Chapter 45
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Chapter 45
―How curious. I assumed the one who awakened me would be a tiger from the Western Lands. Yet here stands a fledgling from the Southern Lands.
Baekho murmured with genuine intrigue, having seen through Jeok Soya's true nature as a bird-form human.
Jeok Soya, pressed down by the overwhelming presence of the ancient divine beast, summoned her courage and opened her mouth.
"You are Baekho, aren't you?"
―Indeed, little one. I am the guardian of the Western Lands. A divine beast—Baekho. What business compelled you to awaken me?
Jeok Soya couldn't fathom why the ancient divine beast Baekho stood before her, nor what "awakened" truly meant.
Yet one thing was certain: this ancient divine beast before her was the only hope that could protect Baek Gahyun.
"Please help me, Baekho! Gahyun must protect my older brother! My older brother serves under Sayeon and...."
―Ah.
At the earnest plea in Jeok Soya's voice, Baekho let out a brief exclamation.
―Now I see it. You possess the heart of a divine beast.
"The heart of a divine beast...?"
―Weep no longer, little one. You already possess the strength to protect what is precious to you.
"...?"
Jeok Soya blinked, unable to comprehend Baekho's words.
Yet Baekho offered no further explanation.
Instead, he lowered his head and brought his forehead gently against hers.
From where their foreheads touched, a warm white light enveloped Jeok Soya's body.
"Ah...."
A soft cry escaped Jeok Soya at the gentle radiance.
Baekho's pristine white form gradually diminished, transforming into a luminous white blade that materialized before Jeok Soya.
Clink.
The moment Jeok Soya carefully lifted it, the frozen time shattered and began to flow once more.
The stilled air moved again, brushing past her cheek.
Jeok Soya wondered if she had witnessed an illusion, but the radiant white sword in her hands proved it was no mere fantasy.
She had never wielded a blade before.
Yet the instant she grasped it, she knew exactly how to move.
"What? What just happened...."
Hondon murmured in bewilderment, clearly unaware of what had transpired.
Jeok Soya slowly raised the sword.
Shiiing—!
With the sound of wind being cleaved, the blade traced a pristine white arc through the air.
White light bloomed from the sword's trajectory, extending toward Hondon.
"Ugh, uuuaaaaaaagh!"
Hondon was consumed by white light, his scream cut short.
'I really did it....'
Jeok Soya breathed heavily, bewildered by the fact that she had defeated him.
"Soya...."
From behind, Baek Gahyun's strained voice reached her.
'Ah, this isn't the time for this—I wish Gahyun were here...!'
Snapping back to her senses, Jeok Soya rushed toward Baek Gahyun.
"Brother, are you alright...?"
That was when it happened.
Whiiiiiiish—!
A serpentine vine that had been writhing across the ground suddenly coiled around both Jeok Soya and Baek Gahyun, dragging them down the Cliff in one swift motion.
"Ahhh!"
"Soya!"
Even as they plummeted, Baek Gahyun wrapped his arms around Jeok Soya's body.
Thud!
Both their bodies crashed into the depths below the Cliff.
"Ugh..."
"Brother!"
Baek Gahyun's beast form dissolved as they fell.
Unlike Jeok Soya, who remained unscathed thanks to his protection, his condition was far from good, battered by the successive impacts.
"Brother, brother—you're bleeding..."
Jeok Soya's voice trembled as she gazed at the long gash across his arm.
"There's so much blood. What do I do?"
"At least you're not hurt. That's what matters, Soya."
"That's not what matters! You're hurt like this..."
"As long as you're safe... Ugh."
Baek Gahyun laughed softly before coughing up blood.
"Brother!"
Jeok Soya cried out in alarm.
"I'm fine. I'm fine, Soya."
"You're not fine at all. There's so much blood!"
Finally, Jeok Soya broke down into tears.
"It's because of me—because you were protecting me—if only I hadn't—sob, hiccup, waaah..."
Baek Gahyun reached out and gently wiped the tears from Jeok Soya's eyes.
"Don't cry. When you cry like this, it breaks my heart, Soya."
"Sob, sniff, whimper..."
I had heard words like these somewhere before.
