Home/The very suspicious chick of the Blue Dragon clan/ch 14

Chapter 14

"What do you think you're doing?"

Aran could not answer the cold boy's question and only faltered.

Of course, even if she answered, he wouldn't understand.

Cheong Su-ryeon began to lash out unilaterally.

"Wasn't it enough to crawl into someone else's home and play the youngest for free? Do you want to break a leg and get more attention?"

Wait, this is getting unbearable to listen to.

"Pik!"

(Hey!)

Aran screeched, and Su-ryeon's straight eyebrow arched up on one side.

"What, you? What makes you so angry? A tiny little thing prancing around talking about flight practice—and you had to do it on stone pavement? Are you a stone-head?"

Stone-head?

Such crude language was unheard of in Aran's memory for the past half-century!

Aran froze in shock, but Su-ryeon paid her reaction no mind and continued.

"Were you experimenting to see if you'd break or the ground would break if you hit the stone?"

Wow, this is infuriating….

Aran trembled with exasperation.

At that, Su-ryeon, who had been fully venting his irritation, suddenly flinched and backed away.

"Wh-what? Don't tell me you got hurt when you fell earlier? Ah, I thought I'd kept you from getting hurt…"

Kept me from getting hurt?

Come to think of it, she had fallen at an impossibly slow speed just now.

Could it be that Cheong Su-ryeon had used his ability?

Why? He'd been protesting for half a year that he couldn't accept a mere bird as the youngest, hadn't he?

Just as Aran was trying to gauge the unpredictable second Blue Dragon's mood, So-rim came running breathlessly.

"Young miss! You really came all the way out here alone?"

It seemed the maid and servant who had passed by earlier had reported Aran's movements.

So-rim spotted Su-ryeon beside Aran and bowed.

"Young master, you've met the young miss."

"Met?"

Su-ryeon frowned as if he'd been grievously misunderstood.

"Training Master, you really have a strange way of speaking. I merely 'discovered' this bird by chance. To be precise, I saw this foolish creature about to crack its head on the stone pavement."

What on earth is this terror of a mouth?

How did such a dragon end up in our mother's Eastern Blue Dragon Palace…?

While Aran was dumbfounded by his outrageous speech, So-rim focused only on the information Su-ryeon provided.

"Good heavens, really? Oh my, our little Peep-peep young miss—are you hurt?"

"Peep…"

(No…)

Aran didn't have the energy to say more—she just shook her head.

Even if she said that Cheong Su-ryeon, who spoke so harshly, had used his wind ability to stop her fall, So-rim wouldn't believe it.

In fact, Aran herself was beginning to wonder if she'd imagined it.

Huh? Maybe it really was my imagination?

With Aran looking confused, Su-ryeon answered irritably.

"Take her to the physician. It's true she looks overly frail, but trying to gain attention by being weak—that's not right, is it?"

"Ah… Young master Su-ryeon, well…"

Just as So-rim was about to defend Aran—

Su-ryeon cut her off and turned away.

"I was on my way to the training grounds, so I'll be going."

Then he stomped off as if he'd shatter every stone on the ground.

"Peep."

(Wow, walking like that, the ground's bound to crack. Huh?)

Aran shook her head, and So-rim carefully lifted her and said,

"He's just going through adolescence. Please be generous and understand, our kind young miss."

Adolescence?

He's like that just because of adolescence?

"Peep-peep."

(Training Master, you're quite the talker too.)

In fact, Aran knew.

Beyond adolescence, that child had lost his mother just half a year ago.

Aran watched Su-ryeon's retreating figure, his blue hair streaming, with a bittersweet gaze.

---

"Young miss, do you have any pain?"

Aran, dragged to another examination thanks to the unexpected interrupter, shook her head vigorously at the physician's question.

"Peep."

(Not at all.)

The physician carefully felt both of Aran's legs, then gently spread both wings.

He even flipped open both eyelids for no reason, and opened her beak to check inside her mouth.

Still finding no sign of any illness or injury, the physician finally concluded.

"Hmm, today you seem quite healthy, actually."

"Is that so?"

