Chapter 147
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 147
San-yu’s reaction was far from normal.
“...?”
Ga-ya’s eyes narrowed at the sudden change in the man’s demeanor.
“Why are you acting like—”
It was the moment he reached out toward him with a bewildered expression.
Flinch.
A warning from his animalistic instincts screamed in his head, and Ga-ya immediately threw himself backward.
K-boom!
San-yu’s attack tore through the very spot where Ga-ya had been standing just a second ago.
“Grrr...”
A sound like a low, guttural beast’s growl leaked through San-yu’s clenched teeth.
“What the—are you crazy...?”
“Grrrrrr...”
Ga-ya froze, his brow furrowing as he realized something was seriously wrong.
In that briefest of moments—
Whoosh!
Ga-ya was sent flying, his body slamming hard against the ground.
Thud!
Simultaneously, San-yu lunged, pinning him down.
“Gah!”
“Grrr...”
“Damn... it...”
Ga-ya gritted his teeth, barely managing to grab San-yu’s arms and push back as the man tried to tear into his shoulder.
The whites of his eyes were stained black, and his pupils glowed a predatory red.
San-yu no longer looked human; he looked exactly like a demonic beast.
*
“Did the Vermilion Bird Clan smuggle the criminal out?”
Summoned because of Ri-ri’s disappearance from the dungeon, Jeok Ah-yun had to prove his family’s innocence before the Imperial Palace officials.
“After the events of this afternoon, no one from my clan, including myself, has stepped a single foot out of our assigned pavilion.”
However, the officials did not believe him easily.
He already had a history of defending Ri-ri even after she had attempted murder within the palace walls.
“Those who were treated by the criminal are beginning to complain of pain again, one by one.”
“The Vermilion Bird Clan must know what a grave sin it is to lie upon the name of a Divine Beast. That cuckoo girl even dared to impersonate the Bride of the Yellow Dragon using the name of the Vermilion Bird!”
“Regardless of how this ends, Clan Head Jeok and the Vermilion Bird Clan will have to take responsibility. Keep in mind that His Majesty is personally watching this matter.”
“...I understand.”
Exhausted by the onslaught of the officials’ accusations, Jeok Ah-yun answered and walked out.
The sky had already darkened into night.
How did this happen?
He pressed a hand to his throbbing forehead, lost in thought.
To vanish so completely...
The palace guards had been searching for four hours, yet they still hadn't found a trace of her.
Did she really use some kind of evil art?
Deep furrows formed between Ah-yun’s brows.
Then, his footsteps came to a sudden halt as he spotted a man walking toward him from the opposite direction.
Baek Sa-eon...
The other man recognized him and stopped as well.
His expression was steeped in a chilling killing intent.
Ever since they had crossed paths in the palace, that man had always been hostile, but today, the animosity radiating from him was exceptionally thick.
However, Sa-eon soon moved to pass him by, as if he didn't even want to waste breath on a conversation.
“Is So-ya...”
If not for that name slipping from Jeok Ah-yun’s lips, Sa-eon would have done just that.
“...is she healthy? I heard she was ill for a few days after falling into the lake. Is the child’s body alright now...?”
“Whose name do you think you’re saying with that filthy mouth?”
Sa-eon whipped his head around to glare at him, his voice sounding as if he were barely swallowing down a boiling rage.
From the moment this man had asked So-ya to forgive that cuckoo girl in front of the Altar of the Yellow Dragon earlier today, Sa-eon had wanted to tear him limb from limb.
To think he couldn't even recognize his own flesh and blood, and instead sided with a fake daughter who tried to kill his real one.
Seeing him act as if he were worried about So-ya now sparked an uncontrollable fury.
But he had made a promise to So-ya.
He had promised her that he wouldn't get into fights in front of people and come back injured, causing her to worry.
Sa-eon clenched his fists tightly, recalling his promise to the child.
“...There is something I must ask.”
Despite the blatant hostility directed at him, Jeok Ah-yun did not back down.
“On the day you found So-ya and took her... did the Three-Legged Crow of the Vermilion Bird Clan truly attack her?”
“What?”
One of Sa-eon’s eyebrows arched menacingly.
“Why ask that now, acting as if you knew nothing?”
“It is... the first I’ve heard of it. I only heard the story today. But if that is true, then that child...”
Jeok Ah-yun gritted his teeth as he continued.
“She must have believed all this time that we were trying to kill her.”
As Ah-yun squeezed his eyes shut and muttered in a pained voice, Sa-eon asked coldly.
“Can you claim you weren't?”
“...”
For a moment, Jeok Ah-yun reflexively gasped.
“The age you bastards kicked that child out to the Cold Palace was barely six. You said she was six.”
“...”
“When my youngest tiger was that age, she hadn't even mastered her letters; she just spent her days running through the mountains and fields. It was her daily routine to come home at sunset covered in dirt, running away because she didn't want to wash, only to be caught again. That’s what that age is supposed to be like.”
“...”
