Chapter 132
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 132
San-ho stood at the entrance of the pavilion, confronting a man who had come looking for So-ya.
“I have something I must say to the child. Please, just let me see her once.”
“Goodness, I told you, everyone is out at the archery range, so there is no one in the pavilion right now.”
“I am coming from there after confirming she wasn’t present. So please…”
Despite San-ho’s refusal, the man remained persistent.
It was a difficult situation for San-ho, as both the Clan Head and the Young Master were away.
“San-ho.”
At the sound of So-ya’s voice, both San-ho and the man turned toward her simultaneously.
“Ah, Young Lady.”
A look of troubled concern crossed San-ho’s face.
“He is a guest who came to see me, isn’t he? I will handle this, so do not overexert yourself.”
“But Young Lady, this man is…”
“It’s alright, San-ho.”
So-ya approached the worried San-ho and spoke with a gentle smile. Her voice was soft yet firm, carrying a weight that reassured the other woman. San-ho nodded and stepped back.
So-ya lifted her head and looked into the face of the man who had come for her.
He bore a striking resemblance to San-yu, the brother who had visited her just yesterday. Yet, at the same time, he was a man who stirred entirely different emotions within her.
During those three years she had spent holding her breath and waiting alone in the freezing Cold Palace, he was the man who never once came for her.
No matter how long she waited, he never appeared. Now, even though she had drawn a line and told him not to come, here he was.
Since her father and brothers were absent, it was only right that she receive him as the master of the house, but she knew he was the type of man who would keep returning unless she faced him herself.
It was better to settle things with him cleanly once more so as not to burden the rest of her family.
“I thought we finished everything there was to say between us yesterday, but I suppose I was wrong,” So-ya said in a calm voice after finishing her thoughts. “What business brings the Clan Head of the Vermilion Bird Clan here so early in the morning?”
“So-ya…”
From the moment So-ya appeared, the man’s gaze had been fixed solely on her. He called her name in a voice that was raspy and cracked. Just uttering it made his chest ache with a sharp, stinging pain.
Hwa-yu had come to him this morning with a report.
The investigation confirmed that So-ya had indeed left the Vermilion Bird mansion five years ago and was adopted into this family. For the past five years, she had grown up in the White Tiger Palace as Baek Sa-eon’s youngest daughter.
While it remained unknown why Baek Sa-eon had made such a choice… he heard it was So-ya who had found the White Tiger’s Divine Object. Because of that, she had been recognized by the Baek Clan’s retainers and had become the Young Lady of the White Tiger Clan in both name and reality.
It was a standard report.
There were a few new pieces of information, but most of it could have been inferred from what he had seen and heard yesterday.
However, the words Hwa-yu added at the end had pierced his heart.
[Fortunately, it seems the child was not abused or persecuted there. I heard she grew up receiving much love from the people of the White Tiger Palace.]
Love…
Why did that word feel so painful?
It was likely because of the love he had failed to give her—the love he had withheld.
The moment he realized this, Jeok Ah-yun had no choice but to move. There was something he absolutely had to say to the child.
“…I came because there is something I must tell you, So-ya.”
Standing before the child who treated him like a complete stranger, Jeok Ah-yun barely managed to open his mouth.
“I am sorry, So-ya. I failed to say this to you yesterday.”
He apologized in a voice thick with agony.
“I regret every moment I neglected you, turned away from you, and hurt you when you were so young.”
“…”
So-ya’s lips remained pressed tightly together.
She was hearing the apology she might have waited a lifetime for, yet she felt no inspiration, no surge of emotion. Rather…
‘Why do I feel so unpleasant?’
Unlike yesterday, when her heart had grown warm upon hearing the same words from San-yu, she felt her heart sinking into a cold chill.
So-ya stared blankly at the man’s face as he rambled on with his apologies before finally speaking.
“You say you are sorry? Then return my mother’s norigae, the one Ri-ri took from me.”
“So-ya…?”
At her sudden demand, a look of hesitation flickered across Jeok Ah-yun’s face.
“It was the one thing my mother left for me. But Ri-ri framed me as a thief and took it away.”
“But that is…”
“I never stole anything. But ever since Ri-ri appeared, I had to live my life being called a thief by everyone.”
“I… I am sorry…”
“Don’t just say you’re sorry. If you are truly sorry, return it to me. If you do, I will accept your apology, Clan Head.”
As So-ya repeated her demand, Jeok Ah-yun’s face turned ashen.
Ri-ri cherished that norigae left behind by his late wife. She loved it so much that if a young maidservant so much as laid a finger on it, she would scream until the entire mansion was turned upside down.
Though he hadn’t seen Ri-ri wearing it in recent years, Jeok Ah-yun could not bring himself to tell Ri-ri to give it up.
