The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 141
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 141
Under the breaking moonlight, the platinum hair swaying gently and the gracefully curved turquoise eyes were unrealistically beautiful.
It was a beauty too insufficient to express with mere human words like handsome, outstanding, or distinguished.
The Boy Emperor, with his mysterious atmosphere that made his mere sixteen years hard to believe, looked at Soya with an elegant smile.
“Were you really just going to check if I was alright and leave?”
Soya, who had approached close to the window, asked while gripping the window frame with both hands.
“Because it’s too late.”
“That’s too much. You’re trying to make me a child who can’t even express gratitude to her benefactor.”
Soya spoke with deliberately playful complaints, then soon smiled brightly and greeted him.
“I heard that His Majesty was the one who saved me today. Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Irim simply responded with a deep smile instead of words.
The sound of insects mixed into the quiet and cozy night air.
Soya, who had gracefully swept her hair swaying in the spring breeze behind her ears, asked him in a gentle tone.
“We promised to meet again at the Grand Banquet, but yesterday was too hectic. Your Majesty must have been very busy and overwhelmed too, right?”
“Mm.”
Irim couldn’t answer easily and closed his lips.
“Your Majesty?”
At Soya’s call, he showed a troubled smile.
“…What should I do about this.”
He muttered in a perplexed voice, then looked at Soya and chuckled softly.
“Do you know this, Soya? The Imperial Dragon cannot tell lies.”
“…?”
“It’s a prohibition decreed by the Heavenly Emperor when he created the world. So I don’t know how to answer your question.”
At those cryptic words, Soya blinked her eyes, wondering if she had asked such a difficult question.
“At yesterday’s banquet, you see. You seemed a bit busy and overwhelmed, so you didn’t seem to notice me…”
Irim answered affectionately in his characteristic low and gentle tone.
“But my eyes could only see you.”
“What…?”
“Because you were so pretty. Even from far away, I could only see you.”
“…!”
At that unfiltered answer, Soya’s face instantly flushed red.
“But even for someone like me, giving such an answer is a bit embarrassing.”
Irim’s face, who said such things, didn’t look embarrassed at all.
Unlike him explaining in a calm voice, it was rather Soya who was embarrassed.
“Th-that kind of teasing is too mean. You’re trying to make fun of me…”
“I told you, Soya. The Imperial Dragon cannot tell lies.”
“…”
“Mm. Indeed, such words seem quite embarrassing. The old saying goes that a ruler is shameless, but perhaps the words of the sages are also false.”
Irim answered with a carefree laugh.
At this, Soya’s face, which had been soft like rice flour, flushed red all the way to her eyes.
Soya thought it was fortunate that her face wasn’t clearly visible due to the distance and fanned herself with her hands to cool the heat.
Why was the night air, which she had only thought was chilly, so warm now?
“Now that I’ve seen you’re healthy, that’s enough.”
“Wait, Your Majesty.”
At that moment, Soya stopped Irim’s steps as he was about to turn around.
“Five years ago, when Your Majesty came to the White Tiger Palace. You helped me awaken my special ability then.”
Five years ago.
Soya, who had just overcome her fear of beast transformation, had been thinking that she too wanted to quickly manifest her ability to be helpful to Father and the White Tiger Palace People.
However, things didn’t go as she wished and she was a bit dejected, and it was none other than Irim who helped her then.
[Borrowing power from beings with strong power, that’s your real special ability.]
She still remembered the advice he gave her that day.
Irim had clearly understood the true nature of the power she possessed.
[‘Flame That Purifies All Things’. That’s the name of this power.]
It was also him who told her about the Purification Flame.
There was no way he wouldn’t know.
That she was the owner of the oracle about awakening an ancient Divine Beast and bringing peace with that power.
That she was precisely that ‘Dragon Emperor’s Bride’.
“Your Majesty knew from then, didn’t you? What kind of power I have.”
“Yes.”
Irim answered immediately without hesitation.
Even though Soya had expected it, she unconsciously swallowed and asked carefully at that answer.
“But why… did you pretend not to know?”
“Because you didn’t want it.”
At those words, Soya froze momentarily.
“It’s the same reason you’re hiding that power.”
“I-I don’t not want this power, I just…”
Soya made excuses in a flustered voice.
She was worried that hiding the fact that she was the Dragon Emperor’s Bride might sound like she was rejecting him.
“Soya.”
At that moment, Irim interrupted her words in a quiet voice.
“I want you to not be bound by anything. I’ll make sure that even the walls of this Imperial Palace dare not confine you.”
“…”
At that unexpected answer, Soya’s mouth opened small like a bird’s beak.
“So you should fly away freely. Wherever you want to go, anywhere at all.”
A somewhat sad color appeared on Soya’s face as she listened silently to those words.
“Why does Your Majesty… say such kind words so sadly?”
