Chapter 136
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Chapter 136
At that same moment.
Jeok Hwayou, who had not been chosen by Riri, wandered alone through the front courtyard of the Pavilion.
I deliberately did not join them, fearing that my presence alongside my brother would create an awkward atmosphere that might spoil Riri's boat excursion.
We were once close as siblings in childhood, yet somehow we had become like this.
A bitter sigh escaped my lips.
'Of all times, why did she have to appear now....'
Jeok Hwayou furrowed his brow at the thought of Jeok Soya.
Jeok Soya, whom I had believed dead, had appeared alive.
San Yu defended Jeok Soya and grew angry with the family.
And Riri knew of Jeok Soya's death, something only Father and my brother were supposed to know.
The series of events and the unanswered questions caused my head to throb with tension.
As I pressed my temples with my fingers to ease the pain, I noticed Father lost in solitary contemplation within the pavilion.
"Father."
At my call, Jeok Ahyun lifted his head and looked at his son.
"Your expression is dark. Is it because of Jeok Soya?"
I knew that Father had rushed to the Baekho Family this very morning upon hearing my report, searching for Jeok Soya once more.
Judging by how heavily he had returned, it seemed he had gained nothing.
'Indeed, even yesterday she treated Father and us as strangers.'
A child who had done so would not suddenly become affectionate after a single night.
"If you cannot steady yourself, Father, Riri will suffer for it."
“....”
"Jeok Soya has eaten well and slept well there with them. That is enough."
I spoke with a cold voice.
"Did she not say so herself? That she has a new family now. That you need not concern yourself with her any longer."
My brow furrowed slightly as I spoke.
Strangely, recalling the moment she had said those words, my chest grew heavy and my throat felt rough.
Yet as always, I ignored such sensations and continued.
"She is a child we need not concern ourselves with any further."
“....”
But Jeok Ahyun kept his lips firmly sealed, maintaining his silence.
He had been confused ever since meeting Jeok Soya yesterday.
Even after a night had passed and he sought her out again this morning, the confusion remained.
[What exactly are you trying to apologize for?]
Indeed. What was I trying to apologize for?
It was a question that pierced through my uncertainty.
I had vaguely believed I needed to apologize for the past, but my mind was too muddled to carefully examine each wrong I had committed against the child.
[Are you apologizing for taking away Yeong Haek and sending me to the Cold Palace? So that I had to live as a nonentity for three years? Or is it for making me her servant and forcing me to watch you give to her the affection you once gave to me?]
Nine-year-old Jeok Soya had endured three years of neglect from her family at the Joojak Residence, yet she had never once spoken of her unfair circumstances in such a manner.
Rather, she had lived quietly, as if it were natural that she should be hated and cast aside, her presence barely acknowledged.
Perhaps that's why I convinced myself it was acceptable.
Jeok Soya was so young back then, after all.
And that incident had long since become ancient history.
Perhaps the child had grown up without remembering the wounds from those days....
But that wasn't the case.
The child remembered every wound from those early days with perfect clarity—everything I had done.
That truth tormented Jeok Ahyun's heart.
What tormented me even more was that I had never properly apologized to the child for those past wrongs.
Jeok Soya had said it plainly.
If I was truly sorry, I should return the toy that Riri had taken from her.
Perhaps that was the chance for atonement Jeok Soya had offered me.
But the reason I couldn't seize that opportunity was....
On the day Riri crossed the threshold of the Joojak Residence, I had sworn to devote everything I possessed to this child.
A sacred ground that could not be touched.
Jeok Soya saw through the very essence of how I treated Riri with such clarity.
A child so pitiful to me, and so precious.
A child who wandered outside the estate without even knowing who her father was until the age of nine.
A wretched child whose core was damaged because of it, unable to even undergo a proper transformation.
A child left behind by my late wife in exchange for her life, yet whom I failed to protect properly—a child carrying countless wounds from my failures.
Riri alone was a child for whom giving everything I possessed would never be enough.
Yet that sacred ground I could not touch had begun to tremble with hairline fractures at some point.
I became acutely aware of it only after Jeok Soya appeared, but I knew the truth.
Those delicate fractures that suddenly bloomed like cracks in porcelain had been shaking me far longer than that.
Jeok Ahyun could not remember the last time he had smiled with genuine warmth.
Before Riri, I always wore a tender smile, but the moment she left my sight, that smile vanished entirely.
I also knew the truth.
That tender smile I showed before Riri was nothing but a masterfully crafted mask.
After three years of living like a madman, I met Riri and thought I had reclaimed happiness.
But something was wrong.
I should have been happy, yet I remained unhappy still.
When was the last time I felt truly happy?
Eight years ago now.
On her sixth birthday, just before her first transformation—when Jeok Soya, unable to sleep from excitement, came to my dark chamber earlier than usual and woke me....
When I spoke with the child, who ate with her spoon in hand, barely touching her food, chattering endlessly about how she too would become a magnificent baby phoenix....
When, unable to bear it any longer, I laughed and fed her rice, and she opened her small mouth like a beak, accepting each spoonful with eager little sounds....
Yes, that was the last time.
The final moment when I felt happiness and laughed with genuine sincerity was....
