By Zephyria For a moment, Yu-jin was flustered and looked at his daughter’s face. It was Winston’s pheromone scent. Yu-jin felt his heart shrink, wondering if Angie had been frightened and something had happened.
“Mr. Campbell found you?”
He asked carefully, and Angie said yes and explained the situation at the time. Yu-jin listened attentively to the fragmented words, nodding occasionally.
Angie held her breath and listened inside the rabbit hole, but she couldn’t hear other sounds well because of the rain. All Angie knew was that the sweet scent was getting stronger and stronger.
Her body, which had been shivering from the cold, froze. It was that scent. Fear washed over her at the memory of the scent that felt like it was crushing her whole body. She might have cried if someone had been with her. But the fear of being alone prevented her from even shedding tears. Angie gasped for breath and curled up as small as possible, hoping that the scent would just disappear.
I want to see you, Daddy.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought of the one person she could feel most at ease with and the only one she could rely on.
“So, you were here.”
“Aaaaaah!”
Angie screamed as loudly as she could, as if she was about to faint, at the face that suddenly peered into the rabbit hole. Winston stepped back for a moment at Angie’s scream, which echoed through the loud rain. Even in the midst of that, Angie continued to scream, “Aah, aah,” repeatedly. When Angie’s screams subsided as she became exhausted, Winston leaned in again. However, this time he opened his mouth from a distance somewhat away from the rabbit hole.
“What are you doing in a place like this? Come out.”
It was a weary voice, but Angie was startled and only cowered, not listening. Winston sighed in the rain at her terrified face, which didn’t even move.
“Daddy is very worried about you. Come out quickly.”
Angie flinched at the word ‘Daddy’. Tears welled up at just the word. Still, Winston continued, seeing that Angie was still hesitating.
“I’ll take you to Daddy. Don’t you want to see Daddy?”
Just as the name Yu-jin was a magic word that made Angie endure any hardship, it was the same for Yu-jin. It shook the heart of the child, who had been frozen in fear until now, without fail. She was still scared of that man, but she wanted to see Daddy so much. Angie hesitated and asked in a trembling voice.
“Is Daddy very angry with me?”
“Has Daddy ever been angry with you?”Winston asked back, but the child shook her head. He reached out his hand towards her in a quiet voice.
“Then don’t worry and come out.”
The rain was still pouring down fiercely. Angela hesitated, looking at the man waiting for her beyond the rabbit hole.
I miss Daddy.
Longing for Yu-jin gave Angela great courage. The sweet scent she still felt was scary, but she decided to be brave anyway.
Winston simply waited for Angela as she slowly and hesitantly emerged from the rabbit hole. Seeing Winston standing there without moving, his hand outstretched, Angela wriggled out. Finally, when she poked her head out into the pouring rain.
Huh?
Suddenly, she felt something being draped over her head. After screaming in surprise, Angela realized that the chill she had been feeling all over her body had subsided. Winston had taken off his coat, wrapped it around Angela from head to toe, and then held her in his arms.
“Don’t move, you’ll fall.”
Winston warned in a low voice, then quickly mounted his horse. He held the reins in one hand and the child in his other arm, and galloped through the rain back to the mansion.
While listening to his daughter’s little adventure, Yu-jin couldn’t easily open his mouth due to the rush of various emotions. He felt guilty for having slept soundly while his child was in danger and shivering, and heartbroken for Angela, who had fought all kinds of fears alone, but his feelings for Winston were no less significant.
To go that far for Angie.
He was confused by the fact that he had sincerely done his best to find Angela, patiently waited for the terrified child to muster the courage to come out, and, above all, safely returned his daughter to Yu-jin’s arms.
Didn’t he hate Angie?
He believes Angela is Harold’s daughter. So he thought he hated even looking at her, but he never imagined he would do this much.
After all the insults he’s thrown at me.
What on earth is Winston’s true intention? It was certain that he hated Yu-jin. But this attitude of his made Yu-jin conflicted.
Don’t expect anything.
He hurriedly tried to calm his weakening heart. Nothing will change. No matter what Winston was thinking when he did that, there’s no way that man will change his mind about me.
Yeah, don’t weaken.
As he was chastising himself, Angela asked with a worried face.
“Will Mr. Campbell be okay? He got rained on a lot because of me earlier, what if he catches a cold?”
The child was genuinely worried about Winston. Extreme alphas hardly ever get sick, including colds. Of course, it was due to pheromones, but would Angela understand? Yu-jin pondered how to explain his nature, but decided to postpone it for now.
“Mr. Campbell is an adult, so he’ll be fine.”
He gently stroked her hair, but Angela still trailed off gloomily, saying, “Still…” Yu-jin readily offered an alternative.
“Let’s thank him tomorrow, will that be okay?”
He thought it was a good compromise, but he was wrong. The moment he saw the child shrink her shoulders and her pupils widen, Yu-jin paused.
“You don’t want to? Is Mr. Campbell still scary?”
At Yu-jin’s question, Angela lowered her eyes and tightly closed her mouth. Seeing her serious reaction as if she was lost in thought, Yu-jin opened his mouth.
“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, Angie. Mr. Campbell will know how you feel.”
He tried to soothe her gently, but the child still seemed conflicted. Angela, who had been rolling her eyes and deep in thought, carefully spoke.
“I think it’ll be okay if I don’t smell that scent.”
“Scent?”
Yu-jin asked in surprise, and Angela nodded.
“That fragrance, it’s too scary.”
The child shivered as if she had goosebumps. It seemed it wouldn’t be easy for Angela to face Winston.
Maybe it’ll get better when she grows up a little more and understands the extreme alpha nature…
Yu-jin, who had thought that far, soon stopped thinking. By then, Winston and their relationship would already be over. There was no need for Angela to understand Winston’s nature.
“Then how about writing a letter?”
“A letter?”
Angela’s eyes widened at another alternative. Seeing a different reaction than before, Yu-jin smiled and added an explanation.
“Yeah, if you write a message to Mr. Campbell on a card, Daddy will deliver it.”
Before his daughter could answer, Yu-jin already seemed to know what she was going to say. Her shining eyes and relieved expression revealed more than words.
“Yeah, I’ll write a card. I like cards.”
“Okay.”
Yu-jin smiled at his daughter and said.
“Shall we go to sleep now? Let’s write the card tomorrow. Mr. Campbell will be sleeping now too.”
“Okay. Good night, Daddy.”
Having resolved her worries, Angela rubbed her eyes and said goodbye, as if sleep was rushing in. Yu-jin kissed the child’s cheek and stroked her hair.
Angela soon fell asleep and breathed deeply. Yu-jin sat there for a while, watching the child, before getting up.
As he went outside with the tray holding the empty soup bowl, the door to the next room happened to open. Yu-jin, who had inadvertently turned his gaze, stopped moving when he saw the doctor and the Butler coming out. He could see that they also paused when they found Yu-jin.
Why is the doctor in Winston’s room…?
As Yu-jin stood there wondering, the Butler, who had closed the door, cleared his throat. As if that was a signal, the doctor lightly made eye contact with Yu-jin and hurriedly left, and the Butler stood in front of Yu-jin.
“Is there something you need?”