TLSVB 39

Chapter 39

Baekyeon hugged Yeongbo, who had suddenly thrown itself into her arms.

The fan made of white feathers softly tickled Baekyeon’s cheek.

The young girl could not understand what was happening at all.

‘This is Yeongbo…’

The only thing Lady Baek Jujak had left behind.

The thing that had not chosen Ahee, preventing her from being acknowledged as a daughter even by the day she came to the Divine Beast Festival.

Why was it reacting to her?

Why had it suddenly leaped into her arms like a puppy?

Standing blankly with Yeongbo in her embrace, Baekyeon looked at Ju Jeokseo.

Ju Jeokseo was staring at her with a distorted expression.

Gently stroking her soft cheek, he said,

“Yeon-ah, Yeongbo recognized the blood flowing through your body.”

His voice trembled.

“That means you are the daughter of this fan’s owner.”

Yet Baekyeon still could not understand.

To her, the existence of a mother had always felt like something imaginary.

As though she had been born from her father alone, without a mother at all, no one had ever spoken to her about her mother.

‘But my mother…’

Was the Baek Jujak of the Jujak Clan?

Then the reason she had been born as a white snake…

Only then did Baekyeon remember the guiding feather she had thought she had “ruined” on the day she first arrived at this estate.

After calming the panicked little white snake who thought she had broken it, Ju Jeokseo had said:

‘Since this feather lost its power when it touched you, it seems this place is your home.’

This must be your home, little snake.

The baby snake had thought that was impossible.

There was no way a place this warm could be her home.

A pitiful, worthless snake like herself belonged not in a warm and gentle place like this, but in a cold, damp cave.

That was what she had believed.

But now…

Really…

“This is… my home…”

Baekyeon looked down at the fan.

Ju Jeokseo had said Yeongbo could not have reacted incorrectly.

Not once had it ever mistaken its owner.

Objects like this were tamed through blood.

Blood recognized blood.

Feeling the blood within her, it had leaped into Baekyeon’s arms.

Holding the soft feather fan tightly, the little snake blinked.

‘Was that why?’

Why she had never wanted to give her belongings to Ahee.

Baekyeon had thought it was because she was greedy.

But now that she thought about it carefully, it felt a little different from greed.

Perhaps it was not greed.

Perhaps she simply had not wanted to lose the few things she had finally managed to obtain.

Drip.

A tear fell from Baekyeon’s eye.

A round, clear droplet rolled down her pale cheek and fell to the floor.

Taking a cautious step toward Ju Jeokseo, she asked,

“Patriarch, why are you making that face…?”

The child spoke softly and gently.

“Are you sad right now?”

“No, little one. I am very happy…”

“Can people cry when they’re happy too?”

“Yes. If you are happy enough, tears can come.”

“Ah.”

Baekyeon opened her mouth slightly.

Then, smiling through her tears, she said,

“Then I must be crying because I’m happy too…”

When she had been falsely accused of things she had never done, she had not cried.

She had been sad and afraid, yet not a single tear had fallen.

But now, tears poured endlessly from her eyes.

In a small voice, Baekyeon said,

“I’ve never cried because I was happy before, so I didn’t know people could cry when they were happy too…”

With her tiny hand, she gently cupped Ju Jeokseo’s cheek.

It was a clumsy imitation of the gesture he had once shown her.

The tenderness of it was heartbreaking.

“Patriarch, does that mean… I was your family all along?”

“Yes…”

“Patriarch, I…”

The little snake carefully threw herself into Ju Jeokseo’s arms.

Baekyeon hugged him tightly.

“When I heard about Myeongyeong, I wished she would come back soon. Because you missed her so much, Patriarch. I didn’t want you to be sad anymore…”

“But now that you’re saying I’m your family, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

The surroundings fell silent at Baekyeon’s honest confession.

She was only seven years old.

So small that she looked barely six.

As the child carefully voiced the truth in her heart, it was the adults who no longer knew what to do.

Even those who had looked down on Baekyeon for carrying the Imperial bloodline could only remain silent.

And if they felt that way, how much more must Ju Jeokseo feel?

He was the one who had rescued this child from the boundary between life and death.

He was the one who had carried the freezing baby snake home, laid her in a warm room, fed her, let her sleep, and brought her back to life.

Because of that, he was also the one who understood better than anyone how harsh a winter she had endured.

And how cruel a life she had lived.

“Little one… Yeon-ah.”

Ju Jeokseo gently pulled the tiny snake into his arms and held her back.

Even nestled against him, her small body left plenty of space.

“I will never leave you alone again. I promise. I will never lose you again.”

He hugged her tightly.

“In place of your mother, I will take responsibility for you and protect you. I will save you and guard you with my life.”

“Patriarch.”

“How lonely must you have been? In that terrible place.”

The Imperial Palace of Haeseoguk.

Who among the beastfolk did not know how merciless that place was?

At the very least, among the beastfolk of the Southern Lands, there was no one who did not know how cold-hearted the Emperor was.

And she was a blood relative whom that Emperor had personally cast aside with his own hands.

There was no need to explain how much suffering the little snake must have endured there.

“I…”

Baekyeon carefully looked at Ju Jeokseo’s face, twisted with sorrow.

Then she lightly pressed her forehead against his.

“If all those lonely times were only meant to bring me to this moment… then I’m not sad about any of it.”

She truly meant it.

The past was already gone.

Once a moment passed, it had fulfilled its purpose.

Though those memories still remained as deep wounds that occasionally tormented her, even those wounds were slowly healing thanks to the kind Jujaks around her.

So the girl did not want to remain trapped by the past.

Rather than resenting it, grieving it, or feeling lonely because of it, imagining the future was much more enjoyable.

She was only seven years old.

By the standards of ordinary beastfolk, she still had a long life ahead of her.

And so, at this moment, Baekyeon truly felt as though she had been compensated for every hardship she had ever endured.

Each time she struggled to continue speaking, the black orb floating above her head shimmered softly.

“Patriarch, I’m really okay.”

How much sadness and loneliness must a child experience to become this calm?

Even adults often burst into tears when faced with moments like this.

As they watched her, tears gathered in the eyes of several Southern Lands beastfolk.

Among them was even the Patriarch of the Ha Clan.

The only people unmoved by the sight were Songhyeon and the nobles who followed him.

Unable to contain the emotions surging inside him, Ju Jeokseo suddenly pulled the little snake into a fierce embrace.

The lovable little snake smiled brightly in his arms.

Transparent tears gathered at the corners of her eyes and fell like morning dew.

Ju Jeokseo imprisoned Songhyeon and his followers.

After all, Ahee had confessed that “Patriarch Song ordered it.”

However, because Ahee was still young and had merely been manipulated by adults, she was not thrown into prison.

Instead, she was completely banned from entering the Jujak Estate and confined with her mother in a small house prepared for the investigation.

Once the investigation was completed and it was determined that neither mother nor daughter was guilty, they would be allowed to return home.

But if guilt was proven, neither of them would return safely.

After all, they had dared to deceive the Divine Lord in the Southern Lands.

And there was another reason Songhyeon’s crime became even more severe.

Baekyeon testified that within the power she had absorbed from Ahee’s ability, she had sensed a force similar to that of the Emperor.

Because of that, Ju Jeokseo began an investigation without ruling out the possibility that Songhyeon was colluding with the Imperial Palace.

Then, after returning from Jeokryusan—

Sirang stared blankly and asked,

“What…?”

Her voice trembled.

“You’re saying… the Young Lady is Myeongyeong’s daughter…?”