Chapter 161
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 161
The fastest peregrine falcon beastkin of the Vermilion Bird Mansion arrived, bearing ominous news.
A great fire had broken out at the mansion...
The Clan Head had been caught in the flames and was unable to escape...
Upon hearing this, San-yu immediately flew toward the Vermilion Bird Mansion.
However, news soon followed that Clan Head Jeok Ah-yun, unable to evade the inferno, had been gravely injured.
At the succession of tragic reports, Hwa-yu stared blankly into space like someone who had lost their soul.
Why had his father, who should have been at the Imperial Palace, flown to the mansion alone?
Why had his father, a Vermilion Bird beastkin who commanded flames, been consumed by fire?
There were so many things he couldn't understand, but his mind, now a total blank, refused to think.
He hadn't eaten or slept properly for days.
Ever since the day he saw So-ya’s red wing feathers, his time had come to a standstill.
[And another thing, Young Master Hwa-yu. I never once deceived you.]
The memory of her spreading those red feathers and taking flight along with those words played on a constant loop, carving deep, aching gashes into his heart.
After denying and denying what he had seen, Hwa-yu finally had to accept the truth.
So-ya was his sister.
She wasn't a child who had been swapped, nor was she a child who had deceived her family.
She was his poor sister, abandoned by her family for the crime of having a foolish father and brother.
After the truth was revealed, he had gone to find her, but So-ya refused to see him.
Then, after days of persistent waiting, he was finally able to meet her just once.
“You said you tried to kill me. You said you hated me so much that you wanted me dead. You said those words with your own mouth.”
But when he tried to apologize, So-ya spoke to him in a voice as cold as ice.
“That was…”
In an instant, his breath hitched, and his head spun.
It was because he immediately remembered the moment So-ya was referring to.
[I hated that girl so much I tried to kill her. When I heard Ri-ri was going to see her, I told Ri-ri to make her drink that powder.]
It was when it was discovered that Ri-ri had fed So-ya poisonous powder.
Yes, he had certainly said those words with his own mouth back then.
That I hated you terribly. That I tried to kill you.
That since Ri-ri happened to be going to see you, I was the one who told her to feed you that poison.
Since the innocent Ri-ri knew nothing, I begged them to forgive my sister Ri-ri and punish me instead…
In that moment… driven by the desperate thought that he had to save Ri-ri somehow, he had let whatever lies he could think of spill from his lips.
It had never been the truth.
“It’s far too late to discuss apologies and forgiveness now. So, let’s just continue to live as if the other doesn't exist, just as we have until now.”
“So-ya…”
Tears streamed down his face at her calm drawing of the line.
“H-how… how can you say such a thing?”
Hwa-yu, his voice thick with ragged sobs, caught her as she tried to turn away.
“I am sorry, So-ya. I… I truly committed an unforgivable act against you. I am apologizing like this, so please…”
Perhaps the kind So-ya felt pity for him in that state, for she stared at him for a long time before slowly opening her lips.
“It might feel like something difficult and painful right now, but one day, it will be okay. I know because I went through it first, a long time ago. Even the sad realization that people you thought were family have suddenly become strangers… eventually becomes okay as time passes.”
“…”
“We’ve already spent more years as strangers than we ever did as family. So, Young Master Hwa-yu, you might find yourself okay even sooner than I did when I was a child.”
At that quiet, steady voice, Hwa-yu couldn't make a single sound, looking like a man whose breath had stopped.
“And please, do not come looking for me anymore. Your frequent visits are making the people of this clan uncomfortable. I only came out today to tell you this.”
“…”
“Then, farewell.”
With those final words, So-ya turned away, and she never showed herself to him again.
Despite that, her phantom constantly appeared before his eyes to resent him.
—You said you tried to kill me. Because you hated me so much, you…
—Tried to kill me…
—Tried to kill me…
—Me…
“No… This was all… because I was deceived by Ri-ri…”
It was as he squeezed his eyes shut, denying his own fault.
[Real sister, my foot! Even before I first set foot in your mansion, that girl had been abandoned by you lot and was hiding away like a filthy beggar!]
