Chapter 21
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 21
That day, So-ya was declared the winner of the "Pretty Stone Finding Game."
So-ya thought the stone San-ho had picked up was prettier, but everyone insisted that So-ya’s was the best.
“But San-ho’s stone is more…”
While So-ya hesitated to accept the victory, Ga-yul—who was trudging along like a limp noodle after paying a harsh price for neglecting his training—was spotted by San-ho.
“Young Master! Young Master Yul!” San-ho quickly called out to him.
“Why are you call—oh? Cotton Ball!”
Ga-yul turned at the sound of his name, and upon spotting So-ya, his eyes sparkled as he came scurrying over.
“What are you doing here? What’s with the stones? Are you going to make talismans out of these too?”
“You’ve come at the perfect time, Young Master. Which of these do you think is the prettiest?”
“Well, obviously this one—I mean, this one! This one is the prettiest!”
Ga-yul had reflexively started to point at a different stone, but he quickly changed his tune under the terrifying glares and subtle signals from Yeon-jeong and San-ho.
It was a very clumsy pivot, but it was enough to fool So-ya.
“R-Really?” So-ya asked, her eyes wide.
Before Ga-yul could even respond, San-ho and Yeon-jeong chimed in.
“Oh my, even Young Master Yul says the Young Lady’s stone is the prettiest!”
“See? What did we tell you? We told you the stone our Young Lady picked up is the prettiest in the world!”
“Wow! Then the winner of today’s game is the Young Lady!”
“How is our Young Lady even so good at picking up stones?”
“…”
Unaccustomed to praise, So-ya was too shy to know what to say and kept her mouth shut tight like a clam. However, her flushed cheeks and the corners of her mouth twitching upward betrayed her excitement.
Noticing this, Yeon-jeong and San-ho giggled softly and handed all three stones to So-ya.
“Here, Young Lady. It’s your victory prize!”
Thanks to them, So-ya now had three pretty stones.
“With these, I can make talismans for Yeon-jeong, San-ho, and even Jeok Yeong!” So-ya shouted with a bright smile.
“Ah! Lady Cotton Ball! Is there nothing for me?! Sob, sob… It’s sorrowful enough serving a thoughtless youngest master, but to be the only one not to receive a stone talisman from the Young Lady…”
“Wh-What…? Oh, but I only have three stones…”
Su-ri began to wail in an exaggerated voice, causing a look of distress to cloud So-ya’s face.
“D-Don’t cry, Su-ri! I’ll go pick up more stones so I can make one for you too…”
“Then shall we play ‘Find Lots of Pretty Stones’ this time?”
At San-ho’s suggestion, another game began.
Together, they gathered a huge pile of pretty stones and brought them back to So-ya’s room. So-ya spread a large cloth on the floor and set the washed stones out to dry.
While So-ya and Ga-yul played by counting the stones, Yeon-jeong brought over brushes and paints.
“What are these, Yeon-jeong?”
“It’s the pigment used for making ceramics. How about we paint the stones, bake them, and then give them as gifts?”
“…!”
So-ya’s eyes went wide.
“I love it! I think the stones will look even more wonderful if we paint them!”
So-ya clapped her hands in delight. If she painted them, perhaps they would look like proper, cool talismans even to the Second Young Master, rather than just pieces of trash.
While she was busy painting them in various colors, So-ya spoke up as if she had just remembered something.
“By the way, I saw a very pretty lady getting out of a huge palanquin earlier.”
“Ah, the tigers of the branch lineages must be starting to arrive. The Mountain Lord Festival will be starting soon,” San-ho explained, wiping a smudge of paint off the bridge of So-ya’s nose with a handkerchief.
“The Mountain Lord Festival?”
“Yes. It’s an event where the young tigers of the Western Land gather to compete for the title of ‘Mountain Lord’ for the year.”
“Then are they all tigers too?”
“Yep, they’re all tigers!”
Ga-yul, who was lying on his stomach next to So-ya and playing with the paints, lifted his head to answer for her. His face was already smeared with colorful paint.
“Though they don’t have magnificent white fur like me… Eek!”
“Goodness, Young Master. You’re older than the Young Lady, yet you’re acting so undignified. Look at your face.”
While San-ho shook her head and scrubbed Ga-yul’s face with a handkerchief, So-ya began to carefully paint a tiger onto a stone with a serious expression.
“Oh, another tiger?”
“Yes, I’m going to give these to the guests from the branch families.”
So-ya felt a heavy sense of responsibility at the thought that the number of tigers she had to protect had increased.
“They are all Sa-eon’s guests, after all. I will protect them all.”
Watching So-ya smile brightly, everyone wore a gentle expression.
*
Sa-eon’s office.
“We secretly inquired throughout the Southern Land as you requested, but no one knows the name So-ya.”
Sitting at his desk and listening quietly to the report, Sa-eon furrowed his brow.
“No one?”
“No one. We even described her appearance in case she was using a fake name, but not a single person knew of her. Are you absolutely certain you picked Lady Cotton Ball up from the Southern Land?”
“Do you think I’ve developed amnesia at my age?”
“I’m just asking to be sure. Even if the Vermilion Bird Clan tried to hide a child’s existence, it’s unlikely they could keep her this well-hidden.”
“…”
“Unless you’re going senile, there are only two possibilities.”
“Which are?”
“Either Lady Cotton Ball is using some clever trickery to deceive us, or she is a child from within the family who has never stepped foot outside the Vermilion Bird Mansion.”
