Translator: Nox

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

Chapter 30

Life was inherently never easy.

Though Clover had lived a mere four years, she knew all too well from countless experiences that life was not easy.

However.

‘Why did it have to be at a time like this?’

Why did she have to fail now of all times? In the end, she had become a child who couldn’t even give a gift and was left sniffling with a runny nose.

Clover clutched Anernia’s handkerchief tightly, sitting on her lap and looking up at her.

“I’m sowwy, fo’ not givin’ a pwesent…….”

“Your coming here alone is a gift to me. Besides, this flowerpot is very lovely. If we plant something else in it, it will grow well. Let’s see, what should we plant……?”

“Somethin’ else?”

“Yes, I will plant something else. And when you come next time, I’ll show you what I planted.”

At Anernia’s warm voice, Clover’s upset feelings melted away softly like thawing ice, and she gave a little sniffle.

“Do you feel a little better now?”

“Yeth.”

“That is a relief. How did such a little one even know to bring a gift?”

“I eavesdwopped on Daddy.”

“Is that so?”

Anernia brought a chocolate chip cookie to Clover’s lips. Clover’s eyes sparkled as she nibbled on the cookie, munching away.

Watching this, Khalid thought:

‘I can step away for a moment now.’

Khalid rose quietly from his seat and spoke.

“Then I will attend to my business and return. I shall see you shortly, Empress Dowager.”

“Yes, leave the child to me and go on.”

“Clover, Daddy will be right back.”

Although Clover had adapted completely to Anernia’s embrace in no time, she felt a little scared at the thought of parting from her father and squirmed, halting mid-cookie.

“D-Daddy’s goin’?”

“Yes, I’ll be back soon. You can stay nicely with Her Majesty, right?”

“Mm-hmm, yeah. But…….”

Clover glanced around cautiously. Being left alone in an unfamiliar place was still a little scary, after all.

Noticing Clover’s feelings, Khalid gave a sharp snap of his fingers, and his summon smoothly revealed itself.

The Lion of the North Wind, with its blue mane, shifted into the form of a cat and leaped onto the chair beside Clover.

Seeing that, Clover’s eyes lit up with life.

“Kitty!”

If the kitty was here, it was okay.

Because the kitty was connected to Daddy, and being with Khalid’s summon was just like being with Khalid.

As Clover smiled brightly, Khalid pointed to his summon and said:

“You can stay nicely with the kitty, right?”

“Yes.”

“All right, see you soon.”

Unlike Khalid’s worries, the father and daughter’s brief farewell was swiftly resolved thanks to the appearance of the Lion of the North Wind.

After Khalid left, Anernia gently twirled Clover’s hair, which the maids had neatly tied up.

Even though she was still young and didn’t have much hair, the skilled maids had tied it so prettily that it didn’t come undone even as she touched it.

She called the maid’s name.

“Liese.”

“Yes, Empress Dowager.”

“She looks a great deal like Elysia, does she not?”

“Yes, truly. She resembles her so closely that I was truly astonished when I first saw her.”

Hearing the conversation between Liese and Anernia, Clover lifted her head, and a golden four-leaf clover floated up beside her face.

Watching it quietly, Anernia asked Clover:

“Little one, what is this?”

“Wucky…….”

“Lucky?”

“Wucky, it’s Cwover’s summon.”

As Clover opened her small hand, Lucky landed softly upon it.

Then, as if showing off its presence, it radiated brilliant golden light.

“A fwiend.”

“A summon. I have a summon too.”

“You have a summon too, Your Majewty?”

All Authority users possessed a summon. Yet she had never heard that the Empress Dowager was an Authority user!

“Of course.”

When Anernia waved her hand, a rabbit revealed itself.

Formed as though sculpted from dense gray mist, the rabbit hopped along Anernia’s hand toward Clover.

“A bunny!”

As Clover beamed, Anernia lifted the rabbit and brought it before Clover’s hand.

“This is my summon. It’s a little bigger than Clover’s summon, isn’t it?”

