Chapter 147
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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 147
San Yu's reaction was far from normal.
"...?"
Gaya's eyes narrowed at his sudden change.
"Why are you...."
He reached out toward San Yu with a puzzled expression.
A sharp instinct.
Heeding the warning of his animal instincts, Gaya immediately threw himself backward.
Crash―!
San Yu's attack tore through the space where Gaya had been standing moments before.
"Grrrrr...."
A sound like a beast's growl leaked from between San Yu's teeth.
"What the hell, have you lost your mind...."
"Grrrrr...."
He paused.
Gaya sensed something was terribly wrong and furrowed his brow.
And in that brief moment.
Whoosh―!
Gaya's body was sent flying and crashed to the ground.
Boom―!
In the same instant, San Yu pounced on him.
"Ugh!"
"Grrrrr...."
"Damn...you...."
Gaya barely managed to seize San Yu's arms that were tearing at his shoulder, pushing him back as he gritted his teeth.
Whites of eyes stained black and crimson irises.
San Yu no longer looked human—he resembled a demonic beast.
* * *
"Didn't the Jujak Family smuggle out the criminal?"
Jeok Ahyun, summoned for Riri's disappearance from the prison, had to prove his family's innocence before the Imperial Palace's officials.
"After the incident this afternoon, my family members and I have not moved a single step from our assigned pavilions."
Yet the officials did not readily believe his words.
This was because he had already defended Riri once before, even when she had attempted murder within the Imperial Palace.
"Those who received treatment from the criminal are now reporting pain again, one by one."
"The Jujak Family knows well how grave a crime it is to lie in the name of the Divine Beast. Moreover, that cuckoo woman even impersonated the Yellow Dragon's bride under the Jujak name."
"Regardless of how this matter concludes, the head of the Jeok Family and the Jujak Family must bear responsibility together. Remember that His Majesty is watching this situation closely."
"...I understand."
Jeok Ahyun answered with a weary expression to the barrage of accusations from the officials, then walked out.
By then, the sky had grown dark.
'What on earth is happening.'
He pressed his throbbing forehead and pondered.
To vanish so completely without a trace....
The Imperial Palace soldiers had been searching for two hours now, yet they still hadn't found her.
'Could she have used sorcery?'
Deep furrows creased Jeok Ahyun's brow.
Then, spotting a man approaching from the opposite direction, Jeok Ahyun's footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
'Baek Sayeon....'
The other man recognized him too and stopped in his tracks.
His expression carried a desolate, murderous intent.
Ever since encountering this man at the Imperial Palace, he had always shown his fangs toward me, but today his hostility was particularly pronounced.
Yet Sayeon seemed unwilling to exchange words and attempted to pass by.
"How is Jeok Soya...."
Had it not been for that name flowing from Jeok Ahyun's lips, he would have succeeded.
"She is well. I heard she fell ill for several days after that day she fell into the pond. Is the child's body recovered now...."
"Right now, who are you calling by name with that filthy mouth of yours?"
Sayeon whirled around to glare at him, his voice barely containing the seething rage that threatened to overflow.
Ever since that man had asked Jeok Soya to forgive that cuckoo bird in front of the Yellow Dragon Altar this afternoon, Sayeon had wanted nothing more than to tear him to shreds.
He hadn't even recognized his own child, yet he defended and supported a fake daughter who had tried to kill his real one.
Now, to hear him inquire about Jeok Soya's wellbeing as though he cared—it was unbearable.
But he had made a promise with Jeok Soya.
Never again would he fight and return injured in front of so many people, causing her worry.
Sayeon clenched his fists tightly as he recalled his promise to the child.
"...There is something I must ask you."
Yet Jeok Ahyun opened his mouth, undeterred by the raw hostility directed at him.
"On the day you met Jeok Soya and took her away... did the Samjok O of the Jujak Family truly attack her?"
"What?"
One of Sayeon's eyebrows shot up menacingly.
"Now you pretend to know nothing? Why?"
"I heard of it for the first time today. But if that is truly what happened, then that child...."
Jeok Ahyun clenched his teeth and continued.
"She must have believed all this time that we were trying to kill her."
Sayeon asked in a cold voice, watching him squeeze his eyes shut and open them again, his voice anguished.
"Can you deny it?"
"...."
For a moment, Jeok Ahyun inadvertently caught his breath.
"You cast that child into the Cold Palace when she was only six years old. Six years old."
"...."
"At that age, my youngest tiger hadn't even finished learning her letters. She just ran through the mountains and fields. When evening came, she'd return covered in dirt from head to toe, refusing to bathe and running away, only to be caught again. That was her daily life at that age."
"...."
"An age when she should have been carefree and protected in her parents' arms! That was how young Jeok Soya was when you abandoned her!"
