The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 172

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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 172

‘Huh, what? Just now… I thought there was something here?’

Soya looked puzzled as she stared at the spot where the black scale had been just moments before.

Suddenly, she sensed a presence from across the way.

She immediately raised her head, but there was no one under the dark night sky.

Only a few tree leaves fluttering down were visible.

Soya tilted her head at the presence that quickly disappeared.

Soon thinking she must have sensed it wrong, she buried her nose back into the flower blossom.

Well, what did it matter anyway.

The flower fragrance was so subtle and pleasant like this.

And at a spot a little distance from Soya’s window.

A gentle smile bloomed across Irim’s face as he watched Soya.

She was truly beautiful.

Beautiful, and beautiful again.

Which lifetime was this again.

Since it was when she stayed in his prince’s palace, it must have been the fourth lifetime.

[This is a flower I really love, Your Majesty. I wanted to see it, so thank you for bringing it to me like this.]

That day too, Soya smiled beautifully while burying her nose in that flower blossom.

Around that time, Soya’s health was poor so she couldn’t leave her bedroom.

He used to bring her things she would like.

Small and simple things from nature like young spring flowers that bloomed in the rear garden, smooth stone pebbles picked up from the summer stream, red maple leaves carrying autumn’s scent, and acorns and pine cones that squirrels preparing for winter hibernation had forgotten.

When he asked why she refused precious treasures and liked such trivial things, she smiled and answered.

[I can feel the seasons passing by. It feels like being truly alive.]

Unlike me.

The unspoken words she didn’t add clung to me like an evil spirit and tormented me for a long, long time.

She said it felt good because it seemed alive. Didn’t it sound exactly like the last words of someone facing death?

Irim couldn’t speak for a long time and just looked at her with heavy eyes.

After a long while, when I told her to get better soon so we could go see the blooming flowers directly, she only gave a faint smile instead of answering…

Irim groped through the curtains of countless times he had passed through.

He remembered every single moment with Soya from those countless times without forgetting any.

That was also his reverse scale.

His second life when he couldn’t remember his first life.

When he first encountered six-year-old her in the Imperial Palace Garden, if only he had immediately remembered his first life.

If he had, couldn’t he have prevented at least some of that child’s misfortune… Because of such thoughts.

* * *

In his second life, Irim was born without the orb that dragon beast-humans should naturally possess.

The only legitimate prince was a half-wit dragon without an orb.

The Emperor issued a gag order, but the brothers who learned this fact mocked and tormented Irim.

To the dejected Irim, his mother spoke in a gentle voice.

[Perhaps, just perhaps. Our Irim might have met his destined companion before coming into this world and given away his orb. How about that, isn’t it quite wonderful?]

Just as his mother said, those words sounded very wonderful to the three-year-old young prince.

So much so that he ended up believing those obviously false words completely.

However, his kind mother’s death made Irim powerless in all things.

That day when the Imperial Palace was bustling with departure ceremonies and such was also a few days before his mother’s death anniversary.

When he was sitting in a corner of the rear garden with his face covered by a face cloth, hiding his presence to avoid the palace attendants’ eyes.

“Why are you here alone?”

A small girl with snow-white hair like snowflakes peeked out her head and asked.

The girl approached the startled Irim with quick steps and crouched down in front of him.

“I’m Soya. What about you, Elder Brother?”

“…”

Irim gulped and quietly looked at the girl who was talking to him.

It seemed she didn’t recognize that he was a prince.

“…Rim.”

“Rim? Then can I call you Irim Elder Brother?”

When he barely managed to squeeze out his voice to answer, the child smiled brightly and asked.

That cheerful smile kept lingering in his eyes, so Irim stared at her blankly.

It was the first time.

Since his mother passed away, she was the first person to smile so brightly at him like that.

“…Yes.”

At Irim’s answer, the child smiled even more broadly.

The child seemed to have been raised with love as she was quite sociable.

Through their brief conversation, Irim learned many things about the child.

Her name was Soya. Soya of the Jeok family who inherited the blood of Suzaku, the southern divine beast. Jeok Soya.

She said she had pestered her father to come to the Imperial Palace to see off Lord Jeok Sanyu of the Vermillion Bird Family who was departing for the expedition.

“How did you know I was here?”

“Oh, I just… I just felt it…”

Soya hesitated, not knowing how to explain.

“You just felt it?”

At Irim’s question, Soya tilted her head and asked back.

“Yes. Somehow I felt like I could meet someone if I came here. Is this a little strange?”

At those words, Irim’s pupils trembled faintly.

He remembered what his mother had told him when he was young.

[No matter how much a dragon hides their presence, the companion who holds the dragon’s orb can find the dragon.]

‘Could this child be the destined bride who took my orb?’

Such a thought crossed his mind briefly, but soon Irim chuckled and shook his head.

‘What kind of foolish thought is this? That was obviously a lie mother told to comfort me.’

Irim was already eight years old now.

An age where he could discern that his mother’s words were plausible lies meant to comfort him.

“You know, Irim Elder Brother. Did something sad happen to you?”

At that moment, Soya’s voice broke through his thoughts.

“Why… did you think that?”

At the child’s question that seemed to read his inner thoughts, Irim unconsciously trembled his voice slightly as he asked.

“When Soya has sad things happen, I hide alone like this too.”

Then Soya placed her small hand over Irim’s hand that was resting on the grass field and smiled bashfully.

