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Chapter 08
“Uuuu….”
As soon as I woke up to a freezing cold nose tip, I rolled myself tightly inside the quilt and tucked right into it.
‘The weather is way too cold these days!’
Unlike the Moon World, which was always pleasant and breezy, the mortal world had something called ‘winter.’
Uncle Jang said there were days so cold that even your eyelashes would freeze.
Seeing how freezing cold it was every single morning, that day was undoubtedly drawing closer and closer.
I blinked my hazy eyes inside the pitch-black quilt. The quilt touching my body was cozy, and the floor was piping hot, making it feel like my body was melting away.
Hyaah, if I just take one more nap like this…….
Cock-a-doodle-doo—!
“Ah, the chickies must be awake, too.”
After putting on my cotton-stuffed clothes and padded socks one by one, I opened the door.
“Urrgh, so-so cooold…!”
When the chilly wind blew, goosebumps broke out all over the back of my neck.
However, no matter how cold it was, the mission given to me had to be carried out. I hurried my steps toward the chicken coop.
Perhaps due to the chickens’ body heat and the cozy humidity rising from the straw, the inside of the coop was slightly warm.
“Cluck.”
“Mama Chicken, hello!”
Mama Chicken now handed over her eggs without any fuss. It seemed she had finally figured out that I was taking them while leaving behind the eggs where baby chicks would be born.
After feeding the chickens and laying down an extra thick layer of straw so they wouldn’t get cold, I stepped out of the coop.
“Misteerr—, Uncle Jangg!”
And I sprinted straight to the kitchen where Uncle Jang was.
A short while ago, after returning from his hometown, the uncle had learned many delicious cooking methods from his family and had been pouring his heart into cooking over the past few days.
“Oh my, Tori. Your nose is cherry red! Your hands, too.”
“Heheh.”
When I held out the eggs, Uncle Jang pointed toward the side of the fire pit, telling me to warm up my body quickly.
“I put in some firewood, so the fire will grow big in no time. Let’s see…, what shall we make for breakfast? Steamed eggs, maybe.”
“Woah, steamed eggs! Yay, yay!”
How exciting! Uncle Jang’s steamed eggs were truly delicious, making it the favorite side dish for both me and the lord.
Since the last time he made it was before the uncle went to his hometown, just thinking about it made my mouth water with saliva.
“O-Oh! Then I’ll go let the lord know about today’s side dish, too!”
“Oh my, alright. Don’t run! You might trip.”
“Hehehee!”
Though I received a warning, unable to hold back, the moment I moved a little away from the kitchen, I started running.
‘To worry about a rabbit tripping while running, the uncle is too funny!’
Naturally, without a single stagger, I slipped right into the tunnel.
Before long, I arrived at the courtyard of the main quarters where the lord was.
“My lord! This morning, um, it’s steamed eggs!”
The lord was standing in the courtyard, gazing up at the sky. Giving a fleeting look at me as I ran over, the lord soon looked back up at the sky.
“Tori.”
“Yes!”
“It’s snowing.”
Gasp.
Lifting my head, I followed the lord’s pointing finger upward.
Snow! Snow, you say?!
The sky was blue as always, with fluffy clouds drifting about. And…….
“Euaat?!”
The moment I squeezed my eyes shut at the small, round cloud coming closer and closer to me.
Something touched the tip of my nose and vanished. It was cold.
“W-W-Just now, on my nose…!”
“Indeed. That is snow.”
“Woah….”
So this is what snow is!
Clasping both hands together, I tried gathering the snow onto my palms. The cold sensation was fun.
However, the snow that fell onto my palm immediately turned into water droplets and streamed down.
“By the afternoon, the snow will pile up.”
“Pile up…?”
“Yes.”
How?
However, to me blinking blankly, the lord simply smiled broadly without a word.
Late afternoon.
Aside from Baek Su-jong, who had left on a hunting trip and was absent, everyone else in the Jangsan Tiger Household bundled up warmly in layers of clothing from top to bottom and stepped outside.
“Snow, snoow, snow-!”
Holding tightly onto the large, dark hands of the grown men one by one, Tori was singing a song excitedly.
