The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 148

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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 148

“Grrr….”

“Grrrr….”

Demon beasts that suddenly appeared surrounded Saeon and Ayun.

“Family Head! It’s dangerous!”

Jeok Yeong, who had drawn a line saying he didn’t know such tigers, shouted toward Saeon from a distance.

Saeon and Ayun, who instinctively sensed the dangerous situation, immediately stopped their quarreling.

“What the hell is that….”

It was when Saeon frowned and tried to draw his sword.

“Wait.”

Ayun blocked him and spoke.

“They’re not demon beasts. Those are….”

At his voice that couldn’t continue speaking, Saeon narrowed his eyes.

Soon, a voice filled with bewilderment flowed from between his teeth.

“People…?”

They weren’t demon beasts. They were people.

* * *

Though it was late evening, Soya didn’t sleep and paced in front of the pavilion waiting for Saeon.

Due to what happened during the day, Saeon was also called away again right after bringing Soya to her quarters.

She thought he would return before dinner, but his homecoming was taking longer than expected.

She felt unnecessarily worried.

Though Lili had been captured, she thought this wasn’t the end.

Because the malicious beast Taotie that gave Lili the power of evil magic would be somewhere in this vicinity.

At that moment, she noticed a black ponytail moving stealthily in the darkness.

“Huh? Seol Yoya!”

“So, Soya?”

Seolyeo looked back at Soya in surprise.

“Where do you go like that every night lately?”

“Uh, huh?”

“Su Ri said so. That you go out somewhere every night lately and come back soaking wet. Are you practicing swimming in the pond or something?”

When Soya asked with an innocent expression and smile, Seolyeo’s face instantly turned bright red.

“It’s, it’s just a secret….”

Seolyeo quickly avoided Soya’s gaze and answered hesitantly.

“Come on, that’s not right. I said real friends don’t make secrets between each other.”

“….”

At those words, Seolyeo’s shoulders flinched.

In fact, though she couldn’t tell Soya, Seolyeo had a secret she’d been keeping for two years already.

Hiding her heart growing heavy for no reason, Seolyeo mumbled an answer.

“I just… have something to look for.”

“What is it? I’ll help you.”

“Uh, well….”

“If we look together, we’ll be able to find it faster!”

“Uh, uh….”

Seolyeo didn’t know what excuse to make.

She had always been with Soya in situations like this until now, so suddenly saying no would seem even more suspicious.

‘This is trouble. What should I do.’

If Seolyeo had been a little better with words like Ga Hyeon, she could have made a plausible excuse.

Or if she had been a little more shameless like Gayul, she would have absolutely refused and run away quickly.

However, in the end, Seolyeo, who couldn’t find an excuse or run away, had to head to the pond area with Soya following closely beside her.

“Seeing you go look for it every single day, it must be really important.”

“Y, yeah. It is, but….”

“But wouldn’t it be hard to find at such a late hour?”

“Yeah, but today I had no choice…huh?”

Seolyeo, who was scratching her head while answering, discovered a boy standing frozen across from them, looking at her.

No, the boy’s gaze wasn’t directed at her but toward Soya beside her.

‘That man… red hair….’

Seolyeo, who realized he was someone from the Vermillion Bird Family she had seen at the recent grand banquet, glanced at Soya.

“Let’s go quickly, Seol Yoya.”

Soya grabbed Seolyeo’s hand and spoke in a somewhat stiff voice.

“Y, yeah!”

It was when Seolyeo was hurriedly chasing after Soya, who was trying to quickly leave the area with quick steps.

“Did you know?”

Hwayu’s voice stopped their steps.

Soya let go of Seolyeo’s hand and slowly turned around.

Then she faced Hwayu.

Though she had encountered the Vermillion Bird Family members again at the Imperial Palace, this was the first time facing Hwayu this closely.

[…Thank you so much, Elder Brother.]

[I always wanted to go to the summer festival. Thank you for remembering and bringing me like this.]

The memory from the summer festival five years ago was the last with him.

[I have somewhere to go briefly, so wait here.]

He who left her behind never returned, and that’s how she was abandoned.

