The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 146

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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 146

Lili, dragged away by the Imperial Palace soldiers, was imprisoned in the Western Prison of the Imperial Palace.

Lili felt utterly wronged.

At the time, she was so focused on the fact that she had been exposed as a cuckoo that she couldn’t think deeply about it.

But thinking about it again, this was all a trap set by that wicked girl, Soya.

She used illusion magic to deceive her with lies, recorded it and exposed it in front of people, then lured her onto the altar with words about accepting an apology.

The reason that girl had set such a trap for her was obvious.

“Because I’m the Dragon Emperor’s Bride, she coveted my position and did this. If I can just get out of here somehow, that bitch…”

“Tsk.”

At that moment, the sound of someone clicking their tongue softly was heard.

Lili’s head snapped up.

“So you failed to obtain the orb in the end.”

“You…!”

It was Taotie, covered in a black cloth.

“Get me out of here! I’m innocent! That wicked girl trapped me!”

Lili shouted while gripping the wooden window bars.

“You need the Imperial Dragon’s orb too, don’t you? You can’t get the Imperial Dragon’s orb without my help!”

[I need your help, cuckoo. If you help me, I’ll help you become the Dragon Emperor’s Bride.]

[…So what do you want?]

[The Imperial Dragon’s orb.]

What the demon wanted in exchange for making her the Dragon Emperor’s Bride was none other than the Imperial Dragon’s orb.

That mysterious orb that the Imperial Dragon gives to his companion.

“Well.”

However, contrary to Lili’s expectations, Taotie spoke in an indifferent voice.

“I didn’t have high expectations for you from the beginning, cuckoo.”

“What…?”

“How foolish. As if a mere cuckoo could accomplish anything significant.”

“Why am I a cuckoo…!”

Lili shouted indignantly.

“And I’m not a cuckoo, I’m the Dragon Emperor’s Bride! I’m going to be the most noble woman on this continent, the Dragon Emperor’s Bride! Just wait and see, even though I’m locked up like this, if I wait just a little longer, Father and Elder Brother will…”

Suddenly, Lili’s words were cut off.

She remembered her father’s expression as he looked at her with eyes filled with vivid terror.

She knew it too.

That Father and Elder Brother wouldn’t come to rescue her.

That they didn’t even consider her family.

Just because she had shown those gray eyes and hair!

‘How could they do that? As if all the kindness they showed me until now was all fake…’

It was when Lili was gritting her teeth and gripping only the wooden window bars.

“The seed of evil has bloomed fully.”

Taotie chuckled and muttered.

“What do you mean by… Huk…!”

Lili, who was about to ask what he meant, suddenly collapsed to the floor with a pain that felt like her throat was being crushed.

“What, are you, doing, huk…”

“Don’t feel too wronged, cuckoo. You’ll fulfill your final purpose by becoming great nourishment.”

“…!”

Lili’s pupils dilated greatly, then suddenly she stopped moving completely.

Black veins wriggled and bloomed near her Spirit Core as she stiffened like a corpse.

Soon, the black veins spread throughout her body, covering her skin.

Lili’s stiffened body relaxed and slowly stood up.

“Oh, my lord!”

Taotie knelt before Lili with a moved voice.

—Taotie…

A low, thick voice leaked through Lili’s teeth.

—This body… is too weak…

“Don’t worry, my lord. Tonight, great chaos will occur within this Imperial Palace.”

Taotie bowed deeply before Lili with a sinister smile.

“This Taotie will take advantage of that opportunity to offer you a stronger body, my lord.”

* * *

After Lili was imprisoned, a gloomy atmosphere settled over the Vermillion Bird Family.

“She tried to harm Soya long ago as well. Unfortunately, there’s no physical evidence, only circumstances.”

Before Father and his younger brother, who still sat dazed with pale faces, Sanyu reported what he had investigated over the past few days.

“On the last day of the summer festival five years ago, the Three-Legged Crow tried to kill Soya, and the head of the Baek family saved that child and took her to the Western Lands.”

“…That’s a lie.”

Jeok Ayun, who had been listening silently, spoke up.

“That can’t be true. Such a terrible thing couldn’t have happened within the family…”

“What ridiculous words. You committed the most terrible acts while I was away.”

Sanyu said in a cold voice.

His gaze toward Father even held a trace of contempt.

“Hwayu, don’t you agree with my words to some extent?”

