The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 197

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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 Episode 20

“A nest?”

“Ah. A nest.”

Unlike Gayul, who blinked his eyes not knowing what it was, Ga Hyeon nodded briefly.

“What’s a nest, Cotton Ball?”

“It’s a home where birds lay eggs and raise their babies!”

Soya explained while looking at the bird’s nest with an excited face.

Her heart was pounding.

It had been a very long time since she’d seen a bird’s nest.

In the Southern Lands where birds gathered to live, nests could be easily seen.

‘And I too… I also had a nest when I was young…’

Suddenly.

Soya shook her head vigorously, dispelling the sad thoughts.

“They raise babies? Then there are baby birds in there?”

Gayul asked quite perceptively.

“Yes, there might even be newborn baby birds! Birds build nests to lay eggs.”

“…!”

Gayul’s eyes widened like saucers.

My goodness, newborn baby birds.

They must be so cute.

Ah, of course there couldn’t be any baby birds cuter than our Cotton Ball…

Wait, then do those baby birds also have wings and beaks like Cotton Ball?

Do they cry ‘peep peep’ like Cotton Ball?

“Ugh…”

Gayul suddenly clutched his chest.

“What’s wrong, Elder Brother?”

“I imagined something too cute and my heart hurts…”

“Baek Gayul, you’re an eleven-year-old grown tiger acting pathetically.”

Ga Hyeon frowned and shook his head, but beside him Soya clutched her heart following Gayul’s example.

“Ugh!”

“Soya…?”

“My heart feels tight and painful too. When I imagine baby birds, they’re so cute…”

A gentle smile bloomed on Ga Hyeon’s face at the sight of his little sister chattering with her small mouth.

“That sound you made earlier was from your heart hurting? Our Soya is quite amusing too.”

Ga Hyeon said affectionately while stroking Soya’s head.

“What, you called me pathetic.”

Gayul pouted and grumbled, but Ga Hyeon lightly ignored him as if he couldn’t hear.

While the two Elder Brothers were bickering, Soya quietly approached the nest with Seolyeo.

She wanted to see the baby birds.

However, regrettably, there were only small eggs in the nest.

The baby birds hadn’t hatched yet.

“Huh? There are no baby birds.”

Gayul, who had followed behind at some point, spoke in a disappointed voice.

Seolyeo, who had also been secretly hoping, made a dejected expression.

“But if we wait, they’ll hatch soon. The mother bird will keep them warm. Look, there’s the mother bird and father bird over there.”

Soya explained while pointing at the skylark couple hovering in the air.

“I hope the baby birds are born soon.”

“Me too.”

The children looked at the skylark couple’s nest and murmured softly.

* * *

From that day on, Soya visited the skylark’s nest every day.

“Young Lady, are you going to look at the nest again today?”

“Yes, Yeonjeong! I have to go check if the nest is safe!”

It wasn’t only the children who were interested in the skylark couple that had built a nest in White Tiger Palace.

The adults also took great interest in the baby birds that would soon hatch.

And for good reason, since it was the first time a bird had built a nest in White Tiger Palace.

And some time later.

Peep, peep.

Under everyone’s attention, the cute cries of baby birds echoed.

“They really are baby birds…”

“Yes, very tiny baby birds.”

Soya and Gayul’s faces were flushed red as they watched from a distance so as not to startle the baby birds.

Inside the nest, baby birds that hadn’t opened their eyes yet were waiting for their mother.

Just then, the mother bird flew over with food in her beak.

The baby birds, who couldn’t even open their eyes yet, opened their mouths wide and received the food their mother gave them.

“…!”

In that moment, Soya and Gayul’s eyes sparkled.

“Did you see, Cotton Ball? The baby birds’ beaks…!”

“Yes, I saw too, Elder Brother. So… so cute.”

“I didn’t know baby birds were this small. So cute…”

“Really. Huh? But over there…”

At this moment, Soya’s eyes caught sight of one egg that hadn’t hatched alone.

Unlike Gayul, who was clutching his heart again while looking at the baby birds, Soya kept worrying about that small egg.

