Chapter 121
---------------
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 121
She hid like a child, and he said she did well.
When Jeok Soya looked at him with a puzzled expression, he spoke with a satisfied face.
"From now on, whenever those impure fellows try to approach, you hide behind your Older Brother."
"Impure...?"
"Yes. That bastard just now is a very impure one."
Baek Ga Ya's face darkened again as he recalled Jeok San Yu.
It was because their first meeting came to mind.
"Older Brother?"
At Jeok Soya's call, he quickly softened his expression. Then, with a smile that seemed oddly gentle, he spoke.
"That woman you saw earlier is the same. Besides this Older Brother, the whole world is full of impure fellows. So this Older Brother must protect our little Soya."
Yet somehow, Baek Ga Ya's face as he said this looked like the most impure thing in the world....
"Yes, Older Brother."
Jeok Soya answered with a bright smile.
Just moments before, she had sighed at her own action of hiding behind him, but with her Older Brother's words of approval, her heart eased.
The fact that she always had a back to hide behind felt so reassuring.
"Let's go inside now. We need to sleep early if we're to attend the celebration banquet tomorrow."
"A good idea, little Soya. But about tomorrow's banquet...."
The soft murmurs of the two siblings echoed through the night air.
* * *
Meanwhile, San Yu's steps were remarkably brisk as he left Baek Ga Ya behind and returned to his residence.
A proper smile bloomed on his face, which had always been shadowed by darkness, for the first time in ages.
It was because he had just witnessed Baek Ga Ya's face twisted in displeasure.
Watching Baek Ga Ya's expression contort was one of his small pleasures amid the dreary battlefield.
Recalling how he had rushed to block him the moment he greeted his sister brought a refreshing sense of satisfaction.
'Even that demon of the battlefield makes such expressions before his sister.'
Jeok San Yu chuckled to himself.
'Now that I think about it, it was the same back then. Claiming some baby bird as his own....'
He paused.
The smile that had graced San Yu's face faded, then vanished entirely.
Baek Ga Ya's sister with her fluffy white hair.
And the small baby bird with white downy feathers he had seen in the distant Northern Region.
Thinking of these, his own sister—whom he had deliberately tried not to recall—came flooding back to his mind.
His brisk pace slowed.
He walked through the night with an expressionless face.
"That's unfair, Father! You promised Riri!"
At the sharp voice, he turned his head to see Riri, thoroughly upset, and Father, at a loss for what to do.
"I'm sorry, Riri. Instead, Father has prepared something else...."
"I don't want it! I specifically want the jade inlaid piece from the Eastern Land―"
"Why do you raise your voice before your father at this late hour?"
Unable to bear it any longer, San Yu cut off Riri's words with a sharp interjection.
"S-San Yu, Older Brother...?"
Riri, who had been shrieking at the top of her voice, startled at San Yu's appearance and turned to look at him.
However, indignation swiftly spread across her face.
"Why does Older Brother have anything to do with this! This is between Riri and Father!"
In an instant, San Yu's expression hardened into rigid lines.
"Are you truly so shameless as to raise your voice even to your own brother?"
His final rebuke froze the night air around them.
"Y-You're actually angry with Riri?"
Riri stared at San Yu in disbelief, her eyes trembling.
For the past five years, as the princess of the Jujak Family, Riri had never once heard a harsh word from anyone.
She was already displeased that her eldest brother, whom she had met for the first time today, seemed to show her little interest.
On top of that, she had been deeply shocked by the sharp attitude the young lords of the Baekho Family had displayed toward her, and now her eldest brother was angry with her too!
Of course, Jeok San Yu had not raised his voice nor rebuked her in a frightening manner.
Yet to Riri, accustomed to everyone always smiling warmly at her, San Yu's expressionless face and curt words felt as though he were truly angry with her.
Thick teardrops began to well up in Riri's eyes....
"This is so unfair! How could you do this to Riri! *Sob, sob, waaah!*"
Soon after, Riri burst into loud tears.
"Now, now, don't cry, Riri. It seems your brother has misunderstood something."
A startled Jeok Ahyun embraced the child and patted her soothingly while speaking to San Yu.
"San Yu. You have misunderstood. Your sister is upset because I broke my promise with my Riri, so do not speak to her in such a manner."
"...."
San Yu said nothing in response, merely observing the scene unfold before him.
Just then, Jeok Hwayou happened to pass by and, spotting Riri whimpering in Father's embrace, reacted with his characteristic exaggeration and led his sister into the pavilion.
Once Riri's sobs had finally faded and the courtyard fell silent again, San Yu spoke to his father.
"Indulging the child's whims unconditionally is not good for her discipline, Father."
"Is Riri not a child who bears many wounds?"
