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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Joseph Oser (3)
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[If you carry out your task properly, I will return her safely.]
“Could you at least let me hear my sister’s voice? Just to check if she’s safe…”
[You should know well enough that I can't guarantee your sister's safety if you say such useless things.]
“…”
[In any case, move the plan forward as quickly as possible.]
“Please, give me more time.”
[One week.]
The voice on the other end was firm.
[Finish it within one week.]
Originally, he had been given a month. Now, it had been cut down to a week.
But he couldn’t argue. Joseph Oser was in a position where he had to do as he was told.
“Understood.”
Before he could even finish his reply, the connection was cut. Joseph Oser stared at the communication device, then covered his face with his hands.
“Damn it…”
Now eighteen, he had joined the House of Adrian as a squire five years ago. He had worked his way up from the bottom and was now on the verge of his knighting ceremony. That was how loyal he was to the Adrian family.
But about a month ago, he received a call from the aunt who was looking after Melody, telling him his sister had disappeared.
As soon as he heard the news, Joseph took leave and scoured the area around his aunt’s house. But he couldn’t find Melody.
He was about to ask Duke Adrian for help, grasping at straws, when a thoroughly suspicious man approached him.
The man’s demand was simple. He was holding his sister hostage, so Joseph had to carry out the mission they gave him.
Without even knowing what the mission was, Joseph agreed, solely to save his sister. He was even prepared to sacrifice his own life in the worst-case scenario.
But the ‘mission’ they gave him was more shocking than he could have ever imagined.
-Sprinkle this potion on Duke Adrian’s carriage.
-What will happen if I do?
-That’s none of your concern.
The man didn’t tell him the potion’s effects, but Joseph could guess. It would cause an accident.
An accident in a moving carriage could, in the worst case, lead to instant death. With incredible luck, one might survive, but there was no guarantee they would escape unscathed.
And of all people, the target was Duke Adrian, a man he respected.
He considered running to Duke Adrian immediately and revealing everything. But as if they had anticipated it, a warning note would arrive every time he tried to approach the duke.
The warning stated that if he told anyone, his sister would die.
It also added that if he failed and the plan was exposed, his sister would die anyway, so he was not to make any mistakes.
‘Now, I really…’
Joseph Oser tightly gripped the potion he had hidden deep inside his drawer.
There was no escaping it now.
***
“You’re slow, kiddo. A turtle could move faster than you.”
Lucas trotted along beside Rosette. He seemed to be jogging casually, yet he was still faster than Rosette, who was running with all her might.
Shooting him a slight glare, Rosette clenched her jaw and ran faster. Annoyingly, even when Lucas sped up, his breathing remained perfectly steady.
Since yesterday, Rosette had decided to do morning training with Lucas every day.
All they did was run laps around the training grounds, so it was embarrassing to call it ‘training,’ but she was a little relieved to hear that this was how everyone started.
Of course, the rest of the family, aside from Lucas, was skeptical of Rosette’s decision. While they agreed to it since she was the one who wanted to do it, they added that she could quit anytime if it was too hard.
But Rosette was confident she wouldn’t give up. She had a grand plan.
‘I’ll build up my stamina quickly and form a mana core.’
With a mana core, she would be prepared for emergencies. In addition, she planned to eat a lot to get chubby as quickly as possible.
Also.
‘I have to keep a close eye on Joseph Oser.’
While running breathlessly, Rosette watched the Dallas family’s spy swinging a wooden sword in the distance.
She had learned from Daniel that his name was Joseph Oser and that he had been in the knighthood for about five years. She also learned that he had lost his parents at a young age and had only a younger sister left.
During that conversation, Daniel had casually asked, ‘Why is our little one so curious about that?’ and Lucas had thrown a fit, shouting, ‘I knew it! You’re interested in him!’ but she somehow managed to explain that wasn't the case.
But something was strange. According to Daniel, Joseph Oser was diligent beyond his young years and possessed great loyalty to the House of Adrian.
So how did a man like that end up as a spy for the Dallas family, targeting Daniel?
‘Is his sister being held hostage?’
Just as she was thinking it was a plausible theory, her vision suddenly went dark. Lucas, who had blocked her path, spoke with a pout.
“There you go again, staring at him. Listen here, kiddo. You’re eight, and he’s eighteen! Think about the age difference!”
*Sigh.* He was still going on about that, even after she told him it wasn’t true. Instead of wasting her breath explaining, Rosette ignored him and walked past. Lucas followed, chattering away, but she let his words go in one ear and out the other.
After completing all three laps, Rosette didn’t wait for Lucas, who had gone to get water, and headed straight for Joseph Oser.
“Joseph… right?”
Joseph, who was talking with a colleague, was startled to see Rosette.
“Ah, it’s the Little Lady!”
He stood up straight and looked down at her.
“Is there something you need?”
Rosette looked up at him with clear eyes and whispered.
“Water…”
“Pardon?”
“I want some water.”
“Ah, water. Just a moment.”
“My lady, please have this!”
