WCB 8

Chapter 8

Saeon’s eyes hardened at the sight of the child’s pale face that looked ready to collapse at any moment.

“Hey, cotton ball. Are you okay?”

At the voice directed at her once again, Soya snapped back to her senses and lifted her head.

The unfamiliar man who had saved her from the assassin earlier was right in front of her.

The tall man with clean and handsome features had a somewhat cold and frightening impression.

He had a completely opposite atmosphere from her father, who always smiled warmly.

“Ah…”

Soya let out a quiet sigh.

For a moment, she had thought that the back that blocked the assassin and protected her was her father’s back.

Because the only person this big and solid was her father.

It was a foolish thought.

Her father’s back no longer protected her.

Soya recalled her father’s back as he turned away from her toward Miss Lili.

That warm and solid back that had always protected her long ago now only left behind cold and lonely sentiments.

Soya swallowed her sad feelings and opened her mouth.

“I’m not a cotton ball. I’m…”

She hesitated for a moment.

Long ago, she used to introduce herself as Jeok Soya of the Suzaku Family, but she realized she could no longer introduce herself that way.

“…I’m Soya.”

“Even your name is like a cotton ball.”

Baek Saeon chuckled as he looked at Soya with her particularly small frame and round features.

However, the smile that appeared on his face quickly disappeared.

‘Is this child what the Suzaku Family’s assassin was targeting?’

Baek Saeon’s eyes narrowed as he observed the child.

To send assassins to eliminate such a small girl.

And the Three-Legged Crow at that, known as the Suzaku Family’s most elite warrior group.

Behind the pettiness, he could sense the will of whoever ordered this to eliminate the child at all costs.

Saeon asked with a somewhat serious expression.

“You, what grudge did you earn from those chicken-heads in the south?”

“Chicken…?”

“That’s right.”

Baek Saeon pointed to the fallen assassin and explained to the blinking Soya.

“It’s the Three-Legged Crow that the Suzaku bastards use.”

“Ah…”

She couldn’t understand the sudden talk about chickens, but Soya knew about the Three-Legged Crow.

The Three-Legged Crow, composed of warriors from the Black Crow Family who had served the Suzaku’s direct lineage for generations, moved only by orders from the direct lineage.

Soya’s face was filled with sadness, and soon large teardrops formed in her eyes.

“Then I… almost died, didn’t I? By… the people of the Suzaku Family…”

It was a question as if confirming something she already suspected.

“If I hadn’t been there, probably?”

At Baek Saeon’s carelessly spoken words, finally.

Plop.

A teardrop that had been shimmering fell down.

Plop. Drip drip. Drop.

The tears that started falling one by one, then two by two, began flowing down like a fierce rain.

Baek Saeon paused and looked down at the child.

Death was something even elderly people feared, so it wasn’t strange for a child to cry like this.

But this tiny child hadn’t cried when she was actually about to die, yet started crying sorrowfully as soon as she learned that it was people from the Suzaku Family who sent the assassin.

The way she held back her sobs without making a sound, only letting thick teardrops fall, was very pitiful.

Even though he wasn’t usually the type to be moved by others’ tears, it bothered him enough to keep drawing his attention.

“Hic, sob, huk…”

“…”

Saeon had no talent for comforting children. His sons rarely cried.

Even when they were very young, they never cried except when hungry or fussing about food.

So facing a crying child was somewhat unfamiliar to him, but he silently watched the small trembling shoulders before awkwardly reaching out his hand.

His rough fingertips carefully patted the child’s tender shoulder.

Because she was trying hard to hold back, the child’s crying didn’t get louder, but the heaving of her shoulders and trembling of her body became more intense.

He quietly stayed by her side until the child’s crying subsided, then spoke in a gruff but gentle voice.

“It’s too late for a cotton ball like you to be wandering around alone. I’ll take you back to your family.”

Soya wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and shook her head.

“It’s okay.”

“A runaway cotton ball? You know, then your family will worry…”

“I don’t have any.”

Soya said in a calm voice.

“I don’t have any family.”

“…”

Baek Saeon closed his mouth.

