Chapter 53
‘This feels really strange.’
Seolyo shook his head vigorously, shaking off the thought.
Then he stealthily trailed after the two on their stroll, creeping along behind the bushes and continuing to spy.
“Young Lady, it’s time to come in now.”
At Yeon-jeong’s call, Soya went inside first.
Irim remained standing in place, gazing at Soya’s retreating figure for a long while.
In that moment, a serene and warm smile rested on his face.
Seolyo didn’t like it.
‘Why is he looking at Soya with a face like that?’
He was grumbling inwardly like that when—
Whoosh—!
Suddenly, Irim turned his head straight toward him.
Seolyo, who had been hiding at the edge of the bushes, ended up locking eyes directly with Irim.
“Eek, eek!”
Startled into a jump, Seolyo promptly tumbled backward with a thud.
In the process, the ginkgo leaves he’d gathered for Soya rained down onto the ground in a rustle.
Irim approached him at a leisurely pace.
Step, step, step.
At the sound of those footsteps, Seolyo bared his teeth fiercely and growled in warning.
“D-don’t come any closer!”
But Irim did not stop walking.
Before long, Irim stood before Seolyo, bending at the waist toward him and offering a gentle greeting in a soft voice.
“Hello.”
“…….”
Seolyo glared at him wordlessly. At those eyes full of hostility, Irim smiled brightly and said,
“You don’t have to look at me with eyes like that.”
“…….”
“I won’t be any threat to you. As long as you don’t harm that child.”
For a moment, Seolyo froze and gritted his teeth.
He had realized who the “that child” was that Irim was referring to.
“I won’t harm Soya!”
Seolyo shouted through gritted teeth.
“I-I’m the one protecting Soya! You’re the one who shouldn’t harm Soya!”
At that, the corner of Irim’s mouth curled up in a slant.
Flinch.
At that smile, which seemed cold at first glance, Seolyo unwittingly hunched his shoulders.
“You have to. That’s the reason I’m letting you live.”
Irim, who had been gazing steadily at Seolyo with chilling eyes, soon turned away.
‘Wh-what was that? Why look at someone like that? So creepy.’
Seolyo grumbled while staring at Irim’s retreating back, not even thinking to get up off the ground.
* * *
Soya’s room.
“Why is that guy your big brother! I hate it! Don’t call him big brother!”
Gayul was rolling around on the floor, throwing a tantrum.
It was because he had just heard Soya call Irim “big brother” moments ago.
Gayul hated the idea of anyone else being called “big brother” by Soya.
He couldn’t accept it as her “real big brother.”
On top of that, the way he spoke and acted as if he knew Soya better than they did!
“Above all, he’s not even family. He doesn’t have the ‘Baek’ character in his name like us!”
“Don’t call him ‘that guy.’”
Gahyeon, who had been silently watching Gayul pitifully as he rolled around beside him, corrected the terminology.
“He’s the Son of Heaven of the Taehwa Kingdom. You have to call him Your Majesty the Emperor properly. Otherwise, you’ll get arrested for lèse-majesté.”
However, even Gahyeon’s expression as he said it wasn’t as good as usual.
“But, Soya. I also hope you don’t get too close to His Majesty.”
Gahyeon looked at Soya and spoke in a serious voice.
“His reputation isn’t the best, from the rumors. I’m worried about you being close to such a dangerous person.”
“But…….”
Soya recalled Irim from earlier in the garden.
He was still the kind and warm person like the prince from her memories.
“That’s just rumors. The His Majesty I know isn’t a dangerous person.”
Soya didn’t want to let herself be swept away by what people were saying and judge him that way.
Even if vicious incidents had occurred around him, there might be reasons she didn’t know about.
She wanted to think of him based on what she had seen and felt for herself directly.
Just like when they had met again at Zhuque Mansion, and despite her tales of the past, he had treated her warmly.
Scrrch.
At the sound of the door opening, the three siblings whipped their heads around simultaneously.
“You’re all here.”
Sa-eon leaned against the doorframe, smiling faintly at the children.
“Father!”
Gahyeon cried out joyfully and jumped to his feet.
“I was disappointed we couldn’t greet you properly earlier. Are all your busy tasks done now?”
Even after returning to Baekho Palace, Sa-eon had been handling the emperor and urgent matters, so he hadn’t been able to properly greet the children.
“Father, why are you only coming now!”
Gayul dashed straight to Sa-eon and leaped up, clinging to him.
He had put on a brave front in front of Soya, but in truth, Gayul had missed his father terribly too.
“Sorry, baby tiger. You didn’t cry because you missed Father, did you?”
“I’m not a baby! I’ll have Primary Growth soon!”
“Yes, yes, Yul-ah.”
Sa-eon scooped Gayul up effortlessly in one arm, bursting into laughter as he stepped into the room.
Then, as he drew the approaching Gahyeon into his other arm, he spotted Soya, who was simply gazing at him with sparkling eyes.
Her face showed she wanted to run over and hug him like her brothers did, but she hesitated, unsure if she was allowed.
Reading her feelings perfectly, Sa-eon spread his arms wide to make space and asked in a deliberately sulky tone,
“Little cotton ball. Didn’t you miss Father?”
“I-I did! V-very much!”
Soya answered right away, as if she’d only been waiting for him to ask.
“Then little cotton ball should hurry over and welcome Father too.”
“Y-yes……!”
Soya scurried into Sa-eon’s arms and snuggled right into them with a poof.
“I missed you all a lot too, my baby tigers and baby cotton ball.”
Sa-eon smiled brightly as he pulled all three children into a group hug.
Surrounded like that in Sa-eon’s sturdy embrace, firm as a fence, Soya jostled playfully with her big brothers and burst into merry giggles.
At that carefree, innocent laughter, Sa-eon couldn’t help chuckling softly.
Did the little cotton ball know? That at some point, she had begun smiling so beautifully like this.
“You guarded Baekho Palace well while I was away, right?”
“Yes, Father. With Jeokyeong’s help, we were able to protect Baekho Palace properly. And every time Yul tried to skip training, I grabbed him and dragged him to the training grounds.”
“Wh-when did I! No, Father! I trained super hard and even got praised by Master!”
Gahyeon and Gayul competed to share updates on themselves.
“What about our baby cotton ball?”
“I kept practicing my Unique Ability because I wanted to try using it again, but it didn’t go well.”
Soya said in a slightly dejected voice.
“You don’t need to push yourself. You haven’t even had Primary Growth yet.”
“But I want to become helpful to you and everyone else as soon as possible.”
“Helpful?”
“Sara said so. That if I can master my Unique Ability, it’ll be a huge help to you and the clan.”
“You’ve been having such praiseworthy thoughts?”
Sa-eon gazed at Soya with feigned surprise, then burst into laughter.
“No one thinks of me like our baby cotton ball does.”
Even as Sa-eon ruffled her hair, the wistful look didn’t fade from Soya’s face.
“Fortunately, I have something to give our praiseworthy baby cotton ball.”
“……?”
“What, Father! You only bought a present for cotton ball?”
Gayul looked at Sa-eon with a betrayed expression.
‘A present from Sa-eon!’
Soya peeked around Sa-eon, her heart pounding with excitement inside.
‘But Sa-eon doesn’t have anything in his hands?’
