Chapter 126
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 126
“……!”
San-yu looked as if he had been struck over the head with a mallet.
“By the way, why are you so interested in Som-som?”
Ga-ya, who had been scanning San-yu with a dissatisfied gaze, suddenly twisted his face into a scowl.
“Don't tell me. You don't have some filthy ulterior motive for my Som-som, do you…?”
He was asking with the full intention of killing him on the spot if the answer was yes.
Swish—!
Suddenly, San-yu spun around and began to run off, leaving Ga-ya behind.
“Hmm?”
Ga-ya narrowed his eyes as he watched the retreating back, but soon a smirk played on his lips as he looked down at the royal gift in his hand.
The thought of bringing this to So-ya put him in an excellent mood.
*
Ri-ri’s expression remained grim all the way from the banquet hall back to their quarters.
“Ri-ri, are you alright? You don't look well.”
Hwa-yu comforted his younger sister, noticing her expression was just as dark as their father’s.
“It was the first time you saw Father argue with someone like that, wasn't it? You must have been very scared, our Ri-ri.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s all because of her. I was just so shocked. The girl we thought was dead came back alive…”
Ri-ri answered, her body trembling as if she still couldn't believe it.
“I see. You must have been very startled. Go inside and rest. I’ll stay out a bit longer to settle things before I head in.”
Hwa-yu let out a long sigh after seeing his family inside.
He, too, was in a state of utter confusion.
To think So-ya was alive.
To think the youngest daughter the White Tiger Clan had taken in was that child, So-ya.
He had been certain she was dead.
There were only the child’s belongings and bloodstains left where she had vanished. Even if she had somehow survived, he believed she wouldn't have lived long.
Because her Spirit Core had been shattered.
‘…But how is a child with a broken Spirit Core still alive?’
It was a relief that she hadn't died.
Had he not lived all this time carrying a faint sense of guilt and loneliness over her death?
Yet, it was strange. Now that he knew she was alive, the guilt did not fade; instead, it seemed to grow heavier.
It was then.
He saw a red figure running toward him from a distance, breathless. It was San-yu.
Hwa-yu pushed aside the uncomfortable feelings from their argument the previous night and acknowledged him first.
“Ah, Brother. You’ve come—”
“So-ya was…!”
But San-yu cut him off, shouting as if greetings were the last thing on his mind.
“So-ya was with the White Tiger Clan! What is the meaning of this!”
Ah, so Brother saw her too.
Hwa-yu let out a short sigh and replied.
“I don't know the details myself. I intend to look into it—”
“That’s not what I’m asking!”
“Brother…?”
“You clearly said the child disappeared after going outside the mansion on the day of the festival!”
“Ah…”
As Hwa-yu let out a small groan, San-yu pressed him further.
“Why would a child who disappeared like that! Why would she avoid us!”
This was the reason San-yu had sought out Hwa-yu instead of running straight to So-ya.
Because the child was avoiding him.
The moment she had spotted him the previous night, she had ducked behind Baek Ga-ya. She was clearly avoiding him.
And it likely wasn't just him she was avoiding. Seeing how she had ignored her family’s presence in the Imperial Palace all this time.
Just why…?
The question arose for a brief moment, but the answer followed immediately.
It was the words Hwa-yu had spoken to him just yesterday.
[She was already struggling because that girl had stolen her place.]
[I hope our sister is never hurt by that girl again.]
[While Ri-ri was wandering the streets, that girl enjoyed everything Ri-ri should have had.]
Hwa-yu had spoken as if So-ya had committed some grave sin.
At the time, his voice had been flat, as if he were reciting an obvious fact.
Could it be that while he was away at the front lines, they had treated the child that way the entire time?
Claiming she had stolen Ri-ri’s place. That Ri-ri suffered because of her.
And so, they shifted the blame for every tragedy that occurred within the clan onto her, making her the scapegoat…
“Brother, please calm down for a moment…”
“Tell me. What did you do to her?”
But San-yu could not calm down.
“Just what did you say to her, and what did you do while I was gone, for that child to pretend she doesn't know her own family!”
“……”
Hwa-yu fell silent in the face of the pouring, fierce rage.
Since his brother had figured this much out, it would be impossible to hide anything further. He would get the answers soon enough even if he just asked a few of the household retainers.
And so, Hwa-yu forced his lips to move.
“……I merely gave the fledgling who deceived the family her due punishment.”
“What?”
In an instant, a look of horrific contempt crossed San-yu’s face.
