The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 18

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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 18

The next morning.

Saeon was bewildered to realize he had slept soundly without any pain.

Yesterday had definitely been the night of the full moon, when negative energy was strongest during the month.

Yet he had slept so peacefully without even the smallest nightmare.

Then he noticed the small stone pebbles placed on his desk.

“Young Lady Cotton Ball left behind a ghost-repelling charm.”

“Ghost?”

Saeon questioned in a puzzled voice at the sudden talk of ghosts.

Then Jeok Yeong relayed the conversation that had taken place between Soya and Gayul.

“So Cotton Ball brought this to protect me?”

Saeon chuckled softly as he picked up the stone pebbles.

Now that he knew the full story, these ordinary-looking stone pebbles appeared quite smooth and pretty.

“Hmm. Seeing as I didn’t have nightmares all night, it does seem to be effective…”

Most of all, the thought that she had tried to protect him with that small body of hers felt endearing.

“How cute.”

Saeon muttered while rubbing his slightly upturned lips.

“Since you received such a nice gift, how about giving something in return?”

“For once, you’ve made a good suggestion.”

Saeon pondered what kind of gift would be good to give Soya in return, then said,

“Don’t I have a sword that His Majesty bestowed upon me last winter? Since I don’t need it, I could give her that…”

“Oh my, Family Head! The tiger young masters might be one thing, but young ladies of that age don’t like such things.”

“Tsk, how narrow-minded. Abandon your prejudice that girls don’t like swords.”

“But that’s a real sword! It’s heavy and sharp! What if Young Lady Cotton Ball gets hurt while playing with the sword! Ordinary beast-people don’t have thick skin like tigers!”

At those words, Saeon paused. It was a valid point.

“Cotton Ball getting hurt. That absolutely cannot happen.”

Ugh… Saeon frowned and fell into deep thought.

* * *

Southern Empire, Land of Suzaku.

Lili’s laughter rang out cheerfully.

Jeok Ayun watched Lili running around excitedly with a gentle smile.

Lili seemed particularly happy these past few days.

Since Lili was in a good mood, Jeok Ayun’s mood improved as well.

‘Thank goodness. I was worried she might have been hurt by that incident.’

Lili learning about Soya’s secret had been unintentional.

Perhaps it had been wrong to try to keep that matter secret from the beginning.

However, fortunately Lili quickly shook off her upset feelings and showed her bright side.

It was while he was enjoying pleasant time with Lili.

Jeok Hwayu came looking for him.

“Father, I have something to discuss with you briefly.”

“What is it?”

Jeok Ayun raised one eyebrow, expressing his displeasure at having his time with Lili interrupted.

“Could we move to another location?”

He was about to tell him to just speak here, but his son’s expression seemed unusual.

So Jeok Ayun left Lili and moved to another spot.

Jeok Hwayu hesitated, unable to speak readily, then finally managed to speak.

“That child is dead.”

“…What?”

Jeok Ayun’s face instantly hardened.

For a brief moment, he stood there with a dumbfounded expression, unable to understand his son’s words.

In the cold silence, he gradually realized that the ‘child’ Hwayu was referring to was none other than Soya.

“I was planning to give her adequate wealth and send her to a distant place. Because having that child here was making Lili suffer.”

“…”

It was true. Jeok Hwayu really hadn’t intended to kill that child.

He had simply planned to give her enough money to live on and send her to a distant place.

“However, when the Three-Legged Crow arrived, the child had disappeared and only bloodstains remained.”

“…”

Jeok Ayun pressed his lips tightly together with an expressionless face.

“This is what was found at the scene.”

Jeok Hwayu held out a pouch to his father.

He froze.

Jeok Ayun’s fingertips trembled finely.

This pouch… was the one he had personally attached to the child’s jeogori on the morning of Soya’s sixth birthday.

[Father, will Soya be able to do well? What if I fail? What if I can’t become a magnificent firebird like Father and Elder Brothers…]

[Don’t worry, Soya. So what if you fail? The fact that you’re Father’s daughter won’t change.]

