Chapter 45
―How extraordinary. I thought the child who woke me would naturally be a tiger of the Western Region. To think a baby bird from the Southern Region has awakened me.
Baekho, having seen right through the fact that Soya was a bird beastkin, murmured in genuine wonder.
Soya, who had been overwhelmed by the intimidating presence of the ancient divine beast, finally mustered the courage to speak.
“Baekho-nim, right?”
―Yes, little bird. I am the guardian of the Western Lands. The divine beast, Baekho. What business do you have to wake me?
Soya couldn’t understand why the ancient divine beast Baekho was standing before her eyes or what it meant that she had “woken” him.
But one thing she did know. This ancient divine beast before her was the only hope for protecting Gahyeon.
“Please help us, Baekho-nim! You have to protect Gahyeon orabeoni! Gahyeon orabeoni is… Sa-eon-nim’s……”
―Oh ho.
Baekho let out a short exclamation at the desperation laced through Soya’s voice.
―Now I see. You possess the heart of a divine beast.
“The heart of a divine beast…?”
―You don’t need to cry anymore, little bird. The power to protect what’s precious to you is already within you.
“……?”
Soya blinked, unable to comprehend Baekho’s words.
But Baekho offered no further explanation.
Instead, he lowered his head, gently pressing his forehead to hers with a soft tap.
From the point of contact, a warm white light enveloped Soya’s body.
“Ah……”
Soya let out a short gasp at the gentle, soothing energy.
Baekho’s pristine white spirit form gradually shrank until it transformed into a white sword, placed before Soya.
Clink.
The moment Soya carefully lifted it, time—which had frozen—shattered and began to flow once more.
The still air stirred back to life, brushing past her cheek.
For a moment, Soya wondered if she had imagined it all, but the glowing white sword in her hand proved it was no illusion.
She had never swung a sword before.
Yet the instant she gripped it, she knew exactly how to wield it.
“What? What just happened……”
Chaos muttered in a flustered voice. He seemed completely unaware of what had transpired.
Soya slowly raised the sword.
Whoosh—!
With the sound of slicing wind, the sword traced a brilliant white arc through the air.
White light bloomed from its trajectory, shooting straight toward Chaos.
“Argh, aaaaahhh!”
Chaos let out a final shriek before being swallowed by the white light.
‘I really… defeated it……’
Soya panted, dazed by the disbelief that she had truly vanquished it.
“Soya……”
Gahyeon’s strained voice came from behind her.
‘Oh, this isn’t the time—Gahyeon orabeoni…!’
Snapping back to her senses, Soya rushed to Gahyeon’s side.
“Orabeoni, are you oka—”
It was then.
Whirrr—!
One of the writhing snake-vines on the ground coiled around Soya and Gahyeon, yanking them toward the cliff’s edge and sending them sliding over.
“Aaah!”
“Soya!”
Even as they fell, Gahyeon pulled Soya into his arms.
Thud!
Their bodies plummeted down into the deep ravine below.
“Ugh……”
“Orabeoni!”
Gahyeon’s beast transformation unraveled as they crashed to the bottom of the cliff.
Unlike Soya, who was unharmed thanks to his protection, his condition was dire from the successive impacts.
“Orabeoni, your arm—there’s so much blood……”
Soya’s voice trembled as she saw the deep gash on his arm.
“There’s too much blood. What do we do?”
“But you’re safe, Soya. That’s what matters.”
“That’s not true at all! You’re hurt like this……”
“As long as you’re okay, I’m…… Urk.”
Gahyeon gave a soft laugh before coughing up blood.
“Orabeoni!”
Soya cried out like a scream.
“I’m fine. I’m really fine, Soya.”
“You’re not fine at all. Look at all this blood.”
Finally, Soya burst into sobs.
“It’s my fault. You got hurt trying to protect me. If it weren’t for me, sob, euup, waaah……”
Gahyeon reached out and gently wiped at the corners of her eyes.
“Don’t cry. Seeing you like this breaks orabeoni’s heart, Soya.”
“Sob, hic, sniff……”
She felt like she had heard something similar before.
