Translator: Nox

Chapter 21

That day, the winner of the pretty pebble finding game was Soya.

Soya thought the pebble San-ho had picked up was prettier, but everyone insisted that the one Soya had found was even more beautiful.

“But San-ho-nim’s pebble is…….”

As Soya hesitated to accept it,

Just then, Gayul, who had been paying the harsh price for slacking off on his training lately, came shuffling over and caught San-ho’s eye.

“Young Master! It’s Young Master Gayul!”

San-ho quickly called out to him in a loud voice.

“Why are you calling…… Huh? Cotton Ball!”

Gayul turned at the sound of his name, spotted Soya, and his eyes lit up as he came scampering over.

“What are you doing here? Pebbles? You’re making these into talismans too?”

“You arrived just in time, Young Master. Which one do you think is the prettiest out of these?”

“Well, obviously this one…… No, this one! This one’s the prettiest!”

Gayul had unconsciously pointed to a different pebble, but at the fierce glares and meaningful looks from Yeon-jeong and San-ho, he quickly changed his words.

It was a very clumsy backtrack, but it was enough to fool Soya.

“R-Really?”

Soya asked, her eyes wide as saucers.

Before Gayul could even respond, San-ho and Yeon-jeong jumped in.

“Oh my, even Young Master Gayul says the Young Lady’s pebble is the prettiest!”

“See? What did we tell you? Our Young Lady’s pebble is the prettiest in the world!”

“Wow! Then the winner of today’s game is the Young Lady?”

“How is it that our Young Lady is so good even at picking up pebbles!”

“…….”

Soya, who had no immunity to praise, shyly clamped her mouth shut like a clamshell, unsure of what to say.

But her flushed cheeks and the way her lips twitched upward bit by bit betrayed her excited mood plainly.

Noticing this, Yeon-jeong and San-ho chuckled softly and handed Soya three pebbles.

“Here, our Young Lady. Your winner’s prize!”

Thanks to them, Soya now had three pretty pebbles.

“Now I can make ones for Yeon-jeong-nim, San-ho-nim, and Jeokyeong-nim too!”

Soya cried out, beaming brightly.

“Ahh, Cotton Ball Young Lady! There’s none for me?! Sob sob…… It’s bad enough serving an immature youngest Young Master, but now I’m the only one who doesn’t get a pebble talisman from the Young Lady when everyone else does…….”

“Y-Yes……? Ah, but there are only three pebbles…….”

Soya’s face clouded with distress at Suri’s exaggerated whimpering.

“D-Don’t cry, Suri-nim! Then I’ll pick up more pebbles and make one for you too…….”

“How about we play a ‘pick up lots of pretty pebbles’ game this time?”

At San-ho’s suggestion, another game began.

In the end, they all gathered a huge pile of pretty pebbles together and brought them to Soya’s room.

Soya spread out a large cloth on the floor and laid out the thoroughly washed pebbles on it to dry.

While Soya and Gayul were counting the pebbles and playing, Yeon-jeong brought over a brush and paints.

“What’s this, Yeon-jeong-nim?”

“It’s glaze used for making pottery. How about painting the pebbles with this, firing them, and giving them as gifts?”

“……!”

Soya’s eyes went wide.

“That’s great! If we paint them, the pebbles will look even cooler!”

Soya clapped her hands in delight.

If they painted them, even Second Young Master might see them as cool talismans instead of trash.

While they were busily painting the pebbles in all sorts of colors, Soya suddenly spoke up as if something had just occurred to her.

“By the way, earlier I saw a pretty young lady taking something out of a really big kiln.”

“Ah, it looks like the branch family tiger lords are starting to arrive. The Mountain Lord Festival is coming up soon.”

San-ho wiped the paint off Soya’s nose with a handkerchief as she explained.

“The Mountain Lord Festival?”

“Yes. It’s an event where the young tigers of the Western Land gather to compete for the position of that year’s ‘Mountain Lord.’”

“So they’re all tigers too?”

“Yeah, they’re all tigers!”

Gayul, who had been lying next to Soya also playing with the paints, lifted his head and answered for her.

By then, his face was splattered with colorful paint in spots here and there.

“They don’t have cool white fur like me…… Urk!”

“Good grief, Young Master. You’re older than the Young Lady, but look at your face—what a mess, not acting your age at all.”

As San-ho shook her head and vigorously rubbed Gayul’s face with her handkerchief, Soya solemnly began drawing tigers onto the pebbles.

“Oh my, another tiger?”

“Yes, these are for the guests from the branch families.”

Soya felt a heavy sense of responsibility now that there were more tigers she had to protect.

“They’re all Lord Sa-eon’s guests. I’ll protect them all.”

Seeing Soya smile so brightly, everyone wore gentle smiles on their faces.

* * *

Sa-eon’s office.

“We discreetly inquired around the southern lands as you instructed, but no one knows of anyone named Soya.”

Sa-eon, who had been sitting silently at his desk listening to the report, furrowed his brow.

“No one?”

“Yes. We even described her appearance in case she was using a false name, but not a single person claimed to know the Young Lady. Are you sure you really picked up the Cotton Ball Young Lady from the southern lands?”

“What, you think I’ve got senile at my age?”

“I was just confirming. Even if the Zhuque Clan hid the child’s existence, there’s no way they could conceal her this thoroughly.”

“…….”

“If the Patriarch isn’t senile, then there are only two possibilities.”

“What are they?”

“Either the Cotton Ball Young Lady is pulling some clever trick to deceive us, or she’s a child from inside the Zhuque Mansion who’s never set foot outside.”

“A child from inside the clan…….”