“Chattering away so brightly, she is.”
Though it was a somewhat unrecognizable song, looking at that cute sight, the corners of Jang Baek-gi’s mouth—holding the child’s small hand tightly—kept twitching.
So did Beom Hyeon, who was walking solemnly beside him.
The two adults were currently on their way to give Tori a snow sled ride.
They soon arrived at a hill on one side of the village.
“We’re heeeere!”
“Oh my, Tori, don’t run! You might trip.”
“…Do you worry about a rabbit tripping when it runs?”
“Rabbits trip too, my lord. Especially if they’re a baby, wouldn’t it be worse?”
“I’m fine! Plus, the snow here is fluffy, so even if I fall, I don’t think I’ll get hurt, heheh!”
As Tori smiled brightly with her face flushed red from the cold, Beom Hyeon and Jang Baek-gi cried out simultaneously:
“No way!”
“Hee-ing….”
The tiny forehead wrinkled at the adults’ scolding. At that sight, Beom Hyeon couldn’t help but chuckle.
In the meantime, Jang Baek-gi lowered his head under the pretext of comforting the child.
“Oh my, did Tori get pouty?”
“I’m not pouty!”
“Not pouty, my foot. Such a cute thing. Should I give you a piggyback ride?”
Since Tori’s eyes immediately began to sparkle, Beom Hyeon hoisted the child up in his arms in a flash.
“Oing?”
“Off limits, off limits.”
“Hey, my lord! What do you mean, off limits!”
Ignoring Jang Baek-gi’s protest entirely, Beom Hyeon bolted away at full speed.
At that, Jang Baek-gi started cutting across the snowfield to catch Beom Hyeon.
“Kyahaha!”
Along with the child’s clear, bubbling laughter, a refreshing sound of mirth echoed across the snowfield.
How long had it been? The cold air entering the lungs with every breath and the crisp chill rising from the ground beneath the feet.
‘Just when was the last time I ran across the snow…’
Beom Hyeon hugged the child tightly—her cheeks flushed red—even closer.
The child in his arms was extremely small.
Because of that, even while holding her, he felt anxious; if his arm strength slackened even a tiny bit, she felt like she might slip right down.
Come to think of it, ever since this child arrived, everything had changed.
In truth, it wasn’t just running across the snowfield that he hadn’t done in a long time.
He, who used to let days slip by hollowly like a corpse, had come to look forward to days when it snowed.
And the Jangsan Tiger Household—which had existed merely without loyalty toward its master or any purpose—was brimming with vitality.
If it weren’t for Tori. If this tiny child hadn’t been here.
Perhaps he would have met Baek Su-jong’s blade aimed at him…….
“Hog-huff-, my lord, now, st-stop…! Why do you go around just running without any reason!”
The chasing game that had continued for a while ended like that due to Jang Baek-gi’s grumbling.
However, another problem arose immediately.
“The person who will take Tori for a ride is……”
It was because of the sled. The moment Jang Baek-gi’s words finished, both men’s hands shot high up into the air.
“…Can’t be helped. Tori shall have to ride the sled twice.”
“Really? Wow, that sounds fun!”
Tori giggled, completely unaware that she had just protected the peace of the Jangsan Tiger Household. Had she said ‘twice is too much’ or ‘I want to try it once and decide,’ the two adults might have displayed behaviors unbefitting of adults.
Anyway, the two decided the sled-riding order through rock-paper-scissors…….
“Let’s go, Tori!”
“Yeeeees!”
Beom Hyeon lost.
Seeing Jang Baek-gi whisk Tori away and vanish in a flash, Beom Hyeon shook his fist in frustration. Snow piled up on the upper branches of a tree tumbled down in a shower.
“…Jang Baek-gi seems to like snow quite a bit. Wouldn’t he like the snow-covered ground, too?”
Of course, that momentary poise vanished at the sound of Jang Baek-gi shouting at the top of his lungs:
“Let’s go!”
“Woooooah!”
“Having fun-nnn?”
“Yeeeees!”
