Home/The very suspicious chick of the Blue Dragon clan/ch 29

Chapter 29

"Peep?"

(Did you sleep well, Taeo? What's that?)

At Aran's question, Taeo gave a slightly sad smile.

"A summoning array. With this, I can call a six-eyed turtle and go home."

"Pik?"

(Without going to the imperial capital to meet your family?)

"Yes, I don't need to."

So his pretense of going along with Cheongun's suggestion to travel to the imperial capital was just to buy time?

While Aran tilted her head in observation, the summoning array was quickly completed.

The neat hexagonal array, filled with tiny inscriptions, was so perfect it drew admiration—as if a god had briefly guided the brush.

"Pii."

(Wow, you really draw well.)

Taeo cleared his throat and joked.

"Ahem, there is nothing under heaven that this body cannot do."

Aran chirped with laughter and fluttered above Taeo's head.

Taeo picked up the completed summoning array and went before Cheongun with Aran, bowing politely.

"I will not forget the kindness the Great Lord has shown me. I shall take my leave now."

Cheongun, busy preparing for the older children's trip to the imperial capital, tilted his head.

"Hm? Didn't I promise the Great Lord that the young master Hwi would take you to the imperial capital?"

"There's no need to trouble them when I can return and see my father directly."

If true, it was a reasonable point.

Going overland to the imperial capital, then meeting his family and returning north—that was a long journey.

Besides, the Great Lord wouldn't be coming to the imperial capital.

Cheongun examined the paper the child showed him closely.

"A summoning array? You can summon a six-eyed turtle with this? Is this something any direct-line member of the Black Tortoise clan can do?"

Knowing full well that couldn't be true, he asked anyway, and Taeo hesitated for a moment before answering.

"I don't know if my other brothers can do it."

At the very least, it sounded as though the Great Lord could.

"Do you need water?"

At Cheongun's follow-up question, Taeo thought for a moment and nodded.

"I would be grateful if you would allow me to use Cheongyeonji."

In truth, if he had the summoning array, he didn't need water to summon a spiritual creature belonging to the Black Tortoise Palace.

Six-eyed turtles were faster in water but could also live on land.

He'd only answered that way so the Lord of the Eastern Quarter wouldn't be unsettled by the fact that he could easily summon a six-eyed turtle anywhere.

Did Cheongun notice that?

He chuckled.

"Alright, good. Let's go together."

---

"Goodbye, Ran-ah."

Before summoning the six-eyed turtle, Taeo stroked Aran and said his farewell.

He also lightly touched the necklace Aran still wore with his fingertip.

"Pipi."

(I won't take the necklace off, so you have to keep all your promises too, okay? I'll write as soon as I get my human form.)

Taeo gave a perfunctory farewell to the twins, who were waving their hands repeatedly, then whispered to Aran.

"It doesn't matter to me what form you take."

Those words comforted Aran in a strange way.

Everyone was anxiously waiting for her to obtain human form—so it was fine if at least one person didn't.

Even as she thought that, Aran was busy extracting a promise from Taeo.

"Pik!?"

(You absolutely must not run away from the palace on your own! I already told you—if you do, I'll take the twins instead, remember?)

Taeo looked down at Aran with a hurt expression and murmured.

"I'll keep all my promises, so don't ever say that again."

Then he placed his small palm on the summoning array laid before Cheongyeonji.

The moment he chanted the incantation, a cool energy spread instantly, enveloping the surroundings.

Everyone in the Blue Dragon Palace watched breathlessly as the calm surface of the water began to churn violently.

Soon, a turtle emerged from the water, its six eyes brimming with tears.

"Kkuruk-kkuruk…"

(Young master, I thought you'd forgotten me…)

Taeo answered in a far colder tone than he'd used throughout his stay at the Blue Dragon Palace.

"Spare me the useless talk."

At that, the six-eyed turtle quickly stopped crying, trembling as it doubled its size.

"Kkururuk…?"