Sa-eon mulled over Ho Jeok-yeong’s words for a long while before suddenly asking.

“Didn’t Jeok Ayun have a young daughter?”

“Yes? That’s right. It’s said he had a daughter nine years ago…… Lord, you’re not seriously guessing that the Cotton Ball Young Lady is the Zhuque Clan’s daughter, are you?”

“Why not? The ages match.”

“Unfortunately, your guess is wrong this time, my Lord. The Zhuque Clan’s Young Lady just turned nine recently and was added to the family registry. Her name is ‘Riri,’ they say.”

“……Well, yeah. There’s no way the clan’s daughter would be chased by Samjok-o like that.”

For a moment, he’d entertained the absurd thought that maybe this child was the Zhuque Clan’s daughter because of the glimpses of her educated demeanor she’d shown.

“Nine years old…….”

The same age as Cotton Ball.

Beastkin were recognized as full members of beastkin society only after successfully achieving their first Beast Transformation, so they didn’t publicize their names before then.

However, considering when ordinary beastkin typically had their first transformation, it was quite unusual for a child to only be added to the registry after nine years.

“Given the Cotton Ball Young Lady’s age, maybe she was a servant boy attending the clan’s Young Lady? It’s suspicious that they hid her so thoroughly, though.”

“No information from inside the mansion?”

“We tried planting someone in the Zhuque Mansion, but the security is too tight—it was impossible.”

“Incompetent.”

“This is all because you stirred up Samjok-o, my Lord.”

“In the end, no useful information.”

Sa-eon let out a short sigh.

After the day Soya had collapsed from the Spirit Core issue, he’d diligently investigated the child and the Zhuque Clan, but there had been no real gains.

Except that she was someone from inside the Zhuque Mansion.

Sa-eon casually turned his head and glanced at the pure white sheet of paper on his desk.

It was a letter Soya had written to him herself with her small hands.

“Hey, Jeokyeong.”

“Why call me in that low voice again? It’s ominous.”

“The letter Cotton Ball gave me.”

Sa-eon asked while flapping Soya’s letter around.

“The handwriting is so round and pretty, isn’t it?”

“Still no.”

“How do you know what I was going to say?”

“No matter how educated she is, with that round, pretty handwriting, she’s still a bird. Not a tiger.”

“Tch.”

Sa-eon set down Soya’s letter with a grumpy expression.

Regardless, Ho Jeok-yeong asked steadfastly with a resolute face.

“More importantly, did you look over the report I wrote up on the branch family Young Ladies?”

“…….”

“Oh dear, look at this dust. I don’t even need to hear your answer. You’ve been too distracted by the Cotton Ball Young Lady to even glance at it, haven’t you?”

“I was just about to look at it.”

Sa-eon replied perfunctorily and opened the report that had been sitting on one side of his desk.

“I’ve carefully selected only the spirited and clever ones, as befits the Young Ladies who will represent the Baekho Clan. We’ll be able to check their skills through this Mountain Lord Festival.”

Sa-eon swallowed back the words that rose to the tip of his throat: ‘Cotton Ball is pretty spirited and clever herself.’

Just as Jeokyeong had said before, becoming a clan Young Lady wasn’t something where you could just dote on them and call it a day.

“Ah, and before this Mountain Lord Festival ends, you should decide on the Cotton Ball Young Lady’s disposition too…….”

It was then.

“My Lord, the Cotton Ball Young Lady is here!”

Sa-eon, who had been half-listening to Jeokyeong with a bored face, quickly set down the report at the announcement from outside and said.

“Let her in.”

Soon the door opened, and Soya peeked inside.

Soya had a small bamboo basket connected by a long strap over her shoulder.

With each quick step Soya took, the bamboo basket dangling at her side swayed and rattled.

‘What’s that?’

While Sa-eon’s gaze was stolen by the bamboo basket, Jeokyeong smiled brightly and greeted Soya.

“You’re here, Cotton Ball Young Lady?”

‘That two-faced bastard.’

Sa-eon shot Jeokyeong a displeased glare.

The guy who’d just been discussing Soya’s future was now wearing a friendly smile and putting on an act—it was utterly revolting.

“Ah, Jeokyeong-nim……!”

But the innocent Cotton Ball didn’t notice Jeokyeong’s pretense at all, smiled back brightly in greeting, and rummaged in her basket to pull something out.

“This is the talisman I promised you a few days ago.”

“Wow, what’s this? Did the Young Lady draw it herself?”

“Yes! Yeon-jeong-nim and San-ho-nim helped me!”

The pebble talisman Soya handed over had a red fox smiling broadly drawn on it.

“I’m not sure if I deserve something this precious. Thank you, Young Lady.”

Sa-eon couldn’t stand seeing Jeokyeong so pleased and tossed out a remark.

“You don’t need to be nice to that rotten red fox, Cotton Ball.”

“I made an extra one for Lord Sa-eon too!”

Soya shouted, pulling another pebble talisman from her basket.

At that, Sa-eon’s previously crumpled, dissatisfied face brightened.

“No need to go to the trouble of making one for me.”

Even as he said that, Sa-eon held out his hand to Soya with his lips curved up high.

“But Cotton Ball, why does mine have a cat drawn on it?”

Soya flinched.

At Sa-eon’s thoughtless question, everyone in the room suddenly glared at him fiercely.

“……?”

Sa-eon, puzzled as he looked up, soon noticed Soya’s drooping eyes.

“……!”

Sa-eon belatedly realized his mistake and stiffened rigidly.

“That’s not a cat, it’s a tiger…….”

“…….”

“The ears are round and perky, and the nose is pink…… Is the drawing no good?”

“…….”