Translator: Nox

The Baby Sprout Who Bloomed in the Villain Duke’s Family

Chapter 29

“H-Hello……”

Mustering her courage to greet them, Clover peeked her head in and peered into the room.

Inside stood a pretty grandmother with a somehow gentle and benevolent look, several maidservants dressed in uniform, and Khalid.

“Clover, come here.”

Khalid extended his hand. Clover cautiously watched the people in the room before scampering over to take that hand.

Squeeze.

She held on tight to her papa's hand.

There are so many scary people in this room.

It makes me nervous.

Clover rolled her eyes upward to look at her papa. Khalid reached out and gently stroked her hair.

Then he mouthed the words.

‘It is alright.’

Seeing that, Clover suddenly felt her heart calm down a little.

Just a moment ago, her heart had been thumping so hard it was scary, but now it wasn't so frightening anymore.

“Clover, you should greet her. This is Her Majesty the Empress Dowager.”

At Khalid's words, Clover summoned her courage once more and looked at the Empress Dowager. Then she looked back at Khalid, and once more at the Empress Dowager.

‘What am I supposed to say?’

She had said hello when coming in.

Was it too quiet to hear? Was that why he was telling her to greet her again?

As Clover fretted, Lucky floated up gently.

[Hello, I am Clover Claudian. I am four years old this year.]

“Huh?”

[You can say it like that.]

Aha!

Clover haltingly repeated what Lucky had just told her.

“Hello. I'm Cwover Cwaudian, and I'm four years owd this year.”

Speaking clearly and bravely, Clover stole a glance at the Empress Dowager's expression.

The Empress Dowager had been waiting for Clover to finish speaking, and the moment she did, she beamed brightly.

“Yes, so you are Clover. Come up here and sit down.”

“…….”

“There is delicious cake here, too. I asked for it to be prepared especially for you, Clover.”

“Yush!”

At the mention of ‘cake,’ Clover trotted over toward the chairs.

Khalid immediately followed, slipping his hands under her arms to easily lift the little girl up.

Then he set Clover down in a chair. Perhaps because the chair right next to the Empress Dowager was not originally made for children, Clover's legs dangled in midair once she sat down.

However, thanks to several cushions placed underneath to adjust the height, Clover didn't sink helplessly below the table.

“Cakey!”

“Let me serve you a slice.”

The Empress Dowager smiled benevolently, plating a slice of fresh cream cake and setting it before Clover. Then she placed a fork in Clover's hand.

“Eat up.”

“Can I eat it?”

“Of course.”

Clover glanced over at her papa. Khalid gave a nod of permission. It meant she could.

‘I can eat it.’

Clover carefully scooped up a bite of cake with her fork and brought it to her mouth.

The soft fresh cream melted away the moment it touched her tongue. The sponge cake was the same. Having taken her first bite, Clover blinked her eyes.

“Does it suit your taste?”

“……licious.”

“Hm?”

“It's so, so dewichous…….”

Clover gazed at the Empress Dowager with deeply moved eyes. A halo of light seemed to shine behind the Empress Dowager once again.

Someone who gives tasty things is a good person!

“What a relief. There is plenty, so eat as much as you like.”

“Yush!”

Clover munched happily on her cake. Meanwhile, Khalid sat beside Clover and instructed his attendants to bring out the gift he had prepared.

“This is a rare pelt that arrived not long ago.”

“You could have come empty-handed. Why bring such a thing?”

“It would be impolite. One cannot visit Her Majesty the Empwess…… no, the Empress Dowager, empty-handed.”

“The Emp-what?”

“……A slip of the tongue. My apologies; raising a child has made me…….”

Khalid apologized quickly. He was normally far removed from making such mistakes, so why such a slip……

She waved her hand dismissively to show she didn't mind. But just then.

“P-Pwesent…….”

Clover, who had been quietly nibbling away at her cake beside the Empress Dowager, put down her fork as if she had suddenly lost her appetite.

“Sweetheart, a present?”

Anernia asked back in a tender voice. Clover replied again in a voice as faint as a crawling ant.

“I wanted to give a pwesent, too…….”

Because not giving one is impolite.

Clover fidgeted with her little fingers. While Anernia tried hard to decipher the four-year-old's words, Khalid, who understood what Clover meant, had a servant bring ‘that’ in.

