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Chapter 8
An unfamiliar face, an unfamiliar voice.
Having spent her entire life within the palace, Baeksa instinctively shrank back at the sight of a beastkin she had never seen before.
However, the woman approached with a warm smile and gently pulled the blanket Baeksa had pushed away back over her.
“The physician said you need to rest a little longer, so please stay lying down.”
Covered once more by the soft cotton blanket, Baeksa hesitantly opened her mouth.
“U-um… where am I…?”
The ceiling was as high as the Imperial Palace’s, and beaded curtains embroidered with lavish decorations hung around the room. Beautiful candles burned brightly in every corner.
The room was filled with shades of red, while only Baeksa herself was white, as though proving she was a stranger in this place.
That was why she felt she already knew where she was, yet still found herself asking.
The maid smiled kindly once more.
“This is the estate of the Jujak Family.”
After carefully helping Baeksa lie down properly, she touched the girl’s warm forehead with the back of her hand and continued.
“Our master brought you here after finding you collapsed alone in the snowfield. He instructed us to take the utmost care of you until you woke up.”
“By… master, do you mean…?”
“The head of the Jujak Family.”
At the maid’s words, Baeksa parted her lips slightly before nodding.
‘So it really was true.’
The man she had seen before losing consciousness.
He really was from the Jujak Family.
And not only that—he was the family head.
But as soon as she reached that conclusion, a question surfaced.
Why had he saved her?
The Jujak Family and the Imperial Palace were not on good terms. The Emperor had abandoned the Southern Lands.
Yet why would he save someone wearing palace clothing…?
‘Maybe he didn’t know.’
What if he hadn’t realized that the clothes she wore belonged to the Imperial Palace?
If that were the case, it made perfect sense.
While Baeksa hesitated, the maid quickly tidied the area around the bed before smiling softly.
“I heard what happened from our master. You must have been very cold out there in the snowfield, right? But you don’t need to worry anymore. It’s not cold here. The flames of the Jujak keep the room at the perfect temperature.”
Was that why it had felt so warm?
The child glanced around before nodding quietly.
Only then did Baeksa realize that the clothes she was wearing were not the ones she had left the palace in.
The maid before her had probably changed her into fresh clothes.
New clothes.
Gentle hands.
Words telling her she was safe.
Every one of those things was so unfamiliar to Baeksa that she swallowed hard.
She didn’t know what to say.
Warmth filled the room, and her clothes were soft against her skin.
But was she really allowed to enjoy such kindness?
‘Maybe…’
Maybe now that she had woken up, they would tell her to leave.
Maybe they would send her back to that snowfield.
Her tiny heart sank.
‘I don’t want that.’
Being abandoned twice had already been unbearable.
The thought of being abandoned a third time was horrifying.
Besides, now that it had been confirmed that no orb would appear, she could never return there.
Blinking helplessly, Baeksa finally looked up at the maid.
“Excuse me…”
Her voice trembled faintly.
“You said… the family head brought me here.”
The maid nodded.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then… um… would it be possible for me to meet the family head?”
Her voice shook as she finished speaking.
Her small hands clutched the blanket tightly.
Baeksa intended to meet the master of this estate and ask if she could stay here.
It was an incredibly shameless request.
Perhaps he would regret having helped her and become furious.
But…
‘If not here, I have nowhere else to go.’
Baeksa had only two choices left.
Stay here.
Or be abandoned there again.
Even now, it felt as though the bitter cold of that snowfield remained frozen deep within her bones.
If she were sent back to that place, where even tears froze before they could fall, she would surely die this time.
Baeksa remembered the man’s red eyes from just before she collapsed.
At that moment, she had thought that perhaps this man might let her live a little longer.
His eyes had seemed hot enough to burn, yet strangely gentle.
And for some reason, they had felt a little nostalgic as well.
Even now, she felt the same.
That was why Baeksa wanted to meet the head of the Jujak Family once again.
‘Of course, if I meet him, I’ll have to tell him everything honestly.’
Her ominous ability.
Her origins.
She couldn’t lie to the person who had saved her life.
At that thought, a sharp pain pricked her chest.
