Chapter 11
‘There are still so many places left to show her.’
Gahyeon thought as he looked around the mansion.
He didn’t have a busy schedule or anything, but it felt like a pointless waste of time, leaving him a little irritated.
“Um…….”
Just then, Soya cautiously called out to him.
“You must be very busy, right?”
“Huh……?”
“Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to show me around like this. I can explore from here on my own, so please go ahead, Young Master.”
“No, I…….”
Gahyeon was taken aback. It wasn’t that he was busy—it was that it was a hassle.
Still, there was no need to refuse her outright. He could just say he was busy as she suggested and take his leave.
And yet, for some strange reason, he hesitated.
“I… I am busy, but…….”
“I’m really fine. Please go on ahead.”
Soya urged him again with a faint smile.
“Uh, yeah. Alright.”
For some reason, his conscience pricked at him, so Gahyeon unnecessarily added,
“I’ll send someone this way, so don’t wander off alone and get lost. Just enjoy the rear garden.”
“Yes, Young Master. Thank you so much.”
When Soya replied with a bright smile, Gahyeon paused for a moment before turning away.
After sending Gahyeon off and being left alone, Soya let out a soft sigh.
“Phew…….”
In truth, Soya knew. He wasn’t busy—it was that he didn’t like her and found her bothersome.
Quick on the uptake, Soya had noticed that Gahyeon didn’t think much of her.
Of course, she didn’t resent him for it.
Soya simply felt burdened that the precious young master had to go through the trouble because of her.
It was then.
“Huh……?”
“Eek……!”
She locked eyes with the third young master Gayul, who had been hiding in the bushes peeking at her—who knew how long he’d been there.
“Argh!”
Startled, Gayul tumbled over with a clatter.
“A-Are you alright?”
Soya’s eyes went wide as she hurried over to him in surprise.
Gayul abruptly sprang to his feet and shouted,
“D-Don’t come near me, cotton ball!”
“But you just got hurt…….”
Soya murmured, pointing at his knee.
“Gasp! B-Blood……!”
Gayul belatedly noticed his knee was scraped and bleeding through the torn fabric of his pants, and he jumped back.
Then he glared at Soya with wide eyes and yelled,
“I-I’m the great third son of the White Tiger Clan, Baek Ga-ryul! Wallowing in pain over a scratch like this is something for weaklings like you—you cotton balls!”
With his neck flushed red, Gayul shrieked and bolted away.
Soya blinked at Gayul’s retreating figure, which had vanished in an instant.
‘Is he angry?’
She thought of Gayul, who had yelled with his neck turning red all the way up.
It made sense, she supposed.
People usually got angry when they saw her.
They got mad even when she hadn’t done anything, and since the third young master had tripped and gotten hurt because of her, it was only natural that he’d be furious.
“Still, he should get it treated quickly…….”
The corners of Soya’s eyes drooped sadly.
A little while later, Yeon-jeong and San-ho came to fetch Soya, having received Gahyeon’s message.
“Young Lady! Oh dear, so here you were.”
“The second young master, honestly. Leaving a little girl all alone here just because he’s busy.”
“No, it’s fine. The young master was kind enough to show me around everywhere.”
Soya defended Gahyeon to the grumbling Yeon-jeong and San-ho.
“Our sweet young lady, shall we head back now?”
“Y-Yes.”
As Soya walked back holding Yeon-jeong and San-ho’s hands, one in each of hers.
San-ho noticed the droopy corners of Soya’s eyes.
“Did something happen, Young Lady?”
“Um, well, actually…….”
Soya carefully recounted what had happened earlier.
“The youngest young master tripped because of me and got hurt. I wanted to treat it for him, but…….”
But unlike Soya’s serious expression, Yeon-jeong and San-ho burst into laughter and waved their hands dismissively.
“Oh, it’s fine. The youngest young master trips and gets hurt all the time—it’s just how he is.”
“But…….”
Soya recalled how, not long ago, when Young Lady Riri had pushed her and she’d fallen, her knee had scraped and bled, and it had hurt so much.
