The Baby Sprout Who Bloomed in the Villain Duke’s Family
Chapter 18
Once Khalid, Demian, Arwin, and Clover were all seated in turn, freshly prepared, steaming hot dishes were served.
Most of the soft, mild food was set before Clover. The plain, fluffy white bread, freshly baked without any spreads, was also placed right in front of her.
‘Daddy said there was something he wanted to do.’
Was he going to do it after eating? Or was eating a meal together what he had wanted to do all along?
Clover stared intently at Khalid while he cut a large piece of meat into bite-sized morsels and laid them before her.
“You may eat.”
Khalid speared a piece of meat with a fork and brought it to Clover’s lips. Like a baby bird, Clover snapped it up.
Munch, munch.
Though it was a small piece, she had to chew for a long time. Her mouth was completely full of meat.
‘It’s so, so good!’
The meat Belze had brought to her room had been delicious, but the meat fed to her by her father tasted even better.
Did Daddy cast some kind of magic on this meat? Or did it just taste better because she was so happy? Either way, it didn’t matter.
“Is it delicious?”
“It’s yummy.”
Clover beamed brightly as she answered. Khalid popped another piece of meat into her mouth.
“I will give you this every day from now on. I shall tell the chef to prepare delicious meals every single day.”
“Gasp, only meat?!”
“No, vegetables too.”
“Ugh.”
She didn’t like vegetables.
The moment Clover opened her mouth slightly in despair, Khalid did not miss his chance and smoothly slipped a small slice of carrot inside.
“Oh…”
“Whoa…”
Demian and Arwin watched in dazed admiration, utterly captivated by Khalid’s dazzling childcare skills.
There had been a time when the two brothers had fallen for the exact same trick, eating vegetables while believing they were meat. Memories of those days bubbling up, Arwin looked at Khalid and Clover with slightly moved eyes.
“Father’s quite a swindler…”
“Arwin, stop talking and eat.”
“Yes, sir.”
While Arwin and Khalid exchanged words, Clover tilted her head far to the side with an odd feeling of suspicion.
Whatever she was chewing right now didn’t quite taste like meat, yet because there was still meat left in her mouth, it did taste like meat.
And yet, something subtly unpleasant was mixed into it. After deep contemplation, Clover asked Lucky.
“Lucky, did I weally eat meat?”
[…….]
“It tastes kind of fishy.”
Lucky, however, remained silent.
After all, it was important for growing children to eat a balanced diet.
In the end, unable to figure out what was in her mouth, Clover chewed it along with the meat and gulped it right down.
Instantly, another carrot slice hidden beneath a piece of meat slipped into her mouth. Tilting her head once more, Clover chewed diligently.
After repeating this about ten times, the meal came to an end. Having finished his own plate while feeding Clover, Khalid looked over at his two sons’ plates.
Demian and Arwin had eaten less than usual. Both brothers had been entirely distracted watching their baby sister eat like a little bird.
‘Good grief.’
Still, neither had eaten too little. Khalid thought this was a splendid meal indeed.
A splendid meal—the very first one Clover had shared with her family.
“It would have been nice if Eldest Sister were here too,” Demian said, pointing to Sone’s empty seat. Khalid glanced at the vacant spot.
“Indeed.”
If Sone had been here, she would have loved it. Surprisingly, she had a soft spot for small, cute things, so she would have undoubtedly doted on her youngest sibling.
However, Sone was currently in the middle of exam period at the Academy and could not come. Since a letter had already been sent, she would return on her own once exams were over.
Dismissing thoughts of his well-grown eldest daughter in three seconds flat, Khalid wiped Clover’s mouth and scooped her back into his arms.
“Did you enjoy your meal?”
“Yesss, I’m so full.”
Her tummy was completely round right now.
If she ate just a little more, it might burst.
Yet even after seeing Clover’s bulging belly, Khalid spoke as if it were still not enough.
“You must eat well from now on. You are too small. Your sister and brothers were twice your size when they were your age.”
“Gasp, twice…”
“One and a half times will do. So you must eat well, Clover.”
“Yes, I’ll twy hard! I’ll twy hard at evewything.”
Leave it to me! Clover nodded vigorously.
When Khalid let out a soft chuckle, Clover looked up at him intently, then lowered her voice to a whisper.
“Daddy.”
“Yes?”
“Is the ‘ting you wanted to do’ all done? Was eating with Clover what you wanted to do?”
Khalid answered readily.
“Yes. I have always wanted to feed you like this.”
Holding his child and feeding her a meal.
Tucking her into bed and reading her storybooks.
Those were things Khalid had desperately wished for every single day over the past four years, and things that had once felt so impossibly distant to him.
Yet now, they were no longer far away. She was right here, cradled in his arms, looking up with the most gentle face in the world.
Just then, Clover covered her mouth with her tiny hands.
“Gasp, I used to dweam evewy day about Daddy feeding me too. Our hearts must be connected… Daddy and me…”
Clover whispered quietly.
“In my dweams, Daddy fed me yummy tings like dis too. And den, after dat…”
“After that?”
Clover glanced hesitantly at Khalid. The habit of walking on eggshells at the Demper estate made it difficult for her to speak openly.
Fortunately, because Khalid waited patiently for her once again, Clover was able to give voice to what was in her heart.
“He said he l-loved me…”
“……”
“And told me he missed me…”
As Clover fidgeted shyly, Demian and Arwin, who had been quietly waiting to hear her next words, could bear it no longer. They rushed over, clung to Khalid’s legs, and wrapped their arms around Clover.
“Agh, I can’t take it! I can’t hold back anymore! Clover, I’ll tell you right now! I missed you, my little sister!”
“I missed you too, Clover. I love you.”
At Demian and Arwin’s words, Clover’s face brightened like a sunlit sky.
Khalid gazed quietly at his two sons and his beaming youngest daughter. Reaching out to embrace Demian and Arwin, he whispered to Clover and the boys.
“I missed you, Clover.”
“…!”
“I love you.”
At Khalid’s words, Clover’s eyes went wide.
And in that moment, something wondrous appeared before her eyes.
It was something like a faint haze.
A faint, mysterious mist drifting between Khalid, Demian, and Arwin.
***
The next day.
Having fed her breakfast with his own hands, Khalid sent Clover back inside to prepare to go out, saying he still had things he wanted to do.
Belze was bubbling with excitement as she changed Clover’s clothes. Dressing her in one of the many new children’s dresses, Belze securely fitted a lace bonnet over Clover’s head.
Yet Clover, who normally would have been leaping and bouncing around with excitement, was unusually quiet.
“Milady, is something the matter?”
As an elite maid with peerless intuition, Belze swiftly caught on to Clover’s change in mood and asked.
Clover shook her head.
“No, it’s nutting.”
It wasn’t that anything bad had happened.
It was just that…
‘I can’t stop thinking about it.’
[Something on your mind?]
Lucky crept closer and asked. Clover, biting the inside of her cheek in deep concentration, nodded.
‘What was that?’
The moment Daddy and her brothers had hugged her, Clover had seen something like a shimmering smoke rising from them.
It had wavered around Khalid, Demian, and Arwin, almost as if it were calling out to Clover. For a brief moment, her eyes had been utterly stolen by that smoke.
Yet that mysterious haze had caught Clover’s eye for only an instant before quickly vanishing. Because of that, she still had no idea what it truly was.
“Hmm, what was dat…?”
Just as the little girl was deeply lost in thought with an utterly serious expression, Belze swept Clover up into her arms.
“Now then, Little Lady. You are all ready. It is time to head out.”
