The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 279

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

Part 2, Chapter 71

Seolyeo ran toward the place where he could sense the Imperial Dragon’s energy.

Heuksa, sitting on his shoulder, guided the way, calling out ‘Left! Straight ahead!’

After running for quite some time.

Deep within the Imperial Palace Garden.

A man with flowing platinum hair was holding the sleeping Soya tightly in his arms, gazing down at her face.

Seolyeo quietly stopped and stared at him.

Sensing the gaze, Irim slowly raised his head.

Sorrow, anguish, tenderness, longing…

The moment he met those teal eyes mixed with all kinds of emotions, Seolyeo unconsciously clenched his fists tight.

He could tell instinctively.

“You… your memories…”

That man’s memories had returned.

* * *

When Soya woke up after a deep sleep, she was on her own bed, not on the rock in the rear garden.

‘Thank goodness. Heuksa brought my family… Huh…?’

Soya’s eyes widened as she spotted the familiar silhouette of a man sitting by her bedside.

‘His Majesty…?’

It was Irim.

‘Why is His Majesty here…?’

As Soya, now fully awake, blinked and stared at him.

Swoosh.

Sensing her gaze, Irim turned to look at Soya.

Soya flinched for a moment, but swallowed hard and tried to maintain a composed expression.

In the quiet silence, his gaze watching her felt particularly intense.

“Soya.”

It was Irim’s low, sunken voice that first broke the silence.

“Yes, Your Maj…”

Soya, who had been answering reflexively, suddenly stopped, then froze in shock.

He was calling her by her name, “Soya.”

Just like before he lost his memories.

With that affectionate and longed-for voice.

“Your Majesty…?”

Soya’s voice trembled slightly as she called to him.

“Were you… planning to leave me?”

“Your Majesty, your memories…”

Soya’s eyes shook violently.

“Because I forgot you, I made you cry again.”

Irim’s eyes contorted with pain.

After his memories returned, many things became regrets.

But among them, what he regretted most was that Soya had cried because she was hurt by him. That pained his heart so much…

“I never wanted to make you cry again…”

“…”

“I’m sorry, Soya…”

“…”

Soya stared at Irim blankly.

Then, struck by a sudden thought, she hurriedly got up and grabbed the front of his robes with both hands.

“Soya…?”

Ignoring him as he froze in confusion, she opened the front of his robes.

“…!”

Soya’s face hardened.

On his exposed chest, the flesh was split and a small rift had formed.

“Your Majesty, this is…”

Soya tried channeling her purification power through her trembling fingertips, but the rift on his chest wouldn’t heal.

“…Don’t be upset. I’ve simply returned to how I was before I forgot you.”

Though it was clearly a painful wound just to look at, Irim spoke in a calm voice as if comforting Soya instead.

At his attitude, Soya bit her lower lip hard, holding back the tears that threatened to come.

“It’s because of the memories. The memories you’ve regained are straining your body.”

Irim’s memory loss had been part of the process of normalizing his body.

Reversing thousands upon thousands of years and defying the natural order were memories too vast for a human body living on earth to contain.

“Even if that’s true, I will never let go of these memories again.”

“Why…? Those memories only make you sad, Your Majesty.”

“That’s not true, Soya.”

To Soya, who asked with an expression of incomprehension, he gently shook his head and said.

“The moments I spent loving you and living to protect you are the most precious and valuable times of my life.”

“…”

“They’re the memories that allowed me to live, to endure life.”

“…”

His words made emotions surge up within her.

But right now, Soya had something more important to do than shed tears.

Soya calmly placed her hand on his chest.

At her fingertips touching his bare chest, Irim stiffened his body.

Soya carefully channeled all the divine beast energy she possessed, attempting to resonate with the spirit core dwelling in his chest.

Whoosh—

Soon, golden light burst forth from where their skin touched, filling the room.

Crackle—

Crackle crackle—

Then space tore open, and a man appeared before them, his brilliant golden hair flowing.

“The one who summoned me… must be the earthly sister that General Seolbong spoke of.”

Though it was a man she’d never seen before, Soya knew who he was.

“I pay my respects to the Imperial Dragon, controller of the Four Divine Beasts that guard the Central Region, leader of the Five Sacred Dragons, and master who connects heaven and earth and rules the human world.”