They resembled what Sayeon had said when Riri cried.
Three years ago, he had turned away coldly at my tears, yet I had watched him grieve alongside Riri's sorrow, and I had envied her for it.
Now, hearing Baek Gahyun speak words so similar, I felt such profound sorrow.
"This time, I wanted to protect you, but instead I was protected again. You were truly magnificent just now, our Soya..."
Baek Gahyun's voice grew fainter and fainter, and soon his hand, which had been wiping away her tears, fell limply to his side.
"Brother!"
Jeok Soya shook Baek Gahyun's body, but his eyes would not open.
'I can't cry now. I have to find a way.'
Jeok Soya jolted awake.
'I can't help Baek Gahyun by myself. I need to call for others....'
Isolated beneath the cliff with no way out on any side, there was no means to summon help.
There was only one path.
Jeok Soya lifted her head and gazed upward.
The cliff from which they had fallen was the only way to escape this place.
But the cliff was impossibly high.
'Still, if that's the only way, I have to climb it somehow.'
Without hesitation, Jeok Soya rushed toward the cliff and began to climb.
Yet scaling the cliff proved far more difficult than she had imagined.
Her hands scraped raw, her nails shattered, and blood flowed.
Gritting through the pain, she moved her hands and feet, but kept missing her footing and tumbling back down.
"Ow...."
Her knees split open and bruised, yet like a roly-poly toy, Jeok Soya rose again and repeated the cycle of climbing and falling.
How many times did this repeat?
....
Jeok Soya stared up at the towering cliff above, breathing heavily, her face hollow with despair.
She had grasped the truth of impossibility.
I will never climb this cliff in this form.
'But....'
Yet there was one other way to scale this cliff.
'If I transform into my beast form.'
It was a method she had known from the start. But it was also one she had been too frightened to face.
'Perhaps I could fly up.'
Jeok Soya clasped her hands together and swallowed hard.
She had only transformed of her own will once before.
Yet from that single time, she had lost everything.
She still remembered Father's expression of shock and horror upon seeing her transformed shape.
'The people of Baek Ho Palace are all kind, but they don't know.... They don't know how pathetic and hideous my transformed form is....'
It wasn't that she disbelieved Baek Gahyun's words that any form was acceptable.
Rather, a powerful fear and dread imprinted upon her in childhood had dominated her heart for years.
'But....'
Jeok Soya recalled Baek Gahyun, who had just saved her.
'I promised to protect my brother. I was even prepared to die. Being abandoned is worse than death, but....'
Perhaps they too would recoil in horror upon seeing her.
Calling her an ugly, hideous chick, abandoning her once more as they had three years ago.
'Even if I'm abandoned again, it's fine. As long as I can save my brother.'
But it was fine.
Being abandoned was still worse than death, yet now Jeok Soya had discovered something even more terrifying.
The inability to protect those she held dear.
Now, for Jeok Soya, there was nothing more terrifying in the world than that.
And so Jeok Soya became a fledgling who would do anything to protect those she held dear.
'Yes, I can do anything.'
Even if the pain of being abandoned by those I cherish repeats itself.
'They're family, so I will protect them.'
The moment I thought this, the lock that had been wound tightly around my heart for so long suddenly unraveled, and my body transformed with a resounding 'pop!'
"Chirp!"
My vision plummeted in an instant, and the cry of a fledgling escaped from between my tiny beak.
I felt myself become impossibly small and light as I carefully lifted my wings.
Staring intently at my own wings, I squeezed my eyes shut and fluttered them experimentally.
My tiny body lifted slightly into the air before tumbling down with a heavy thud.
"Chirp..."
I tried to rub my aching rear, only to realize my wings were too short to reach, and gave up.
Instead, I rose again and stood before the cliff.
Fledglings naturally learn to fly from their parents.
I had not been given that privilege, so my flight was clumsy and uncertain.
But I did not give up.
'I can fly. I am a winged creature.'
I spread my small wings and fluttered them with all my might.
My wing joints ached and burned, but I did not stop fluttering.
I poured every ounce of strength I possessed into each beat.
"Chirp!"
Then my body caught the wind and soared upward with a whoosh.
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org