Chapter 78
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Chapter 78
―Long ago, a divine oracle was bestowed upon us. On the night when the crimson moon rises, the bride of the Yellow Dragon shall awaken the Four Sacred Beasts from their slumber, dispel the darkness scattered across this land, and bring forth peace.
"The night when the crimson moon rises...."
―And you, born on that very night, shattered my seal.
"...."
Listening quietly to Phoenix's words, I followed the man at a measured pace.
He was heading toward the Inner Quarters of Vermillion Bird Residence.
"Is it time yet?"
"Master, I'm afraid not. If you would just wait outside for a moment longer...."
That was when it happened.
Waa, waa―!
A newborn's cry rang out loud and clear.
"Master! It's a daughter! A beautiful young lady who resembles the Lady of the House!"
Jeok Ahyun burst through the door and rushed inside.
"My dear!"
A delicate woman with reddish-brown hair cradled a swaddled newborn in her arms.
The woman slowly lifted her head.
"Ahyun...."
She called out to Jeok Ahyun, her pale face managing a weary smile.
'So this is the Lady of the House of the Jujak Family....'
Having grown up hearing stories of this woman since my earliest days, I recognized her instantly.
Ah, so this was my mother.
The woman who had always embodied the very concept of 'mother' in my mind.
The Lady of the House of the Jujak Family.
When the Family Head Jeok Ahyun had sought to bind himself to her, many had opposed the union.
The retainers insisted that he, master of the Jujak Family, could never be joined with her of the humble Red-haired Firecrest Clan.
Yet despite the countless objections, Jeok Ahyun welcomed her as his wife.
And to ensure that no one would dare disrespect her, he entrusted her with the position of Keeper of the Phoenix Sanctuary.
I glanced briefly at the Phoenix Sanctuary hanging on the wall.
I had seen it once in childhood, kept at the Sacred Shrine after she had passed from this world.
Jeok Ahyun approached the woman and brushed aside the hair matted to her forehead with cold sweat.
"Would you like to hold the child?"
He accepted the baby from the woman's arms.
His hands trembled slightly as he did so.
"The child resembles you."
He murmured in a voice thick with emotion as he gazed upon the infant.
When I was born. No—when Riri was born.
So this was the face of happiness he wore back then, this man....
I stared intently at Jeok Ahyun's face before lowering my gaze toward the swaddled newborn.
The baby's sparse hair was so pale it appeared nearly white, yet seemed to hold the faintest hint of crimson.
Is that baby me, or is it Riri?
When was I switched?
It was said that the maidservant who served the Lady of the House had switched the babies, but there was no way to know when or how she had committed such an act.
For the people of the Jujak Family, only the fact that the child had been 'switched' mattered.
Red feathers were the mark of direct descent.
An eternal truth immutable since time immemorial.
A single reality that required no doubt, no room for question.
Moreover, the Lady of the House's maidservant, presumed to have switched the child, had long since passed away, making it even more impossible to discover the timing and method.
Above all, whenever that woman's story came up, Riri would darken her expression and clamp her lips shut.
Thus, the head of the household did not bother to investigate the matter further.
Only the return of the 'true child' bearing red feathers held meaning for him—that fact alone.
Yet Jeok Soya sometimes wondered.
'When exactly was I switched with Riri? How did it happen so seamlessly?'
Jeok Soya clenched her fists painfully tight.
The head of the Jujak Family and his family appeared utterly happy.
The two young lords had come as well, lingering beside the baby for quite some time.
'But that happiness will soon shatter.'
Jeok Soya squeezed her eyes shut against the tragedy to come.
Two days later, the Lady of the House's childbed fever descended upon the residence, casting everything in gloom.
The blood-red moonlight that had bathed the estate for days prior now felt peculiarly ominous.
Jeok Ahyun never left his wife's bedside, unable to open his eyes properly.
"The child...."
The Lady of the House pleaded in a hoarse voice.
"I want to hold our child one last time, Ahyun."
At the head of the household's command, the maidservants brought the baby and placed it in the Lady of the House's arms.
"My child...."
A faint smile bloomed across the pale Lady of the House's face.
"Mother loves you so very much, my child.... My Soya...."
"Waaaaah―!"
At those words, the baby burst into tears.
As if sensing the parting from its mother.
At the baby's cries, the Lady of the House's face crumpled with anguish as tears streamed down.
From between Jeok Ahyun's teeth came a groan of agony as he watched.
The Lady of the House patted the crying baby for a long while before slipping into sleep.
And that night. While everyone slept.
The baby that had fallen asleep in the Lady of the House's arms awoke alone.
Whimper, whimper....
Soft whimpering leaked from between the child's tiny lips at that very moment.
Flash!
The Phoenix's sacred shrine hanging on the wall blazed with light, and crimson flames bloomed from the child's fingertips.
The child's startled whimper ceased abruptly.
In the next moment, the flames flickering at the child's fingertips seeped gently into the mother's body.
Simultaneously, the cold sweat beading on the Lady of the House's forehead gradually subsided, and her breathing stabilized into an even rhythm.
―My other name is the Purifier of the Southern Lands.
Phoenix's voice seeped into Jeok Soya's mind once more like a transmitted message.
―Your heart's desire to save your mother, the blood of your direct lineage, and Phoenix's divine essence converged to awaken me.
'From that moment on, I have been connected to Phoenix...'
―Yet it was a newborn, still with an unhealed spirit core, who awakened me—and because of that, you could never achieve a complete connection with me.
'....'
Jeok Soya blinked blankly before suddenly realizing something was amiss.
"Wait, Phoenix. Something doesn't seem right about this."
Jeok Soya spoke toward the invisible Phoenix.
"I'm a fake. I'm not the true daughter of the Jujak Family. And she is...."
Her words trailing off, Jeok Soya gazed at the 'mother' cradling her, smiling faintly.
Even facing death, she smiled with such warmth and tenderness, as though happiness itself radiated from her.
Jeok Soya squeezed her eyes shut and cried out with a trembling voice.
"She's not my mother!"
―....
"You said she was Riri's mother. I'm not of direct lineage, and I don't have crimson feathers...."
Phoenix spoke to the rambling Jeok Soya with a sorrowful voice.
―Little fledgling, you are a noble child of Phoenix, bearing my blood.
"But then why...!"
Jeok Soya remembered. Her sixth birthday, when she attempted her first transformation before everyone's eyes.
Instead of the magnificent Phoenix depicted in her mind's eye, resplendent with crimson flames, she had become a fledgling with only shabby white down.
―You awakened me when you were still young, before your spirit core had even stirred.
"...."
―The sleeping spirit core was startled by the overwhelming power it could not bear, and to protect itself, it sealed away Phoenix's blood.
Phoenix explained.
Why Jeok Soya had never manifested crimson feathers, why she had not yet undergone her first growth.
All of it was because the direct lineage blood dwelling in her spirit core had been sealed.
But moments ago, when Gunggi's poison touched her spirit core, that seal shattered.
Jeok Soya's pupils trembled violently as she absorbed the explanation.
So then, I truly am a daughter of the Jujak Family?
I share blood with those people—we are family?
"But, but...!"
Jeok Soya opened and closed her lips repeatedly, as though struggling to speak.
Suddenly, sorrow welled up overwhelmingly.
"Then why... why did I have to endure such things?"
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