[But…]

[It’s okay to be a little slow. If you fail today, you can try again tomorrow, and even if you fail tomorrow, there’s the day after. So don’t be too nervous and just do your best.]

He remembered the voice of the child who had worried about what would happen if she failed at beast transformation.

Contrary to her worries, the child had performed beast transformation too perfectly.

If only the child had failed, if only he hadn’t had to see her in that transformed state.

Would something have been different then?

Jeok Ayun carefully opened the blood-stained pouch. What was inside was…

“Ah…”

A short sigh flowed through Jeok Ayun’s teeth.

It was a red feather.

Once, the child had picked up one of his feathers that had fallen to the ground and asked if she could keep it.

When he told her to do as she pleased, the child clutched it tightly in her hand and smiled brightly, saying how wonderful it was.

“…She kept this all this time.”

Thinking that the child had taken this with her on her final journey leaving the estate made him feel very strange.

He had loved his wife dearly, and he had also loved dearly the youngest daughter she had given birth to in exchange for her life.

While everyone suspected his wife’s infidelity upon seeing Soya who resembled him not at all, he wouldn’t listen.

He fed, clothed, and put the child to sleep with his own hands, giving her the greatest love he could offer.

So much so that she never had a chance to set foot on the ground, never leaving his embrace for even a moment, which made her walk later than her peers.

Then when he learned that Soya was not his daughter.

Jeok Ayun felt as if the world he had believed in was crumbling.

The child his wife had given birth to in exchange for her life was not his child.

The woman I loved had deceived me and died giving birth to another man’s child?

It was horrible and miserable.

To turn away from it, he ordered the child’s Spirit Core to be taken.

Because it was hard to bear seeing that appearance that showed not a single characteristic of Suzaku.

Even knowing the child was innocent, he resented her.

If not for Soya, if not for that child… his wife wouldn’t have died. The family wouldn’t have been broken.

Soya, that child was the source of all tragedy.

He was so tormented and miserable that he regretted believing that child was his own and raising her with his own hands.

For the past three years after sending the child to the Cold Palace and abandoning her, he hadn’t been in his right mind for even a single moment.

Despite his title as the Sage of the Southern Region, he spent his days in the form of a madman, staying up all night drinking every day.

It was only thanks to his second son Hwayu, who led the family clan in place of his father who had become a lunatic, that the family could endure without wavering.

Then Lili appeared.

Saying that he was not wrong. That Madam had never committed adultery.

He was extremely happy to receive such confirmation through Lili.

Jeok Ayun resolved to give the entire world to his pitiful real daughter who had wandered outside until she was nine years old.

At that time, his attention was entirely focused on Lili, so his thoughts didn’t extend to Soya, who would have been neglected during the past three years when he wasn’t in his right mind.

When he faced Soya again after three years due to Lili’s insistence, only then did he newly realize that child’s existence.

However, Jeok Ayun turned away from that child once again.

He turned away even more from that child who was both pitiful and resentful, as if compensating Lili.

He thought he should do so for Lili’s sake as well.

However, that didn’t mean he wished for the child to die.

Hwayu had said they couldn’t even find the child’s body.

Jeok Ayun slowly closed and opened his eyes, then soon commanded in a low voice.

“Find the child.”

“But Father…!”

“Didn’t you say there was no body?”

“Even if she didn’t die, she won’t live long. Because…”

Jeok Hwayu clenched his fist tightly and spoke as if it was too horrible to say with his own mouth.

“That child’s Spirit Core was already severely damaged.”

When he went to return the Spirit Core that had been taken three years ago, Jeok Hwayu discovered that Soya’s Spirit Core, which had been neglected for so long, was damaged.

Beast-people with damaged Spirit Cores don’t live long.

So using the summer festival as an excuse, he abandoned that child outside the estate and commanded the Three-Legged Crow.

To take that child who would be left alone outside the estate, go far away, and care for her.

Until someday, the day the child’s breath would cease.

“…”

Jeok Ayun looked quietly at his son with unreadable eyes.

After a long while.

He opened his mouth, which seemed like it would never open again.

“…Then bring back at least her body. Only then can I believe it, can’t I? That child’s death.”

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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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