Three more days passed before there was a reaction from the egg that still hadn’t hatched.

“Peep, chirp! (Hang in there, baby bird! You can do it!)”

Soya flew right up to the nest and flapped her wings while cheering earnestly.

Soon, with a faint crying sound of ‘peep, peep—’, the last baby bird broke out of its egg.

The baby bird born from the last egg was particularly small in build.

Perhaps because of that, it couldn’t eat properly as its siblings took away the food the mother bird brought, and it would often stumble while waddling and get knocked over by the other birds.

Soya felt heartbroken and upset for no reason.

‘This is really too much. Chirpy is family too, but just because it’s small and born late, they don’t even take care of it.’

Chirpy was the name Soya had given to the baby bird born from the last egg.

Though she knew the other birds had no ill intent, Soya still felt disappointed.

‘This won’t do. I have to bring it food.’

* * *

Early in the morning.

Ga Hyeon, who had gotten up before dawn, sat at his desk copying books.

It was a punishment Saeon had given him to repent for his mistakes by copying ancient texts containing the words of old sages.

Having finally written the last character, he rubbed his wrist and headed to the window.

He could see Soya crouched down among the thicket below.

‘She must be checking on the nest again today.’

Soya would get up earlier than anyone else in the morning to check on the baby birds, and in the evening she would stay out until the latest time caring for the baby birds without going inside.

Unlike Gayul, who had tried following Soya and getting up early for about two days before giving up, she showed quite persistent behavior.

‘It’s still dawn so it must be chilly.’

A seemingly worried expression appeared on Ga Hyeon’s face.

‘What if she catches a cold?’

Didn’t she catch a cold last winter too while playing in the snow?

Ga Hyeon went downstairs with a warm blanket, feeling worried.

“Soya.”

“Oh, Elder Brother.”

Soya, who had been covering the sleeping birds with tree leaves, turned around with a happy face.

“You got up early again today.”

“Yes, the morning dew is cold. I was worried. What about you, Elder Brother?”

“Elder Brother was worried about Soya too. The dawn air is cold.”

Ga Hyeon wrapped the warm blanket around Soya’s shoulders and nagged in an affectionate voice.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Elder Brother. I’ll dress warmly so you won’t worry.”

Soya said while pulling the blanket warmly around herself, as if she hadn’t realized she was making him worry.

“This little one here is Chirpy?”

Ga Hyeon asked, pointing to a particularly small bird in the nest.

“Yes, this is Chirpy!”

When Chirpy was mentioned, Soya’s face brightened.

Soya took especially good care of this small baby bird that was born from the last egg.

She would bring food in place of the mother bird and help with walking practice.

“Chirpy can walk well now, and yesterday she even started flying. She couldn’t fly high and fell down, but still, our Chirpy is really amazing, isn’t she?”

Soya chattered excitedly.

Ga Hyeon knew why Soya paid more attention to Chirpy.

Because Chirpy resembled Soya.

Being particularly small, and not receiving complete care from her family.

That’s why she unconsciously felt more drawn to Chirpy.

“Don’t you dislike the other birds?”

“They’re baby birds. I do feel a little hurt, but they’re still babies, so it’s okay.”

She could reasonably hate the other birds that pushed Chirpy away and monopolized the food.

“Father told me that all babies should be loved. That’s what a righteous world is.”

Soya just smiled brightly and answered in a gentle voice.

“Babies are still young, so they make mistakes sometimes. He said that’s not the babies’ fault, but the adults’ fault. So adults need to guide them from the side.”

“….”

“I’m not an adult yet, but just like Father gave me a righteous world as a gift, I want to show Chirpy and the baby birds what a proper world is like too.”

Soya added with a bright smile.

“Because I really love White Tiger Palace and the righteous world that Father led me to.”

“A righteous world….”

Ga Hyeon quietly pondered Soya’s words.

How should he put it… somehow it was very much like Father.

And very much like Soya.

‘Soya resembles Father.’

It was newly fascinating.

Even without sharing a drop of blood, Soya resembled Father. Even more than he did.

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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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