The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 174

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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 174

“I failed to protect her.”

Saeon confessed with an anguished voice to Irim, who had rushed over upon hearing the news.

The black demon beast of Horim Mountain had gone berserk and harmed Soya.

It happened on the night of the full moon when Saeon’s spirit core weakened.

Because of that, Saeon couldn’t stop the demon beast.

“I failed to protect that child.”

In front of the grave of the child he ultimately couldn’t protect, Saeon scattered silent tears on the ground and muttered helplessly.

“…It’s not your fault, Saeon.”

Irim spoke while painfully closing and opening his eyes.

“It’s my fault for failing to save that child again.”

At those words, Saeon slowly raised his head.

‘Again’…

Irim was speaking as if he had experienced something similar before.

Saeon, who had been staring blankly at Irim, suddenly noticed black scales falling from his body and cried out in shock.

“Your Majesty, these scales…!”

“The price for moving time is truly harsh.”

“…!”

“But thanks to that, I caught a glimpse of hope that the child could smile, so it’s not entirely a bad price. Isn’t that right, Saeon?”

Irim spoke in a strange tone as if discussing someone else’s affairs.

A look of horror gradually spread across Saeon’s face.

Even without a more detailed explanation, he intuitively understood.

That the young emperor had turned back time using the Imperial Dragon’s power.

All for Soya, that child alone.

“How could you…!”

“It’s fine. My life hasn’t ended yet.”

“The price for defying heaven’s will cannot be light.”

“That’s also fine. I resolved myself long ago.”

“…”

Saeon wanted to ask.

How much time did Irim mean by ‘long ago’?

How much time had he traveled back through?

“Perhaps I was wrong from the beginning. I couldn’t eliminate evil with my own power.”

Irim muttered while gazing forlornly at Soya’s grave.

“Then what I must rely on is…”

[On the night when the red moon rises, the Dragon Emperor’s Bride will awaken the sleeping Death God Beast and sweep away the darkness scattered across this land, bringing peace.]

The oracle. Only that ancient oracle that the Dragon Emperor’s Bride would awaken the sleeping Death God Beast and sweep away the darkness.

Soya, he must borrow her power.

Having finished that judgment, Irim glanced down at the black scale that had fallen at his feet.

Soon it scattered and disappeared like ash.

The way it scattered in an instant, leaving nothing behind, seemed exactly like his own future.

Each time he defied heaven’s will, his body paid the price.

When all the golden scales rotted and fell off, when he was no longer the Imperial Dragon… then he would be…

‘But it’s still fine for now.’

Irim cut off his thoughts, pushing them deep inside to prevent idle fears from arising.

He knew the state of his body best.

For now, it was still fine.

So there was no time to hesitate.

If he had feared the price of defying heaven’s will, he wouldn’t have moved time in the first place.

What he feared wasn’t ‘merely’ such things.

Something more terrifying than defying heaven’s will and his body rotting away.

That was… her death.

A world where he could no longer see her.

“…”

Squeeze. Strength entered his clenched fist.

After staring at Soya’s grave for a while, he slowly raised his palm.

As he drew upon his power, the surging energy of the Imperial Dragon rushed over his hand.

His blue-green eyes were dyed golden.

‘Is this where the gap in this timeline lies?’

The sharp dragon claws that grew from his fingertips tore through the air.

As space-time was torn, the world he stood upon began to slowly shake.

The sky collapsed and the earth split.

Birds took flight, and mountain beasts ran with the sounds of crying animals.

The end of time is always chaos.

But this too would not last long.

Once the curtain of time covered everything, all time in this place would become as if it never happened.

Thud. Thump.

As the price for using his power, his skin began to rot and fall off.

It was pain he had grown accustomed to through several lifetimes.

So Irim was waiting for the next life with a peaceful expression when—

“Your Majesty!”

Thump!

Saeon fell to both knees before him and bowed his head.

“Saeon, head of the White Family. I swear upon the name of the White Tiger, guardian deity of the Western Region.”

“…”

Irim slowly turned his body to look down at Saeon.

Even as space-time was torn and the entire world shook, that white-haired man simply made his oath calmly.

“Even if I must pass through that thick curtain of time and reach the end of the world, I will surely find her. And I will protect her.”

No, within that firm voice that seemed calm at first glance, there were intermittent sounds of weeping as if his heart was being torn apart.

“Even if this life is cut short, cut short, cut short a hundred times more… then I will surely…”

Yes, this was the wailing oath of a man who had lost a child.

“…I will protect her. Soya, my poor baby bird.”

An oath that would be forgotten anyway once time was turned back.

Though she wasn’t even his own child, Saeon’s heart that poured out such great love somehow made Irim’s chest stir.

“…Thank you.”

As Irim pulled up the corners of his mouth in a faint smile, the world he stood upon crumbled into pitch-black darkness.

A story from time that no longer existed.

As he turned back time again, Irim thought that incident was a completely erased oath.

Even the Head of the Jeok Family, who had been Soya’s biological father in the first life, didn’t recognize that child and treated her coldly.

Perhaps the bond between parent and child was such a futile thing.

