Chapter 84
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Chapter 84
"Did you really think I would leave over something so trivial? Have my older brothers been concerned all this time that I don't share your blood?"
At Jeok Soya's crestfallen question, both of her older brothers' faces drained of color in an instant.
"No, no, no! That's not it! Not at all, little one! Absolutely not!"
"There's no way that's true, Soya! We care about you so——!"
"You care about me?"
Jeok Soya raised one eyebrow and caught Baek Gahyun mid-sentence.
"We care about you so very much...."
Baek Gahyun's voice grew quieter and more hesitant, his usual composure crumbling before her. It was unlike the confident older brother she knew.
"It's just that those people are still the family who gave birth to you, and we worried you might waver in your heart toward them...."
"That's what hurts me. That my older brothers would think I'm the kind of person who could be swayed by something like that."
Jeok Soya spoke with measured precision, methodically refuting each of Baek Gahyun's words as she addressed both her older brothers.
"I'm not going anywhere. My true family is only Father, Mother, and my older brothers. And the only home I will ever return to is Baek Ho Palace."
"U, uh, hic, sniff...."
At that unwavering declaration, Baek Gayul began to cry.
"Just as my older brother promised long ago that he would never abandon me, I have no intention of leaving my true family behind."
"Little one...!"
With that, he rushed toward Jeok Soya and swept her into his arms.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
Baek Gayul wept openly as he apologized to her.
Jeok Soya laughed softly and embraced him in return.
She patted his back gently as one would comfort a child and asked him tenderly.
"What are you sorry for?"
"I, I destroyed all of your shoes...."
"You destroyed them rather than hiding them?"
Jeok Soya asked in surprise, her eyes widening.
Baek Gayul's eyes rolled about as he nodded.
"Yeah.... I thought if I just hid them, you'd find them right away...."
"How, how did you destroy them?"
"Well, um, that's...."
Baek Gayul fumbled for an answer.
'He must have destroyed them so badly they can't be worn again!'
When Jeok Soya's face showed shock, Baek Gayul watched her expression carefully before suddenly confessing everything.
"I'm sorry. The truth is, I, I ate them all."
"...Shoes aren't meant to be eaten."
"I know. I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry."
"I'm not scolding you, older brother. But eating things like that—doesn't it upset your stomach?"
"Um.... I don't get stomach upset. I'm a tiger, after all...."
Jeok Soya regarded Baek Gayul with suspicious eyes.
Now that she thought about it, when he had transformed into his tiger form and fled earlier, his lower belly had looked distinctly swollen.
It seems he transformed into his beast form and devoured all my shoes with that enormous mouth.
"It's fine as long as Older Brother isn't hurt. I can always get new shoes."
A short sigh escaped between Jeok Soya's teeth.
"...I'm sorry too, Soya."
Baek Gahyun, who had remained silent all this while, offered his apology with careful deliberation.
"It's not that I didn't trust you... It's that I... I couldn't trust myself... and so...."
Unlike Baek Gayul, who had rushed toward me in tears, Baek Gahyun stood pale and flustered, stammering his apology without drawing any closer.
He couldn't even bring himself to approach Jeok Soya.
It was the complete opposite of the composed, mature demeanor I had always known him to possess.
'That expression... it reminds me of Mother somehow.'
It was a fragile sight that I couldn't simply leave alone.
'Well, I suppose there's no helping it.'
I felt a twinge of hurt that my older brothers had acted so recklessly out of fear that I might leave them.
Yet I understood that beneath their actions lay genuine affection for me.
And so I decided to reach out first.
"Gahyun Older Brother, you feel quite sorry toward me, don't you?"
Jeok Soya approached Baek Gahyun and grasped his hand firmly as she asked.
At that, Baek Gahyun looked at Jeok Soya, his pupils trembling before he managed to respond.
"...Yes, I'm sorry. I'm truly very sorry, Soya."
"Then, to match how sorry you are, will you congratulate me? I finally completed my first growth spurt today."
At Jeok Soya's words, Baek Gahyun's eyes grew red and glistening.
"Congratulations, Soya."
He then pulled her into a tight embrace and spoke.
"Our Soya. Congratulations on growing so wonderfully."
Baek Gahyun offered his belated congratulations in a voice thick with emotion.
"I should have been the first to congratulate you, but I was foolish and far too late, wasn't I?"
At those words, Jeok Soya broke into a bright smile.
"It's not too late yet. There's still plenty of time before today ends."