It was the day when she, who had already been abandoned long before, came to engrave in her heart that she was completely abandoned.

Soya still couldn’t forget that day.

That day, the last day of that sweltering summer festival. The lonely and painful emotion she had to feel in the moment of being abandoned alone….

“Tell me the truth. You knew, didn’t you?”

“What do you mean?”

“That that child was a cuckoo.”

Hwayu asked with difficulty, as if just saying it out loud was terrible.

Father didn’t come, Elder Brother didn’t come either, and his heart was troubled as he walked alone when he discovered Soya.

And the moment he discovered Soya, he unknowingly grabbed that child.

“How could I have known what even you all didn’t know.”

Soya answered in a calm voice.

“You lured that child onto the altar with words of forgiveness.”

However, Hwayu immediately countered.

“Like a well-planned chess game, you revealed that child’s identity like that.”

“….”

Soya responded with silence.

“I must have looked foolish for being deceived by a cuckoo.”

Hwayu twisted his lips bitterly and burst into mockery.

“That can’t be.”

“Are you pitying me?”

At her calm response, he suddenly flared up.

“Don’t be mistaken. You too, and that cuckoo too. To me, you’re both ones who deceived me….”

“Don’t say strange things. Why would I pity you?”

Soya asked back with an expression as if she’d heard the strangest thing in the world.

“Talking as if you’re the most unfortunate person in the world, aren’t you ashamed?”

“….”

At those words that pierced him, Hwayu flinched and clenched his fists.

“And what would be so amusing about it.”

A faint emotion was carried in Soya’s questioning voice.

“How could it be funny to watch you, and your father, abandon that child the way you abandoned me.”

“What…?”

“You might be able to look at something like that and call it funny, but I can’t.”

“…”

“It wasn’t funny at all.”

“…”

Hwayu stared at Soya with a dazed expression.

Abandoned…

Because those words pierced so deeply…

“I…”

He barely overcame the sensation of his lips going dry and his throat constricting as he opened his mouth.

“I didn’t abandon you. I was just…”

Even as he spoke the words himself, it felt like a pathetic and miserable excuse.

But at that moment, Soya flinched and quickly turned to look somewhere.

“Soya…?”

It was when Hwayu called her name with a puzzled voice.

“Seolyeo!”

Bang!

At Soya’s cry, Seolyeo instantly transformed into a large black wolf.

Soya immediately climbed onto Seolyeo’s back.

“Where are you suddenly going…”

“And, Young Master Hwayu. I never deceived you.”

“What…?”

However, Soya didn’t give him a more detailed answer.

No, there was no time for that.

“That way, Seolyeo!”

Soya left the confused Hwayu behind and began running somewhere on Seolyeo.

Hwayu, who had been standing there dazed in bewilderment, also belatedly sensed something strange in the atmosphere.

He could feel a commotion coming from the direction Soya had run toward.

Soon coming to his senses, he chased after Soya and Seolyeo.

And at the place he ran to, he discovered people who had become demon beasts.

Soya was up ahead, biting her lower lip tightly as she stared at the people who had become demon beasts.

Seeing this, Hwayu instinctively rushed forward.

“It’s dangerous, so you should return to your quarters…!”

Bang!

Before his words could even finish, Soya’s body instantly became a small bird.

“Screech!”

Soya made a bird cry as she soared high into the sky.

Hwayu froze in place for a moment.

Under the dark night sky, a single red feather fluttered down, brushing past his eyes.

* * *

Irim was sitting leaning against the window.

Above the round moon that had risen high, Soya’s face appeared in his mind—the way she had asked him with that pure white, clear voice.

[His Majesty knew from that time, didn’t he? What kind of power I possess.]

A faint smile suddenly bloomed on Irim’s face.

Yes. Of course I knew.

How could I not know, my consort.

I recognized you from the moment I first saw you.

That you are my bride.

Words he couldn’t bring himself to say in front of that child stirred turbulently in his heart.

It was both a little painful and joyful… such ripples that remained incomprehensible even after passing through the curtain of so much time.

At that moment, he sensed someone approaching.

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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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