The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 78
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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 78
―Long ago, an oracle was given. On the night when the red moon rises, the Dragon Emperor’s Bride would awaken the slumbering Death God Beast, sweep away the darkness scattered across this land, and bring peace.
“The night when the red moon rises….”
―And you, born on that night, broke my seal.
“….”
Quietly listening to Suzaku’s story, Soya slowly followed the man’s steps.
The place the man headed to was the Inner Quarters of the Vermillion Bird Mansion.
“Is it not time yet?”
“Family Head, you cannot. Please wait outside just a little longer….”
It was then.
Waaah. Waaah―!
A child’s crying rang out loudly.
“Family Head! It’s a daughter! A beautiful Young Lady who resembles Madam!”
Jeok Ayun threw open the door and entered inside.
“Madam!”
A woman with a delicate appearance and reddish-brown hair was holding a newborn baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.
The woman slowly raised her head.
“Ayun….”
The woman called Jeok Ayun’s name and smiled with difficulty, her complexion pale.
‘That person is the Madam of the Vermillion Bird Family….’
Having grown up hearing stories about that woman from a very young age, Soya could immediately recognize who she was upon seeing her.
Ah, that person is ‘Mother.’
The woman who had been ‘Mother’ itself in Soya’s conception for so long.
The Madam of the Vermillion Bird Family.
When Family Head Jeok Ayun wanted to form an engagement with her, there were many who opposed it.
The retainers argued that he, the master of the Vermillion Bird Family, could not be united with her from the humble Red-headed Bushtit family.
However, Jeok Ayun welcomed her as his wife despite countless opposition.
And to ensure people could not look down on her, he entrusted her with the position of keeper of the Vermillion Bird Treasure Bow.
Soya glanced at the Vermillion Bird’s Treasure Bow hanging on the wall.
She had seen it once as a child when it was kept in the Sacred Hall after her death.
Jeok Ayun approached the woman and brushed away her hair dampened with cold sweat.
“Would you like to hold the child?”
He received the baby from the woman.
At that moment, his hands were trembling slightly.
“The child resembles you.”
He murmured with a moved voice while looking at the child.
When I was born. No, when Lili was born.
That man had such a happy face….
Soya stared at Jeok Ayun’s face intently, then lowered her gaze to the newborn baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.
The baby’s sparse birth hair was so light it sometimes looked white, and sometimes seemed to hold a faint reddish tint.
Is that baby me? Or is it Lili?
When was I switched?
It was known that the one who switched the baby was a Personal Servant who served Madam, but when and how she committed such an act was unknown.
For the Vermillion Bird Family Members, only the fact that the child had been ‘switched’ was important.
The Red Feather was proof of direct lineage.
An eternal truth that had been unchanging since ancient times.
The one and only truth that needed no doubt or room for question.
Moreover, since even Madam’s Personal Servant who was presumed to have switched the child had died long ago, finding out the timing and method became even more distant.
Most importantly, whenever that woman’s story came up, Lili would purse her lips tightly with a dark expression.
Therefore, the Family Head did not bother to dig into that matter.
Only the fact that the ‘real child’ with the Red Feather had returned held meaning for him.
However, Soya was sometimes curious.
‘When was I switched with Lili…. How was it done so seamlessly?’
Soya clenched her fists painfully tight.
The Family Head of the Vermillion Bird Family and his family looked very happy.
The Two Young Masters also came to visit and couldn’t leave the baby’s side for a long time.
‘But that happiness will soon be shattered.’
Soya squeezed her eyes shut at the approaching tragedy.
Starting two days later, Madam’s postpartum fever began, and the entire estate sank into gloom.
The blood-red moonlight that had been illuminating the estate for several days felt particularly ominous.
Jeok Ayun could not leave his wife’s bedside for even a moment as she could barely open her eyes.
“The baby….”
Madam pleaded with a completely hoarse voice.
“I want to hold our baby one last time, Ayun.”
At the Family Head’s command, the Servant Women brought the baby and placed it in Madam’s arms.
“Baby….”
A faint smile bloomed across pale Madam’s face.
“Mother… loves you so very much, baby…. My baby, Soya….”
“Waaaah―!”
At those words, the baby burst into tears.
As if understanding the farewell with its mother.
At the baby’s crying, Madam shed tears with a heartbroken expression.
Painful groans also flowed from between Jeok Ayun’s teeth as he watched.
Madam patted the crying baby for a while before gradually falling asleep.
And that night. While everyone was asleep.
The baby that had fallen asleep in Madam’s arms woke up alone.
Mmph, mmph….
Just as whimpering cries leaked from between the child’s small lips.
Flash!
The Suzaku’s Sacred Palace hanging on the wall glowed, and red flames bloomed from the child’s fingertips.
The child was startled and stopped whimpering.
Soon the flames lingering at the child’s fingertips gently seeped into the mother’s body.
At the same time, the cold sweat beaded on Madam’s forehead gradually subsided and her breathing became evenly stable.
―My other name is the Southern Region’s Purifier.
Suzaku’s voice seeped into Soya’s mind again like Telepathic Communication.
―Your heart wanting to save your mother, the direct bloodline, and Suzaku’s Divine Artifact came together to awaken me.
‘From then on, I… Suzaku…’
―But the one who awakened me was a newborn whose Spirit Core had not yet formed, so you could not connect with me completely.
‘….’
Soya blinked her eyes blankly, then suddenly realized something was strange.
“Wait, Suzaku. This seems a bit strange.”
Soya spoke toward the invisible Suzaku.
“I’m… I’m fake. I’m not the real daughter of the Vermillion Bird Family. And that person is….”
Trailing off, Soya looked at ‘Mother’ who was holding her and smiling faintly.
Even facing death, she was smiling so warmly as if she were happy.
Soya squeezed her eyes shut and cried out with a trembling voice.
“She’s not my mother!”
―….
“That person said she was Miss Lili’s mother. I’m not even from the Suzaku’s direct lineage, and I don’t have red feathers either….”
Suzaku spoke to the rambling Soya with a sad voice.
―Baby Bird, you are a noble child of Suzaku who inherited my blood.
“But then why…!”
Soya remembers. Her sixth birthday when she attempted her first beast transformation in front of everyone.
That moment when, unlike the brilliant red firebird in the splendid Suzaku painting before her eyes, she became a baby bird with only shabby white down feathers.
―When you awakened me, it was during your young years when even your spirit core had not yet awakened.
“….”
―Your young spirit core that had been sleeping was startled by the great power that was too much to handle, and to protect itself, it sealed away Suzaku’s blood.
Suzaku explained.
The reason Soya’s red feathers didn’t grow, and why she still couldn’t achieve her first growth.
It was all because the direct lineage blood dwelling in her spirit core had been sealed.
However, just moments ago, Qiongqi’s poison touched Soya’s spirit core and broke that seal.
Soya’s eyes shook violently upon hearing the explanation.
So, I really am a daughter of the Suzaku Family?
I was family connected by blood to those people?
“But, but…!”
Soya repeatedly pursed and opened her lips several times as if she wanted to say something.
Suddenly, grief welled up inside her.
“Then why… then why did I have to go through such things?”
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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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