So-ya looked up at her father with a tense expression.
This was the first time in three years that she had stood face-to-face with him since that day—
The day her first beast transformation revealed that she was not his real daughter.
But the gaze Jeok A-yoon directed at So-ya was utterly dry and emotionless.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
His fingertips rhythmically tapped against the desk.
It was a habit he often displayed whenever he was deeply lost in thought.
So-ya secretly glanced at his hand.
She remembered how gentle those hands had been just moments ago when they stroked Miss Ri-ri’s hair.
And she also remembered how cold and merciless they had been three years ago when they cast her aside.
[Take away the child’s spirit core and imprison her in the Cold Palace.]
The memories of that day—
The freezing air.
The sharp stares.
Those terrifying moments too dreadful for a six-year-old child to endure—
All of them resurfaced and wrapped around So-ya like chains.
“You should know your position already. I will not waste words.”
His calm, carefully restrained voice stabbed sharply into her skin.
“Because of your mother’s greed, Ri-ri was forced to wander the streets before she had even awakened her spirit core. Everything that child should have rightfully enjoyed was stolen by a maid’s daughter.”
“……”
So-ya felt like a criminal.
Her eyelashes trembled, and heat rose around her eyes.
“And so, now that I have finally regained my daughter, I intend to give her everything. Even if everyone else insists it is unreasonable.”
My daughter……
The moment she heard those words, So-ya realized it once more.
Ah…… To Father, only Miss Ri-ri is his daughter.
I can no longer be his daughter… or anything at all.
In truth, ever since that day three years ago, Father and she had ceased to share any relationship whatsoever.
Even knowing that, So-ya had foolishly continued hoping that perhaps one day he would come looking for her again.
Alone in that cold, freezing palace, she waited and waited for a father who never came.
So-ya had lost her mother from the moment she was born.
But despite her mother’s absence, she had grown up bright and cheerful because her father had loved her.
Her older brothers, who used to compete over who would monopolize their little sister’s attention, had also been kind and affectionate.
Still, So-ya had loved her father the most.
To the young So-ya of those days, her father had been her entire world.
Even if he no longer considered her his daughter……
And so, when Miss Ri-ri stubbornly dragged her into this room earlier—
A small part of her had honestly felt excited.
The thought of facing the father she could only secretly glimpse from afar had made her heart pound with anticipation.
It was foolish.
At last, the lingering attachment she could never abandon finally snapped.
“So make sure Ri-ri never learns the truth about you. And if she is hurt because of you in any way……”
Jeok A-yoon narrowed his eyes slightly as he added,
“I will not forgive you.”
So-ya’s throat bobbed painfully.
……But Father, haven’t I already become a child who can never be forgiven?
She swallowed back the thoughts threatening to spill out.
Because she was no longer his daughter.
No longer anything.
Even the love her father had once given her as a child had ultimately belonged to Miss Ri-ri all along.
That realization was unbearably cruel.
“Yes… Clan Head.”
Keeping her head lowered deeply, So-ya answered in a faint, shrinking voice.
As he silently looked down at her, a crack-like fissure briefly crossed Jeok A-yoon’s expression.
For an instant, he sensed sorrow, loss, and even resignation from So-ya.
Such deep and lonely emotions did not suit a nine-year-old child.
Only then did Jeok A-yoon finally lift the gaze he had deliberately avoided and carefully observe the child standing before him for the first time in three years.
Her pale complexion.
Her hunched shoulders.
The way her hands fidgeted helplessly beneath her sleeves.
Her anxious, twitching feet.
And her lifeless voice……
She looked very different from the child he remembered.
The So-ya of the past had not been like this……
What pointless sentimentality.
Coldly severing the unnecessary thoughts beginning to rise within him, Jeok A-yoon dismissed her.
“You may leave.”
So-ya quietly retreated, suppressing even the sound of her footsteps.
Did that child always walk like that?
Like a sinner… holding her breath like that……
“……”
Jeok A-yoon’s face twisted suddenly.
It would have been a lie to say he felt no pity.
