The Baby Sprout Who Bloomed in the Villain Duke’s Family
Chapter 6
Khalid’s office.
“How is the child?”
Khalid Claudian asked the doctor who had examined Clover.
So anxiously had he waited for the doctor to arrive that he threw out the question before the office door had even fully closed behind her.
Having swiftly checked on the collapsed Clover, the doctor pushed up her glasses and gave the answer Khalid had been waiting to hear.
“She is fine.”
“Thank goodness.”
“Her body was merely overwhelmed by the sheer force of a powerful Authority and fainted from shock. With some rest, she will be back on her feet in no time. Beyond that, there were no serious issues.”
Seeing how tiny she was compared to other children her age, Khalid had worried she hadn’t been fed properly at the Demper estate, but now he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“However, Your Grace.”
After reciting Clover’s condition, the doctor paused and looked up at Khalid.
Seeing the solemn look in her eyes, tension gripped Khalid once more.
Wondering if something else was wrong with the child.
“What is it?”
“You are aware, are you not? If things remain as they are, she will collapse again before long.”
“……”
“The young lady’s body cannot yet endure the Authority of Claudian.”
The implication of those words was clear.
Though he had been forced to bring the child to Claudian for now, he would soon have to find a new place to send her.
He had thought parting ways between parent and child once was enough.
Facing the sudden prospect of a second separation, Khalid rubbed his chin with a troubled expression.
“I know.”
“You must find a way to retrieve the Branch of the World Tree from Demper as soon as possible. For the sake of the young lady’s health.”
“Right……”
“And it would be best if Your Grace refrained from approaching the young lady for the time being. Her body has yet to fully recover, and I worry she might faint once more.”
“!”
Khalid arched an eyebrow.
Stay away from her for the time being?
Since bringing Clover to the Claudian residence, he hadn’t even seen her face properly.
Having hastily handed the child, who had collapsed in his arms, to someone without an Authority, he hadn’t even been able to hold her properly.
He asked in a low voice.
“Not even just a brief glimpse?”
“You cannot.”
“I only just brought her back.”
“I know.”
“She thinks…… I abandoned her.”
“It is unfortunate. However, it would be best to clear up that misunderstanding through other means.”
The doctor was resolute.
“Your Grace, Lady Clover is a tender sprout that has yet to take root, and a sprout is bound to be torn up helplessly in the face of a typhoon.”
“……”
“It may be painful, but this is all for the young lady’s well-being. You understand, do you not?”
“……Understood.”
Khalid reluctantly acquiesced. There was no flaw in the doctor’s words. It was all for Clover’s health.
He couldn’t hurt the child again just for his own selfish desire.
‘Why did you only come find Cwover now?’
‘Didn’t you miss Cwover?’
‘Did Papa abandon Cwover?’
……He couldn’t bear it.
‘Because Cwover is usewess……?’
……He really couldn’t let that happen, and yet.
“Damn it.”
Khalid ran a rough hand through his hair, disheveling what had been neatly styled locks into a mess.
It seemed to reflect his tangled emotions.
The agony of having finally brought home the daughter he had longed for, only to be unable to hold her in his arms.
Just then.
A knock sounded at the door. Both the doctor and Khalid turned their gaze toward it at the same time.
“Come in.”
At Khalid’s command, the door opened carefully and a maid hurried inside.
She bowed deeply before Khalid, then straightened up and spoke.
“Master, Lady Clover has awakened.”
Then, blinking, she added:
“She is asking for you, Master. What should we do?”
“……”
In that moment, Khalid let out a sigh as his eyes met the doctor’s.
Doctor Sina shook her head firmly.
“Please wait here for just a little bit, Lady Clover.”
“Okaaay.”
Belze said as she settled Clover onto a plush sofa. Replying like a good girl, Clover fiddled with the clothes she was wearing.
‘It smells nice.’
And it was super soft. The hood even had big bunny ears attached to it.
Compared to the clothes she used to wear at her aunt’s house, it was like night and day.
