The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 237

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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, Chapter 29

Last night, Seolyeo, who had fled from Soya, barely managed to control his body after struggling with the evil all night long.

“Huff, huff…”

Seolyeo grimaced at the pain that still hadn’t subsided and gasped for breath.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

He tried to take deep breaths, but his wildly beating heart wouldn’t calm down at all.

“I can’t be swallowed by the evil yet. Not yet…”

Seolyeo bit his lower lip tightly and recalled the conversation he had with Heuksa on the day he left White Tiger Palace.

[Please. I have to protect Soya. Tell me how.]

—There is one method…

Heuksa said that the power of the Death God Beast was needed to eliminate the evil.

Since three divine beasts—Suzaku, White Tiger, and Cheonryong—had already awakened, the last divine beast, Hyeonmu, needed to be awakened.

[Soya can do it! Soya has already awakened three divine beasts!]

—But even if you awaken the Flame King, you won’t be able to eliminate the evil.

[Wh-why?]

—Hyeonmu’s power is the power to devour living things, but the current evil doesn’t have a complete physical body, so it’s not in a living state.

[Then… what should we do?]

To his question asked while swallowing his breath, Heuksa answered in a dark voice.

—Someone has to give their complete physical body to the evil to make it alive. And that ‘someone’ is your role.

[…!]

At those words, Seolyeo opened his mouth in shock.

—If you stay close to that child, the evil will rampage more. So you have to distance yourself from that child. Until later when that child is ready to awaken the last divine beast and comes looking for you again.

It meant leaving Soya.

Seolyeo bit his lips tightly to swallow the surging emotions.

—Until then, never give your entire body to the evil. Don’t get swallowed and endure.

At those words, Seolyeo, who had kept his mouth tightly shut for a long time, asked in a low, sunken voice after a while.

[…If I give my entire body to the evil, then what happens to me?]

—If you’re unlucky, you’ll die. A soul that has lost its body will eventually be devoured by the evil. But it’s not like there’s absolutely no way…

Heuksa said something more after that, but somehow it didn’t register well in his ears.

Dying—it was too frightening to hear.

That night, Seolyeo returned to his room and curled up, crying and thinking for a long time.

Dying was very scary, but… harming Soya was even more frightening.

He was someone who protected Soya.

So he had to leave to protect Soya.

That dawn, as he left White Tiger Palace, Seolyeo resented and resented again.

Why did it have to be me?

Why, among all those many people, did the evil settle in my body?

Fleeing with such resentful feelings, Seolyeo encountered Irim.

Irim said very strange things.

[Rather than that, wouldn’t it be better to first know who you are, young imugi?]

[Go north. Far, farther away.]

[And there, find your Dragon Orb.]

A Dragon Orb? Wasn’t that something only dragon beast-humans possessed?

There was no way someone like me, an imugi beast-human, would have such a thing.

Although he had never been able to transform into an imugi form, Seolyeo was definitely an imugi beast-human.

[That’s the only way you can protect your soul from the wicked thing that has settled in your body.]

Nevertheless, Seolyeo, tempted by Irim’s words, searched through the Northern Lands thoroughly with a hopeful heart.

Perhaps if he found it, he could drive the evil from his body?

Drive out the evil and return to Soya’s side?

With such small hope…

But in the end, he couldn’t find it.

Belatedly, he thought he had been deceived.

Perhaps That Man had said such things to separate him from Soya?

Even without doing that… he had been planning to leave Soya anyway…

“Soya…”

Seolyeo slowly murmured that name.

Before he knew it, his pounding heartbeat had subsided and his body had calmed down.

As the pain faded, Soya’s face immediately came to mind.

He had felt a faint heat from her when they met last night.

Her breathing had also been somewhat unstable.

His senses, which had become much more acute since receiving Hyeonmu’s authority, had noticed it.

Her body was definitely not well.

‘She can’t be sick…’

It was when Seolyeo was worrying about her.

“Squeak, whine…”

The thorn rabbits approached as if to comfort Seolyeo.

However, Seolyeo turned his head away sharply.

He didn’t even want to look at the wicked demon beasts that had attacked Soya.

“Squeal…”

The thorn rabbits drooped their long ears and made dejected sounds.

Seolyeo’s heart softened.

“Don’t attack Soya anymore. Soya is my most… precious friend.”

“Kyuung, squeal!”

The thorn rabbits quickly nodded their heads, but Seolyeo wasn’t reassured by that alone and added.

“If other demon beasts attack Soya, you have to save her. Understand?”

“Squeal, squeal!”

The thorn rabbits, noticing that Seolyeo’s mood had improved a little, answered while hopping around.

Seolyeo’s rigidly hardened face also relaxed.

However, he was still worried about Soya.

She seemed to be sick after all.

He shouldn’t have left her like that…

‘Let me secretly go see if Soya is okay, just that much.’

Thinking that way, he went to find Soya and discovered her together with Irim.

In that brief moment, whatever she had experienced, Soya’s deepened eyes captured Seolyeo’s gaze.

In her eyes that had been soft and lovely like spring flowers, a deep red energy like red jade was gently swirling.

As if bewitched, he couldn’t tear his gaze away from those beautiful eyes.

“All done, Your Majesty.”

Soya, who had been fiddling with Irim’s hair for a while, spoke in a voice as lovely as a baby bird.

She faced Irim and let out a small laugh.

‘Soya is… smiling.’

His ash-gray eyes fixed on her brightly smiling face sank gloomily.

‘I couldn’t do anything else all day because I was worried about Soya.’

Seolyeo clenched his fists tightly.

‘Soya is fine without me.’

Crack. Crack.

His nails dug into his palms, piercing through the skin as red blood flowed down.

Soya’s laughter echoed in his head.

‘I hate it. Don’t smile while looking at that man.’

Crack. Crack. Crack.

‘If you’re going to smile like that while looking at that man… then rather…’

Suddenly, Seolyeo’s eyes sank pitch black.

He wanted to ruin Soya’s smiling face.

He wanted to kill that man reflected in her eyes.

He wanted to see tears of blood flow from Soya’s eyes upon witnessing it.

‘Yes. Rather, just cry.’

Seolyeo killed the man in his imagination.

He strangled Soya’s neck for not smiling at him.

A feeling of satisfaction surged at the sight of her suffering and crying…

‘Gasp…!’

The moment he came to his senses, Seolyeo staggered and gasped for breath.

Seolyeo’s face turned pale, shocked by the thoughts he had just entertained.

‘Why, why am I thinking such things?’

Seolyeo had loved Soya’s smile more than anyone, so why did he have such evil thoughts about her smiling face?

What Seolyeo wanted was to protect Soya’s beautiful smile.

Seolyeo hadn’t learned much, and unlike her, he didn’t enjoy reading books, so he didn’t know many things.

But there was one thing he knew better than anyone: that Soya was very beautiful when she smiled.

He wanted to protect that beautiful smile of hers.

He had left the White Tiger Palace to protect Soya.

Yet here he was, and he found himself having such evil thoughts – this version of himself felt so strange, terrible, and horrifying.

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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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