The Baby Sprout Who Bloomed in the Villain Duke’s Family
Chapter 25
Chapter 25
“Investigate Count Sidu.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
“Look into his Authority again as well. Investigate everything about what he’s been doing recently, where he’s been, whom he’s met, and how he made contact with them. Down to his family members.”
“Every single family member?”
“Yes.”
Clover had told him. According to her summon, Lucky, the power seemed to stem from ‘malice.’
Yet as far as Khalid knew, no one could harm another person purely through malice. No such Authority existed in the world. Thus, further investigation was necessary.
“Understood, I will see to it. Since it has come to this, we can bundle them together with the Demper family and dispose of them. The Sidu family had been loyal for a long time, so it is rather regrettable.”
“It seems they were only useful up until the previous generation. For both Demper and Sidu, their fortunes declined as soon as their incompetent sons inherited the headship.”
Yet he felt no regret. There were plenty of other usable families besides Sidu.
Just then.
“Ah, Lord Khalid.”
Teniron pulled a letter gleaming with golden light from the towering pile of documents.
“What is it?”
“A missive from the Imperial Palace. I should have delivered it sooner, but you seemed preoccupied with the young lady’s affairs, so I missed the timing.”
He presented the missive. Sealed with gold wax, it bore the imperial crest stamped upon it, proving it had arrived directly from the Imperial Palace.
“From the Imperial Palace?”
With a puzzled look, Khalid broke the seal and began to read.
To Duke Khalid Claudian.
Staying in the Imperial Palace means word reaches my ears rather quickly.
Everything from what happened at the empire’s farthest edge to who spilled coffee on her dress in the Capital today ends up finding its way to me.
And just recently, I heard quite an interesting piece of news.
I hear you have decided to care for your youngest daughter in Claudian?
And that the child looks just like Elysia.
I was told even her Authority resembles Elysia’s.
So on that note, I would like to see her.
As you well know, Elysia and I were quite close.
Hearing of the youngest who takes after her so completely, I naturally grew curious.
So bring her by sometime.
The sooner, the better.
*This did not come from someone within your household, so do not go taking it out on innocent people.
“It is from Her Majesty the Empress Dowager.”
Khalid murmured quietly after reading the letter.
The Emperor’s mother, the first wife of the late Emperor, and the highest elder of the Empire. Anernia Sorren Rosiperon.
She was Elysia’s dear friend and one of the few who knew her true identity. It was also the Empress Dowager who had helped Elysia adapt to high society.
So it was hardly surprising that she would want to meet Clover, who took after Elysia so much.
“What does it say?”
“Her Majesty wishes to see Clover.”
“The youngest lady?”
“Yes.”
If it was the Empress Dowager, she would never do anything to harm Clover. She cherished Elysia dearly and looked favorably upon the Claudian Dukedom.
But what about the Emperor?
Did the Emperor ‘still’ think favorably of Claudian? Khalid pondered for a moment before setting the letter down.
“I will hold off on replying. I need to give more thought to whether I should take the child to the Imperial Palace. Clover’s own wishes are important as well.”
The Empress Dowager’s letter was placed back atop the pile of documents.
***
“Did you find it?”
Having come outside dressed in shorts that ‘wouldn’t matter if they got dirty,’ Clover peered with bright, clear eyes at the half-formed spirit.
Floating gently in midair just like Lucky, it spun in circles on the spot.
“It found it!”
[You understand it well, don’t you?]
Of course.
After all, Clover was the one who made it.
Clover gave a little shrug and followed the half-formed spirit. It squished and wobbled as it flew ahead toward some destination.
The very first task Clover had assigned to it was finding the spot where the ‘crystal’ ought to be.
The Seed of Crystal, which oversaw all the land’s nutrients, usually rested where the nourishment flowed best throughout the ground.
So what this half-formed spirit had found was none other than the exact spot where that ‘seed’ belonged.
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter.
After bumbling through the air for quite a while, the unfinished thing came to a sudden halt.
“…….”
Standing still at the spot it indicated, Clover asked the half-formed spirit:
“Weally here?”
