The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 211
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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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Part 2, Episode 3
The baby, befitting the bloodline of two great families, was born smart enough to immediately recognize who was the most precious person in the White Tiger Palace, and followed Soya around even before learning to speak.
From the moment he started walking, he would call out “Nu—”, “Nu—” with clumsy pronunciation and toddle after Soya, which everyone found adorable, but Gaya was not among them.
[Baby snake, stop bothering Somsomi and come here.]
Gaya, who had been watching the baby clinging tightly to Soya’s embrace with no intention of letting go, suddenly snatched the baby away.
[Waaah… Waaahhh!]
[Cheongya…! Elder Brother, I’m fine.]
[Fine, my foot. Look at your wrist, Somsom. It looks like it’s about to break. Because of this little guy.]
Seeing the baby burst into tears, Soya stamped her feet in surprise, but Gaya pointed to her wrist and said.
[I’ll take care of the baby snake, so don’t worry and rest, Somsomi.]
Although Gaya’s tone toward his baby brother was somewhat prickly, he took care of the baby quite attentively in his own way.
He was quite skilled at carrying the baby, putting him to sleep, feeding him, and even changing diapers.
[Wow, how is Gaya Elder Brother so good at taking care of babies?]
[Of course. This elder brother can do anything. I carried and raised the second tiger and youngest tiger too.]
When Soya asked in admiration, Gaya replied with a proud expression.
From then on, somehow taking care of the baby became entirely Gaya’s responsibility.
That didn’t mean their relationship was particularly good though.
Gaya thought Cheongya kept making things difficult for Soya, and Cheongya thought Gaya was interfering between him and Soya.
“Our father is so good at stealing things that he even stole the blood of a blue dragon.”
Soya said this while giggling as if telling a very amusing joke.
The child with blue hair and purple eyes looked at Sanyu with wary eyes, then immediately turned his head away and shouted.
“Big sister is Cheongya’s!”
Seeing Cheongya clinging tightly to Soya’s embrace and shouting, Sanyu’s lips curved up slightly.
His little sister used to cling to him just like that and shout the same way when she was young.
“Don’t worry. I won’t steal your sister away, little Young Master.”
At the gentle, soothing voice, Cheongya glanced at him again.
Then he saw the face of a strange man smiling softly at him.
The tiger brothers in the White Tiger Palace never spoke to him in such a gentle voice, so Sanyu, who gave off a warm atmosphere, was a bit fascinating.
To Cheongya, except for his father, all the men bigger than him were evil beings trying to steal his sister away, but this person seemed to resemble his sister in face, speech, and even his expression when smiling.
“The little Young Master has sharp eyes. He’ll grow up to become a very fine beast-person.”
“Right? Our Cheongya is so handsome because he takes after me.”
Soya, who laughed and agreed, introduced Sanyu to Cheongya.
“Cheongya, this person is your sister’s Elder Brother.”
“…Tiger?”
At Soya’s words, Cheongya blinked his eyes and tilted his head in confusion.
All of his sister’s elder brothers that Cheongya knew were tigers.
“Haha. I’m not a tiger, but a Southern Divine Beast Suzaku beast-person.”
“Su…zaku?”
It was the first time Cheongya heard this word, and it was quite difficult to pronounce, so he scrunched up his entire face.
“Oh my, you don’t know what a Suzaku is. A Suzaku is a cool bird beast-person with red feathers like flames.”
“Bird…?”
When a word he knew came up, Cheongya’s eyes widened like saucers.
Cheongya particularly loved birds.
He loved birds so much that he insisted he would become a bird beast-person when he grew up.
At those words, Gaya would let out a hollow laugh in disbelief, Ga Hyeon would look at him with pitying eyes, and Gayul would make a confused face.
“Then do you go flap flap and fly?”
“Yes. I can fly the highest and the farthest.”
“Just like big sister! Big sister is a bird too! Flap flap!”
Cheongya looked back and forth between Soya and Sanyu as he shouted.
“The little Young Master is very smart. That’s right, I’m a cool bird just like your sister.”
Sanyu lowered himself toward Cheongya and smiled brightly while patting the child’s head.
“Bird, good! Flap flap, good!”
Seeing Cheongya laugh cheerfully with his guard down, Gaya grumbled in a voice full of betrayal.
“Baby snake. Do you know how well I’ve treated you all this time? You throw punches at this big brother, but you fall for that chicken head so easily?”
Of course, Gaya’s resentment had no effect whatsoever.
“Tiger, go away.”
Cheongya pushed Gaya’s face away with his small hands like fern fronds.
“The little one is ignorant, only strong and stubborn.”
“Haha, he takes after Lord Gaya in that.”
