The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 185

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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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Side Story 8

Saeon gently pulled down the bulging edge of the blanket.

Then Ga Hyeon’s face, sleeping peacefully with soft breathing sounds, appeared pale white under the moonlight.

A pained expression crossed Saeon’s face as he discovered tear stains around his son’s reddened eyes.

‘He must have been crying.’

As Saeon was arranging the hair stuck to his son’s cheek, something suddenly caught his eye.

Saeon carefully picked it up.

It was a tree leaf covered with half-written words.

He paused.

His face darkened as he quietly examined it. Because…

【I miss Mother…】

【Dragon God, please bring Mother…】

【May the war end safely and Mother return…】

Ga Hyeon’s leaf was filled entirely with content longing for one person.

[Little Elder Brother said so. He said that’s superstition. He said only foolish tigers would believe in such things.]

Saeon had been constantly bothered by those words Gayul had told him recently.

Ga Hyeon had been clever since childhood, learning to read faster than others.

Until just before he left for the campaign, they had enjoyed writing letters on tree leaves together and sending them to the Dragon God…

[He had been longing for Lady Cheongha all along, but it seems he discovered the family register in the Family Head’s office.]

[Hyeon found the family register…?]

[After discovering that Madam’s name had disappeared, he seems to have closed his heart since then.]

[…I see.]

It had happened not long after Saeon left for the battlefield.

It was an oversight by the household members who thought the Young Master was too young to understand anything even if he saw the documents in the office.

Until then, Ga Hyeon had secretly believed his father’s words that Mother would return someday, but he was greatly shocked to discover that Mother’s name had been erased from the family register.

And he came to understand.

That Mother would not return.

That Mother had abandoned them.

Ga Hyeon’s heart, making this judgment alone, gradually built walls and closed tightly with longing for Cheongha and equal feelings of betrayal and hatred.

When others later learned of this and tried to reason with Ga Hyeon, he only answered with a docile “Yes” on the surface, but did not change his heart.

Rather, the more the adults tried to persuade him, the more he grew his resentment toward Cheongha.

Thus, Cheongha’s name became virtually taboo in front of Ga Hyeon.

If I had been by his side, could I have comforted the child in a way that would have hurt him a little less?

As he was making such futile suppositions and arranging his son’s bedding with a sad expression, it happened.

Ga Hyeon, who had been tossing and turning in his sleep, slowly lifted his eyelids.

“Father…?”

“Are you awake, Hyeona?”

Saeon greeted his son with a broad smile.

After blinking for a moment, Ga Hyeon quickly got up and sat properly, asking:

“Wh-what brings you here at this hour?”

Saeon let out a small laugh at the sight of his son sitting in proper posture with his hands politely folded, even while half-asleep after just waking up.

[And that second tiger, he’s really strange. He thinks I’m an adult, you know. He’s only seven years old.]

He remembered what Gaya had grumbled to him when he had just returned from the battlefield.

His second son, who wanted to appear more adult than anyone else, had actually been crying alone because he couldn’t send letters to the Dragon God…

Understanding the general situation, Saeon combed through his son’s disheveled hair with his hand and spoke in a gentle voice.

“Papa has to go to Horim Mountain, but he’s scared to go alone.”

“…?”

Ga Hyeon looked up at his father with a puzzled expression.

“Will you come with Papa?”

At his father’s words delivered with a grin, Ga Hyeon’s eyes widened.

‘To Horim Mountain…?’

Instantly, all other questions disappeared, and he only heard his father’s proposal to go to Horim Mountain together.

“Yes! I want to go together!”

Ga Hyeon exclaimed with delight, then quickly composed his expression, feeling as if his father had somehow seen through his inner thoughts from his calm smile.

He tried to put on a somewhat aloof face, but because of his soft baby fat, he only looked gentle and harmless.

Saeon lifted Ga Hyeon up in one swift motion.

“Ah, Father…!”

“What? Don’t you like Papa’s embrace?”

“…”

Ga Hyeon, who had been startled, soon shook his head back and forth.

Saeon smiled and approached the window while holding the child.

Just as he opened the closed window and was about to jump outside:

“W-wait a moment! I have something to prepare!”

Ga Hyeon jumped out of Saeon’s arms and shouted.

“Hmm?”

“I-I need to change clothes, so don’t look!”

Saeon, guessing his son’s intentions, chuckled and turned around.

“Alright, Father won’t look, so change comfortably.”

Behind him, he could hear Ga Hyeon hurriedly gathering something.

“I’m ready now.”

Ga Hyeon had secretly packed a fine brush and a small ceramic bottle containing ink.

Then he approached Saeon again and glanced at his father’s embrace.

Seeing his son hesitate, unable to jump into his father’s arms boldly like Gayul, Saeon smiled and lifted the child.

Then he jumped out through the open window.

The still chilly night air brushed against their skin.

White Tiger beastkin have strong stamina and rarely catch colds.

Even knowing this, Saeon wrapped the child in his embrace to protect him from the cold air and leaped toward Horim Mountain.

With each step he took, the surrounding scenery changed rapidly.

Ga Hyeon stared at his father’s face with a dazed feeling.

Being held in his father’s arms like this felt strange.

It was as if he had become a child again.

‘But… it doesn’t seem bad. Becoming a child again.’

Ga Hyeon thought as he fidgeted in his father’s warm embrace.

‘So this is why Yul always jumps into Father’s arms at any time without reason.’

To think the day would come when I’d understand that foolish tiger. What a long life brings to see.

At this moment, Saeon, feeling Ga Hyeon’s gaze, looked down.

When Ga Hyeon flinched and rolled his eyes around after meeting his father’s gaze, Saeon’s clear laughter pleasantly echoed through the night air.

Ga Hyeon couldn’t understand why his father was laughing, but hearing his father’s laughter somehow made him feel good too.

So he smiled broadly, following his father’s lead.

“Hyeona.”

His father’s quiet voice came from above his head.

“Becoming an adult means that sometimes you have to leave behind those you love and go away. Sometimes things come up that are just as important as love.”

His voice was gentle, but at the same time carried an unknowable, heavy weight.

Ga Hyeon couldn’t easily understand his father’s words and wore a puzzled expression, then suddenly asked with a look of understanding.

“Like how Father went to the battlefield to protect the Empire?”

Ga Hyeon’s eyes sparkled brightly, as if asking to be praised for getting the right answer.

“Yes, that could be an example.”

Ga Hyeon unconsciously giggled at Saeon’s touch as he chuckled and patted his head.

“But, Hyeona. Sometimes when love is too great, it gets obscured by other things and becomes invisible.”

“Why? If love is great, shouldn’t it be more visible?”

“Love that’s too great blinds people’s eyes. As great as the love is, it can become hatred, or it can become sadness…”

“…?”

“So perhaps that love isn’t visible right now.”

Father’s words felt exactly like a puzzling riddle.

“But our little tiger is smart. When the time comes, you’ll surely recognize that love.”

Saeon smiled warmly at Ga Hyeon, who was blinking his eyes.

“So right now, I hope that great hatred and sadness won’t hurt you.”

“Yes.”

Ga Hyeon nodded obediently with a puzzled face.

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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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