The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 165
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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 165
“Since you played with Cotton Ball at Azure Sea Palace, today you’ll play with me in my room!”
Gayul grabbed the opposite sleeve from Cheongha and clung to her.
“That’s not fair! Mother promised me first! Not following the order is cutting in line!”
Soya exclaimed indignantly.
“Then let’s find a fair way.”
Even Ga Hyeon, who would normally have called Gayul a pathetic tiger who doesn’t know how to yield to his younger sister, made that suggestion.
Soya wasn’t the only one who wanted to monopolize Cheongha.
“A fair way?”
“Right. We’ll decide with a tree branch.”
While Soya reluctantly pouted her lips, Gayul quickly picked up a tree branch.
They all put their hands together, stood the branch in the center, and shouted “One, two, three!” before simultaneously letting go.
Then the branch fell toward Soya’s side.
“Hooray!”
Excited Soya bounced up and down before throwing herself into Cheongha’s arms.
“Everyone saw, right? Today Mother will sleep with me in my room!”
In the end, Soya got to claim Cheongha.
“Hmph, I wanted to play more with Mother too.”
Gayul muttered while looking at Soya with envious eyes.
At Gayul’s ‘hmph’ sound, Ga Hyeon was disgusted that a fully grown tiger was making sounds like an underdeveloped tiger, but Soya somehow felt her heart soften.
“Then how about we do this?”
Soon Soya put aside her desire to monopolize Mother a little and suggested to everyone.
“We’ll all play together in my room, but instead we’ll return to our own rooms at bedtime.”
Everyone’s expressions brightened at those words.
Yeonjeong and Sanho laid a thick carpet on Soya’s room floor and prepared a small tea table so everyone could sit in a circle.
“Oh my, what a cute tiger doll?”
Cheongha discovered the cloth doll sitting prettily on Soya’s bed and admired it.
“This tiger doll, Father gave it to me as a gift when I first came to White Tiger Palace!”
Soya quickly picked it up and placed it in Cheongha’s arms, showing it off proudly.
She had washed it clean and carefully maintained it whenever she had time, but still some wear from handling was now visible.
This was because Soya still hugged the tiger doll tightly every night when she slept.
“It’s my most precious doll, but I’ll lend it to Mother today.”
“Oh my, thank you so much.”
Cheongha chuckled softly as she looked down at the tiger doll Soya had given her, then hugged it tightly.
Seeing this, Soya felt somehow proud.
That night, the bloody war of words among the Baek Brothers began when Gayul claimed, “The most magnificent tiger in the world is me! Mother said so!”
“That can’t be.”
Gaya immediately snorted.
“Mother said I’m the most magnificent tiger in the world.”
Gaya spoke arrogantly, lifting his chin up.
“No, no! Mother said I’m the most magnificent!”
“You must have heard wrong.”
Though Gayul raised his voice, Gaya chuckled and ruffled Gayul’s hair.
“…But Mother. When you visited Azure Sea Palace last spring, didn’t you say you’d never seen a tiger as handsome as me?”
Ga Hyeon, who had been quietly watching their conversation, glanced at Cheongha and asked.
“Mm-hmm, well, that’s right.”
Cheongha smiled brightly and said.
“In Mother’s eyes, all our babies are the most magnificent tigers in the world.”
Those words became the spark that started the Baek Brothers’ quarrel.
“That’s not fair! Choose just one! No, choose me!”
“How dare baby tigers who haven’t even completed their second growth stage try to surpass this elder brother.”
“I don’t think a tiger who cries ‘wah wah’ despite completing second growth should be saying that.”
In the tense standoff between the three brothers with no backing down, Saeon alone looked at Cheongha with a face full of shock and betrayal.
Soya glanced at him and asked in a small voice.
“Father, have you never heard Mother call you the most magnificent tiger?”
“…”
To Saeon who quietly nodded, Soya smiled softly and said.
