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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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Chapter 1
I was carrying a modest pile of laundry balanced atop my head.
For the past month, I had avoided venturing beyond my quarters to remain inconspicuous, but today there was no choice.
If I didn't take matters into my own hands, no ‌‌‌one would wash my clothes.
Having neglected laundry for an entire month, a musty odor now emanated from my already shabby garments.
'I must return quickly.'
I longed to dry the freshly washed clothes in the sunlight until they were crisp, then change into something clean and ‌‌fragrant.
It was as I quickened my pace on my short legs.
A melodious laugh rang out from not far away, and I found myself stopping involuntarily.
"Truly, brother?"
"Yes, Riri. Whatever you desire."
The young master and young lady of the Jujak Family ‌‌‌‌stood before me.
The family's 'true' young lady, who had returned not long ago.
She had become the greatest topic of ‌‌‌conversation among the household staff recently.
Yet my gaze was fixed not on the beloved Riri, but on the young master beside her, who was warmly showing her around the estate.
I gazed, entranced, at that gentle and serene face, smiling with the warmth of spring breeze as he looked upon her.
It was a face I had not seen in three long years.
Then, suddenly, the young master's ‌‌‌eyes met mine.
"...."
His smile vanished in an instant. ‌‌‌
As though the warmth I had just witnessed were nothing but a mirage, his ‌‌face turned cold, and I flinched, my shoulders shrinking as I lowered the laundry basket from my head to the ground.
Then I prostrated myself flat on the ground, bowing my head low—like ‌‌‌a criminal.
"I-I apologize, young master...."
I felt his sharp gaze bearing down upon me from above.
[Never let yourself be seen by me again.]
As his icy voice echoed in my mind, my small body trembled.
I was once the precious youngest daughter of the Jujak Family.
Until the day I turned six, ‌‌just before my first transformation into a beast-human.
* * *
The Taehwa Kingdom—a land where beast-humans dwelled.
Within the Taehwa Kingdom existed four great families, descended from the ‌‌‌‌‌blood of ancient divine beasts, who guarded the imperial house and protected the empire.
The Azure Dragon of the East, the White Tiger of the West, the Vermillion Phoenix of the South, and the Black Tortoise of the North.
They awakened the innate powers passed down through the ages, ruling the four lands of east, west, south, and north, and all ‌the beast-humans who ‌‌‌inhabited them. ‌
Among them, the Jujak Family—the Southern Divine Beast guarding the empire's southern territories—were the sovereigns of three hundred sixty species of winged beasts and the masters of fire.
The Jujak Estate was bustling from morning.
Today was the sixth birthday of the Jujak Family's precious youngest daughter, Jeok Soya, and the day of her first transformation.
As everyone ‌‌‌‌struggled to contain their excitement, the family head, Jeok Ahyun, appeared with ‌Jeok Soya cradled in his arms.
"My, the family head himself...."
"They say he cherishes the youngest lady ‌‌‌‌so dearly that he never sets her down, and it seems the rumors are true."
The servants whispered as they observed Jeok Ahyun and Jeok Soya.
Unlike Jeok Ahyun, whose hair burned as red as flames, Jeok Soya's locks were as pristine and white as snow.
The late lady had also possessed hair of a deep crimson hue during her lifetime, so when Jeok Soya was born, many whispered and speculated about her origins.
They wondered if perhaps the lady, unable to survive the fever of childbirth, had committed adultery with another man.
Yet Jeok Ahyun swiftly silenced such doubts.
His deceased wife ‌‌had been as pure as snow—no one dared question her virtue.
Should anyone spread such vile rumors, ‌‌‌I myself will hold them accountable for their ‌‌transgression.
Besides, on the day of her first Awakening, it would ‌‌‌‌become abundantly clear that the child carried the blood of the Jujak Family.
When the direct bloodline of the Jujak Family underwent their Awakening, they transformed into a magnificent phoenix—a beautiful firebird adorned with brilliantly blazing crimson plumage.
