The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 66

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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 66

 

Ga Hyeon bit down hard on his lower lip as he stared at her.

 

The truth was. The very, very truth was….

 

Ga Hyeon knew too. That Mother hadn’t wanted to leave them.

 

Because he had seen it. That day, the tears Mother shed while holding me in her arms and putting me to sleep.

 

Even so, thinking that she had abandoned him and coldly drawing a line was the tantrum of an immature child.

 

“…You don’t know. How much, what kind of feelings I had, how I waited for you.”

 

The voice he spat out toward her came out broken and intermittent.

 

“Even after you left like that, I waited for you every single day, believing only in those words that you’d return soon.”

 

Ga Hyeon felt his voice trembling pathetically, but without time to compose himself, the words he had held back came pouring out.

 

“But you, in the end you left us. You left us forever.”

 

Seven years. It was resentment and sorrow that had been building up tightly over a full seven years.

 

“You abandoned Father and us and left because of some stupid family duty or whatever!”

 

Emotions that should have been released earlier but couldn’t be, becoming even more condensed, instead dug into his skin and gouged at his wounds.

 

“And then when you finally see me again, the first thing you say is ‘it’s been a while’? ‘How have you been’?”

 

After realizing that Mother would never return, Ga Hyeon had become much more mature.

 

He had no choice.

 

Because it seemed like only by becoming an adult could he forget Mother’s empty place.

 

“Do you think, do you think I’ve been doing well? After you left like that, how could I….”

 

But no matter how much he pretended to be an adult, an eleven-year-old child couldn’t truly become a real adult.

 

In the end, he too was just a child who couldn’t forget his mother….

 

“I… *sob*, *hic*… the whole time I, *sniff*, resented and missed you. Not resting for a single moment, I, *sob*, hated you… and hated you again….”

 

Finally, the tears that had welled up burst forth, streaming down his eyes.

 

“I’m sorry, Hyeona. I’m sorry. Mother is sorry for everything.”

 

Cheongha, who had knelt down in front of him, wiped the child’s eyes with her sleeve while continuously apologizing sorrowfully.

 

At that moment, her face was also wet with moisture.

 

“Why do you keep, why do you keep only saying you’re sorry? Why don’t you even make the common excuses…!”

 

Ga Hyeon shouted with a choked voice while gritting his teeth.

 

He knew there were so many things she could say if she wanted to make excuses to him.

 

Even so, Ga Hyeon couldn’t understand her, who made no excuses and accepted his resentment.

 

“Because no excuse can justify my reason for leaving you. Because it’s entirely my fault.”

 

Cheongha said, looking at the child with sadly curved eyes.

 

“I too thought of you every moment, not resting for a single moment, Hyeona.”

 

At the confession that finally flowed out, Ga Hyeon’s wet eyes shook violently.

 

“You… kept thinking of me?”

 

Ga Hyeon asked, his throat bobbing painfully.

 

“Yes, every day, every moment I lived and breathed.”

 

“Did you also… miss me?”

 

“I missed you. Terribly, so much.”

 

Cheongha answered with a hazy smile.

 

“I always wanted to run to you. But I couldn’t, so my heart ached….”

 

If she could, she would have wanted to drain all the direct lineage blood flowing in her body, that’s how much her heart had ached through countless hours.

 

“Then, you also…. You also….”

 

Ga Hyeon couldn’t easily ask and trailed off.

 

However, Cheongha, who understood what he was trying to ask, smiled tenderly and answered.

 

“I love you. I love you so, so much, Hyeona.”

 

Those long past times. While waiting for her who never returned, perhaps these were the words he had wanted to hear most.

 

Soon, Ga Hyeon’s shoulders began to shake, and he burst into tears like a child.

 

Cheongha held tight the child who wept in his mother’s arms for the first time in seven years.

 

* * *

 

“Actually, I kept waiting for Mother.”

 

Ga Hyeon lay on the bed, tightly holding Cheongha’s hand, and quietly told stories of the past.

 

That he had been very excited when he heard Mother was coming last year.

 

But on the other hand, wanting to throw a tantrum, he had deliberately locked his room door.

 

Then after his growth pains ended and his mind returned, he regretted it greatly when he learned Mother had already left.

