WCB 11

Chapter 11

‘There are still many places left to introduce.’

Ga Hyeon thought as he looked around the estate.

Even though he wasn’t busy, he felt a bit annoyed as if he was wasting time for no reason.

“Um…”

Just then, Soya carefully called out to him.

“You’re very busy, aren’t you?”

“Huh…?”

“Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule like this. I’ll look around by myself from here, so please go ahead, Young Master.”

“No, I…”

Ga Hyeon was flustered. It wasn’t that he was busy, but rather that it was bothersome.

However, there was no need to refuse her words. He could just say he was indeed very busy as she said and leave.

Yet strangely, he found himself hesitating.

“I am… busy, but.”

“I’m really fine. Please go ahead.”

Soya smiled faintly and urged him again.

“Uh, yeah. Alright.”

Ga Hyeon felt strangely pricked by his conscience and added unnecessarily.

“I’ll send someone over here, so don’t wander around alone and get lost. Just look around the rear garden.”

“Yes, Young Master. Thank you so much.”

When Soya answered with a bright smile, Ga Hyeon paused for a moment before turning around.

After sending Ga Hyeon away and being left alone, Soya let out a deep sigh.

“Phew…”

Actually, Soya knew. He wasn’t busy, but rather didn’t like her and found her bothersome.

Quick-witted Soya realized that Ga Hyeon didn’t think favorably of her.

Of course, she didn’t resent him for it.

Soya just felt burdened that the precious Young Master was doing troublesome work because of her.

It was then.

“Huh…?”

“Eek…!”

She didn’t know how long he’d been there, but she locked eyes with the third son Gayul who had been hiding in the bushes and secretly watching her.

“Ahhh!”

Startled Gayul made a crashing sound as he fell over by himself.

“Are, are you alright?”

Soya was surprised and approached Gayul with her eyes wide open.

Then Gayul quickly got up and shouted.

“D, don’t come near me, cotton ball!”

“But you just got hurt…”

Soya muttered while pointing at Gayul’s knee.

“Gasp! Blood…!”

Gayul belatedly discovered his scraped knee bleeding through his torn pants and jumped up.

Then he immediately glared at Soya and shouted.

“I, I am the great third son of the White Tiger Family, Baek Gayul! Being hurt by such a wound is something only someone like you, a cotton ball, would do!”

Gayul, his neck flushed red, screamed and ran away.

Soya blinked as she watched Gayul’s figure disappear in the distance.

‘Is he angry?’

Soya thought as she recalled Gayul shouting with his neck flushed red.

She thought that could be the case.

People usually got angry when they saw Soya.

They got angry even when she did nothing, but the third Young Master fell and got hurt because of her, so he had good reason to be very angry.

“Still, it would be better to treat it quickly…”

Soya’s eyes drooped sadly.

After waiting a bit, Yeonjeong and Sanho came to fetch Soya after receiving Ga Hyeon’s message.

“Young Lady! Oh my, here you were.”

“Really, the second Young Master. Being busy and leaving a young lady alone in this place.”

“No, it’s not like that. The Young Master kindly showed me around various places.”

Soya defended Ga Hyeon to the grumbling Yeonjeong and Sanho.

“Our kind Young Lady, shall we go in now?”

“Yes.”

As Soya was returning, holding Sanho and Yeonjeong’s hands in each of hers.

Sanho noticed Soya’s drooping eyes.

“Did something happen, Young Lady?”

“Um, well, actually…”

Soya carefully told them about what had happened earlier.

“The Youngest Young Master fell and got hurt because of me. So I wanted to treat his wound, but…”

However, unlike the serious-faced Soya, Yeonjeong and Sanho laughed and waved their hands dismissively.

“Oh, it’s fine. The Youngest Young Master falling and getting hurt is a daily occurrence.”

“But…”

Soya recalled when Miss Lili had pushed her and she fell not long ago.

Her knee had scraped and bled, and it really hurt a lot.

“Our cotton ball Young Lady, you have such a kind heart. But you really don’t need to worry. The Youngest Young Master is a tiger!”

