Chapter 38
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Chapter 38
Jeok Soya wept for a long while before finally managing to stifle her sobs with a hiccup, and asked.
"Can I, *hiccup*, can I really become Sayeon's family?"
The child's tear-dampened eyes glanced nervously at Sayeon.
"I'm not a tiger, and I don't have magnificent stripes or strong legs, or steel-like teeth...."
"Well, actually, I'd like to ask you that instead."
Sayeon brushed the damp strands of hair clinging to Jeok Soya's cheeks behind her ears and chuckled softly.
"I'm not a cotton ball either. I have no wings, no tail feathers. I'm not even cute. I don't know for certain, but people say I have a terrible personality."
"...."
"Still, I want to become family with this cotton ball. What do you think? Would you rather not have a father who isn't cute and has such a bad personality?"
He asked with an intentionally playful grin to cheer the child, but Jeok Soya's shoulders, which had barely stopped trembling, began to shake again before she burst into even louder tears.
"Father...! Soya is crying again!"
And so Sayeon found himself receiving a full measure of reproach from Baek Gahyun.
Though he felt somewhat wronged, Sayeon found it heartwarming to see how Baek Gahyun was already taking special care of the cotton ball.
After sending the children to their rooms to sleep, Sayeon returned to his Study Room and muttered with a somewhat worried tone.
"By tomorrow, the cotton ball will be all puffy and swollen. Whatever shall I do."
Recalling Jeok Soya's heaving sobs, his heart ached with a tender pain.
This was the first time he had seen the child cry out so loudly.
Jeok Soya rarely cried.
She hadn't cried even when she nearly died at the hands of the Jujak Family's Samjok O, nor when she suffered after eating peaches.
She hadn't cried when Yeong Haek collapsed from injury, and she hadn't cried even when she was lost on the Mountain, or so he had heard.
Only once, when she learned that it was the Jujak Family who had ordered her death, had he seen her shed silent tears—otherwise, he had never witnessed the child weep.
The people of Baek Ho Palace spoke in unison of how gentle and dignified the young lady was, but Sayeon found that deeply troubling.
[That cotton ball of a child. She didn't know how to cry out loud.]
[If she keeps bottling up such anguish, it will hinder the healing of the child's spiritual core. So Sayeon, teach the child how to cry.]
Perhaps it was because of those words Sara had conveyed.
Though his heart ached seeing the cotton ball weep, he felt a quiet pride that the child had finally learned to cry aloud.
"My, you've really done it now, haven't you."
Jeok Young entered through the Study Room door and exhaled heavily with a sigh.
Half an hour earlier.
In the midst of that commotion, Sayeon had the young children, including Jeok Soya and Siyo, sent inside first.
Afterward, Sara came rushing in with a frightened expression, asking where the sachet had come from.
It was revealed to be sorcery from the Northern Lands, and despite this, before certain retainers who argued that punishing the tiger for the sake of a child of unknown status was unjust, Sayeon declared that he would register Jeok Soya into the Baekho Family.
As a result, Baek Ho Palace fell into an uproar.
"However, Jeok Young."
"Why again? What are you about to say that you're calling me in such a lowered voice? It frightens me terribly when the lord speaks to me this way."
"...I've been thinking it over carefully."
Sayeon turned to face the grumbling Jeok Young and spoke.
"Children don't exist for the needs of adults, do they? They're not beings to be consumed for the sake of a family."
Eun Siyo had suffered under the compulsion that she must become the master of the Western End Room at all costs, unable to escape her parents' expectations.
And that obsession had escalated to the point of harming other children.
The child who trembled and panicked the moment their sorcery was exposed was barely ten years old.
"I find it rather strange that these young children compete for the position of direct heir simply because of some archaic tradition about being the Yellow Dragon's bride."
"Pardon? But Lord Sayeon, as you know, that position carries the responsibilities of being a direct heir...."
"The duties of a direct heir. Yes, that's certainly important too."
As the head of the Baekho Family and a descendant of an ancient divine beast, I understood better than anyone the responsibilities and obligations that our direct line must bear.
Thus, I had no intention of neglecting to teach the children their duties as direct heirs.
"But they're still children. So until they grow, we adults should shoulder those duties in their stead. It's far too cowardly to burden immature children with the family's responsibilities."
