Chapter 30
<32화>
One thing was for certain.
I was going to make the House of Marquis Lillis pay, one way or another.
This whole thing could be settled easily if I just told the Duke what I’d discussed with Lucas.
‘The problem is, Lucas is still reluctant to talk about it.’
“Hmm. What should I do?”
I couldn’t go around blabbing to others about what he had told me in confidence after promising to keep it a secret.
However, if I didn’t resolve this, it didn’t seem like Lucas would participate in the succession trial.
‘Maybe if I persuade him a little more, he’ll participate?’
Shake, shake—
I shook my head at the thought.
It wasn’t right to push someone who had only just confessed their trauma.
Roll—
I rolled over onto my side, and something flashed through my mind.
Hmm?
‘The succession trial just needs to be delayed until Lucas can pull himself together, right?’
A good idea came to mind.
The next day.
“Mister.”
“What is it?”
“Please include me as a candidate for the succession.”
It was a peaceful afternoon in the office.
I made my eyes go watery, looking as if I were deeply hurt.
“…I’m a direct descendant too, so why aren’t you including me as a candidate?”
“That’s because the succession trial requires an ability…”
“Is it because I’m adopted?”
“Pfft—!”
Calips sprayed the coffee he was drinking.
I’m sorry, Father.
I’ll have to be a bit of a fire-attribute unfilial daughter this time.
* * *
That afternoon.
Following Aisha’s remark, the Crost Duchy held a small, secret meeting.
‘Wh-what on earth is going on…?’
‘I was wondering the same thing.’
The vassals, who had arrived one by one in a hurry, avoided Calips’s gaze the moment they saw his face.
The head of the ducal house looked as if he were about to start a war.
Tap, tap. Every time his long, straight fingers drummed on the table, the vassals’ hearts sank.
Once everyone was seated—
“You all…”
Duke Calips spoke with a heavy tone.
“What would you think if a mere five-year-old said she wanted to take the succession trial for the House of Crost?”
“……?”
At the Lord’s question, the vassals remained silent for a while, glancing at each other.
“Well… if another ability user has appeared besides young master Tex, we would welcome it with open arms, but…”
“No.”
The Duke spoke seriously.
“I’m asking what you think about a non-ability user—that tiny child—asking to be included as a candidate because she wants to be of help to the Crost household.”
One vassal, sensing the mood, spoke up.
“Well, naturally, if one is a non-ability user, becoming a candidate for the succession is…”
“I was short-sighted.”
“Pardon?”
The vassals’ eyes went wide at the sudden doting nonsense.
Regardless, Calips sighed and pressed his fingers to his brow.
“I thought I was treating her equally, but that child still thinks of herself as an adoptee.”
Wait a minute. This.
The vassals’ eyes darted toward one another.
“She says that, but I can tell she’s trying to buy time until young master Lucas opens his heart.”
…This wasn’t a meeting; it was just.
“Technically, it’s said that only direct and collateral descendants with abilities can become the successor… But since this is the first time the Crost family has had a non-ability user, I feel like she’ll be hurt if I don’t give her the qualification.”
His Excellency is just venting to us, isn’t he…?
“‘I guess I’m not really part of the direct line.’ She shouldn’t have to feel that way.”
At this point, he was just fishing for the answer he wanted.
‘If she’s five… is he talking about Lady Aisha?’
‘It seems so.’
The vassals exchanged glances like meerkats.
A non-ability user from the direct line becoming a candidate for the succession? It was unprecedented.
But then again, a collateral descendant becoming a candidate was also a first, as was the entry of a commoner child into the direct line of the Crost family.
In this situation, the fact that Aisha was buying time for Lucas, who was carrying emotional wounds—
‘It’s not bad.’
Since Lucas would eventually become the head of the house anyway, it was a better strategy to have a fellow member of the direct line hold the spot rather than someone from a collateral branch.
But could a mere commoner-born Lady defeat an ability user?
‘You say it.’
Nudge.
‘No, you say it.’
Nudge.
‘I spoke up during the monster subjugation last time. You say it.’
What if the Lady loses?
They wanted to ask, but their mouths clamped shut the moment they met those fiery eyes.
