Chapter 8
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Chapter 8
Baek Sayeon's eyes hardened as he observed the child's pallid face, as if she might collapse at any moment.
"Hey there, cotton ball. Are you alright?"
At his voice calling out to me again, I snapped back to awareness and lifted my head.
The unfamiliar man who had just saved me from the assassins stood before my eyes.
Tall and strikingly handsome, his features carried an air of coldness and severity.
He emanated an atmosphere entirely opposite to my Father, who had always smiled with warmth.
"Ah...."
I released a small sigh.
For a moment, I had mistaken that broad back—the one that had shielded me from the assassins—for my Father's.
There was no one else with such a large, solid frame.
It was a foolish thought.
My Father's back no longer protected me.
I recalled the image of my Father turning away from me toward Riri, his back receding into the distance.
That back, once so warm and steadfast in its protection, now left only cold and desolate memories in its wake.
Swallowing my sorrow, I opened my mouth.
"I'm not a cotton ball. I am...."
I hesitated for a moment.
Once, I had introduced myself as Jeok Soya of the Jujak Family, but I realized now that I could no longer do so.
"...I'm Soya."
"Your name suits you—cotton ball-like indeed."
Baek Sayeon chuckled softly as he observed Soya, whose small frame and round, delicate features gave her a distinctly cotton-like appearance.
Yet the smile that had graced his face vanished almost immediately.
'Was this child the target of the Jujak Family's assassins?'
Baek Sayeon's eyes narrowed as he studied the girl.
To dispatch assassins after such a small girl.
And not just any assassins—the Samjokoh, known as the Jujak Family's most elite warrior unit.
Beneath the pettiness of the act lay the unmistakable will of whoever had ordered it to eliminate this child by any means necessary.
Sayeon asked with a somewhat grave expression.
"What grudge did you incur with those chicken-brained fools from the Southern Lands?"
"Chicken...?"
"That's right."
Baek Sayeon gestured toward the fallen assassin as he explained to the blinking Soya.
"The Samjokoh—those birds the Jujak Family commands."
"Ah...."
Though I didn't understand the sudden reference to chickens, I did know of the Samjokoh.
Composed of warriors from the Black Raven Family, who had served the direct bloodline of the Jujak for generations, the Samjokoh moved only at the command of the direct line.
Sorrow washed over my face, and soon large tears gathered at the corners of my eyes.
"Then I...was nearly killed? By...the people of the Jujak Family...?"
It was a question that seemed to confirm something I had already suspected.
"If I hadn't been there, perhaps...?"
At Baek Sayeon's careless words, I couldn't help it.
Plip.
The tears that had been gathering spilled down my cheeks.
Plip. Pitter-patter. Patter.
What began as single drops soon became a torrent, streaming down like rain.
Baek Sayeon paused, looking down at the child.
Death was something even the elderly feared, so it was hardly strange for a child to weep so.
Yet this small child had not cried when truly facing death itself—only when learning that the assassins had been sent by the Jujak Family did she begin to weep bitterly.
She cried silently, suppressing her sobs, with only thick tears rolling down her cheeks—a sight that tugged at something within him.
Despite his nature not to linger over others' tears, he found himself unable to look away.
"Hic... hic... sob..."
"..."
Sayeon had no talent for comforting children. His own sons rarely cried.
Even in their earliest years, they wept only when hungry or fussy over food.
So facing a weeping child felt somewhat foreign to him, yet he found himself gazing silently at those trembling small shoulders before awkwardly reaching out his hand.
His rough fingertips gently patted the child's delicate shoulder.
Because she was holding back, her sobs did not grow louder, but her shoulders shook more violently, her entire body trembling.
Once her crying had subsided, he remained quietly at her side, then spoke in a gruff yet tender voice.
"A little cotton ball like you shouldn't be wandering alone at this hour. I'll take you back to your family."
Soya wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and shook her head.
"It's fine."
"A runaway cotton ball, then? Your family will worry..."
"I don't have any."
Soya spoke in a calm voice.
"I don't have a family."
"..."
