The Baby Sprout Who Bloomed in the Villain Duke’s Family
Chapter 20
It might have been nothing to other people, but to Clover and Lucky, it was an enormous deal.
Until now, Clover had done her absolute best to make sprouts bloom—more and more of them.
Lucky had helped her diligently too.
Yet no matter how much she practiced, two was her limit. That was partly Clover’s fault, but it was also the fault of the Demper family.
Clover’s Authority was a sprout that fed on warm hearts to grow.
And since there had been no one in the Demper family who held such warmth toward Clover, how could she have ever made them sprout?
So after coming to Claudian, Clover had felt a flicker of hope.
That maybe, just maybe, she might be able to sprout more than before.
And now, four!
[Good girl! What a good girl, kiddo! I’m so proud of you, our Clover! Mwah, mwah, mwah!]
“Whoaaa…!”
Utterly astonished, Clover’s eyes grew so round they looked ready to pop out.
Carefully, very carefully, Clover scooped up one of the bloomed sprouts.
A soft crumble of earth followed.
A handful of dirt and the fragile, freshly grown sprout filled her tiny hands to the brim.
Lifting the sprout to eye level, Clover stared at it intently, letting out gasps of “Hyaaah” and “Hwoaaah.”
“Clover… did it…”
A total genius.
Clover really was a total genius.
It hadn’t just increased from two to three; it had jumped straight to four.
This was truly a magnificent, wonderful improvement.
Just then, Arwin lightly tapped Clover’s sprout and spoke.
“Huh? Pea, did you do this?”
“Then it seems my little sister really did use her Authority.”
Arwin and Demian each tossed out a comment as they looked down at Clover’s ‘tiny’ sprout.
Just as Clover was about to answer her brothers—
“Yeah, Clover…”
A gust of wind blew past, causing Clover’s precious sprout to sway precariously back and forth. Seeing that, a flustered look crossed Clover’s face.
Gasp, it can’t wither already!
Four had bloomed, but withering was a whole different problem.
In truth, Clover had had another issue all along besides only being able to produce two sprouts.
And that was the fact that every single sprout she made withered away almost immediately.
“N-Nooo. I haven’t bragged yet… I gotta show it off.”
Hurry, hurry.
Clover stretched out her arms to show the sprout to Arwin and Demian.
“Ta-da!”
“Whoa! That’s really amazing. It’s crazy tiny.”
“Right? It looks just like you.”
Arwin and Demian took turns tossing out ‘compliments.’
All right, showed it off.
Then next is…
Clover whipped her head around and looked at Khalid.
Khalid was pushing himself up in the distance. Seeing him, Clover broke into a bright smile.
“Daddy!”
And before the sprout in her hands could wither and die again, she pattered quickly over to Khalid.
“Clover, you’ll fall.”
“Daddy, Daddy. Look at this.”
Having dashed over faster than anyone, Clover thrust out the dirt and sprout cupped in her grubby little hands toward Khalid.
“Clover did this. Clover can do four now…!”
Maybe even Count Demper, who had mistreated Clover all this time, wouldn’t mistreat her if she knew Clover could sprout four whole buds.
Maybe she would even regret being so mean! Feeling a sudden surge of joy at the thought, Clover hopped up and down.
“It’s totally amazing, totally amazing, right…?”
Her heart pounded with wild anticipation as she waited for praise.
And yet.
…Huh?
Huh?
Lucky had told her four was amazing, but what if it actually wasn’t that big of a deal?
What if Daddy, like her mean aunt, was disappointed when he saw Clover’s Authority?
Huh? Disappointed…
Having not thought that far ahead until now, Clover’s hands turned cold.
Because of the trembling in her hands, the sprout shuddered ever so slightly. Clover could no longer meet Khalid’s eyes and quietly dropped her gaze.
Just then—
“Clover, you did wonderfully. I’m proud of you.”
Khalid’s large, warm hand came to rest gently on Clover’s small head.
“…Ong.”
Clover slowly raised her head to look at Khalid.
There stood Khalid, looking down at her with the warmest eyes in the entire world.