“That’s the one you were drinking from! My lady, this one hasn’t been touched, so please have this.”
While Joseph fumbled around looking for a water bottle, the other knights swarmed over. In an instant, Rosette was surrounded by large knights.
Rosette casually picked one of the water bottles offered to her and opened the cap. As she gulped down the water, the chosen knight grinned with satisfaction.
“By the way, Little Lady. Isn’t this difficult for you?”
“Still, you finished all three laps! That’s amazing! It’s not easy, you know.”
“How is your injured knee? Is it okay?”
Rosette nodded absently, observing Joseph, who was standing there awkwardly holding a water bottle. To be precise, she was sensing the mana around him.
She hadn’t formed a mana core yet, but simply sensing the flow of mana was something she could do easily.
‘I don’t feel any mana flow.’
Rosette was relieved. She had been worried that, like her past self, he might be under a curse, forced to obey Marquis Dallas.
Last night, Rosette had thought a little more about the Joseph Oser she had met in the past. The incredibly dark expression on his face at the time led her to suspect that he was being forced to follow Marquis Dallas.
That point triggered her trauma. In Joseph Oser, being used like a marionette, Rosette saw herself being forced to harm Duke Adrian and Daniel.
If Joseph Oser was also a victim, if he didn’t want to do this, she wanted to help him.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a curse, so it seemed there might be a way for her to help.
‘If it’s not a curse, is his sister really being held hostage?’
If so, she would have to stop the accident, save Joseph Oser’s sister, and catch the mastermind behind it all.
‘But how? Can I do it alone? Without a mana core?’
Rosette was deep in serious thought when Lucas, who had returned with a water bottle, shouted.
“What do you all think you’re doing? You’ll scare the kiddo if you crowd around her like that!”
“Hah!”
“We will rectify our actions!”
The knights scurried away. Only then did Rosette, who had been hidden by the circle of knights, become visible.
Lucas snatched the water bottle Rosette had been drinking from and offered her the one he had brought.
“Drink this.”
“I’ve already had plenty… no, I’ll drink it.”
Even though she had already finished a whole bottle, Rosette gulped down the water Lucas brought. Thanks to him, her stomach was full of water even before breakfast.
***
“Then, sleep well, my lady.”
“Okay. You too, Jane.”
Lying in bed, Rosette shot up the moment she heard the door close. She closed her eyes and focused on the mana flowing through her body. It was a routine she had been practicing for over a month now.
Without wiping away the beads of cold sweat forming on her forehead, Rosette gathered her mana. The mana, gathered vaguely in her stomach, began to compress, shrinking in size.
This was the real challenge. If her concentration wavered or her stamina failed her here, the compressed mana would disperse without forming a core.
For the past month, Rosette had failed at this stage due to her lack of stamina.
‘Just a little more…’
Rosette barely held onto her wavering focus, concentrating with all her might.
And finally.
With a sense of release, Rosette’s eyes flew open. She felt her still-flat stomach with both hands. It was still faint, but she could feel the presence of a mana core.
It was a presence so faint that others wouldn't be able to sense it, but it was a mana core nonetheless. She had succeeded in forming a core a full year earlier than in her past life.
Though her stamina hadn’t increased much, it was possible because Rosette already knew how to wield mana.
‘I won’t be able to use proper magic just yet, but…’
Rosette hadn’t created the mana core just to use magic right away. She had another reason.
She held out her hands and infused them with mana. Pink mana swirled above her palms, and then…
[Peep!]
A small, white bird popped into existence. It was a familiar made from Rosette’s mana.
Rosette exclaimed happily.
“Pipi!”
The titmouse, Pipi, responded by flapping its small wings.
[Peep!]
A familiar made of mana was not a living, breathing creature, but it possessed a consciousness of its own.
However, since it didn’t retain memories of the past, the current Pipi was different from the Pipi of her past.
Even so, Rosette was delighted to see Pipi. In the past, Pipi had been her only friend in her profound loneliness.
Rosette pressed her cheek against Pipi and murmured.
“It’s good to see you.”
[Peep!]
“Oh, right, this is no time for that. I have a job for you.”
[Peep! Peep!]
“Go and watch a knight named Joseph Oser. He’s going to do something to the carriage. Let me know when he does. No. Let me know the moment he leaves his room in the middle of the night. Got it?”
[Peeeeep!]
Pipi nodded and flew out the window with a flutter. Rosette collapsed onto the bed, feeling drained.
All that was left now was to wait for Pipi’s signal.
***
Three days later, just as dawn was breaking, Pipi returned. Squeezing through the slightly open window, Pipi tugged at the soundly sleeping Rosette’s hair with its beak.
“Ouch. Who… Pipi?”
[Peep!]
Pipi flapped its wings energetically in mid-air. Instantly awake, Rosette threw on a cloak and followed Pipi toward the carriage house. Standing in the supposedly empty building was a large shadow.
Seeing the man, who was surely Joseph Oser, approach the carriage, Rosette ran at full speed.
“Stop!”