“Uwaah, waah…….”

Clover gave the rabbit a light poke. It felt fluffy and soft like a cloud, but when Clover tapped it, that portion dispersed smoothly and vanished.

Gasp, it disappeared.

‘Did Clover hurt the bunny?’

Startled, Clover covered her mouth and looked anxiously at Anernia.

Then Anernia smiled gently and took Clover’s hand.

“My Authority is mist. That is why my summon is made of mist as well.”

And with the hand she held, she helped Clover stroke the rabbit gently.

“So even if it scatters like this, it comes right back. That is the nature of mist.”

“Hyaa…….”

Touching the fluffy rabbit with Anernia’s help, a bright smile bloomed across Clover’s face.

“Fascinating, isn’t it?”

“Yeth!”

Having completely forgotten about Khalid, who had left, Clover sat on Anernia’s lap and shared a delightful conversation with her.

---

“Duke Claudian.”

Oeron Peroy Rosiperon, the Emperor of the Rosiperon Empire. He looked toward Khalid Claudian.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I hear your youngest daughter has returned. You must be pleased.”

“Thank you.”

“How old is she? Did you say four?”

Oeron spoke in an affable manner. Setting aside the creeping sense of unease, Khalid answered:

“Yes, she is four years old.”

“That’s an age when they are at their cutest, is it not?”

“It is.”

“However, she does not possess the Authority of the Storm?”

Oeron’s words sounded as though he were mocking Khalid. But Khalid answered without being shaken:

“My youngest resembles my wife greatly.”

“Oh! A crack has finally appeared in the steadfast renown of the Claudians, has it not?”

“Your Majesty, such a thing…….”

“Ah, it is fine. We understand you. After all, there is one such fellow in our exalted Rosiperon imperial family as well.”

Khalid immediately realized whom Oeron was talking about.

The bastard of the Rosiperon imperial family, the son Oeron had fathered with a commoner through an affair.

The legitimate imperial royals of the Rosiperon imperial family were all born with the power of the great sun that could scorch the earth.

However, whether because Oeron had sired that bastard prince out of wedlock, or for some other reason…….

“That boy is quite the headache for me as well.”

The prince had manifested not the imperial family’s Authority, but an incomparably ominous one.

Namely, ‘Death’.

If he touched a blade of grass, it withered; if he hugged a tree, the tree died. The same went for fragile beasts.

When it became known that the prince had manifested the Power of Death, the imperial family was thrown into utter turmoil.

With the legitimate First Prince who would inherit the throne alive and well, how could his younger brother be born with such a dreadful Authority capable of threatening the elder brother? Back then, Oeron had wanted to kill the child.

Yet the reason he had not killed him was that the Second Prince’s birth mother, who was alive at the time, had been favored by Oeron,

and Empress Dowager Anernia Sorren Rosiperon had vehemently opposed it.

The Second Prince, who had faced death the moment he was born because of his Authority of death, preserved his life thanks to two women.

Even so, he could not avoid being confined to a detached palace. For everyone agreed that the prince’s Authority was dreadful enough to threaten the entire imperial family.

Listening to Oeron’s words, Khalid thought to himself:

‘How much longer will that pitiful young prince be able to preserve his life?’

He heard that the Authority had not yet manifested strongly. At most, it only killed trees, grass, and the like.

However, if that Authority grew stronger, Emperor Oeron of Rosiperon would inevitably have to kill the prince.

Even looking at it objectively without personal feelings, Khalid knew the young prince’s Authority was excessively dangerous. If that power grew stronger, there was no telling what danger might befall the empire.

The only reason the prince was currently preserving his life was that he was still young, and Anernia held him dear.

A situation similar to Clover’s, yet entirely different.

And a similar age.

Listening to Oeron speak left a bitter taste in Khalid’s mouth. For a father with a child of his own, talk of whether to kill a young child or let him live was hard to stomach.

Listening to that conversation, Khalid thought that he must be careful never to let Clover cross paths with Oeron.