Chapter 120
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------
Chapter 120
"Seol Yo!"
Boom!
Jeok Soya quickly released her beast transformation and smiled brightly.
The boy with black hair and ashen eyes was none other than Seol Yo.
Over the past two years, Seol Yo's aura had shifted subtly.
Though he had never been particularly talkative, he had grown even more reserved, and at times he would gaze quietly at something with an expression that seemed to carry untold stories.
The changes extended beyond mere atmosphere.
His height, once nearly equal to Jeok Soya's in childhood, had grown to match Baek Gayul's, and with his refined features enhanced by his distinctive presence, he had become a beautiful youth worthy of turning heads.
In particular, the girls of the Western Lands found him remarkably popular, noting a quality absent in the sons of the Baekho Family.
Of course, to Jeok Soya, he remained her dearest friend in the world.
"I grew worried when it seemed to take so long, Soya."
As Jeok Soya's escort, Seol Yo had followed her all the way to the Imperial Palace and wished to climb the tree with her.
But Jeok Soya insisted this was a secret promise with her mother and that she must go alone.
So Seol Yo had been keeping watch from below.
"I'm sorry, Seol Yo. Did you wait long?"
"No. Not that long."
Yet moments ago he had said he was worried it was taking too long—his words contradicted themselves.
"Did you find what you were looking for?"
"Yes!"
Jeok Soya clutched her mother's hairpin tenderly in her hand and smiled with delight.
"Let's head back, Seol Yo. Father must be waiting."
Jeok Soya walked ahead, brimming with excitement.
Seol Yo, relieved to confirm she was unharmed, followed close behind her.
'Huh...?'
Suddenly, Seol Yo noticed her face had taken on a subtle rosy hue.
A faint blush lingered on both her cheeks.
She must have exerted herself searching for the item in that high place.
'I wish I could have helped her.'
Seol Yo concealed his regret and stole glances at Jeok Soya.
'But why... is her flushed face so beautiful?'
Seol Yo gazed quietly at her face and pondered.
It was strange.
I hadn't climbed to any high place, nor had I exerted myself, yet I felt my own face growing warm and flushed.
Just like Soya's face.
But somehow it felt wrong to let his reddened face be seen, so Seol Yo kept his lips sealed and silently followed behind Jeok Soya.
* * *
After finishing dinner with her family, Jeok Soya strolled before the pavilion in high spirits.
Just moments ago at the meal, she had presented her mother's hairpin to Sayeon.
[Father, this is it. I found it today in the Imperial Palace Garden. Mother had prepared it long ago to give to you.]
[....]
Sayeon suddenly stopped eating and covered his face with one hand.
Beneath that large palm, his face—not entirely concealed—flushed with a sharp *thump*.
Jeok Soya had never seen her father so flustered before.
More so than when he'd faced the centipede calamity beast, more so than when she'd brought back flocks of birds from the Southern Lands—he seemed far more disconcerted now.
The memory brought such joy that Jeok Soya couldn't help but giggle.
No matter how she thought about it, her mother and father must have adored each other since childhood, yet no one agreed with her assertion.
[But when they were young, they would quarrel whenever they met.]
[The Lord Patriarch even wept because of Chung Ha's torment.]
[So the Lord Patriarch gritted his teeth, vowing to take revenge.]
[Their relationship only improved after they married and gave birth to the three young masters.]
Mother tormented Father and made him cry? Why did such strange rumors circulate?
They loved each other so deeply and got along so well.
"Sigh, it seems only I truly understand Mother and Father."
Jeok Soya murmured to herself with quiet pride, her steps bouncing lightly.
Caught up in such elation, her toe caught on a stone without warning.
"Oh...!"
"Careful."
An unfamiliar woman gently wrapped her arm around Jeok Soya's shoulder.
"The night path is dark. You nearly fell."
"Ah.... Thank you. I didn't fall because of you."
Jeok Soya straightened herself and bowed respectfully.
As she lifted her gaze to see the stranger's face, her eyes widened in recognition.
"Oh? Could it be...."
Coarse blue hair. And eyes of pale violet that reminded her of someone she held very dear.
"Are you the Lord Patriarch of the Cheongryong Family?"
"You recognize me."
"...!"
Mother's cousin—her older brothers' cousin, the Lord Patriarch of the Cheongryong Family, Chung Sua.
"I'm Soya! Baek Soya of the Baekho Family!"
"Of the Baekho Family? Then you're...."
She was bending toward Jeok Soya to speak when—
"Stop."