Sayeon continued in a calm voice.
"What does it matter if a cotton ball isn't a tiger? What does it matter if her claws are weaker than the branch family children's, or if she can't hunt?"
Thinking of Jeok Soya, a faint smile bloomed across Sayeon's face.
"The cotton ball makes talismans well and writes with such lovely, round characters. She eats her medicine without complaint and takes her walks diligently. If I search, there are many more things she does well."
Jeok Young thought Sayeon was indulging in affectionate rambling about the cotton ball lady, until his next words came.
"It's not limited to just the cotton ball. The child from the Eun Ho Family, and the children from the Gal Ho Family and Heuk Ho Family—they surely have many things they excel at too."
"...What exactly are you trying to say, sir?"
Jeok Young narrowed his eyes, unable to discern Sayeon's true intentions.
"My point is simply that there's no need to rank those children."
Sayeon chuckled as he answered.
"Because they're children. They shine brilliantly simply by laughing brightly and running about."
Each child possessed their own unique radiance.
A beautiful, lovely brilliance that shines in its own hue without needing to be ranked against others.
And it would be the responsibility of adults to preserve that radiance from fading.
"Shouldn't we adults protect that brilliance in the children more carefully?"
The children from the Gal Ho Family and Heuk Ho Family hadn't wanted to be adopted, but had come to Baek Ho Palace pushed along by their parents.
The child from the Eun Ho Family, who had desired adoption more than anyone, had buried herself in her mother's embrace and wept when faced with something frightening.
Witnessing this, Sayeon found this custom of pitting children who hadn't even undergone their first growth against each other and separating them from their parents' embrace deeply strange.
"That's why I intend to abolish this strange custom from now on."
So that children can shine as children should.
So they don't lose that radiance while checking each other under the pressure of serving the family.
"Then you truly intend to formally adopt the cotton ball lady?"
Jeok Young asked in a voice of resignation.
"Yes. I've already received her permission. There's no turning back now."
"If that is your will, Lord, then there's nothing to be done about it."
"Don't worry too much, Jeok Young. Even if we fail to produce the Yellow Dragon's bride, our family won't be shaken so easily."
Sayeon smiled with confidence as he spoke.
"Above all, I'll set things right for Jeok Soya's sake."
He was certain of it.
Certain that he could support both Jeok Soya and the family perfectly.
'But more than that....'
Sayeon recalled how Jeok Soya alone had detected the scent of the sachet that no one else had been able to perceive.
The child of the Eun Ho Family had hidden the sachet imbued with sorcery so boldly in the palanquin because they never imagined anyone would detect that scent.
But Jeok Soya had sensed the sorcerous fragrance.
Sara had suggested that this matter might be connected to Jeok Soya's spiritual core.
She said she felt a peculiar energy emanating from Jeok Soya's spiritual core, yet she could not speak with certainty because the child's spiritual core was incomplete.
'A peculiar energy, then....'
Since spiritual energy descended through blood, beast-kin society placed extraordinary importance on lineage.
'But wasn't Cotton Puff originally said to be the daughter of a servant?'
Deep furrows etched themselves across Sayeon's brow.
* * *
The following morning.
Opening my eyes atop the plush bed, I gazed up at the ceiling and murmured vacantly.
"It wasn't a dream...."
My swollen, heavy eyelids testified that last night's memories were no dream.
"I really did become family with Sayeon."
Still unable to believe it, I began patting my own cheeks repeatedly when Yeon Jeong entered the room and our eyes met directly.
"Miss, oh my...! Your eyes are so swollen!"
Yeon Jeong, startled, brought precious ice, wrapped it carefully in cloth, and gently pressed it against my puffy eyes.
I had cried so much through the night that my eyelids felt rough and hot, yet I simply laughed.
In truth, my daily life at Baek Ho Palace had not changed dramatically.
I remained the Cotton Puff young lady of Baek Ho Palace, still occupied the Western End Room, and after breakfast, I held Yeon Jeong's hand for our walks.
Yes, there truly was nothing significantly different, and yet....
'Strangely, today the sunlight feels warmer, and the trees and grass in the Garden seem more verdant. Even though summer has ended and autumn has arrived.'
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org