Just as he and his father had ended in the tragedy of family killing family.

Just as the head of the Suzaku Family, who couldn’t recognize his own child, had treated that child.

Just as the master of the Northern Lands, who hated his own bloodline, had treated the young lesser dragon.

So how shallow would the connection between Saeon and Soya be, when they weren’t even related by blood?

But strangely, in the several lives that followed, coincidences of Saeon saving Soya occurred repeatedly.

It wasn’t that he remembered that promise.

Just by chance, when the child was in danger, he happened to be passing nearby.

Or by chance, encountering malicious forces that had snuck in targeting the child one step ahead.

Or quite by chance, breaking a tea cup filled with deadly poison meant for the child.

Yes, so coincidentally….

At some point, Irim realized that countless coincidences had overlapped to become fate.

[Even if this life is severed, severed, and severed a hundred times more… I will surely protect her then.]

[Soya, my pitiful Baby Bird.]

The moment that wailing oath, sworn with all his heart until the very moment space-time split and the world he stood on crumbled, came alive in his ears.

‘Perhaps.’

Among countless failures, Irim thought that perhaps that man Baek Saeon might be the key to saving that child.

So in this life, he walked a path he had never taken before.

As soon as he turned back time, he sent Saeon to the Southern Lands.

And Soya truly passed her fourteenth birthday for the first time at Baek Saeon’s Fortress.

“How fascinating, Soya. That was the only life where you lived at White Tiger Palace.”

It was simply amazing how such a deep connection had formed in that short time.

Irim did not know what kind of bond existed between Soya and the White Tiger Palace people behind the curtain of forgotten time.

He had been too busy traversing the Imperial Palace where bloody imperial succession battles raged and the battlefield against demon beasts in the Northern Lands to stay by Soya’s side for long.

“That’s all I know. Among all the countless times that have passed, you only looked happy here.”

Irim muttered while looking at Soya’s now-closed window.

He felt quite regretful that her figure was no longer visible.

“…And you in this life too. You only seem to smile like back then when you’re here.”

Irim smiled bitterly, recalling her bright smile that had once become a radiant light for the young Prince left alone in that vast and desolate Imperial Palace.

Though he had been with her for quite a long time crossing many curtains of time afterward, it was only here that he could see that bright smile again.

So Irim hoped she could smile here for a very long time.

He intended to let nothing bind her.

He intended to prevent even the fate of divine oracles and the walls of the Imperial Palace from daring to confine her.

[But, Your Majesty. Perhaps later, much later.]

[When I want to come to where Your Majesty is, would it be alright for me to fly to Your Majesty then?]

That’s why when she asked that question, he seemed to be a little flustered, unlike himself.

It was truly a pointless question.

If there was one thing I had wished for from long ago, it was just one thing.

In the vast sky where all the evil things threatening her had disappeared, for her to smile brightly and soar freely.

I had only wished for that.

If the place she wanted was by my side, then anytime and as much as she wanted.

There’s no way I wouldn’t give it to her.

“I’ve already given my everything for you.”

It was when Irim chuckled and shook his head.

He froze.

His face hardened at some presence he felt in an instant.

‘This presence is….’

The blue-green eyes that had been warmly curved until just moments ago flickered with golden light along with sharp killing intent.

* * *

Soya, who still hadn’t gotten over the afterglow of the birthday party, tossed and turned for a while holding her tiger doll.

‘Today was so enjoyable. I’m so glad Arang is staying at White Tiger Palace for a few more days. Tomorrow, Arang, Seolyeo, and I are planning to go up Horim Mountain to play….’

Even after Yeonjeong turned off the lights and left, Soya continued her thoughts in the darkness for a while, then gradually fell asleep.

Soya’s room with the lights off was only quiet.

It was when only Soya’s gentle breathing evenly stirred the air in the room.

The calm movement of air suddenly froze.

Soya’s steady breathing and the occasional chirping of insects from outside all stopped.

Time in the earthly realm had stopped.

Swoosh―

In the stopped time, a man revealed himself inside Soya’s room.

He was a handsome young nobleman who appeared to be between eighteen and twenty years old.

Step, step.

The man stopped in front of Soya with elegant steps.

Pure white moonlight illuminated Soya’s face.

“Is this the child?”

The man glanced down at her and muttered indifferently.

The pale face illuminated under the moonlight briefly caught his attention, but that was all.

To the man with the most noble blood even in the Heavenly Realm, the child was merely an insignificant creature of the earthly realm that needed to be eliminated.

A child of the mortal world who should have originally died but survived against heaven’s will by harboring the Imperial Dragon’s orb.

It was when the man was about to reach out to take her life.

“Stop.”

White Tiger Mountain Lord appeared with his white robes fluttering and blocked his way.

Unlike his usual appearance as a tiny palm-sized form in front of Soya, White Tiger Mountain Lord was in perfect human form.

“White Tiger Mountain Lord.”

The man who recognized him frowned with displeasure.

“She has survived crossing countless curtains. This might be her last life. Please overlook her just this once.”

White Tiger Mountain Lord bowed his head before the man, speaking with respectful language and tone.

“…Heavenly Tribunal Judge.”

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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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