Chapter 133
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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 133
Riri's eyes widened in surprise.
"Did you sleep well last night?"
"Huh? Oh, yes...."
San Yu approached her with a gentle smile.
"Why do you seem so awkward and tense? It appears I'm still a stranger to you, little sister."
The way he drooped his brows in apparent disappointment was quite endearing, and Riri's cheeks flushed involuntarily.
"That's not it at all. Not at all."
Riri, who had been staring at him blankly, suddenly came to her senses and hastily waved both hands.
"Were you taking a morning walk? Let me join you, older brother."
San Yu spoke warmly and walked beside Riri, carefully matching his stride to hers.
He inquired whether she had slept soundly the night before, whether yesterday's incident had startled her greatly, and other such pleasantries.
'So my worry that older brother disliked me was unfounded.'
Riri gradually realized that she had misunderstood him all along.
'San Yu older brother likes me too.'
That realization filled her with an inexplicable sense of pride.
Before long, Riri began to chatter away before him just as she did before Father and Jeok Hwayou.
"You don't know how long I waited for you, older brother. When I heard news of your victory, I could only think of the day I'd see you like this."
"Is that so?"
"I never knew you were so refined and impressive."
"Ha, thank you."
The conversation that had begun with morning pleasantries gradually shifted into malicious gossip about Jeok Soya.
"That's why I was so upset back then. Because of that impostor."
"My, such things happened."
"And yesterday too. When that girl we thought was dead suddenly appeared—can you imagine how shocked everyone was? She really is tenacious."
As San Yu played along, Riri became increasingly delighted.
Thus she failed to notice that the pupils of San Yu's eyes, which held a gentle smile directed at her, harbored a subtle, chilling light.
[There is someone within the Jujak Family who sought to harm Jeok Soya.]
San Yu recalled the conversation he had held with the second young master of the Baekho Family just yesterday.
[Yes, I am aware. The people of our family have persecuted her....]
[No, I do not merely speak of their coldness toward her. The Samjok O of the Jujak Family moved. To eliminate Jeok Soya.]
[The Samjok O... moved?]
When asked why he had permitted the meeting with Jeok Soya, Baek Gahyun explained.
That the Samjok O of the Jujak Family had attempted to remove Jeok Soya.
That perhaps the one who had orchestrated harm to Jeok Soya five years ago was now, at this very moment, within the Imperial Palace.
Toward San Yu, whose expression betrayed disbelief and whose eyes merely trembled faintly, Baek Gahyun made his request in a measured voice.
[If you truly regret what happened to Jeok Soya, if your affection for her is genuine, then please find out who sought to harm her. I beg you, San Yu.]
[....]
During my absence, there were only three who could command the Samjok O.
Father, Jeok Hwayou, and Riri.
San Yu suspected all three of them. He could not rule out a single person from suspicion.
He would find the culprit without fail.
And he would make them pay the price they deserved.
Even if that person were the head of the Jeok Family...
'How could they do such a thing...'
San Yu clenched his fist tightly where no one could see.
Five years ago, Jeok Soya was merely nine years old.
At such a tender age, she had endured cold treatment from her family, and then suffered something so horrific on top of it.
Why, in the first place.
Simply because her blood did not run true, because she lacked the crimson feathers...
San Yu repeatedly clenched and released his fist within his sleeve, barely managing to suppress the surging emotions.
'Crimson hair and crimson eyes...'
He glanced at Riri's crimson locks and scarlet irises.
Unlike Jeok Soya, who was as pristine white as the first snow falling on a winter's day, Riri possessed the perfect appearance of a direct descendant of the Phoenix line.
Moreover, it was said that this child had crossed the threshold of the Joojak Residence bearing brilliant crimson feathers that blazed like flames.
Since Father and Jeok Hwayou had both confirmed the child's transformed state, it would be futile to doubt the child's lineage any further.
Yet still, there was something unsettling about this girl that kept nagging at him...
'Is it her nature?'
Unlike Jeok Soya, who had been gentle like Mother, Riri possessed a willful, discourteous, and arrogant temperament.
"I wish she had never appeared and simply died back then. What if that girl tries to steal Riri's things again?"
Look at her now—wishing she had died back then. It was a terrible thing Jeok Soya would never say.
San Yu found Riri's willingness to speak such frightening words without hesitation deeply troubling...
'Wait.'
San Yu, who had been letting Riri's words pass through one ear, suddenly felt his eyes narrow sharply.
All the other household members he had encountered here referred to Jeok Soya as 'the child who vanished suddenly,' yet Riri had been calling her 'the girl we thought was dead' all along.
'...'
San Yu's pupils were narrowing to slits as he stared at the chattering Riri.
Just then, Jeok Hwayou appeared from the opposite direction, spotted Riri and San Yu beside her, and her expression hardened.
"Riri!"
She approached Riri with long strides, casting a wary glance toward her older brother as she spoke sharply.
"What were you doing with Riri?"
"I was merely keeping my sister company."
San Yu answered with an elegant smile.
"Did you perhaps say something strange to Riri...?"
"Oh, you two!"
At this, Riri stepped between the two brothers.
