The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 257

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Part 2, Chapter 49

Soya had never once seen Irim in his beast transformation form.

However, she could instinctively be certain that the being before her eyes was Irim.

Soya swallowed hard and carefully approached the massive golden dragon who was breathing heavily and suffering in distress.

Just as she was about to place her hands on his ailing body and channel her purification power.

“Who goes there?”

In an instant, the Imperial Dragon opened his eyes with a sharp sound.

Startled.

Soya froze momentarily at his cold voice that she had never heard before.

“Soya…?”

Recognizing her, Irim stiffened for a moment, then spoke in a much softer voice.

“Yes, Your Majesty. It’s me, Soya.”

“Why are you here…?”

“Your Majesty said I could come anytime I missed you. So I flew here to see Your Majesty. Because I missed Your Majesty so much.”

“…”

Soya looked straight at him and spoke in a clear voice. At this, Irim’s mouth closed tightly.

“May I come a little closer to Your Majesty?”

Soya asked Irim, who somehow couldn’t look at her properly.

“Your Majesty looks like you’re in great pain. Please let me heal Your Majesty.”

“…This cannot be healed even with the power you possess.”

Nevertheless, Soya approached him and attempted to heal him.

But just as he said, her power could not heal him.

The red light seemed to seep into his body, then scattered weakly as its glow faded.

After trying several more times, Soya realized it was useless and began to sob.

“The reason Your Majesty hasn’t shown me your beast transformation form all this time… was it because of this?”

Instead of answering, Irim smiled faintly and comforted her.

“Don’t be upset. I am fine.”

“You look like you’re in such pain, which means you’re so accustomed to pain that this feels fine to you.”

“Still, having you this close makes me feel much better.”

It was true.

With her nearby, his raging energy gradually stabilized.

It was because of the Imperial Dragon’s orb that Soya possessed.

Though Soya didn’t know that she had Irim’s orb within her…

“It’s not your fault, Soya. This is punishment from the heavens for disrupting the celestial order. That’s why it cannot be healed.”

“The celestial… order…?”

Soya asked with a face that didn’t quite understand, but Irim didn’t explain further.

Wheeze, wheeze.

In the gentle silence filled only with pained breathing, Irim slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Soya observed him as he slept.

Below his neck, a single golden scale growing in reverse was shining alone.

It was the only scale that retained its original color while all the other scales had turned black and rotted.

—That is the Imperial Dragon’s reverse scale, Baby Bird.

“Reverse scale…”

Soya quietly repeated the word that Vermillion Bird Heavenly Lady had taught her.

It was the moment she reached out to touch that shimmering light as if entranced.

“…!”

Gasp. The moment it touched her fingertips, her body shivered with a strange sensation.

“What was that just now…?”

At Soya’s question, the Divine Beasts exchanged glances with troubled expressions, their mouths tightly shut.

“Divine Beasts.”

Realizing they knew something, Soya called them with a firm voice.

—…We cannot tell you anything, Baby Bird.

“Why not?”

—Because there are restrictions in place. Beings of the Heavenly Realm cannot interfere in earthly affairs.

“But the Divine Beasts are those who protect the earthly realm.”

—We can exceptionally interfere when the earthly realm faces crisis, but otherwise it’s impossible.

“…”

The Divine Beasts, who usually didn’t refuse Soya’s requests, clearly showed their difficulty in being unable to speak.

So after a moment of silence, Soya clenched her fists and asked.

“…You don’t have to tell me anything else. Please tell me how to save His Majesty.”

The end of her voice was slightly trembling.

“You said it was heavenly punishment. The Divine Beasts know the method, don’t you? Right?”

—…Baby Bird.

Hyeonto Yeomwang broke the silence and spoke.

—Yeomwang.

Cheonghae Yongsin called him with a worried voice, but having already made his decision, he explained with an unwavering voice.

—We cannot tell you what happened between you and the Imperial Dragon. But there is another way for you to find out.

