Chapter 9
“Ah!”
So-so clutched her loosened hair, a look of bewilderment on her face.
Yeo-ryeong sighed as she examined the embroidery on the traditional hair ribbon.
“Do-hun was right. This was mine to begin with.”
“Pardon?”
“It means this is the very ribbon Do-hun said he gifted to the child he met yesterday.”
At the words that felt like a final, crushing blow, So-so slumped to the floor.
She had never dreamed that it would be an item belonging to the Divine Priestess.
Why on earth would Arin have any reason to meet the Divine Priestess?
“Divine Priestess!”
It couldn’t be. This was clearly just an excuse to protect Geum Do-gyeong.
She had always favored that man, after all.
“See for yourself.”
Yeo-ryeong handed the ribbon to Hong I-jin, who was about to protest.
Hong I-jin, still wheezing, checked the embroidery on the ribbon and his mouth fell open.
A golden lotus, the symbol of the Village of the Twelve Zodiac Deities, was stitched into it.
It was undeniably the pattern that the Divine Priestess Yeo-ryeong used on her personal belongings.
Because it was not an item just anyone could possess, Hong I-jin could no longer deny the truth.
“How could this be…?”
Hong I-jin looked back and forth between the ribbon and So-so, as if he couldn’t believe it.
“Did you really steal this?”
To Hong I-jin’s hollow question, So-so could say nothing.
If she said she took it from the Annex, she would be caught having met Arin.
If she said she stole it, she would be punished for daring to take the Divine Priestess’s property.
In the end, there was nothing So-so could say.
* * *
The welcome party ended in shambles due to the friction between Geum Do-gyeong and Hong I-jin.
While Yeo-ryeong and Hong I-jin went to discuss Arin’s situation, Do-hun returned to the room.
Arin was still asleep. Do-hun approached her side and touched her forehead.
“Thankfully, the fever has broken.”
Do-hun had been so anxious when the fever wouldn’t subside even after she took the medicine.
He had stayed by the child’s side all night. In the early hours of the morning, after repeatedly wiping away her cold sweat, he stood up to get some water, only for a small, frail hand to catch his sleeve.
‘Father, I’ve been bad……. Please, don’t go…….’
It seemed that in her delirium, she had mistaken him for Hong I-jin.
‘I’ll do everything right, please…….’
Seeing the child repeatedly begging for forgiveness in a raspy voice, he found it hard to breathe.
Do-hun eventually sat back down and patted Arin’s body.
‘You have done nothing wrong.’
Only then did Arin, relieved, relax her brow and fall back asleep.
However, perhaps because her anxiety hadn’t fully faded, she kept his index finger tightly gripped in her tiny hand.
It was then that he suddenly remembered his late wife’s wish to have a daughter.
He wondered if perhaps Jin-gyeong, from up in heaven, had sent this child to him.
That day, Do-hun made a decision.
He would raise this child himself.
As soon as the next morning dawned, he sought out Yeo-ryeong and declared.
‘I will take the child with me.’
‘I see. You’ve thought it through well.’
Yeo-ryeong proceeded with the next steps as if she had expected it.
He had originally intended to wait until Arin woke up.
‘T-this is a gift my mother gave me…….’
Seeing So-so, who had come wearing the ribbon he had given to Arin as if to show it off, Do-hun couldn’t hold back.
If a tail is too long, it is bound to be caught.
Since she had been caught red-handed thanks to So-so, Hong I-jin would no longer be able to deny Arin’s existence.
With Yeo-ryeong personally intervening, the transfer of Arin to the Golden Tiger Family would be handled quickly.
*Grumble.*
Just then, a sound like thunder erupted from Arin’s sleeping stomach.
Geum Do-hun looked at the child’s sunken belly and gritted his teeth.
“Starving the child like this….”
While Do-hun left the room to fetch some food,
“Ugh.”
With a low groan, Arin’s tightly shut eyelids fluttered open.
‘Where am I?’
After she began living in the Annex, she had always suffered from cold and darkness at night.
She felt confused to suddenly wake up in a warm, bright place.
Arin, remembering just before she collapsed that she had met the Golden Mouse, sat up with a start.
At that moment, the wet towel on her head fell off.
Come to think of it, the headache that had followed her since the morning had vanished completely.
Looking out the window, the moon was shining brightly.
Since it had been around sunset when she met the Golden Mouse, it seemed not much time had passed.
This was a thought she could only have because she didn’t know she had been unconscious for over a day.
“Golden Mouse?”
She called out in a small voice, but there was no sign of it.
With no other choice, Arin began to tidy up the bedding and prepare to leave, but then Do-hun entered carrying chicken porridge.
It was made by adding glutinous rice to the samgyetang used for the banquet.
Do-hun tilted his head as he watched Arin tidying the bedding.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh?”
Arin turned around in surprise. Recognizing him as the kind man who had given her the yakgwa, she bowed from the waist.
“Hello, sir. Did you help me?”
“Sir…….”
Do-hun looked shocked at the way Arin addressed him.
He was indeed a man, but he wasn’t used to being called “sir” in this situation.
He had always been called Family Head by those around him.
Still, seeing her voice was cheerful, it seemed she had fully recovered.
Do-hun set the chicken porridge on the table and asked again.
“So, what were you doing?”
“I was folding the bedding. Thank you so much for helping me twice.”
Do-hun was dumbfounded by her polite greeting.
The fact that she was folding thick blankets with those tiny hands was absurd in itself.
Thus, Do-hun’s voice sharpened.
“Who told you to fold the blankets?”
“I just… I didn’t think it would be right to leave it like this…….”
“Leave? Don’t tell me you’re planning to go back to that Annex?”
“Pardon? That is…….”
Arin waved her hands and stammered. She didn’t actually know where she should go.
She had made up her mind to leave the Annex.
But once she saw the outside, it was too dark.
She couldn’t be sure she would find her way back to the Annex if she tried to return now.
Arin bowed her head, swallowing her pride.
“Um… if it’s not too much trouble, could I stay here for just one night?”
“…….”
“I’ll stay in the corner and sleep quietly, I promise.”
Do-hun was so taken aback that he couldn’t find the words every time Arin spoke.
Was it because she hadn’t been under the care of an adult for so long?
Arin tried to do everything by herself, even though she still needed an adult’s protection.
“Do as you please.”
Do-hun cleared the bedding to the corner and sat Arin in front of the table.
Arin, who had sat down in front of the chicken porridge, stared blankly at Do-hun.
She was holding back well, even though her nostrils were flaring at the smell of the porridge.
“Eat.”
“Pardon? May I really eat this?”
“I made it for you, so stop talking and just eat. You might get indigestion, so chew slowly and thoroughly.”
Do-hun even placed the spoon in her hand so she couldn’t refuse.
Arin stared at the steaming porridge for a moment before carefully lifting the spoon.
Her eyes sparkled as she took a bite of the chicken porridge.
The texture of the savory glutinous rice and the chewy chicken was excellent.
Perhaps because it had been so long since she’d had meat, her mouth kept watering.
Arin began to eat diligently, as if she hadn’t just been refusing it moments ago.
Seeing the child eating ravenously, Do-hun handed her a bowl of dongchimi broth.
“You’ll choke.”
“Th-thank you.”
Arin shivered as she sipped the dongchimi broth.
“This is so delicious…!”
The combination of salty chicken porridge and sweet, tangy dongchimi was perfect.
As Arin wore an expression of pure excitement, a smile spread across Do-hun’s face.
“Tell me if you want more.”
“May I really?”
“Is it your habit to make people say things twice?”
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