The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 76
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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 76
“Chirpy!”
Soya cried out in surprise and quickly grabbed Chirpy.
“Peep?”
Then Chirpy tilted its head.
It had an innocent expression as if it had no idea what it had done.
“Chirpy, are you okay?”
“What’s wrong, Young Lady?”
“Oh, Sanho. What should we do? Chirpy ate the poison insects.”
“Poison insects?”
At Sanho’s exclamation, people gathered around Chirpy.
“It swallowed poison insects and is still fine?”
“It doesn’t look particularly different on the outside…”
“Is Chirpy okay?”
Soya asked with a worried expression.
“…This won’t do.”
Saeon looked at Chirpy with a deliberately serious face, then untied his hair ribbon and used it to bind Chirpy’s body.
“Piyaak!”
Chirpy struggled to break free.
“I’ll have to keep it with me for today.”
Saeon easily subdued Chirpy and held it in his arms.
“Piyap! Peep! Peeppeep!”
“No, Chirpy. Listen to Papa.”
Chirpy flapped its wings with teary eyes toward Soya, but Soya also spoke in a deliberately firm voice.
“Pee…”
In the end, Chirpy drooped its head weakly and was carried away obediently in Saeon’s arms.
* * *
After the incident was settled and they came down to the village, Gayul came running frantically and questioned her.
“Cotton Ball! Where did you go! I couldn’t see you and looked for you for a long time!”
“Yul, are you angry?”
Soya blinked at his sensitive reaction.
“An-angry? Why would I be angry…”
Gayul immediately softened his voice and cleared his throat awkwardly.
When she stared at him directly, he suspiciously avoided her gaze.
‘It seems like Elder Brothers are hiding something from me…’
Soya was quite suspicious but soon followed Father’s steps.
Saeon informed the villagers that he had eliminated all the poison insects on the mountain, so there would be no more plague patients.
However, even though the Qiongqi and poison insects were eliminated, people with contaminated spirit cores were still complaining of pain.
There was no proper way to treat them with ordinary medicine.
Soya approached Saeon and tugged at his sleeve.
“Father. We’ve found all the causes that made people sick. So…”
“Cotton Ball.”
Saeon interrupted Soya’s words and lowered himself toward the child.
“A little while ago, the Blue Wolf left for White Tiger Palace to bring Sara.”
“Aunt?”
“Yes. So when she comes tomorrow morning, we’ll check people’s conditions, and if there’s really no other way, then. We’ll discuss the method you’re thinking of then.”
“But earlier you said we’d think about it after finding the cause.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Then why…!”
Soya unconsciously raised her voice.
When Gayul finished his first growth and learned about the duties of the direct lineage, Soya also studied alongside him.
How heavy the weight of the name that the ‘direct lineage’ of the Four Great Families carries.
As a ruling family, they enjoyed many things, but they also had to bear equally great responsibilities.
Although Soya wasn’t blood-related to Father, she still thought of herself as part of the White Tiger Family’s direct lineage.
She was determined to step forward whenever she could help the family and protect people.
Wasn’t it also to fulfill the family’s duties that First Elder Brother, whom she had never seen, left White Tiger Palace at a young age to go to the battlefield?
‘But why don’t I need to fulfill the duties of the direct lineage?’
This was land under the White Tiger Family’s influence, so if she could sacrifice herself to help people, it was the duty of the direct lineage to do so.
“Because I’m not a tiger…”
Soya gripped Saeon’s sleeve tightly and looked up at him.
“Is it because I’m not a tiger like Father and Elder Brothers?”
“That’s not it, Cotton Ball.”
Saeon, who seemed to read Soya’s thoughts like a ghost, warmly clasped the child’s hand and said.
“Papa told you long ago that it doesn’t matter whether you’re a tiger, a baby bird, or anything else.”
“…”
“This is because Papa is a bad adult. Because I don’t want Baby Cotton Ball to get hurt, because I hate even the tiniest scratch on Baby Cotton Ball’s hands, I’m a selfish adult, that’s why.”
