him—
Then the situation would be different.
At that point…
Ju Jeokseo tightly gripped the platinum hairpin.
His instincts sharpened like the edge of a finely honed blade.
That night.
A small snake sat alone in front of the pond.
The night breeze was chilly, and because she was in her beast-transformed state, she wore nothing over her scales.
Ju Jeokseo spotted her and sat down beside Baeksa with a thump.
Only then did Baeksa notice him.
Startled, her mouth fell open.
Then hurriedly, she released her transformation and returned to her human form.
“Head of the Family!”
“What are you doing here alone? It’s so late at night, and you’re not sleeping?”
Before they knew it, it was already midnight.
Baeksa should have been asleep long ago.
Baeksa smiled awkwardly and fiddled with her hair.
“I couldn’t sleep. Please keep it a secret from Sirang……”
“Alright. I’ll keep it a secret.”
“Here… promise.”
Recently, Baeksa had learned about “promises” from Hwayeong and Doeui, so she held out her little finger.
Ju Jeokseo saw that and let out a small laugh.
Then he hooked his thick finger around her tiny one and made a promise with her.
“I heard about it. Ahee came by earlier.”
“Ah… you heard?”
Baeksa’s eyes widened.
“Ahee-nim must have been upset. So I was looking at the pond.”
“Why the pond?”
“So that when I return it to Ahee-nim later… it can look prettier.”
Baeksa spoke softly.
“…Don’t you feel like you don’t want to give it back?”
“I am only borrowing everything here temporarily.”
Baeksa lightly touched the clear spring water with her fingertips.
Thanks to Doeui chasing away the water ghost, nothing remained inside it anymore; it was completely clean.
“I thought you’d be upset.”
“Ahee-nim is your family, Head of the Family. I’m not upset.”
Baeksa shook her head.
Ju Jeokseo quietly stared at her before slowly closing and opening his eyes.
This tiny child was astonishingly mature and composed.
Yet he couldn’t understand why hearing the little baby snake say those words made him feel so miserable.
