The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 19

Soya’s meal time.

The table was full of food.

Soya, who had been terribly thin when she first arrived at White Tiger Palace in Saeon’s arms, had gradually gained weight by eating and sleeping well during this time.

After finishing her meal until her stomach was about to burst, Soya drank every drop of the herbal medicine that Yeonjeong brought her.

‘Ordinary children would have thrown a tantrum or frowned, saying they didn’t want to drink the bitter herbal medicine.’

‘Our Young Lady is truly gentle.’

Yeonjeong and Sanho thought this as they watched Soya obediently drink the herbal medicine without even frowning once.

“Wow, our Young Lady. You’re so amazing!”

Yeonjeong clapped her hands while looking at the herbal medicine bowl that didn’t have a single drop left.

“It’s time for something to cleanse your palate. Say ‘ah.'”

“Aah—”

Soya opened her tiny mouth like a baby bird.

Sanho chuckled and gently placed a sweet confection into Soya’s mouth.

Soya chewed the sweet confection with her small mouth.

Both the bitter-sweet aroma of the herbal medicine and the sweet taste of the confection spreading throughout her mouth felt wonderful.

‘Why is everyone being so kind to me?’

Soya thought this as her face turned red.

The delicious food and clean clothes were all nice, but the best thing of all was the faces of people smiling at her.

The people of the Suzaku Family would all frown and avoid her when they saw her, but the people of White Tiger Palace all smiled brightly at her.

Even for such trivial things as finishing her meal and taking medicine, they would clap and say she was amazing, praising her with smiles.

‘So this is how warm and pleasant smiling can be. I should smile a lot too.’

Soya thought this and smiled broadly.

Just as their smiles had warmed her heart, she wanted to give the people of White Tiger Palace pleasant and warm feelings in return.

Lord Saeon had told her to stay here ‘for the time being.’

She didn’t know when that ‘time being’ would end, but Soya thought that this current time staying in the western end room of White Tiger Palace would be the happiest ‘time being’ of her life.

‘I hope this time being lasts a very long time. At least long enough for me to remember this sweetness for a long, long time.’

To remember this sweet and bitter-sweet ‘time being’ for a long, long time, Soya chewed the remaining confection in her mouth thoroughly.

At that moment, Ho Jeokyeong came with a gift from Saeon.

“The Family Head gave this to me?”

Soya’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the wooden box in Jeok Yeong’s hands.

“Yes. He said it was in return for the talisman.”

That talisman had been her way of repaying him for saving her, yet now he was giving her another gift as repayment.

Soya felt a warm feeling in her chest.

When she opened the wooden box, a tiger-shaped cloth doll popped out.

“It’s a tiger!”

Soya exclaimed excitedly.

Everyone burst into laughter at the sight of the Young Lady looking at the tiger doll with sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks.

“Thanks to the Young Lady’s talisman driving away the ghost, this tiger doll slept soundly last night.”

“Waah…!”

“Don’t just stare at it, try holding it once.”

“May I really do that?”

“Of course, this is a gift from the Family Head to you, Young Lady.”

At the urging voice telling her to hurry and hold it, Soya gulped and looked at the tiger doll.

Then she very carefully took the cloth doll into her arms.

It was just as soft and fluffy as the cloth doll she used to sleep with in her father’s arms when she was very young.

Soya had also had cloth dolls she played with in her childhood, but they were all taken away and burned when she was banished to the Cold Palace.

Among them was a wonderful phoenix doll that her late mother had personally sewn while waiting for Soya to be born.

The piece of cloth she barely managed to find in the ashes was so blackened with soot that she couldn’t recognize its original form.

Remembering that time made her feel like tears might suddenly fall.

“Oh, what should I do. I’m so grateful…”

Soya muttered restlessly, not knowing how to express these feelings.

Then she asked carefully.

“Could I possibly use some paper and an ink stick?”

“Huh? Paper and… ink?”

“Are you trying to draw a picture, Young Lady?”

“No. I want to write a letter to Lord Saeon.”

Soya shook her head and answered.

At this, everyone looked at each other with surprised faces.

Could it be that this small Young Lady knew how to write?

But reading and writing were privileges allowed only to the children of prestigious families.

