The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 253

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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 45

“Foolish human! How dare you stab me in the back!”

Kuwaang—!

Once again, along with Evil’s pouring rage, a fierce explosion erupted from within his body and burst forth.

Thud.

The man’s body, blown away by the explosion sound, collapsed face-down at Soya’s feet with a thud.

“Kugh….”

Despite having a large hole in his side, his body that wouldn’t die showed that he was no longer human.

[Have you truly given up on being human!]

His son’s voice that had cried out moments ago echoed dully in his ears.

Jeok Ayun clutched his wound and pulled up the corners of his mouth, laughing softly.

Well.

I lost my qualification as a human a very long time ago.

Isn’t that right.

How could a father who abandoned his child be called human?

What difference would there be from a beast wearing human skin?

So this hideous and terrible appearance I’ve become was a form that suited me perfectly.

“Child….”

Jeok Ayun struggled to lift his head and look at Soya.

Soya, who had been frozen in shock at the situation unfolding before her eyes, met his gaze and flinched at her fingertips.

It seemed exactly like she was rejecting him, so Jeok Ayun smiled bitterly.

“Evil’s purpose is… to corrupt the Sacred Tree… and trap you here….”

Feeling his throat burn with searing pain each time he spoke, Jeok Ayun barely managed to continue.

“Just now… the base of the Sacred Tree I shot and hit… Evil’s power is concentrated there….”

“….”

Soya held her breath and looked at the base of the Sacred Tree that was blazing fiercely.

Soon she raised her bow and aimed in the direction he had indicated.

Pyung—

A red flame bloomed from the tip of the arrow that flew, devouring Jeok Ayun’s flame and growing even larger.

Eventually, the Purification Flame she ignited wrapped around the corrupted Sacred Tree and blazed fiercely.

“No! My paradise…!”

The moment Evil saw this and cried out in rage.

Swish—

Taking advantage of that opening, Irim flew like an arrow toward Evil and thrust his sword into Evil’s chest.

Thunk—!

“Kh, ugh….”

The long sword that pierced through Evil’s chest pinned him to the burning wooden pillar.

After pinning Evil to the tree, Irim immediately kicked off lightly and pulled his body back.

Soya, who had been watching that scene, suddenly hesitated.

‘Just now, didn’t the direction of the wind… change a little?’

She felt something strange.

As if… the flow of air had instantly reversed.

Soon the flames died down, revealing the Sacred Tree purified to pure white and Evil pinned to that pillar by Irim’s sword.

“Yellow, Dragon….”

Evil gritted his teeth and glared at Irim.

—Baby Bird! Now’s the time! It’s a chance to bind Evil!

Soya immediately shot four arrows in succession, imbued with Cheonryong’s power.

Her arrows grazed past Evil’s both wrists and ankles and embedded in the wooden pillar.

Pure white tree branches grew from where the arrows were embedded, then coiled around Evil’s wrists and ankles like snakes, binding him tightly.

Evil tried to break free, but each time he tried to use his strength, the branches wrapped around him bound him even more tightly.

Even when he tried to cut them using the power of black water, the branches that absorbed the water grew thicker and sturdier, having the opposite effect.

Enraged by this, Evil glared at Jeok Ayun and shouted.

“Because of that damned bastard…!”

“Kh, heuk….”

At Evil’s rage, Jeok Ayun coughed up blood and rolled on the ground.

“Are you alright…?”

“Heuk, child….”

Toward Soya who approached in alarm, Jeok Ayun barely lifted his head and gave a faint smile.

“Baek Saeon… raised you so wonderfully.”

“….”

His tenderly curved eyes held the child.

Though he had no more regrets now, if there was still one last lingering sorrow for him….

[Sorry, but I never learned wing flapping from my parents.]

Yes, those words became his final regret.

Originally, baby birds of the Southern Lands learn to fly from their parents.

But I couldn’t teach the child anything.

Even so, the child spread her small wings wide and soared up.

So beautifully, so lovingly. Flying so freely.

Flicker, flicker.

As his life was extinguished, the flames that had trapped Sanyu also died down.

“Father…!”

Sanyu, who came running, embraced his father’s body and cried out.

The man’s body, which could no longer recover, was gradually crumbling away.

Soya stared blankly at the face of the man whose life was fading.

It was a very strange feeling.

