Chapter 78
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 78
―Long ago, an oracle was delivered. On the night a red moon rises, the Bride of the Yellow Dragon shall awaken the sleeping Four Divine Beasts to sweep away the darkness scattered across this land and bring peace.
“The night a red moon rises…”
―And you, born on that very night, awakened my seal.
“…”
Listening quietly to the Vermilion Bird’s story, So-ya followed the man’s lead, her steps slow and steady.
The man was heading toward the inner sanctum of the Vermilion Bird Mansion.
“Is it not time yet?”
“Clan Head, you cannot enter. If you could just wait outside a little longer…”
It was then.
Waaah! Waaah!
The vigorous cry of a newborn echoed loudly.
“Clan Head! It’s a daughter! A beautiful young lady who takes after the Madam!”
Jeok Ah-yun flung the door open and rushed inside.
“Dearest!”
A woman of frail appearance with reddish-brown hair was cradling a newborn wrapped in swaddling clothes.
The woman slowly lifted her head.
“Ah-yun…”
She called out to Jeok Ah-yun, a strained smile touching her pale face.
So that person is the Madam of the Vermilion Bird Clan…
Having grown up hearing stories about this woman since she was very young, So-ya recognized her instantly.
Ah, so that person is ‘Mother.’
The woman who had been the very definition of ‘Mother’ in So-ya’s mind for so long.
The Madam of the Vermilion Bird Clan.
It was said that when Clan Head Jeok Ah-yun first sought to take her hand in marriage, many had opposed it.
The retainers argued that he, the master of the Vermilion Bird Clan, could not unite with a woman from the humble Red-headed Tit Clan.
However, despite the mountain of opposition, Jeok Ah-yun took her as his wife.
And to ensure that no one could look down on her, he appointed her as the Guardian of the Vermilion Bird Treasure Bow.
So-ya glanced at the Vermilion Bird Treasure Bow hanging on the wall.
She had seen it once as a child when it was kept in the shrine after the Madam had passed away.
Jeok Ah-yun approached the woman and brushed back the hair damp with cold sweat from her forehead.
“Would you like to hold the child?”
He received the baby from the woman.
As he did, his hands trembled slightly.
“The child… she looks just like you.”
He murmured in a voice thick with emotion as he gazed at the infant.
When I was born. No, when Ri-ri was born.
He wore such a happy expression… that man…
So-ya stared blankly at Jeok Ah-yun’s face before lowering her gaze to the newborn in the swaddle.
The baby’s sparse hair was so light it almost looked white, yet it also seemed to hold a faint reddish hue.
Is that baby me? Or is it Ri-ri?
When was I switched?
It was known that the maidservant who attended the Madam was the one who swapped the babies, but no one knew exactly when or how she had committed such a deed.
To the people of the Vermilion Bird Clan, the only thing that mattered was the fact that the children had been switched.
The Red Feather was the proof of the direct lineage.
An immutable truth that had remained unchanged since the dawn of time.
The one and only truth that required no doubt and left no room for it.
Furthermore, since the maidservant suspected of swapping the infants had died long ago, the possibility of discovering the timing and method was even more remote.
Above all, whenever that woman was mentioned, Ri-ri would shut her mouth with a dark expression.
Thus, the Clan Head did not bother to dig into the matter.
The fact that the ‘real child’ with the Red Feather had returned—that fact alone was all that held meaning for him.
Even so, So-ya had wondered from time to time.
Since when was I switched with Ri-ri…? How was it done so perfectly?
So-ya clenched her fists until they hurt.
The Clan Head of the Vermilion Bird Clan and his family looked incredibly happy.
The two young lords also came by and could not tear themselves away from the baby’s side for a long time.
But that happiness will soon be shattered.
So-ya squeezed her eyes shut at the tragedy she knew was coming.
Two days later, the mansion sank into a gloomy silence as the Madam began to suffer from childbed fever.
The blood-red moonlight that had been shining on the mansion for several days felt particularly ominous.
Jeok Ah-yun could not leave his wife’s bedside for a single moment as she struggled to even open her eyes.
“The baby…”
The Madam pleaded in a heavily rasped voice.
“I want to hold our baby one last time, Ah-yun.”
At the Clan Head’s command, the maidservants brought the baby and placed her in the Madam’s arms.
“My child…”
A faint smile bloomed on the Madam’s pale face.
“Mommy… loves you so very much, my baby… My little So-ya…”
“Waaah!”
At those words, the baby burst into tears.
As if she understood the farewell with her mother.
At the sound of the baby’s crying, the Madam shed tears with a face that looked as if her heart were breaking.
Watching this, a pained groan escaped from between Jeok Ah-yun’s clenched teeth.
The Madam patted the crying baby for a long time before drifting into a deep sleep.
And that night. While everyone was asleep.
The baby, who had fallen asleep in her mother’s arms, woke up alone.
Whimper, whimper…
Just as a small whimpering cry leaked from the infant’s tiny lips.
Flash!
The Vermilion Bird Treasure Bow hanging on the wall glowed, and a red flame bloomed from the child’s fingertips.
Startled, the baby stopped whimpering.
Soon, the flame that had gathered at the child’s fingertips seeped slowly into her mother’s body.
At that moment, the cold sweat on the Madam’s forehead gradually subsided, and her breathing became steady and calm.
―My other name is the Purifier of the South.
The Vermilion Bird’s voice once again seeped into So-ya’s mind like a voice transmission.
―Your heart’s desire to save your mother, the blood of the direct lineage, and the divine object of the Vermilion Bird came together to awaken me.
Since then, I… the Vermilion Bird…
―But the one who awakened me was a newborn whose Spirit Core had not yet even healed. Therefore, you could not be fully connected to me.
“…”
So-ya blinked her eyes blankly before suddenly realizing something was strange.
“Wait a moment, Vermilion Bird. This seems a bit odd.”
So-ya spoke toward the invisible deity.
“I… I’m a fake. I’m not the real daughter of the Vermilion Bird Clan. And that person…”
Her voice trailed off as she looked at the ‘Mother’ who was smiling faintly while holding her.
Even on the verge of death, she was smiling warmly, as if she were happy.
So-ya squeezed her eyes shut and cried out in a trembling voice.
“She isn’t my mother!”
―…
“They said she was Lady Ri-ri’s mother. I’m not of the Vermilion Bird’s direct lineage, and I don’t have a Red Feather…”
The Vermilion Bird spoke to the rambling So-ya in a sorrowful voice.
―Little bird, you are a noble child of the Vermilion Bird, inheriting my blood.
“But then why…!”
So-ya remembered. Her sixth birthday, the day she attempted her First Beast Transformation in front of everyone.
Unlike the brilliant red firebird in the magnificent Vermilion Bird Painting, she had become a baby bird with nothing but pathetic white down.
―You awakened me at a time when you were so young that even your Spirit Core had not yet stirred.
“…”
―The sleeping, young Spirit Core was startled by a power too great to handle, and to protect itself, it sealed away the blood of the Vermilion Bird.
The Vermilion Bird explained.
The reason So-ya did not grow a Red Feather, and the reason she had yet to undergo her First Growth.
It was all because the blood of the direct lineage dwelling within her Spirit Core had been sealed.
However, just a moment ago, Gung-gi’s poison had touched So-ya’s Spirit Core, and that seal had broken.
So-ya’s eyes shook violently as she listened to the explanation.
So, I really am the daughter of the Vermilion Bird Clan?
I was a family member related by blood to those people?
“But, but…!”
So-ya’s lips parted and closed several times as if she were about to say something.
Suddenly, a surge of sorrow welled up within her.
“Then why… then why did I have to go through all those things?”