The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 273

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

Part 2, Chapter 65

“Huh?”

Soya’s eyes widened as she looked at Seolyeo.

“Yes, you’ve been spacing out without smiling quite often lately!”

Seolyeo quickly made excuses, worried she might think it strange.

“Me making a wish for you isn’t anything special, it’s natural. I’m your closest friend. A friend like family….”

“You made a precious wish for me?”

Whether her added excuse worked, fortunately Soya burst into laughter without suspicion.

“….”

Seolyeo felt relieved yet regretful at the same time.

Actually, she wanted to say something slightly different.

Soya, you’re pretty when you smile.

Of course you’re always pretty, but you’re much prettier when you smile.

So I hope you’ll smile a lot, a lot….

‘But if I said something like that… she’d definitely figure out my feelings.’

Seolyeo thought while glancing at Soya who was smiling gently.

“Thank you, Seolyeo. This is really a secret, but sometimes you really feel more comfortable and nice than my Elder Brothers, like family.”

“….”

“When we were nine years old. The day I tried to leave White Tiger Palace, do you remember?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“I was really sad and scared then, but when you said you’d come with me, you don’t know how much comfort that gave me.”

“….”

Seolyeo also remembers that day.

When she was still trapped inside a demon beast’s shell.

That day when she, who unlike others saw her as ‘Seolyeo’ rather than a ‘demon beast’, looked particularly sad.

“Until then I was alone, but you stayed by my side.”

“….”

Soya, who had experienced being abandoned by family, couldn’t dare think of the White Tiger Palace people’s warm affection as her own, even while her heart was comfortably colored by it.

To such a Soya, Seolyeo who stepped forward saying she’d leave together became the first existence to be both family and friend.

“I guess that’s why. Sometimes you feel more comfortable and nice than my Elder Brothers, like family.”

Soya said with a bright smile toward Seolyeo.

“….”

Seolyeo also smiled faintly, following her lead.

While she was happy that Soya cherished her so much, she was also a little… just a little sad.

That she was inside the fence of family that she thought of….

“Oh right, it’s absolutely secret from my Elder Brothers. All three would definitely sulk.”

Soya added with giggles.

Seolyeo looked at the dark river water with heavy eyes and thought.

Sometimes she wanted to take out the feelings inside her and shout them.

But the reason Seolyeo didn’t do that was to protect her fence.

The fence called family that Soya had built up solidly.

Because she knew how precious that was to her.

Three years ago, when Seolyeo returned to White Tiger Palace, she heard from people.

That Soya had cried because she disappeared without a word. That she cried a lot.

She had already once broken through her fence and run out.

She couldn’t damage her fence again and make her sad.

‘But if that man keeps making you suffer like this… I….’

Seolyeo was scared.

That she might suddenly confess her feelings one day.

And thus damage her fence again and make her sad.

‘So I hope that man comes to his senses soon, Soya….’

It was when Seolyeo was alone thinking such words that couldn’t reach her.

“Cotton Ball! Seolyeo! Look at this, they were selling meat dumplings over there so I bought some!”

Just then Gayul came running with food in both hands.

Soya and Seolyeo got up and dusted themselves off.

Seolyeo looked forlornly at Soya’s back as she approached Gayul.

* * *

Late at night, Soya returned to her quarters and sat by the window lost in thought.

‘I couldn’t deliver this in the end.’

A red thread bracelet was held in her hand.

The festival period was gradually coming to an end.

In a few days she’d have to leave the Imperial Palace again….

―Are you not going to deliver this, Lady Soya?

“Forget it. Now I know that person is a playboy.”

It was when Soya spoke in a deliberately firm voice to the Vermillion Bird Heavenly Lady’s question and tried to put away the thread bracelet.

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

Suddenly, Irim appeared at the window.

“Your, Your Majesty? No, how are you here….”

“Did you float the lantern well and return?”

He asked with a gentle smile.

