Chapter 24

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 24

Chapter Title: The Calling Voice

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My vision warped, and a voice seeped into my mind.

It felt just like when I'd seen the Nyuite.

My heart pounded furiously, and dizziness swept over me.

"Ahh..."

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

The sound of my heartbeat echoed deafeningly in my ears. My lungs felt squeezed tight, leaving me unable to breathe. My vision kept narrowing.

The world seemed to spin, my body swayed, and then—with a thud!—I collapsed.

At that moment.

"Little one!"

"...Leblain!"

I thought I heard Henri and Ishak's voices.

As consciousness slipped away, I wondered.

'Who the hell are you?'

Why did that voice always call out to me so desperately?

How much time had passed?

My eyes felt dry and stinging, refusing to open easily, and my body weighed a ton—heavy enough that I couldn't even twitch a finger.

"There's nothing wrong, so why won't she open her eyes?! Did you check properly? You trying to die?!"

"Check again. Find out why she collapsed. If you value your necks."

Excited shouts and quietly furious voices reached my ears.

And then.

"Drag them out."

The Duke's voice?

Soon, sharp and dull thuds accompanied desperate pleas from the men.

"I-it's true, Your Grace! Truly! There's nothing wrong with Little One's body!"

"Anyone could say that much."

"B-but it's really...!"

"If you can't find why Leblain fainted, behead one doctor every hour."

'What?!'

My eyes snapped open.

"Little one...!"

"Leblain!"

Two handsome faces filled my view. Henri and Ishak.

'Why are these guys stuck so close?'

I blinked and slowly looked around.

I was lying in bed, with Henri and Ishak pressed right up against either side. Behind them, Lea's teary face came into view.

And on the floor, at least thirty doctors—at a glance—were kneeling.

Standing before the doctors was the Duke.

"Dukey."

My voice came out hoarse, as if frayed to the breaking point.

At that faint whisper, the Duke approached me.

"You alright?"

I nodded, and a tiny sigh escaped through his clenched teeth. He then turned toward the kneeling doctors and Nos.

I swallowed a sigh inwardly.

'Phew, good thing I woke up at the perfect timing.'

The Child of Destiny sent from the temple had collapsed in Duvered, so the doctors were getting chewed out.

But they weren't at fault. If anything, it was my own for sneaking into the west annex.

The Duke opened his mouth.

"Now that Leblain's awake—"

Yes. Please send the innocent doctors away.

"Kill them all."

'Pardon?'

I stared at the Duke in shock, and Nos called out, "Y-Your Grace...!"

The kneeling doctors' limbs trembled visibly, no need to mention.

"No need to pay incompetent fools who can't even find the reason for a faint."

—as the Duke, who only cared about money, declared.

Henri and Ishak, now standing beside him, nodded with chilling eyes in agreement.

'No way, for real?!'

Nos desperately tried to persuade the Duke, but he was resolute.

"Your Grace, even bringing in people from the capital would take at least two weeks."

"And?"

"If something happens to Little One's body again, who will you call until they arrive from the capital?!"

The Duke flinched at that.

Realizing it worked, Nos pushed on strongly, as if grasping a lifeline...!

By using me as an excuse.

"If it's not an illness in Little One's body, but a curse or issue with divine power, no doctor could possibly find the cause. However, if it led to a resulting fever, then doctors could help with that part."

He shot me a desperate look that said, 'Right?'

Every gaze in the room turned to me.

The Duke, the young masters, the maids, and even the doctors looking like they'd found a lifeline.

I rolled my eyes this way and that before cracking my mouth open slightly.

"...Achi."

"...!"

The Duke's eyes widened, and he let out a thunderous roar.

"It's a cold! Treat Leblain immediately!"

"Hurry!"

"Right now!"

The Duke, Henri, and Ishak shouted in turn, and over thirty doctors rushed to my bed in perfect unison.

After that, I passionately played the role of a kid with a cold, and thanks to it, the doctors escaped execution.

My desperate act of having a cold worked on the Duke, so the doctors mercifully kept their lives.

Of course, the professional doctors wouldn't miss that I wasn't actually sick at all.

Maybe that's why every time they saw me, they gazed wistfully and murmured, "Little One..." with their chins trembling.

Especially the director of Duvered Castle's medical center, Baron Morr, was deeply moved.

"This Adam Morr vows to one day lay down his life for Little One."

He'd nearly died without seeing his first child born after ten years of marriage, and now he was calling me his benefactor.