“Don’t be too sad, Father. In my eyes, Father is the most magnificent tiger in the world.”
At this, Saeon’s expression softened gently.
“See. The only one who always thinks of Papa is our Cotton Ball.”
On the other hand, the Baek Brothers were moved by Soya’s words.
“What?”
“Somsom.”
“Soya.”
The three brothers who had been fiercely competing to become the most magnificent tiger for Cheongha all turned to look at Soya simultaneously.
“That can’t be true.”
“You’re lying, right Somsom?”
“Soya, it’s good to comfort Father, but you don’t need to make up stories.”
Now the Baek Brothers desperately rushed at Soya, determined to hear her say they were more magnificent tigers than Papa.
At the sight of her Elder Brothers acting especially childish today—though Gaya and Gayul were always a bit childish—Soya burst out laughing.
* * *
The next morning, Soya woke up rubbing her eyes in Cheongha’s embrace.
Though she had woken up in Mother’s arms at Azure Sea Palace before, it felt so amazing to sleep and wake up with Mother on her own bed in her own room where she slept every day.
“Did you wake up, my baby?”
Cheongha hugged Soya tightly and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
Soya’s face flushed red at the unfamiliar display of affection.
“Oh my. Is our baby embarrassed?”
“N-no…! It’s not embarrassing, this is just… just nice.”
Cheongha giggled at Soya’s honest answer.
“But you should only do this with Mother. Understand?”
“Yes.”
Soya nodded obediently.
Meanwhile, Yeonjeong brought washing water.
Cheongha personally took the washbasin and wiped Soya’s face.
“Oh my, how pretty, our daughter. Who did you take after to be so lovely?”
“I take after Mother!”
Soya answered with a bright smile.
At Soya’s pure and clear laughter, smiles appeared on both Cheongha’s face and Yeonjeong’s face as she watched.
Cheongha, who had been looking at Soya with tender eyes, hugged the child tightly.
“Huh, huh? Mother??”
“Thank you, Soya.”
“Yes?”
“I just always wanted to say thank you to you.”
Cheongha’s voice contained some overwhelming emotion as she spoke.
From Soya’s words just now that she takes after Mother. Because she felt that the child was completely accepting her as Mother.
Saeon had found the child, raised her, and given her love right by her side, but that wasn’t the case for her.
Speaking coldly, aside from the engagement relationship with Saeon, the child and she had no connection.
Nevertheless, she was so grateful to Soya for accepting her as her ‘real mother’ like this.
However, Cheongha deliberately didn’t voice these thoughts of hers.
She didn’t want to remind the child of that fact with unnecessary words.
Instead, she pulled Soya into a very tight embrace.
Soya’s small body, soft and squishy unlike the White Tiger brothers, was held in her arms.
Perhaps it was because she had heard and learned about all the things the child had experienced in the Southern Lands before meeting Saeon.
That small body nestling into her embrace kept stirring up overwhelming emotions within her.
She wanted to give the child love.
She wanted to give the child greater and more abundant love, so that the love the child hadn’t received from her blood family would never become any kind of deficiency in the child’s life.
But this small child keeps pouring out love greater than what she tries to give.
[…Mother.]
Even though she didn’t give birth to her, just because she’s called Mother.
[I read in a book that family’s family is family.]
Even though she didn’t raise her, just because they’re family.
Even though she hasn’t done anything special, the child pours out such great and loving feelings that are even precious.
[We’re already family, aren’t we? So it’s okay to call you this way, isn’t it?]
Remembering the child who had said that while clutching her sleeve, she felt like she might foolishly shed tears.
Perhaps this small child had longed for a ‘mother’ for a long time, she thought.
“…?”
Soya, who had been puzzled in Cheongha’s embrace, soon quietly blushed and wrapped her arms around Cheongha in return.
Squeeze―
When she lifted her head slightly, the eyes of the two mother and daughter met.
Soon, Soya and Cheongha burst into laughter without either taking the lead.
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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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