Chapter 382: Lee Wanhee
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 382: Lee Wanhee
This was a completely unexpected situation. The purpose of this trip was to bless the child, tour the underground city and the temple, and catch up with Baek Ahyeon after so long.
But as I looked at Lee Wanyong’s daughter, who was clinging to Ratga’s arms with a will that declared she would never let go, I felt more than just flustered—it was almost frightening. For some reason, her gaze didn’t seem like that of a pure, innocent child.
That was definitely not the gaze of someone who knew nothing.
She already understood the ways of the world. It was the gaze of someone desperately trying to latch onto a lifeline.
“Ah… boobooboo… Gaha! Aboobooboo!”
Her babbling almost sounded like flattery. As if responding to Ratga’s comment about her being cute, she flashed a brilliant smile, seemingly promoting herself with all her might. The way she kept blinking her eyes felt deliberate.
The look on Lee Wanyong’s face as he watched his daughter was quite a sight. He wore an expression of infinite trust in his own bloodline. Unlike him, however, his wife, Lee Jihee, had a look on her face that was not much different from my own.
‘What is wrong with her?’
It was no wonder she looked so bewildered. I glanced at Lee Wanhee and spoke to Lee Wanyong.
“The child is very friendly.”
“Hehe. She’s usually a bit shy around strangers, you see. She doesn’t even smile much unless it’s me or Jihee… In fact, this is the first time I’ve seen her this bright. It seems she’s really taken a liking to Lord Ratga. It’s truly amazing.”
“Is that so…”
“Yes, it is.”
Though it was unlikely, the thought that Lee Wanhee might grow up and one day be with Ratga made me swallow hard without realizing it. Their growth rates were different, but they were the same age. There was no telling what the future held a dozen or so years from now.
“…”
I glanced down at Ratga and saw he wore an expression of pure adoration for Lee Wanhee. There was no reason not to like her when she was acting like this. Anyone would find her cute, smiling like an angel and constantly reaching out her arms.
“Hahaha. Father, she really won’t let go of my hand.”
“Gaha!”
Was it just my imagination, or was there a surprising amount of strength in that tiny, fist-sized hand gripping Ratga’s finger? No, it was definitely not my imagination. I couldn’t just let them stay attached like this, so I glanced at Lee Wanyong, and the quick-witted fellow immediately started to approach Lee Wanhee, intending to pry his daughter away.
“Wanhee, it’s Daddy.”
The moment he reached out his hand, her reaction was even more of a spectacle.
“Waaaaaaah!”
She desperately tried to push her father’s hand away. Even when Lee Jihee stepped in, the crying didn’t stop. The sight of a baby, barely a year old, frantically pushing away her own mother and father was certainly not something you see every day.
I could even sense an inexplicable feeling of betrayal on Lee Jihee’s face. If I were in her shoes, I’m sure I would have felt an immense sense of betrayal too. The daughter she had carried in her womb for over ten months and raised with all her heart was rejecting her mother’s touch, wanting to stay in the arms of a demon she had just met. It was by no means a normal situation.
But the corners of Lee Wanyong’s mouth were creeping higher and higher.
‘This bastard… he’s proud of her.’
In this very moment, he was proud of his daughter for rejecting him.
“My, my… it seems our Wanhee truly likes Lord Ratga. Hehe… well then… I think it would be best for my wife to put Wanhee to sleep after the ceremony is over.”
“Hmm… If that’s the case, then it can’t be helped. Father, I think I’ll have to look after the child for a bit. It’s no trouble, so please leave her to me. It would be best to let her go once she’s asleep.”
“Hmph… Do as you wish. But make sure she doesn’t get hurt.”
“Gaha…”
Only then did she break into a wide grin and snuggle into Ratga’s arms. It was a real spectacle. Her face was undoubtedly angelic, but Lee Wanyong’s face kept overlapping with hers, making it hard to see her as simply cute. Choi Seulgi must have felt the same, as she leaned in and whispered to me.
“Fucking hell. This is insane. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s not just that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree; she’s the tree itself. Is it possible that the man standing there is a fake, and that baby is actually Lee Wanyong in disguise?”
“An excellent deduction…”
“I’m worried this might decide Ratga’s first bride…”
“Don’t say such ridiculous things.”
“…”
Things like in-laws, the wife’s family, or the husband’s family were a bit of a faded concept on this continent, but for some reason, the thought of becoming in-laws with that Lee Wanyong was unbearable.
“I want to grow up quickly and play with Wanhee, Father. When will she grow to be about my size?”
“Hehe. You’ll have to wait ten years for that, Lord Ratga. However, Wanhee grows a little faster than other children, so you probably won’t have to wait quite that long.”
“In ten years, I’ll already be an adult. That’s a real shame. We could have run around the children’s battlefield together…”
Seeing Ratga look so visibly disappointed made me feel even more anxious. I respected my son’s opinions, but I was worried that the pure-hearted Ratga would fall into the trap that was Lee Wanhee.
“I wish you were a Green Skin… Ah! I apologize if that was offensive. I am aware that both Mr. Lee Wanyong and she are Green Skins. I was referring to the physical aspect, not the mental one, so please don’t take it to heart.”
“Of course, I understand, Lord Ratga. Hehe. Thank you for your consideration.”
Lee Wanyong nodded his head repeatedly. I had a pretty good idea of what he was thinking. For now, it was best to proceed with the ceremony we had prepared.