Fingering the fabric, Clover thought back to the clothes she had worn at the villain aunt’s house.
Among them were sometimes boy’s clothes—hand-me-downs Louis had worn when he was little.
‘Does this mean I don’t have to wear those anymore?’
She hoped so.
‘Hey, Peanut, you’re wearing my old thrown-out clothes again?’
‘Aw, it’s torn…… Here, take this and wear it.’
She was fine with any other clothes, but she hated wearing Louis’s old things. Even a four-year-old child had pride and feelings.
“……”
Sitting quietly, Clover glanced over at Belze.
Belze was tidying the blanket and pillows. Seeing her moving about so busily, Clover didn’t dare try to speak to her.
‘I’m bored……’
When would Papa come?
Belze had said Papa would come if she waited quietly here, but such vague words felt far too distant to four-year-old Clover.
‘No, I should still wait.’
After everything it took to meet Papa, she couldn’t get branded as a naughty child already.
Besides, waiting was what Clover did best.
Clover had waited patiently for Mommy and Papa for four years at the villain aunt’s house, after all.
Thinking of the villain aunt, Clover stroked her chin with a serious expression.
‘Hmm…… Auntie must be really mad.’
She was probably furious.
Because Papa had shown up and smashed her house to pieces.
It had gone crash and broken apart. It was truly an awesome sight.
The “Papa’s power” Auntie had always talked about.
A power Clover didn’t have……
She felt she could understand a little why her aunt had scolded her for not manifesting it.
In any case, since the wall got smashed, she must be super angry.
‘But Papa did that, not me……’
Still, if they met again, her aunt might try to drag Clover away once more.
At the thought, her little shoulders hunched. Whenever she thought of her aunt, Clover just wanted to hide away somewhere.
Her mood instantly dampening, Clover shook her head side to side.
Oh dear, let’s think about something else.
Thinking bad thoughts is Clover’s loss!
That was what Lucky said.
Clover hopped down from the sofa and pattered over to the window.
Standing on tiptoe, she clung to the windowsill and looked outside. The vast Claudian garden was clearly visible beyond the glass.
“Owaah……”
The Claudian ducal residence’s garden was incomparably grander and wider than the Demper count’s estate garden.
Even to young Clover’s eyes, many wonderful sculptures were visible.
Yet the grand garden felt somehow empty to Clover.
Clover narrowed her eyes and tried to focus.
And then she realized!
‘Why is it so wilted?’
The grass was completely withered, and dying trees could be seen here and there.
There was no way a mansion this huge hadn’t hired gardeners, so why was it like this?
‘Could it be here too?’
Is there no “Seed” here either?
Clover tilted her head.
The Seed of Crystal.
Lucky had told her that wherever plants gathered and lived in clusters, there had to be one of those seeds.
It served to share power with nearby plants, and whenever something went wrong with the Seed of Crystal, the vegetation would wither away and die like this.
‘Is it really missing?’
If the garden looked so miserable because of its absence, Clover could help.
Maybe she would have something she could do.
As that thought crossed her mind, Clover’s spirits lifted slightly.
‘I want to find out.’
Clover looked around.
If she asked Lucky, she could get a definitive answer.
However.
‘Where did Lucky go?’
Lucky was nowhere to be seen.
It was strange, since Lucky had never once left her side since the day they met.
Just as Clover was looking around for Lucky.
“Oh my, my lady. You mustn’t climb up like that, it’s dangerous.”
“Ah, hee-ing……”
Spotting Clover practically dangling from the window, Belze scooped her up in one swift motion.
Then she sat Clover back down on the sofa from earlier.
“Please wait just a little longer. The Duke will be here shortly.”
“Okaaay, I unnerstand.”
Dangling from the window was dangerous, then.
Come to think of it, she felt like Lucky had said something like that before. Though no grown-ups other than Lucky had ever told her that.
Hmm.
Pulling both legs up onto the sofa and hugging them tight, Clover rested her cheek against her knees.
“Papa, I wanna see you soon……”
