The Little Baby Snake of the Vermilion Bird Family - Chapter 49

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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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Episode 49
“We need to talk.”
Ju Jeokseo stopped Hwanya in his tracks.
Hwanya turned to look at him, his flame-like hair swept by the night breeze.
“When did it begin?”
…….
“Is that why you kept going to contaminated places and not returning?”
Ju Jeokseo pressed him sharply.
He exhaled a long breath.
‘Baeksa absorbed the Contamination.’
And Hwanya had come rushing back in alarm, holding her, saying the child had ingested something wrong.
That meant Hwanya knew exactly how much Contamination had accumulated in his own body, how dangerous his state truly was.
He let out a sigh.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“It has been going on for a long time.”
“So when exactly did it start?”
“From the day Mother passed away.”
At Hwanya’s answer, shock twisted Ju Jeokseo’s face. Hwaryeong moved anxiously between his father and older brother, clutching at the latter’s sleeve.
“Brother……?”
“Hwaryeong, go back to your Residence.”
“But…….”
“Now!”
Startled, Hwaryeong immediately shifted into his true form and flew off in a flutter. Hwanya sighed and spoke.
“I wasn’t trying to hide it on purpose. But as you know, I have no memory of that day, so I don’t know how it happened.”
The day Ju Myeongyeong vanished.
Hwanya had set out with his mother to search for his aunt.
His mother and Ju Myeongyeong shared a particularly close bond, so she was determined to find her even alone.
In case Ju Myeongyeong had left for reasons she couldn’t speak of, she told no one but Ju Jeokseo and took only her youngest son with her.
And that was the last time.
After that, there was no memory. When Hwanya came to, he was already back at the Family estate, and his mother was gone.
Later he learned that when they first found him, young Hwanya was lying collapsed and alone.
He had lost so much blood that he seemed beyond saving.
And beside him——
‘No! My love!’
Ju Jeokseo’s wife, Hwanya’s mother, lay cold and still.
Even in death, she had tried to protect her son, cradling him in her arms with her entire body.
Perhaps because of that, Hwanya survived by a miracle, yet he remembered nothing of what happened that day.
Moreover, Contamination had seeped in through his wounds, leaving his young body grievously damaged.
It took a long time to mend. But the greater problem was something else entirely.
Wounds heal with time, but the dead do not return.
The loss of Ju Myeongyeong and the death of his wife were scars that would never fully close for either Ju Jeokseo or Hwanya.
Hwaryeong had been only an infant then, so he wept ceaselessly, unaware that his mother would not return.
Recalling that day, Ju Jeokseo exhaled heavily.
“I know—I was the one who picked you up lying there. But at the time, the Contamination in your body seemed to fade quickly, from what I saw?”
He narrowed his eyes.
“I watched with these two eyes as your flames burned away the taint. So what in the world is this?”
He pressed Hwanya.
“Unless you’ve suffered an injury as grave as that day, this makes no sense. So what is this? Can’t you be honest with me?”
Hwanya lifted his head and looked at Ju Jeokseo. He spoke quietly.
“I looked into my own memories.”
“……What?”
“I wanted to know any shred of the truth about that day, so ever since then I’ve been rummaging through my own memories.”
At Hwanya’s confession, shock distorted Ju Jeokseo’s face.
Hwanya’s Supernatural Ability—the Memory Flame.
That flame could glimpse a person’s memories, but it burned and unraveled them in fragments. Those subjected to that Ability invariably went mad.
And he used it on himself?
“Are you out of your——!”
“I know it was wrong. But once I started, I couldn’t stop.”
The moment their eyes met, Ju Jeokseo found himself speechless.
He knew his son had clung to finding Ju Myeongyeong far more obsessively than he himself had.
And that was likely because of that day.
Perhaps if they could find Ju Myeongyeong, they would come one step closer to the truth.
They would know who did such terrible things to mother and son.
But to think his son would go this far——
And using his own Ability on himself would have made Hwanya’s body vulnerable to Contamination.
Yet Ju Jeokseo could not bring himself to scold or blame his son.
He too must have been desperate.
Enduring such hellish pain alone, doing what he did.
“……Tell Baeksa I’m grateful, you foolish boy!”
He turned away sharply, ceasing his interrogation and reproach.
“Without her, you’d be dead. That’s why you were so strict with Hwaryeong, isn’t it? Because if you died, he’d become the Family Head.”
“Yes.”
“Foolish boy!”
