Chapter 165
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 165
“Since you played with Cotton Ball at Cheonghae Palace, you have to play with me in my room today!”
Ga-yul clung to Cheong-ha, grabbing her other sleeve.
“That’s not fair! Mom made a promise to me first! Not following the order is cutting in line!” So-ya shouted, her temper flaring.
“Then let’s find a fair way.”
Even Ga-hyeon, who would usually have scolded Ga-yul for being a pathetic tiger who didn't know how to yield to his younger sibling, made the suggestion. It seemed So-ya wasn't the only one who wanted Cheong-ha all to themselves.
“A fair way?”
“Yeah. We’ll let a stick decide.”
While So-ya reluctantly pouted, Ga-yul quickly scurried off and returned with a small branch.
They all gathered their hands together, standing the stick upright in the center. At the signal of “One, two, three!” they released it simultaneously.
The stick toppled over toward So-ya.
“Yay!”
Overjoyed, So-ya hopped up and down before diving into Cheong-ha’s arms.
“Did you all see that? Mom is sleeping in my room with me tonight!”
In the end, So-ya claimed Cheong-ha for herself.
“Hmph, I wanted to play with Mom more, too,” Ga-yul muttered, watching So-ya with eyes full of envy.
Ga-hyeon looked disgusted that a fully grown tiger was making such a childish sound, but So-ya found herself softening.
“Then how about we do this?” So-ya suggested, letting go of her greed to keep her mother all to herself. “We can all play in my room together, and then everyone goes back to their own rooms when it’s time for bed.”
Everyone’s expression brightened at her words.
Yeon-jeong and San-ho spread a thick carpet on the floor of So-ya’s room and prepared a small refreshment table so everyone could sit in a circle.
“Oh, what a cute tiger doll!” Cheong-ha exclaimed, noticing the cloth doll sitting prettily on So-ya’s bed.
“This tiger doll? Father gave it to me as a gift when I first came to the White Tiger Palace!” So-ya bragged, quickly picking it up and tucking it into Cheong-ha’s arms.
Though she had washed and cared for it diligently whenever she had the chance, it was now a bit worn from use. It was because So-ya still hugged the tiger doll tightly every single night.
“It’s my most precious doll, but I’ll lend it to Mom for today.”
“Oh my, thank you so much.”
Cheong-ha giggled, looking down at the tiger doll So-ya had given her before giving it a firm squeeze. Seeing that, So-ya felt a strange sense of pride.
That night, a fierce war of words broke out among the White Tiger Young Lords. It began when Ga-yul claimed, “I am the coolest tiger in the world! Mom said so herself!”
“As if,” Ga-ya snorted immediately. “Mother told me that I was the coolest tiger in the world.”
Ga-ya spoke with his chin tilted up arrogantly.
“N-No! Mom said I was the coolest!”
“You must have misheard her.”
Ga-yul raised his voice, but Ga-ya just smirked and ruffled Ga-yul’s hair.
“...But Mother. When I visited Cheonghae Palace last spring, didn't you say you’d never seen a tiger as handsome as me?” Ga-hyeon, who had been watching their conversation in silence, asked as he glanced at Cheong-ha.
“Oh, well, yes,” Cheong-ha said with a bright smile. “In my eyes, all my babies are the coolest tigers in the world.”
Those words became the spark that set the White Tiger Young Lords off.
“That’s not fair! Pick just one! No, pick me!”
“How dare you baby tigers who haven't even reached your Second Growth try to surpass your eldest brother?”
“I don't think a tiger who’s already finished his Second Growth but still cries like a newborn has any right to talk.”
Amidst the tense standoff between the three brothers, none of whom were willing to back down, Sa-eon stared at Cheong-ha with a face full of shock and betrayal.
Glancing at him, So-ya whispered, “Father, have you never heard Mom say you’re the coolest tiger?”
“...”
As Sa-eon nodded silently, So-ya gave a small laugh. “Don’t be too upset, Father. In my eyes, you’re the coolest tiger in the world.”
