The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 71

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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 71

 

[Why are you trying to find that child?]

 

[What are you planning to do after finding that child! Are you thinking of raising that child like a daughter instead of Lili?]

 

[I don’t want that! Don’t look for that child!]

 

[That child stole everything from Lili!]

 

Lili’s appearance as she threw a tantrum and rolled on the floor looked as if she were possessed by an evil spirit.

 

Jeok Ayun’s heart was torn apart.

 

He believed that the deep wounds in the child’s heart were all his fault.

 

So he promised Lili that he wouldn’t look for that child.

 

He was curious about the girl named Soya who was said to have been adopted into the White Tiger Family…

 

If Baek Saeon had adopted the child, she must surely be a tiger from a branch family.

 

Soya, not the baby bird with small, pure white down feathers that I remember.

 

Besides, hadn’t Hwayu said so? That the child’s spirit core was damaged and she wouldn’t live long.

 

So he decided to think of Soya as a dead child and buried her in his heart.

 

Time passed like that, and before long, Lili had turned twelve years old.

 

Unlike Soya who had been small and frail, Lili was tall and sturdy.

 

People looked at Lili and chattered that the young lady had a good build, resembling the Family Head.

 

Because the deceased Madam, who had been a red-headed tit beastman, was very small and delicate unlike Lili. Just like Soya.

 

Lili still couldn’t perform beast transformation.

 

But no one said anything about it.

 

Because they knew about the young lady’s childhood trauma.

 

Instead, they looked at Lili with pitying eyes.

 

But the spirited youngest lady of the Vermillion Bird Family wasn’t discouraged by the misfortune of being unable to transform.

 

Rather, she grew up confidently as if to show them.

 

Everyone in the Vermillion Bird Family found such Lili admirable.

 

La la la—

 

Lili hummed a tune while admiring her face in the mirror.

 

In front of the mirror were piles of precious jewels and ornaments that Father and Elder Brother had obtained for her.

 

Lili tried them on her body one by one.

 

Today was the day she had planned to go boating by the riverside with Elder Brother.

 

Lili was in a good mood about the rare outing.

 

It had already been three years since she crossed the threshold of the Vermillion Bird Family estate.

 

Lili was the most beloved young lady among all bird beastmen in the Southern Lands.

 

When she stepped outside the estate, everyone’s gaze would focus on her.

 

Those gazes mixed with reverence and pity.

 

Lili didn’t dislike such gazes directed at her.

 

The precious jewels and ornaments, her family’s devoted love, and people’s reverent gazes.

 

These were all things she couldn’t enjoy before coming here.

 

‘How fortunate indeed. This blessing of red hair.’

 

It was when Lili was thinking this while stroking her luscious red hair.

 

Throb—

 

At the sudden throbbing sensation, Lili dropped the ornament she was holding.

 

“Ugh…”

 

Throb throb—

 

“Urgh… Huk…”

 

Lili placed her hand on her chest where her spirit core was and breathed painfully.

 

It was pain from her spirit core due to forcibly suppressing beast transformation for so long.

 

Though it was agony as if her spirit core was splitting, Lili endured it with effort.

 

After a while, when the pain subsided and she was wiping the cold sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.

 

“Gasp…!”

 

Lili, who had casually looked down, was startled to discover a gray feather that had fallen on the floor.

 

“Wh-why is this…”

 

Lili examined her body with a pale face.

 

Fortunately, her body was no different from usual.

 

Just as she was breathing a sigh of relief, familiar footsteps could be heard from outside.

 

‘I can’t be caught!’

 

Lili quickly picked it up and hid it deep inside a drawer.

 

At the same time, the door opened and Jeok Hwayu came in.

 

“Lili, it’s Elder Brother. Let me come in for a moment… Lili!”

 

Discovering that Lili’s complexion looked quite poor, Jeok Hwayu was surprised and approached her.

 

“Lili. Why do you look like that? Are you hurt somewhere?”

 

“No, Elder Brother. I’m just a little dizzy.”

 

Lili answered with a faint smile on her pale face.

 

However, Jeok Hwayu’s stern expression didn’t soften.

 

“This won’t do, Lili. Let’s postpone today’s boating to another time.”

