The White Tiger Clan’s Baby Cotton Ball - Chapter 21

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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 21

That day, Soya became the winner of the pretty stone-finding game.

Soya thought the stone Sanho had picked up was prettier, but everyone insisted that Soya’s stone was the prettiest.

“But Sanho’s stone is more…”

While Soya couldn’t easily accept it,

Just then, Gayul, who had been walking sluggishly after paying the harsh price for neglecting his training, was spotted by Sanho.

“Young Master! Young Master Yul!”

Sanho quickly called out loudly to Gayul.

“Why are you call… Huh? Cotton Ball!”

Gayul turned around at the voice calling him, discovered Soya, and came running over with sparkling eyes.

“What are you doing here? What are these stones? Are you going to make talismans with these too?”

“Perfect timing, Young Master. Which one of these do you think is the prettiest?”

“Well, obviously this one… no, this one! This is the prettiest!”

Gayul had carelessly pointed to another stone, but quickly changed his words under the terrifying pressure from Yeonjeong and Sanho, who were glaring at him with meaningful looks.

It was a very clumsy change of words, but it was enough to fool Soya.

“R-really?”

Soya asked with wide eyes.

Before Gayul could answer, Sanho and Yeonjeong jumped in.

“Oh my, Young Master Yul also says Young Lady’s stone is the prettiest!”

“See! What did we tell you? Our Young Lady picked up the prettiest stone in the world!”

“Wow! Then today’s game winner is Young Lady?”

“How is our Young Lady so good at picking up stones too!”

“…”

Soya, who had no immunity to praise, didn’t know what to say in her shy heart and kept her mouth tightly shut like a clam.

However, her flushed cheeks and the corners of her mouth that kept twitching upward clearly showed Soya’s excited mood.

Noticing this, Yeonjeong and Sanho giggled softly and handed Soya all three stones.

“Here, our Young Lady. This is your victory prize!”

Thanks to this, Soya ended up with three pretty stones.

“With these, I can make ones for Yeonjeong, Sanho, and Jeok Yeong too!”

Soya exclaimed with a bright smile.

“Ah! Cotton Ball Young Lady! What about mine?! Sob sob… It’s already pitiful serving the immature Youngest Young Master, and now I’m the only one who won’t receive Young Lady’s stone talisman that everyone else gets…”

“Huh? Oh, but there are only three stones…”

Su Ri’s exaggerated sobbing made a troubled expression appear on Soya’s face.

“D-don’t cry, Su Ri! Then I’ll pick up more stones and make one for you too…”

“Then shall we try a ‘picking up lots of pretty stones game’ this time?”

At Sanho’s suggestion, another game began.

So everyone gathered lots of pretty stones together and brought them to Soya’s room.

Soya spread out a large cloth on the floor and dried the cleanly washed stones on it.

While Soya and Gayul were playing by counting the stones, Yeonjeong brought brushes and paint.

“What’s this, Yeonjeong?”

“It’s ceramic paint used for making pottery. How about painting the stones with this and firing them before giving them as gifts?”

“…!”

Soya’s eyes widened.

“That’s wonderful! If we paint them, the stones will look even more magnificent!”

Soya clapped her hands in delight.

If she painted them, maybe even the Second Young Master would see them as wonderful talismans rather than trash.

While painting colorfully with the paints, Soya suddenly spoke as if remembering something.

“By the way, I saw a pretty young lady getting out of a really big palanquin earlier.”

“Ah, the branch family tigers must be arriving gradually. The Mountain Lord Festival will start soon.”

Sanho explained while wiping the paint from Soya’s nose with a handkerchief.

“Mountain Lord Festival?”

“Yes. It’s an event where young tigers from the Western Lands gather to compete for the ‘Mountain Lord’ position of that year.”

“Then are they all tigers too?”

“Yeah, they’re all tigers!”

Gayul, who had been lying beside Soya doing paint play together, lifted his head and answered instead.

At that moment, Gayul’s face was covered with colorful paint splotches.

“They don’t have magnificent white fur like me though… Eeek!”

“Oh dear, Young Master. You’re older than Young Lady but look at your face, how undignified.”

While Sanho shook her head and vigorously rubbed Gayul’s face with a handkerchief, Soya began drawing tigers on the stones with a deliberately serious expression.

“Oh my, tigers again?”

“Yes, these are for the guests from the branch families.”

Soya felt a heavy sense of responsibility, thinking that the number of tigers she needed to protect had increased.

“They’re all Saeon’s guests. I’ll protect them all.”

Everyone wore gentle smiles watching Soya giggle happily.

* * *

Saeon’s office.

“I secretly investigated the entire Southern Lands area as you instructed, but no one knows the name Soya.”

Saeon’s brow furrowed as he sat at his desk quietly listening to the report.

“No one?”

“Yes. Even when I described her appearance in case she had given a false name, not a single person knew the young lady. Are you certain you picked up Cotton Ball Young Lady from the Southern Lands?”

“Do you think I’ve developed dementia at my age?”

“I asked just to confirm. Even if the Vermillion Bird Family hid the child’s existence, they couldn’t have concealed it this thoroughly.”

“…”

“If the Family Head hasn’t developed senility, there are only two possibilities.”

“What are they?”

“Either Cotton Ball Young Lady is using flawless trickery to deceive us, or she’s a child from within the family who has never stepped outside the Vermillion Bird Mansion.”

“A child from within the family…”

Saeon pondered Ho Jeokyeong’s words for a while, then suddenly asked.

“Didn’t Jeok Ayun have a young daughter?”