[And yet you’re blaming me? You dim-witted Vermilion Birds!]
This time, Ri-ri’s voice echoed sharply in his ears.
“N-no, I…”
Hwa-yu clutched his head with both hands and shook it violently.
No. I didn't abandon her.
I didn't abandon her.
I didn't abandon her, I…
“I, I…”
What… what on earth have I done…
Drip.
Tears fell once more from his dry eyes, tracing a path down his stinging skin before dropping away.
It was while Hwa-yu was shut away in his room for days like that, losing track of time as he fought against the auditory hallucinations.
A family servant cautiously approached and spoke.
“U-um, Young Master. They say the White Tiger Clan is leaving soon.”
Hwa-yu’s head snapped up.
Who was leaving?
“We should also start preparing to return, but since the Clan Head and the First Young Master are currently in the south…”
Hwa-yu bolted upright, but a sudden wave of dizziness made him stagger.
“Young Master…!”
Pushing away the servant’s arm as they tried to support him in alarm, he took stumbling steps forward.
“No…”
Hwa-yu knew instinctively.
That once they left the Imperial Palace, he would never be able to meet So-ya again.
His staggering footsteps came to a halt in front of the pavilion where the White Tiger Clan was staying.
As if the news of their departure were true, the members of the White Tiger Clan were moving about busily.
Standing blankly before them, he spotted a young man with reddish-brown hair passing by and grabbed him.
“Excuse me, you…”
It was a red fox beastkin who served the direct lineage of the White Tiger Clan.
“I am Jeok Hwa-yu, the second son of the Jeok Clan. I beg of you. Please let me see So-ya, just one more time.”
Hwa-yu pleaded, even though he knew it was likely impossible.
“Before they leave like this, please, just once… just once…”
“Wait here.”
The red fox beastkin glanced at Hwa-yu, then disappeared after leaving behind that brief instruction.
Hwa-yu, who had fully expected to be chased away, waited with an anxious heart.
A moment later, the red fox reappeared and told him to follow, leading him to a certain room.
“Is… is So-ya in here…”
His raspy voice trembled violently.
“Go on in,” the red fox replied indifferently.
“…”
His Adam's apple bobbed visibly as he gripped the cold door handle.
Slide—
As he cautiously opened the door and stepped inside, he found a large bamboo screen hanging in a room that felt exceptionally chilly.
Beyond the screen, a faint silhouette was visible.
He had to see So-ya. He had to.
But his vision kept blurring, making it hard to see the figure clearly.
“So-ya…”
Hwa-yu called out his sister’s name with extreme caution.
He realized anew that it had been a very long time since he had called her by that name.
“I thought you wouldn't see me anymore. But because you are such a kind and gentle child… you have granted your pathetic brother this audience.”
“…”
There was no answer from the other side of the bamboo screen.
Nevertheless, Hwa-yu managed a faint, tearful smile and began to ramble through his stories.
“The day I first met you… I still remember it.”
He was four years old the year So-ya was born.
As a young boy, he would stroke his mother’s swollen belly every day, greeting his baby sibling and waiting for the day they would finally meet.
But immediately after his baby sister was born, his mother suddenly fell ill.
At an age when he didn't even truly understand what 'the end' meant, he had to lose his mother.
At first, he hated the newborn baby so much because it felt like she had stolen his mother away.
One day, seeing the baby So-ya smiling brightly at him, he had snapped his head away and ignored her.
When the baby So-ya burst into tears, the maidservants came rushing in.
They all fussed over the baby and blamed Hwa-yu, asking why he had made his little sister cry.
He hadn't hit her or even gotten angry, so Hwa-yu felt wronged.
While a sulking Hwa-yu sat huddled alone in his room, his older brother came to find him.
[Hwa-yu, why are you in such a bad mood?]
[Everyone only cares about that baby and blames me. I didn't hit her, and I didn't get angry at her.]
Hwa-yu’s voice had been sharp as he snapped back.
Noticing this, his brother had soothed him with a gentle voice.