Finally, as they were engaged in a silent war of passing the buck—
“Are you all protesting because you don’t like her being an adopted member of the direct line?”
Misinterpreting their silence, Calips’s eyes began to narrow.
“N-no, not at all! On the contrary, we were marveling at the Lady’s generous and noble heart!”
“Exactly! We were so impressed that we were practically flopping around like fish!”
“Ah. So you were flopping because you liked it so much.”
Only then did Calips flash a satisfied smile.
After the meeting ended—
Once even the servants who had finished cleaning up disappeared, only Calips and Knox remained in the conference room.
Knox asked while organizing the reports without much thought.
“But will the Lady be able to do well? Her opponent is an ability user.”
One worry gave birth to another.
Even if Aisha became a candidate for the succession, the problem wasn’t entirely resolved.
“…The chances are slim.”
Just as Calips’s gaze grew clouded as he wiped his weary face with his hand—
“I’m definitely going to win—!”
Cheep, cheep.
A high-pitched, chick-like voice rang out from above their heads.
“……?”
“?”
With a sense of foreboding, the two men looked up at the ceiling.
“Former spy, current direct descendant of the House of Crost! You won’t find specs like these anywhere else, Father!”
Aisha was hanging from the massive chandelier, making a V-sign with her fingers.
Calips was horrified.
“Kid, what are you doing up there! It’s dangerous!”
“Father, if you’re going to raise a golden seed, you have to raise it to be strong.”
“I don’t care about that, get down this instant!”
“Then are you putting me in as a candidate for the succession?”
“Just get down first.”
“You’re putting me in, right?”
“Fine. I’ll put you in, so hurry up and get down.”
“Heave-ho—!”
The moment her light body landed on the floor.
“Ack!”
“Got you, you little rascal.”
A giant hand snatched Aisha up.
“You don’t have to participate, so why are you trying to? Did you hear something from Lucas?”
“I-I didn’t hear anything… Gack!”
Meanwhile, Lucas, who had been peeking at the terrifying scene from the back door, quietly closed the door and ran away.
Only after closing his bedroom door did his heart begin to slow down.
“…Aisha. Are you really trying to enter the trial because of me?”
Lucas crawled under his covers and stared into space with a thoughtful gaze.
‘She didn’t even mention my story, just as she promised.’
As the direct son of Crost, he would repay this debt one day.
Sniff.
However, Lucas’s expression darkened as he raised his thick eyebrows and clenched his fists.
What would happen with the succession trial?
In truth, he had naturally intended to take the position of successor.
Everything felt unfamiliar and uncomfortable now, but if given a little time, he would have proudly taken the test.
But.
“…I never intended to make Dandelion suffer in my place.”
His voice, filled with regret, echoed quietly.
‘Should we sleep together today?’
He had thought of her as an easygoing kid who was good at listening to his troubles.
But while he was sleeping in the same bed as her.
While he was falling into a dreamless sleep without nightmares because she was there.
‘You were worrying about whether or not to take the succession trial in my place, weren’t you, Aisha?’
“…I’m three years older than her.”
Lucas, glaring at the innocent floor, kicked a nearby cushion.
“I’m a total failure as a big brother.”
If he didn’t attend the succession trial, what would happen to Dandelion?
Dandelion was strong.
Despite being tiny, she had risked danger to save him.
She also possessed a poison needle technique that could knock out an adult man with hands like maple leaves.
But.
‘Her opponent is an ability user.’
Knox’s calm remark wouldn’t leave his ears.
Lucas stared at his own palm.
Just by focusing his mind, white frost formed at his fingertips and sharp icicles sprouted.
He knew all too well the difference between an ability user and an ordinary person.
Just as he, who couldn’t even reach out past the bars for five years, was able to escape as soon as his restraints were removed.
“…If Dandelion gets hurt…”
Crack—
His body reacted before he could even imagine it.
The ice crystals forming in his hand shattered.
A short while later.
After agonizing for a long time, Lucas pulled something out of his inner jacket pocket.
It was the slave trade contract.
* * *
A few days later.
A carriage engraved with a mountain goat slid to a halt in front of the Crost Duchy Castle.
“Tex, just do as you’ve practiced.”
“Yes, Father.”
Finally, today.
It was the day the succession trial would be held.