“You don't know, Brother! You don't know the despair and betrayal Father and I felt the day she had her first Beast Transformation!”
Seeing that look of loathing directed at him, Hwa-yu suddenly felt a surge of emotion.
“Mother died giving birth to her! But the child who was traded for Mother’s life was not a Vermilion Bird!”
He raised his voice and shouted. He spat out the hollow excuses he had whispered to himself for so long.
“Because of that child, who would have been better off never being born, our deceased Mother was stigmatized with the shame of infidelity, and Father went mad!”
“And so.”
San-yu, watching his younger brother with frigid eyes, spoke coldly.
“So what did you do to her? Just get to the point.”
“……”
At that question, cold enough to freeze even the earth of the South, Hwa-yu gritted his teeth, barely suppressing the resentment he had been pouring out.
His chest heaving as he calmed his emotions, he answered in a somber voice.
“……I seized her Spirit Core and banished her to the Cold Palace.”
“What?”
“I couldn't stand to watch her roam around in that hideous form after she transformed again. For a child who deceived everyone, that was a generous— Ugh!”
Hwa-yu couldn't finish his sentence.
San-yu had thrown a punch straight into his brother’s face.
It was a display of savage violence he had never used, not even in the midst of that horrific war, nor against the comrades who provoked him daily.
“You have finally lost your mind.”
San-yu looked down at his brother, who was sprawled on the ground clutching his swollen cheek, and barked in a chilling voice.
“How could such a small child have deceived anyone?”
Flinch.
Hwa-yu flinched visibly at those words.
It was something Jeok Hwa-yu had been looking away from for a very long time.
Seven years ago, when So-ya had her first Beast Transformation, she was only nine years old.
Though he had supported the clan with the help of the retainers in place of his maddened father, he too had been at an immature age.
As time passed and he grew older, doubts had occasionally surfaced.
Was that child truly the perpetrator?
But Jeok Hwa-yu had lacked the courage to face that question, so he avoided it.
He felt that the moment he confronted it, the world he had believed in would crumble. So he deliberately closed his eyes, covered his ears, and looked away.
“So, what happened to her Spirit Core?”
“……I gave it back to her before she was sent out of the mansion. But because the Spirit Core was in poor condition, I thought she wouldn't live long even if she survived.”
“The Spirit Core was in poor condition?”
San-yu’s expression turned murderous in an instant.
“Don't tell me. You…!”
“No!”
Hwa-yu protested in a voice full of grievance.
“It really wasn't me! It’s true I took the child’s Spirit Core, but I swear by the Heavenly God, I never touched or damaged it!”
“Then how did a perfectly fine Spirit Core end up in such a state!”
“I don't know either. I only speculated that it was damaged because it was neglected away from its owner…”
San-yu furrowed his brow.
‘Can a beastkin’s Spirit Core be damaged in such a way?’
He had seen countless people with damaged Spirit Cores during the long war. Most were the result of attacks by Peril Beasts or the Evil Arts of the Northern Land.
Evil Arts.
Unlike ordinary magic, it was a power imbued with a wicked intent to harm others.
If the reason So-ya’s Spirit Core was damaged wasn't simply neglect, but something else?
If someone had used Evil Arts with the intent to harm her, or if a Peril Beast from the North was involved…
‘No. I’m overthinking it.’
Jeok San-yu cut off his wandering thoughts.
“You seized her Spirit Core and sent her to the Cold Palace. What else is there?”
“……”
This time, Hwa-yu truly couldn't bring himself to speak.
Because he knew that the things the family had done to her after Ri-ri appeared were just as cruel as taking her Spirit Core—perhaps even more so.
And the moment he realized that in the face of his brother’s question…
‘Just what on earth did we do to that child?’
A chill ran down his spine.
San-yu turned away, looking at his brother whose mouth seemed to be glued shut. He would get his answers soon enough by questioning the retainers anyway.
“……It was all for Ri-ri’s sake.”
A cowardly, defensive voice caught his footsteps.
“It was for Ri-ri, for our poor sister Ri-ri.”
But San-yu continued walking, as if there was nothing more worth hearing.
“Ri-ri is the sister Mother left behind at the cost of her life! That’s how precious and dear she is!”
Hwa-yu shouted at his brother’s retreating back.
“I would do anything for Ri-ri! Five years ago, and even now!”
San-yu was already out of sight and there was no one left to listen, yet Hwa-yu continued to scream.
With an expression that looked ready to crumble at any moment, as if he were brainwashing himself…