 

“No! It’s a promise with Elder Brother. I’m fine…”

 

“I’m not fine with it. Do you know how much my heart races every moment watching you, who has been weak since childhood?”

 

He lifted Lili up and laid her on the bed, then pulled the bell cord to have a basin and wet towel brought.

 

Though Lili could no longer be called weak, in his eyes she was still a frail little sister.

 

He personally wrung out the wet towel the servant women brought and wiped away her cold sweat while carefully examining Lili’s body.

 

“You are Father’s and my only hope and joy. If you’re even slightly hurt, this elder brother will suffer so much he won’t be able to breathe. So please cherish your body more, Lili.”

 

“Elder Brother…”

 

Lili looked at him with a moved expression.

 

Jeok Hwayu, the second young master of the Vermillion Bird Family.

 

He had also aged during this time and was already fifteen years old.

 

With his outstanding appearance stealing the hearts of countless girls in the Southern Lands, he was still the most gentle elder brother in the world who especially cherished his younger sister Lili.

 

Unlike Father, who sometimes worried about the violent behavior Lili showed toward subordinates, he believed everything his sister did was right.

 

It had to be that way.

 

It had to be… so that the things he had done at Lili’s request would no longer be sins.

 

* * *

 

Soya stared blankly at the red feather.

 

‘What is this?’

 

Blink, blink—

 

Soya, who had been blinking her eyes, stared at it for a long time before raising her head to glance up at the sky outside the window.

 

Birds were flying around in flocks.

 

But there were no birds with red feathers.

 

Soya lowered her head again to look at the red feather in her hand.

 

It was sparkling like a blazing flame.

 

“…”

 

But soon, Soya.

 

‘How strange.’

 

As if uninterested, she whoosh— threw the red feather out the window.

 

Then she called Yeonjeong to wash her face lightly and groom herself before going to find Saeon.

 

“Father!”

 

Saeon, who had been sitting in his office with a serious expression reading something, immediately relaxed his face and turned around at Soya’s visit.

 

“You’re up early, Cotton Ball.”

 

“A letter came from Mother this morning!”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes, yes! Chirpy brought it!”

 

Soya chattered away about the contents of the letter.

 

“And Mother also told me to tell Father this! She said don’t cry even if you miss her!”

 

“What?”

 

“She said Father was a huge crybaby when he was little. Even on the day they first met, he cried and told Mother not to go when she tried to go home.”

 

“Hah…”

 

Saeon, who had been listening intently to Soya’s story, became flustered at those words and rubbed his face while blushing.

 

“That woman, there’s nothing she won’t say…”

 

Spotting Father’s reddened earlobes, Soya covered her mouth with both hands and giggled.

 

‘It’s not just my elder brothers who like Mother – Father really likes Mother a lot too.’

 

“Cotton Ball. Why are you laughing with that expression? Is teasing Papa fun?”

 

“Yes! It’s fun!”

 

Soya answered with a bright laugh.

 

Saeon, who had deliberately raised one eyebrow, chuckled at that innocent face.

 

“Baby Cotton Ball is quite mischievous.”

 

“I’m not a baby anymore!”

 

Soya bristled at being called a baby.

 

“You’ve changed, Baby Cotton Ball. You used to like it when Papa called you that.”

 

Saeon felt a little hurt by Soya’s reaction, as she had been insisting she was no longer a baby for some time now.

 

“I’m twelve years old now.”

 

“Even when you’re twenty, fifty, or a hundred years old, you’ll always be Papa’s eternal baby.”

 

“Where would you find such a big baby?”

 

“Why not. It’s possible.”

 

Saeon picked up a sweet confection from the tray on his desk and held it out to Soya.

 

Soya reflexively opened her mouth and popped the sweet confection in.

 

Soya’s expression softened slightly at the sweet confection melting smoothly in her mouth.

 

“Heh heh. See that, you’re still a baby after all. Look how your expression softened at the sweet confection.”

 

“!!!”

 

Soya looked at Saeon with an expression that said ‘I’ve been tricked!’

 

“That’s mean, Father!”

 

‘But the sweet confection is still delicious though.’

 

Soya chewed on the sweet confection and glanced at the papers on Saeon’s desk.

 

‘Plague…?’

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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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