TVBC 08

Chapter 8

An unfamiliar face, an unfamiliar voice.

Because she had spent all her time inside the palace, Baeksa’s body shrank back at the sight of a beastkin she had never seen before.

However, the woman approached her with a warm smile and pulled the blanket Baeksa had pushed away back over her.

“The physician said you need to rest a little longer, so please lie down for a while.”

Baeksa was covered in the soft cotton blanket and hesitantly opened her mouth.

“W-Wher… where am I……?”

A ceiling as high as the Imperial Palace, beautifully embroidered bead curtains, and candle holders burning beautifully throughout the room.

Everything inside the room was red, while Baeksa, who was lying there, was completely white, as if proving that she was the only stranger in this room.

So even though Baeksa felt like she knew where this place was, she could not help asking once again.

The maid then spoke with a gentle expression.

“This is the residence of the Zhuque Clan.”

She gently laid Baeksa down properly and continued while checking her hot forehead with the back of her hand.

“Our master found you lying alone in the snow. He ordered us to take the utmost care of you until you woke up.”

“By ‘master’…….”

“The head of the Zhuque Clan.”

At the maid’s words, Baeksa opened her small mouth slightly and nodded.

‘So it really is.’

The man she had seen before she almost died.

He really was a member of the Zhuque Clan.

And he was even the head of the clan.

But when she thought that far, one question came to mind.

Why did he save me?

The Zhuque Clan and the Imperial Palace were not on good terms. It was because the Emperor had abandoned Namto.

Then why had he saved her even though she was wearing clothes from the Imperial Palace……?

‘Maybe he didn’t know.’

If he did not know that the clothes she was wearing belonged to the Imperial Palace, then it made sense.

While Baeksa was hesitating, the maid, who had quickly tidied up the place where the girl had been lying, smiled softly.

“I heard about you from our master. You must have been very cold in that snow, right? Don’t worry. It isn’t cold here. The Zhuque’s flames keep the room at a comfortable temperature.”

So that’s why it was warm?

The child looked around cautiously and nodded.

Only now did Baeksa notice that the clothes she was wearing were not the same ones she had worn when she left the Imperial Palace.

Perhaps the maid in front of her had changed her into new clothes.

New clothes.

A kind touch.

The words ‘Don’t worry.’

All of these things were so unfamiliar to Baeksa that she swallowed nervously.

She did not know what she was supposed to say. The room was warm, and the clothes she was wearing were soft.

But was she really allowed to enjoy such luxury?

‘Maybe.’

Maybe now that she had woken up, they would tell her to leave.

Maybe she would be sent back to that snowfield again.

Her tiny heart sank.

‘I don’t want that.’

She had hated being abandoned twice already, but the thought of being abandoned a third time was terrifying.

Besides, she had already confirmed that no bead would appear, so she could not go back there.

Baeksa blinked helplessly before finally raising her head and looking at the maid.

“Excuse me……”

The child’s voice trembled faintly.

“You said that the head of the clan brought me here…… right?”

The maid nodded.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then…… c-could I perhaps meet the head of the clan?”

Baeksa’s voice trembled as she finished speaking. Her small hands tightly gripped the cotton blanket.

Baeksa intended to meet the owner of this residence and ask him to let her stay here.

It might be a very shameless and unreasonable request. Perhaps he might even become furious and regret having shown her kindness.

But……

‘If not here, I have nowhere to go.’

Baeksa had only two choices left.

Stay here, or be abandoned there again.

She could still feel the coldness of that snowfield buried deep in her bones.

If she were sent back to that place where even her tears froze and could not flow, she would surely die this time.

Baeksa remembered the man’s red eyes that she had seen just before collapsing.

At that time, the girl had thought that perhaps this man would let her live a little longer.

Those eyes had looked hot enough to burn, yet also kind. And for some reason, they felt a little familiar.

She still felt the same way now, which was why Baeksa wanted to meet the head of the Zhuque Clan once again.

‘Of course, if I meet him, I have to tell him everything honestly.’

From her ominous ability to her birth.

She could not lie to the person who had saved her.

At that thought, her chest began to ache.

Perhaps it was because she felt that if she told him everything, no one would welcome her.

