Side Story 30
Translator: RaidenTL
Side Story 30
“…….”
Jeok Ah-yun continued to stare at the distant sky, looking like a man who had heard nothing at all.
It was truly bizarre.
Upon hearing the news of Ri-ri’s death, he felt a frightening lack of emotion.
There was only a profound stillness.
It was so unlike that moment long ago, when his heart had plummeted at the news that So-ya might have died…….
And that realization only plunged him deeper into despair.
Just what had he been doing? For what purpose had he hurt So-ya, that tiny child?
“……It is a strange thing. Back then, it was as if I were possessed by something.”
A raspy voice leaked through his teeth.
“Only after that child left—only after I was no longer her father—did I begin to feel the void she left behind. Shameless as it was.”
“…….”
San-yu’s expression darkened as he watched his father self-deprecatingly grimace in agony.
“How is Hwa-yu faring?”
“He still refuses to leave the Cold Palace,” San-yu replied, his voice tinged with bitterness.
“……I see.”
A heavy sense of guilt weighed down Jeok Ah-yun’s voice.
Unable to forgive himself, Hwa-yu had entered the Cold Palace of his own volition and bolted the door from the inside.
Just as So-ya had spent three years there alone, having lost her family and everything else in an instant…….
He paused.
‘Three years…….’
A sudden thought sent a chill through Jeok Ah-yun’s chest.
So-ya had lived as the young lady of the mansion for five years, from her birth until she was six.
Ri-ri, who had stolen So-ya’s life at the age of nine, had enjoyed five years as the precious youngest daughter of the Vermilion Bird Clan—living a life that originally belonged to So-ya. But in the end, she had to endure three years of a miserable existence in a prison where no one visited, unable even to die.
Stripped of all glory, with no family left to visit her, she died in wretched loneliness…….
It was as if even those final three years were a part of the life she had stolen.
Jeok Ah-yun reflexively caught his breath.
Could the Emperor have known? Did he know of the horrific farce that had taken place in this pathetic mansion? Did he know of the unforgivable sins committed by this foolish father?
‘It is as if he handed down the sentence with full knowledge of everything…….’
Jeok Ah-yun clutched his cold chest and fell silent.
With that, the conversation between father and son came to an end.
Left alone after San-yu’s departure, Jeok Ah-yun continued to gaze at the western sky with eyes that could no longer see.
Whenever he was alone, there was a voice he heard.
[Daddy, So-ya wants to grow up fast!]
It was a voice from a past now so distant it felt blurred.
Thus, it felt like a hallucination, yet also like reality.
“……Daddy wishes So-ya would stay his little baby forever.”
Jeok Ah-yun murmured with a faint smile.
[No! So-ya’s going to grow up fast like my brothers and become a cool firebird who helps Daddy!]
“Our So-ya, you wanted to do that just to help Daddy?”
[Uh-huh! So-ya’s gonna help Daddy!]
“How did you…… think of something so precious, my child?”
[Hee-hee. That’s ‘cause So-ya loves Daddy!]
The heartbreakingly innocent laughter of the child lingered in his ears.
[What about Daddy? Do you love So-ya too?]
“……Yes, my child. Daddy also loves So-ya…….”
He should have answered that her father loved her too, but his throat tightened with a surge of emotion, and he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.
Jeok Ah-yun tightly clenched both fists resting on his knees.
What day had that memory been from?
The image of the child sitting on his lap, her round eyes sparkling, shimmered in his mind.
Just once. If only he could see the child just one more time.
He had always felt a sense of loss as she grew, yet at the same time, he had been curious to see the person she would become.
But now, a father who had lost his sight would never be able to see his child grow.
It was a shameless sorrow for a father who had turned a blind eye to her throughout her childhood to harbor.
The punishment the Emperor had given Ri-ri was three years.
If so, shouldn't his own hell last much longer than that?
Beneath the black cloth covering his eyes, red tears traced a path down his face and fell onto the back of his hand.
