Chapter 58
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 58
“F-Father…!”
The savage look on Ri-ri’s face transformed in an instant.
The fury that had made her look like a demon vanished without a trace, replaced by an expression so piteous it made one want to pull her into a protective embrace.
Ri-ri ran to her father, throwing herself into his arms as she burst into tears.
“Ugh, hic, Father…”
Ri-ri’s outrageous tantrums had begun last summer, ever since So-ya disappeared.
In truth, on the final day of the summer festival, it was none other than Ri-ri who had commanded the Three-Legged Crow to eliminate So-ya.
Her brother had intended to give the girl some funds and send her far away, but Ri-ri couldn't stand the thought of So-ya breathing under the same sky as her. It was only right to pluck out a bud that could one day bloom into a disaster.
And so, Ri-ri had ordered her Three-Legged Crow to kill So-ya.
[Get rid of her where no one will find out. Before my brother’s Three-Legged Crow takes her away.]
[Pardon? But the Young Master said…]
[You are Ri-ri’s Three-Legged Crow! You have to do whatever Ri-ri asks! If that girl stays alive, she’ll definitely steal Ri-ri’s place again someday. Do you want me to live my whole life in anxiety because of her?]
[I understand, Young Lady. I shall remove the root of the problem, so please, do not cry.]
For some reason, however, Ri-ri’s Three-Legged Crow had vanished without a trace after that day.
Ri-ri hadn't been particularly worried. She had overheard her brother’s Three-Legged Crow reporting So-ya’s death.
‘It’s actually for the best. I was wondering how to keep him quiet.’
With the eyesore So-ya eliminated and the only witness to the deed missing, Ri-ri felt things had actually turned out quite well.
Her anxiety only began to resurface after she eavesdropped on a conversation between her father and brother.
[Find… the child.]
They thought they had moved to a private place where Ri-ri couldn't hear them, but there was no place in the Vermilion Bird Clan’s estate that was off-limits to Ri-ri, the precious youngest daughter. The Clan Head himself had ordered that the child should never be barred from entering any room.
[…If she is dead, then bring me her body. Only then can I believe it. Her death, I mean.]
Her brother’s reassurance that the girl wouldn't have survived long even if she were alive had calmed Ri-ri somewhat, but her father’s voice, commanding them to find her, kept echoing in her head.
‘What is he going to do once he finds her?’
‘Father is Ri-ri’s father. Why is he looking for her?’
‘Is he going to bring her back and raise her like a daughter again?’
These thoughts surfaced constantly, fueling Ri-ri’s insecurity.
‘No. Father’s only daughter is Ri-ri. The only Young Lady of the Vermilion Bird Clan is Ri-ri. Father and Brother must only love Ri-ri.’
Whenever her anxiety flared, Ri-ri became even more hysterical and prone to fits of rage. Usually, the targets were the young maidservants around her own age.
At the end of these tantrums, when her father would hold her and pat her back like this, she felt as though his affection was being reaffirmed, and her heart would finally settle.
However, because she was buried in Jeok Ah-yun’s embrace, Ri-ri failed to see the exhausted, sunken look on her father’s face as he comforted her.
“What is the matter, Ri-ri?”
“That girl tried to steal Ri-ri’s things! The norigae my mother gave me!”
Ri-ri huffed, pointing at the maidservant sobbing on the floor.
Jeok Ah-yun glanced at the norigae hanging from Ri-ri’s jeogori.
“…”
It was the item his deceased wife had left for So-ya. It was also the item Ri-ri had snatched away from So-ya.
“N-No, Clan Head. Truly, it isn't like that. I was just trying to straighten the Young Lady’s clothes…”
“Don’t lie! You tried to touch Ri-ri’s norigae with those filthy hands! Do you think I wouldn't notice?”
Ri-ri screamed, cutting the maidservant off.
Jeok Ah-yun, who had been watching the scene silently, spoke as he soothed the child.
“Ri-ri. It is not right to raise your hand against the people of the clan over something that isn't certain.”
“But… but…”
Ri-ri looked up at her father with tearful eyes, then suddenly shrieked.
“Ri-ri was scared that Mother would be taken away again!”
“…”
“Ri-ri is so scared. If someone else takes Ri-ri’s family away like ‘that girl’ did, then—then what will Ri-ri do? Ugh, hic, waaaaah!”
Ri-ri began to wail at the top of her lungs.
Jeok Ah-yun comforted the child with a troubled expression.
After finally calming Ri-ri down and sending her inside, Jeok Ah-yun let out a long sigh.
Ri-ri’s behavior was growing worse by the day.
At first, everyone had been indulgent, thinking she was a child with a wounded heart and was simply more sensitive than others…
But as Ri-ri’s actions grew more violent over time, Jeok Ah-yun’s worries deepened.
‘It was the same that day.’
That day, Ri-ri had claimed So-ya stole the norigae in order to frame her.
Falsely accusing someone of being a thief was a clear wrong, yet no one had scolded Ri-ri for it. It had been deemed more important to soothe the shocked and wounded heart of the young, nine-year-old Ri-ri.
‘But… I had forgotten. So-ya was the same age as Ri-ri.’
Suddenly, Jeok Ah-yun’s thoughts drifted to So-ya.
He had tried to find even her corpse, but in the end, he couldn't. He eventually had to accept So-ya’s death. It would have been impossible for such a small child—one whose spirit core wasn't even intact—to survive alone outside the mansion walls.
At first, he had found the child horrific; later, he had resented her. When he discovered she had been swapped with Ri-ri, he had even thought it would have been better if she had never been born.
Yet, when he actually heard the news that the child was dead…
Why did it feel as though his heart was collapsing?
He had vowed not to give that child even a shred of his heart for Ri-ri’s sake, yet it seemed he had been holding her in his heart all along.
The last time he saw the child was the very day after the mansion had been turned upside down when Ri-ri discovered the truth.
While he was sharing tea with Ri-ri in the pavilion, he had spotted So-ya leaving the mansion. He had looked at her instinctively, but the moment their eyes met, he had looked away.
‘If I had known that would be the last time, I wouldn't have looked away.’
As time passed after learning of her death, he found himself thinking of her more and more.
Traces of the child remained in every corner of the mansion.
In the bedroom, there were memories of her taking her first steps. On one wall of his office, there were ink scribbles from when she had first learned how to write.
By the Ha-yeon Pond, the sound of her giggling while looking at the blooming lotuses lingered, and on the garden paths, there were memories of her chatting away while clutching his hand tightly.
And in the deepest part of the mansion, in the shrine where the Vermilion Bird Clan’s divine object, the Vermilion Bird Treasure Bow, was kept…
[This is our family heirloom, the Vermilion Bird Treasure Bow. It is a treasure left behind by the Ancient Divine Beast.]
[A treasure?]
[Not yet. Once you awaken your spirit core and succeed in your first beast transformation, I will let you touch it then.]
[Hmph… So-ya wants to touch it now…]
The child had puffed out her cheeks, staring at the divine bow with lingering regret.
Lost in thought as he wandered through the estate, Jeok Ah-yun eventually came to a halt in front of the shrine housing the Vermilion Bird’s divine object.
It was his first time stepping foot here since that day three years ago.
Creeeeak—
He opened the weathered wooden door, which seemed out of place in the grand mansion, and stepped inside. In the center of the room sat a large bow decorated with red feathers.
The child who had looked at that divine bow with sparkling eyes had passed away without ever getting to touch it.
“…”
Jeok Ah-yun stared at it for a long time with an expressionless face before finally turning to leave.
But just as he was about to walk away…
He froze.
Suddenly, he whipped his head back around.
‘Is the divine object… glowing?’