She then let out a long sigh and shook her head vigorously.
"You mustn't quarrel because of Riri. I understand how much you both care for Riri, but this puts Riri in such a difficult position."
"..."
"..."
Both brothers fell silent at once.
Jeok Hwayou, observing Riri's reaction, felt reassured that her older brother hadn't said anything that would wound their sister.
San Yu, meanwhile, found himself having to tense the corners of his mouth to prevent them from furrowing involuntarily.
Setting aside her self-centered demeanor, he couldn't fathom why she insisted on appending her own name to every utterance, speaking in such an peculiar manner.
San Yu approached Jeok Hwayou, leaving Riri behind, and spoke in a low voice.
"I have something to ask you. Come with me."
Then he brushed past him and headed toward a secluded spot.
When no one else was visible nearby, San Yu came to an abrupt halt and slowly turned to face his younger brother.
"Something to ask me? What is it?"
Jeok Hwayou, who had followed obediently, sensed his older brother's subtly tense atmosphere and inquired.
"Did you tell Riri that Jeok Soya was dead?"
At the sudden question, Jeok Hwayou's brow furrowed.
"No, I did not. Riri was far too young at the time. I chose not to tell her to spare her unnecessary shock."
"Then who knows of this fact?"
"The Samjokoh, who recovered her belongings, knew of it... and I reported it separately to Father. Afterward, I informed you by letter. Beyond that, no one else knows."
"...I see."
San Yu murmured softly, his expression distant and contemplative.
Then, without warning or farewell, he abruptly turned and departed.
"Why did he suddenly ask that?"
As Jeok Hwayou watched his retreating figure, bewildered and muttering to himself, a particular conversation suddenly flashed through his mind.
[It's all because of her. Riri was so shocked too. The child we thought was dead came back alive...]
He paused.
'Now that I think about it...'
Jeok Hwayou's eyes narrowed sharply.
'He only said she had gone far away, so why did Riri...'
A question lingered across Jeok Hwayou's face.
* * *
"Sigh. I really am hopeless. Why did I ever give that man a chance to be forgiven?"
After Baek Gahyun left, Jeok Soya exhaled a long breath.
If, just moments ago, he had agreed to return the trinket that Riri had taken from her...
If he had apologized to her with genuine sincerity, the way San Yu Older Brother had...
"Would I have wanted to forgive that man?"
Jeok Soya murmured in a voice drained of all strength.
Her words carried a note of self-reproach.
Knowing full well how this would end, she felt foolish for giving that man a chance to earn her forgiveness.
Swish—
At that moment, San Ho inserted a beautiful flowering branch adorned with bright yellow blossoms into the drooping Jeok Soya's ear and smiled warmly.
"It's because you're a kind person, Miss."
"San Ho?"
At San Ho's words, Jeok Soya's eyes widened in surprise.
"That's right! Soya is so kind."
Seol Yo, who had been following behind, quickly nodded in agreement with San Ho's words.
"Huh?"
San Ho chuckled softly at Soya, whose eyes blinked in confusion, and continued speaking.
"Our young lady has always been kind-hearted since childhood. She would even open her heart to small wild creatures she'd never seen before. And that man raised our young lady with such care until she was six years old. So naturally, her heart is troubled by it."
"Naturally...?"
"Of course. Moreover, severing ties with the parents who gave birth to you and raised you is an extremely difficult thing even for adults. It's a bond of blood, after all."
San Ho nodded with a knowing smile.
"And you see, if she hadn't done this, wouldn't our kind young lady continue to feel troubled? 'Oh, should I have accepted that wretched man's apology? Should I have listened to what nonsense that bird-brained fool would spout from his hollow beak?' And so on."
In saying this, San Ho's true feelings toward the Jujak Family subtly revealed themselves.
"Since her heart would be troubled anyway, why not become magnanimous and give that man a chance to be forgiven? If you think of it not as being for his sake, but for the young lady's own peace of mind, doesn't that make things feel a little easier?"
"For my own sake?"
"Yes. Just as that man came to apologize so his own heart would be at ease, let's say the young lady gave him a special chance to be forgiven so that her own heart would be at ease."
"But that's..."
"It might sound a bit selfish to our kind young lady, but what of it? Where in this world can you find such tender selfishness?"
"..."
Soya stared at San Ho with her lips parted in astonishment.
She had never thought of it in that way before.
Just moments ago, she had thought her own actions were too soft and foolish.
But that wasn't it at all.
It wasn't softness—it was kindness.
It wasn't foolishness—it was something she did for herself.
"And how perfectly it worked out. The kindest and most wonderful young lady in the world gave that bird another chance, and her heart became more at ease. But that feather-brained fool couldn't even seize the opportunity he was given."
"San Ho, you just used a bad word."
"Hohoho, surely not."
"But I heard it..."
"I heard it too!"
"Ohohoho, anyway!"
Both Soya and Seol Yo pointed it out at the same time, but San Ho raised her laughter and deliberately changed the subject, pretending not to hear.
"From now on, it will be his heart that becomes troubled, won't it? From tonight onward, let him regret it every single day. 'Oh, why did I miss that chance back then?'"
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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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