But first, I had to greet Baek Ahyeon. I had been distracted by Lee Wanhee for a moment, but it was only right to express my gratitude to her for waiting for me. When I opened my arms slightly, Baek Ahyeon came into my embrace with teary eyes, looking incredibly cute.
“My Savior… sob…”
In truth, it wasn’t that I hadn’t seen Baek Ahyeon at all.
However, it was always Choi Eunju who briefly brought Baek Ahyeon to me, rather than me coming to the East. Still, it was a given that I saw her relatively less than the other women. Since “Please, you must visit the East” was a phrase Baek Ahyeon always had on her lips, it was no surprise she was so moved by my arrival.
“Sorry I’m late.”
“Not at all, my Savior. I have heard everything that transpired in your glorious lands. Are you not now standing above all Green Skins?”
“It’s a slightly different concept, but you could say you’re right.”
“I am so deeply moved. I now understand why you have not visited this temple until now. You must have had things to sort out. I am so ashamed. It is embarrassing to admit that I harbored feelings of resentment toward you for not visiting this place.”
She was truly weeping tears of repentance. The real reason I hadn’t visited the temple was different from what she thought, but I figured nodding was the best choice, so I gave a slight affirmation and continued.
“How have you been?”
“The same as always. I offer my prayers and fall asleep each night imagining you, my Savior. I am overjoyed that the others have come with you as well.”
“It’s been a while, Ms. Ahyeon.”
“Long time no see.”
“It’s been a long time, Ms. Choi Eunju and Ms. Choi Seulgi. Are you feeling better?”
“Yes, I’m perfectly fine now. Thank you so much for what you did back then, little sister.”
“Not at all. I only did what I had to do.”
Baek Ahyeon exchanged greetings with Choi Seulgi and Choi Eunju. If she was once a bit antisocial, the way she acted these days was quite sociable.
I remembered her not speaking much with any of the women except Mev and Jung Hayeon. In Choi Seulgi’s case, she had approached her first, and she had grown closer to Choi Eunju through the last incident. The problem was Jang Ye Ri.
Baek Ahyeon still hadn’t forgotten the incident where Jang Ye Ri took her ring.
‘The Ring of Covenant.’
Isaac had said he would start working on it, so it was only a matter of time before another ring was created, but it would be impossible to share emotions like the Ring of Covenant could. I had handed the ring over to Jang Ye Ri for the sake of convenience on a work-related matter, but if a copy was made, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to give the original back to its owner.
“Lord Ratga, you’ve come as well. You’ve grown up to be so gallant.”
What was unusual was how incredibly gentle she was with Ratga.
“Ah… My taller mother, I apologize for the late greeting. I don’t know how long it’s been. I heard you were having a hard time, and it breaks my heart to see you looking so thin.”
“Haha. It’s nothing to worry about.”
It was impossible to dislike him when he responded like that.
In fact, Choi Seulgi, Baek Ahyeon, and Choi Eunju, who had no children of their own, didn’t dislike my children. On the contrary, they adored and cherished them. Since they had no children of their own, they cared for them as if they were their own flesh and blood.
They were trying hard, but there was no news yet. Choi Eunju, in particular, was feeling the stress. While Choi Seulgi’s feelings were more along the lines of, ‘It would be nice to have a child…’, Choi Eunju truly wanted to get pregnant. Perhaps because of the memory of her miscarriage, she seemed to be afraid, but I had sometimes sensed a bitter emotion from her even as she cared for the children.
Time flew by faster than I expected as we sat in the reception room exchanging greetings. We couldn’t just kill time here. I looked at Baek Ahyeon and spoke again.
“First, it would be best to bestow the baptism upon Lee Wanhee. It’s not a grand ceremony, though.”
“Yes, please do so.”
All it involved was rubbing the child’s forehead, but within the Blood Dagger Clan, the act of me touching a child was taken to have a special meaning. The same was true for Baek Ahyeon and her followers. In fact, this was the reason for bringing Lee Wanhee here.
Although I had acknowledged Lee Wanyong as a Green Skin, I hadn’t given him any particular reward. There was the fact that he was already taking care of himself just fine, so I didn’t need to say anything, but in truth, there was no point in me giving him anything material.
This seemingly useless ritual would be the very thing that made him even more loyal.
As I reached out my hand, Lee Wanhee surprisingly reached her hand out to me.
‘Wh-what the…’
The frantic flailing of her hands and feet that had rejected Lee Wanyong and Lee Jihee was gone. The cute act she had put on for Ratga was also nowhere to be seen. What I saw was something akin to looking at a very quiet daughter-in-law.
She simply closed her eyes and let herself be held by me.
‘Cute.’
The thought that she was cute popped into my head unbidden, sending a shiver down my spine. I made a cut on my finger and drew a picture on the child’s forehead. It was quite surprising that she didn’t even flinch, when she had every reason to be startled.
“A… booboo…”
She just closed her eyes peacefully and mumbled quietly. It was at that exact moment that a light suddenly burst forth from Lee Wanhee.
“Wh-what is this?”
Even I was confused by the inexplicable situation, as Baek Ahyeon and Inquisitor Park Jihye shouted loudly.
“A… a miracle!”
“A miracle is happening!”
Of course, I hadn’t caused any miracle. If anything, the one causing the miracle was this child in my arms. What was absurd was that her body seemed to be changing. The child’s small body was growing as if she were transforming into a magical girl.
‘Heh…’
The hall instantly erupted in chaos. I had seen something like this a few times before. Only twice since arriving on this continent. It was remarkably similar to when Jung Hayeon and Lee Wanyong transformed into an Alraune and a Doppelganger, respectively.