“How did you know about that?”

“There’s nothing in this Empire that I don’t know.”

At those words, Soya’s expression became sulky.

‘No, Your Majesty. There are many things Your Majesty doesn’t know. You can’t even remember things about me….’

Since Soya couldn’t say it to his face, she only thought crookedly to herself.

“It’s rude to visit a woman’s quarters at such a late hour, Your Majesty.”

“I had no choice. You weren’t visible all afternoon.”

“What business brings you here?”

“I came to clear up your misunderstanding that I’m a playboy.”

“That’s enough. When I asked my Elder Brothers, a man who likes multiple women with one heart is indeed a playboy. They also said not to associate with such a person.”

When Soya turned her head primly and spoke, Irim burst into laughter.

“Oh my. So you’re thinking of not associating with me at all.”

“….”

“What shall I do. I want to see your face.”

“….”

When Soya didn’t answer, he lowered his body and rested his arms on the window frame, placing his head on top.

Then he looked up at Soya with a grinning eye smile.

“Since I’m pleading like this, won’t you show me your face?”

At those words, startled Soya waved both hands.

“Pl, pleading! You could just command me, so how….”

“Because I like you.”

He said immediately without a moment’s hesitation.

“Because I like you.”

“Don, don’t lie.”

“You know it’s not a lie.”

He said while staring up into Soya’s eyes.

“Since that day, I’ve been thinking only of you.”

“….”

At his earnest confession, Soya clenched her fingertips tightly, then looked straight at him and said.

“But I cannot accept Your Majesty’s feelings.”

“Is it because of that man you hold in your heart?”

Irim slowly straightened his back to face her and asked with a bitter smile.

“Y-Your Majesty also has someone you hold dear in your heart, don’t you?”

Unable to bring herself to say that the man was Irim himself, Soya quickly changed the subject.

Then he fell into deep thought and murmured in a low voice.

“Someone dear….”

Though it was only two syllables, his voice carried such deep emotion that Soya somehow felt herself shrinking.

So she was about to avert her gaze from him when.

“I’m not sure if I can call it that. I have no memory of that person.”

“…?”

Soya paused and looked up at him.

“The truth is, I have no memories.”

“…!”

At his following confession, Soya looked at him with a shocked expression.

“It must have been three years ago. There was a time when I fell into a deep sleep and then awakened. It was around then that I began to feel there were gaps in my memory.”

Irim smiled sadly and confessed calmly.

“I had made a promise to someone I can’t remember. That when they came to see me again, I would take them to the Imperial Palace.”

“….”

“But I remember nothing—not their face, name, where they lived, their age, nothing at all. All I could remember were always vague sensations.”

“….”

“I thought I glimpsed swaying red hair, and I thought I heard laughter beside me. Without any clear substance, I searched the entire continent for that person these past three years, but never found them.”

“….”

“But at some point, I found myself pursuing only you, not that person.”

His gaze, which had been looking into the distance, reached Soya.

At that moment, a gentle smile bloomed across his previously lonely face.

“My heart, which had always been empty, became completely filled with you, and I couldn’t go a single day without thinking of you. Though my memories are incomplete and I cannot be certain of anything, there is one thing I can be sure of.”

“….”

“That I care for you. That alone is an undeniable truth.”

Irim smiled brightly as he looked at Soya.

“I love you. Truly. Please believe in these feelings.”

“….”

Soya stared at him blankly, forgetting even to breathe.

‘His Majesty… remembered me.’

Though only as vague sensations, he had been remembering her.

He hadn’t completely forgotten.

‘The person His Majesty held dear in his heart… was me.’

He said he had searched the entire continent these past three years looking for me, even though he couldn’t remember.

[Even if you can’t remember, the traces in your heart will surely remain.]

She suddenly recalled something Saeon had once told her.

‘Father was right. The traces in his heart… remained.’

A surge of emotion.

Her heavy eyes soon turned red.

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