Chapter 81
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Chapter 81
At Sayeon's words, Jeok Soya's face brightened with radiance.
"Yes, Father!"
Jeok Soya laughed brightly, her eyes crinkling into crescents.
Watching her beam with such joy, Sayeon let out a soft chuckle himself.
To claim he felt no worry would be a lie.
The very fact that such a weighty burden had been placed upon his own child's shoulders left his heart unsettled even now, in this moment.
Yet he had not brought her here to bind and restrain her, had he?
Sayeon reached out and gently stroked his daughter's hair with evident pride.
Moments later, after Sayeon departed, Jeok Soya found herself alone and began turning her head this way and that, peering curiously about the room.
In truth, she had been eager since earlier to see what she looked like now that she had completed her first growth stage.
Jeok Soya gathered her energy into her core and attempted to shift into her beast form.
Boom!
In an instant, her body shrank and she felt herself soaring upward through the air.
"Huh...?"
Blink, blink.
Jeok Soya blinked in bewilderment.
"Wh-what...?"
Soon after, as if unable to believe what was happening, her body trembled, and she fluttered toward the mirror.
"This can't be right!"
A single cry of disbelief from Jeok Soya echoed through the chamber.
* * *
After her first growth stage, Jeok Soya had become only slightly larger than when she was a chick.
Yes. That was the problem.
Only 'slightly' larger.
"Chirp, chirp."
At Jjak Jjak's call, Jeok Soya lifted her downcast head.
The way Jeok Soya gazed at Jjak Jjak was different from usual—slightly resentful.
Even after her first growth stage, when Jeok Soya shifted into her beast form, she remained smaller than Jjak Jjak.
To be perfectly honest, after completing her first growth stage, Jeok Soya resembled nothing more than a waxwing with red feathers sprouting from her back, wings, and tail.
The red-headed bullfinch to which her biological mother belonged—commonly called the waxwing—was a small bird species, and even upon reaching adulthood, it was no larger than a child's palm.
'Still, I thought that once I grew, I would become a magnificent firebird like Phoenix.'
Sayeon, startled by her cry, had hurried back and assured her that she need not despair, as she had not yet completed her full growth.
[But my older brothers have only completed their first growth stage, and they're already enormous.]
[Hmm. Are they?]
At those words, Sayeon tilted his head in confusion.
[Compared to a fully matured Baekho, they're quite small, actually.]
[That's small?]
Jeok Soya asked in bewilderment.
Her older brothers in their beast forms were already larger than most adult men, so she could only wonder how much bigger they would become once they completed their second growth stage.
"Once I complete my second growth phase, I'll become quite large too, won't I? Right, Jjak Jjak?"
"Chirp chirp!"
Jjak Jjak fluttered both wings in response to Jeok Soya's question.
It was hard to believe this was the same creature that had collapsed so pitifully after the poison beetle attack not long ago—now radiating perfect health.
Jeok Soya giggled softly, her gaze drifting across the crimson feathers scattered throughout the room.
They had fallen during the times I had undergone my human transformation repeatedly.
Jeok Soya carefully picked up one of them.
"...."
In truth, when I had found a crimson feather in this place not long ago, I had unconsciously realized it was mine.
But my own mind had urged me to pretend I hadn't noticed.
I had wanted to turn away from it.
From the fact that I was a child who carried the blood of that man... of the Jujak Family.
[If you ever cause Riri to suffer because of you, I will not forgive you.]
That man who had spoken in such a cold voice and commanded me to become Riri's servant.
The man who had sought only Riri even when she pushed my body away, even when I tumbled and rolled across the floor.
He was actually my biological father.
When I learned this truth within the illusion that Phoenix had shown me, the sorrow I had poured out was not because I harbored any lingering attachment to that man even now.
It was simply... that Jeok Soya felt melancholy.
That a man who had once cherished me so dearly had become less than a stranger to me because of fate's cruel distortion.
'But if I truly do carry the blood of the Jujak Family...'
Jeok Soya's brow suddenly furrowed as she turned over thoughts of Jeok Ahyun.
'Then what about Riri?'