At Khalid's order, a servant entered carrying a ‘flowerpot.’ It was something Clover had prepared for this day, and a gift she had prepared for the Empress Dowager.

“It seems my daughter prepared something to offer to Your Majesty.”

Khalid placed the flowerpot into Clover's hands.

“Here, you may give it to her.”

An empty pot.

A bare pot with nothing planted inside.

Under ordinary circumstances, presenting such an item as a gift to royalty would result in severe punishment for showing disrespect. Royalty were the most noble beings in this Empire; offering merely an expensive pot to such a noble figure went against etiquette and proper decorum.

However, Clover was only four years old.

The Empress Dowager was someone who would be delighted by anything a child gave her, even if it were half an uneaten cookie. Khalid knew this.

That was why, upon hearing Clover was preparing a flowerpot, he had simply thought, ‘Her Majesty the Empress Dowager will surely love it.’

She was an elder who had an absolute weakness for gifts from young children. And what if it was a gift given by Clover, who looked so much like Elysia?

She would likely be pleased with anything. When Khalid glanced at Anernia, he saw she was already watching Clover with a face brimming with anticipation.

At that moment, Clover, holding the pot, hesitated for a second before bowing her head low.

“Huh?”

“Hm?”

Khalid, Anernia, and all the maidservants in the room looked at Clover with puzzled eyes.

Just then.

Flash!

A brief light-green radiance sparkled within Clover's hands.

It was Clover's Authority.

Realizing the child had used her Authority, Anernia's eyes widened. The maidservants likewise widened their eyes, watching Clover intently as the tiny child channeled her power.

‘I-I can do it.’

Clover can give a present.

As Clover used her Authority, a tiny little sprout popped up from inside the empty pot.

It was a sprout as small and humble as Clover herself.

Yet it was undeniably something Clover had brought to life with her Authority.

Normally, she never would have dreamed of giving a sprout bloomed with her Authority as a gift.

Because Clover's sprouts were defective.

They were flawed things that withered away within three seconds of blooming.

However, ever since the day she created the ‘Seed of Heart,’ Clover had changed a little.

Sprouts grew vigorously from Clover's seeds, which had always died without blooming, and the sprouts the child brought to life with her Authority no longer died immediately, growing bit by bit instead.

Therefore, the sprout that had just bloomed in this pot would not die and would grow big and strong.

It was a truly perfect gift.

‘Phew.’

Having successfully used her Authority contrary to her fears, Clover held out the pot to the Empress Dowager.

“Majesty, this is what Cwover pwepared—”

It was right then.

The sprout Clover had just bloomed suddenly turned pitch-black and died, its stem snapping limply.

Crumble.

Snap.

“…….”

Startled by the sudden turn of events, Clover opened and closed her mouth in shock.

The Empress Dowager and the maids beside her were just as flustered by the sprout's death. Khalid also watched Clover in surprise.

Unable to even hand the pot to the Empress Dowager, Clover's hands trembled faintly as she held it.

“Sweetheart?”

Worried the pot might be too heavy, Anernia leaned down to take it, checking Clover's expression.

And then.

“Uu…….”

She saw Clover's large eyes welling up with thick tears.

***

Flustered, Anernia took the pot and placed it on the table, then scooped Clover up and set the girl on her lap.

‘I'm four years owd this year.’

Clover, who said she had just turned four, was so small and light that one would believe it even if told she were three. It was enough to make one marvel that a heart was beating inside such a tiny body.

Yet it seemed there was more than just a heart inside this little frame.

“I wanted to give you a pwesent. I wanted to give it to you.”

Tears brimmed in Clover's big eyes. Yet remarkably, they did not spill over.

Though her eyes were swimming with tears as if she were about to burst into tears at any second, she refused to cry, determined not to. Anernia thought even that resembled Elysia.

She gently pressed a handkerchief against Clover's eyes, wiping them as she spoke.

“Are you upset because you wanted to give a gift, but it didn't go the way you wanted?”

When Anernia brought the handkerchief close, Clover, thinking it was meant for blowing her nose, gave a little sniff, sniffled, squeezed her eyes shut, and nodded.

“Yush…….”