It reminded her of what Brother Hwayu had said when Young Lady Riri was crying.
Three years ago, he had turned away coldly from her own tears, but seeing him share in Young Lady Riri’s sorrow had made her secretly envious.
The fact that Gahyeon orabeoni’s words—so similar—stirred such sorrow in her now proved it.
“This time, I wanted to protect you, but you ended up saving me again. You were so cool just now, my Soya……”
Gahyeon’s voice grew faint, and the hand that had been brushing her eyes suddenly dropped limp.
“Orabeoni!”
Soya shook his body, but his eyes remained closed.
‘This isn’t the time to cry. I have to find a way.’
Soya jumped to her feet.
‘I can’t help Gahyeon orabeoni alone. I need to get the others……’
Trapped at the bottom of a sheer, enclosed ravine, there was no way to call for help.
There was only one path.
Soya looked up at the cliff above.
The sheer wall they had fallen from was their only way out.
But it was far too high.
‘Even so, if that’s the only way, I have to climb it somehow.’
Without hesitation, Soya ran toward the cliff and began to climb.
But scaling the cliff was far more difficult than she had imagined.
Her hands scraped raw, her nails broke, blood trickled down.
Gritting her teeth against the pain, she clawed with hands and feet, but she kept slipping and falling back down.
“Ouch……”
Her knees bruised and bled, but like a stubborn weed, Soya stood again, climbing and tumbling repeatedly.
How many times did she repeat it?
“……”
Soya gazed up at the dizzyingly tall cliff, breathing raggedly with a hollow expression.
She had realized it was impossible.
She could never climb this cliff—not in this form.
‘But……’
There was one other way to scale it.
‘If I use beast transformation.’
It was a method she had known from the start. But it was also one she had avoided out of fear.
‘Maybe I can fly up.’
Soya clasped her hands together and swallowed hard.
She had voluntarily beast-transformed only once.
But that one time had cost her everything.
She still remembered her father’s shocked expression upon seeing her transformed self.
‘The people of Baekho Palace are all kind, but they don’t know… They don’t know how pathetic and hideous I look when I beast transform……’
She didn’t doubt Gahyeon’s words that it didn’t matter what she looked like.
It was just that the deep-seated fear and terror imprinted on her young heart had long dominated her mind.
‘But……’
Soya thought of Gahyeon, who had just saved her.
‘I decided to protect orabeoni. Even if it meant facing death. Being abandoned hurts more than dying, but……’
They might be shocked by her now, too.
They might call her a pathetic, hideous baby bird and abandon her again, just like three years ago.
‘Even if I get abandoned again, it’s okay. As long as I can save orabeoni.’
But it was fine.
She still hated being abandoned more than death, but now there was something she feared even more.
Failing to protect the people she cherished.
That alone had become the most terrifying thing in the world to her.
And so, Soya became a baby bird willing to do anything to protect those precious to her.
‘Yes, I can do anything.’
Even if it meant enduring the pain of being rejected by those she loved again.
‘They’re family. I’ll protect them.’
The moment that thought crossed her mind, the lock that had bound her heart for so long slipped open, and her body transformed with a soft pop!
“Peep!”
In an instant, her vision dropped low, and a baby bird’s chirp escaped her tiny beak.
Feeling herself become very small and light, Soya cautiously lifted her wings.
After staring at them blankly for a moment, she squeezed her eyes shut and flapped them.
Her little body seemed to lift into the air for a second before plummeting back down.
“Pee-yah……”
Soya tried to rub her sore bottom but gave up upon realizing her short wings couldn’t reach.
Instead, she stood and positioned herself before the cliff again.
Baby birds learn to fly from their parents.
Since Soya hadn’t, her wingbeats were clumsy.
But Soya didn’t give up.
‘I can fly, too. I’m a bird, after all.’
She spread her tiny wings and flapped with all her might.
Her wingtips ached and stung, but she kept flapping without rest.
She poured every ounce of strength she had into it.
“Pee-ee!”
Soon, Soya’s body caught the wind and soared upward.