Yeonjeong raised both hands like front paws and made a fierce expression, imitating a tiger with “Roar!”

“That’s exactly why I’m more worried…”

Soya’s quietly murmured voice was too small for anyone to hear.

* * *

“Ow! It, it hurts!”

“Oh my, you’re being particularly dramatic today, our Young Master.”

A boy of about ten years old said while applying medicine to the young master’s wound.

This pitiful boy who served the immature youngest Young Master was Su Ri, a beast-human from the Blue Wolf Family and Sanho’s younger brother.

“It really hurts, I tell you!”

Gayul shouted with tears welling up in his eyes.

“That’s why you should have sat still and waited. I would have come to carry you, but why did you run on your injured leg?”

“I, I couldn’t show such a weak side!”

Gayul grumbled in response.

This was all because of that cotton ball-like small, white, and soft-looking girl.

He didn’t want to show weakness in front of her, so he ran on his injured knee and overdid it.

“But that girl, that cotton ball. She doesn’t seem to be a tiger, so what exactly is she?”

“Well, maybe a mouse since she’s small?”

“But mice aren’t as quiet as her. I heard mice are really noisy.”

Gayul shook his head while pouting his lips, then suddenly asked.

“Maybe she’s a puppy? I heard puppies have sparkling eyes and droopy eye corners. Like this.”

“But puppy beast-humans are naturally healthy. Didn’t that cotton ball Young Lady seem a bit delicate?”

“Hmm…”

Gayul and Su Ri earnestly speculated about Soya’s identity.

“Then what? A hedgehog? A squirrel? A deer?”

Gayul recited the names of animals he knew one by one.

“It’s too round and plump to be a hedgehog. And squirrel beast-people don’t have white families. Deer are more elongated.”

“Mmm…”

“Maybe it’s not a wild animal at all. Since the Family Head picked her up from outside. Anyway, you can’t run around for a while until you’re fully healed. Do you under… Young Master? Young Master, where are you going!”

As soon as the wound treatment was finished, Gayul jumped up and scurried outside.

“I’m busy!”

“No, Young Master! It’s time to go to the training ground…! Oh my…”

Su Ri held his forehead because of the third Young Master who had disappeared like the wind in such a short time.

* * *

Saeon’s office.

“The Youngest Young Master forgot about going to the training ground and has been chasing after the little cotton ball Young Lady all day.”

Saeon, who had been flipping through documents with a bored expression, looked up at Jeok Yeong’s report.

“It seems Yul also took a liking to the cotton ball.”

Saeon said with a chuckle.

“Wouldn’t it be good for the Family Head to say something? With the Youngest Young Master’s temperament, other people’s words won’t have any effect on him.”

“Leave him be.”

He got up from his seat and walked toward the window.

Just then, he could see Gayul and Soya down below through the window.

It was quite adorable to see the wary kid following around behind a cotton ball smaller than himself.

“It looks nice. A small kid chasing after an even smaller kid.”

It was when Saeon was muttering while looking out the window with a languid expression.

“But Family Head.”

Jeok Yeong called him carefully.

“About that cotton ball Young Lady. She’s not really a hidden illegitimate child or anything like that, right? Right?”

“What?”

Saeon’s face was colored with bewilderment.

“Well, you went to the palace early in the morning saying you were going to meet His Highness the Prince, then suddenly came back in the middle of the night with some girl, so it’s suspicious. And that room at the western end is…”

“No.”

Saeon immediately denied it with a frown.

An illegitimate child.

What kind of ridiculous misunderstanding was that.

“Then what is it exactly? You couldn’t have really just picked her up on the road.”

“…”

Saeon knew that everyone was curious about Soya.

It was understandable since he had ended his explanation with just that brief statement about stealing her while passing by.

Some people took it as an amusing joke, but it wasn’t a joke.

He himself didn’t know how else to explain Soya.

Because it was true that he had really discovered her by chance while passing by and stolen her.

‘No. Was it really by chance?’

Saeon suddenly hardened his expression around his eyes.