Ju Jeokseo snapped at him. Hwanya closed his mouth and followed silently in his father’s wake.
Ju Jeokseo was angry and sorrowful at once.
His wife’s death. His sister’s disappearance.
His son driven to such extremity—it all felt like his own failing.
As if his own lack of virtue had caused all of this.
He knew Contamination lingered in Hwanya’s body.
But that was a symptom anyone who ventured near contaminated territory would experience. Ju Jeokseo himself suffered the same after visiting corrupted lands.
With enough rest, the Ability within the body would naturally push out the Contamination. So he had believed Hwanya’s taint would also fade that way.
But now, thinking on it carefully, Hwanya had never stayed home long enough for the Contamination to vanish.
‘He kept going out for fear of being discovered.’
And I never noticed.
How could there be a father so foolish?
He swallowed his sorrow and walked ahead of Hwanya with long strides.
Hwanya followed him in silence.
***
After sleeping deeply, Baeksa felt as though she could eat a little more of anything.
‘That’s strange—I keep getting hungry.’
Though Sirang continued to bring her snacks, they didn’t satisfy this peculiar hunger.
Only Absorption of something would quiet it slightly. So lately Baeksa had been visiting the Detached Villa more frequently.
Baeksa sat in the middle of the Detached Villa, now considerably Purified, enjoying its scenery.
“It’s beautiful…… don’t you think?”
She asked the Bead, but no answer came. Still, the girl smiled brightly as she gazed at the Rear Garden she had tended.
Though some Contamination remained in patches, at this rate she would be able to Purify it all completely before long.
Seeing this, Baeksa’s smile faltered slightly.
In truth, Baeksa had one worry.
‘I keep getting hungry and sleepy, hungry and sleepy…….’
She couldn’t focus on anything else. When she woke, she was hungry; after eating, she grew drowsy.
Because of this, her studies with the Family Head were falling behind. Baeksa’s expression grew a little melancholy as she fidgeted with her fingers.
“It must be because of my Ability.”
In truth, Baeksa’s Supernatural Ability had grown incomparably compared to before.
But she kept feeling impatient. She wanted to do better, to be more helpful.
“I suppose I’m greedy after all.”
“Why?”
Then a familiar voice reached her ears.
Baeksa startled and turned around.
Hwanya stood leaning against the entrance. Evidently having heard repeatedly not to enter, he hadn’t even stepped into the Purified area.
Baeksa’s face brightened and she hurried to stand before him.
“Brother!”
“……Call me that.”
“O-okay, brother!”
“Just curious what you were doing. Looks like you’re having fun on your own.”
Hwanya reached out and gently kneaded Baeksa’s soft cheek. She giggled.
“I came to practice my Ability—I thought I should practice more diligently.”
“I see.”
A brief silence fell between them. Baeksa tilted her head, studying Hwanya closely.
Then Hwanya struggled to find his words.
“Child, the other day…….”
Hwanya faltered and paused.
“Thank you for helping me.”
Speaking such words seemed awkward; the tips of his fingers stiffened slightly.
He drew a deep breath before continuing.
“Without you, I would still be in pain. Thank you. That’s why I came.”
Hwanya cradled Baeksa’s cheek gently in both hands.
Warmth emanated from his large, generous palms. Baeksa’s eyes widened as she looked up at him.
And then she broke into a bright smile.
“It was nothing—of course I’d help! I’m so glad I could be of use to you, brother.”
…….
Hwanya gazed down at Baeksa for a moment, then took her hand and guided her outside the boundary.
Walking slowly through Baeksa’s Residence, he spoke quietly.
“I loved this Residence when I was small. Whenever I came here, my aunt was always waiting.”
“Mother?”
“Yes. She’d wait for me and play with me so wonderfully. Sometimes she’d sneak me out without Father knowing and buy me delicious food.”
Hwanya spoke, looking at his young sister in his arms.
“Next time, let’s go out together. I’ll do for you what she did for me.”
Swish.
Baeksa’s bangs parted slightly. Hwanya smiled, barely perceptibly.
“Baeksa, I’m sorry for being so stiff when I first met you.”
“Oh…….”
“I won’t do that again.”
Blinking, Baeksa smiled warmly and reached both arms toward Hwanya.
And in a very careful, slow voice, speaking each word with deliberation, she said:
“I never thought you were being stiff with me.”
Baeksa grasped Hwanya’s hand firmly.
“I thought you were just being shy, since you had just met me…….”

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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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