Chapter 157
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 157
“Since the daughter of the Baek Clan awakened the Divine Beast and fulfilled the oracle, it is only right that she becomes the consort of the Yellow Dragon…”
“Though rumors whisper she was originally a daughter of the Jeok Clan, she is clearly registered under the Baek Clan’s lineage…”
“Perhaps arranging an engagement with the White Tiger Clan in advance would be…”
“According to Imperial law, it is not at all unusual to enter into an engagement at a young age…”
The court officials of the Imperial Palace stole glances at Yi-rim as they pressed their arguments.
“That matter can be discussed later.”
However, Yi-rim cut the ministers off cleanly.
“For now, the fact remains that So-ya, the daughter of the Baek Clan, saved the Imperial Palace from a great calamity last night. She shall be rewarded in a manner befitting her contribution.”
At his firm response, the officials withdrew, their expressions tinged with lingering regret.
As Yi-rim returned to his private quarters, a young eunuch approached him.
“Your Majesty, allow me to assist with your change of robes.”
Yi-rim gave a faint, indifferent nod.
The hands of the young eunuch trembled violently as he assisted the Emperor.
Sshhh—
The silk robes slid smoothly down, revealing the Emperor’s imperial body.
The young eunuch’s shoulders hunched as he caught sight of the wound on Yi-rim’s chest. He had seen it once this morning while helping him dress, but he could not easily grow accustomed to that scar near the heart.
It was a terrifying sight—the flesh looked as if it had been gouged out and then forced to grow back, now covered in dark, ominous black scales.
“Are you afraid?”
Noticing the young eunuch’s terror, Yi-rim asked with a small, dry smirk.
“N-no, Your Majesty! Please, kill me!”
The young eunuch threw himself onto the floor, prostrating himself.
“I have no wish to kill you, so stand up. I am weary of staining my hands with blood.”
“I am… deeply honored…”
“Leave me. I wish to be alone.”
“But there is still… Yes! Understood! I shall withdraw!”
The young eunuch beat a hasty retreat before the Emperor’s mood could sour further.
Left alone, Yi-rim adjusted his inner garments with a vacant expression.
Truly… he wanted to stop staining his hands with blood.
But the Evil had escaped once again.
Until it was completely annihilated, he could not close his eyes in peace. Thus, Yi-rim had chosen to heal himself by manipulating the flow of time within his own body.
Though the pierced flesh had filled back in, the physical agony remained unchanged.
No, perhaps "worsened" was a more fitting description than "unchanged," as his flesh festered and scales fell away as the price for rewinding time.
It was just like two years ago in the Eastern Land, when he had manipulated the time of the falling flower sticks that had been soaked in seawater for So-ya’s sake.
As he recalled that moment, a faint smile flickered across his weary face.
Yes, he could not… die just yet.
There were still far too many promises he had failed to keep for that child.
*
Last night.
Jeok Ah-yun had spent the entire night sobbing, rolling over the divine objects he had vomited up. Even after dawn broke, he remained rooted to the spot, unable to move for a long time.
Slowly, people began to wake, moving back and forth to clean up the aftermath of the night’s chaos.
Watching the scene with hollow eyes, Jeok Ah-yun eventually stumbled to his feet and began to wander aimlessly.
The place where his footsteps finally stopped was…
“Ahaha! Yul-i Orabeoni!”
At the sound of clear, ringing laughter coming from over the wall, his face distorted as if he were about to burst into tears.
“Hyeon-yi Orabeoni! Look at this! Yul-i Orabeoni is…!”
“W-wait, Cotton Ball! Don’t tell Brother…”
“Yul. Did you act like an uneducated tiger again?”
It was the voices of So-ya and the White Tiger Young Lords.
Jeok Ah-yun climbed a tree beside the wall, hiding himself among the leaves to watch So-ya.
Having woken up late, So-ya was playing in the front yard with the White Tiger Young Lords, her face bright with a pure, untainted smile.
‘So… she was a child who could smile like that all along…’
Memories of the gloomy, shadowed child he had last seen at the Vermilion Bird Mansion surfaced, making his throat ache with a surge of emotion.
A short while later, when San-yu arrived and she transformed into her beast form to fly with him, Ah-yun squeezed his eyes shut at the sight of her red feathers.
Though she still had some snowy-white down, red feathers had sprouted on her back, wings, and tail.
Those brilliantly shining red feathers served as a cruel reminder that what he had seen last night was not a dream, but reality, and the sight pierced his heart.
Jeok Ah-yun stared blankly as So-ya soared into the sky with San-yu.
“My child…”
A voice, raspy and broken, leaked through his parched lips.
Even though no one had taught her, So-ya flew bravely and high into the heavens.
The sight was both admirable and lovely… yet the way she flitted through the air reminded him so much of his deceased wife.
The child took after her mother.
“My daughter, So-ya…”
He had failed to recognize her. At first, he had resented her, claiming his wife died because of her.
He had blamed her, thinking his wife died because of a child that wasn't even his own.
Later, he had resented her, claiming his "real" daughter suffered because of her.
He had thought that while she lived in luxury in his mansion, his real daughter had been forced to live a hard life outside.
How foolish.
