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Chapter 13
The baby bird that everyone thought had been asleep was actually still breathing faintly with its eyes closed.
Beep… beep…
Garyul’s heart dropped violently.
It was a fragile breath, as if it could break off at any moment.
“Th-the cotton ball’s breathing is weird!”
“Oh no, I’ll go get a physician!”
Suri was about to dash off to call a doctor when—
“Wait! Not a physician!”
“Eh…?”
“Her spirit core is wrong!”
Garyul instinctively realized it. So-ya’s problem wasn’t her body—it was her spirit core.
“We shouldn’t take her to a doctor—we need to take her to Aunt!”
“W-what? A-Aunt? You mean Lady Sara?”
Baek Sa-eon’s older sister, the shrine maiden of the White Tiger Palace, Baek Sara. She was infamous for her strange and temperamental personality.
Because of that, most people in the White Tiger Palace avoided the shrine whenever possible.
But this was not the time to worry about that.
The adorable cotton-ball girl was suffering.
Suri immediately transformed into a large wolf beastman and carried the young lord and the girl on his back, racing toward the eastern shrine of the White Tiger Palace.
The moment they arrived, Garyul leapt off Suri’s back and slammed on the door.
“Aunt Sara! Aunt Sara!”
With a creaking sound, the door opened.
A woman with long, slightly curled white hair tied elegantly upward appeared. She had a striking yet cold beauty and held a smoking pipe between her lips.
Baek Sara, the shrine maiden of the White Tiger Palace.
“I wondered what rude beast was banging on my shrine door…”
Sara clicked her tongue, glaring down at her third nephew with obvious displeasure.
“So it’s Baek Sa-eon’s youngest beast.”
“Please save the cotton ball!”
Garyul shouted, thrusting his hands forward.
“The cotton ball…! Her breathing is weird! I was watching her carefully with my own two eyes, and then suddenly she just collapsed—!”
In his small hands lay an even smaller snow-white baby bird.
“Is this the cotton ball Sa-eon brought back?”
Sara narrowed her eyes and examined the bird.
Rumors had spread through the palace that Baek Sa-eon had returned late one night with a tiny girl resembling a “cotton ball” and given her the far-west room.
Even someone like Sara, who rarely cared about outside affairs, had heard of it.
Not a quadruped beast… but a winged one.
A small living creature not usually seen in the White Tiger Palace stirred her curiosity—but more importantly, the condition of the bird came first.
Sara gently placed her hand over the baby bird’s tiny body and closed her eyes.
Then suddenly—
Her eyes snapped open.
Golden light surged within her blue irises.
“Bring Sa-eon. Now!”
“Yes, yes ma’am!”
Suri rushed out immediately at her terrifying voice.
South Continent, Land of the Vermilion Bird
Jek Hwayu sat at his desk, processing documents.
Since three years ago, he had taken over his father’s duties.
“Young master.”
A man wearing a black mask appeared.
Jek Hwayu glanced at him briefly.
“Unusual.”
It had only been two days since he sent him out.
He had assumed the man would already have left the southern lands, yet here he was again.
“What happened to her?”
“She is dead.”
He paused.
His hand, which had been turning pages, stopped.
The masked man placed something on the desk.
A bloodstained pouch… and three colorful beads.
Jek Hwayu did not recognize them at first.
Then he realized—it was part of the bead bracelet he had once bought for So-ya on the street.
“It was found at her last known location.”
The masked man continued reporting.
The small girl who had stolen another’s place and deceived everyone had disappeared, leaving only bloodstains behind.
Her body was never found.
“…I see.”
Jek Hwayu dismissed the man.
He covered his face with his hand, exhausted.
She’s dead…
Is she really dead?
He hadn’t intended to kill her. It was just—
“I cannot live under the same sky as that child. If you don’t want to see me die, please get rid of her.”
“I’ll do anything you want. I’ll remove her from your sight forever. So please don’t cry, Riri. It hurts my heart.”
Yes. He hadn’t meant to kill her.
He only meant to remove her far away so she would never trouble Riri again.
Because that child made Riri sad.