At that, Sa-eon’s expression softened instantly. “See? Only our Cotton Ball thinks of her dad.”
On the other hand, the White Tiger Young Lords were stung by So-ya’s words.
“What?”
“Som-som.”
“So-ya.”
The three brothers, who had been in a fierce confrontation just moments ago to be the coolest tiger to Cheong-ha, all turned to So-ya at once.
“That can’t be true.”
“You’re lying, right, Som-som?”
“So-ya, it’s good to comfort Father, but there’s no need to make things up.”
Now, the White Tiger Young Lords were hell-bent on hearing So-ya say they were cooler than their father. Seeing her brothers act so childishly today—though Ga-ya and Ga-yul were usually a bit childish anyway—So-ya couldn't help but burst into laughter.
* * *
The next morning, So-ya woke up in Cheong-ha’s arms, rubbing her eyes. She had woken up in her mother’s arms at Cheonghae Palace before, but waking up with her in her own bed, in the room where she slept every day, felt wonderfully strange.
“Are you awake, my baby?”
Cheong-ha pulled So-ya into a tight hug and gave her a kiss on the forehead. So-ya’s face turned bright red at the unfamiliar display of affection.
“Oh. Is my baby shy?”
“N-No...! It’s not that I’m shy, it’s just... it just feels good.”
Cheong-ha laughed heartily at So-ya’s honest answer.
“But you should only do this with Mom. Okay?”
“Yes.”
So-ya nodded obediently.
In the meantime, Yeon-jeong brought in water for them to wash. Cheong-ha took the basin herself and wiped So-ya’s face.
“My, how pretty our daughter is. Who do you take after to be so lovely?”
“I take after Mom, of course!” So-ya answered with a wide grin.
At So-ya’s pure, bright smile, a smile spread across Cheong-ha’s face, and across Yeon-jeong’s as she watched. Cheong-ha, looking at So-ya with an affectionate gaze, pulled the child into a tight embrace.
“W-Whoa? Mom??”
“Thank you, So-ya.”
“Pardon?”
“I just... I’ve always wanted to tell you thank you.”
There was a hint of surging emotion in Cheong-ha’s voice. It was because of So-ya’s words just now—that she took after her mother. She felt that the child truly accepted her as her mother.
Sa-eon was the one who had found the child, raised her, and given her love right by her side, but she hadn't. Strictly speaking, aside from her engagement to Sa-eon, she and the child had no connection.
Even so, she was so grateful to So-ya for accepting her as a 'real mother.'
However, Cheong-ha did not voice these thoughts. She didn't want to remind the child of that fact with unnecessary words.
Instead, she hugged So-ya with all her might. So-ya’s small, soft body—so different from the White Tiger brothers—fit perfectly in her arms.
Was it because she had heard everything about what the child had gone through in the Southern Land before meeting Sa-eon? A lump kept rising in her throat as she held that tiny body.
She wanted to give the child love. She wanted to give her so much love that the lack of it from her blood relatives would never leave a void in her life.
And yet, this little child kept pouring out even more love than she was trying to give.
[...Mom.]
Even though she hadn't given birth to her, simply because she was 'Mom.'
[I read in a book that a family’s family is family.]
Even though she hadn't raised her, simply because they were 'family.'
Even though she hadn't done anything special for her, the child poured out a heart so large and lovely that it was almost painful.
[We’re already family. So it’s okay to call you that, right?]
Recalling the child clutching her sleeve and saying those words made her feel like she might burst into tears, though she felt silly for it. Because she realized that perhaps this little child had been longing for a 'mother' for a very long time.
“...?”
So-ya, confused in Cheong-ha’s arms, soon blushed slightly and hugged Cheong-ha back with both arms.
Squeeze—
When she tilted her head up, the mother and daughter’s eyes met. Then, without either of them starting it first, So-ya and Cheong-ha both burst into laughter.