"Ah...."
"Yeon Jeong told me they've prepared sweet red bean rice cake in the Banquet Hall today. You like that, don't you?"
"...."
"So let's go to the Banquet Hall together and enjoy plenty of delicious food, and then look at my gifts in my room a little later."
At her voice, as warm and tender as always, Baek Gahyun felt his chest tighten.
Toward Baek Gahyun, who couldn't offer any response, and toward Baek Gayul, who still sniffled and made snuffling sounds beside him, Jeok Soya asked a question.
"Oh, and shall we visit Mother next month? The three of us—Gahyun Older Brother, Gayul Older Brother, and me."
"...!"
"...!"
At Jeok Soya's question, spoken with eyes narrowed in warmth, both Baek Gahyun's and Baek Gayul's faces brightened radiant.
"Yes! I want to! Let's go together, little cotton ball!"
"Yes, Soya. Let's go meet Mother."
Watching the two of them deflate so thoroughly before perking up at her single word, Jeok Soya burst into delighted laughter.
"Fluffy! I, I want to see how you've grown properly!"
Noticing her mood had softened, Baek Gayul seized the opportunity and asked eagerly.
"Your older brother is also so curious about how our Fluffy has grown."
"Hmm...."
Jeok Soya narrowed her eyes for a moment, studying the two of them, before speaking in a serious voice.
"Fine. But you can't make fun of me, okay?"
"Make fun? Why would we make fun?"
Baek Gayul rubbed his puffy eyes and tilted his head in confusion.
Poof!
Instead of answering, Jeok Soya demonstrated her transformation directly.
She became a small bird adorned with magnificent crimson feathers along her back, wings, and tail.
"Wow...!"
"You're so magnificent, Fluffy...."
Baek Gahyun and Baek Gayul were left speechless with admiration.
"It's a bit small, isn't it?"
Jeok Soya asked hesitantly, as if gauging their reaction, before taking flight.
As she flapped her wings, a single crimson feather drifted down below.
Having only recently finished her growth spurt, this was a time when her feathers fell particularly frequently.
Baek Gahyun and Baek Gayul squabbled with each other, each wanting to claim Jeok Soya's feather.
At the sight, Jeok Soya fluttered in the air, her laughter ringing out in melodious trills.
Standing a step back, Sayeon also let out a soft chuckle at the scene.
"I thought our little Fluffy was nothing but soft and gentle, but when she gets angry, she's truly terrifying."
"When Miss Fluffy gets angry, her expression is exactly like the Master's, isn't it?"
Jeok Young murmured this observation to Sayeon from beside him.
"Like mine?"
"Yes. The way you raise just these eyebrows like this.... My. I'll have to treat the young lady well from now on."
As Jeok Young made an exaggerated show of concern, Sayeon nodded in agreement.
"Indeed. I had the same thought just moments ago. I'm grateful that I rank above Fluffy."
Sayeon then approached the children.
"It's good to see you've made peace."
He placed his hands on the shoulders of both Baek Gahyun and Baek Gayul, flashing a grin.
"But you'll need to take responsibility for what you did today, won't you, you tigers?"
At that deceptively gentle yet chilling tone, the two young tiger lords trembled visibly.
* * *
For their actions that day, Baek Gahyun and Baek Gayul each received their punishment.
Baek Gayul received a relatively light sentence: he was to thoroughly clean Baek Ho Palace and, as recompense for destroying his sister's shoes, purchase the most beautiful pair of embroidered slippers as a gift for her.
Baek Gayul willingly emptied his allowance and bought Jeok Soya the most exquisite shoes as a gift.
Meanwhile, Baek Gahyun's punishment was considerably more severe.
Sayeon commanded Baek Gahyun to seek out the Grey Wolves, take responsibility for the wrongs committed as a direct descendant of the Baekho Family, offer his apologies, and serve with them as a guard for a fortnight.
Because of this, Jeok Soya had been acutely aware of Baek Gahyun's absence these past few days.
The Festival in the Eastern Lands was drawing near.
Once Baek Gahyun's punishment concluded, Jeok Soya planned to visit the Eastern Lands alongside her older brothers.
She wished to meet Chung Ha and finally witness the Festival of the Eastern Lands that had long captivated her curiosity, but there was another reason as well....
'I must go to the Eastern Lands and awaken the Blue Dragon.'
There was also the matter of confirming the Blue Dragon's divine essence and awakening him.
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