The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 97

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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 97

 

“Welcome home, children.”

 

Upon hearing news of the three siblings’ return, Saeon set aside his official duties and came out to the main gate of White Tiger Palace to greet them with a gentle smile.

 

“Father!”

 

“Father!”

 

“Father!”

 

The three siblings simultaneously rushed toward Saeon and embraced him tightly.

 

“Wait, wait a moment.”

 

Saeon spoke in a calm voice to the children who had all rushed at him at once.

 

“Children. Father has two arms, not three. If all three of you hug me together like this…”

 

“We missed you so much, Father!”

 

“Father, we really, really missed you!”

 

“You’ve been well while we were away, haven’t you, Father?”

 

However, the three siblings seemed not to hear Saeon’s words and stubbornly clung to him.

 

“This seems to be the fault of the Family Head who only has two arms. The Family Head should go and make himself one more arm.”

 

At Ho Jeokyeong’s laughing remark, Saeon also shook his head helplessly as if there was nothing to be done.

 

“Did you all return safely and healthily without causing any trouble?”

 

“Yes, yes!”

 

Soya quickly answered Saeon’s question.

 

Sensing something suspicious, Saeon slyly raised one eyebrow.

 

“Baby Cotton Ball. That sounded exactly like the voice of someone who caused trouble?”

 

“No, well…”

 

As Soya looked flustered with an expression of being caught, Gayul beside her smiled brightly and cheerfully exclaimed.

 

“Father, I’ll tell you! What happened with Cotton Ball was…!”

 

“Yul Elder Brother!”

 

Soya quickly covered Gayul’s mouth with both hands.

 

“Mmph, mmph, mmmph!”

 

“Oh my, Yul too.”

 

At their adorable bickering, Saeon burst into laughter.

 

* * *

 

After returning to White Tiger Palace, Soya first soaked in warm water to relieve her travel fatigue.

 

“White Tiger Palace was so quiet for a while without Young Lady and the Young Masters. You don’t know how much everyone was waiting for Young Lady and the Young Masters to return.”

 

Yeonjeong spoke while washing Soya’s hair.

 

At those warm and gentle touches, Soya gradually became drowsy.

 

“But that’s the first time I’ve seen that?”

 

When Yeonjeong pointed to the hair ribbon she had untied earlier, Soya suddenly snapped to attention.

 

“Ah, that…! I received it as a gift.”

 

When Soya answered while slightly blushing, Yeonjeong smiled softly and asked.

 

“Don’t tell me our Young Lady received a gift from some handsome Young Master who fell for her?”

 

“N-no! This is just, just something I received at Azure Sea Palace.”

 

Soya jumped up and waved both hands.

 

“Oh my, I see. I thought our Young Lady had gotten herself a handsome Young Master.”

 

Yeonjeong chuckled and rinsed Soya’s hair.

 

‘Why did I lie like that?’

 

Soya’s heart was pounding.

 

‘Fortunately, Yeonjeong didn’t ask further, but somehow I’m bothered by it.’

 

Soya kept glancing at Yeonjeong because she was bothered by having lied.

 

Even after finishing her bath and returning to her room alone, it continued to bother her.

 

‘No. The reason I lied… it was unavoidable for His Majesty’s sake.’

 

Soya thought while recalling Tae Irim’s disguised appearance from that day.

 

‘It seemed like he had come out secretly… Yes. So I had no choice but to lie.’

 

Finally finding a convincing reason, Soya was able to let out a sigh of relief.

 

“But still…”

 

Soya glanced out the window and thought.

 

“I miss Mother.”

 

It had only been one day since leaving Azure Sea Palace, but she already missed Mother.

 

‘It was really so wonderful.’

 

Mother seemed like such a free person. How should she put it. Yes, exactly like the wind.

 

There, Soya thoroughly enjoyed rebellious acts with Cheongha that she had never done at White Tiger Palace.

 

For instance, staying up and chatting until the deep hours of dawn, or secretly climbing over the palace walls away from people’s eyes…

 

And she ate five sweet confections before going to sleep!

 

‘Yeonjeong said I shouldn’t eat too many sweet confections, but Mother said it was fine to eat until my stomach burst.’

 

Recalling the sweet rebellion with Cheongha made her keep giggling.

 

They were all things she had never done at White Tiger Palace.

 

And on the last day before leaving…

 

[Look at this. What did Mother tell you? Our Baby Cotton Ball will become even more beautiful when she grows up like her elder brothers.]

 

Cheongha said that and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

 

It was the first time someone had kissed her cheek, so Soya felt somewhat shy but also excited with her heart pounding.

 

Mother’s warm and loving kiss was truly wonderful.