It was an absolute and immutable law passed down since ancient times.
No matter what others whispered, Jeok Ahyun's faith in his deceased wife remained unshakeable.
His affection for Jeok Soya, the final keepsake his wife had left behind, was equally steadfast.
After all, if this small child were not truly his daughter, how could she ‌‌possibly be so precious to him? ‌‌‌‌
"Soya, are you ready?"
Jeok Ahyun set Jeok Soya down from his arms and asked in a gentle voice. ‌‌‌
"Yes, Father!"
Jeok Soya clenched her tiny fists tightly as she answered.
Whether from nervousness or anticipation, her small hands trembled with tension.
"Don't be nervous, Soya. You can do this."
Jeok Hwayou, her older brother and the second young master of ‌the Jujak Family, whispered encouragement from beside her.
"Yes! Soya will do great, Brother!"
Jeok Soya answered with a bright, giggling laugh.
With her father and brother's encouragement, her nervousness seemed to ease somewhat.
It would have been even better if San Yu, her eldest brother, who had departed on the Emperor's orders, could have been here with them.
Supported by the cheers of her family and retainers, Jeok Soya walked toward the altar before her.
Hanging above the platform was an enormous painting of the Jujak phoenix—a magnificent crimson bird wreathed in flames ‌‌‌‌as brilliant as the sun itself.
Kneeling before it, Jeok Soya pressed her small hands together in reverence for the Awakening ceremony.
Then, recalling everything her father and brothers had taught her, she envisioned her transformed self in her ‌‌mind.
A magnificent, radiant baby phoenix—dignified and splendid, like the sun itself.
'Hehe.'
At the thought, she nearly forgot the solemnity of the occasion and had to ‌‌‌suppress an irrepressible giggle.
Jeok Soya pressed her lips firmly together to stifle her laughter and focused her spirit earnestly on the awakening.
'Please let me become a magnificent baby phoenix.'
Everyone held ‌‌‌‌their breath, waiting for Jeok Soya's first Awakening.
Boom!
"Squawk!"
With the adorable cry of a baby bird, Jeok Soya's first Awakening finally succeeded!
"..."
"..."
"..."
In that instant, a cold silence fell over the hall.
Everyone's faces drained of color in shock.
The patriarch Jeok Ahyun's complexion had turned ashen, as though he might collapse at any moment.
At the place where Soya had undergone her beast transformation, there lay...
Not the brilliantly blazing crimson feathers that any divine beast descended from Jujak blood should rightfully possess, but only a pathetic chick adorned with shabby white down.
"Chirp?"
Unable to see her own form, Soya tilted her head in confusion before waddling toward her father, who stood frozen in place.
"Peep!"
It was the moment Soya reached out with a bright smile to grasp Jeok Ahyun's hand.
Whoosh!
Jeok Ahyun shoved Soya's hand away.
The force sent her small body staggering before she tumbled hard onto the floor.
"Chirp...?"
Landing on her rump, Soya looked up at her father in ‌‌shock, her pain forgotten in her bewilderment.
A flicker of confusion crossed Jeok Ahyun's face, but it vanished in an instant. ‌‌‌
"Seize the child's core and confine her to the Cold ‌‌‌‌Palace."
"...!" ‌‌‌‌
He spoke those words while fixing Soya with a glacial stare.
"Should anyone speak of what transpired ‌‌‌today, I ‌‌‌shall show them no mercy."
Jeok Ahyun turned and left without another ‌‌word.
"Peep...?"
Soya blinked her eyes, watching her father's receding figure disappear.
'Father is angry with me.'
His gaze had been so cold that it felt as though my very heart was freezing over.
'Why did he look at me like that?'
Then, something caught my eye—tiny dandelion seeds scattered beneath my feet.
'No. Those aren't dandelion seeds....'
They were my own feathers, fallen when I had collapsed moments before.
My eyes widened in horror.
Something was terribly wrong.
I, a direct descendant of Jujak, should possess the brilliant crimson feathers like Father and my brothers, yet... ‌‌‌
'I failed my beast transformation.'
