Chapter 13
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 13
The baby bird, whom he had thought was merely asleep, was instead letting out faint, wheezing chirps with her eyes closed.
Thump!
Ga-yul’s heart plummeted.
Her breathing was so fragile it felt as though it might snap at any moment.
“Co—Cotton Ball’s breathing is strange!”
“Oh no! A physician! I’ll go fetch a physician!”
Su-ri was about to bolt out to find a doctor when Ga-yul stopped him.
“Wait, it’s not a physician we need!”
“Pardon…?”
“Her Spirit Core is acting strange!”
Ga-yul knew it instinctively. The problem wasn't with So-ya’s body, but with her Spirit Core.
“We have to take her to my aunt, not a physician!”
“Wh-what? Your aunt? You mean Lady Sa-ra?”
Baek Sa-ra was the older sister of the Clan Head, Baek Sa-eon, and the Divine Maiden of the White Tiger Palace. She was famous for her eccentric personality.
Because of this, the people of the White Tiger Palace, including Su-ri, tended to avoid the Shrine whenever possible. However, now was not the time to be picky.
The adorable little Cotton Ball was suffering, after all.
Su-ri immediately underwent his Beast Transformation into a large wolf. With the Young Master and the Young Lady on his back, he sprinted toward the Shrine on the eastern side of the White Tiger Palace.
As soon as they arrived, Ga-yul leaped off Su-ri’s back and began pounding on the door.
“Aunt Sa-ra! Aunt Sa-ra!”
With a creak, the door opened. A woman with a cold but glamorous impression, her long, curly white hair elegantly pinned up, poked her head out while holding a long pipe in her mouth.
It was the Divine Maiden of the White Tiger Palace, Baek Sa-ra.
“I came out to see what kind of impolite wild beast was pounding on the Shrine door, and look who it is.”
Baek Sa-ra looked down at her third nephew with a clearly displeased expression and clicked her tongue.
“It’s Baek Sa-eon’s youngest beast. Tsk.”
“Save Cotton Ball!”
Ga-yul shouted, thrusting his hands forward.
“Cotton Ball…! Cotton Ball’s breathing is weird! I was watching her with my eyes wide open, and then she just suddenly collapsed…!”
Lying in Ga-yul’s small palms was a tiny, snow-white baby bird, even smaller than his hands.
“Is this the ‘Cotton Ball’ Sa-eon supposedly picked up?”
Sa-ra narrowed her eyes, observing the baby bird.
Rumors had already spread throughout the White Tiger Palace that Baek Sa-eon had unexpectedly brought home a tiny girl who looked like a ball of fluff in the middle of the night and given her the room at the end of the west wing.
The news had even reached the ears of Sa-ra, who usually had no interest in matters outside the Shrine.
Not a four-legged wild beast, but a winged bird.
She felt a flicker of curiosity toward this tiny creature—something never seen in the White Tiger Palace—but examining the baby bird’s condition came first.
Sa-ra placed her hand gently over the baby bird’s small body and closed her eyes.
Then, suddenly sensing something wrong, her eyes snapped open.
A shimmering golden light flooded her blue pupils.
“Bring Sa-eon here. Right now!”
“Y-yes, Lady Sa-ra!”
Startled by her terrifying shout, Su-ri scrambled away at full speed.
*
In the South, the Land of the Vermilion Bird.
Jeok Hwa-yu was sitting at his desk, processing documents.
Starting three years ago, he had taken over the clan’s affairs on behalf of his father.
“Young Lord.”
A man wearing a black mask appeared.
Jeok Hwa-yu glanced at him and responded in a voice devoid of emotion.
“This is unusual.”
It had been two days since he had assigned the task. He had assumed the man would have left the southern lands by now, so the visit was somewhat surprising. He lowered his gaze back to the documents and asked indifferently.
“What happened to the child?”
“She is dead.”
Flinch.
His hand, which had been casually flipping through papers, stopped.
The masked man placed what he had recovered onto the desk.
A bloodstained pouch. And… three colorful beads.
Jeok Hwa-yu didn't recognize them immediately.
But soon, he realized they were part of the beaded bracelet he had bought for So-ya on the street.
“I found them at the last place her traces remained.”
“…”
While Jeok Hwa-yu stared blankly at the items, the masked man continued his report.
He claimed that the wicked baby bird, who had stolen the Young Lady’s place and deceived everyone, had vanished, leaving only bloodstains behind.
In the end, not even a body could be found.
“…I see.”
Jeok Hwa-yu nodded and dismissed the man.
He covered his weary face with his palm.
The child was dead…
Was she truly dead?
He hadn't intended to kill her. He just…
[“Ri-ri can never live under the same sky as that girl. If you don’t want to see Ri-ri die, then get rid of her.”]
[“I’ll do whatever you want. If she makes you miserable, I’ll remove her from your sight forever. So please don’t cry, Ri-ri. It breaks my heart.”]
Right. He hadn't intended to kill her.
He had only planned to move her far, far away so she could never cross Ri-ri’s path again.
Because if that girl was around, Ri-ri would be sad.
Poor Ri-ri.
Jeok Hwa-yu’s heart ached whenever he thought of Ri-ri.
But why?
The moment the thought crossed his mind that So-ya might be dead, his heart ached… just as it did when he thought of Ri-ri.
