Chapter : 11
‘There are still quite a few places left to show her.’
Gahyeon thought to himself as he looked around the residence.
It wasn’t as if he had anything particularly urgent to do, yet he felt oddly irritated, as though he were wasting his time for no reason.
“Um…”
Just then, Soya called out to him cautiously.
“Are you very busy?”
“Huh?”
“Thank you so much for making time for me even though you’re busy. I’ll look around by myself from here, so please go ahead, Young Master.”
“No, I…”
Gahyeon was flustered. It wasn’t that he was busy—he was simply annoyed.
Still, there was no need to refuse her offer. He could just say he was indeed busy, as she assumed, and leave.
Yet strangely, he found himself hesitating.
“I—I am busy, but…”
“I’m really fine. Please, go ahead.”
Soya urged him again with a faint smile.
“R-right. Okay.”
For some reason, his conscience pricked at him, and he added unnecessarily,
“I’ll send someone over, so don’t wander around alone and get lost. Just stay here in the rear garden and look around.”
“Yes, Young Master. Thank you very much.”
When Soya answered with a bright smile, Gahyeon paused for a moment before finally turning away.
Left alone after sending him off, Soya let out a small sigh.
“Phew…”
In truth, Soya knew. He wasn’t busy—he simply didn’t like her and found her troublesome.
Quick to notice such things, she was well aware that Gahyeon did not think well of her.
Of course, she didn’t resent him for it.
She just felt burdened that such a noble young master had to inconvenience himself because of her.
Just then—
“Oh…?”
“Eek…!”
She suddenly locked eyes with the third young master, Gayul, who had been hiding by the bushes and secretly watching her.
“Aaah!”
Startled, Gayul stumbled and fell over with a loud crash.
“A-are you alright?”
Soya rushed over with wide, startled eyes.
Gayul 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.
“Huh? B-blood…!”
Only then did Gayul notice the blood seeping through his torn trousers where his knee had scraped. He jumped in alarm.
Then he glared at Soya and yelled,
“I—I am Baek Gayul, the third son of the great Baekho family! Someone like me doesn’t cry over a scratch like this—only someone like you, you Cotton Ball!”
His face flushed all the way to the back of his neck as he shouted before running off at full speed.
Soya blinked as she watched his figure disappear in an instant.
‘Is he… angry?’
She recalled how he had shouted, his face red to his neck.
It was possible.
People usually got angry when they saw Soya.
Even when she did nothing, they would get angry. And now, the third young master had fallen and gotten hurt because of her—so it would make sense for him to be very angry.
“But he should treat that quickly…”
The corners of Soya’s eyes drooped in worry.
After a short while, Yeonjeong and Sanho, having received Gahyeon’s message, came to fetch her.
“My lady! Oh dear, here you are.”
“The second young master, honestly. Saying he’s busy and leaving a little girl alone like this.”
“No, it’s not like that. The young master kindly showed me many places.”
Soya defended Gahyeon as Yeonjeong and Sanho grumbled.
“Our kind young lady. Shall we head back now?”
“Yes.”
As Soya walked back holding Sanho’s and Yeonjeong’s hands—one in each of hers—Sanho noticed the drooping corners of her eyes.
“Did something happen, my lady?”
“Well… actually…”
Soya carefully told them what had just occurred.
“The youngest young master fell and got hurt because of me. I wanted to treat him…”
But unlike Soya’s serious expression, Yeonjeong and Sanho burst into laughter and waved their hands dismissively.
“Oh, it’s fine. The youngest young master falling and getting hurt is practically part of his daily routine.”
“But…”
Soya remembered the time Lady Lili had pushed her down. Her knee had split open and bled—it had hurt terribly.
“Our Cotton Ball lady is so kind-hearted. But really, you don’t need to worry. The youngest young master is a tiger, after all!”
Yeonjeong lifted both hands like paws and made a mock fierce face. “Rawr!”
“Being a tiger is exactly why I’m worried…”
Soya muttered softly, but her voice was so quiet that no one heard it.
* * *
“Ow! It hurts!”
“My, my. You’re being especially dramatic today, Young Master.”
A teenage boy applied medicine to the young master’s wound as he spoke.
The pitiful boy who served the mischievous youngest young master was Suri, a beastman of the Indigo Wolf family—and Sanho’s younger brother.
“I-it really hurts!”
Gayul shouted, his eyes brimming with tears.
“That’s why you should’ve just stayed put and waited. I would’ve come to carry you. Why did you run back on that injured leg?”
“I—I couldn’t show weakness like that!”
Gayul snapped irritably.
It was all because of that girl—small, white, and soft like a cotton ball.
He hadn’t wanted to look weak in front of her, so he’d forced himself to run on his injured knee and overexerted it.
“But that girl—the Cotton Ball. She doesn’t seem like a tiger. What is she?”
“I wonder. She’s small, so maybe a mouse?”
“But mice aren’t quiet like her. I heard they’re really noisy.”
Gayul pouted and shook his head before suddenly asking,
“Maybe she’s a puppy? Puppies have sparkling eyes and droopy eye corners, right? Like this.”
“But dog beastmen are usually born healthy. Didn’t Cotton Ball lady seem a bit frail?”
“Hmm…”
Gayul and Suri seriously speculated about Soya’s identity.
“Then what is she? A hedgehog? A squirrel? A deer?”
Gayul listed every animal he could think of.
“She’s too round to be a hedgehog. And there’s no white squirrel family. Deer are much more slender.”
“Grr…”
“Maybe she’s not a wild beast at all. The Head of the Family picked her up from outside, after all. Anyway, don’t run around until you’re fully healed. Underst— Young Master? Young Master, where are you going?!”
The moment his wound was treated, Gayul jumped up and scampered out.
“I’m busy!”
“You can’t, Young Master! It’s time for training at the—! Oh dear…”
With the third young master disappearing like the wind, Suri pressed a hand to his forehead.
* * *
Saeon’s office.
“The youngest young master has forgotten even to go to the training grounds and has been following Cotton Ball lady around all day.”
Saeon, who had been idly flipping through documents, looked up at Jeokyeong’s report.
“Looks like Yul has taken a liking to Cotton Ball.”
Saeon smirked.
“Shouldn’t you say something, Head of the Family? With the youngest young master’s temperament, he won’t listen to anyone else.”
“Leave him.”
Saeon rose from his seat and walked to the window.
Just then, below outside, he spotted Gayul and Soya.
The wary boy trailing closely behind the even smaller Cotton Ball was quite an amusing sight.
“It’s not bad to look at. The small one chasing after the even smaller one.”
Saeon murmured lazily as he gazed out the window.
Then Jeokyeong called cautiously,
“But, Head of the Family.”
“Yes?”
“That Cotton Ball lady… She isn’t some hidden illegitimate child of yours or something, right? She’s not, correct?”
“What?”
Saeon’s face colored with embarrassment.
“Well, you said you were going to meet His Highness the Crown Prince and entered the palace early in the morning. But then you returned late at night with a little girl out of nowhere—it does look suspicious. And that room at the far western end…”
“No.”
Saeon frowned and denied it immediately.
An illegitimate child?
What kind of ridiculous misunderstanding was that?
“Then what is she? Surely you didn’t just pick her up off the street.”
“…”
Saeon knew everyone was curious about Soya.
After all, he had ended the explanation with a brief remark: that he had stolen her on the way.
Some took it as a joke.
But it wasn’t a joke.
He himself didn’t know how else to describe Soya.
It was true—he had found her by chance and stolen her.
‘No… was it really by chance?’
Saeon’s eyes hardened slightly at the thought.
Unlock soon!~