The Baby Sprout Who Bloomed in the Villain Duke’s Family
Chapter 9
Chapter 9
[Yeah.]
“B-but he said he might not send me away! Did Lucky hear that too?”
[Yeah, I heard that too.]
Clover’s leaf hadn’t brought any good luck to Cerenio, but it had allowed Clover to eavesdrop on their conversation from afar.
And through her mental connection with her summon, Lucky, the words had reached him as well.
Having listened to the conversation between Khalid and Cerenio through the faint trace of Authority lingering on the leaf, Clover cupped her flushed cheeks with both hands.
“Wow, so maybe I don’t hafta go back after all…….”
Having completely forgotten the part about ‘exploring ways to hire a nanny and let her stay at the villa,’ Clover beamed with a giggle.
“Okay, let’s go, Lucky.”
[Huh? W-where?]
“Why, of course.”
Clover planted both hands firmly on her hips and announced,
“To find the treasure!”
***
If she found the treasure, she could live here.
So once she found the treasure, everything would be all right.
The thought process of a four-year-old was simple. Honestly, it didn’t need to be any more complicated than that. Because Clover was right.
However.
“……B-but where do I look?”
Having slipped away while the servants were distracted, Clover plopped down in the middle of the lawn.
Flump.
Blades of grass stuck to her knees and palms. Clover picked them off one by one, muttering:
“My legs hurt……”
[That’s why I told you to just wait quietly in your room……]
“B-but I don’t wanna just wait quietly.”
What if she just waited and Daddy ended up not finding it?
Then she would have to go to Demper again.
“I’ve been waiting this whole time already……”
And now she had to wait again? Waiting for an uncertain outcome and an unclear future?
‘No way.’
Clover was a big kid who could do anything all on her own.
So something like that went against the principles of four-year-old Clover.
Her pride wouldn’t allow her to just sit still and wait for someone to spoon-feed her pudding.
Her legs, however, ached. That had nothing to do with Clover’s pride.
“I’m gonna rest a bit.”
She would rest for a little while, then search again.
Clover looked back toward a bush with fresh green leaves sprouting from it.
Then her eyes went wide when she spotted something.
“Huh? Look, someone didn’t pick the flower.”
She pointed at a coal-black bloom and murmured.
In that spot bloomed a single scruffy, pitch-black flower.
A faint foul stench emanated from it.
It was just a single blossom right now, so the stench was only this mild, but if they bloomed in clusters, the odor would be impossible to ignore.
[……You’re right.]
While leaves and grass grew lush and beautiful, the flowers that bloomed from them were filthy and foul-smelling.
It wasn’t just one or two kinds of flowers; every flower across this entire continent was like that.
Because of this, the people of the Empire considered exchanging flowers to be a tremendous insult, and nobles had their gardeners rigorously tend the grounds to ensure not a single flower ever bloomed in their gardens.
Of course, if one went out into the fields or mountains, one could see unpicked flowers growing wild.
But this was a ducal estate. It was rare to see a flower blooming in a noble’s manor. So this, too, had likely bloomed through some gardener’s oversight.
It would surely be plucked soon.
“B-but I like flowers.”
However, Clover couldn’t smell the foul stench of flowers very well. And even the flowers called ‘ugly’ looked quite lovely in Clover’s eyes. To the point where she couldn’t understand why anyone hated them.
[Trust only what your eyes see; there’s no need to believe anything else.]
Lucky said that this was Clover’s unique ability: ‘the ability to see the inner beauty hidden behind the exterior.’
Hmm.
‘If Clover has so many abilities, why did Auntie hate me?’
Pondering that deeply, Clover was reminded of Count Demper again, but she quickly shook her head back and forth.
Oh, I promised myself I wouldn’t think about it, but it keeps popping up.
‘Still, I’m really, truly not gonna think about it anymore.’
Clover gave her cheeks a light pat-pat, then touched her slightly rosy cheeks and looked around.
Where should she look next?
Aren’t you supposed to have a treasure map to find treasure? But Clover had neither a map nor a shovel to dig into the ground.