 

Her soft and cozy embrace that held her was also truly wonderful.

 

‘I hope Mother returns to White Tiger Palace soon.’

 

But for that to happen…

 

‘The war needs to end quickly.’

 

And when the war ends, not only Mother but also First Elder Brother, who is said to be blocking demons far away at the border region, will return.

 

Soya’s thoughts drifted to First Elder Brother, whom she had never met.

 

Among the three Young Masters of White Tiger Palace, First Elder Brother Baek Gaya, who was said to resemble Father the most, had gone to the battlefield six years ago.

 

Sometimes when Hyeoni Elder Brother sent letters, she would write alongside him, but there had never been a reply to White Tiger Palace.

 

She heard that the battlefield was so fierce and chaotic that there was no time to write replies, but it was still a bit disappointing.

 

‘Did the handkerchief I sent arrive safely?’

 

Right before departing to see the Eastern Festival.

 

Soya had sent a handkerchief embroidered with a tiger, though her embroidery skills were clumsy, it was filled with her desire to protect him.

 

She didn’t know what Gaya would think of her, but she liked him.

 

There wasn’t any particular big reason.

 

Just… because he was family.

 

Family.

 

That name alone made Soya truly fond of him.

 

‘I hope Gaya Elder Brother will like me too.’

 

She used to sometimes worry that he might feel awkward or find her bothersome since a child he’d never seen had appeared.

 

‘I need to make an effort. So that I can become family with Gaya Elder Brother too.’

 

Soya thought determinedly.

 

In any case, for both Cheongha and Gaya to return to White Tiger Palace, the war had to end.

 

To defeat evil, there was now only one divine beast left for her to awaken.

 

“What kind of person is Xuanwu?”

 

At Soya’s question, the divine beasts popped out from thin air with a series of pops.

 

―Baby Bird!

 

―Baby Bird!

 

Vermillion Bird Heavenly Lady and White Tiger Mountain Lord rushed toward Soya with delighted voices.

 

―I shall explain, that Hyeonto Yeomwang fellow is….

 

―Move aside, tiger. I will do the explaining.

 

―No, old lady. I was speaking first, wasn’t I?

 

―Oh my! Where does a young one get off raising their voice?

 

Cheonghae Yongsin clicked her tongue at the sight of the two divine beasts bickering the moment they appeared.

 

―Those fellows are as noisy as ever, even after meeting again after a thousand years.

 

Unlike the two divine beasts before her who had the appearance of mature men and women, Cheonghae Yongsin had the form of a young girl with wave-like blue hair.

 

Soya thought she looked just like a beautiful princess from old fairy tales.

 

―You must have had a hard time living with those fellows, Baby Bird.

 

“No, Dragon God. Having them around keeps me from being bored.”

 

Soya answered with soft laughter.

 

―The Northern Divine Beast, Xuanwu. His other name is Hyeonto Yeomwang.

 

Cheonghae Yongsin explained about Xuanwu in place of the two divine beasts who were too busy bickering.

 

―Long ago, an ancient ‘evil’ sought to destroy the world. However, we Four Divine Beasts joined forces to stop it.

 

The four divine beasts seized the ‘evil’s’ physical form, but destroying its soul completely was impossible.

 

So they sealed that soul in the Northern Lands, and since then the Black Tortoise Clan, descendants of Hyeonto Yeomwang, have protected the desolate and cold Northern Lands where the ‘evil’ was sealed for generations.

 

However, over ten years ago, Hyeon Rabaek, the head of the Black Tortoise Clan, offered up his own body and awakened the ‘evil’.

 

―The opponent you must truly fight is not Hyeon Rabaek, but the ‘evil’ dwelling within him. Unless you destroy the evil, this cycle will never end.

 

“Evil….”

 

Soya quietly murmured that name.

 

―However, we three alone can never destroy the evil. You must awaken the Northern Flame King, Baby Bird.

 

“Yes, Dragon God! I will definitely awaken him!”

 

Soya answered spiritedly.

 

Cheonghae Yongsin burst into laughter at the sight of such a Soya.

 

To awaken Xuanwu, she would ultimately have to go where Hyeon Rabaek was.

 

The cold Northern Swamp of the Dead.

 

It was a place difficult for the living to cross easily, but this spirited and clever Baby Bird would surely manage somehow.

 

However, an even bigger problem than that was… Xuanwu’s heart.

 

‘Can this child embrace that?’

 

Cheonghae Yongsin’s face suddenly grew serious.

 

Another name for the Northern Divine Beast Hyeonto Yeomwang was ‘The Devourer’.

 

Only a heart that sought to devour living things could awaken Xuanwu.

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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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