The Squirrel Will Raise The Baby Tiger [Novel] Chapter 9 – Uninvited Guests Beyond the Fence

The Baby Tiger Will Be Raised by a Squirrel

I strained my ears to locate the source of the voice.

Fortunately, the other young ladies seemed too absorbed in their lively chatter to notice anything.

The sound had clearly come from past the cottage on one side of the garden.

Quickly wrapping my share of cookies in a napkin, I tucked them into the folds of my skirt.

When I slipped behind the cottage, I spotted tree branches trembling frantically in the woods beyond the fence.

Pressing a hand over my uneasy chest, I walked toward them.

The clumsy rustling carried on without pause.

‘D-don’t tell me those rascals….’

Right, a three-year-old toddler could never have made it here alone.

Someone had brought him.

And that someone could only be one of the few who were actually capable of reaching this place.

Thankfully, the ladies and Blan Castle’s staff were all gathered inside the gazebo, leaving this area completely deserted.

At that moment, a baby squirrel popped out from the woods.

I quickly scooped up Jackjack as he leapt into my arms.

Barely three years old, Jackjack had yet to master his human transformation and still retained the traits of a baby squirrel.

Perked-up ears, dark stripes tracing along his neck and down his back, and a tiny bushy tail to match.

Surely the most adorable creature on the face of the earth looked just like this.

He was a child who brought a smile to your face whenever you looked at him.

A moment later, Rion and Lily showed themselves right where Jackjack had darted out.

Rion and Lily were my twelve-year-old fraternal twin siblings.

If something urgent had come up and they needed me, they could have simply walked up to the main gates of Blan Castle.

Burrowing deep into my embrace, Jackjack rubbed his forehead against me, sniffling tearfully.

Lily hung her head low, clutching the fabric of her skirt tightly in her fists.

Rion spoke in a small, humbled whisper.

Out of guilt, he couldn’t look me directly in the eye either.

It seemed the root cause of this whole predicament was this tearful little troublemaker.

I gently patted Jackjack’s back, soothing him until the weeping subsided.

He clearly wanted them. Unable to bring himself to refuse, Jackjack just gripped my shoulder and snuffled.

As if he had never shed a tear in his life, Jackjack stopped crying instantly and pulled his face away from my chest.

Then, with tear-glistening eyes, he stared down at the cookies in my hand.

Setting Jackjack on the ground, I handed out a cookie to each of my siblings.

Jackjack and Rion had popped theirs straight into their mouths the second they received them, but Lily paused and asked.

Reassured at last, Lily began munching happily on her cookie.

Nibbling furiously with an expression as if he were eating happiness itself, Jackjack nodded with enthusiasm.

Watching them, a fierce desire took hold of me: I truly, desperately wanted to work here.

I could save portions of the food served to me to feed my siblings like this, and with a monthly salary of fifty gold, I would be able to visit the market every now and then to buy them plenty of meat.

I wanted to buy good-quality goat milk for the youngest ones, and replace my younger sisters’ dresses, which had been mended so many times they were practically threadbare.

I wanted to replace Father’s frayed, worn-out cravat as well, and….

And for Mother.

Tears welled up before I could even finish the thought, and I tilted my head slightly back.

‘I want to take Mother to a doctor and buy her medicine.’

Whenever I thought of Mother’s frail health, tears came unbidden.

I dabbed at my eyes with the back of my hand, careful not to let my siblings see.

Rion suddenly shivered, turning toward me.

Lily rubbed her forearms as goosebumps broke out on her skin.

That was when it happened.

A voice that had grown entirely familiar sounded from behind me.

Accompanied by a heavy draft of pheromones.

Hokan stood with his head tilted, glaring down at my siblings.

So shocked was I by Hokan’s sudden appearance that I failed to notice the pair of towering shadows looming right behind him.

My siblings had evidently mistaken the chill for cold weather because they had never experienced the predatory pheromones of carnivore beastfolk before.

Behind Hokan stood the Duke and his aide.

I had heard that ever since moving to the capital, Hokan had secluded himself in the annex and refused to leave, yet here he was in the garden.

Moreover, the Duke stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his expression practically screaming, ‘Where did these wretched mice crawl out from?’

It seemed Hokan had spotted Jackjack in his untransformed squirrel state and wandered out of curiosity.

Renowned for his sharpness back in our village, Jackjack instantly caught that the remark was aimed at him and raised his voice.

Overwhelmed by the crushing aura radiating from the imposing man, my siblings froze stiff.

Faced with members of the imperial bloodline, Rion was so unnerved that his tongue tied into knots, while Lily introduced herself far more calmly than I expected.

The real problem was Jackjack.

Beside the Duke, who had raised a single eyebrow, Gale voiced the question on his master's mind.