Jeok Soya recalled Riri, the youngest daughter of the Jujak Family with her brilliant crimson hair.
Within the Jujak Family, Jeok Soya had always envied Riri, and always felt sorry toward her.
A precious young lady of an esteemed house who had spent her childhood unhappily because of me.
I knew that Riri despised me, yet I could never bring myself to hate her in return.
But it was not so.
I had not stolen Riri's place—Riri had stolen mine.
'Riri appeared holding a crimson feather, didn't she?'
Riri, whose spiritual core had weakened as an aftereffect of an illness she had suffered in childhood, had not even attempted to undergo human transformation except on the day she first came to the estate.
'Perhaps her claim that her spiritual core is too weak to undergo human transformation is also a lie.'
Now I had no desire to meddle in the affairs of the Jujak Family.
Whether they cherished Riri as family and doted upon her, I no longer wished to concern myself with such matters.
Yet there was one thing.
[The Lady of the House who has passed... then this belonged to Riri's mother?]
[Why would her mother's possession be with you? Tell me at once!]
The ornament that Riri had snatched from me that day.
Within the illusion that Phoenix had shown me, 'Mother' had pressed that ornament into my hands in her final moment.
Right up until she closed her eyes, she had worried over the small child that was me....
As Jeok Soya grew older, I came to understand that I had no mother, and there were times when I found myself yearning for a mother whose face I had scarcely ever seen.
Whenever I felt that way, I would clutch the ornament Mother had given me and fall asleep, finding solace in its embrace.
It was a precious and meaningful possession to me.
The reason I hadn't tried to reclaim it even after Riri took it from me was because I believed the Lady of the House was Riri's biological mother—but now...
'I must recover it at all costs. That ornament was a gift from Mother to me.'
However, for now, I had to attend to other pressing matters before me.
* * *
After I had cleanly overcome my first growth spurt, Baek Ho Palace became enveloped in a festive atmosphere.
"When our young lady first arrived at Baek Ho Palace in the family head's arms, she was ever so tiny. And now she's already undergone her first growth spurt."
"Of course, our young lady remains as adorable and lovely as a little cotton ball."
Yeon Jeong and San Ho, who were helping me prepare for tonight's banquet, chattered away with even greater enthusiasm than I did.
Having cared for me closely and knowing better than anyone how much I had longed for my first growth spurt, they offered their heartfelt congratulations.
After Yeon Jeong braided half of my hair and rolled it up in a coil, she let the remaining strands fall long and gracefully.
With a butterfly-shaped ornament pinned in place, I looked remarkably mature.
As I admired my reflection in the mirror, I noticed a pile of various gifts stacked in one corner of the room.
"These are gifts sent from various places upon hearing the news of your growth spurt."
"Let me see—that one is from Arang of the Brown Tiger Family, and this gift is from Sahye of the Black Tiger Clan..."
"Ta-da! There's even a gift from the Indigo Wolf Clan here. Not now, young lady. Open it alone tonight when you have a moment."
"So many people are celebrating your growth with us."
My heart warmed at the thought.
"Jeok Soya! Congratulations on your growth spurt!"
Just as I was finishing my preparations, Seol Yo burst through the door.
Seol Yo had plucked every flower from Horim Mountain to offer his congratulations.
Thanks to him, my room was filled with the fragrance of blossoms.
San Ho grabbed Seol Yo by the back of the neck, scolding him for thoughtlessly picking all the flowers and asking when we'd ever finish cleaning them up.
"Huh...? Did I do something wrong, Jeok Soya?"
Seeing Seol Yo droop his eyebrows and look at me anxiously, I let out a small laugh.
"No, Seol Yo. We can clean it up together later. Thank you so much."
Like the floral fragrance that filled the room, my heart swelled with warmth and comfort.
'But...'
As I was about to stand and finish preparing, I suddenly realized what had been nagging at me all this time—a subtle sense of emptiness.
'Why haven't my older brothers appeared?'
Baek Gahyun and Baek Gayul, whom I thought would be the first to celebrate my growth, had been nowhere to be seen all day.
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