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Chapter 8
The child’s pale face looked like she might collapse at any moment, and Baek Sa-eon’s expression turned stiff.
“Hey, cotton ball. Are you alright?”
At his voice, So-ya snapped back to her senses and lifted her head.
The unfamiliar man who had just saved her from the assassin was standing in front of her.
Tall, sharp-featured, and strikingly handsome—yet with a cold, intimidating aura.
He was nothing like her father, who always wore a gentle smile.
“Ah…”
So-ya let out a small breath.
For a moment, the back that had stood in front of her to block the assassin had looked like her father’s.
Because the only person she knew who was that tall and strong was her father.
What a foolish thought.
Her father’s back no longer protected her.
She remembered him turning away from her to go to Lili.
The warm, solid back she once trusted had now become a distant, cold memory.
So-ya swallowed her sadness and spoke.
“I’m not a cotton ball. I am…”
She hesitated.
She used to introduce herself as Jeok So-ya of the Vermillion Bird Clan, but she realized she could no longer say that.
“…I’m So-ya.”
“Hm. Sounds like a cotton ball name anyway.”
Baek Sa-eon chuckled, looking at her small frame and round face.
But his faint smile quickly disappeared.
Was this child the target of the Vermillion Bird assassins?
His gaze narrowed.
To send elite assassins after such a small girl…
And from the infamous “Three-Legged Crow” unit, no less.
This suggested a strong intent to eliminate her.
He asked seriously:
“What did you do to make the chicken-headed Vermillion Bird bastards want you dead?”
“Chicken…?”
“Yes.”
He pointed at the fallen assassin.
“The Three-Legged Crow. They work for the Vermillion Bird clan.”
“Ah…”
So-ya didn’t understand the “chicken” insult, but she knew the Three-Legged Crow.
An assassin group serving only the direct lineage of the Vermillion Bird Clan.
So-ya’s face turned pale.
“…So I was almost… killed? By my family?”
As if confirming something she already feared.
“If I hadn’t been here, probably.”
At those words, tears finally fell.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Silently, she began to cry harder.
Baek Sa-eon looked at her in silence.
He was not a man easily moved by tears—but this tiny child crying without making a sound felt strangely pitiful.
“…Hng… sob…”
He awkwardly placed a hand on her trembling shoulder.
“Hey, cotton ball. It’s too late for a kid like you to be wandering alone. I’ll take you back to your family.”
So-ya shook her head, wiping her tears.
“It’s okay.”
“A runaway cotton ball? Your family must be worried…”
“I don’t have any.”
“….”
“I don’t have a family.”
Baek Sa-eon fell silent.
He stared at the child trying to hold back her tears.
Definitely connected to the Vermillion Bird clan…
Then he remembered the prince’s strange order:
“Steal the most valuable thing from the land of the Vermillion Bird.”
The most valuable thing…
He had originally planned to steal the Vermillion Bird clan’s sacred treasure.
But now…
Something changed in his mind.
He suddenly lifted So-ya into the air.
“Wha—!”
So-ya’s eyes widened.
Her tear-stained face looked like a frightened rabbit.
“Then,” Baek Sa-eon said with a faint grin.
“I’ll steal you, cotton ball.”
“Eh…? W-what?”
So-ya’s tears instantly stopped.
Steal her?
What kind of nonsense was that?
“I don’t understand… why me?”
“You’re the most interesting thing I’ve seen in this land.”
He spoke casually.
He was curious why assassins targeted her.
And she clearly had nowhere to go.
Most importantly… he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
“Tell me the truth. You really have no family?”
“…Yes.”
So-ya nodded quietly.
Once, she had believed she had a family.
But they had tried to kill her.
So they were no longer family.
“Really none?”
“…None.”
Baek Sa-eon smiled slightly.
“Then you don’t mind being stolen, right?”
“….”
So-ya’s throat tightened.
She didn’t mind anything anymore.
Not being a daughter.
Not being hated.
Not being ignored.
All of that was bearable.
But—
I don’t want to die.
That was not something she could accept.
Death scared her.
So-ya looked at Baek Sa-eon.
A man as tall and strong as her father.
If I go with him… I can leave this place.
He looked dangerous, rough, and strange—but…
He might let me live.
So-ya nodded.
“Yes. Please take me.”
“Good.”
Baek Sa-eon wiped her tear-stained face with his thumb.
“Smart choice, cotton ball. I’m Baek Sa-eon, master of the West.”
“I’m So-ya. Nine years old.”
“Yeah, cotton ball.”
He didn’t seem to be listening.
“It’s a mutual agreement, so don’t go reporting me later.”
“R-report you?”
“Yes. For stealing you.”
So-ya panicked.
“I-I won’t!”
“Good. I don’t need rumors about me sneaking into the Vermillion Bird land like a thief cat.”
“I really won’t!”
She quickly agreed.
No one would care about her disappearance anyway.
But still—
“Also, no one will care… maybe they’ll even be happy… if I disappear…”
Her voice trailed off.
Suddenly—
She stopped speaking.
“Cotton ball?”
Baek Sa-eon reached out—
And froze.
Her body was burning hot.
“Hey…?”
