Translator: Nox

Chapter 40

“……!”

Sa-eon’s expression stiffened at the unexpected remark.

“……It’s because the cotton ball still needs time to get used to it.”

“But you call the young masters ‘older brother’ just fine.”

“…….”

Jeokyeong drove the wedge home with a mischievous look on his face.

“Our cotton ball young lady knows it too. The Patriarch’s character isn’t exactly the kind that makes him easy to call ‘Father’…… Ack!”

The moment Sa-eon suddenly flung open the window, the papers stacked on Jeokyeong’s desk scattered in all directions.

“Patriarch!”

“Hmph.”

Sa-eon snorted triumphantly at Jeokyeong, snatching one of the flying sheets.

It was a report summarizing the Silver Tiger Clan’s daughter and this incident.

Siyo had testified that a man in a black mask had come to see her not long ago.

He was the one who had given her the scent pouch made with sorcery from the Northern Land and told her about Soya’s past.

Unfortunately, by the time they searched for the man based on Siyo’s statement, he had already vanished.

‘Who would do such a thing, and for what reason? Was it just for some personal grudge, or……?’

As Sa-eon read it with impassive eyes, lost in thought.

Jeokyeong, who had been sorting the papers, suddenly asked as if it had just occurred to him.

“By the way, shouldn’t we inform Lady Cheongha as well?”

Sa-eon paused.

“She is the young masters’ mother, after all?”

“…….”

Sa-eon’s expression hardened ever so slightly.

* * *

After finishing lunch, Soya went to see Sara.

Sara, who had checked Soya’s spirit core condition, wore a pleased expression.

“You must be taking the tonic I sent well, little one.”

The spirit core’s condition had improved considerably.

The best way to nourish a spirit core separated from the body was to repeatedly undergo beast transformation at intervals, allowing the core to adapt to the body.

However, Soya was afraid of beast transformation.

Realizing this, Sara hadn’t forced Soya to do it and instead helped nourish her body and spirit core with tonics.

‘That said, she can’t avoid beast transformation forever…….’

For now, though, adapting to Baekho Palace was more urgent for Soya.

“If you get a little healthier, you’ll be able to go through primary growth and awaken your unique ability.”

“Really?”

Soya asked back in a surprised voice.

“Yes. So be a good little cotton ball. Keep taking the medicine I send and grow up big and strong.”

“Yes, Lady Sara!”

Soya answered with a bright face.

But Sara looked at Soya with an expression as if something didn’t sit right with her.

At Sara’s darkening expression, Soya wondered if she had done something wrong and sneaked a glance at her.

Then Sara scrunched up her eyes and demanded in a sharp, ringing voice.

“Call me ‘aunt’ too.”

“Is that okay for me to do?”

“If you’re Baek Sa-eon’s daughter, you’re my niece, so of course it is. Don’t tell me you only accept that bastard Baek Sa-eon as family and not me?”

“No, it’s not like that! A-Aunt…… Lady.”

Sara burst into hearty laughter at the timid honorific Soya added.

After bowing politely to Sara and stepping out of the shrine, Soya felt somehow embarrassed.

The two young masters had chased her around all day begging her to call them ‘older brother,’ and Yeon-jeong and San-ho had asked her not to use honorifics with them.

But changing how she addressed them was still too difficult for Soya.

[Let the cotton ball do what’s comfortable for her. Don’t make her uncomfortable.]

Fortunately, thanks to Sa-eon saying that, everyone was patiently waiting for Soya to get used to it.

‘Everyone’s waiting for me, so I need to get used to it quickly…….’

Soya glanced around and, confirming no one was there, muttered to herself.

“Older brother. Aunt. A…… Um.”

Little wrinkles formed on the bridge of Soya’s nose.

“Ah, Fa…… Ugh.”

The one honorific starting with ‘fa’ just wouldn’t come out, and Soya pouted in frustration.

The reason ‘father’ was especially hard to say out loud was probably because, for a long time, Soya had only had one person who was her father.

The man who always came to mind when she thought of the word ‘father.’

Jeok Ayun, the Patriarch of the Zhuque Clan, with flame-red hair contrasting his gentle, soft impression—but utterly cold to Soya.