“You’re amazing.”
Khalid’s hand gently ruffled Clover’s soft hair.
He said I was amazing. Daddy did.
Without calling it trivial or worthless.
Clover’s heart began to beat with excitement once more.
And in that moment, the wilting sprout in her hands revived just a little.
Of course, before long, it wilted and flopped over again.
None of that mattered right now.
“Smoke…”
Clover murmured blankly, gazing at Khalid. ‘That’ smoke was leaking from Khalid once again.
Now she could even see its color.
It was the exact same blue as her father’s hair.
“Hm?”
When Clover stared at him with a dazed expression, Khalid tilted his head in wonder. Is there something on my face?
Right then.
Quickly crouching down to bury the sprout back into the dirt, Clover dusted off her soil-stained hands and looked up at her father.
The smoke was drifting little by little toward Clover.
Just like the small, fragile water droplets she had seen at Claudian, it didn’t look like it would hurt Clover at all.
It’s happy to see me…
Rather, it seemed delighted to see Clover. The blue smoke reflected faintly in Clover’s round eyes.
[Kiddo, this is…!]
It’s happy to see Clover.
At this very moment, she could barely even hear Lucky’s words.
Clover politely cupped her grubby hands together, just like when the Authority of the Storm had gathered in her palms.
And standing on tiptoe—
“Here—”
She held out her hands toward the ‘smoke.’
It felt like it would come to Clover if she did.
It was something she knew without anyone having to teach her.
It was something Clover had realized all on her own, right here and right now.
Then—
The ‘blue smoke’ that had billowed around Khalid like fluffy clouds wound around his body like a gust of wind.
And then, it gathered roundly inside Clover’s hands.
In that instant—
A bright light-green glow burst forth from Clover’s hands.
It was Clover’s ‘Authority of the Sprout.’
The power of the Authority flowing through her tiny body.
Clover thought to herself.
Was a sprout about to bloom in her hands again?
So excited.
Clover watched ‘it’ with a fluttering heart.
Just then—
Pop!
The blue smoke gathered in Clover’s hands vanished in an instant, and—
“Huh?”
A single small seed plopped into view.
Staring blankly at the seed, Clover rubbed her eyes with her sleeve.
Yet the seed didn’t disappear; it remained right where it was.
It’s nothing amazing!
She had thought something incredible would appear, but it was just another seed!
Just a moment ago, Clover had felt the pull of an enormous power.
Along with the sensation that something extraordinary was about to happen in her hands.
Yet what had appeared in her hands was a single blue seed. Puzzled, Clover turned the seed this way and that.
However.
No, it’s really just ordinary…
The conclusion was that it was truly just an ordinary seed. A seed that Clover could make ten of if she put her mind to it.
Clover’s plan to present something amazing as a gift to her father dissolved like bubbles in water.
“Disappointed…”
Clover pouted her lips.
But right then, Khalid slipped his hands under Clover’s arms and lifted her up into the air.
“You know how to sprout buds.”
“Hmph…”
“And you know how to create seeds.”
“Yeah…”
“My daughter is a genius.”
“Buuut this is just an ordinary one.”
It wasn’t anything amazing, so even then?
Yet Khalid held Clover in his embrace and stroked her head, as if such things didn’t matter in the least.
“Whatever you create is amazing. None of it is ordinary.”
“Mmh…”
I really love Daddy…
He gets touched even by a tiny seed, and showers me with so much praise.
Just like Lucky said, he’s a hundred-point Daddy.
Deeply moved by Khalid’s words, Clover clutched the seed tightly. Then she buried her head snugly against her father’s chest.
I love this…
In that moment, Lucky, who had been quietly watching Clover the entire time, spoke up.
[Your dad is right.]
At that, Clover tilted her head up slightly and asked back.
“About what?”
A brief silence fell.
Why was he hesitating like this before speaking?
Just as she was wondering—
[…The seed you created isn’t ordinary. That is an extraordinarily incredible seed!]
A dazzling golden glow poured wildly from Lucky’s body. That meant Lucky was intensely excited at this very moment.
Clover blinked her eyes once again.
