The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 62
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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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Chapter 62
Soya flapped both wings vigorously and shouted.
“A bird…?”
The woman who had been pointing a spear at Saeon’s neck just moments ago spotted Soya and hesitated.
Above the face cloth covering her face, her exposed pale purple eyes widened in surprise.
“Chirp! Chirp! (Go away! Go away, you bad villain!)”
Soya chirped angrily while crying.
Each time she did, large teardrops fell plop, plop, plop from the baby bird’s bean-sized eyes.
The flustered woman asked restlessly.
“Sorry, sorry, baby bird. Were you very scared?”
“Chirrrp!! (Put that spear away!)”
“Ah. Okay. I’ll put it away.”
At Soya’s cry, the woman quickly lowered her spear.
‘Huh?’
Soya, who had been angrily puffing up her feathers, was instead flustered by the woman’s obedient response to her words and stopped crying abruptly.
‘???’
As Soya looked at the woman with question marks floating above her head.
“Hah…”
Saeon let out a short sigh and pulled the baby bird’s body toward him.
“That temper of attacking with a spear tip first thing is still the same.”
He spoke casually as if he knew the woman well, then looked down at Soya.
“Are you okay, Cotton Ball? Were you very scared?”
He gently asked while wiping away the tears remaining around Soya’s eyes with his fingertip.
“Chirp…! (Papa…!)”
Tears welled up again at that gentle voice, and Soya flew into Saeon’s embrace.
“It’s okay, Papa is here so don’t cry, Baby Cotton Ball.”
Saeon patted her head gently until Soya calmed down.
“Chirp, chirp… (But sniff, that person…)”
Soya buried her body in Saeon’s embrace while only turning her head slightly to look behind.
Then she spotted the woman bending her waist toward her with eyes sparkling with interest, and screamed ‘Squeee!’ in fright before burying her head back into Saeon’s embrace.
“Cotton Ball is scared.”
Saeon said to the woman in a somewhat displeased tone.
“My goodness, it really is a baby bird?”
However, the woman couldn’t take her eyes off Soya and muttered.
“Yes. She’s still a Baby Cotton Ball. How could you attack first thing in front of a baby?”
“But why is a baby bird calling you Papa instead of a tiger?”
“Because she’s my daughter.”
Saeon replied with a face that said ‘why are you asking something so obvious?’
“Don’t tell me, the child you adopted last autumn?”
Saeon only nodded instead of answering.
A look of surprise spread across the woman’s face.
“But then…!”
The woman who was about to ask something trailed off at Saeon’s signal of raising one eyebrow.
Instead, she looked at Soya nestled in his embrace again with sparkling eyes.
“My goodness. Where did you pick up such a cute baby bird?”
“Don’t take interest. Cotton Ball is my daughter and has nothing to do with you.”
Saeon said guardedly while hiding Soya deep in his embrace.
“She’s your daughter, so how can she have nothing to do with me?”
Soya’s ears perked up as she buried her head in Saeon’s broad embrace.
Because the two had been talking as if they knew each other well from earlier.
Soya slowly turned her head to steal a glance at the woman’s face, who was still looking at her with interest.
‘Huh?’
Soya felt the woman’s face looked somewhat familiar.
‘Strange. I’m definitely seeing her for the first time.’
The blue hair and pale purple eyes were all things she was seeing for the first time. Yet she strangely felt like she had seen her somewhere before.
As Soya blinked and tilted her head in confusion, the woman exclaimed dramatically.
“Oh my, what should I do! She just looked at me and tilted her head! She must like me!”
Soya flinched at that somewhat burdensome reaction and clung to Saeon’s embrace again.
Then the woman pulled down her face cloth and spoke to Soya.
“Hey, baby bird. I’m not a bad person. What you saw earlier was just me trying to greet your papa.”
“Chirp? (Greet…?)”
“Yes, yes. Saeon and I have been greeting each other like that since we were young.”
The woman explained with a bright smile.
“What are you talking about. You always attacked me one-sidedly.”
“Chirp? (Then you weren’t trying to kill our Papa?)”
“Oh my, scary words. If I did that, my neck would be cut off first, wouldn’t it?”
The woman waved both hands at Soya’s question.
“Chirp… (But just now…)”
“That’s because Baek Saeon went easy on me. I absolutely can’t beat your papa.”
The woman burst into hearty laughter.
Soya looked back at Saeon with an expression asking if it was really true.
Saeon sighed while pressing his temples as if he had a headache.
“Yes, it’s true. So relax now, Baby Cotton Ball.”
Only then did Soya release the tension from her puffed-up body and plop down on the ground.
Poof!
Soya’s Beast Transformation was released.
“Your name is Cotton Ball? That’s unusual.”
“I’m not Cotton Ball, I’m Soya. Baek Soya of the White Tiger Family.”
Soya, with her guard slightly lowered, introduced herself to the woman.
“I’m Cheongha. Nice to meet you, Baby Cotton Ball.”
“Are you our Father’s friend?”
“Hmm, well. Friend… Yes, something like that.”
Soya looked back at Saeon with a newly amazed expression.
‘So Father had friends too.’
The Saeon that Soya had seen until now only had Jeok Yeong as someone close to him.
But even Jeok Yeong wasn’t quite suitable to be called a friend.
“Cotton Ball, what kind of expression is that?”
“What kind of expression? It’s an expression of amazement that even a tiger with such a bad personality like you has friends.”
Cheongha giggled and answered instead.
“That’s not true!”
Soya raised her voice at this.
“Our Papa is a very, very good person!”
“Oh my.”
At Soya’s claim, Cheongha widened her eyes and then burst into laughter.
“You’ve got yourself a very reliable youngest daughter, Baek Saeon. What should I do, I’m so envious my stomach hurts.”
Soya tilted her head at Cheongha’s touch stroking her head with a gentle smile, when she had expected to be scolded for rudely raising her voice in front of an adult.
* * *
Soya held the nandina branch with its clusters of red berries—her original purpose—and returned to White Tiger Palace together with Saeon and Cheongha.
As they walked across the pure white snow field with crunching sounds, chatting along the way, she learned that Cheongha was the mother of her elder brothers.
“You’re the mother who gave birth to my elder brothers?”
Soya asked in surprise.
“That’s right.”
Soya looked at Cheongha with curious eyes.
‘My elder brothers’ mother…’
She hadn’t known because no one had ever told her about Cheongha until now.
Looking closely, Cheongha seemed to resemble her elder brothers a little. She looked especially similar to Ga Hyeon.
‘I thought Hyeoni Elder Brother resembled Father all this time, but looking at it this way, he seems to resemble Cheongha more.’
Ga Hyeon’s white hair and blue eyes clearly resembled Saeon, but everything else looked more like Cheongha.
Especially the elongated eye corners, the straight nose tip, and the smile when laughing—the two of them really resembled each other.
“Ah! Then Cheongha is Father’s…?”
At the sudden thought, Soya looked back and forth between Saeon and Cheongha with a face full of questions.
“I was his wife. In the past.”
“…”
At Cheongha’s answer in a strange voice, Saeon’s eyes hardened stiffly.
“…?”
Just when Soya was about to ask if that meant they weren’t now, sensing the subtle atmosphere between the two—
“Madam…! No, Cheongha! You’ve come!”
Jeok Yeong and other people of White Tiger Palace came running out in surprise.
“Hello, it’s been a long time, everyone.”
Cheongha grinned and greeted them.
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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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