Was it because she feared that no one would welcome her if they knew the truth?
Baeksa’s fingertips trembled slightly.
The maid watched her quietly for a moment before breaking into a bright smile.
“Of course, Miss. As it happens, I was just about to inform our master that you’ve awakened.”
She bent down slightly toward Baeksa and spoke in a near whisper.
“I’ll go tell him right away, so please rest until then.”
“Th-thank you.”
“It’s nothing at all. And my name is Sirang.”
Her voice was clear and pleasant.
“As long as you’re staying at this estate, I’ll do everything I can to make sure you lack for nothing.”
She was completely different from the palace servants who would frown the moment they saw Baeksa.
Without realizing it, Baeksa found herself smiling back.
Her expression was still nervous.
But it was the first genuine smile she had worn since leaving the Imperial Palace.
Jujeokseo stood in the corridor leading to his private quarters, staring blankly at a painting.
Along the hallway where he lived hung a long series of paintings created by a skilled artist.
The painting depicted two young Jujaks happily playing together. Because it had been painted with luminous red pigments, it glowed like flames even at night.
Yet it was not the red-feathered Jujak that held Jujeokseo’s attention.
What he was looking at was the White Jujak painted beside it—a beautiful creature rendered with both elegance and splendor.
Standing silently before the painting, Jujeokseo traced the White Jujak’s feathers with his fingertips.
All he felt was the rough texture of dried paper.
He had wondered if perhaps he might feel the softness of those feathers from long ago.
But of course, he did not.
Knowing how foolish he looked, he lowered his hand with a bitter expression.
A beautiful White Jujak covered entirely in white feathers.
The pale bird born twenty-seven years ago alongside a prophecy that it would extinguish the flames of the Jujak.
The only Jujak Lady the Southern Lands had ever known.
The ill omen of the Jujak Clan.
And Jujeokseo’s beloved younger sister.
Ten years ago, she vanished without a trace.
Just before the coming-of-age ceremony of the Jujak Clan, she disappeared as though she had never existed, leaving behind not even a single letter.
Countless years passed after that.
Flowers bloomed and withered.
Yet Jujeokseo never saw his sister’s face again.
Was she still alive?
Was she doing well?
To find her, he searched not only the Southern Lands but the entirety of Haeseo Kingdom.
The Jujak Clan could not leave the Southern Lands, yet he still sought assistance from the Baekho Family and the Cheongryong Family in his efforts to find her.
Because she was not the sort of child who would disappear without reason.
She was not someone who would leave without even saying goodbye.
Jujeokseo was certain that something had happened to his younger sister.
“Oppa, look at this! I can use my ability now!”
“I can’t make warmth stones from my feathers, but I’m happy that I can decorate your clothes beautifully instead.”
But ten years.
For ten long years, he had not even found a single feather belonging to her.
If she had truly left because she hated the Southern Lands, then he wished he could at least hear that she was living happily somewhere.
Yet not even such a small piece of news ever reached him.
And that tormented him.
Was that why…
Why he had been unable to ignore or turn away the child who had reached out to him and begged for help?
“Please… save me…”
‘White hair.’
White was generally considered auspicious throughout the Empire.
But when it belonged to a snake, the situation was different.
‘Snake beastkin are treated as ill omens to begin with.’
Judging by the fact that she had been abandoned alone in a freezing snowfield, it was painfully obvious what kind of treatment the little snake girl must have endured before arriving here.
“…”
He recalled the moment he had first discovered her.
The truth was, for a brief instant, Jujeokseo had felt as though he had found his little sister.
As though the sister who had vanished ten years ago had returned in the form of a child and collapsed there in the snow.
Of course, he knew that was impossible.
It was nothing more than an illusion.
And yet…
Why had his sister and that little snake girl seemed to overlap in his mind?
Was it truly only because their hair colors were similar?
Or had his longing to see his sister again finally driven him mad?
Just then, he heard footsteps approaching from afar.
“Master, I have something to report.”
A maid’s clear voice called from outside the corridor.
“It’s regarding the little snake girl you brought back last night.”
Only then did Jujeokseo’s gaze finally leave the painting hanging on the wall.