“Our cotton ball young lady has such a kind heart. But really, no need to worry. The youngest young master is a tiger!”
Yeon-jeong raised both hands like front paws and made a fierce face, imitating a tiger with a playful “Rawr!”
“That’s why I’m even more worried, since he’s a tiger…….”
Soya’s tiny murmur was so soft that no one heard it.
“Ouch! I-It hurts!”
“Oh dear, you’re being extra whiny today, young master.”
A boy of about thirteen applied medicine to the young master’s wound as he spoke.
This poor boy serving the immature youngest young master was Suri, a beastkin from the Indigo Wolf Clan and San-ho’s younger brother.
“I’m really telling you, it hurts!”
Gayul cried out, tears pooling in the corners of his eyes.
“That’s why you should have sat still and waited. Then I could have carried you on my back. Why’d you come running over on that hurt leg?”
“I-I can’t show a weak side like that!”
Gayul grumbled in response.
It was all because of that girl who looked small and white and soft like a cotton ball.
He didn’t want to look weak in front of her, so he’d run over on his injured knee and overdone it.
“But that girl… the cotton ball. She doesn’t seem like a tiger—what is she, exactly?”
“Who knows. She’s so small—maybe a mouse?”
“But mice aren’t as quiet as her. I heard mice are super noisy.”
Gayul pouted and shook his head before suddenly asking,
“Maybe a puppy? Puppies have sparkly eyes and droopy eye corners, right? Like this.”
“But puppy beastkin are born healthy by nature. Didn’t that cotton ball young lady seem a bit fragile?”
“Hmm…….”
Gayul and Suri diligently speculated about Soya’s true nature.
“Then what is she? A hedgehog? A squirrel? A deer?”
Gayul listed off the animals he knew one by one.
“She’s too round and fluffy for a hedgehog. And there’s no white squirrel beastkin clan. Deer are longer and slenderer.”
“Urgh…….”
“Maybe she’s not even a beastkin. Since the patriarch picked her up from outside. Anyway, no running around until it heals. Got it…… Young master? Young master, where are you going!”
As soon as the treatment was done, Gayul jumped up and scurried outside.
“I’m busy!”
“No, young master! It’s time for training……! Oh no…….”
Suri pressed a hand to his forehead over the third young master, who had vanished like the wind in an instant.
Sa-eon’s office.
“The youngest young master forgot to go to the training grounds and spent the whole day chasing after the cotton ball young lady.”
Sa-eon, who had been idly flipping through documents, looked up at Jeokyeong’s report.
“Looks like Yul’s taken a liking to the cotton ball too.”
Sa-eon chuckled softly.
“Don’t you think the patriarch should say something? Words from others don’t get through to the youngest young master’s temperament.”
“Leave it be.”
He rose from his seat and walked over to the window.
Just then, he spotted Gayul and Soya down below through the window.
It was rather adorable, seeing the wary boy trailing after the even tinier cotton ball.
“It’s a nice sight. The little one chasing after an even smaller one.”
It was while Sa-eon murmured lazily, gazing out the window.
“But, patriarch.”
Jeokyeong cautiously called out to him.
“About that cotton ball young lady… She’s not some hidden illegitimate child or anything, right? Right?”
“What?”
Discomfort flickered across Sa-eon’s face.
“No, but think about it—the person who went to the palace early this morning to meet His Highness the Crown Prince suddenly comes back in the middle of the night with some random little girl. It’s suspicious. And that room at the far west end…….”
“No.”
Sa-eon flatly denied it, furrowing his brow.
An illegitimate child?
What kind of ridiculous misunderstanding was that?
“Then what is she? You didn’t really just pick her up off the street.”
“…….”
Sa-eon knew everyone was curious about Soya.
He’d ended the explanation with that curt remark about stealing her away, so it was only natural.
Some took it as an amusing joke, but it wasn’t a joke.
He himself didn’t know how to explain Soya any further.
It really was true—he’d spotted her by chance while passing by and taken her.
‘No. Was it really just chance?’
Abruptly, Sa-eon’s eyes hardened.