Not a single thought had been right.
It was thanks to the child who awakened the Vermilion Bird that his wife could stay by his side for even a little while longer. And the "real" daughter—the one who had lost her mother as a newborn and needed his care the most—was So-ya.
“My… baby… So-ya…”
Jeok Ah-yun looked up at the sky where So-ya had disappeared, endlessly whispering a call that would never reach her.
Hot tears streamed down his cheeks.
How many hours had passed?
So-ya eventually returned, cradled in San-yu’s arms.
San-yu carried her inside the building. Through a half-open window, Ah-yun could see So-ya’s room.
Just as he was watching, hoping to see even a glimpse of the child’s sleeping face, his eyes locked with San-yu’s as the latter approached the window.
“…”
“…”
San-yu’s expression instantly turned cold as stone, and he shut the window firmly.
“Orabeoni, why…?”
“Oh, the wind felt a bit chilly.”
“But it’s already spring?”
“The sun will set soon. Our So-ya needs to have a good sleep in a warm room.”
San-yu’s voice, chatting warmly with So-ya as if nothing had happened, drifted through the closed window.
Hearing their conversation made Ah-yun’s chest tighten painfully. Even though he could no longer see her, he could not bring himself to leave the tree.
Slowly, the sun dipped below the horizon and the sky grew dark.
After waking from her nap and finishing dinner, So-ya took a walk in the front yard, holding hands with Sa-eon.
Jeok Ah-yun watched them, looking for all the world like a doting father and daughter.
Baek Sa-eon, whom he had always thought possessed a cold demeanor, was smiling softly at So-ya, and So-ya was laughing brightly by his side.
[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.]
Hwa-yu’s words suddenly came back to him.
Yes, you grew up being loved so much here…
The love your foolish father couldn't give you… you received from your new family and grew up so bright…
Jeok Ah-yun remained in the same spot until the lights in So-ya’s room were extinguished.
In truth, there were more moments when he couldn't see her than when he could. He could only catch glimpses of her when she opened a window or came out for a brief walk.
Nevertheless, he stayed in that spot, waiting for those fleeting moments when he could see her.
Night deepened once more.
So-ya.
When the child was first born, it was he who had given her that name.
He had used the character ‘So’ (消) for ‘dispel’ and ‘Ya’ (夜) for ‘night.’
How much had he cherished the child his wife left behind, believing she would be the one to dispel the dark night and bring forth bright light?
The child used to call him "Father" like her brothers, but when she wanted to act spoiled, she would run to him crying, “Appa!”
How lovely she had been when she ran toward him with her short arms and legs to be held.
So-ya…
My baby…
My sweet child…
While he swallowed his unreachable cries thousands, tens of thousands of times, a new morning gradually dawned.
“Clan Head.”
Someone from the Vermilion Bird Clan came looking for him.
“Clan Head, are you alright?”
“…”
The man looked at his leader with a worried face.
The Vermilion Bird Clan had been turned upside down searching for the Clan Head, who had vanished for the entire day yesterday. Then, the eldest young lord had suggested checking this area. He had come here doubting it, only to find him truly here.
Not only the younger lord, but the Clan Head himself was in a terrible state. It looked as though he hadn't eaten or slept at all.
“The sentence for the criminal has been decided.”
“…”
Ah-yun blinked his eyes hollowly.
‘The criminal…?’
At first, he didn't understand who the man was talking about.
Then, very slowly, he remembered Ri-ri.
‘Ah, right. Ri-ri.’
Only then did Ah-yun realize that he hadn't given Ri-ri a single thought until now.
That girl was not his daughter. She was a cuckoo.
He remembered her hair and eyes turning a murky gray. He remembered the sound of her crying "Cuckoo, cuckoo" after she transformed.
In the wake of the shock, the emotion spreading through his chest was quite different from what he had felt eight years ago when he thought So-ya wasn't his daughter.
To be perfectly honest, when he found out Ri-ri was a cuckoo, his mind had been filled with thoughts of So-ya, not Ri-ri.
He had unconsciously pulled his sleeve out of Ri-ri’s grasp while stealing glances at So-ya. Even after returning to his quarters, he had kept thinking of So-ya, not Ri-ri, who had been dragged off to the dungeon.
And ridiculously enough, he hadn't spared a single thought for Ri-ri until this clansman arrived just now to mention her.
In contrast to the old memories of So-ya that surfaced at every turn to torment him, he couldn't remember a single happy moment spent with Ri-ri.
Not one…
Instead, he felt a sense of liberation, as if he had escaped her.
Because at some point, he had started to feel as if he were suffocating whenever he was by that child’s side.
“She will not be executed, but sentenced to life imprisonment.”
The man said, stealing a glance at Ah-yun’s reaction.
It was highly unusual not to immediately execute a criminal caught in the act of attempting to assassinate the Emperor.
“It seems His Majesty took our clan’s past contributions into account and showed such consideration.”
“…”
“Um… Clan Head?”
When Ah-yun didn't respond at all, the man cautiously called out to him once more.
“Are you not going to meet the prisoner?”
“…I should.”
Jeok Ah-yun answered in a gravelly voice.
He had to meet her once.
Regardless of how much he dreaded it.