On top of that, if she tore up the estate under the pretext of searching for treasure, she might end up being hated again.
She really didn’t want to be hated again.
Just as she was massaging her legs, deep in worry…
Meow—
An unfamiliar cry came from somewhere.
And soon,
Swish.
A large, white and blue bundle appeared before Clover.
“Gasp, a kitty!”
It was the cat that had retrieved Clover’s diary back at Count Demper’s estate.
And it was also the summon that had followed Khalid when he came to the Demper estate that day.
Beaming with joy, Clover reached out toward the cat.
“Kitty, have you been good?”
“Meow.”
Jumping up, Clover wrapped her arms around the cat in a tight hug. The cat, twice as large as an ordinary feline, affectionately rubbed its cheek against Clover’s neck.
‘Whoa…… it smells so cool and fresh.’
A scent like a refreshing breeze drifted from the cat’s body. It was the kind of scent that made drowsiness creep in when she held it close.
Come to think of it, Daddy had a similar scent.
‘The smell of the wind.’
It must smell the same because it was Khalid’s summon. Moreover, perhaps because a summon was an entity created from only a ‘portion’ of one’s Authority, her body didn’t hurt even when it came close.
[Looks like you’re fine with this level of Authority.]
Lucky muttered.
Hearing that, Clover fiddled her fingers against the summon she was holding.
‘It would be nice if Daddy had just this much Authority too.’
Just enough so that it wouldn’t hurt Clover when he hugged her.
‘No, I shouldn’t think like that.’
Just because I want to live together doesn’t mean Daddy should be made weak…….
Gathering her resolve, Clover stroked the cat, then looked back at Lucky as if belatedly remembering the ‘treasure.’
“Lucky, could this one know too?”
[Where the treasure is hidden?]
“Uh-huh.”
[Hmm…… if this guy knew, wouldn’t your father have found it already?]
Come to think of it, Lucky was right.
It made no sense for the summon to know something Khalid didn’t.
“That’s true too.”
And if it had known, it would have told Khalid where the treasure was. Then Clover wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble right now.
Smack. Just as a disappointed Clover was stroking the summon’s fur…
<The Claudian ring.>
An unfamiliar voice drifted into Clover’s mind.
<I know where it is.>
It wasn’t Lucky’s voice, nor was it Clover’s.
Having made sure no one was around, it wasn’t anyone nearby speaking to her either.
If so, then this was……
“Y-you…… did you say that?”
Clover’s eyes went wide. The summon, sitting aloof, watched Clover as it licked its forepaw with graceful poise.
<Khalid cannot find it, for he bears the protection of the storm.>
Even then, the summon’s voice flowed into Clover’s head continuously, without a pause.
<But you can find it.>
“!”
<If you want to find it, I will tell you.>
***
“So, where do they say she’s being sent?”
The eldest son of the Claudian family, Demian Claudian, asked as he looked out the window.
Beyond the crystal-clear glass, a tiny, pale-green bean of a figure could be seen busily moving about.
She was so tiny, and the color of fresh, newly sprouted grass, that if one squinted even slightly, she vanished from sight.
Demian tapped the glass with his fingertip.
“I don’t know yet. Father seems to be brooding over it.”
At that, the second son of the Claudian family, Arwin Claudian, leaned beside him with arms crossed.
“Wherever he sends her, it’ll never be anywhere near the Demper family.”
He muttered through gritted teeth, watching the squirming little green bean of a girl.
Clover Claudian.
The one and only youngest child of the Claudian family, a little sister so precious she wouldn’t hurt even if put in their eyes.
The two had only seen Clover once in their entire lives. The last time was right after she was born, wrapped in a cradle and placed into a carriage.
Demian and Arwin had parted with their baby sister without even being able to say a proper goodbye.
‘Ah, awoo.’
How she had smiled brightly even before she could properly open her eyes.
At the time, Demian and Arwin were merely seven and six years old, but they remembered the moment Clover left Claudian as clearly as if it were yesterday.