At those words, Irim showed a flustered expression for the first time.
“I must have appeared that way to your eyes.”
Soon he gently closed his eyes and looked at Soya.
When he did so, his curved eyes held such a sorrowful and tender light that Soya felt her heart being colored by that emotion.
“If I look sad to you, that’s all a misunderstanding, Soya.”
“…”
“Because I’m happier than ever before.”
His quiet voice flowed to Soya on the night air.
Soya found it somehow hard to believe his words about being happier than ever, but she couldn’t not believe them either.
Because he was the Imperial Dragon.
The Imperial Dragon who cannot tell lies, who must only speak the truth.
For a while, only quiet silence flowed between the two.
It was none other than Irim who first broke that silent atmosphere.
“Long ago, Soya. When I visited the Vermillion Bird Mansion. Do you remember meeting me that night?”
“Yes, I remember.”
Soya nodded.
How could she forget?
That day when she, who had been receiving cold treatment from the family members for three years, first felt another’s kindness.
“That day I said I had something urgent to look into and would visit the Imperial Palace. I had something to examine in the Imperial Palace library.”
A bitter smile appeared on Irim’s face as he recalled the promise he ultimately couldn’t keep.
“It’s an old matter from before you and I were even born. There was a gray-feathered tribe that was driven out from the Southern Lands.”
Pause.
At those words, Soya’s eyes widened.
When she was very young… that is, when Soya was still the beloved Young Lady of the Suzaku Family.
Every night, Father and Elder Brothers would tell her old stories by her bedside.
The old stories they told included fun fairy tales and legends suited to a child’s level, but sometimes there were also actual events that had occurred in the Southern Lands.
Something about the story Irim had just brought up seemed vaguely familiar, as if she might remember it.
But….
‘An ordinary beast-person couldn’t possibly deceive Suzaku.’
Soya’s expression hardened at the hypothesis that came to mind.
‘But what if they weren’t ordinary? What if they had gained extraordinary power through some method?’
Then suddenly, she remembered the thick scent of evil magic she had smelled during the day.
“Your Majesty, may I ask just one favor?”
Soya asked with a face that seemed to have made some decision.
“In five days, I heard there will be incense burning and a ceremony at the Shrine of the Golden Dragon to commemorate this victory.”
The altar where the ceremony would be held was the very altar with the large Imperial Dragon stone statue, where the Emperor’s enthronement ceremony had taken place.
“The Shrine of the Golden Dragon is the most sacred place in the Imperial Palace, so all beast-people’s special abilities are nullified there.”
“That’s right. More precisely, all special abilities are nullified when passing between the two Imperial Dragon statues erected in front of the altar.”
Generally, beast-people’s special abilities were divided into two types.
Those that manifested as immediate techniques the moment they were activated, and those that continuously maintained a specific state.
“That day, could you order not only the generals but all the guests attending this banquet to observe the ceremony?”
Irim’s eyes widened at that request.
“Of course.”
Irim nodded readily.
“There’s nothing you could ask of me that I couldn’t grant, Soya.”
At that affectionate answer, Soya’s hardened eyes widened.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
A bright smile bloomed across Soya’s face.
* * *
Seolyeo, soaked through with water, rolled up his sleeves and squeezed out the water firmly.
He had jumped into the pond and searched frantically for Soya’s light orb, but ultimately had to come out without finding it.
It was getting late, and above all, it was too dark.
‘I’ll look for it again when dawn breaks tomorrow.’
Seolyeo nodded to himself as he walked along.
He knew that finding the lost orb in that huge pond would be an extremely difficult task.
But Seolyeo didn’t want to see Soya upset.
He wished Soya would just smile every single day.
Because Soya was pretty normally, but when she smiled, she was much more beautiful.
He wanted to protect that lovely smiling face that seemed like it could melt the entire world into softness.
Lost in such thoughts as he walked carelessly, Seolyeo suddenly stopped.
Up ahead, he spotted Soya and Irim having a conversation with a window between them.
‘Soya is….’
Her gently curved eyes and slightly upturned lips caught his attention.
‘Smiling….’
Seolyeo stared at her blankly.
She was so beautiful that he simply couldn’t look away.
After watching her for a while, Seolyeo glanced over to look at Irim, who stood at some distance from her.
‘….’
It was strange.
Soya was smiling so prettily, so why did his chest feel like it was aching and tightening?
Just moments ago, his thoughts had been filled with wanting to protect Soya’s smiling face….
Watching the two of them made him feel as if he had suddenly become very small.
Somehow feeling like he shouldn’t interrupt their conversation, Seolyeo turned around silently.
Drip, drip.
Where he passed, damp pond water wet the floor.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Mara55
Oh this hearts my hurt. I like both of them with her. No matter who she chooses it will be painful.