"...."
As his thoughts reached that point, Jeok Ahyun closed his eyes in anguish, then opened them again.
The child I had pushed away with my own hands would never return to me.
Those happy moments were no exception.
My heart constricted painfully.
Yet for Riri's sake, this was the right choice.
Jeok Hwayou was correct.
If I don't maintain my composure, Riri will only grow more anxious.
'But is this truly the right path?'
Suddenly, a doubt bloomed within me.
At the same time, Riri's face—bearing not a single resemblance to the Late Lady—surfaced in my mind.
Why did Riri share nothing in common with the Late Lady?
Not her face... not her temperament... not a single thing...
"M-Master! Young Master!"
At that moment, Ga Bok from the Jujak Family came rushing over frantically.
"A-a-a demon beast...! A demon beast has appeared at the Imperial Palace Pond right now!"
"What...?"
"Fortunately, the generals who participated in this war are holding it back, but a plant-type demon beast has emerged from within the water..."
Jeok Ahyun's expression hardened like stone.
* * *
This lotus demon beast that burst from the pond looked somewhat different from the ordinary demon beasts Jeok Soya had witnessed thus far.
It was my first time seeing a 'plant-type demon beast.'
I swallowed hard and stared at the creature.
"W-what is that thing? It's disgusting!"
Riri cried out with a look of revulsion.
I glanced back at Riri.
From her reaction, it was clear that the demon beast emerging from the pond was something she hadn't anticipated either.
The appearance of a demon beast in the heart of the Imperial Palace was not Riri's doing.
Above all, Riri had not yet employed her sorcery.
'Then whose work is this?'
I remained vigilant without moving rashly.
Dozens of black petals transformed into hand-like shapes were, as Riri said, utterly grotesque.
Dozens of black hands stretching like vines from the demon beast's body descended upon the boats carrying people.
Crash! Crash! Crack!
As the boats shattered and people screamed.
Slash—
A long blade severed the black hands stretching like vines.
It was Sayeon.
Not only Sayeon, but young generals who had participated in this war were densely gathered here.
With experience fighting demon beasts through the long war, they held back the creature and rescued the people.
Fortunately, Jeok Soya and Riri's boat lay outside the lotus demon beast's range of attack.
I watched the lotus demon beast assailing the people.
The black hands sprouting from the lotus demon beast's petals grew back even as they were severed, again and again.
'You can't defeat it just by cutting it down,' I recalled.
Jeok Soya remembered what she had learned about demonic beasts during martial arts lessons with San Ho.
[Plant-type demonic beasts don't die when cut and regrow, so unlike animal-type beasts, you can't defeat them simply by slashing with a sword.]
[They don't die when cut and just regrow? Isn't that a serious problem?]
[Hehe, don't worry too much, our precious young lady. Plant-type demonic beasts have one critical weakness—fire.]
Just then, San Yu fired an arrow imbued with his flame ability.
His arrow struck the beast's body, but as it thrashed about several times, water splashed up and the flames were extinguished in an instant.
Unfortunately, because this plant-type demonic beast was in the water, conventional methods were useless against it.
'This approach won't resolve the situation. I need to find another way.'
Sayeon and the commanders surely understood this as well.
But at the moment, they were too occupied rescuing the people injured by the beast's attacks from the pond.
Meanwhile, Baek Gahyun quickly stepped forward, directing the remaining family members to attend to those emerging from the water.
Baek Gayul and Seol Yo, stamping their feet and rushing toward the pond to help, were grabbed by the scruff of their necks by Gaya.
"You two can't go. Wait here."
Gaya held both children by the scruff with his hands, dragging them back as he spoke.
"No! I have to protect Jeok Soya! She's on that boat out there!"
"That's right! I have to protect Cottontail! We promised to do that ever since Cottontail first came to Baek Ho Palace!"
Seol Yo and Baek Gayul protested shrilly.
"If you two jump into the pond right now, it won't be Cottontail who's in danger—it'll be you."
"I don't care if I'm in danger!"
"Me neither! I don't care! So let go!"
At that, Gaya raised one eyebrow.
"I care. If you two get hurt trying to save Cottontail, our Cottontail will be upset, won't she?"
"...."
"...."
At those words, Seol Yo and Baek Gayul's mouths closed obediently.
But despite their obedient silence, their eyes still burned with the thought that they needed to rescue Jeok Soya immediately, and they fidgeted restlessly.
Fortunately, Jeok Soya was positioned far from the lotus demonic beast.
She was beyond the beast's attack range, so there was no immediate danger, but to keep Baek Gayul and Seol Yo calm, it seemed best to bring her over quickly.
"I'll bring Cottontail back safely, so don't worry...."
But then.
"Jeok Soya!"
"Cottontail!"
Seol Yo and Baek Gayul cried out simultaneously.
Sensing some instinctive premonition from the children's shouts, Gaya whipped his head around to look at the small boat where Jeok Soya had been.
Splash!
The tiger-human's keen hearing caught the sound of someone falling into the water from a distance.
"Cottontail...!"
Gaya's face drained of all color in an instant.
On the boat where Jeok Soya had been moments before, only the boatman and Riri remained.
Jeok Soya fell into the water.
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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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