Chapter 40
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 40
“...!”
Sa-eon’s expression stiffened at the unexpected remark.
“...That is simply because the Cotton Ball needs time to adjust.”
“She seems to have no trouble calling the young masters ‘Older Brother,’ though.”
“...”
Jeok-yeong drove the point home with a mischievous smirk.
“Our little Cotton Ball must know. That the Clan Head’s character isn’t quite good enough for her to call him ‘Father’—Aaargh!”
The moment Sa-eon threw the window open, the documents piled on Jeok-yeong’s desk scattered in every direction.
“Clan Head!”
“Hmph.”
Sa-eon snorted at Jeok-yeong with a look of satisfaction and caught one of the fluttering papers.
It was a report summarizing the recent incident involving the daughter of the Eunho Clan.
Eun Si-yo had recently testified that a man in a black mask had approached her. He was the one who had given her the scent pouch made with sorcery from the Northern Land and told her about So-ya’s past.
Regrettably, by the time they searched for the man based on Si-yo’s testimony, he had already vanished without a trace.
Who did this, and for what reason? Was it for a personal grudge, or perhaps...
As Sa-eon read through the document with indifferent eyes, lost in thought, Jeok-yeong—who was busy tidying the papers—asked as if something had just occurred to him.
“Oh, by the way, shouldn’t we inform Lady Cheong-ha as well?”
Sa-eon paused.
“She is the young masters’ mother, after all.”
“...”
Sa-eon’s expression hardened ever so slightly.
* * *
After finishing lunch, So-ya went to see Sa-ra.
Sa-ra checked the state of So-ya’s spirit core and smiled warmly.
“It seems you’ve been taking the restorative medicine I sent, little one.”
The condition of her spirit core had improved significantly.
The best way to nourish a spirit core that had been separated from the body was to undergo beast transformation frequently, allowing the core to re-acclimatize to the physical form. However, So-ya was afraid of transforming.
Recognizing this, Sa-ra didn’t force the transformation on her. Instead, she helped nourish So-ya’s body and spirit core through medicine.
Still, she won’t be able to hold out without transforming forever...
But for now, adjusting to the White Tiger Palace was the more urgent matter for So-ya.
“Once you get a bit healthier, you’ll be able to go through your First Growth and awaken your supernatural ability.”
“Really?” So-ya asked, her voice filled with surprise.
“Yes. So, my little Cotton Ball, keep taking the medicine I give you and grow up big and strong.”
“Yes, Lady Sa-ra!” So-ya replied with a bright face.
However, Sa-ra looked at So-ya with a dissatisfied expression. Seeing Sa-ra’s face turn grim, So-ya peeked at her nervously, wondering if she had done something wrong.
Sa-ra furrowed her brows deeply before demanding in a sharp voice, “Call me ‘Aunt’ as well.”
“Am I allowed to do that?”
“If you are Baek Sa-eon’s daughter, then you are my niece, so of course you can. Don’t tell me you’ve accepted that rascal Baek Sa-eon as family but refuse to do the same for me?”
“No, not at all! Au... Auntie.”
Sa-ra laughed heartily at the timidly added title.
After bowing to Sa-ra and stepping out of the shrine, So-ya felt strangely shy.
The two young masters had spent the whole day following her around, asking her to call them "Older Brother," while Yeon-jeong and San-ho had requested that she stop using formal titles with them.
Even so, changing how she addressed people was still a very difficult task for So-ya.
[Let the Cotton Ball do whatever makes her comfortable. Don’t make her feel pressured.]
Fortunately, thanks to Sa-eon saying that, everyone was waiting patiently for her to get used to things.
Everyone is waiting for me, so I should try to get used to it quickly...
So-ya glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then began to mutter to herself.
“Older Brother. Aunt. Ah... um.”
The bridge of So-ya’s nose crinkled.
“F-Fa... Father... uuugh.”
For some reason, the title starting with ‘F’ wouldn’t come out easily. Frustrated, So-ya pursed her lips.
The reason the word "Father" was so hard to utter was likely because, for a long time, there had been only one person who held that title for her.
The man who naturally came to mind whenever she thought of the word.
Jeok Ah-yun, the Clan Head of the Vermilion Bird Clan—a man with hair as red as flame and a gentle, soft impression that contrasted it, yet who had been nothing but cold to So-ya.