* * *
The lights in San-yu’s office remained on late into the night again today.
To keep his promise of going to see So-ya once everything was settled, he had worked without rest for nearly three years.
Thanks to that, the affairs both inside and outside the clan were mostly in order.
‘Is this the last one for today?’
San-yu rubbed his weary eyes and opened the final document.
His calm face immediately contorted into a frown.
The document contained a topic he had found most unwelcome lately.
It was the matter of his marriage.
Only a few days ago, the retainers from the Southern Land had visited and clamored in unison that he must welcome a mistress to the mansion at once.
[The former Clan Head was already married and had children by your age.]
However, San-yu had a very effective shield: Yi-rim, who was in the Imperial Palace.
The Emperor was now nineteen.
The young Emperor, who had ascended the throne at eleven, had finally reached adulthood.
Yet, even though he was past the age to take a consort, the seat of the Empress remained vacant.
Considering the Imperial Palace’s custom of early marriage, this was a highly exceptional case.
And it wasn't just the Empress’s seat. Not a single beautiful concubine had been brought into the vast inner palace, so rumors were beginning to circulate among the civil and military officials…….
[Even His Majesty in the Imperial Palace has yet to take a consort; how could I, his subject, take a wife first?]
At any rate, it served as a good excuse for San-yu to avoid marriage.
Of course, San-yu’s words weren't entirely a pretext.
Since it was usually impossible to know which family’s daughter might be chosen as the Emperor’s consort, it was a long-standing custom to avoid marriage while the Empress’s seat was vacant.
However, on that particular day, one retainer, who had been hesitantly reading the room, offered a cautious rebuttal.
[But, well…… won't Clan Head Baek Sa-eon’s daughter become the Bride of the Yellow Dragon anyway? Therefore, I believe there would be no issue if you, Clan Head, were to take a lady from another prestigious family as your bride.]
[…….]
[…….]
A sudden silence fell over the room.
Clan Head Baek Sa-eon’s daughter, So-ya.
The only daughter of the White Tiger Clan, and at the same time, a Vermilion Bird beastkin with brilliant red feathers like a flame.
The tale of how she awakened her divine beast and saved the Imperial Palace from crisis had already spread across the entire continent.
As well as the fact that she had soared into the sky, spreading those brilliant red feathers…….
Since there were many witnesses within the Imperial Palace to begin with, the rumors couldn't be stopped even if everyone tried to keep them quiet.
The story of the real daughter who was swapped with a cuckoo, and the story of the cuckoo who harmed people.
And the story regarding the ‘Bride of the Yellow Dragon’ from the prophecy, who awakened the divine beast under a crimson sky.
At the same time, it was a painful reverse scale for the Vermilion Bird Clan.
Was that not why the former Clan Head and Young Lord Hwa-yu still could not emerge from that wound?
And perhaps the young new Clan Head as well…….
The retainers hurriedly checked San-yu’s complexion.
After succeeding the former Clan Head, the first thing he did was replace the people both inside and outside the mansion.
Not only the household retainers who had bullied So-ya within the mansion, but also some of the family retainers who had spread irresponsible rumors questioning her birth even before her first beast transformation.
Since these were events from a long time ago, finding evidence couldn't have been easy, yet everyone was left speechless by how meticulously he sought out testimonies and punished them one by one.
Was it because he was a man who had spent a long time on the fierce battlefield?
Unlike his gentle impression, the young Clan Head with the mild face was quite merciless in his dealings.
It was while the retainers were shifting their eyes uneasily in the heavy atmosphere.
[I thank you all for your concern. However, let us discuss this matter again later.]
San-yu, who had momentarily stiffened at the mention of So-ya’s name, soon broke the tension with a bright smile.
Fortunately, everyone had withdrawn without further word that day, and he thought the matter had died down, but it seemed there were still those who couldn't let it go.
San-yu let out a short sigh as he looked at the paper detailing the issues regarding his marriage.
“It’s not as if I’m running away; I don’t know why everyone is in such a hurry.”