He stared quietly at Soya as she struggled to swallow her tears.

‘Definitely a child connected to the Suzaku Family…’

The prince’s puzzling command came to mind again. He had said to steal the most precious thing from the Land of Suzaku.

‘The most precious thing…’

Originally, he had planned to steal the Vermillion Bird’s Treasure Bow that was said to be passed down through generations to the heads of the Jeok Family, but suddenly his mind changed.

Perhaps it was just a simple whim…

Swoosh—

Soya’s body was lifted into the air.

Soya’s eyes widened in surprise. The pale child with reddened eyes looked exactly like a rabbit.

“In that case.”

Baek Saeon met Soya’s eyes and grinned.

“I’ll have to steal you, cotton ball.”

“Wh-what…?”

Soya was so flustered that her tears stopped.

Steal? Me?

Wasn’t “steal” an expression used when secretly taking away something precious?

But she wasn’t precious at all, and was a sinner without any such value.

“Why me…?”

“Because you’re the most appealing thing I’ve seen in the south.”

Baek Saeon explained in a voice that seemed indifferent yet gentle.

He was curious about why the Suzaku Family’s assassin was targeting this small child, and the child seemed to have nowhere to go anyway.

More than anything, this little child had been bothering him since earlier.

So he thought he’d try stealing her.

This felt more valuable than some boring treasure bow.

“It’s really true that you have no family waiting for you?”

He asked while staring penetratingly into Soya’s eyes.

“…Yes.”

Soya nodded and answered in a sad voice.

There were once people she thought of as family and loved, but they had tried to kill her. That could never be called family.

In truth, she hadn’t been able to be part of their family for a very long time, 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 Soya’s answer, Baek Saeon asked once more with a sly grin, as if confirming.

“Then will you let me steal you?”

“….”

At Saeon’s question, Soya’s throat bobbed painfully.

Soya was fine. She was always fine.

Though she could no longer be Father’s daughter, though her skin stung from Elder Brother’s contemptuous gaze, she was fine.

The sharp stares of the household members, Miss Lili receiving everyone’s love and watching it all in loneliness—it was all fine.

But….

‘I don’t want to die.’

Death wasn’t something she could be fine with.

‘Dying is such a scary and sad thing.’

Though it might be shameless for a sinner who deceived and hurt her family to think such thoughts, Soya still didn’t want to die.

Soya glanced at Baek Saeon.

A man as tall as Father, as strong as Father.

‘If I follow this person, I’ll be able to leave the Land of Suzaku.’

His expression was a bit frightening and his manner of speaking rough, and he was a man who suddenly said strange things about stealing her.

‘If I follow this person, I’ll be able to live.’

Soya nodded toward the man.

“Yes. Please take me with you.”

“Good.”

Baek Saeon gently rubbed Soya’s red, swollen eyes with his fingertips and grinned.

“You thought well, cotton ball. I’m Baek Saeon, master of the Western Region.”

“Yes, Lord Saeon. I’m Soya. I’m nine years old.”

To Saeon who introduced himself, Soya told him her name once more.

“Right, cotton ball.”

It didn’t seem to have much effect though.

“Since this was done by mutual agreement, you can’t go reporting it anywhere later.”

“Re-reporting?”

“Yeah. About me stealing you.”

Baek Saeon nodded and spoke in a deliberately serious voice.

“It would be troublesome. If rumors spread that I snuck into the Southern Region’s chicken-head land like a thieving cat and stole something.”

“I-I absolutely won’t do it, report you!”

Soya answered quickly.

No one would care even if he took away a useless child like her.

But just in case he might find taking her troublesome, she hastily added.

“And, and no one will care. They might even be happy. If I disappear….”

While rambling in her answer, Soya suddenly felt her throat completely blocked.

“Cotton ball?”

The moment Saeon called to the child, noticing Soya’s complexion wasn’t good after she suddenly stopped speaking.

Thud.

Soya’s head dropped down.

“Cotton ball, why are you….”

Saeon, who unconsciously reached toward the child’s face, was startled.

“…!”

The child’s body was like a ball of fire.