The man So-ya had once believed was her biological father.
When was the last time I called him Father?
So-ya fidgeted with her fingers as she searched her memories.
She remembered it was shortly after she had been banished to the Cold Palace. She was always alone there, waiting and believing that her family, who never came, would eventually visit her.
Then one day, she missed her father so much. Taking advantage of a lapse in the guards' watch, she snuck out and went to her father’s pavilion.
[Fa...! Gasp!*]
Finding him there, So-ya had frozen in shock.
Under the moonlight, a man with his red hair disheveled was wandering around, making sobbing sounds like a beast. He had glanced at So-ya with hollow eyes before passing by her, reeking of pungent alcohol.
In that moment, he didn't seem like the father she knew. It was terrifying and traumatic.
Father is suffering like that because of me. It’s all because of me...
After that, she never dared to seek him out again.
So-ya shook her head to drive the memory away. Scary memories had a way of leaking out and dragging her down like sticky mud.
In truth, even after leaving the Vermilion Bird Mansion, she often thought of them. Her father, who had pushed her away, and her older brother Hwa-yu, who had looked at her with contempt and asked who her brother was...
Is it really okay to call him Father? What if Lord Sa-eon turns into someone like them?
Lost in thought, So-ya picked up a stone and began to draw jagged pictures on the dirt ground.
Three tigers with round, pointy ears represented Sa-eon and the two young lords, and beside them was a tiny girl—So-ya herself.
Just then, a plump, black ball of fur popped up beside her.
“Seol-yo!”
So-ya turned around with a bright smile.
“Whine, yip!”
Seol-yo used his chubby front paw to draw a crude circle next to So-ya’s drawing.
“What’s this?”
“Yip, yip!”
“Did you draw yourself?”
So-ya giggled at Seol-yo’s unrecognizable drawing.
“You’re good at writing your name, but you have no talent for drawing at all.”
“Whine?”
Seol-yo tilted his head. So-ya added round, pointy ears and a long tail to the circle Seol-yo had drawn. It finally began to look somewhat like him.
“Thank you for that day.”
That day, Seol-yo had mimicked the form of Su-ri that he’d seen on the mountain, transforming into a black wolf to carry So-ya across Mt. Horim. Thanks to that, they were able to show people the beasts that had turned violent and reveal that Si-yo had used Northern sorcery.
Fortunately, because it was dark and everyone was distracted by the chaos, no one realized Seol-yo was a demonic beast.
Though the incident was resolved, Sa-eon had sat her down afterward and told her that her method had been dangerous.
[Even if you hadn’t used such a risky method, I would have believed you, Cotton Ball.]
[But if you just believe me blindly, you’ll become an unfair Clan Head. I didn’t want to be a burden to you, Lord Sa-eon.]
[What a thoughtful little Cotton Ball. But from now on, it’s perfectly fine to be a burden.]
[Pardon...?]
[We’re family.]
Family.
As So-ya chewed on that word once more, staring at the drawing on the ground, Seol-yo suddenly stood up and growled toward the nearby bushes.
“Huh? What’s wrong, Seol-yo?”
So-ya turned her head in the direction Seol-yo was looking. But there was no one there.
* * *
A man wearing a black mask quickly hid himself.
The man’s name was Hondon.
One of the Four Perils along with Gung-gi, Do-ol, and Do-cheol, he was acting under the orders of Hyeon Ra-baek, the leader of the Black Tortoise Tribe.
His mission was to disrupt the Three Great Clans to ensure that no Bride of the Yellow Dragon would be produced.
To this end, he had approached Eun Si-yo. He intended to use her to eliminate the other girls and, in the end, kill Eun Si-yo herself.
However, his plan, which he had thought would be simple, had been ruined. It was all because of the little bird that had escaped from the Vermilion Bird’s nest.
[But the same scent was coming from the other ladies' carriages. I thought something dangerous might happen tomorrow if I left it alone...]
But how did she smell that scent?
Hondon was suspicious of how So-ya had detected the scent of sorcery. He needed to investigate the child further.
However, approaching her was not easy. The child was currently the center of the White Tiger Palace’s attention.
But an opportunity would surely arise soon.
The Mountain Lord Festival was not far off.