I realized it, staring at my pathetic, scattered white down.
'I failed my transformation. Is that why Father is so disappointed in me?'
I was utterly confused.
Then a shadow slightly smaller than ‌‌Father's approached me.
It was my brother Jeok ‌‌Hwayou.
Perhaps my brother could help me understand this chaos.
"Peep...!"
In the oppressive atmosphere, I tried to run to my brother and seek his embrace.
Just as I always did.
But ‌the moment I touched my brother.
A sharp, wrenching sensation—
Something tore free from my body as if my very soul were being lashed. A small orb blazed with pristine white light in my brother's palm.
My spirit core.
The instant my spirit core was stolen, my beast transformation shattered.
At ‌‌‌‌the ‌‌‌same moment Yeong-haek was taken away, Soya's beast transformation was released.
"Gasp..."
Collapsed on the floor in human form once more, I gasped for breath.
"Brother, why...?"
"Remove it at once."
I flinched.
The glacial edge in his voice made me tremble violently.
Contempt ‌‌‌blazed in the eyes of the brother who had ‌‌always cherished me.
"Brother...?" ‌‌‌‌
"What are you all doing? Take it out now."
Two soldiers of ‌‌‌‌‌the Jujak Family seized my trembling arms.
"Brother, why, why are you doing ‌‌‌‌this? I'm Jeok Soya."
"Brother?"
Jeok Hwayou's face twisted as he stared down at me.
"Who said you could call me that?"
"I, I failed the beast transformation? ‌‌‌‌Is that why you're angry and disappointed? I'm sorry. If I, if I ‌‌‌try again, I'll succeed this time, I promise..."
Large tears streamed down my face.
"Please, don't do this. I'm so frightened."
Yet even as I trembled and stammered pitifully, Jeok Hwayou's expression remained merciless.
He bent toward me slowly.
As he lowered himself to meet my eyes, hope flickered across my face—
"How repugnant. You deceived everyone all this time."
Jeok Hwayou's voice was glacial, grinding with barely contained fury.
"Never let me see your face again."
“....”
"If that hideous visage appears before my eyes once more, I may just sever those pathetic wings of yours."
“...!”
Threatened with such murderous intent, I clamped both hands over my mouth to stifle my sobs.
The soldiers dragged me away.
From that day forward, Jeok Soya—the beloved youngest daughter of the Jujak Family, treasured by all—was imprisoned in the Cold Palace.
At first, I didn't understand.
Why Father and Hwayou were so angry.
Perhaps it was because I failed the beast transformation.
Because I ‌bore shabby white down instead ‌‌of magnificent flame feathers.
If I succeeded at the beast transformation, then Father and my brother would forgive me. Then they would smile at me again.
Yes, that must be it.
Left alone, Jeok Soya attempted the beast transformation once more, but without a core, it was impossible.
Despite knowing this, she forced the transformation anyway, and her already-injured body finally gave way, blood spilling from ‌‌‌‌her lips as she collapsed.
Naturally, no one came to check on Jeok Soya as she lay there coughing blood.
No physician arrived to examine her.
Yet her frail, small frame endured—spitting blood, groaning in pain, but refusing to die, clinging to life with stubborn tenacity.
Because of this, those who worked in the Cold Palace believed Jeok Soya was feigning illness to gain the family head's attention.
She would lose consciousness, awaken, force another transformation attempt, cough blood again, and ‌collapse once more—a cycle that repeated endlessly.
Only after some time had passed, when she overheard the maids gossiping, did she finally understand.
That her very existence was proof of her mother's infidelity.
'I was never Father's true daughter.'
Only then could Jeok Soya finally stop attempting the transformation.
That had been three years ago.
Everyone had forgotten that there was once a beloved youngest daughter in the Jujak Family.
Father had forgotten. Elder ‌brother Jeok Hwayou had forgotten....
.
.
And one month ago.
The true daughter of the Jujak Family returned.

---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------