Chapter 18
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Chapter 18
The morning of the second day.
Sayan was startled to realize she had slept deeply without any pain.
Yesterday had certainly been the night of the full moon, when negative energy was strongest during the month.
Yet she had slept so soundly without a single nightmare.
Then she discovered a small stone placed on her desk.
"The fluffy young lady left behind a talisman to ward off ghosts."
"Ghosts?"
Sayan asked back with a puzzled voice at the sudden mention of ghosts.
Then Jeok Young relayed the story that had transpired between Soya and Gayul.
"So the fluffy one brought this to protect me?"
Sayan picked up the stone and laughed softly.
Now that she knew the whole story, this ordinary-looking stone appeared remarkably smooth and beautiful.
"Hmm. Considering I didn't have nightmares all night, it seems to actually work..."
Above all, the thought that she had tried to protect me with that tiny body felt endearing.
"How adorable."
Sayan murmured while rubbing her lips that had curled up slightly.
"Since you've received such a thoughtful gift, wouldn't it be proper to give something in return?"
"You've offered a good opinion for once."
Sayan pondered what gift would be appropriate for Soya before speaking.
"Isn't there a sword His Majesty bestowed upon me last winter? Since I have no use for it, perhaps that would..."
"My goodness, Master! The young tiger lords would be different, but girls her age don't care for such things."
"Tsk, how narrow-minded. Abandon your prejudice that girls don't like swords."
"But that's a real blade! It's heavy and sharp! What if the fluffy young lady gets hurt playing with it! Ordinary beastfolk don't have thick skin like tigers do!"
At those words, Sayan paused. It was a valid point.
"Fluffy getting hurt? That absolutely cannot happen."
Sayan furrowed her brow and fell into contemplation.
* * *
Southern Empire, Land of the Vermillion Bird.
Riri's laughter rang out brightly.
Jeok Ahyun watched Riri running about joyfully with a gentle smile on his face.
Riri seemed to be in an especially good mood these past few days.
Because Riri was in good spirits, Jeok Ahyun's mood lifted as well.
'Thank goodness. I was worried she might have been hurt by that matter.'
Riri learning Soya's secret had been unintentional.
Perhaps it was wrong to have continued hiding it as a secret from the beginning.
Fortunately, Riri quickly shook off her hurt feelings and showed a bright demeanor.
It was while he was spending joyful time with Riri.
Jeok Hwayou came to find him.
"Father, I have something I wish to discuss with you."
"What is the matter?"
Jeok Ahyun raised one eyebrow, expressing his displeasure at having his time with Riri interrupted.
"Might we move to another location to discuss this?"
I was about to tell him to speak here, but my son's expression was far from ordinary.
Thus, Jeok Ahyun left Riri behind and moved to a different place.
Jeok Hwayou hesitated before finally opening his mouth to speak.
"That child is dead."
"...What?"
Jeok Ahyun's face turned rigid in an instant.
For a brief moment, he stood there with a vacant expression, unable to comprehend his son's words.
In the cold silence, he gradually realized that the 'child' Hwayou spoke of was none other than Soya.
"I had intended to provide her with adequate resources and send her far away. Her presence here only causes Riri suffering."
"...."
It was true. Jeok Hwayou had never actually intended to kill the child.
He had merely planned to give her enough wealth to live on and send her to a distant place.
"However, when Samjokoh arrived, the child had vanished, leaving only bloodstains behind."
"...."
Jeok Ahyun's expression vanished as he pressed his lips firmly together.
"This is what was found at that location."
Jeok Hwayou extended a pouch toward his father.
A pause.
Jeok Ahyun's fingertips trembled faintly.
This pouch was the one I had personally attached to the child's garment on the morning of Soya's sixth birthday.
[Father, will Soya be able to do it well? What if I fail? If I cannot become a magnificent Vermillion Bird like you and my brothers....]
[Do not worry, Soya. What does failure matter? The fact that you are my daughter will never change.]
[But....]
[It is fine to be a little slow. If you fail today, you can try again tomorrow, and even if you fail again tomorrow, there will be the day after. So do not be too anxious—simply do your very best.]