Baek Gayul appeared and drew Jeok Soya into his embrace with one arm, his voice sharp with warning.
"She's my precious one."
Chung Sua slowly straightened, her gaze flickering toward Baek Gayul's wary eyes.
Then she spoke in a flat tone.
"I will take nothing more from you."
"...."
"So worry not, Baek Gayul."
Chung Sua turned and walked away.
It was then that Gaya clicked his tongue and grumbled, staring at her retreating figure.
"...He's so cool."
Jeok Soya murmured in a breathless voice.
"What?"
"The head of the Cheongryong Family. I heard he only recently underwent his second growth, but his voice sounds so mature and he's just so cool."
Gaya raised one eyebrow in displeasure.
"More than this older brother?"
At a question even Baek Gayul wouldn't ask, Jeok Soya burst into laughter.
"Gaya oppa, you're just a baby. You were the one whining and crying because you wanted to see me!"
"You don't understand, Softy. Even a baby can be cool."
Gaya responded to Jeok Soya's words in an deliberately serious tone, then curled up the corners of his mouth in a smirk as he added:
"Like how baby Softy over there slaughtered their calamity beasts without batting an eye."
"Now that you mention it, oppa's right."
The two of them were walking together down the night path, giggling softly, when—
A presence approached from the opposite direction.
Jeok Soya lifted her head absently and froze in an instant.
'That person.'
Ever since she decided to attend the celebration banquet at the Imperial Palace, she had thought they might meet again.
Hair as crimson as flames, and eyes to match that same scarlet hue....
'San Yu oppa.'
The moment he turned his gaze toward them.
Flinch.
Jeok Soya instinctively hid behind Gaya.
"Gaya. Taking a night stroll, are you?"
San Yu, spotting Gaya, greeted him with a gentle smile.
"Not telling."
Gaya crossed his arms stubbornly and looked at him.
Though his gaze was sharp, San Yu paid it no mind and approached him to speak.
"Meeting you like this outside the Imperial Palace brings back memories."
"Same here."
Gaya replied curtly.
"I thought you'd become a ghost on the battlefield. Never thought I'd see your face alive like this. Memories, indeed—very fresh ones."
"Your wit is still as sharp as ever, Gaya. The thought of not hearing that voice from you anymore makes me quite melancholy."
"Good. I hope your melancholy turns into something far worse."
San Yu's eyes crinkled in a smile as Gaya deflected every word without letting any pass.
Baek Ga Ya hated that eye-smile more than anything else in the world.
And sure enough.
An unpleasant light settled across Baek Ga Ya's face.
Satisfied with his smile, San Yu suddenly noticed a young girl hidden behind Gaya, clutching tightly to the hem of his robe.
Her face was hidden as she kept her head bowed, but she was a young girl with snow-white hair.
'Is this the child the Baekho Family adopted?'
That snow-white hair reminded me of someone.
That child from my childhood who used to call out "Big brother!" and toddle after me.
"Don't look at her."
Baek Ga Ya fluttered his sleeve to shield Jeok Soya, speaking in a sullen tone.
"Yes...?"
"My sister. Don't look at her."
San Yu let out a hollow laugh at Baek Ga Ya's predictable jealousy once again.
Whoooosh—
At that moment, a breeze swept through, and Baek Ga Ya's white hair fluttered gently in the night air.
That snow-white hair, which likewise reminded me of someone, was also the reason I didn't entirely dislike Baek Ga Ya.
Jeok San Yu, who had been gazing intently at that white hair, soon bent forward toward Jeok Soya and spoke.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, the youngest lady of the Baekho Family. You must have quite the time dealing with your foolish older brother."
At that, Jeok Soya's small frame trembled slightly.
"You...!"
Just as Baek Ga Ya was about to say something in response to San Yu's provocative greeting toward his sister.
"It seems you're quite shy. Let's meet again at tomorrow's banquet, shall we?"
San Yu smiled faintly, finished his greeting, and left.
Only then did the grip on Baek Ga Ya's sleeve loosen.
"Phew..."
Jeok Soya relaxed and let out a soft sigh.
'Why did I hide again?'
I had told Father confidently that I was fine, yet here I was, hiding once more.
I thought I would be okay seeing that man who gave birth to me, the one I once called Father.
I thought I would be okay seeing that other man who abandoned me, the one I once called Older Brother.
But San Yu, my older brother.
I didn't know how to face him—someone I parted from in early childhood and had never seen since.
So I simply hid.
"You did well, Somsom."
At that moment, Baek Ga Ya grinned and stroked Jeok Soya's hair.
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------