“…”

Hwayu kept his mouth tightly shut and lowered his head.

The questions that had been rising about Lili were finding answers one by one.

How a child who couldn’t even transform due to Spirit Core pain could manifest the power of a divine beast, and how she sometimes showed an almost cold lack of interest in their deceased mother. How she avoided Mother’s grave, saying it was scary.

And even why she had called Soya ‘a child I thought died five years ago’… now he seemed to understand it all.

From the beginning, she was a child who had crossed the family threshold with the intention of deceiving them.

Unable to recognize this, they had been completely fooled for the past five years.

He thought he could do anything for that child. No, he thought he had to.

The estate, which had been desolate like hell after sending Soya to the Cold Palace, finally became a place where people lived only after Lili came.

So what had he done for Lili?

At Lili’s request to get rid of Soya… that child…

“…”

Jeok Hwayu squeezed his eyes shut and opened them.

One more question remained.

Why did Lili speak as if she was certain that Soya was fake?

Since she was such a self-centered child, perhaps it didn’t have much meaning, but still…

“Family Head! Family Head!”

At that moment, a servant came running frantically.

“What’s the matter?”

“The cuckoo has disappeared from prison!”

“What…?”

The faces of the three men of the Vermillion Bird Family hardened.

* * *

Several hours earlier, Jeok Ayun, who received the servant’s report, immediately set out to confirm the situation.

Even though the sun had already set, he had not yet returned home.

Sanyu looked at the round moon floating in the dark sky.

‘It’s a full moon.’

The full moon, the day when negative energy was strongest in a month.

Throb, throb—

At that moment, pain arose from his bandaged palm.

It was the wound that Lili had treated not long ago.

What had clearly healed completely began to fester again a few days ago.

‘They said evil magic was used, so maybe that’s the reason.’

He called a physician for treatment, but there was no significant improvement.

He was walking through the front courtyard, thinking he would need to receive treatment again soon.

“How did she deceive everyone so perfectly? It’s really chilling.”

He could hear people whispering.

“That cuckoo even lied about being the Dragon Emperor’s Bride. They say her purification power was also fake using evil magic.”

“And that girl, Soya… they say she tried to poison that young lady who was adopted into the White Tiger Family. How can someone so young do such terrifying things.”

“She knew she was a cuckoo all along. I’m saying this now, but I actually…”

Sanyu glanced at them briefly, then turned away.

On the day Soya had her first beast transformation, did they whisper about her like this too?

Somehow finding it difficult to listen to their words any longer, he left the pavilion and walked through the deserted rear garden.

His expression was dark.

It was such a dark face that not a trace of laughter could be found.

He missed Soya.

But comforting Soya would be the responsibility of her new family, not him.

‘If I go there unnecessarily, she might feel bad remembering Father or Lili…’

Thinking up to that point, Sanyu let out a bitter laugh.

‘This is truly upsetting. She had such a face that made me want to comfort her, but now that I’m her elder brother, I can’t even console her.’

Walking with a gloomy face, he suddenly raised his head at the presence he felt from the opposite direction.

There was Gaya looking at him with an indifferent expression.

Sanyu smiled warmly as if he had never worn such a dark expression and greeted him.

“Good evening, Lord Gaya.”

“Good evening?”

At this, Gaya’s expression frowned.

“What nonsense are you spouting with that deathly face.”

“Haha. You’re quite sharp with me today as well.”

“Don’t force yourself to smile. It looks unpleasant.”

“…”

Sanyu let the corners of his mouth drop down and withdrew his false smile.

“You’re right. Since when did smiling falsely like this become a habit.”

He muttered in a lonely voice, then soon smiled gently toward Gaya.

“Thank you for the comfort.”

“Comfort? Me? You? When?”

Gaya blinked his eyes as if he truly didn’t understand.

“Even so, Lord Gaya and I are close friends acknowledged by Soya, aren’t we.”

“Don’t say such horrible things.”

“Hahaha.”

It was when Sanyu burst into refreshing laughter at that reaction of disgust, just as expected.

“Ugh…”

Sanyu grimaced at the sudden pain he felt.

“What is it?”

“This is, surely not…”

Sanyu hurriedly unwound the bandage wrapped around his palm.

Then the blackly festering wound revealed itself.

“Fake purification power. It seems I was affected by evil magic…”

Thump—!

In an instant, Sanyu’s heart beat loudly while his pupils contracted.

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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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