The man Soya had once believed was her real father.

‘When was the last time I called him ‘father’?’

Soya fidgeted with her fingers, trying to remember.

It was shortly after she had been chased to the Cold Palace.

There, Soya was always alone, believing her family would come someday and waiting endlessly.

One day, she missed her father so much.

So she slipped out through a lax guard post and secretly went to his quarters.

[Fa……! Gasp!]

And when Soya found her father there, she froze in shock.

Under the moonlight, the man with his red hair unbound was staggering around, making beast-like sobbing sounds.

He glanced at Soya with cold eyes, then passed by her side reeking of sharp liquor.

At that moment, he didn’t seem like the father Soya knew.

It was too frightening and shocking.

‘Father’s suffering like that because of me. It’s all because of me…….’

After that, she never thought of going to see him again.

Soya shook her head to shake off the memory.

The scary memories leaked out like this, sticky and clinging to her ankles.

Even after leaving the Zhuque Mansion, she thought of them often.

Her father who had pushed her away, and Hwayu older brother who had scorned her, asking who her older brother even was……

‘Is it really okay to call him ‘father’? What if Sa-eon turns out like those people?’

Lost in thought, Soya picked up a pebble and scratched a picture into the dirt.

Three tigers with round, perky ears were Sa-eon and the two young masters, and beside them, a tiny girl was Soya herself.

But at that moment, a plump black furball popped out beside Soya.

“Seolyo!”

Soya turned with a big smile, delighted.

“Oink, snort!”

Seolyo clumsily drew a lumpy circle next to Soya’s picture with its chubby front paw.

“What’s this?”

“Snort, snort!”

“Is this you?”

Soya giggled at Seolyo’s hard-to-recognize drawing.

“You’re good at writing your name, but you have no talent for drawing.”

“Oink?”

Seolyo tilted its head.

Soya added round perky ears and a long tail to the circle Seolyo had drawn.

Now it looked quite like Seolyo.

“Thanks for that day.”

That day, Seolyo had mimicked Suri’s form it saw on the mountain, turning into a black wolf to carry Soya and race around Horim Mountain.

Thanks to that, they had shown the people the enraged beasts of Horim Mountain and exposed that Siyo had used sorcery from the Northern Land.

Fortunately, it was dark at night, and with all the chaos from the incidents, no one realized Seolyo was a demon beast.

The matter had resolved well that day, but Sa-eon had sat her down separately and said her method was dangerous.

[Even if you hadn’t used such a dangerous method, I would have believed you, cotton ball.]

[But blindly believing me would make you an unfair patriarch. I didn’t want to cause you trouble, Sa-eon.]

[Such a thoughtful little cotton ball. But from now on, feel free to cause me all the trouble you want.]

[Huh……?]

[We’re family.]

Family.

As Soya savored the word once more and gazed quietly at the picture in the dirt.

Seolyo suddenly jumped up and growled at the bushes opposite, staring intently.

“Huh? What’s wrong, Seolyo?”

Soya turned her head in the direction Seolyo was looking.

But there was no one there.

* * *

The man in the black mask quickly hid himself.

The man’s name was Chaos.

One of the Four Evils—along with Qiongqi, Taowu, and Taotie—he was moving on the orders of Hyeonraback, the leader of the Xuanwu Clan.

Disrupt the three great clans so that the Yellow Dragon’s bride could not emerge.

That was his lord’s command.

To this end, he had approached Silver Siyo.

He had planned to use her to eliminate the other girls and ultimately kill her as well.

But his plan, which he thought would be easy, had gone awry.

It was all because of the little bird that had fled the Zhuque nest.

[But the same scent was coming from the other young ladies’ palanquins. I thought something dangerous might happen tomorrow if I left it alone…….]

‘But how did she smell that scent?’

Chaos was puzzled that Soya had detected the sorcery scent.

He would need to investigate the child more.

However, it wasn’t easy to approach her.

Because the child had Baekho Palace’s undivided attention.

But an opportunity would come soon enough.

The Mountain Lord Festival wasn’t far off.