Camellia

Chapter 14

 

From earlier, the crow shouted with an obsessive determination at Dongbaek, who had been mockingly teasing him.

“Hey, my name comes first! If you dare name that horse before me, I’ll peck out its eyes and eat them!”

Dongbaek led the horse out of the lake, letting the crow’s words go in one ear and out the other. She knew the crow couldn’t actually do what it threatened.

‘Because it won’t do things I hate.’

Dongbaek sighed, leaving behind the crow’s chattering sounds. It wasn’t that she disliked the crow and therefore hadn’t given it a name until now.

She never intended to stay with the crow long enough to give it a name in the first place. She had absolutely no intention of dimensional traveling, and she firmly believed that the crow would eventually give up and leave to find someone else.

‘If I give it a name and get attached, then feel sad when it leaves…’

Besides, calling it “crow” had been sufficient for communication so far. There were more pigeons, magpies, and sparrows around the apartment than crows anyway. To be honest, with a slight exaggeration, Dongbaek had never seen another crow besides this one.

But in this world, there were so many crows. If Zhang Rang hadn’t disliked crows, there would have been even more crows flying around Luoyang.

A name for the crow. It was worth considering at this point.

But she didn’t like the idea of making the crow happy by giving in so easily. Deliberately avoiding the answer the crow wanted, Dongbaek teased the frustrated crow.

“Go ahead and peck if you want to. Just don’t get trampled by the horse’s hooves.”

“Hey… hey! Wait for me!”

As Dongbaek, now mounted on the horse, rode away, the crow, who had been sitting on the ground, hurriedly took flight to follow her.

What’s this, she really isn’t going to give me a name?

Dongbaek had quite a mischievous side, so she might just be teasing. But even while thinking “surely not,” the crow couldn’t help but hope “maybe.” As a crow who couldn’t figure out what Dongbaek was thinking inside, all it could do was puff up and put more strength into its wing beats.

-ˋˏ ༻❁✿❀༺ ˎˊ-

Some days, Dongbaek practiced martial arts. Other days, she buried herself in study. However, she never once stepped outside Zhang Rang’s mansion. It wasn’t that she deliberately avoided going out. She simply had no need to.

She could ride horses sufficiently within Zhang Rang’s estate, his library was magnificent, and the training facilities were well-equipped.

Today, she was wielding a staff in the training ground.

Dongbaek lightly swung the staff five times above her head, then pulled it back as if striking an enemy behind her before swinging it forward. She thrust the staff forward with a light jump, then brought it over her head and cut down diagonally.

“How’s my form? Looks pretty good, right?”

“Yeah, your form is impressive.”

The tip of Dongbaek’s staff was as sharp as a sword and as heavy as an axe. The crow clicked its tongue, watching Dongbaek. As expected, Dongbaek, who had excellent athletic abilities in the previous world, showed outstanding aptitude in martial arts. Even without proper training, the movements of her staff were precise and sharp.

But Dongbaek sighed in dissatisfaction.

“Everything’s good, but I still can’t decide which weapon I like best. Ugh… I really didn’t want to face my indecisiveness like this….”

“Yeah, seriously. You’re indecisive about the strangest things.”

Of course, Zhang Rang tried to find a martial arts master for Dongbaek. But shouldn’t she decide on a weapon first? Sword, dual swords, spear, bow, axe, four-pronged spear, and so on… As she tried to figure out which suited her best, her worries only grew deeper. Dongbaek sighed.

Originally, she should have chosen a weapon that would compensate for a woman’s weakness in strength, but fortunately, Dongbaek’s buff included strength as well. To give an idea of how strong she was, she could win at arm wrestling against every man in Zhang Rang’s mansion.

But as the range of choices increased, it actually became harder to choose a weapon to use.

The bow was an absolute fantasy for Koreans, so that was a basic requirement… The sword was fundamental so she should learn that, dual swords really appealed to her taste so she wanted to learn those, and thinking about future battles with other generals or going to war, something with range like a spear would be convenient…

The crow spoke disinterestedly from beside the contemplating Dongbaek.

“Why don’t you just learn them all?”

“Should I?”

Dongbaek suddenly turned her head toward the crow. Her eyes were sparkling unusually intensely, as if she had been waiting for just that answer.

Facing her silently demanding gaze, the crow gulped. Then it tried its best to offer a rational solution.