‘No. That’s not it. She is the daughter of a sinner who stole and ruined Ri-ri’s childhood. For Ri-ri’s sake, I shouldn't be grieving over that child’s death.’
Jeok Hwa-yu stood up, gritting his teeth with a distorted expression.
‘I have to report this to Father…’
His father didn't know yet.
He likely didn't even know the child had disappeared from the mansion.
Ever since Ri-ri’s return, his father’s only concern had been her.
But how should he report it?
The child is dead.
All that remained where she went missing were a few items and dried bloodstains.
The body could not be found.
Even if she is alive, she will die soon.
Because her Spirit Core is already…
*
On the day of her first Beast Transformation at age six, So-ya had awakened her Spirit Core for the first time, only to have it stolen immediately.
As a result, the child’s body had failed to grow properly for three years due to the absence of her core.
Furthermore, because she had forcibly attempted a Beast Transformation without a Spirit Core, her internal organs were severely damaged.
Her weakened body had then suffered a backlash after excessively absorbing the energy of the Spirit Core she had recently recovered.
“It seems this child endured a long time without a Spirit Core,” Baek Sa-ra explained, looking down at So-ya, who had returned to her human form and was now lying on the bed, breathing softly.
“That seems to be why she is exceptionally small and frail. She couldn't grow properly because she had to withstand the absence of her Spirit Core for so long.”
Listening quietly to the explanation, Sa-eon’s face hardened into a mask of stone.
In the world of beastkin, stealing a Spirit Core was a punishment reserved only for those who had committed the gravest of crimes.
That authority belonged to the heads of the Four Great Clans, and this child had been living under the influence of the Vermilion Bird Clan.
‘Which means… the one who stole this child’s Spirit Core was…’
It must have been the will of Jeok Ah-yun, the Head of the Vermilion Bird Clan.
“Furthermore, the Spirit Core itself is not intact. It was severely damaged.”
“…”
“It wasn't just worn down or broken from being separated from its owner and left unmaintained. It looks like someone damaged it intentionally.”
Baek Sa-ra spoke with a serious expression, her brow furrowed.
“They intentionally damaged the Spirit Core of such a small child?”
Sa-eon asked back, his voice laced with disbelief.
He immediately recalled the Three-Legged Crow of the Vermilion Bird Clan that had attacked the child on the day he first met her.
‘Could it be their doing?’
Jeok Ah-yun, the Head of the Vermilion Bird Clan, was known as the Sage of the South and was rumored to be benevolent and righteous.
He was a man with a reputation entirely different from Baek Sa-eon, who was rumored to be the Mad Tiger of the West—two men who, like oil and water, would never mix.
It was hard to believe that such a man would commit such a foul act against such a small, young child.
[“Then… was I about to die? By… the people of the Vermilion Bird Clan…?”]
The moment he remembered So-ya weeping as she said those words, Sa-eon unconsciously scowled.
The Red Fox he had assigned to watch over Cotton Ball had reported that the child’s body was covered in scars.
Scars that looked like traces of long-term abuse…
Just what had happened between this child and the Vermilion Bird Clan?
‘I’ll have to send someone to the southern lands to investigate.’
The easiest way to find out was to ask the child directly.
But if she truly had been abused, even recalling it would be a wound for her.
Above all, Sa-eon did not want to see the child cry again.
Just remembering the sight of her sobbing made his heart ache with a sharp, stinging pain.
While Sa-eon was lost in these uncharacteristically gentle thoughts, Sa-ra spoke again.
“However, I have nourished the child’s body and Spirit Core with my specially cherished elixir. If you feed her well, let her sleep, and let her play, she will recover soon.”
“Thank you, sister.”
“Don't mention it. But the fundamental problem won't be solved unless the Spirit Core is properly treated. And as you know, the way to treat a Spirit Core is…”
As Sa-eon and Sa-ra continued their serious conversation, a voice interrupted.
“Oh? Cotton Ball opened her eyes!”
Ga-yul, who had been sticking close to So-ya’s side, jumped up and shouted.
In an instant, everyone’s eyes turned toward So-ya.
“Cotton Ball! Are you okay?”
“Are you alright?”
Ga-yul and Sa-eon asked in turn.
Waking up in an unfamiliar place, So-ya blinked blankly, unable to grasp the situation.
“You were dozing off on top of a rock and then you just went plop and collapsed! So I brought you to Aunt Sa-ra!”
“Ah…”
At Ga-yul’s explanation, So-ya’s eyebrows drooped into a troubled slant.
The weather had been so nice that she had been sitting on a large rock in the garden, basking in the sun.
Chasing the sun was the instinct of a bird beastkin, but she hadn't been able to bask in the sunlight like this at the Vermilion Bird Mansion.
This was because everyone hated it when So-ya wandered around outside.
But here at the White Tiger Palace, it was different.
Yeon-jeong and San-ho had told her she could go for a walk whenever she wanted.
No one got angry or scowled when So-ya walked around outside.
No one held their nose because of a ‘smell’ or whispered and pointed fingers at her.
There was a strange Tiger Young Master who kept stealing glances at her, but she didn't mind because she knew there was no sharp malice in his eyes.
So, while Yeon-jeong was away briefly to report to Sa-eon, So-ya had wiggled her way outside alone for a walk.
She remembered sitting on the rock and basking in the sun until she felt drowsy and started nodding off, but after that…