 

That he didn’t want to acknowledge those feelings, so he deliberately deceived himself and resented her even more.

 

“I shouldn’t have done that….”

 

As his voice gradually grew smaller, soon Ga Hyeon drifted off to sleep.

 

Cheongha sat by the dark bedside, watching him with a gentle smile.

 

Her sadly curved pale purple eyes looked sorrowfully at the child’s swollen eyes.

 

Eleven years old….

 

He had grown so much. Even when she left, she hadn’t known she wouldn’t be able to return until the child had grown this much.

 

Throb—

 

Pain was felt from her spirit core.

 

Actually, her condition hadn’t been good since the moment she left the Land of Blue Dragon, but she had been enduring it.

 

She needed to return to the Land of Blue Dragon soon.

 

‘I’ve only just conveyed my heart to you….’

 

At that moment, rustling sounds were heard from behind Cheongha.

 

“That’s good.”

 

At the quiet voice, Cheongha turned around. Saeon was standing there.

 

Soon the two came outside together and walked through the garden in silence for a while.

 

It was Cheongha who first broke that quiet stillness.

 

“Actually, Soya helped me.”

 

“Cotton Ball did?”

 

At the unexpected name, Saeon frowned and asked back.

 

“Yes.”

 

Cheongha nodded with a faint smile.

 

This evening, before going to meet Ga Hyeon, Soya had first gone to find Cheongha.

 

[You know, Cheongha-nim. When I was six years old, I was abandoned by my family. But I waited every single day for my father and elder brother who abandoned me to come find me again.]

 

[Even knowing they wouldn’t come, I kept waiting. I waited for them to come back and say they were sorry, and that they loved me.]

 

[Hyeoni Elder Brother is probably still waiting too.]

 

[I’m so sorry to ask this of you. But Elder Brother is still a child and Cheongha-nim is an adult….]

 

[So couldn’t Cheongha-nim go first and tell Elder Brother? That you’re sorry for leaving him behind. But that you love him very much.]

 

[While I was alone in the Cold Palace, those were the words I waited for most.]

 

Little Soya, who hadn’t even undergone her first growth yet, only nine years old.

 

She calmly told her painful past and made that request of me.

 

At that moment, Cheongha realized how cowardly and immature an adult she had been.

 

While continuously hovering around that child, she couldn’t bring herself to say the most important words—that she was sorry, that she loved him.

 

Thinking arbitrarily that apologizing would only reopen the child’s wounds.

 

But perhaps it wasn’t the child’s wounds she feared, but her own wounds.

 

I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have greeted him with a smile as if nothing had happened.

 

‘Even nine-year-old Soya knew what I didn’t. I really don’t deserve to be a mother.’

 

Even so, Ga Hyeon had grasped my inadequate hand again like this.

 

Those small hands that held onto me were so precious.

 

Whenever I thought of Ga Hyeon’s hands, tears would come again.

 

It wasn’t just Ga Hyeon.

 

The eldest, Gaya, who despite being only eight years old at the time, spoke as if he already understood me.

 

The third, Gayul, who was still so young that he didn’t even know what it meant to be separated from his mother.

 

And….

 

Glance.

 

Cheongha lifted her head to look at Saeon.

 

A man with snow-white hair and blue eyes, who bore a striking resemblance to the three boys I loved most in the world.

 

Who had held onto me when I said I would leave, and ultimately respected my wishes and let me go….

 

‘Baek Saeon.’

 

Even when thinking of this man, Cheongha strangely felt a sharp ache in her chest.

 

However, Cheongha suppressed those inexplicable feelings and asked in a bright voice.

 

“Where on earth did you pick up such a cute, kind, and clever daughter.”

 

“Our Baby Cotton Ball is indeed cute, kind, and clever. She takes after me.”

 

Saeon chuckled as he played along.

 

As a White Tiger beastman born with exceptional physical abilities and developed senses, there was no way that man hadn’t noticed my reddened eyes.

 

There was no way he hadn’t caught the salty scent of these tears.

 

Yet he pretended not to notice and smiled like that—his consideration warmed Cheongha’s heart.

 

Baek Saeon had always been that kind of man.

 

A man who wasn’t overtly affectionate, but consistently waited for me in the same place.

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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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