Yet Jeok Ahyun shook his head, his voice calm and measured.
"You are the one being too cold toward Riri. She is your younger sister, the last gift your mother left behind."
"...."
"Show your sister a little more kindness."
"...."
At those words, San Yu pressed his lips firmly shut.
Had I been away from the estate for so long that I am only now meeting this child as she has grown? I wondered.
Riri felt subtly uncomfortable to me.
Despite the fact that she was undoubtedly my blood sister.
A quiet stillness settled between father and son for a time.
Shortly after, San Yu opened his mouth, gazing into the darkened courtyard.
"...Eight years ago, when I departed for the Imperial Palace, I made a promise with that child. That I would return in good health."
As Jeok Ahyun realized this was about Jeok Soya, his expression gradually hardened into rigid lines.
"I kept my promise and returned home in good health, yet that child is nowhere to be found."
"...."
"Perhaps that is why. When I see Riri, I think of Jeok Soya—how large she would have grown had she lived—and I cannot bring myself to smile freely."
"...."
"But as Father said, I should open my heart first and approach the sister Mother left us."
San Yu spoke thus, his smile tinged with bitterness.
His throat constricted painfully as he swallowed the anguish he had suppressed for years.
"However, Father, I wish to mourn that child's death just a little longer—only a little while more."
"...."
"Throughout these years, even amid the grueling battlefield, I have remembered her daily. Yet now that the war has ended and I see my family again, I find myself thinking of her once more."
"...."
Jeok Ahyun had no words to offer.
"Do not speak of this in front of Riri under any circumstances."
Jeok Hwayou, having soothed Riri and stepped outside, spoke to his older brother.
"She is a child bearing many wounds. She has already suffered greatly from having her place taken by that child."
"That child...?"
San Yu's brow furrowed for a moment as he struggled to comprehend the words.
"Surely you do not mean that 'that child' refers to Jeok Soya?"
"I cannot presume to speak against your mourning of that child. Yet I implore you—be cautious in front of Riri. I pray that our sister will not suffer further wounds because of that child."
San Yu, who had listened quietly, responded with a sharp tone.
"What are you saying now? Your words make it sound as though Jeok Soya deliberately stole Riri's place."
"...."
A pause.
At this piercing observation, Jeok Hwayou's expression flickered with bewilderment.
Yet he quickly composed himself and replied.
"It is not entirely untrue. While Riri wandered the Streets, that child enjoyed everything Riri should have had."
"And so you blame Jeok Soya for that!"
San Yu, who had never raised his voice even before their Father when Riri behaved disrespectfully, now spoke to his younger brother with terrible sharpness.
"She was a victim too! How frightened that innocent child must have been when she learned she was the switched one!"
"B-Brother...?"
Hwayou faltered, for San Yu rarely raised his voice in such a manner.
"Did you speak to Jeok Soya in that same way?"
"...."
Before his angry brother, Hwayou remained silent for a long moment before finally speaking.
"I merely wish to prevent Riri from suffering further wounds."
He maintained his position as though he had done nothing wrong, though his voice had grown somewhat quieter than before.
"Riri is... such a precious child, is she not? She is the one Mother left with us, exchanging her own life for ours."
"Yes. She is precious."
Jeok San Yu's cold, measured voice answered immediately.
"But to me, Jeok Soya is no less a precious sister. So do not desecrate the memory of the dead child ever again."
San Yu shot him a cold glance, nodded respectfully to Father, and left first.
Hwayou, too, stared at his older brother's retreating figure with a stubborn expression before offering his own bow to Father and departing.
And in the space left behind by his departing sons,
Jeok Ahyun remained alone, lost in contemplation.
His entire face had turned ashen, and though his two sons had bowed to him before leaving, he could not bring himself to respond—he simply sat frozen, his mind elsewhere.
Because of what Hwayou had said just moments before.
[It is not entirely untrue, is it? While Riri wandered the Streets, that child enjoyed everything Riri should have possessed.]
[I merely wish to ensure Riri is not wounded again.]
Those words were...
[Because of your mother's greed, Riri was forced to wander the Streets at an age too young to even awaken her core. She was robbed of everything she rightfully deserved, all of it stolen by the maidservant's daughter.]
[Therefore, ensure that Riri never learns your true identity. Should you cause her further pain, I will not forgive you.]
They were the same as words I had once spoken to Jeok Soya.
Yet though I myself had uttered those words at that time, why did they sound so...when spoken from another's mouth?
"Why do they sound so strange...?"
A bewildered murmur escaped between his lips, and simultaneously, a chill ran across his skin.
Something—a creeping sense that everything had gone terribly wrong—shook his already trembling heart violently.
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------