The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 124
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 124
The hand stretched toward the void flailed helplessly.
Only empty air swirled between his lost fingertips.
“Cotton Ball, you were in danger…”
“But Father got hurt!”
At the voice from behind, Jeok Ayun turned his head with a creaking motion.
Soya was holding Baek Saeon’s hand with a tearful expression.
And Baek Saeon was chuckling softly while embracing the child.
At the sight of the two who looked like an affectionate father and daughter, Jeok Ayun felt his mind go completely blank for a moment.
[Father…!]
Father. That call from earlier wasn’t directed at him.
The title of father that was once his, and the worry contained within it, were all directed at that man, not him.
Jeok Ayun stared at them blankly.
Soya was holding Saeon’s burned palm, not knowing what to do.
For that man, the head of the White Family that ruled the Western Region, such a burn wouldn’t be much of a blow.
Yet Soya had a face full of worry as if she would burst into tears at any moment.
The moment he saw that.
Sting—
The wound on his shoulder where Baek Saeon’s claws had grazed began to sting and hurt.
In truth, Jeok Ayun was the one who looked more injured.
He had been attacked after being grabbed by the collar in a surprise assault, and there was no beast-person who could defeat a White Tiger beast-person in hand-to-hand combat anyway. Not even a Dragon Beast-Human blessed by the heavenly deities.
Yet Soya was tearing up as if she was in more pain than that large man’s small scratch.
Then suddenly, Soya glanced in his direction.
Jeok Ayun froze at the gaze directed toward him.
Soon Soya whispered something to Saeon.
Baek Saeon frowned at this, but when Soya smiled brightly, he chuckled along with the child and nodded.
Soya got up from Saeon’s embrace and approached Jeok Ayun.
‘…’
Jeok Ayun felt his mouth strangely drying up as the child came closer to him.
Soon Soya stopped in front of him.
Even with the child standing before him, it didn’t feel real.
The Soya in his memories was a very small child.
But the child before his eyes was already fourteen, having grown up maturely.
At that enormous gap, and at the sight of her still retaining her childhood face… Jeok Ayun felt his chest tighten with a sharp pang.
“Hello, Family Head. It’s been a long time.”
Soya greeted him with a composed and calm voice.
‘Phew, thank goodness. My voice isn’t trembling.’
Soya thought it was fortunate.
She had actually been worried the whole time.
What if her voice trembled when facing this person again? What if she misspoke? What if she froze up like a fool?
She had worried a lot, but perhaps thanks to steeling her heart several times, or perhaps thanks to Father and Elder Brothers watching over her from behind, Soya was able to not tremble at all.
However, unlike Soya who was secretly relieved, Jeok Ayun’s eyes shook finely with shock.
Family Head…
Not Father, but Family Head…
Soya, who used to call that man Father, was calling him Family Head.
‘Why…’
The question of why rose to his throat, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask why she called him that.
Because it was he himself who had first treated the child like a stranger.
After sending Soya to the Cold Palace, when he faced her again after three years due to Lili’s insistence on having that child as her personal servant.
The child only hung her head low and watched his mood.
It was none other than him who drew a cold line with that child in a frigid tone.
Even until the moment the child called him Family Head and turned to leave, he never gave the child even the smallest opening.
Even when the child, who became Lili’s servant, followed him and Lili among the other servant women.
Even when she secretly stole glances at him with a face that always seemed to be holding back sadness.
Though the child tried to hide it, her gaze toward him couldn’t be concealed, and Jeok Ayun, knowing this, deliberately treated her even more indifferently, no different from the other servant women.
At that time, he thought it was natural.
That child was the one who stole Lili’s place.
He had to let the child know her position.
So she wouldn’t covet Lili’s place again or harbor vain dreams.
But why.
Why was that word “Family Head” that he had let pass at that time, why now.
Making his heart… ache so much…
When Jeok Ayun couldn’t bring himself to respond due to the painfully constricting sensation in his chest, Soya asked in a composed voice.
“You were looking for me, weren’t you, Family Head? Do you have something to say to me?”
“Soya. I…”
He seemed about to say something, then closed his eyes tightly before opening them and looking at the child.
The anxious sensation that had been shaking his heart since last night was gradually growing, but Jeok Ayun tried to ignore it and spoke to the child.
“You’ve grown up healthy. Really… thank goodness. I thought you were… dead.”
With each word he uttered, his throat ached painfully.
Especially at the part “thought you were dead,” he couldn’t help but painfully contort his eyes.
However, Soya couldn’t understand why he was reacting like that.
Pain. Anguish. Joy. Affection…
With a face that seemed to mix all such emotions, the man who was no longer her father was looking at her.
But this person…
‘He tried to kill me.’
Lili’s voice asking for her to be eliminated. And the black-masked Three-Legged Crow that tried to kill her.
On the last day of that summer festival, if she hadn’t met Saeon, Soya would have died on the spot without fail.