Sanyu smiled gently and agreed with the grumbling Gaya.
“What?”
“That’s right, Cheongya takes after me and Gaya Elder Brother.”
Seeing the two Elder Brothers still getting along well, Soya also burst into laughter.
“By the way, it’s rare to have a guest at the White Tiger Palace, but what should we do since Mother is away?”
Sanyu paused briefly at Soya’s voice full of regret, then realized that the ‘Mother’ his sister mentioned was Cheongha and smiled warmly.
“It seems the mistress of the White Tiger Palace is away.”
“Yes, recently the water in the Western Lands keeps drying up and there seem to be problems with the crops. So Mother went to investigate personally.”
Cheongha, the mistress of the White Tiger Palace, had been away for several days to investigate the strange phenomena in the Western Lands.
In place of the absent Mother and busy Elder Brothers, it became entirely Soya’s responsibility to look after the household affairs of the White Tiger Palace and receive guests.
“I really wanted to introduce Elder Brother to Mother, so it’s disappointing.”
“It’s fine. Your elder brother is so happy just being with our pretty little sister like this.”
At Sanyu’s gentle laughter, Gaya looked at him with spiteful eyes.
His expression seemed like he had a lot he wanted to say, but was holding back because Soya was nearby.
“Big sister, over there!”
At that moment, Cheongya, who was being held in Soya’s arms, pointed toward the top of a tree and burst into laughter.
“Tiger! Stupid tiger!”
At Cheongya’s shout, there was a rustling sound and a couple of tree leaves fell down.
Looking up, they could see snow-white hair peeking out between the green leaves.
In this White Tiger Palace, there was only one person Cheongya called ‘stupid tiger.’
“Yul Elder Brother?”
It was Gayul, the third son of the White Tiger Family, hiding up in the tree and secretly watching them with blazing eyes.
Gayul, who had climbed Horim Mountain with Soya in tiger form during the day, was now in the form of a grown young man.
Now eighteen years old, Gayul had grown as tall as Saeon and Gaya, with a broader frame that revealed manly lines.
The fact that the mischievous third Young Master had grown into such a fine man brought tears to the eyes of several people in the White Tiger Palace.
Though perhaps only his height had grown, as his face still retained its youthful appearance and his mischievous nature hadn’t changed a bit from childhood.
“Yul Elder Brother, don’t do that and come down here. We have a guest at the White Tiger Palace.”
“I, I can’t stand being with those red winged guys from the south for even a moment!”
Gayul, who hadn’t expected to be caught hiding in the tree, blushed slightly and shouted.
Having finished grueling training after being caught by Sanho, Gayul had come this way after hearing Soya’s laughter, but couldn’t approach after seeing the red-haired man.
“Then you’re going to stay there alone instead of coming over here?”
“Yes!”
Gayul turned his head away sharply.
Though Gayul naturally liked people, he harbored considerable resentment toward the Suzaku Family alone.
Well, they’re the bad guys who made tears fall like pearls from our Cotton Ball’s eyes, so I can never get close to them.
“Oh my, Yul isn’t usually like that…”
Soya looked back at Sanyu with embarrassment at Gayul’s stubborn attitude.
“It’s fine, Soya. I find it very reassuring to think that Young Master Gayul has grown up so well and is protecting our Soya.”
Sanyu burst into good-natured laughter without showing any sign of displeasure.
“More importantly, Soya, since we’ve come to White Tiger Palace, we should greet the Family Head of the White Family first. Would you guide us?”
* * *
“I greet the Family Head of the White Family.”
“So you’re the new Family Head of the Jeok Family.”
At Sanyu’s request for a private audience, Saeon dismissed the others and received the greeting with a less than welcoming expression.
In truth, he too harbored considerable resentment toward the Suzaku Family, no less than Gayul.
Though he knew that among the people of that family, Sanyu was the only one who had acted as an elder brother to Soya, he still couldn’t help feeling unpleasant at just hearing the character ‘Su’ from Suzaku Family.
“Are there no particular troubles in the Southern Lands?”
Thus, though he wasn’t curious about the affairs of the Southern Lands, it was a polite inquiry.
“It would be nice if I could answer that there are no troubles. Actually, an incident has occurred.”
Saeon paused at the unexpected response.
“An incident has occurred?”
“Yes. I came to White Tiger Palace today not only because of my promise with Soya, but also because I wanted to discuss this matter with the Family Head of the White Family.”
The expression of Sanyu, who had been smiling warmly just moments before, darkened.
“Recently, the beasts in the Southern Lands have been growing fierce and trying to escape the control of the beastkin.”
“…”
At the story that continued matter-of-factly, Saeon’s eyes instantly sharpened.
“Are the Western Lands alright?”
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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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