Chapter 120
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 120
“Seol-yo!”
Poof!
So-ya quickly released her beast transformation and beamed.
The boy with black hair and gray eyes was none other than Seol-yo.
Over the past two years, Seol-yo’s aura had changed slightly. He had never been particularly talkative, but he had grown even more taciturn, and at times, he would gaze quietly into the distance with an expression that seemed to hold a deep, untold story.
It wasn't just his aura that had changed. While he had been roughly the same height as So-ya when they were younger, he was now as tall as Ga-yul. His handsome features, combined with his unique atmosphere, had turned him into a beautiful youth who commanded attention wherever he went.
In fact, he was incredibly popular among the girls of the Western Land, who claimed he possessed a certain charm that the White Tiger young lords lacked.
Of course, to So-ya, he was still her best friend in the whole world.
“I was worried because you were taking so long, So-ya.”
As So-ya’s guardian, Seol-yo had followed her all the way to the Imperial Palace. He had wanted to climb the tree with her, but So-ya had insisted on going alone, claiming it was a secret promise between her and her mother. Thus, Seol-yo had been keeping watch below.
“Sorry, Seol-yo. Did you wait long?”
“No. Not that long.”
He had just said he was worried because she was taking a long time, yet his words were now contradictory.
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
“Yes!”
So-ya smiled brightly, clutching her mother’s hairpin tightly in her hand.
“Let’s head back, Seol-yo. Father will be waiting.”
So-ya walked ahead, her steps full of excitement. Seol-yo, relieved to see she was unharmed, followed close behind.
‘Wait...’
Suddenly, Seol-yo noticed that So-ya’s face was slightly flushed. A faint rosy tint lingered on her cheeks. He assumed she must have exerted herself while searching for the item in such a high place.
‘It would have been better if I had helped her.’
Hiding his slight regret, Seol-yo stole glances at So-ya.
‘But why does So-ya... look so pretty even when her face is red?’
Seol-yo watched her quietly, lost in thought. It was strange. He hadn't climbed any heights, nor was he tired, yet he felt his own face beginning to heat up—just like So-ya’s.
Feeling as though he shouldn't let her catch him with a red face, Seol-yo kept his mouth shut and followed silently behind her.
*
After finishing dinner with her family, So-ya strolled in front of the pavilion, still in high spirits.
During the meal, she had presented the hairpin to Sa-eon.
[Father, look at this. I found it in the Imperial Palace garden today. They say Mother prepared this to give to you a long time ago.]
[…….]
Sa-eon had abruptly stopped eating and covered his face with one hand. Beneath his large palm, his face—which couldn't be entirely hidden—flushed a brilliant red.
It was the first time So-ya had ever seen her father so flustered. He seemed more shaken than when he had faced the centipede demonic beast, or even when she had brought a whole flock of birds back with her from the Southern Land.
Recalling the scene made her giggle. No matter how she looked at it, it seemed her mother and father had liked each other since they were very young, but no one ever agreed with her.
[But when the two of them were young, they fought every time they met.]
[The Clan Head even cried because of Lady Cheong-ha’s bullying.]
[That’s why the Clan Head ground his teeth, vowing revenge.]
[Their relationship only started to improve after they got married and had the three young masters.]
To think her mother had bullied her father and made him cry. Why were such strange rumors circulating? The two of them clearly loved each other deeply and got along so well.
“Hmph, I guess I’m the only one who truly understands Mother and Father,” So-ya muttered to herself, her voice filled with pride as she skipped along.
She was so caught up in her excitement that she didn't notice a protruding stone until her toe caught on it.
“Ah...!”
“Careful.”
A strange woman gently caught So-ya by the shoulders.
“The path is dark at night. You almost had a nasty fall.”
“Oh... Thank you. I didn't fall because of you.”
So-ya straightened herself and bowed politely. When she looked up to see the woman’s face, her eyes widened.
“Oh? Could you be...?”
Curly blue hair. And pale purple eyes that reminded So-ya of someone she loved dearly.
“Are you the Blue Dragon Clan Head?”
“You recognize me.”
“...!”
It was Cheong Su-a, the head of the Blue Dragon Clan—her mother’s niece and her brothers’ cousin.
“I-I’m So-ya! Baek So-ya of the White Tiger Clan!”
“Of the White Tiger Clan? Then you must be...”
Just as Su-a leaned down to speak to her—
“Stop right there.”