Only the direct lineage of Suzaku could command the Three-Legged Crow.
Yet Jeok Ayun was looking at her with an expression that could never appear if he had tried to kill her.
‘Perhaps it was Young Master’s independent action, unrelated to the Family Head.’
At that time, all major and minor family affairs were being handled by Jeok Hwayu. So perhaps this person didn’t know she had nearly died.
‘But even so… why such an expression? As if he had been missing me.’
Soya looked at Jeok Ayun with blank eyes.
“Why are you with the head of the White Family…”
The end of his question trailed off slightly.
He felt impatient at the child’s expression that showed no surprise, emotion, or joy.
“No, that’s not what’s important right now. Soya. Come with Father.”
Unrefined words tumbled out of his mouth.
“Pardon…?”
Soya, who had been quietly listening to his words, asked back in confusion.
“After you disappeared like that, I’ve been… thinking of you all along.”
“…?”
“I don’t know what happened to you during this time, but I’m so glad you grew up safely like this, Soya. So let’s go together now. Home. To our home in the warm Southern Lands where you were born and raised, let’s go together.”
Jeok Ayun poured out all the words inside him without pause.
At this, Soya was confused for a moment, then continued in a calm voice again.
“I don’t quite understand what you mean.”
“Soya…”
“I’m grateful that you raised me at the Vermillion Bird Mansion. Family Head, you cherished me until I was six years old, and even though you didn’t consider me your real child, you didn’t cast me out immediately.”
“Soya, that’s…”
“But we’re not family, are we? So that title from earlier isn’t appropriate, Family Head.”
“…!”
Thud—
Jeok Ayun felt as if he had just heard the sound of something crashing down violently and shattering.
“I’m not quite sure why you’re asking me to come with you, but… I have a family now too. To leave my family behind and go with the Family Head, that’s far too strange a request.”
Soya felt her mind becoming clearer the more she spoke.
It was ironic, considering how much she had worried about facing that man again.
“If you’re concerned because of how cruelly you treated me, you don’t need to be. Back then….”
Of course, bringing up that period with her own mouth made her throat ache a little. Still, Soya continued speaking resolutely.
“Actually, I don’t really understand why the Family Head hated me so much, but that’s okay. Thanks to the Family Head, I was able to meet my real family too.”
“….”
At the words he heard, Jeok Ayun’s lips parted helplessly.
“So please don’t worry about me because of past events.”
However, Soya continued as if driving in the final nail.
“I’ll apologize on behalf of my father for the rudeness he showed the Family Head earlier. He’s not normally someone who resorts to force, but I suppose he was feeling a bit uncomfortable today.”
Soya clasped her hands together and bowed her head respectfully.
“Since I’m apologizing on his behalf like this, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive him, Family Head. I’ll be grateful for the kindness you showed in raising me during my childhood. Well then, farewell.”
Then she left Jeok Ayun standing there, turned around, and headed toward Saeon.
Saeon slightly opened his arms as he watched Soya returning to him.
Soya, who had been walking primly, saw this and smiled brightly before running over with quick steps and clinging to those arms.
Unlike how she had just spoken so calmly and maturely, she was acting just like a child. Like a daughter….
Soya took Saeon’s hand and left the area together with the White Tiger Family members.
As Jeok Ayun watched their retreating figures with a dazed expression, Saeon suddenly glanced back.
The fierce, blade-sharp killing intent blazing in those eyes made Jeok Ayun unconsciously shiver with a chill.
He had long known that Baek Saeon’s personality wasn’t good, but that current gaze was somewhat excessive.
It was a look as if he were seeing his parents’ mortal enemy.
After even the gathered people had dispersed.
Jeok Ayun belatedly realized.
That he had failed to say something very important to the child.
Words that perhaps should have been given to her five years ago when the child was still at the Vermillion Bird Mansion.
The meeting had been too sudden to have time for such words, and also….
The child had drawn a line with him far too calmly and composedly.
That they were no longer family.
That she would not go with him.
That she hoped he would stop bringing up past events.
Without giving him even a brief opportunity to offer her a proper apology, she had spoken in such a firm voice.
And in the child speaking like that… strangely, he was reminded of the Deceased Madam.
‘Why….’
Soya wasn’t Madam’s biological daughter. The child Madam had given birth to in exchange for her life was Lili.
“Father…!”
At that moment, Jeok Hwayu approached and grabbed hold of him.
“Ah.”
Only then did Jeok Ayun come to his senses and look at his second son.
Jeok Hwayu also had a confused expression on his face.
And the moment he looked at Lili, who was standing beside him with a pale face.
Gasp.
Jeok Ayun suddenly felt a chill run down his spine and swallowed hard.
In Lili’s face, not a single trace of Madam could be seen.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Mara55
Ohh shit, here we go!! I’m so excited to see them crash out. I’m never gonna feel bad they didn’t have to go as far as they did. Yall choose this willingly. The only one I feel bad for is the oldest. The rest of you can choke.