Baek Sayeon fell silent.
He gazed intently at Soya, who was swallowing back her tears.
'Clearly a child connected to the Jujak Family...'
The enigmatic command from the Fifth Prince came to mind again. He had been ordered to steal the most precious thing from the Phoenix Territory.
'The most precious thing...'
Originally, he had planned to steal the Phoenix Bow—a treasure passed down through generations to the head of the Jeok Family—but suddenly his mind changed.
Perhaps it was merely a whim...
Whoosh—
Soya's body lifted into the air.
Soya's eyes widened in surprise. With her pale complexion and reddened eyes, she looked just like a rabbit.
"In that case."
Baek Sayeon met Soya's gaze and grinned wickedly.
"I'll have to steal you, little cotton ball."
"Y-yes...?"
I was startled, and tears welled up in my eyes.
Steal? Me?
Wasn't "stealing" a word used when someone secretly took away something precious?
Yet I was not precious at all—I was a criminal unworthy of such consideration.
"Why would you...?"
"Of everything I saw in the Southern Lands, you pleased me most."
Baek Sayeon explained in a voice that seemed indifferent yet carried a certain tenderness.
I had wondered why the Jujak Family's assassin would target such a small child, and it happened that the girl seemed to have nowhere to go. More than anything, I found myself drawn to her since a moment ago.
So I thought I might as well steal her away.
It felt far more valuable than some tedious treasure.
"You truly have no family waiting for you?"
He asked, his gaze piercing through my very eyes.
"...Yes."
I nodded and answered in a sorrowful voice.
Once, there were those I thought of as family and loved, but they had tried to kill me. That could never be called family.
In truth, I had never been able to be their family from long ago, yet I foolishly clung to them alone.
But now it was time to let go.
"I truly have no family."
Reading the truth in my answer, Baek Sayeon smiled knowingly and asked once more.
"Then will you let me steal you away?"
"..."
At his question, my throat tightened painfully.
I had always been fine. Always.
I could no longer be Father's daughter, and though my skin stung under my brother's contemptuous gaze, I was fine.
The servants' sharp looks, watching Riri receive everyone's love while I stood apart—it was all fine.
But...
'I don't want to die.'
Death was not something I could accept.
'Dying is too frightening and sorrowful.'
Perhaps it was shameless for a criminal who had deceived and hurt her family to think such things, yet I did not wish to die.
I glanced at Baek Sayeon.
A man as large and as strong as Father.
'If I follow this man, I can escape the Phoenix Territory.'
His expression was somewhat frightening, his manner of speech rough, and he spoke strange words about stealing me away.
'If I follow this man, I can live.'
I nodded toward him.
"Yes. Please take me with you."
"Very well."
"Okay."
Baek Sayeon chuckled softly, gently rubbing the corners of Soya's swollen, reddened eyes with his fingertips.
"Well reasoned, little cotton ball. I am Baek Sayeon, master of the Western Lands."
"Yes, Master Sayeon. I'm Soya. I'm nine years old."
To Sayeon, who was introducing himself, Soya reintroduced her own name once more.
"Right, little cotton ball."
Though it seemed to have little effect.
"Since this was done with mutual consent, you mustn't go around reporting it to anyone later."
"R-reporting it?"
"Yes. That I stole you."
Baek Sayeon nodded, speaking in an deliberately serious tone.
"It would be troublesome if word spread that I sneaked into the Southern Lands like a thieving cat and made off with something."
"N-no, I absolutely won't report it!"
Soya answered quickly.
No one would care if he took away a useless child like me.
But fearing he might find it inconvenient to take me, I hastily added more.
"And, ah, no one will care anyway. They might even be relieved. If I disappeared..."
In the midst of rambling, Soya suddenly felt her throat tighten painfully.
"Little cotton ball?"
The moment Sayeon called out to the child, whose complexion had suddenly worsened.
Thud.
Soya's head drooped forward.
"Little cotton ball, why are you..."
Sayeon reached out toward the child's face instinctively and froze in shock.
"...!"
The child's body burned like a blazing coal.
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org