The Little Baby Snake of the Vermilion Bird Family - Chapter 35

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 35
“Child, come out this way.”
Ju Jeokseo extended his hand.
Doeui gently let go of Baeksa’s hand.
Then he whispered softly.
“Go on.”
Gaining courage, Baeksa took one step, then another, approaching Ju Jeokseo.
She could feel the eyes of all the Namto Beast-folk fixed entirely upon her.
“If you put your hand in and close your eyes, your name will drift right into your palm.”
The large jar was tilted so that a child could easily reach inside.
Having demonstrated first, Ju Jeokseo took a step back.
Baeksa took a short, deep breath, then slid her hand inside the massive Moon-White Jar.
What kind of name would it be?
Across both of her lifetimes, this would be the very first name she ever owned.
Since the people who had placed names inside were all individuals she was incredibly fond of, she knew she would be happy no matter whose selection she drew.
The child kept her hand inside and waited a moment, and soon, a small slip of paper drifted into her palm.
It was a truly wondrous sensation.
A feeling as though someone with a very warm hand was gently cupping her own and pressing a name into it.
Confirming that the slip was secure in her hand, Baeksa slowly withdrew her arm from the jar.
And yet.
“Huh……?”
The slip of paper held in Baeksa’s hand was somewhat strange.
“There’s no red string…….”
Just moments ago, every single slip of paper Ju Jeokseo had placed into the jar had been tied with a red string.
They had been bound that way to ensure the names remained hidden.
But now, the slip in Baeksa’s hand lacked any red string whatsoever.
Furthermore, the paper looked ancient and worn with age.
Sensing that something had gone awry, Ju Jeokseo moved to inspect the paper, but right in that instant—
Rustle.
Baeksa slowly unfolded the slip.
Inside, a name was written in an exceptionally neat, elegant script.
White Lotus
Baeksa recognized the characters.
‘White, and then lotus…….’
It was a Hanja character she had learned not long ago alongside the Family Head. It was also a character she was particularly fond of.
‘Who could have given me this name? I absolutely love it.’
Could it be that whoever came up with it knew her Supernatural Ability bloomed into a lotus?
If so, it was highly likely to be Hwaryeong or Doeui. It could also have been a name chosen by Ju Jeokseo.
“Is there a name written there?”
“Yes, it says White Lotus.”
When Baeksa replied with a soft, gentle smile, Ju Jeokseo’s face froze instantly.
“……White Lotus?”
Startled by Ju Jeokseo’s reaction, Baeksa’s eyes darted around anxiously.
Had she done something wrong?
Ju Jeokseo took a large stride toward Baeksa and reached out.
“Child, may I take a look at that piece of paper?”
“Of course, Family Head.”
Baeksa quickly placed the slip of paper into Ju Jeokseo’s hand.
Ju Jeokseo took the paper with a trembling hand and inspected it slowly.
“……There is no mistake.”
He then let out a quiet, heavy sigh.
Ju Jeokseo recognized this slip of paper.
This was not a name crafted and placed inside by anyone who knew Baeksa today.
This was.
This name belonged to.
‘Brother, what do you think? Isn’t it a gorgeous name? If I have a child later on, I’m going to give them this name.’
A long time ago, 
it was a name his younger sister had created.
***
“What kind of name is that? Wake up, Myeongyeong, you’re only sixteen.”
“But I want to decide in advance. It’s cute.”
Ju Myeongyeong spoke with a bright, silly grin.
“I love the lotus. A lotus blooms from the mud. It’s a flower that grows up resiliently in the very place that looks the dirtiest…….”
“So you’re going to give a child the name White Lotus. What if it’s a boy? What if they aren’t born with white fur?”
“Just because a color is in the name doesn’t mean the child absolutely must possess that exact color. But if it’s a boy…… then Mommy is sorry.”
Ju Myeongyeong, who had been teasing around in front of the jar, stuck her tongue out playfully.
Right at that moment.
Whoosh!
A fierce gust of wind blew, and the slip of paper in Ju Myeongyeong’s hand took flight, vanishing straight down into the jar.
“Oh, no!”
Ju Myeongyeong stared at the massive jar in utter despair.
That jar was a vessel imbued with the power of a Divine Beast.
It was a precious treasure that could only be brought out and used when naming a child, and it was absolutely not an object to be trifled with by tossing random things inside.
“Bro, brother, it fell in here. What should I do?”
“I knew you would do something like this……. What do you mean what should we do? Find it and get it out quickly. What if it gets mixed in the next time we use it?”
