Chapter 58
“Ah, Father……!”
Riri’s fierce expression changed in an instant.
The face that had been raging like a demon was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a pitiful look that made one want to gather her up and comfort her right away.
Riri ran to her father and threw herself into his arms, bursting into tears.
“Hic, sob, Father…….”
Riri’s tantrums had begun after last summer, when Soya disappeared.
In truth, on the final day of that summer festival, it was none other than Riri who had ordered Samjok-o to eliminate Soya.
Her brother had planned to give the child some money and send her far away, but Riri couldn’t bear the thought of Soya living and breathing under the same sky as her.
Any seed that might one day lead to strife had to be cut out.
And so Riri had commanded her own Samjok-o to kill Soya.
[Make that child disappear without anyone knowing. Before Oppa’s Samjok-o takes her and leaves for far away.]
[Yes? But the Young Master…….]
[You’re Riri’s Samjok-o! You have to do whatever Riri asks! If that child stays alive, she’ll definitely try to take Riri’s place again someday. Do you want me to spend my whole life on edge because of her?]
[Understood, Young Lady. I’ll eliminate the source of trouble myself, so don’t cry.]
Yet for some reason, after that day, Riri’s Samjok-o vanished without a trace.
Still, Riri didn’t worry too much.
She had overheard her brother’s Samjok-o reporting Soya’s death.
‘Even better. I was wondering how to silence them.’
With the irritating Soya gone and the only one who knew about it—her Samjok-o—now missing, Riri actually thought things had turned out for the best.
It was after eavesdropping on her father and brother’s conversation that Riri began to feel anxious once more.
[Find the child.]
They had thought they moved to a place where Riri couldn’t hear them and spoken in secret, but there was nowhere the Zhuque Clan’s precious youngest daughter couldn’t go.
The Patriarch himself had ordered that the child be allowed to enter anywhere.
[……Then at least bring the body. That way, I can believe it. Her death.]
Her brother’s words—that even if the child was alive, she wouldn’t last long—had reassured Riri, but her father’s voice demanding they find the child kept lodging in her mind.
‘What are they going to do once they find that child?’
‘Father is Riri’s father—why search for her?’
‘Does he plan to raise that child like a daughter again?’
Thoughts like these kept surfacing, filling Riri with unease.
‘No. Father’s only daughter is Riri. The only Young Lady of the Zhuque Clan is Riri, and Father and Oppa must love only Riri.’
Whenever her anxiety surged, Riri lashed out even more hysterically.
Her targets were usually the young maids around her age.
And whenever her tantrums reached their peak like this, with her father holding and comforting her, it felt like confirmation of his love, and her heart would settle.
But Riri, nestled in Jeok Ayun’s arms, didn’t notice.
The faint weariness that had settled on her father’s face as he patted her back.
“What’s wrong, Riri.”
“That child tried to steal Riri’s belonging! The norigae Mother gave Riri!”
Riri pointed at the maid sobbing face-down on the floor, huffing indignantly.
Jeok Ayun glanced at the norigae dangling from Riri’s jeogori.
“…….”
It was the one her late wife had left to Soya.
And at the same time, the very thing Riri had taken from Soya.
“N-no, it’s not true, Patriarch. Really, it’s not. I was only trying to straighten the Young Lady’s clothes…….”
“Don’t lie! You were reaching for Riri’s norigae with your filthy hands! You think I wouldn’t notice?”
Riri cut off the maid’s words and shouted.
Jeok Ayun, who had been watching quietly, spoke while soothing the child.
“Riri. It’s not right to lash out at clan members over something uncertain.”
“But…… but…….”
Riri looked up at her father with trembling lips and tearful eyes, then suddenly let out a piercing wail.
“Riri was scared because it felt like I’d lose Mother all over again!”
“…….”
“Riri’s so scared. If someone like ‘that child’ takes my family away again, then, then what’s Riri supposed to do? Uw, hic, waaah……!”
Riri began bawling at the top of her lungs.
Jeok Ayun awkwardly comforted the child.
After finally calming Riri and sending her inside, Jeok Ayun let out a sigh.
Riri’s habits were growing worse by the day.
At first, everyone had tolerated it, thinking the child had a wounded heart and was simply more sensitive than others……
But as time wore on and Riri’s behavior grew ever rougher, Jeok Ayun’s worries deepened.
‘It was the same that day.’
That day, Riri had framed Soya by claiming she stole the norigae.
Falsely accusing someone of theft was undeniably wrong, but no one had scolded Riri for it.
Comforting the shocked and hurt feelings of a mere nine-year-old Riri had seemed more important.
‘But…… I forgot. That Soya was the same age as Riri.’
Abruptly, Jeok Ayun’s thoughts turned to Soya.
He had wanted to find even her body, but in the end, he couldn’t. He’d had no choice but to accept her death.
For such a small child—especially one whose Spirit Core was still imperfect—to survive alone beyond the estate walls was impossible.
At first, he’d found the child repulsive. Then he’d resented her. And when he learned the truth about the switch with Riri, he’d wished she’d never been born at all.
Yet when he heard she was dead……
Why had his heart felt like it was shattering……?
Even as he’d vowed—for Riri’s sake—not to give the child so much as a speck of affection, it seemed he’d harbored some in his heart after all.
The last time he’d seen her was the very next day after Riri learned the truth and the estate had turned upside down.
While sharing tea atop the pavilion with Riri, he’d spotted Soya heading out of the estate.
Without thinking, he’d looked her way, their eyes met for an instant, and he’d immediately averted his gaze.
‘If I’d known it was the last time, I wouldn’t have looked away.’
After learning of her death, the more time passed, the more she crept into his thoughts.
Traces of the child lingered everywhere in the estate.
The bedroom held memories of her first unsteady steps. One wall in the study bore ink scribbles from when she was just learning to write.
The Summer Lotus Pond echoed with her delighted laughter at the blooming lotuses, and the garden paths preserved memories of her chattering endlessly while clutching his hand tight.
And in the estate’s deepest sanctum, the shrine housing the Zhuque Clan’s sacred treasure, the Jujak Divine Bow……
[This is our Jeok family’s heirloom, the Jujak Divine Bow. A treasure left behind by the ancient divine beast.]
[A treasure?]
[Not yet. Once you awaken your Spirit Core and master Beast Transformation, then you can touch it.]
[Phaw…… Soya wants to touch it too…….]
The child had gazed at the divine bow with puffed-up cheeks and eyes full of regret.
Lost in reverie as he wandered the estate’s halls, Jeok Ayun came to a stop before the shrine housing the Zhuque Clan’s sacred treasure.
It was the first time he’d set foot there since that day three years ago.
Creeeak—
Pushing open the old wooden door, which seemed out of place amid the estate’s grandeur, he stepped inside. There, in the center, stood a massive bow adorned with crimson feathers.
The child whose eyes had sparkled at the sight of that divine bow had ultimately departed the world without ever touching it.
“…….”
Jeok Ayun stared at it with an expressionless face for a long while before turning to leave.
But just as he turned away carelessly—
He froze.
In an instant, he whipped his head around.
‘Light……from the sacred treasure?’