Not kidding?
“…….”
Clover glanced sideways toward the fountain she had smashed.
‘Daddy said he’d fix it…….’
He hadn’t fixed it yet. With only the dangerous pieces of shattered rubble roughly cleared away, the fountain still remained in a pitiful state.
Looking at the puppy statue whose head had been blown off in the blast, Clover quietly turned her head away.
‘Poking my conscience.’
My conscience hurts.
Still, a guilty conscience was one thing, and work was another. Clover had ‘work’ to do.
Promptly plopping down on the spot the spirit indicated, Clover placed both hands upon the ground. When she did, she could faintly feel the flow of this vast garden converging right here.
‘I guess it’s weal.’
It seemed this really was the spot where the crystal should be. The half-baked spirit appeared to have done its job properly.
Carefully channeling her Authority, Clover formed a single round seed.
This wasn’t made from Daddy’s feelings like the one from before, nor was it a seed to create a spirit.
It was, quite literally, just a seed.
Yet when it came to seeds—
[Before a flower blooms, no one knows what kind of flower it is, and before a seed sprouts, no one knows what seed it will become.]
No one knew what form it would take.
‘Before it gwows, you don’t know what’ll gwow.’
Recalling what Lucky had told her, Clover dug a tiny hole with her fingers and tucked the seed right inside.
This was a seed of unknown potential, an empty vessel whose future Clover herself could not foresee.
Which meant, in other words, it could serve as a ‘vessel’ to gather the land’s nutrients.
And then, that would become the crystal itself.
“Wucky, is it done now?”
[I think that should do it. At this level, it will be more than capable of gathering the scattered powers that couldn’t unite before.]
“Mm, thank goodness.”
Nodding, Clover dusted off her hands, stood up, and looked around.
Belze, standing in the distance, beamed, thinking Clover was ready to head back inside.
Yet Clover deliberately avoided her gaze.
Because—
‘I still have stuff to do.’
Clover still had more work ahead of her.
Now that she had helped the soil revive a bit, next came…….
Clover pulled out the seed she had carefully tucked away.
The Seed of Heart, crafted from Daddy’s feelings.
Now, Clover planned to find the sunniest spot and plant this seed.
‘You have to gwow well.’
Every seed Clover had planted until now had failed to grow and withered away. But this time, she didn’t want that to happen.
After deliberating with Lucky for thirty minutes to find the ‘best possible’ spot, Clover buried the plump, round seed created from Khalid’s feelings.
It was a spot in clear view from Clover’s room, and one the gardener had left vacant to plant something later.
When Clover asked to plant a seed there, the gardener readily agreed, even promising to put up a little fence around it.
Excited, Clover planted the seed, asked Belze for a watering can to give it plenty of water, patted down the soil so it wouldn’t get disturbed, and sang a song by its side.
“Gwow big, gwow tall, gwow up well~”
After doing all that, she felt as though something truly magnificent was going to sprout right up from that seed.
“Hehe.”
Her mood soaring now that she had finished all her tasks, Clover gave a bright little giggle.
***
Watching Clover scurry about busily with a trowel in hand, Arwin measured her size between his thumb and index finger.
Viewed from this distance, she truly looked like a tiny pea bustling about.
‘……No, seeing how grimy she is, maybe a muddy potato?’
He had wondered why they dressed her in shorts, but it made sense—over the past few days, whenever she was let outside, she returned covered in dirt as if she had rolled all over the ground.
Whether a muddy potato or a pea, the fact remained that she was small and adorable.
‘What is she planting?’
Narrowing his eyes, Arwin observed Clover’s every movement closely so as not to miss a single detail.
Because he had to tell Elysia once she woke up.
‘I’ll tell Mother.’
Just how much her beloved youngest, baby Clover, looked like a pea and a scruffy little muddy potato.
In order to share all these precious moments and days that Mother had missed while asleep, he had to watch even more intently.
Watching Clover’s light-green hair flutter softly in the breeze, Arwin tilted his head and quietly thought to himself.
‘Mother, I miss you.’