Sayeon's neck bulged with veins as he pressed his assault against Jeok Ahyun.
"And yet you did exactly that. You stole that small child's spiritual core and confined her to the Cold Palace. You left that small child without an adult's protection, cast aside by everyone, suffering alone in anguish. And you dare claim you weren't trying to kill her?"
Sayeon remembered.
When Jeok Soya first came to Baek Ho Palace.
That small child who couldn't fully receive the affection people offered, yet busied herself with her tiny frame, desperately trying to be of use to Baek Ho Palace.
Nine-year-old Jeok Soya, who even wounded her small hands in gratitude, vowing to repay her debt to me.
"My cotton ball, my daughter Soya, suffered in agony because of you, terrified of her beast transformation. She believed it was only natural that people would despise her."
Jeok Soya was a child who smiled more radiantly than anyone at a single kind word, at the smallest praise.
She was a child who smiled brilliantly as if she'd received the world's most precious gift from a single warm touch, clutching that hand tightly to herself.
"And now you dare pretend to worry about her?"
Sayeon's fury surged at the sight of the man before him—the one who had made a child smile so brightly at such small, trivial things, who had forced even her laughter to be cautious—now daring to speak Jeok Soya's name.
"You didn't know? You heard it for the first time today? Don't make me laugh. Do you truly believe that wrapping your words in such excuses will earn forgiveness for what you've done to Soya?"
Each word Sayeon hurled became a sharp blade, tearing through Jeok Ahyun's chest.
Yet Jeok Ahyun, unable to fully accept Sayeon's words, raised his voice.
"What do you know? What could you possibly know?"
His neck bulged with veins as he screamed at Sayeon.
"In a single moment, I learned my daughter wasn't of my blood! Those pristine white fur tufts felt nothing but horrifying to me!"
"Horrifying?"
At that word, the thread of reason Sayeon had barely been holding snapped with a sharp crack.
"You don't even know how that small child came to possess those pristine white fur tufts. What? Horrifying?"
Sayeon could no longer contain himself and lunged at Jeok Ahyun.
"You're the one who's truly horrifying!"
"Let go—ugh—"
"You horrifying birdbrain."
Boom—!
Jeok Ahyun's body flew far back from Sayeon's attack.
Sayeon immediately bore down on him, swinging his fists.
"This insane tiger with nothing but durability—"
Whoosh—!
Blazing flames erupted, engulfing both men.
The aggressive flames licked at Sayeon's clothing.
Without hesitation, Sayeon threw himself into the Imperial Palace Pond with a splash.
With a sharp hiss, the flames extinguished.
In that moment, Jeok Ahyun staggered to his feet.
But Sayeon's attack came again without pause, forcing him to dodge immediately.
Boom-crash—!
The pavilion beside the pond shattered.
In an instant, the area around them became a battlefield.
At the sight of the two family heads engaged in hand-to-hand combat, not only the Imperial Palace soldiers but also the officials who had lingered late into the night rushed out.
"Oh my, the family head!"
Ho Jeok Young, who had accompanied Sayeon to attend a Central bureaucratic conference, spotted him and cried out in surprise.
Though rumors suggested his temperament was poor due to his cold impression, he had never acted on impulse since reaching adulthood—or so it seemed.
"How could you cause such a scene in the Imperial Palace without considering the consequences!"
"I don't care. I'll kill that bastard here and beg His Majesty to spare only me."
With those words, Sayeon lunged at Jeok Ahyun once more.
Crash! Bang! Boom—!
As various objects shattered and flew about with tremendous noise, someone sighed with concern.
"Shouldn't we try to stop them?"
"How could mere beasts like us possibly restrain the heads of the Three Great Families?"
"Listen here, Red Fox. Why don't you try to stop them?"
"Me? Why would I? I'm just a tiger seeing this for the first time."
Jeok Young turned away from Sayeon, feigning ignorance.
"Now, don't pretend you don't know anything... Someone's going to get seriously hurt at this rate."
"Ha, if they're going to get hurt anyway, they might as well get hurt badly."
Jeok Young smiled pleasantly and chuckled.
"Of course, if that unfamiliar tiger over there gets even slightly injured, I won't let it slide. I can't bear to see tears in our adorable little lady's eyes."
There were many in Baek Ho Palace who would not forgive Sayeon if he made the young lady cry—not just me.
Jeok Young had already decided it was better to worry about the compensation for the damages Sayeon would cause rather than worry about Sayeon himself. He was a capable aide, after all.
As he stood at a distance, calculating the cost of the broken objects in his mind—
"Grrr..."
An ominous growl echoed from somewhere.
The keen-sensed beasts flinched and turned toward the source of the sound.
"A demonic beast...?"
As someone murmured, demonic beasts emerged one by one from the darkness.
---------------
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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