Yeonjeong brought out an ink stick, inkstone, paper, and brush with a half-believing heart.

Soya sat right in front of them, ground the ink, picked up the brush, and wrote a letter.

Although the endings were a bit crooked due to her lack of hand strength, overall it was neat handwriting.

She even wrote much better than the Youngest Young Master, and was comparable to the Second Young Master.

Everyone couldn’t help but be bewildered.

Completely unaware of the inner thoughts of the people around her, Soya was quite upset because her handwriting seemed crooked after writing for the first time in a long while.

“It’s been a long time since I held a brush… Is it very bad?”

“Not at all, Young Lady! It’s too perfect!”

“The Family Head will surely be delighted when he receives this letter!”

Seeing her drooping eyes, Sanho and Yeonjeong quickly waved their hands.

At this, Soya’s face brightened.

“Then please deliver my letter to the Family Head! Please, Lord Jeok Yeong!”

“Don’t worry, Young Lady.”

Jeok Yeong smiled and received Soya’s letter.

Soya hugged the tiger doll tightly and smiled broadly.

* * *

Meanwhile, when Soya had come with the stone pebbles last night.

Ga Hyeon wasn’t asleep but was pretending to sleep while observing Soya.

Cotton Ball had snuck into his room, placed something by his bedside, and quickly ran out.

“What is it?”

As soon as Soya left, he checked and found it was an ordinary stone pebble.

“What kind of prank is this.”

Ga Hyeon thought it was some strange prank and felt annoyed, so he just threw it away.

But the next morning.

Gayul came to his room holding some stone pebble and started showing off.

“Look at this, brother! It’s a talisman I got from Cotton Ball!”

“A talisman?”

“Yeah, yeah, a talisman! When I told her there was a ghost living in White Tiger Palace, she gave this to me saying it was a ghost-repelling charm!”

Ga Hyeon looked at his younger brother with pitying eyes.

Ghosts, talismans. He had no idea what kind of stupid nonsense this was.

“Brother, you didn’t see Cotton Ball’s beast transformation, did you? I saw it. She was really small and cute.”

“…”

“But why is Cotton Ball afraid of beast transformation? She was really cute though…”

Gayul wasn’t particularly perceptive, but he had good animal instincts.

The emotion Soya showed me that day when I asked her to show me her beast transformation was definitely fear.

“Maybe it’s because she’s too cute… she’s worried about being kidnapped! What should we do, hyung? If Cotton Ball gets kidnapped…!”

Gayul’s nonsense gave Ga Hyeon a headache.

“You’re being loud, so get out now.”

“This is really an important matter! Cotton Ball is already so tiny! If bad thieves hide her in a pouch or something and run away, it’ll be hard to catch them!”

However, Gayul didn’t leave and kept chattering away.

Ga Hyeon ignored Gayul, got up from his seat, and went outside.

Gayul followed behind him without even knowing where Ga Hyeon’s footsteps were heading, continuing to babble.

“So that’s probably why Father stole Cotton Ball too! This won’t do, hyung. I’ll…”

Just then, Ga Hyeon suddenly stopped.

Thunk!

“Ow ow ow. If you stop so suddenly like this…”

It was when Gayul, who had bumped his nose into Ga Hyeon’s back after he stopped without warning, was rubbing his nose tip.

“Oh my, Young Master Gayul!”

“Uh, huh?”

Gayul, who had been poking his head out at the booming voice, belatedly realized that this place was the training ground.

Gayul’s martial arts master, who had discovered his disciple that had been neglecting training for the past few days, approached with an ominous voice.

“Heh heh heh, yesterday too you ran away while I was briefly away from my post.”

“M-Master…! Wait, th-that’s…”

Ga Hyeon grabbed the back of Gayul’s neck as he was slowly backing away trying to escape and handed him over to his master.

“Here, take him away.”

“H-hyung, how could you do this to me! You’re not my hyung anymore!”

Ga Hyeon snorted as he watched Gayul being dragged away by his master while squawking complaints at him.

“Finally it’s quiet.”

It was when he was about to return with a much lighter heart.

He spotted Soya crouched in the garden across the way, rustling around.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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