“…!”
Soya’s hand gripping Saeon’s sleeve trembled slightly.
“I didn’t know Baby Cotton Ball was thinking such things. Papa is sorry. I didn’t consider Baby Cotton Ball’s feelings.”
“…”
With the warmth stroking her hand and Saeon’s feelings being conveyed, Soya felt ashamed and sorry for throwing a tantrum earlier.
‘Right. I knew Father was worried about me. Acting like a child and throwing such a tantrum.’
“I’m sorry, Father. I was throwing a tantrum.”
When Soya apologized with a slightly reddened face, Saeon burst into laughter and ruffled the child’s hair.
“When she comes tomorrow, let’s have her check people’s spirit cores and see if Chirpy is okay too. And if that’s the only way to treat people, then we’ll do what Baby Cotton Ball wants.”
“Yes.”
Soya nodded obediently and turned away.
However, even though Soya had gotten the answer she wanted, she somehow had a thoughtful expression.
She wanted to help people, but she didn’t want to make Father sad.
‘If I get hurt, Father would be very upset, wouldn’t he?’
Soya remembered three years ago, when she had hurt herself to use that power.
She remembered Father’s reaction when he showed a scary face and scary voice in front of her for the first time.
Soya carefully spread out both hands.
Then she closed her eyes tightly and tried to concentrate on her spirit core, but…
‘No good. I can’t hear anything.’
Soya sighed deeply and walked out.
Then she spotted Chirpy tied to the perch in front of Saeon’s lodging.
“Chirpy!”
Soya ran toward Chirpy.
The thoroughly angry skylark sulked and turned its head away sharply.
“Sorry, Chirpy. Just bear with it until Aunt comes.”
“Ppyoo ppyoo!”
“So how can you just eat anything like that? From now on, be selective about what you eat, Chirpy. You’re not even a baby…”
As Soya and Chirpy were having a conversation, a young sparrow beastkin who happened to be passing by looked at the two with curiosity and asked.
“How do you talk with the skylark, sister?”
“Huh? Can’t all bird beastkin communicate with each other?”
When Soya tilted her head and asked, the sparrow beastkin waved both hands dismissively.
“No way. Even my parents can’t do that.”
At those words, Soya blinked her eyes.
‘Come to think of it…’
Even when she lived with the Vermillion Bird Family, she didn’t remember seeing beastkin talking with birds…
* * *
That evening, during the quiet time when everyone had gone to prepare for sleep.
Standing by the window, Saeon couldn’t fall asleep and looked up at the dark sky alone.
Saeon was thinking about Soya.
‘Baby Cotton Ball seemed really upset.’
His heart felt heavy.
Cotton Ball’s words were right.
That child was from the direct lineage of the White Family, and at twelve years old, it was proper for her to fulfill those duties.
But Soya still hadn’t undergone her First Growth.
He knew Soya was upset about that fact, so he deliberately didn’t mention it…
In beast-person society, he didn’t like the idea of that small child, still just a youngster, volunteering to sacrifice herself for people.
However…
‘I didn’t know my overprotectiveness would make the child think such things.’
Saeon painfully contorted his eyes as he recalled Soya’s face when she asked if it was because she wasn’t a tiger.
Cotton Ball. Do you know?
How much this papa worries about and loves you?
Even at your smallest wound, my heart is always restless.
When something upsetting happens to you and you sniffle, my chest aches even more painfully.
Sometimes I even have violent fantasies of wanting to destroy everything in the world that made you cry.
‘But this time, it seems I was the one who made you upset. Baby Cotton Ball.’
Saeon shook his head and chuckled softly.
The child keeps growing, and she’s not someone who needs to be held and wrapped up protectively forever.
Even so, this heart that keeps growing weak whenever he sees the child…
It was then.
Flutter! Flap, flap—!
At the sound of a skylark’s wing flapping from outside, the gentle smile that had been lingering on Saeon’s face instantly disappeared.
“Chirpy!”
Following Soya’s scream, Saeon quickly rushed outside.
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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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