“Another… method…?”

* * *

Spreading her wings and soaring high into the sky, Soya headed toward the Sacred Tree at the Northern Frontier.

She was worried about leaving the ailing Irim alone, but finding a way to heal his body was the priority.

The pure white tree, once corrupted by Evil but restored to its original form after she purified it, welcomed her.

Soya stood before it and placed her hands on the tree trunk.

Then she slowly released the power of the four Divine Beasts.

The power of fire received from Vermillion Bird Heavenly Lady, the power of steel received from White Tiger Mountain Lord, the power of wood received from Cheonghae Yongsin, and the power of water received from Hyeonto Yeomwang.

As she released the four powers in sequence, the Spirit Core in her chest glowed and the fifth natural principle, the power of earth, bloomed.

The five elemental powers mixed together, reading the forgotten times recorded in nature.

Those times that the young Imperial Dragon of the earthly realm had covered repeatedly with veils of time, now forgotten…

[I heard all direct descendants of Suzaku are large.]

[Ah, I’ve only undergone First Growth so far, that’s why!]

[Do you know what it means for a woman to give a silver hairpin to a man?]

[Don’t be angry, Your Majesty. I’ll put the hairpin in for you.]

[Your Majesty, I have a wish. This spring, I definitely want to go outside the palace and… watch the falling flower festival…]

[Yes. I promise. I will definitely keep that promise. Get well soon, my rain…]

[It’s me, Soya. I’ve come…]

[I came to take you… I, ugh, sob, I came to take you…]

“Gasp…!”

Soya collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily.

—Baby Bird!

—Baby Bird!

—Are you alright?

—Breathe comfortably.

“Huff, gasp…”

The Divine Beasts rushed to her and comforted her, but Soya could hardly breathe easily.

[I was too late.]

No, Your Majesty.

[Because I was late, you died.]

It’s not Your Majesty’s fault.

[It’s alright. Whatever price I have to pay.]

So please… don’t do that.

Don’t do that because of me.

Soya had always been curious.

According to the oracle, the Dragon Emperor’s Bride would awaken the Divine Beasts, but why was it that I awakened them?

The Dragon Emperor’s Bride refers to the Emperor’s companion, but when I first awakened the Divine Beasts, I was just a newborn baby.

Someone at White Tiger Palace jokingly said that perhaps it was heaven’s will that our Young Lady would become His Imperial Majesty’s wife someday…

Now I understood.

It was because I had the Imperial Dragon’s Dragon Orb.

Although I had no memory of receiving it, this spirit core of mine that shone golden and emanated the power of the earth was his Dragon Orb.

I had received it during a time I couldn’t remember.

I could finally understand the identity of that strange voice I had heard in my childhood.

[You can’t just stay still! Run away quickly, Soya!]

The voice that had echoed in my head when I couldn’t flee from the threat of the Suzaku Family’s Three-Legged Crow and stood frozen, trembling.

“Your Majesty…”

The owner of that voice, which I had only felt was unfamiliar at the time, was none other than Irim.

“How did Your Majesty…”

Soya, who had learned everything, muttered while breathing heavily.

“How could you do such a thing…”

Soya burst into tears because his heart was too vast and sorrowful.

“How could you… turn back so much, so much time…”

His heart, surging like waves, was so immense that she felt she might be swept away.

“What am I to you? What am I that you endured such difficult times? Why…”

Colorful feathers scattered around Soya as she wept sorrowfully.

Her original power, the power of the Phoenix that had been taken away when her name was erased from the heavenly registry, had returned.

There was only one person who could return this power to her.

The master of heaven, the Heavenly Emperor.

Soya embraced the power granted by the Heavenly Emperor and slowly closed her eyes.

Soon her body transformed into the beautiful form of a colorful Phoenix.

Soya spread her wings and soared high into the sky.

She would meet the Heavenly Emperor, the man called Cheonsin by the humans of the earthly realm.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————