Anyway, good thing I saved the innocent doctors.

'But what the heck was that voice?'

The voice that occasionally rang out since touching the Nyuite, always knocking me unconscious.

'Definitely a curse.'

It made sense as payback for mishandling a holy relic.

To know for sure, I'd have to show my condition at the temple, but I wanted to avoid getting tangled with them as much as possible.

If they got the wrong idea and dragged me off to lift the curse, that'd be trouble.

'I've finally gotten close to the Duvered folks.'

Apparently, right after I collapsed, it was Ishak and Henri who carried me here.

Both of them had hounded the doctors, too.

'That was unexpected.'

Especially Henri.

I'd figured things were ruined between us after those super scary words last time.

Even the ever-cold Duke was the same.

'They don't hate me.'

If anything, at this point, their feelings were closer to fondness, weren't they?

I covered my mouth with both fists and giggled, hehe.

It was worth all the pitter-patter chasing to build goodwill.

Now, the first button on my defection preparations was fastened.

Duvered territory was like heaven to me right now, but hardships would come again as I grew older.

The real Child of Destiny would arrive.

And I'd become the sacrifice in the ritual to seal the evil god.

Even as the Duke of Duvered, there was nothing he could do about that.

'How much money do I have again?'

I grabbed my elephant bag and crawled onto the bed, waddling along.

"Buttons one, two, three... twenty-something."

I gazed contentedly at the sizable haul before carefully stowing them back in the bag.

'Once I've saved up, straight to the info guild for a forged ID.'

I needed to handle this ASAP. In a couple years, the laws would change, and they'd start strictly managing citizen records.

'Yeah, time's short, and I can't keep making money with just buttons forever.'

Now was the time to build a slush fund.

I didn't have the capital for iron speculation or gold hoarding like Henri, but I had plenty of money-making ideas lined up.

I grinned and glanced at the calendar.

'Soon, that wanted criminal will sneak into Duvered.'

The guy even the imperial palace was watching, and since his face was unknown, the bounty was enormous.

And I'd hand him over to the authorities to claim that bounty.

'They pay bounties even to kids!'

But how was he supposed to get in? He'd been working in Duvered Castle when his identity got exposed, right?

As a servant?

'While I'm thinking of it, I should go check what events might bring new people into the lord's castle.'

Just as I was about to head out the door, I bumped right into Lea coming in.

"You're up early today."

She asked kindly, so I answered peppily, "Yep!"

"I'm so glad you're healthy again. But where are you off to?"

I couldn't exactly say I was sneaking into the servants' break room to check the event schedule.

I rolled my eyes every which way and mumbled.

"Wiwawy. (Library.)"

"You borrowed lots of picture books yesterday, though?"

"Not that, uhm... study! Gonna study."

Lea lightly touched one cheek, as if pondering for a moment, then nodded.

"I see. You're just the right age to start learning letters. I'll let Master know. He'll assign a good teacher."

'No!'

I'd learned Imperial three times already.

I could write it with my toes, even reversed. I absolutely, absolutely didn't need it.

But Lea cooed, "Our clever Little One," and skipped off humming to see the Duke.

The Duke sent a teacher right away.

A top graduate of the capital university, the youngest ever to pass that brutal imperial administrative exam, with experience tutoring heirs from famous houses—

"Nos."

Nos.

Of course, the famous house heirs he'd taught letters to were Henri and Ishak.

"Not working?"

"If Little One saw how many documents are piled on my desk, you'd cry right alongside me..."

Nos muttered with hollow eyes.

No wonder—with the Etwal recovery and the Teramore incident cleanup, how much work did he have?

'Poor guy, suffering under that cold-blooded boss.'

I patted his shoulder sympathetically, and he made a pitiful face.

'He's so pitiful, gotta pretend to learn fast and focus.'

"We'll start with the alphabet. Now, look at this card."

Nos was definitely a capable talent.

Not just at handling paperwork—he was great with kids, too.

His explanations were simple, examples spot-on; any other child could pick it up easily.

"Now, repeat after me. Gail."

"Gail."

"Gail is pronounced like 'ga' in 'that.' So, what words use gail?"

"Bear, puppy, thank you, and, and..."

As I rolled my eyes and rattled them off, Nos—who was fully immersed in the lesson—grinned like he might die from cuteness.

"As expected, so quick-witted, Little One. I wish they'd hire more administrators soon so I could just handle your education."

More administrators?