“That… it has already become Ri-ri’s. I do not even know if she brought it here with her. Ask for something else, anything else. Whatever you want, I will give it to you…”
In an instant, So-ya’s expression hardened into a mask of ice.
She finally realized why this man’s apology felt so offensive compared to San-yu’s.
“What exactly is it that you want to apologize for?”
So-ya was slightly surprised herself by how cold her voice could sound.
“Are you talking about taking my Spirit Core and sending me to the Cold Palace? The fact that I had to live like a ghost for three years? Or are you apologizing for making me Ri-ri’s servant, forcing me to watch as you gave her all the affection you once gave me?”
“…”
As the sins he had committed in the past spilled from So-ya’s lips one by one, Jeok Ah-yun’s face turned deathly pale.
“I… all of those things…”
Just as Jeok Ah-yun was about to beg for forgiveness for everything.
“Liar.”
So-ya cut him off sharply.
“If you truly thought what you did to me was wrong, you should be able to say it to Ri-ri as well.”
“It’s not like that, So-ya. Ri-ri is…”
“You should be able to tell her that framing me as a thief and taking my things was wrong, and that she must return them to their rightful owner.”
Jeok Ah-yun tried to offer an excuse, but So-ya cut him off again with icy precision.
“You still don’t think what you did to me was wrong.”
“No, So-ya…!”
“Ri-ri is still your sanctuary, and I am still the unforgivable fake who tried to steal her place. That is why you think it was only natural for me to be framed, beaten, and robbed by her.”
“That’s not true! I would never—!”
“If that’s not it, then why can’t you do it?”
“…”
His mouth clamped shut at her question.
“You were the same way back then. Even though Ri-ri was the one screaming and pushing me, you only felt pity and concern for her, not for me who had fallen.”
So-ya remembered. The moment she fell after Ri-ri pushed her.
[Ri-ri…!]
The desperate faces of the Clan Head and the Young Master as they ran toward her.
The indifferent gaze of the Clan Head she encountered in the hallway when she went limping to apologize to Ri-ri.
Even the desolate air as he walked right past her and into Ri-ri’s room.
“And it is the same now. To you, Ri-ri is still the most pitiful and precious person in the world.”
If his apology was sincere, he shouldn’t be acting like this. He shouldn’t just offer words; he should show sincere action.
“In this regard, nothing has changed from five years ago.”
“No, So-ya. I… to you… sincerely…”
Jeok Ah-yun stammered, his voice trailing off.
“This isn’t an apology for me; it’s an apology for yourself. Your desire to apologize is still more important to you than my feelings.”
In truth, it wasn’t the norigae So-ya wanted. She had already let go of that three years ago.
She wanted only one thing.
For this man to prove his words of repentance were sincere by acknowledging Ri-ri’s wrongdoings.
But in the end, he did not grasp the final chance she offered.
“So, I would appreciate it if you didn’t come looking for me anymore, and didn’t offer these kinds of apologies.”
With that, the relationship was over forever.
“I, too, am the most precious daughter in the world here. Just like your Ri-ri.”
So-ya delivered the final blow to the hollow, frozen man and slowly turned away.
It was a complete and total severance.
* * *
Since meeting Do-cheol the previous night, Ri-ri’s heart had felt much lighter, and her frayed nerves had calmed.
A long time ago, many good things had happened after she fulfilled a deal with that man. Surely, it would be the same this time.
For instance, getting rid of that wicked girl So-ya for good. Or perhaps meeting the beautiful Emperor and falling into a fated love.
Ri-ri hummed to herself as she stepped outside.
She looked for her father, but the servants only told her he hadn't been seen since morning.
She tilted her head and turned to leave, but her footsteps suddenly halted at the sound of older maidservants whispering.
“But you know… that girl, So-ya. Doesn’t she look just like the deceased Madam?”
“Hey, what are you talking about? Why would she look like the Madam? The Madam’s daughter is our Lady Ri-ri…”
“Now that I think about it, Lady Ri-ri doesn’t look like the Clan Head or the Madam at all. I used to think it was just because she was young, but even now that she’s all grown up…”
“Oh my, watch your mouth! No matter what anyone says, the Young Lady has the mark of the direct lineage!”
Ri-ri, who had been eavesdropping, felt her pleasant mood crash into the dirt.
“…”
Normally, she would have rushed over to scream at them and strike them.
But for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to do it today. As she stood there biting her lower lip, she spotted San-yu walking toward her from the opposite direction.
She flinched.
He also spotted Ri-ri and stopped in his tracks.
“Ah, good morning, Brother.”
Ri-ri offered a greeting with an awkward smile.
She couldn't help but be tense, knowing instinctively that her eldest brother was somewhat wary of her.
But then, San-yu’s eyes curved softly.
“Yes. Good morning, Ri-ri.”
He returned the greeting in a tender voice.