So-rim tilted her head, finding it strange.

"But the second young master clearly said the young miss hit her head on the stone pavement."

To be precise, he'd said he saw her about to hit it.

It seemed the information had been poorly relayed in So-rim's mind.

"Her head?"

The puzzled physician examined Aran's round head once more.

No matter how he looked, it was perfectly fine.

"It seems fine to me. Perhaps the young master mis-saw."

"Well…"

So-rim concluded that Su-ryeon must have seen Aran's flight practice from a distance and mistaken what he saw.

After all, Su-ryeon still disliked Aran and didn't hesitate to take long detours to avoid the little chick.

"At any rate, since you're here, let's do one more warm compress for your legs."

"Pi?"

(Compress?)

A hundred-year-old Vermilion Bird would never refuse a good compress. The Blue Dragon Palace was wonderful, but it had no hot springs.

"Pit."

(Ah, so nice—)

Aran buried herself in the warm towel and thought about Su-ryeon.

The boy who, born in the same nest as his twin younger siblings, could not accept a baby bird of a completely different species as family.

Of course, being born in the Blue Dragon Palace was an immense stroke of luck for Aran.

That all the palace servants, following the master's will, silently accepted her was a gift beyond anything she could have hoped for.

So even though she knew Su-ryeon couldn't recognize her as family, she had done her best to pretend otherwise.

Because she had to survive.

A baby Vermilion Bird who couldn't yet fly and hadn't obtained human form desperately needed a home and protection.

"Piik."

(So stay out of my way, Cheong Su-ryeon.)

Aran recalled the earth-colored eyes that had glared at her and steeled her resolve for flight training even more.

"Pit-pit."

(Once I can fly, I can leave this palace or stay as I please, can't I?)

She pushed the guilt toward the thirteen-year-old boy deep into her heart.

Trying clumsily to make peace would only be futile.

If she truly felt sorry for Su-ryeon, the best thing she could do was grow up quickly and leave. That would also be in accordance with nature's order.

It would be sad, of course, not to see Cheongun and Hwi, who had given her their hearts and their name, and the twins—but this was the Blue Dragon Palace, and she was a Vermilion Bird.

Aran knew that very well.

There was no need to learn anything new from anyone.

---

Had Aran's resolve finally been conveyed?

The next day, when she followed So-rim to the stone path from the day before, several layers of quilted blankets were laid out in a row on the ground.

"How about it, young miss? Now you won't get hurt practicing here, right?"

The thought of running on those soft blankets made her sigh, but Aran couldn't bring herself to shake her head.

Because So-rim's brown eyes sparkled with an expression that said, "Did I do well?"

"Peep."

(Fine, you did well.)

Aran nodded, and so practice began again.

But running long enough to gain speed on a soft blanket was far too difficult.

"Pik! Piik!"

(Huff! Huff! This is exhausting!)

After several failures, Aran devised a new method—starting on the stone path and crashing onto the blankets.

So-rim seemed to think that was acceptable too, and didn't interfere, cheering her on enthusiastically.

"Now, now! Our little Peep-peep young miss, hang in there! One, two—!"

At the loud cheers, just as during her first walking practice, many palace servants gathered to watch Aran's flight training.

"Pit…"

(How embarrassing…)

Aran grumbled but straightened her body.

Worried that Cheongun might appear from somewhere and scold her, she only lightly scratched the ground as a warm-up.

After giving her feathers a good shake—tap, tap, tap!—

The cool autumn wind brushed pleasantly against her face.

Aran kicked off the ground with force and soared into the air.

"Ooh…!"

Contrary to the cheers around her, she had only risen a tiny bit above the ground.

"Pit."

(Ahem.)

Aran plopped into the blankets So-rim had laid out, then stood up with an embarrassed expression and toddled back to the starting point.

"Piing."

(Alright, this time a little higher.)

To get more thrust, she had to run faster.

Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!

Aran ran faster.

Her feathers flattened backward, and her wings naturally lifted.

Just as she was about to begin flapping—wobble—!

Her slender feet couldn't handle the increased speed and briefly lost balance.

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