At the joyful laughter of the child, Beom Hyeon leaked a pitch-black aura and kicked at the snow for no reason at all.
And finally, it was Beom Hyeon’s turn.
“Tori, come over here.”
“Yes, my lord!”
Tori scampered over, her cornelian-like eyes sparkling.
How fun will it be this time? How will the lord give me a ride?
With a face bright with curiosity and expectation, Beom Hyeon—who had subconsciously reached out—warmed the child’s frost-bitten cheeks with the back of his hand. Finding it warm, Tori rubbed her cheek against the back of his hand.
‘Like sticky rice cake.’
At that moment, a complaint was heard from behind:
“My lord, stop gratifying your selfish desires!”
Though the momentum of Jang Baek-gi, who was even stomping his feet, was formidable, Beom Hyeon smiled broadly right back at him to show off.
It was a smile befitting a former executioner.
“Let’s go, Tori.”
“Yes!”
Since Beom Hyeon was confident he could give her a much more thrilling sled ride than anyone else, he held Tori securely.
Then, right from the start, the sled leaped high into the air.
The sled suspended in mid-air spun a full circle, then made another long, semi-circular leap.
“Kyaahah!”
At that stunt-like movement, Tori giggled.
“Wow, my lord! You’re the best!”
It was just when Beom Hyeon’s mouth corners shot up high enough that he couldn’t hide them.
At the very end of the hill, the sled—descending at a tremendous speed—came to a sudden, screeching halt.
“Euaaat!”
“Tori!”
First Tori, and then Beom Hyeon—who had reached out his hand to catch Tori—tumbled head over heels out of the sled.
Rolling over and over with Tori held safely in his arms before finally stopping, Beom Hyeon checked on the child.
“…Are you hurt?”
“M-My lord……! I, I’m fine. Sniff, are you okay…?”
“Indeed. Perfectly fine.”
“Sniff, th-thank you so much!”
Her pupils, gleaming like red gems, were damp. Looking down at Tori, who was on the verge of tears, Beom Hyeon dropped his chin right down into the snowfield altogether.
“Tori, you lie down too.”
“Huh? Ye-yes….”
The setting-sun-dying red sky entered the field of vision of the two lying down.
At that beautiful sight, an exclamation escaped from Tori.
“Woah, the sky is so pretty…”
“Do like this.”
“Like this?”
Watching Tori with her mouth hanging open, Beom Hyeon first waved his arms and legs about, and Tori followed suit.
Following the movements of the two people, a shape was drawn into the snowfield.
“There, get up and look. It became a butterfly shape.”
“Woah!”
With her eyes rounded in wonder, Tori hopped up and down.
At that moment, a snowball flew over and landed with a thud right by the foot of Beom Hyeon, who was gazing down at her fondly.
It was thrown by Jang Baek-gi.
“This is retribution for plunging Tori into the snowfield, my lord!”
“Hmph…!”
While snowballs flew back and forth like that for a while.
Tori, who had been riding quietly on the lord’s back, sniffled her nose. Even while giggling, her small body shivered violently several times.
“Uuu… u….”
Cold. It was so cold that even though I curled my head deep inside the quilt, I kept feeling cold….
My teeth chattered, and my whole body ached. Throbbing, stabbing pains flared up all over before subsiding.
Cock-a-doodle-doo—!
“Ch-Chickies, I gotta… give you food….”
Normally, I would have bounced right out of the quilt at this sound, but for some reason, my body wouldn’t listen to me today.
Even lifting the quilt, no, opening my eyes at all was something I couldn’t do.
“Food… chickies, eggs, Mama Chicken…….”
It was right when I was thrashing about like that for a long time.
“Tori!”
This voice… Uncle Jang?
I blinked my eyes over and over to try and see the hazy world in front of me clearly.
However, Uncle Jang’s face wasn’t coming into view properly.
All I could feel was…
“Child, why can’t you get up, why…!”
“C-Cold….”
“Tori?”
That Uncle Jang’s hand resting on my forehead was trembling.
And that it was ice-cold.
“Uuuung…….”
It’s already cold enough, yet a hand like an icicle!
In the end, I whipped my head away.
