Chapter 8
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 8
Sa-eon’s eyes hardened as he looked at the child’s pale face, which looked as if she might collapse at any moment.
“Hey, Cotton Ball. Are you alright?”
At the sound of his voice directed at her again, So-ya snapped out of her daze and lifted her head.
The stranger who had saved her from the assassin just moments ago stood before her.
He was tall, with a clean and handsome appearance, though he carried a somewhat cold and intimidating aura. He was the complete opposite of her father, who had always worn a gentle smile.
“Ah…”
A faint gasp escaped So-ya’s lips.
For a fleeting second, when he had stepped in front of her to block the assassin, she had thought that broad back belonged to her father. After all, her father was the only person she knew who was that big and dependable.
It was a foolish thought.
Her father’s back no longer shielded her.
So-ya recalled the image of her father turning away from her to attend to Lady Ri-ri. That warm, sturdy back that had always protected her long ago now left her with nothing but cold, lonely memories.
Swallowing her sorrow, So-ya managed to speak.
“I’m not a cotton ball. I am…”
She hesitated.
Once, she would have introduced herself as Jeok So-ya of the Vermilion Bird Clan, but she realized she could no longer use that name.
“…I’m So-ya.”
“Even your name sounds like a cotton ball.”
Baek Sa-eon let out a short, dry chuckle as he looked down at So-ya, who was exceptionally small with soft, rounded features. However, the trace of amusement quickly vanished from his face.
Was this child the target of the Vermilion Bird Clan’s assassin?
Sa-eon narrowed his eyes as he observed her. To employ an assassin just to get rid of such a small girl—and not just any assassin, but the Three-Legged Crow, known as the most elite group of warriors in the Vermilion Bird Clan.
Behind such a petty act, he could see the sheer determination of the one who had ordered the hit to eliminate the child at any cost.
With a grave expression, Sa-eon asked, “What kind of grudge did you incur from those southern chicken-heads?”
“Chicken… heads?”
“Yeah.”
Baek Sa-eon pointed at the fallen assassin as he explained to the blinking So-ya.
“That’s a Three-Legged Crow, the ones the Vermilion Bird bastards use.”
“Ah…”
She didn’t understand the random comment about chickens, but So-ya knew of the Three-Legged Crow. Composed of warriors from the Black Crow Clan who had served the direct lineage of the Vermilion Bird for generations, the Three-Legged Crow moved only on the orders of the direct line.
So-ya’s face clouded with grief, and large teardrops began to well in her eyes.
“Then I… I almost died? By the hands of… the people of the Vermilion Bird Clan…”
It was a question asked as if she were confirming something she already suspected.
“If I hadn’t been here, probably?”
At Sa-eon’s blunt response, it finally happened.
Drip.
The tears that had been shimmering in her eyes fell.
Drip. Splash. Patter.
The tears that started as a few drops soon began to pour down like a heavy rainstorm.
Sa-eon flinched and looked down at the child. Death was something even the elderly feared, so it wasn't strange for a child to cry like this.
Yet, this tiny girl hadn't cried when she was actually on the verge of death. She only started weeping inconsolably the moment she realized it was the Vermilion Bird Clan who had sent the assassin.
It was heartbreaking to watch her try to stifle her sobs, making no sound as thick tears streamed down her face. Even though Sa-eon wasn't the type to be moved by others' tears, he found himself unable to look away.
“Heugh, ugh, hic…”
“…”
Sa-eon had no talent for comforting children. His own sons rarely cried. Even when they were very young, they never cried unless they were hungry or being picky about food.
Facing a crying child felt foreign to him, but after staring at her trembling shoulders in silence, he awkwardly reached out.
His rough fingertips gently patted the child’s fragile shoulder.
Though her cries didn't grow louder as she tried to hold them back, the shaking of her shoulders and the trembling of her body intensified.
He stayed by her side quietly until her weeping subsided, then spoke in a voice that was gruff yet held a hint of kindness.
“It’s too late for a cotton ball like you to be wandering around alone. I’ll take you back to your family.”
So-ya wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and shook her head.
“It’s okay.”
“Are you a runaway cotton ball? If you are, your family will worry—”
“I don’t have one.”
So-ya spoke in a calm voice.
“I don’t have a family.”
