TLSWF 05

Chapter: 05

It was Cheongyeon’s voice. Haena got up from her seat and hurried over to the door.

“Yes!”

Haena answered energetically and struggled to open the large sliding door. Through the gap of the opened door, her eyes met Cheongyeon’s surprised ones.

“Miss. Why are you opening the door yourself? You only needed to call for me.”

“Th-that… I’m sorry.”

Haena immediately shut her mouth again.

In truth, it was unthinkable for someone who was being served by a maid to speak politely to that maid.

But she simply wasn’t used to it.

Among the servants of the Yeon family, there was no one Haena could speak casually to.

Noticing Haena’s anxious expression, Cheongyeon smiled gently.

Etiquette was important, but it seemed that the newly arrived young lady needed more time to adjust.

“What is there to be sorry about? I only wish for you to feel comfortable with me.”

Cheongyeon carefully took Haena’s hand and checked whether she had been hurt anywhere.

“Please speak however is comfortable for you, Miss. But next time, would you let me open the door? I worry that you might hurt your hands because the door is heavy.”

Cheongyeon’s voice contained no trace of scolding, only kindness. Haena nodded awkwardly.

“I thought you might be tired, so I deliberately didn’t wake you. Now then, you must be hungry, right?”

Saying that, Cheongyeon sat Haena down on a chair. Then she began placing dishes on the table one by one.

Before long, a neat meal was prepared. There was warm soup in fine brass bowls, glossy rice, vegetable side dishes, and even neobiani.

Haena’s mouth watered naturally.

She remembered the meal she had eaten last night. She had been so overwhelmed that she hadn’t even been able to properly taste it.

“Please eat, Miss.”

Cheongyeon placed a spoon in Haena’s hand as she spoke.

Haena wanted to immediately stuff the food into her mouth, but there was something she needed to ask first.

“Um, Lady Cheongyeon.”

When she called her cautiously, Cheongyeon’s expression darkened.

“Could you call me Cheongyeon instead? Lady Cheongyeon feels too distant…”

With her discouraged voice, Cheongyeon looked as if she might cry at any moment.

Startled, Haena hurriedly changed her words.

“Y-yes! Cheongyeon ni… no, Cheongyeon!”

Then Cheongyeon smiled brightly as if she had never looked sad.

Unaware that she had fallen for Cheongyeon’s little trick, Haena simply smiled along when she saw her smile.

“Yes, Miss. What is it?”

“There’s something I want to ask. Is that okay?”

“Of course. What are you curious about?”

At her gentle words, Haena stared quietly at the table. She looked at the carefully prepared food.

At the Yeon family, even mixed-grain rice with only a few vegetable side dishes had been something to be grateful for.

But the food given to the children in the basement had been even more horrible than that.

Because of that, most of the children were always hungry.

Haena had shared her own portion of food with them, but it was nowhere near enough.

“Those children… the ones who were in the basement…”

Hearing her quiet murmur, Cheongyeon nodded.

Haena looked at her anxiously.

“Were they all rescued safely? There were some children who were sick too… They all wanted to go home.”

At that question, Cheongyeon answered with a bitter smile.

“Of course. Everyone’s identities were confirmed, and they were returned to their parents. The sick children are receiving treatment from the royal physicians of the Inner Palace Hospital by His Majesty the King’s order.”

Haena’s face brightened instantly.

Cheongyeon smiled back and urged her to eat.

Only then did Haena pick up her spoon. The face of the child eating her meal eagerly was radiant.

Watching her, Cheongyeon’s eyes sank.

Cheongyeon’s words were not wrong. However, there was one thing she had hidden.

Most of the kidnapped children were commoners who did not possess the blood of the heavens, or children who carried only the bloodline of very small stars.

Therefore, they did not show severe rejection toward the energy that had been forcibly injected into them.

The only problem they had was malnutrition caused by being left in such terrible conditions for a long time.

But there was one child who was different.

The Fourth Prince.

The Fourth Prince had been kidnapped because Yeon Gi-mun mistook him, while he was secretly traveling outside the palace, for the son of a noble family.

Realizing that if he returned the prince as he was, his entire plan would be exposed, he accelerated his experiments, wanting to succeed before the palace found the Fourth Prince.

The Fourth Prince had received the greatest amount of energy, and it had clashed with the energy he originally possessed, leaving him with the deepest internal injuries.

The child, deciding he could no longer endure it, attempted to escape.

The powers of the stars each had different affinities. Among them, the Sun’s power possessed by the royal family was the polar opposite of the Moon.

The Fourth Prince escaped the estate on the night of the full moon.

After barely reaching the palace and revealing the mastermind behind his kidnapping, the child collapsed.

His body, already damaged by the conflicting energies, was further destroyed by the power of the full moon.

Seowon was currently being severely criticized for taking in a member of a family that had committed treason.

If the Fourth Prince died like this, it was uncertain whether Seowon would be able to continue protecting Haena until the end.

Above all, Haena had said she worked in the basement.

Seeing how she asked about those children’s safety the moment she woke up, it seemed she had grown attached to them. Cheongyeon did not want to tell her that one of them was in critical condition.

“Delicious…”

While Cheongyeon was lost in troubled thoughts, a small voice caught her attention.

Haena was staring at the neobiani with sparkling eyes.

She had only taken such tiny bites that it looked as though a mouse had nibbled at it.

Cheongyeon let out a helpless laugh. The young lady she had recently begun serving was truly adorable.

“Eat as much as you like, Miss. The cook said he prepared a lot especially for you.”

Cheongyeon picked up a new pair of chopsticks, cut off a large piece of neobiani, and placed the meat on Haena’s spoon.

The child, who had been hesitating, gave a small smile.

“I’m full…”

After the meal, Haena walked through the garden while gently patting her round belly.

Because Cheongyeon had told her that the cook would be sad if she left food behind, she had eaten everything she was given, and now she felt as if her stomach might burst.

Cheongyeon had changed Haena’s clothes with a satisfied expression and sent her outside, telling her to go play.

Haena sighed several times as she walked, but her face was still bright.

‘They’re all safe.’

Although she had no right to say that after prioritizing her own life first, Haena had genuinely worried about those children.

‘That child went home safely too, right?’

Walking through the neatly maintained Yul family garden, Haena fell into thought.

Two days before the royal soldiers stormed in, one child had escaped from the basement.

Among all the children, that child had suffered the most but was also unusually brave.

The child who always glared at Haena with fierce eyes eventually managed to escape the basement.

When Yeon Gi-mun learned of it, he became furious.

He had discovered that Haena had been inside the cabinet because he found out she had helped that child escape.

Before even two days had passed after the child fled, the royal soldiers arrived.

So the child was probably safe.

Haena looked around the garden with a small smile.

Summer flowers bloomed beautifully between the large trees and the small pond.

‘What kind of flower is this?’

When she was in the Yeon family, she had been too busy to even dream of looking around a garden.

She had also been forbidden from leaving the Yeon estate.

The only flowers Haena had known until now were clover flowers, which an uncle had made into flower rings for her, and azaleas, which they had used to make flower pancakes.

Everything here was a flower she had never seen before, and every one of them was beautiful.

After spending a long time admiring them absentmindedly, Haena stopped in front of the pond.

True to the Yul family, who controlled water, the pond’s water was extremely clear.

Several large carp could be seen swimming inside.

Her reflection on the surface of the water felt unfamiliar.

Haena blinked several times before crouching down in front of it.

The owner of this estate, the Star Lord of Tamrang, Yul Seowan.

They said that person was her blood relative.

Her older sister.

Haena’s face turned red.

Older sister.

Family.