Baeksa’s fingertips trembled slightly.

The maid stared at Baeksa quietly for a moment before smiling brightly.

“Of course, miss. I was just about to go tell our master that you had awakened.”

She bent down toward Baeksa and whispered softly.

“I’ll go tell our master, so please rest here.”

“Th-Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. And my name is Sirang.”

Her voice was clear and beautiful.

“While you stay in this residence, I’ll help you so that you don’t lack anything.”

She was different from the palace servants who would frown the moment they saw Baeksa.

So without realizing it, Baeksa softly smiled back.

Her face was still tense, but it was the first smile she had made since leaving the Imperial Palace.

Joo Jeokseo was standing in the hallway leading to his private quarters, staring blankly at a painting.

Along the hallway of the private quarters where he lived, paintings drawn by skilled artists were hung in a long row.

The painting showed two young Zhuque playing happily together. Because it had been painted using brightly glowing red pigments, it shone like flames even at night.

But Joo Jeokseo was not looking at the Zhuque with red feathers.

He was looking at the white Zhuque, Baek Zhuque 白朱雀, painted beside the red Zhuque in a simple yet splendid way.

Joo Jeokseo stood silently, staring at the painting before reaching out and touching the white Zhuque’s feathers with his fingertips.

All he could feel beneath his fingertips was the texture of dry paper.

Long ago, he had wondered if he might somehow feel the softness of the feathers he remembered, but of course, he could not.

Knowing how foolish he looked, he lowered his hand with a bitter expression.

A beautiful white Zhuque covered entirely in white feathers.

A white Zhuque born twenty-seven years ago alongside a prophecy that she would extinguish the flames of the Zhuque.

The only Zhuque young lady of Namto.

And the ill omen of the Zhuque Clan, as well as Joo Jeokseo’s beloved younger sister.

She had disappeared without a trace ten years ago.

Just before the coming-of-age ceremony of the Zhuque Clan, she had disappeared without leaving even a single letter, as if she had never existed in the first place.

After countless days passed, flowers bloomed and withered, yet Joo Jeokseo never saw his younger sister’s face again.

Was she alive? Was she doing well somewhere?

To find his sister, he searched not only all of Namto but the entire Haeseo Kingdom.

Since the Zhuque Clan could not cross beyond Namto, he even asked the White Tiger Clan and Azure Dragon Clan for help in his search for his younger sister.

Because she wasn’t the kind of girl who would disappear for no reason.

She was not someone who would suddenly disappear one day without even saying goodbye to him. Joo Jeokseo was certain that something had happened to his younger sister.

‘Brother, look at this! I can use my ability now!’

‘I can’t make a heating stone with my feathers, but I’m happy that I can decorate your clothes beautifully instead.’

But ten years.

For ten years, he had not only failed to find his sister, he had not even found a single one of her feathers.

If she had really left because she hated Namto, he wished he could at least hear some news that she was living well somewhere.

But not even a single piece of such news had reached him, making Joo Jeokseo’s heart burn with worry.

Perhaps that was why.

‘Please…… save me.’

He could not push away or ignore that girl as she reached out her hand and begged him to save her.

‘She had white hair.’

White was considered auspicious in the Empire, but when it belonged to a snake, things were different.

‘Snake beastkin are generally considered ominous.’

Judging by the fact that the little snake had been abandoned alone in the freezing snow, it was obvious how she must have been treated before coming here.

“……”

He remembered the moment he had first found the little snake in the snow.

In truth, at that moment, Joo Jeokseo had been overcome by the strange illusion that he had found his very young younger sister.

It felt as though his younger sister, who had disappeared ten years ago, had returned in the form of a child and collapsed in that snowfield.

Of course, he knew that it was nothing more than his own illusion. He knew that such a thing could not happen.

But……

Why had his younger sister and that little snake overlapped in his eyes at that moment?

Was it really because their hair colors were similar?

Or had he simply gone mad from wanting to see his younger sister again?

Then, a presence could be heard from far away.

“Master, I have something to report.”

A maid spoke in a clear voice from outside the hallway.

“It is about the young snake lady you brought here last night.”

Only then did Joo Jeokseo’s gaze leave the painting of the Zhuque hanging on the wall.