She had already erased that man from her memory, erased him from her heart, and cut him out of her life. So he had become a complete stranger now.

When she needed him most, he had turned away so coldly and cruelly, yet now he had arbitrarily sacrificed himself for her.

But now, watching that dying man, why did her heart feel like it was being torn apart?

Why did that man always make her sad like this, just as he pleased?

“I….”

Soya barely opened her mouth toward the crumbling man.

“I still cannot forgive you. If I forgive you, I think I’d be too sorry to my childhood self.”

“Yes….”

At those words, a faint smile bloomed on Jeok Ayun’s lips.

“I wouldn’t dare… hope for forgiveness….”

“But… I think I can grieve for your death.”

Soya spoke while holding back the feeling of wanting to cry for some reason.

At those words, Jeok Ayun showed a somewhat surprised expression, then a single tear flowed down from his eyes.

“My death, which even I don’t grieve for, you will grieve for me.”

“….”

“Thank you, child….”

“….”

“My good… my….”

He couldn’t continue speaking and gritted his teeth.

My good child.

For a father who abandoned his child, weren’t those words truly shameless and far too generous to speak?

So instead, he brought out the apology he had buried deep, unable to dare voice it, in the final moments of his life.

“I’m sorry… Soya…”

“…”

“For leaving you… in that cold place… all alone…”

“…”

“It must have been… so cold and painful… because of worthless me…”

“…”

“I’m truly… sorry…”

“…”

Finally, a single tear rolled down from Soya’s eyes as well.

“Don’t cry, my child…”

Even while dying, the man who had been smiling dimly twisted his face in anguish at Soya’s tears.

“Why… are you saying such things…?”

Soya truly could not understand this man at all.

That must be why.

Toward this incomprehensible man, the old grief and resentment she had buried deep came bursting out.

“I can’t forgive you. Even as you’re dying before my eyes like this, I still can’t forgive you…”

“My child…”

“You’re the one who abandoned me in that cold Cold Palace, so why are you acting like you care about me now? Even if you do this, I still can’t forgive you…”

“Please… don’t cry…”

“It really hurt so much. It was really so cold. It was really so frightening. You don’t know how long I waited in that place for you to come back for me. But you… you abandoned me to the very end…”

“…”

“I was only six years old, so small and tiny, and you abandoned me like that… You abandoned… me…”

“I’m… sorry…”

Jeok Ayun closed his eyes in anguish, unable to bear watching the sobbing child.

Tears flowed endlessly from his closed eyes.

Barely managing to lift his eyelids again, he looked at his eldest son.

“I’m sorry to you too… Sanyu… The family clan…”

“Father…! Please don’t speak so much! You’re straining your body!”

He left his final farewell to his eldest son, who was crying out as if coughing up blood.

“My end was already… decided long ago…”

Yes, his death had been decided long, long ago.

From the day he learned that he had abandoned the child with his own hands, he had not truly been living for even a single moment.

However, in this distant northern land, he had been able to see the grown form of the child he thought he would never see again in his lifetime, and he had even been able to sacrifice himself for the child.

What a joyful death this was.

What a precious death this was.

What a blessing this was, like a gift.

So Jeok Ayun was able to face death with a dim smile.

Finally, his gaze turned to Baek Saeon.

“…”

He wanted to leave a word of gratitude to that man as well, but no more sound came from between his parted lips.

Baek Saeon.

This man would protect Soya no matter what.

Unlike himself, who couldn’t become a father to Soya, this man who had become the child’s true parent would surely protect Soya.

Knowing this, he could close his eyes in peace.

Until the last moment, he tried to keep the child in his sight even a little longer, but soon his breath ceased and his eyes slowly closed.

The body of the malicious beast in Sanyu’s arms crumbled and became black ash.

He was dead.

Soya stared blankly as the body of the man she couldn’t forgive even until his dying day turned to ash and scattered.

Her heart churned strangely.

It seemed like sadness, and it also seemed like injustice and anger.

The tears that had moistened her eyes gradually dried, but the churning emotions did not easily disappear.

It was truly a strange feeling.

“Kuk…”

At that moment, an unpleasant laugh reached her ears.

Soya pushed away the churning emotions and raised her head.

“Kuk kuk kuk, kuhahahahahaha!”

Evil, who had been hanging from the wooden pillar, burst into loud laughter.

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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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