“What business do you have in summoning me, companion who carries the dragon orb of the young Imperial Dragon?”

The Imperial Dragon’s vertically slit eyes, like those of a reptile, stared at Soya with piercing sharpness.

It was a gaze that would make ordinary humans’ knees buckle just from meeting it, but Soya looked directly at him and spoke.

“Please protect His Majesty’s body. You can do it, can’t you?”

The Imperial Dragon’s eyebrows furrowed slightly.

“That’s outside my jurisdiction…”

“You owe me a debt.”

Soya said, taking out the ceramic bottle that contained the evil energy.

“Do you know about this? This ceramic bottle. They say it’s a miraculous bottle that can infinitely replicate whatever’s inside.”

“What…?”

“If the Imperial Dragon tries to make excuses, I was told to smash the ceramic bottle right here. What’s inside will flow back out onto the earth and scatter everywhere.”

“Would the daughter of a Celestial Being commit such a lawless act?”

“What does it matter? The evil energy can no longer threaten the earth anyway. It would just be a slightly bothersome and annoying matter for the Imperial Dragon.”

Just as Soya said, the Imperial Dragon, who was the earth itself, could not easily tolerate impure things floating above the ground.

The evil energy that had wandered the earth for the past thousand years had finally lost its power and been extinguished, but to have to witness that sight again.

“However, if the Imperial Dragon grants my request, I will cleanly purify what’s inside this bottle right here.”

“Oh my. This is troublesome.”

The Imperial Dragon frowned slightly as if troubled…

Chuckle.

Soon he let out a short laugh and looked back at Irim.

“To threaten the Imperial Dragon. You’ve found quite a remarkable companion, my earthly young dragon who inherited my blood.”

“…”

Instead of answering, Irim glared at him coldly.

At that fierce gaze that seemed to say he wouldn’t stand still if even the slightest harm came to Soya, the Imperial Dragon burst into another hollow laugh.

How did such similar beings—the young Imperial Dragon’s woman who threatens me, and my insolent descendant who glares at me—come to meet each other?

The Imperial Dragon extended his palm toward Irim, then clenched his fist tightly and tore his palm with his nails.

Drip. Drip.

The Imperial Dragon’s flowing blood seeped into the rift on Irim’s chest.

Sizzle—

In an instant, the painfully torn rift began to heal.

“…!”

Soya’s face brightened radiantly upon seeing this.

As promised, Soya infused her energy into the ceramic bottle and cleanly purified the fragments of evil contained within.

“My energy remains within this, so if you take it, you should be able to purify all the remaining fragments of evil in the young beasts that the Imperial Dragon is caring for.”

“Purification energy? I shall gratefully accept it.”

The Imperial Dragon took the ceramic bottle from Soya and disappeared.

“Your Majesty, are you alright?”

Soya grabbed Irim and asked worriedly.

“You saved me again, Soya.”

Irim smiled gently at her.

“Yet I always only make you cry.”

“Your Majesty…”

At those words tinged with self-reproach, Soya clenched both fists tightly and looked straight at him.

“Do you remember what I said last night? About that man I like.”

At those words, Irim’s earlobes turned red.

He now knew that the man Soya spoke of was himself.

“You said you would give him a good scolding for making me cry and wait, didn’t you?”

“…Yes. Since he made you sad, that man deserves to be scolded. How shall I scold him?”

“Please don’t. Didn’t I say that he is someone who may do such things to me?”

“…”

“Your Majesty is such a person to me. Someone who may do anything to me.”

“How…”

“Because I like Your Majesty.”

Soya spoke in a clearer voice than ever before.

“I like you, Your Majesty.”

“Soya…”

“I love you, Your Majesty.”

“…”

“I adore Your Majesty.”

“…”

“I liked you before, I like you now, and I will continue to adore only Your Majesty forever. May I do so?”

At that unwavering, straight, and clear confession, a soft moan flowed from between Irim’s lips.

Irim slowly closed and opened his eyes.

“You may.”

She was reflected in his tenderly curved eyes.

“How could I dare refuse your heart? Even if I am a pathetic man who made you cry.”

He slowly reached out his hand, gently cupped her face, and tilted his head.

“I love you dearly, Soya.”

My rain, whom I have loved for so long.

My companion, whom I will love for eternity.

The confession of a man who, after covering countless pasts, finally came to envision a future with her poured forth to her.

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