“Actually, recently, Soya had something upsetting happen too. Hwayu Elder Brother couldn’t control his special ability and burned up a doll that Soya treasured. Oh, Hwayu Elder Brother is Soya’s second elder brother…”

Soya chattered away about her story in a lovely voice like a lark.

“I was so upset that I hid alone in the wardrobe, but unfortunately Sanyu Elder Brother found Soya. Soya thought Sanyu Elder Brother would pull Soya out of the wardrobe.”

“…”

“But Sanyu Elder Brother didn’t do that and sat in front of the wardrobe waiting for me. He said he would stay with me so my sad feelings could fly away, so not to worry and hide as much as I wanted before coming out.”

“….”

“Sanyu said that sad feelings are cowardly cowards. So when there are two people together, they get scared and run away.”

“….”

“So Soya will stay by Irim’s side too. Then maybe the sad feelings will run away a little faster.”

Soya said with a bright smile.

Irim, who had been staring blankly at that pure and clear smile, soon followed her lead and smiled gently.

“…Mother’s memorial day is coming soon. But it seems like no one remembers.”

Irim began to share his story in a soft voice.

How strange.

This was clearly a child he had met for the first time today.

Why did it feel like the whole world was being warmly colored by that child’s small smile?

“So I try to remember Mother by myself. This was a place where Mother and I often came for walks.”

It was when Irim’s story was coming to an end.

“This ornament was left to Soya by my deceased mother.”

Soya suddenly held out an ornament.

“Whenever Soya missed Mother, I would look at this and find comfort. Now I’ll give it to you. I hope you can find comfort with this too.”

“But Soya, this is your mother’s relic. I can’t accept such a precious thing….”

“Instead, you can come back to return it later.”

To Irim, who shook his head saying he couldn’t accept it, Soya said with a smile.

“When you’re no longer sad later, you’ll definitely come back to return it, right?”

How could he refuse such a child any further?

“…Yes. I promise. I’ll definitely come back to return it.”

And three years later, after completing his First Growth, Irim went to the Suzaku Mansion to keep his promise.

It was quite a strange coincidence that Mother’s memorial day and Soya’s birthday were on the same day.

However, Soya, whom he met again in the Southern Lands, said she wasn’t the real daughter of the Suzaku Family.

Irim felt something was strange.

Because this aura he could clearly feel from Soya when they met again.

Having completed his First Growth, he could sense it much more clearly.

This was definitely… the aura of a Divine Beast.

As a direct descendant of the Imperial Dragon, master of the Death God Beasts, he could assert this with certainty.

That night, after leaving Soya at the Suzaku Mansion and rushing to the Imperial Palace Library, Irim confirmed records related to cuckoos there.

‘But how could a cuckoo deceive the Suzaku?’

He sensed there was a larger conspiracy behind it.

The Suzaku Mansion was dangerous.

‘First, I need to get Soya out of there.’

However, when he tried to take Soya away again, what greeted Irim was her cold corpse.

Thump….

His heart sank heavily.

[Look at this, Your Majesty! From the shape, it seems to belong to men.]

Long sword wounds that had cut through the child’s body.

[Here, this is my gift.]

Soya had been murdered.

They said she went outside the estate on the last day of the summer festival and met with misfortune….

[Don’t be angry, Your Majesty. I’ll put the hairpin in for you.]

But what is this voice that’s been echoing in my head…?

[Run…away? Why suddenly….]

This familiar… longed-for… and dear voice….

[Your Majesty, danger…! Your Majesty, Your Majesty! No, no, sob, Your Majesty…!]

Thump….

[Krrrr… krrr….]

Thump….

[It’s me, Soya. I’ve come….]

Thump….

[I’ve come to get you… I, ugh, sob, I’ve come to get you….]

Thump…!

[Krrr… ugh… it… hurts….]

Thump…!

Suddenly Irim’s eyes flashed open and memories of his past life came flooding back with intense emotions.

“Soya… Soya….”

He looked at Soya’s cold body with disbelieving eyes.

Her body that had been reborn carrying his Dragon Orb….

“Because of me…. Because I gave her the Dragon Orb…. Because I turned back time….”

Soya’s age was only nine years old.

He had turned back time to save her, but she had met death even earlier than in her previous life.

He had given her the Dragon Orb to save her, but because of it, she had awakened as a Divine Beast too early and became even more unhappy.

After bursting with anguished fury before Soya’s corpse, he returned to the Imperial Palace and usurped the throne.

There was no hesitation in his steps as he slaughtered his blood relatives. It was a path he had already walked once in his previous life….

Thus Irim became the Imperial Dragon himself and moved time once again.

But in the next life, and in the life after that, he could not save Soya.

There were too many things in this world that threatened her.

The entire world threatened Soya, and even her Spirit Core was not intact.

There were countless deaths, but during that long, long passage of time, no one helped.

Even the Suzaku Family did not help.

But in one of the lives he remembered, there was exactly one person who had taken the hand of the pitiful young prince.

“Your Highness the Prince…? How come at this late hour….”

His gaze, which had been puzzled by his young disciple’s sudden visit late at night, turned to the snow-white child quietly nestled in Irim’s arms.

“What is this white Cotton Ball-like child?”

The master of the Western Region and head of the White Tiger Family who had become the teacher of the powerless young prince who had lost his mother, Baek Saeon.

In forgotten memories, he was the pitiful Baby Bird’s only protector, her sole sanctuary, and her one and only parent.

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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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