The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 302
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Part 2, Side Story 20
That night, Saeon did not return.
‘Last time, he kissed me as though he meant to devour me whole….’
When they had kissed in his office, Cheongha truly believed she was being consumed by him.
It was the day she discovered that a tiger was indeed a tiger, and nothing less.
After that day, he avoided her, and she assumed he was embarrassed, so she pretended not to notice until the wedding ceremony. In truth, she felt a little embarrassed herself.
Yet from the very first night, he left her alone like this.
Though it was a contractual marriage proposal on her part, a marriage without affection, still, this was somewhat….
“I feel hurt.”
Cheongha felt genuinely hurt.
The problem was that Saeon’s avoidance did not end that day.
Whenever Saeon spotted Cheongha from a distance, his face would flush crimson, and he would spin around and flee.
“What is he doing?”
Because Saeon so openly avoided her, Cheongha’s stubborn pride kindled.
Eventually, Saeon was caught by her not long after.
“If you have grievances, speak them. Stop running away from me like this.”
As Cheongha chased Saeon as he fled from her, she found herself climbing all the way to the Horim Mountain Midslope, her breathing ragged and labored as she confronted him.
“What are you talking about? I have no grievances.”
“No grievances? You avoid me as though you’ve seen something forbidden the moment a single strand of my hair appears.”
Saeon’s face remained brazenly composed as he tried to play innocent, but it was futile.
“No matter how unwilling you were about this marriage, and how I could only be an unwelcome presence to you….”
Cheongha’s voice, as she held him and questioned him, suddenly grew small.
“This is too much. We were friends, after all….”
As her always-spirited face began to tremble as though tears might spill at any moment, Saeon, witnessing this, froze in shock.
Since they were very young, in their relationship, it was always he who wept.
She had always been more spirited and stronger than him, and so perhaps he had forgotten. That most obvious truth—that she too could feel hurt.
“…I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you felt this way.”
Saeon barely parted his lips, his voice rough as he apologized.
“You’re not unwelcome. Besides, while you proposed this marriage first, I clearly accepted it of my own will….”
“Then why have you been like this these past few days?”
“To be honest….”
Saeon covered his eyes with his hand, unable to meet her gaze as he spoke, his voice like a sigh as he confessed.
“If I touch you even once more, I fear I truly won’t be able to hold back….”
“Hold back? Hold back from what exactly…?”
….
Saeon’s face flushed scarlet as he clamped his mouth shut.
“Saeon…?”
“…What you wanted from this marriage was freedom.”
His only experience of touching a woman was that single time when she arrived bearing the marriage proposal, their breaths intertwining.
Yet even so, he could sense it instinctively.
The moment I crossed that line, I knew I would lose all restraint and push her to her limits.
“But because of me, you’ll lose your freedom. You won’t be able to live as freely as the wind anymore—you’ll be bound down. Because of me.”
Cheongha’s expression had been puzzled for a moment, but she finally understood what he meant by “losing her freedom.”
“Wait. You mean losing my freedom as in…”
“….”
Saeon nodded quietly.
Becoming his wife, standing by his side, bearing and raising his children. That was what Saeon feared—that such things would steal her freedom.
Despite how harshly he had pressed her when she arrived with the marriage proposal, insisting that the most important thing in a Direct Lineage marriage was producing an heir.
“What were you even thinking? It’s true that I sought freedom through this marriage. But that doesn’t mean I intend to abandon my duties as Matron and chase only my own freedom.”
Cheongha spoke to him with exasperation.
“I chose to marry you and become the Matron of White Tiger Palace, and if this palace is where I’m meant to settle, then I’ll gladly settle beside you and fulfill my proper duties as Matron. That’s what this marriage was for.”
At her words, Saeon’s lips moved silently.
No. That wasn’t it.
It wasn’t a marriage meant to burden her with duties as Matron.
He had only wanted her to live freely like the wind, to free her from the constraints of Direct Lineage duty that bound her.
That’s why he had agreed to this marriage.
When she came with the marriage proposal, pressing him about how the most important thing in a Direct Lineage marriage was… that was…
[Instead, once I gain my freedom, I’ll leave whenever you wish. So…]
It seemed he had been somewhat angry at those words.
Even now, after the marriage ceremony with her, Saeon still couldn’t understand why he had been so angry.
“So don’t be afraid that I’ll break your freedom, that I’ll bind you down. And don’t avoid me.”
“….”
“Your avoiding me… it hurt me. A lot.”
Her voice grew quieter, and then she bowed her head deeply.
Thud, thud—
Large teardrops fell steadily downward.
He, who had been staring blankly at her trembling shoulders, took a step closer to her.
“…I won’t avoid you.”
Saeon gripped her trembling fingertips firmly as he spoke.
“So don’t cry.”
“….”
“Please don’t cry, Cheongha. I’m sorry.”
Cheongha lifted her head at his words to look at him.
“Really?”
Thinking how beautiful she looked gazing up at him with her eyes still reddened even in this moment, Saeon felt like he must be insane. He wanted to bite his own tongue.
“….”
Instead of answering, Saeon gently cupped one of her cheeks.
The traces of tears on his fingertips made his heart ache.
He tilted his head slowly and captured her damp lips.
Soon, the shadows of the two merged into one.
* * *
The two of them descended from Horim Mountain only as the evening glow began to fade, returning to White Tiger Palace.
By then, both their hair was disheveled, and their clothes were utterly covered in dirt and grass stains—an absolute mess.
“Good heavens, Lord Family Head! Madam!”
“What on earth has happened to you both? Surely you didn’t climb all the way up Horim Mountain and fight like this?”
The servants gasped in alarm at the sight of them in such disarray.
They had often sparred with weapons since childhood, trading blows here and there, but they had never fought so fiercely as to end up in such a state.
As the commotion erupted, Sara herself rushed out from the Sacred Hall and let out a cry.
“What in the world were you two doing up on that mountain!”
Sara had been about to scold them harshly, but she suddenly stopped short and closed her mouth.
She gazed at the two of them, their faces flushed crimson like ripe persimmons, with a peculiar expression, then her eyes drifted downward.
She noticed their hands clasped firmly together.
After observing the two of them as they awkwardly averted their gaze, Sara soon burst into soft laughter and turned away.
In any case, that day, the tumultuous quarrel between the Lord Family Head and Madam came to an end.
And after that, something remarkable occurred.
Their marital harmony suddenly blossomed.
Because Saeon could not bear to be separated from Cheongha even for a moment, insisting on being together every day, Jeok Yeong found himself having to carry stacks of ledgers and search for him constantly.
Whenever he finally tracked him down, Saeon was invariably with Cheongha.
Unable to bear it any longer, Jeok Yeong asked Saeon one day.
“Does the Family Head hold Madam in such high regard?”
“What are you talking about? I simply…”
Saeon’s expression twisted grimly, as if to dismiss such nonsense.
“Saeon!”
But at that moment, Cheongha’s voice calling for him echoed from afar.
“We’ll talk later.”
Saeon left Jeok Yeong with a brief remark and immediately rushed toward Cheongha.
“You look so happy, sir… A man without his beloved cannot bear to live.”
Left standing alone, Jeok Yeong murmured wistfully toward Saeon’s retreating figure.
And not long after, the cry of an infant echoed through White Tiger Palace for the first time in a very long while.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Why do you keep uploading the wrong chapters?! First Chapter 21 instead of Chapter 3, and now Chapter 20?! Are you seriously expecting readers to read the novel backwards? This is ridiculous. Please fix this mistake and upload Chapter 3 as soon as possible!