“Huh? That’s right. It was announced that he had a daughter 9 years ago… Family Head, you’re not suggesting that Cotton Ball Young Lady is the Vermillion Bird Family’s daughter, are you?”

“Why not. The age is similar too.”

“Unfortunately, your speculation is wrong this time, Family Head. The Vermillion Bird Family’s young lady recently celebrated her ninth birthday and had her name registered in the family records. Her name is ‘Lili.'”

“…Right. A family’s daughter wouldn’t be chased by a Three-Legged Crow like that.”

Because of the educated demeanor the child occasionally showed, he had briefly entertained the ridiculous thought that she might be the Vermillion Bird Family’s daughter.

“Nine years old…”

The same age as Cotton Ball.

Since beastmen are recognized as proper members of beast society only after succeeding in their First Beast Transformation, their names aren’t revealed to the outside until then.

However, considering when ordinary beastmen usually undergo their First Beast Transformation, registering a name only after 9 years since birth was quite unusual.

“Considering Cotton Ball Young Lady’s age, she might have been a servant attending the family’s young lady? Though it’s suspicious why they hid her so thoroughly.”

“Is there no information obtained from inside the mansion?”

“We tried to plant someone inside the Vermillion Bird Mansion too, but the security was too tight to succeed.”

“Incompetent.”

“This is all thanks to the Family Head messing with the Three-Legged Crow.”

“So there’s no useful information after all.”

Saeon let out a short sigh.

Since the day Soya collapsed due to her spirit core problem, he had diligently investigated the child and the Suzaku Family, but there were no significant findings.

Except that the child was someone from inside the Suzaku mansion.

Saeon casually turned his head and glanced at the pure white sheet of paper placed on his desk.

It was a letter that Soya had written to him with her small hands.

“Say, Jeok Yeong.”

“Why are you calling me in such a low voice again? It’s ominous.”

“About the letter Cotton Ball gave me.”

Saeon asked while waving Soya’s letter back and forth.

“Isn’t her handwriting very round and pretty?”

“Still, it won’t do.”

“How do you know what I was going to say?”

“No matter how educated Young Lady Cotton Ball may be to write in such round and pretty handwriting, she’s a bird beast. She’s not a tiger.”

“Tch.”

Saeon put down Soya’s letter with a disgruntled expression.

Regardless, Ho Jeokyeong asked with a resolute face.

“More importantly, have you looked at the report I wrote about the young ladies from the branch families?”

“….”

“Oh my, look at this dust. I can tell without hearing an answer. You’ve been so distracted by Young Lady Cotton Ball that you haven’t even looked at it, have you?”

“I was just about to look at it.”

Saeon replied halfheartedly while unfolding the report that had been placed on one side of his desk.

“I carefully selected only spirited and clever young ladies befitting someone who will become the representative of the White Tiger Family. You’ll be able to confirm their abilities through this Mountain Lord Festival.”

Saeon felt the words ‘Cotton Ball is quite spirited and clever too’ rise to his throat, but he forced himself to swallow them.

As Jeok Yeong had said before, becoming a young lady of the family wasn’t just about being doted on and adored.

“Ah, and before this Mountain Lord Festival ends, it would be best to decide Young Lady Cotton Ball’s fate as well….”

It was then.

“Family Head, Young Lady Cotton Ball has come to see you!”

Saeon, who had been listening to Jeok Yeong’s words with a listless face, quickly put down the report upon hearing the announcement from outside.

“Let her in.”

Soon the door opened and Soya peeked inside.

Soya had a small bamboo basket connected with a long string slung over her shoulder.

Every time Soya took quick little steps, the bamboo basket hanging at her side swayed along and made rattling sounds.

‘What’s that?’

While Saeon’s attention was caught by the bamboo basket, Jeok Yeong smiled brightly and greeted Soya.

“Have you come, Young Lady Cotton Ball?”

‘That hypocritical bastard.’

Saeon glared at Jeok Yeong with dissatisfied eyes.

The sight of the guy who had just been discussing Soya’s fate putting on a good-natured smile and acting fake was absolutely disgusting.

“Ah, Lord Jeok Yeong…!”

However, the kind Cotton Ball didn’t even notice Jeok Yeong’s hypocrisy and smiled brightly while returning his greeting, then rummaged around to take something out of her basket.

“This is the talisman I promised you a few days ago.”

“Wow, what’s this? Don’t tell me you drew this yourself, Young Lady?”

“Yes! Lady Yeonjeong and Lady Sanho helped me!”

The stone talisman Soya handed over had a smiling red fox drawn on it.

“I don’t know if I should receive such a precious thing. Thank you, Young Lady.”

Seeing Jeok Yeong’s delighted appearance, Saeon was dumbfounded and made a blunt comment.

“You don’t need to be nice to that rotten red fox, Cotton Ball.”

“I made one more for Lord Saeon too!”

Soya exclaimed while taking out another stone talisman from her basket.

Then Saeon’s face, which had been crumpled with dissatisfaction just moments before, brightened.

“You didn’t have to go through the trouble of making one for me too.”

Even as Saeon said this, he extended his hand toward Soya with his lips curved upward.

“But Cotton Ball, why is there a cat drawn on mine?”

Flinch.

At Saeon’s carelessly asked question, everyone in the room instantly glared at him sharply.

“…?”

Saeon, who raised his head without understanding, soon noticed Soya’s drooping eyes.

“…!”

Saeon stiffened with a belated ‘oh no’ expression on his face.

“That’s not a cat, it’s a tiger….”

“….”

“It even has round perky ears and a pink nose…. Is the drawing not good?”

“….”

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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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