But he refused to think deeply about it.
Originally, she had merely been a maid’s daughter, yet he had raised her this far.
Even after she stole his daughter’s place, he had not punished her.
He had neither cast her out nor beaten her.
Compared to the guilt he felt toward Ri-ri, the pity he could spare for this child was insignificant.
Ri-ri—
His true daughter—
Had grown up in the freezing streets without proper food, unable to seek a physician even when sick, mocked as a fatherless child.
The maid who switched the children and fled had raised Ri-ri as her own daughter, but she had never been a good guardian to the child.
Whenever he asked about that woman, Ri-ri’s expression darkened, making his heart ache.
He wanted to seize that damned criminal and interrogate her thoroughly about what had happened—
But the woman had already died three years ago.
And so, Ri-ri had spent three years growing up all alone without father or mother.
She had even failed to awaken her spirit core at the usual age of four or five, only managing her first transformation at nine years old.
And because she had been gravely ill as a child, her spirit core had weakened, preventing her from properly transforming even now.
Yet despite all that pain, the child had desperately forced herself to transform before them simply because she wanted to meet her “real family.”
Whenever he thought of Ri-ri, his chest tightened with grief and guilt toward his late wife.
And so, within his heart, not even the smallest fragment of pity remained for So-ya.
Originally the daughter of a maid who had served the late madam, allowing her to serve the clan’s young lady as atonement was already a generous punishment.
Even though Jeok A-yoon knew So-ya herself was innocent, he deliberately brainwashed himself into thinking this way.
It would not be right to concern himself any further with that pitiful yet brazen child.
After all, each day was already filled with trying to return the love he had failed to give Ri-ri all these years.
The “fake” who had stolen the real young lady’s place had become the real young lady’s personal maid.
It was an absurd farce unfolding within the Vermillion Bird clan, but Clan Head Jeok A-yoon tightly silenced the mouths of all the servants.
“Father!”
Laughing brightly, Ri-ri ran toward him, and Jeok A-yoon lifted her easily with one arm.
Wrapping both arms around her father’s neck, Ri-ri chattered sweetly and showered him with affection.
So-ya quietly watched the warm scene between the Clan Head and the young lady.
“Oh dear, Ri-ri. Your hair has become messy.”
Scolding her gently, Jeok A-yoon untied Ri-ri’s hair ribbon.
“I’ll have to tie it again.”
He handed the loosened ribbon to So-ya, who had been following behind them.
The gesture was as indifferent as the way he treated any ordinary servant girl—
And at the same time, cruel, as though reminding So-ya never to forget her place.
It’s okay.
Staring blankly at the young lady’s ribbon, So-ya repeated the words silently to herself.
Yes. It’s okay.
When she slowly opened her tightly shut eyes again, she saw the Clan Head smiling warmly while gently combing through Ri-ri’s tangled hair with his fingers.
Just as he once used to do for So-ya when she was very young……
“Oh, that tickles, Father.”
When Ri-ri burst into laughter, Jeok A-yoon smiled along with her.
A cuckoo bird flew briefly around the peaceful father and daughter, almost as though blessing the moment, before disappearing into the distance.
……It’s okay. I’m really okay.
So-ya was fine.
It hurt that she could no longer be her father’s daughter, but she was fine.
Her skin stung beneath the contemptuous gaze of the brother who despised her, but she was fine.
The sharp whispers of the servants whenever they saw her, Ri-ri receiving everyone’s love as the true young lady, and even becoming Ri-ri’s maid and watching it all unfold—
All of it was fine.
Because she was……
A wicked little bird who deceived and hurt Father and her brothers.
A sinner who stole Miss Ri-ri’s place and caused everyone pain.
So she truly was okay.
Truly……
On Miss Ri-ri’s ninth birthday—
It was the first birthday celebration since the clan had regained their true young lady.
Clan Head Jeok A-yoon announced that he would hold a grand feast.
And amidst all that, news arrived that the Fifth Imperial Prince from the capital would be visiting the estate.