“Learning everything is honestly not the best idea… How about narrowing it down to three? Let’s try them first and then decide.”

“Okay. Then what would be good…”

Dongbaek giggled happily while counting on her fingers. A bow? A bow was a must. The equation “Koreans = bows” was an absolute truth, after all.

As a proud citizen of the Republic of Korea, it was natural to have that baseless confidence lurking in the corners of her mind that she’d become a master archer just by picking up a bow. Of course, Dongbaek’s baseless confidence was a bit bigger than others’.

“Learn the bow… since I’m ambidextrous, dual swords would be more efficient than a single sword, right? So bow, dual swords, and…”

“You’ll see the sunrise at this rate. This isn’t just a day or two of deliberation. Just stick with those two for now and learn the others later! Geez, this lady is trying to eat all the rice in one spoonful.”

“Crow, you…”

Dongbaek frowned at the crow’s criticism and spoke in a low voice.

“You’re a genius… How did you come up with such a smart idea…”

“Oh, shut it. Anyway, stop worrying now! Instead of worrying about useless things, give me a name already. Hey, honestly, should I have to beg you for something like this?”

Feeling guilty at the crow’s grumbling, Dongbaek hurriedly stood up and dusted off her bottom. Then, with an awkward smile, she tried to placate the crow that looked ready to peck her.

“Ah… that. I’ll think about that some more too.”

“You! I know you haven’t thought about it even once until now!”

“Hahaha, did I get caught?”

Whenever the crow brought up names before, Dongbaek would brush it off saying she was thinking about it. It was obviously a lie. She only briefly considered it when the crow asked, but she had never seriously committed to naming the crow. Regardless of necessity, it was bothersome.

But today, instead of Dongbaek, the crow seemed determined. Its shining black eyes seemed to show the crow’s firm resolution.

The frowning crow suddenly grabbed Dongbaek’s front collar with its beak.

“Nope, no excuses. Let’s go to the library.”

The crow’s words came out slightly muffled, but its intent was clear. If Dongbaek, with her great strength, had resisted, she wouldn’t have budged an inch, but feeling guilty, today’s Dongbaek docilely let herself be pulled by the crow’s wings.

“Hey hey, you don’t have to drag me like this. I’ll go on my own. But why the library?”

“A fool who can’t even give a proper name should be locked up there and study naming.”

“Hey, are you sulking?”

“I’m not sulking!”

The crow shouted. But Dongbaek didn’t believe it and clicked her tongue.

‘Definitely sulking. What a temperamental little thing.’

But Dongbaek had her thoughts too; she wasn’t foolish enough to bring up such things and further provoke the crow’s anger in this situation.

Whew, I’m completely caught today.

Thinking about spending the day choosing a name for the crow made Dongbaek’s head spin. And so, with dragging feet, Dongbaek moved toward the library.

-ˋˏ ༻❁✿❀༺ ˎˊ-

Led by the crow, Dongbaek had no choice but to enter the library. The guard watching the library quickly bowed upon recognizing Dongbaek’s face. But he had to raise his head again at the strange sight. There was clearly a crow perched on Dongbaek’s arm.

“Um… Young Master, animals are not allowed…”

The guard spoke hesitantly. Dongbaek silently narrowed her eyes and looked at the guard.

Was he annoyed at being bothered? The guard faltered. This Young Master, who had been adopted into the household as the master’s foster son just a few months ago, wasn’t particularly known for having a good temperament.

‘Even if they say adopted child, in the end, it’s just a lucky parasite attached to Geum Danyo!’

But even so, he couldn’t take Dongbaek lightly. Even if he was a parasite, those backing him were fearsome. If he somehow fell out of Geum Danyo’s favor over an incident with Dongbaek today…

Just thinking about it made the guard shudder with goosebumps. He hurriedly added,

“Ah, never mind! Please go in!”

Dongbaek brushed past the guard and went straight into the library. Only after confirming that the library door had closed did the guard breathe a sigh of relief.

Not getting involved with Dongbaek was the way to stay safe in this mansion. The guard recalled the shocking incident that had shaken the mansion a few days ago in the inner garden.

-ˋˏ ༻❁✿❀༺ ˎˊ-

Thank you for reading! ♡

Thank you for reading! ♡ Feel free to check my other novel on my carrd!

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