(Forgive me. Are you ready to return…?)

"Yes, let's go."

As the six-eyed turtle bowed its head, Taeo casually stepped on its head and climbed onto its back.

Aran watched with a start, but the six-eyed turtle simply gazed with proud eyes.

As the reincarnation of a god, he was indeed a born ruler.

Taeo left Aran with his final farewell.

"Ran-ah, until we meet again, you must stay healthy."

Before she could answer, swoosh—a great spray of water erupted.

The twins gasped in surprise and looked around, but the now-calm pond held no one.

As if it had always been that way.

---

That same afternoon.

The Black Tortoise Palace was again in an uproar over its suddenly returned youngest.

"You, you little…!"

Ui-cheon was prepared to give a severe punishment this time, but Taeo unexpectedly knelt obediently before him.

"I'm sorry for worrying you, Father. I just wanted to meet a peer I could talk to, and I couldn't help myself…"

If there had been many eyes watching, he would have had to scold him severely, but all his grown sons had already left for the imperial capital for the archery competition.

Ui-cheon found Taeo's unprecedented obedient attitude secretly pleasing and cleared his throat.

"Ahem! You, really…! Hmph! So, was it good to meet a peer?"

"The Blue Dragon twins were toddling babies, and their youngest still hasn't obtained human form—so I suppose they weren't quite peers."

Taeo deliberately spoke to highlight his own specialness, hoping to lift his father's spirits.

Indeed, Ui-cheon's lips twitched upward.

"But it was still good. All the Cheong children welcomed me, and the Great Lord and his brothers treated me well, too."

At that point, Taeo cleverly added.

"The young master Cheong Hwi was especially kind—despite being busy, he made time to play with us a lot."

It had long passed the point where Ui-cheon could pretend not to notice that the Black Tortoise Palace's young master Tae-su was averse to the youngest.

So Ui-cheon quickly felt remorseful and looked down at his youngest.

"Did he? The Blue Dragons may seem gentle and kind, but it's only when they're in a good mood."

Unable to find words to defend Tae-su, Ui-cheon instead disparaged the Blue Dragons.

"In fact, the Cheong clan is the only real rival to our north, you know?"

Of course, both Black Tortoise and Blue Dragon beastmen had enormous, destructive true forms—so massive that simply transforming would deplete their life force.

In the event of war, it was only natural that the White Tiger and Vermilion Bird palaces couldn't match the scale of these two clans.

Taeo knew that well, but the kindness the Blue Dragons had shown him also seemed genuine.

Still, he answered without defying his father.

"…Yes, Father."

It was to make sure Aran wouldn't take off the necklace, and to prevent him from considering the Blue Dragons as her possessions on equal footing with himself.

"Absolutely no running away. No causing trouble and getting kicked out of the clan, and no defying your elders at such a young age. No skipping meals or sleep. No hurting people who don't intend you harm, and also…"

Taeo's wishes had been just two, yet why were Aran's conditions so many?

But those two things were so important to Taeo that he couldn't disobey Aran.

Unaware of these circumstances, Ui-cheon thought that the Blue Dragon Palace's discipline seemed to have had an unexpectedly good influence on his youngest.

"Hmph! But how on earth did you get the idea to copy the hexagonal board and summon a six-eyed turtle?"

Ui-cheon finally asked what he'd been most curious about.

In fact, the moment he realized Taeo had gone off to the Blue Dragon Palace on his own, he'd called for Tae-kyung, his second child and most talented daughter in summoning, to draw the hexagonal board.

Tae-kyung, who excelled at drawing and calligraphy, produced a summoning array as excellent as Taeo's, but she couldn't summon a six-eyed turtle with it.

Ui-cheon had then tried summoning a six-eyed turtle with Tae-kyung's array, and unlike when using the hexagonal board, it consumed so much energy he felt dizzy.

But Taeo only answered with a nonchalant expression.

"I just… felt like I could do it?"

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