“A child from within the family…”
Sa-eon pondered Jeok Yeong’s words for a long time before suddenly asking, “Didn’t Jeok Ah-yun have a young daughter?”
“Pardon? Yes, he did. It was reported that he had a daughter nine years ago… Clan Head, surely you aren’t suggesting that Lady Cotton Ball is the daughter of the Vermilion Bird Clan?”
“Why not? They’re around the same age.”
“Regrettably, your guess is wrong this time. The Young Lady of the Vermilion Bird Clan recently celebrated her ninth birthday and was officially entered into the family register. Her name is ‘Ri-ri.’”
“…I suppose. A daughter of the main family wouldn’t be chased by the Three-Legged Crow like that.”
Because of the educated manner the child occasionally showed, he had briefly entertained the ridiculous thought that she might be the daughter of the Vermilion Bird Clan.
“Nine years old…”
The same age as Cotton Ball.
Beastkin are only recognized as proper members of society after their first successful beast transformation, so their names are not made public until then. However, considering when most beastkin undergo their first transformation, registering a name nine years after birth was quite unusual.
“Given Lady Cotton Ball’s age, perhaps she was a page serving the Young Lady of the family? Though it is suspicious why they would hide her so thoroughly.”
“Is there no information from inside the mansion?”
“We tried to plant someone inside the Vermilion Bird Mansion, but the security was too tight.”
“Incompetent.”
“This is all thanks to you provoking the Three-Legged Crow, Clan Head.”
“So, in the end, there’s no useful information.”
Sa-eon let out a short sigh. Ever since the day So-ya had collapsed due to her spirit core, he had been investigating the child and the Vermilion Bird Clan, but there were no significant results—other than the fact that she was someone from within the Vermilion Bird Mansion.
Sa-eon turned his head and glanced at a white sheet of paper on his desk. It was the letter So-ya had written to him with her tiny hands.
“Hey, Jeok Yeong.”
“Why are you calling me in such a low voice? It’s ominous.”
“About the letter Cotton Ball gave me.”
Sa-eon waved So-ya’s letter around and asked, “Isn’t the handwriting very round and pretty?”
“The answer is still no.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“No matter how educated Lady Cotton Ball is or how round and pretty her handwriting is, she is a winged beast. She is not a tiger.”
“Tsk.”
Sa-eon put So-ya’s letter down with a grumpy expression. Regardless, Jeok Yeong asked with a steadfast face.
“More importantly, have you looked at the report I submitted regarding the young ladies of the branch families?”
“…”
“Oh, look at all this dust. I don’t even need an answer. You were so distracted by Lady Cotton Ball that you didn’t even open it, did you?”
“I was just about to look at it.”
Sa-eon replied dismissively and opened the report that had been sitting on one side of his desk.
“I have carefully selected only those who are brave and intelligent, as befits a lady who would represent the White Tiger Clan. We will be able to confirm their skills through this Mountain Lord Festival.”
The words ‘Cotton Ball is also quite brave and intelligent’ rose to Sa-eon’s throat, but he forced himself to swallow them. As Jeok Yeong had said before, becoming a lady of the clan wasn’t just about being loved and doted upon.
“Ah, and before this festival ends, you should decide on Lady Cotton Ball’s future…”
It was then.
“Clan Head, Lady Cotton Ball is here to see you!”
Sa-eon, who had been half-heartedly listening to Jeok Yeong, quickly put down the report at the announcement from outside.
“Let her in.”
The door opened, and So-ya peeked inside. She was wearing a small bamboo basket slung over her shoulder by a long string. Every time So-ya took a step, the basket hanging at her side swayed and made a clacking sound.
What is that?
While Sa-eon’s attention was captured by the basket, Jeok Yeong greeted So-ya with a bright smile.
“Have you arrived, Lady Cotton Ball?”
That hypocritical bastard.
Sa-eon shot Jeok Yeong a disgruntled look. It was quite a sight to see the man who had been discussing the child’s future just a moment ago now wearing a benevolent smile.
“Ah, Jeok Yeong…!”
However, the innocent Cotton Ball, unable to see through Jeok Yeong’s facade, gave him a bright smile in return and began rummaging through her basket.
“This is the talisman I promised you a few days ago.”
“Wow, what is this? Did you draw this yourself, Young Lady?”
“Yes! Yeon-jeong and San-ho helped me!”
The stone talisman So-ya handed over had a grinning red fox drawn on it.
“I don’t know if I should be receiving something so precious. Thank you, Young Lady.”
Seeing Jeok Yeong’s delight, Sa-eon scoffed and interjected.
“You don’t need to be so nice to that wicked red fox, Cotton Ball.”
“I made one more for you too, Sa-eon!” So-ya cried out, pulling another stone talisman from her basket.
At that, Sa-eon’s face, which had been crumpled in dissatisfaction, instantly brightened.
“You didn’t have to go through the trouble of making one for me.”
Despite his words, Sa-eon reached out toward So-ya with the corners of his mouth turned up as far as they could go.
“But Cotton Ball, why does mine have a cat on it?”
Flinch.
At Sa-eon’s thoughtless question, everyone in the room glared at him simultaneously.
“…?”
Sa-eon, looking up in confusion, soon noticed the drooping corners of So-ya’s eyes.
“…!”
Only then did Sa-eon realize he had made a mistake.