Ch#71
[Why are you trying to find that child?]
[What are you going to do once you find that child! Are you planning to raise her like a daughter in Riri’s place again?]
[No! Don’t look for that child!]
[That child stole everything from Riri!]
Riri, throwing a tantrum and rolling around on the floor, looked just like she’d been possessed by a vengeful spirit.
Jeok Ayun’s heart tore in two.
He blamed himself entirely for the wound in the child’s heart running so deep.
And so he promised Riri that he wouldn’t search for that child.
He was curious about the girl named Soya who had been registered in the Baekho Clan……
But if Baek Sa-eon had brought the child into the family registry, she had to be a tiger from one of the branch families.
Soya, not the tiny nestling with that soft, pure-white down he remembered.
Besides, hadn’t Hwayu said as much? That the child’s Yeonghaek was shattered and she wouldn’t live long.
So he resolved to think of Soya as a child who had died and bury the thought deep in his heart.
And so time passed until Riri turned twelve before they knew it.
Unlike the small and delicate Soya, Riri had grown tall and sturdy.
People saw her like that and buzzed that the young lady took after the Family Head, with such a fine build.
Because the late Madam, a red-haired, narrow-eyed beastman, had been very small and slender—nothing like Riri. Just like Soya.
Riri still couldn’t perform Beast Transformation.
But no one said a word about it.
They all knew of the young lady’s childhood trauma.
If anything, they gazed at Riri with eyes full of pity.
But the plucky youngest lady of the Jujak Clan didn’t shrink from the misfortune of being unable to transform.
She grew up all the bolder for it, as if to show the world.
Everyone in the Jujak Clan admired her for it.
Riri hummed a cheerful tune as she admired her reflection in the mirror.
Precious jewels and ornaments her father and Oppa had procured for her were piled high in front of the mirror.
Riri held them up to herself one by one.
Today was the day she and her Oppa were going boating on the river.
She felt good about the rare outing.
It had been three years already since she’d crossed the threshold of the Jujak Clan estate.
Riri was the most beloved young lady among all the bird beastmen of the southern lands.
Whenever she stepped outside the estate, every eye turned to her.
Gazes mingled with reverence and pity.
Riri didn’t mind those looks at all.
The rare jewels and ornaments, her family’s lavish love, the reverent gazes of the people.
She hadn’t known any of it before coming here.
‘What great luck. The blessing of this red hair.’
Riri was brushing back her lush red locks with that thought when—
Throb.
A sudden throbbing pain made her drop the ornament in her hand.
“Urgh……”
Throb, throb.
“Keuk……. Hn……”
Riri pressed a hand to her chest, where her Yeonghaek lay, and gasped in agony.
It was the pain radiating from her Yeonghaek after suppressing her Beast Transformation for so long.
Pain like her core was cracking apart—but Riri bore it down through sheer will.
Only after a long while did the pain finally ebb. She wiped the cold sweat beading on her forehead with the back of her hand.
“Hk……!”
Glancing down carelessly, Riri spotted the gray feather on the floor and jumped in shock.
“Th-this, why……”
Her face drained of color as she checked over her body.
Fortunately, nothing seemed amiss.
She exhaled in relief—just then, familiar footsteps approached from outside.
‘Can’t let him see!’
Riri snatched it up and shoved it deep into a drawer.
The door swung open at the same moment, and Jeok Hwayu stepped in.
“Riri, it’s Oppa. Mind if I come in for a sec…… Riri!”
Spotting her pallor, Jeok Hwayu hurried over in alarm.
“Riri. What’s wrong with your face? Are you hurting somewhere?”
“No, Oppa. Just a little dizzy.”
Riri forced a bright smile despite her ashen complexion.
But Jeok Hwayu’s face stayed grim.
“No, this won’t do, Riri. We’ll put off the boating for another day.”
“No! It’s our promise, Oppa. I’m fine, really……”
“I’m not. You know how my heart races every moment, watching over you when you’ve been so frail since you were little.”
He swept her up in his arms and laid her on the bed, then tugged the servant’s cord to have a basin and damp cloth brought.
Riri was anything but frail now, but she still looked fragile as ever in his eyes—his little sister.
He wrung out the cloth the maids brought himself and dabbed away her cold sweat, fussing tenderly over her.
“You’re Father’s and my one hope, our joy. If you so much as ache a little, this Oppa couldn’t draw breath from the worry. So treasure yourself more, Riri, please.”
“Oppa……”
Riri gazed at him, deeply moved.
Jeok Hwayu, second son of the Jujak Clan.
He had grown too, already fifteen.
With his striking looks stealing the hearts of countless girls across the southern lands, he remained the world’s kindest Oppa, doting on his little sister Riri above all.
Unlike their father, who fretted over Riri’s occasional violence toward the help, he believed anything his sister did was right.
He had to.
Only then could the deeds he’d done at Riri’s behest stop feeling like sins.
* * *
Soya stared blankly at the red feather.
‘What is this?’
Blink, blink.
After blinking at it for a good long while, Soya glanced up at the sky beyond the window.
Birds were flocking through the air.
But none had red feathers.
Soya looked back down at the red feather in her hand.
It glimmered like a flickering flame.
“……”
But soon enough, Soya just—
‘How odd.’
—flung it out the window without a second thought.
Then she called for Yeonjeong, gave her face a quick rinse, freshened up, and went off to find Sa-eon.
“Father!”
Sa-eon, poring over some document with a grave expression in his study, softened at once and turned to her.
“You’re up early, fluffball.”
“A letter came from Mom this morning!”
“Oh?”
“Yeah! Jjakjjagi brought it!”
Soya chattered on about the letter’s contents.
“And Mom said to tell you this too! Even if you miss her, no crying!”
“What?”
“She said you were a total crybaby as a kid. That the first day you met Mom, you cried and begged her not to go home.”
“Huh……”
Sa-eon, listening intently to Soya, flushed beet red at that and scrubbed a hand over his dry face.
“That woman never holds back……”
Soya clapped her hands over her mouth and giggled at her father’s reddening ears.
‘It’s not just my Oppas who love Mom—Father adores her too.’
“Fluffball. Why the cheeky grin? Having fun teasing your dad?”
“Yeah! It’s fun!”
Soya laughed gaily in reply.
Sa-eon, who’d arched a brow for show, couldn’t help smirking at her bright face.
“Baby fluffball’s turned into a little rascal.”
“I’m not a baby anymore!”
Soya bristled at the word.
“You’ve changed, baby fluffball. You used to love it when Dad called you that.”
Lately, Sa-eon felt a pang whenever Soya insisted she wasn’t a baby anymore.
“I’m twelve now, you know.”
“Even at twenty, fifty, or a hundred—you’ll always be Dad’s eternal baby.”
“Where’s there ever been a baby that big?”
“Why not? Could happen.”
Sa-eon plucked a piece of candy from the tray on his desk and held it out.
Soya popped her mouth open on reflex and snatched it up.
Her face eased as the sweet melted on her tongue.
“Heh heh. See? Still a baby after all. One candy and you’re all smiles.”
“!!!”
Soya shot Sa-eon a look that screamed Tricked!
“You’re so mean, Father!”
But the candy’s still delicious.
Chewing away, Soya peeked at the paper on Sa-eon’s desk.
‘Plague……?’