“It’s an age where a child should be protected in their parents’ arms without a single worry! That was the age So-ya was when you bastards abandoned her!”
The veins in Sa-eon’s neck bulged as he cornered Jeok Ah-yun.
“And yet. You even stole that little girl’s spirit core and imprisoned her in the Cold Palace. You let that tiny child suffer alone, ignored by everyone, without the protection of a single adult. Can you really say you weren't trying to kill her?”
Sa-eon remembered.
He remembered when So-ya first came to the White Tiger Palace.
The way that tiny child, unable to fully accept the affection people gave her, busied herself trying to be useful to the White Tiger Clan in any way she could.
The nine-year-old So-ya who even cut her own small hands just to repay her debt to him.
“The cotton ball—my daughter, So-ya—suffered because of you, terrified of her beast transformation. She thought it was only natural for people to hate her.”
So-ya was a child who smiled more brightly than anyone at a single kind word or a trivial compliment.
She was a child who, at a single warm touch, would smile radiantly and squeeze that hand tight, as if she had been given the most precious gift in the world.
“And after all that, you dare... you dare pretend to worry about her now?”
The fact that the man who made such a child—one who found joy in the smallest things—hesitate to even smile was now mentioning her name made Sa-eon’s blood boil.
“The first you’ve heard of it? You only found out today? Don't make me laugh. Do you think wrapping it in those words makes the things you did to So-ya forgivable?”
Every word Sa-eon spat out became a sharp dagger, carving into Jeok Ah-yun’s chest.
However, unable to fully accept Sa-eon’s words, Jeok Ah-yun raised his voice.
“What do you... what do you know?!”
The veins in his neck stood out as he shouted back at Sa-eon.
“In an instant, I found out my daughter wasn't of my blood! That snow-white fluff felt nothing but hideous to me!”
“Hideous?”
At that word, the thread of Sa-eon’s reason finally snapped.
“You don't even know how that little girl ended up with that snow-white fluff. What? Hideous?”
Unable to hold back any longer, Sa-eon lunged at Jeok Ah-yun.
“The only thing hideous here is you!”
“Let go of me—ugh...!”
“You hideous bird-brained bastard.”
Boom!
Under Sa-eon’s strike, Jeok Ah-yun’s body was sent flying.
Sa-eon immediately pounced on him, swinging his fists.
“You... crazy tiger... with nothing but... brute strength...!”
Whoosh!
Flames erupted, surrounding the two men.
The aggressively flickering fire caught onto the hem of Sa-eon’s clothes.
Without hesitation, Sa-eon threw himself into the palace pond with a loud splash.
The flames were extinguished with a loud hiss.
In the meantime, Jeok Ah-yun staggered to his feet.
But he had no time to rest; he had to immediately dodge as Sa-eon’s next attack came flying at him.
K-boom!
The pavilion next to the pond was smashed to pieces.
In an instant, their surroundings became a scene of total chaos.
Seeing the two Clan Heads engaged in a brutal brawl, not only the palace guards but also the officials who had stayed late came running out.
“Oh, my goodness, Clan Head!”
Ho Jeok-yeong, who had accompanied Sa-eon and had been attending the central officials' meeting, cried out in shock upon spotting him.
Though Sa-eon was rumored to have a bad temper due to his cold impression, he was a man who had never acted on his emotions since reaching adulthood...
“How can you cause such a scene in the Imperial Palace without thinking of the consequences?!”
“I don't care. I’m going to kill this bastard right here, and then I’ll just beg His Majesty to spare only my life.”
Having said that, Sa-eon lunged at Jeok Ah-yun once more.
Boom! Crash! K-boom!
At the thunderous sounds of things breaking and flying through the air, someone lamented in a worried voice.
“Shouldn't... shouldn't someone stop them?”
“How are mere beastkin like us supposed to stop the Clan Heads of the Three Great Clans?”
“Hey, you there, Red Fox. You do something to stop him.”
“Me? Why me? I’ve never seen that tiger before in my life.”
Jeok-yeong looked away, feigning ignorance.
“No, don't just pretend you don't know him... someone’s going to get seriously hurt at this rate.”
“Haha, well, if someone’s going to get hurt, it’s better if they get hurt badly.”
Jeok-yeong let out a jovial, good-natured laugh.
“Ah, of course, if that tiger I’ve never seen before gets even a scratch, I won't stand for it. I can't bear to see tears in our cute little Lady Cotton Ball’s eyes.”
After all, there were many in the White Tiger Palace besides himself who wouldn't leave Sa-eon alone if he made the young lady cry.
Jeok-yeong was a capable aide who had already decided it was better to worry about the compensation for the damages Sa-eon was causing rather than worrying about Sa-eon himself.
It was just as he was mentally calculating the cost of the broken property from a distance.
“Grrr...”
An eerie growl echoed from somewhere.
The sharp-eared beastkin, their five senses highly developed, flinched and turned toward the source of the sound.
“A demonic beast...?”
Along with someone’s murmur, demonic beasts began to emerge from the darkness one by one.