I recalled the child's voice, trembling with worry about what would happen if the transformation failed.
Contrary to those worries, the child had executed the transformation with absolute perfection.
If only the child had failed instead, if only I had never witnessed that transformed state.
Would things have been different then?
Jeok Ahyun carefully opened the blood-stained pouch. Inside was....
"Ah...."
A short sigh escaped between Jeok Ahyun's teeth.
A crimson feather.
Once, the child had picked up one of my feathers that had fallen to the floor and asked if she could keep it.
When I told her to do as she wished, she clutched it tightly in her hand and smiled brightly, asking what it was good for.
"...She kept this all this time."
The thought that she had taken this with her on her final journey away from the estate made my heart feel strangely unsettled.
I had loved my wife dearly, and I loved my youngest daughter—born at the cost of my wife's very life—just as dearly.
Everyone who saw Soya suspected the lady of infidelity, for the child bore no resemblance to him whatsoever, yet he refused to listen to such whispers.
I fed her with my own hands, dressed her, put her to sleep, and gave her the greatest love I could offer.
So much so that I never set her down from my embrace, not even for a moment to touch the ground, and her steps came later than those of her peers.
But when I discovered that Soya was not my daughter.
Jeok Ahyun felt the world he had believed in crumble beneath him.
The child my lady had borne at the cost of her own life was not my child.
The woman I loved deceived me and died giving birth to another man's child?
It was horrifying, utterly wretched.
To escape the torment, I ordered her spiritual core to be stripped away.
I could not bear to look upon her, showing not a single trait of the Jujak bloodline.
Though I knew the child was blameless, I resented her nonetheless.
If only Soya had never existed, if only that child had never been born—my lady would not have died. Our family would not have shattered.
Soya, that child, was the root of all tragedy.
The fact that I had believed her to be my own and raised her with these hands filled me with such anguish and despair that I could only regret it.
For the three years that followed, after sending the child to the Cold Palace and abandoning her there, I was never once in my right mind.
Unworthy of the title "sage of the Southern Lands," I spent my nights drowning in drink, living as a madman.
It was only thanks to my second son, Jeok Hwayou, who took the reins of the family in place of a father gone mad, that our house did not crumble.
Then Riri appeared.
I was not wrong, I told myself. My lady had never committed infidelity.
Through Riri's confirmation, I was overjoyed.
Jeok Ahyun vowed to give my poor true daughter—who had wandered the world until she was nine years old—everything the world had to offer.
My attention was so entirely consumed by Riri that I could not spare a thought for Soya, who had been neglected during those three years when I was out of my mind.
When I finally faced Soya again after three years, at Riri's insistence, only then did I truly acknowledge her existence anew.
Yet Jeok Ahyun turned away from that child once more.
Though I pitied her, I resented her still, and I shunned her all the more, as though offering compensation to Riri.
I believed this was necessary, even for Riri's sake.
However, I did not wish for the child to die.
Jeok Hwayou said they could not even find her body.
Jeok Ahyun closed his eyes slowly, then opened them, and in a quiet voice, he commanded:
"Find the child."
"But Father—!"
"Did you not say there was no body?"
"Even if she has not died, she will not live long. Because—"
Jeok Hwayou clenched his fists so tightly it seemed unbearable to speak the words aloud.
"That child's spiritual core has already suffered grave damage."
When Jeok Hwayou had searched to return the spiritual core he had taken three years prior, he discovered that Soya's core, left neglected for so long, had deteriorated severely.
A beast-human whose spiritual core is damaged cannot live long.
Thus, using the Summer Festival as a pretext to cast that child out beyond the estate, he commanded Samjok O to take her far away and care for her.
Until the day her breath ceased.
Someday, whenever that might be.
"...."
Jeok Ahyun regarded his son with eyes that revealed nothing, his gaze steady and unwavering.
After a long silence.
He parted his lips, as though they had been sealed shut for eternity.
"...Then bring me a corpse. Only then can I believe it—that child's death."
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org