Spurred by Ju Jeokseo’s scolding, Ju Myeongyeong immediately reached her upper body down into the jar, fumbling around in search of the paper where she had penned the name.
Yet no matter how long she searched, the paper was nowhere to be found.
“Brother, I think it’s because it’s too dark in here. Give me some light.”
“Can you see a bit better now?”
Ju Jeokseo illuminated the interior with his flames, but the inside of the jar was vast and pitch-black, making it difficult to see properly even with his fire.
In the end, after searching for ages, Ju Myeongyeong gave up, pulled herself out, and shook her head.
“I can’t find it.”
“Step aside, let me look.”
Ju Jeokseo confidently reached in next, but he too failed to find the paper.
It was as if the jar had swallowed the paper whole. Befuddled by the mystical occurrence, Ju Jeokseo and Ju Myeongyeong looked at one another and tilted their heads in confusion.
“It can’t be helped. If that slip comes out the next time this jar is used, then it must be destiny.”
“Ah, ahhh…… I really wanted to give that to my child.”
“It’s your own fault, so there’s nothing to be done.”
Ju Jeokseo recalled the ancient memory.
It was so old now that even remembering it was a struggle, but that specific situation remained vividly etched in his mind.
And the slip of paper that had been lost back then.
“How could such a thing happen…….”
Defying a decade of time, it now rested in the hands of this tiny child.
Muttering blankly, Ju Jeokseo handed the slip back to Baeksa as he spoke.
“This is a name my younger sister came up with a long time ago.”
At Ju Jeokseo’s words, everyone present instantly widened their eyes.
The same went for Baeksa.
The child looked up at Ju Jeokseo with eyes wide with wonder.
“We thought it was lost forever, but seeing it appear before you across more than a decade of time, it seems you are the true owner of this name.”
As he spoke, Ju Jeokseo’s expression appeared incredibly complex.
The name Ju Myeongyeong had created in her youth to give to her own child.
That name had gone to Baeksa.
On top of that, Ju Myeongyeong’s Spirit Treasure had reacted to Baeksa, even if only briefly.
Could all of this truly be a mere coincidence?
Ju Jeokseo thought that, being generous, even the Spirit Treasure might have been a fluke.
That perhaps the Spirit Treasure had made an error.
However, the moment he witnessed that nostalgic slip of paper held in Baeksa’s hands.
‘This is no coincidence…….’
Ju Jeokseo was overcome by the thought that all of this was not a random accident, but destiny and the very flow of the world.
Strangely, despite Ahee appearing with Ju Myeongyeong’s personal effects and looking exactly like her, Baeksa felt far more like Ju Myeongyeong’s child than Ahee did.
It felt as though Ju Myeongyeong’s power, though she was no longer present in this world, was marshaling everything it could to signal that Baeksa was the child connected to her.
The Guiding Feather that had first lost its light in Baeksa’s hand.
An odd sensation that everything had begun from that very feather.
Ju Jeokseo stared blankly down at the small child.
They say that kin can recognize each other even without being told. That there exists a certain pull of the bloodline.
Was that why Ju Jeokseo felt this way toward Baeksa?
Was Baeksa truly, by some twist of fate, Ju Myeongyeong’s child?
After staring at her name in silence for a long time, Baeksa cautiously opened her mouth.
“Um, a name this precious, I…….”
Just as she was about to say that she couldn’t possibly accept it.
“This can’t happen!”
Ahee, who had been sitting in her place, shrieked sharply.
At that piercing voice, every beast-folk present turned around to look at Ahee.
Regardless of their stares, Ahee pointed directly at the slip of paper Baeksa was holding.
“If it’s a name my mother came up with, shouldn’t that name belong to me?”
“Ahee.”
“I brought my mother’s keepsakes, and everyone tells me how much I look like Lady Myeongyeong. There is no doubt that she is my mother.”
Ahee spoke while huffing with indignation.
“But just because a Spirit Treasure didn’t react, for that girl to take my mother’s Residence and even the name my mother came up with is completely unfair!”
Following Ahee’s outburst, a chilling silence instantly fell over the room.
Flustered, Baeksa looked up at Ju Jeokseo.
Ju Jeokseo’s face had hardened into a frigid mask.
‘This is the first time I’ve ever seen the Family Head make such a terrifying face.’
Baeksa swallowed hard and shifted her gaze back to Ahee.
Ahee carried on regardless, pressing her point.
“So, so, that ought to be mine…….”
“Just because a Spirit Treasure didn’t react?”
Ju Jeokseo spoke, his voice dropping to a deadly chill.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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