Poor Riri.
Just thinking of her made his chest ache.
But why…
The thought that So-ya might be dead made his chest hurt in the same way.
“No. That’s wrong. She is the daughter of the sinner who ruined Riri’s childhood. I shouldn’t feel pity for her.”
Gritting his teeth, he stood.
He had to report this to his father.
But how?
She is dead.
Only bloodstains and a few belongings remain.
No body was found.
Even if she survived, she will die soon.
Because her spirit core is already…
Three Years Ago — So-ya’s Body
So-ya awakened her spirit core on the day of her first beast transformation at age six—only to have it stolen immediately afterward.
Without her spirit core, her body failed to grow properly for three years.
Even worse, attempting forced transformation without a core had severely damaged her body.
And when her spirit core was finally returned recently, her weakened body absorbed its power too quickly, causing a severe reaction.
“This child seems to have lived a long time without a spirit core.”
Baek Sara, now back in human form, looked down at So-ya sleeping weakly on the bed.
“Her small size and frailty are likely because of that. She couldn’t grow properly while enduring the absence of her core.”
Sa-eon’s expression hardened as he listened.
In the beastkin world, stealing a spirit core was a crime reserved for the worst offenders.
That authority belonged to the heads of the four great clans.
And this child lived under the influence of the Vermilion Bird Clan.
Then… the one who stole her spirit core must be…
Jek A-yun, head of the Vermilion Bird Clan.
“There’s more. The core is not just missing—it’s severely damaged.”
“….”
“It wasn’t simply neglected while separated from its owner. It looks deliberately destroyed.”
Baek Sara frowned.
“You’re saying someone intentionally damaged the spirit core of such a small child?”
Sa-eon’s voice was disbelieving.
He remembered the day he first met So-ya—the Vermilion Bird soldiers attacking her.
Was it them?
Jek A-yun, known as the Sage of the South, had a reputation for fairness and virtue.
Completely opposite to Sa-eon, the “mad tiger of the West.”
It was hard to believe such a man would do something so cruel to a child.
“So… I was almost killed? By the people of the Vermilion Bird Clan…?”
So-ya’s tearful voice echoed in his mind.
Sa-eon frowned without realizing it.
The red fox assigned to So-ya had reported wounds all over her body—signs of long-term abuse.
What exactly happened to this child in the southern lands?
“I should send someone south to investigate.”
But the easiest way would be to ask the child herself.
However, if she truly had been abused, asking would reopen wounds.
More than anything, Sa-eon did not want to see her cry again.
Just thinking of her tearful face made his chest ache.
Then—
“Therefore, I used my special elixir to nourish her spirit core and body. If you feed her well, let her rest, and let her play, she will recover soon.”
“Thank you, sister.”
“Don’t thank me. If the core isn’t properly healed, the fundamental problem remains. And as you know, the only way to truly heal a spirit core is—”
At that moment—
“Oh! The cotton ball opened her eyes!”
Garyul shouted, jumping up beside her.
Everyone turned toward So-ya.
“Cotton ball! Are you okay?”
“Are you alright?”
Garyul and Sa-eon spoke in turn.
So-ya, waking in an unfamiliar place, blinked blankly, unable to understand what was happening.
“She was sitting on a rock dozing off, then suddenly collapsed! So I brought her to Aunt Sara!”
“…Ah.”
So-ya’s brows drooped into a sad “八” shape.
She had been sitting on a large rock in the garden, basking in the sunlight.
Sun-chasing was instinctive for bird beastkin, but in the Vermilion Bird estate, she was never allowed to enjoy sunlight freely.
People didn’t like it when she went outside.
But here in the White Tiger Palace, it was different.
Yeon-jeong and San-ho had told her she could walk whenever she wanted.
No one frowned at her here.
No one covered their nose or whispered about her.
There was only that strange tiger young master who kept watching her—but his gaze didn’t feel hateful.
So while Yeon-jeong briefly left her side to report to Sa-eon, So-ya had quietly wandered outside on her own.
She remembered sitting on the rock, basking in sunlight, then getting sleepy… and dozing off.