[You must have been very upset because it felt like no one understood how you felt. But still, don't hate your baby sister too much.]
[But Mother died because of her! If it weren't for her, Mother wouldn't have died. She stole Mother away!]
[Even so, we got to spend more time with Mother. Our little sister had to let Mother go before she was even fifteen days old.]
San-yu had smiled sadly and comforted the huffing Hwa-yu.
The moment he heard those words, Hwa-yu felt as if he’d been struck.
All he had thought about was how his baby sister had taken his mother from him.
He hadn't realized that the tiny baby needed a mother just as much.
[So, shouldn't we take good care of our little sister in Mother’s place? We are So-ya’s older brothers, after all.]
[…]
Even after San-yu left, Hwa-yu remained huddled alone for a long time before going back to see his baby sister.
The baby, who had been whimpering in the wet nurse’s arms, stopped crying the moment he appeared.
Then, she began to smile brightly just as she had before.
When he cautiously reached toward her red-rimmed eyes, the baby sister grabbed his finger with all her might.
He flinched.
Hwa-yu’s hand, caught by the baby, went stiff.
He couldn't ignore his little sister like he had before.
He couldn't bring himself to pull away from that tiny hand, even though he could have easily done so with just a little strength.
It was because he had been captivated by his baby sister’s beaming smile.
From that day on, just as his brother had said, Hwa-yu cherished his young sister as if he were filling their mother’s void.
When he learned that the sister he cherished so much was 'evidence of his mother’s infidelity,' the shock and sense of betrayal were indescribable.
In place of his broken father, he had personally seized her spirit core and sent her to the Cold Palace.
And he never visited her once.
He thought that was the right thing to do.
Because his father had done so, and everyone in the Vermilion Bird Mansion had done the same.
To be honest… to be perfectly honest…
There were several times he had thought about going to see her.
When she was in a good mood, she would reach out her short arms and cry, “Oppa!” as she hugged him, and he missed that.
He missed the sound of her clear, ringing laughter.
He wanted to see her lovely, crescent-shaped eyes and her deep dimples.
But whenever he thought of her, the sense of betrayal toward his mother and the hatred toward the girl would surge up together, and Hwa-yu would ignore his longing to see his sister.
Then, after Ri-ri appeared… he erased that child forever.
He deceived and brainwashed himself into believing that he never had such a fake sister to begin with.
“I’m sorry, So-ya…”
Tears fell once more as he pulled out his past memories one by one and offered his sorrowful apologies.
“I’m truly, truly sorry…”
Was it because he had cried too much?
Or was it because his body had weakened from neglect?
From the moment he entered this room, his head had been throbbing.
“That day at the summer festival… I kept remembering your face as I saw it then for the last time.”
Nevertheless, Hwa-yu continued his rambling story, even bringing up his last memory with So-ya.
“Your face, smiling brightly at me and calling me 'Brother,' thanking me for that one unremarkable beaded bracelet.”
A look of poignant longing settled on Hwa-yu’s face as he recalled that day.
“That day, didn't we walk the streets together, watching the festival and eating peaches? Looking back now, I realize I ruined a day that was like a gift. I still regret that day, and I miss it so much…”
It was then.
The air surrounding him suddenly turned frigid.
He faltered.
Even through the throbbing in his head, Hwa-yu instinctively felt that something was wrong.
“So-ya…?”
He called out her name and tried to take a step toward the bamboo screen, but his body suddenly went stiff.
As if he had been paralyzed by something.
“So-ya, why…”
With a rustling sound, the silhouette sitting beyond the bamboo screen rose elegantly.
He hadn't noticed because his mind had been so hazy, but seeing the silhouette standing like this… it was a bit too tall to be So-ya.
The moment he realized this, Jeok Hwa-yu’s face froze.
Rattle—
With the sound of the bamboo screen swaying, a figure with snow-white hair brushed the screen aside and stepped out.
“You…”
Hwa-yu’s eyes shook violently as he identified the person’s face.
It was the second young lord of the White Tiger Clan, Baek Ga-hyeon.