“…”
Baek Sa-eon fell silent. He gazed intently at So-ya as she struggled to swallow her tears.
She’s definitely a child connected to the Vermilion Bird Clan…
The Prince’s cryptic order came back to him. He had been told to steal the most valuable thing in the Land of the Vermilion Bird.
The most valuable thing, huh…
Originally, he had planned to steal the Vermilion Bird Treasure Bow, which was said to be passed down through the heads of the Jeok Clan, but he suddenly changed his mind.
It might have been a simple whim, but…
Whoosh—
So-ya’s body was suddenly lifted into the air.
Her eyes widened in surprise. With her pale skin and reddened eyes, she looked exactly like a rabbit.
“In that case.”
Baek Sa-eon met So-ya’s eyes and grinned.
“I’ll have to steal you, Cotton Ball.”
“Wh-what…?”
Startled, So-ya’s tears instantly stopped.
Steal? Me?
Wasn't "stealing" a term used for taking something precious in secret?
But she wasn't precious at all; she was a sinner who held no such value.
“Why… me?”
“Because out of everything I’ve seen in the South, I like you the best.”
Baek Sa-eon explained in a voice that was nonchalant yet warm.
He was curious why the Vermilion Bird assassins were targeting this little girl, and she seemed to have nowhere to go. Above all, he had been unable to stop worrying about this tiny child for a while now.
So, he decided he might as well steal her.
This felt far more valuable than some boring treasure bow, anyway.
“You’re sure there’s no family waiting for you?” he asked, his gaze piercing through her.
“…Yes.”
So-ya nodded and answered in a sorrowful voice.
There were people she once loved and considered family, but they had tried to kill her. They could never be called family. In truth, she could never have been part of their family from the very beginning, yet she had foolishly clung to them alone.
But now, it was time to let go.
“I really don’t have any family.”
Reading the truth in So-ya’s answer, Baek Sa-eon grinned as if to confirm it one last time.
“Then, will you let yourself be stolen by me?”
“…”
At Sa-eon’s question, So-ya’s throat tightened painfully.
So-ya was fine. She had always been fine.
She could no longer be her father’s daughter, and her skin stung under her brothers’ contemptuous glares, but she was fine. The sharp gazes of the household retainers, the way Lady Ri-ri was loved by everyone while she watched from the shadows—she was fine with all of it.
However…
I don’t want to die.
She wasn't fine with death.
Dying is so scary and sad.
It might be shameless for a sinner who had deceived and hurt her family to think this way, but even so, So-ya did not want to die.
So-ya stole a glance at Baek Sa-eon.
A man as big as her father, and as strong as her father.
If I follow this man, I can leave the Land of the Vermilion Bird.
His impression was a bit scary and his way of speaking was rough, and he was a strange man who suddenly talked about stealing her, but…
If I follow him, I can live.
So-ya nodded toward the man.
“Yes. Please take me with you.”
“Good.”
Baek Sa-eon chuckled as he brushed his thumb over So-ya’s red, swollen eyes.
“Good choice, Cotton Ball. I am Baek Sa-eon, the Lord of the West.”
“Yes, Lord Sa-eon. I am So-ya. I’m nine years old.”
As Sa-eon introduced himself, So-ya told him her name once more.
“Right, Cotton Ball.”
It didn't seem to have much of an effect, though.
“Since this was done by mutual agreement, you can’t go reporting me later.”
“Re-reporting?”
“Yeah. About me stealing you.”
Baek Sa-eon nodded and spoke in a mock-serious tone.
“It’ll be a problem if word gets out that I snuck into the southern chicken-heads’ land like a stray cat and stole something.”
“I—I’ll never report you!” So-ya answered quickly.
Even if he took a useless child like her, no one would care. But fearing he might find taking her troublesome, she hurriedly added, “And, no—no one will care. They might even be happy. If I’m gone…”
As she rambled, So-ya suddenly felt her throat tighten.
“Cotton Ball?”
The moment Sa-eon called out to her, noticing her complexion turning pale as she abruptly stopped speaking—
Thump.
So-ya’s head slumped forward.
“Cotton Ball, why are you…”
Sa-eon instinctively reached for the child’s face and recoiled in shock.
“…!”
Her body was burning like a fireball.