Ga-ya appeared, pulling So-ya into his arms and issuing a sharp warning.
“She’s my Som-som.”
Cheong Su-a slowly straightened up and glanced at Ga-ya’s wary eyes. She responded in a dry, indifferent voice.
“I won’t take anything more from you.”
“…….”
“So do not worry, Baek Ga-ya.”
With those words, Su-a turned and walked away. As Ga-ya grumbled a "Tsk" while watching her depart, So-ya whispered in an awestruck voice.
“...She’s so cool.”
“What?”
“The Blue Dragon Clan Head. I heard she only recently went through her Second Growth, but her voice sounds so mature and she’s just so cool.”
Ga-ya raised an eyebrow in dissatisfaction.
“More than this big brother of yours?”
So-ya burst into laughter at a question even Ga-yul wouldn't have asked.
“Ga-ya orabeoni, you’re just a baby! You were even crying because you missed me!”
“You don’t know anything, Som-som. Even a baby can be cool.”
Ga-ya countered with a mock-serious tone before his lips curled into a smirk.
“Just like baby Som-som, who took down a centipede demonic beast without even blinking.”
“When you put it that way, I suppose you’re right.”
The two of them were giggling as they walked along the night path when they heard someone approaching from the opposite direction.
So-ya looked up instinctively and froze.
‘That person.’
He was someone she knew she might encounter from the moment she decided to attend the victory celebration banquet at the Imperial Palace.
With hair as red as flames and eyes of the same hue...
‘San-yu orabeoni.’
The moment he turned his head toward them, So-ya flinched and instinctively hid behind Ga-ya.
“Young Lord Ga-ya. Are you out for a night stroll?”
San-yu smiled brightly and offered a greeting upon spotting Ga-ya.
“I’m not telling you.”
Ga-ya crossed his arms and glared at him with a crooked expression. Despite the stinging gaze, San-yu didn't seem to mind and stepped closer.
“It feels quite special to run into you here at the Imperial Palace.”
“Same here,” Ga-ya replied curtly. “I never thought I’d see the face of a guy I expected to become a ghost of the battlefield alive and well. It feels... very special indeed.”
“Your wit is as entertaining as ever, Young Lord Ga-ya. It saddens me to think I won’t be hearing this voice of yours much longer.”
“Good. I hope you’re so sad that you end up with a chronic stomachache.”
San-yu’s eyes crinkled into a smile at Ga-ya’s prickly refusal to let a single comment slide. He knew that Baek Ga-ya hated his smiling eyes more than anything in the world.
Sure enough, a look of intense displeasure washed over Ga-ya’s face.
Satisfied with the reaction, San-yu suddenly noticed a young girl hiding behind Ga-ya, clutching his sleeve tightly. Her head was bowed, so he couldn't see her face, but she had snow-white hair.
‘Is that the child the White Tiger Clan adopted?’
That snow-white hair reminded him of someone. The child who used to toddle after him, calling him “Oppa—” when they were young.
“Stop staring.”
Ga-ya flapped his sleeve to cover So-ya and spoke in a sharp tone.
“Pardon...?”
“My sister. I said stop staring.”
San-yu let out a hollow laugh at Ga-ya’s inevitable provocation.
Swoosh—
A breeze blew past, causing Ga-ya’s white hair to flutter in the night air. That same white hair, which reminded him of someone else, was the reason he didn't entirely hate Baek Ga-ya.
Jeok San-yu stared at the white hair for a moment before leaning down toward So-ya.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, youngest lady of the White Tiger Clan. You must have a difficult time with such an immature eldest brother.”
So-ya’s small frame trembled.
“You...!”
Just as Ga-ya was about to snap at San-yu for the provocative greeting to his sister—
“You must be quite shy. Let us see each other again at the banquet tomorrow.”
San-yu finished with a bright smile and took his leave. Only then did the grip on Ga-ya’s sleeve loosen.
“Phew...”
So-ya exhaled a long breath, letting her tension fade.
‘Why did I hide again?’
She had told her father so bravely that she was fine, yet here she was, hiding once more.
She had thought she would be fine seeing the man who had once been her father, the one who had sired her.
She had thought she would be fine seeing the other man who had once been her brother, the one who had left her behind.
But Jeok San-yu... she didn't know how to face the person she had been separated from since she was very young and hadn't seen since. So, she had simply hidden.
“Good job, Som-som.”
At that moment, Ga-ya grinned and stroked So-ya’s hair.