Chapter 34

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 34

Chapter Title: Cattleya Willston

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Same time, Tower of Wisdom.

The residence of the Elder Council was swarming with nobles, unlike the usual calm.

"Reset, you say! How could Your Grace make such a decision...! In these times, where is the Chairman who should be offering counsel!"

"He said he'll seclude himself for a while due to the aftermath of the Duke Teramore incident."

"One little rat causing all this trouble for everyone."

"You say that, but it's because that person's death anniversary is approaching."

An agitated noble shouted.

"If the Chairman won't step forward, then we must put a stop to this!"

"But Your Grace's will is unyielding."

"If we let this go, the Child of Destiny will end up acting as proxy for the castle!"

"A commoner-born adoptee managing the castle and overseeing all the rites in the name of Duvered? Does that even make sense?"

Even the high nobles with their own territories sighed, and the vassals in the council vented their frustration.

"If Your Grace had remarried, this nightmare wouldn't have happened. How about we petition him now?"

"Finding a family of matching rank, and for things to align properly, it'd take at least a year or two at minimum."

"Tch, the Duchess should have borne at least one more daughter before she passed. Then we wouldn't be tossed around by some unqualified girl."

The elder sitting in the chairman's seat stroked his chin.

"Then why not just have another daughter who's qualified?"

"Pardon?"

The elder turned to Baron Willston.

"How old is the Lord's daughter?"

Baron Willston, who had been blankly watching the meeting, replied with a "Pardon?"

***

One week since my middle name became 'Reset.' My daily life had turned into a wreck.

"Little One, the servants of our west wing have served the Duvered bloodline for generations. We'll surely be of help if we're by your side."

"Lea and us can serve Little One well too!"

The servants bickered incessantly every day, leaving me no peace of mind.

I fled to the garden to escape the west wing servants.

'So damn annoying.'

They chased me so much I hadn't even had a chance to sneak off to the greenhouse for a peek at the treasures.

I crouched behind a large tree, holding my breath, and only collapsed in relief once the maids' footsteps faded away.

"Gotta play here till dinner time."

I looked around at the flowers blooming in the garden.

The winter winds hadn't retreated yet, but the flowers were in full bloom.

That was thanks to the mana stone floating in the air overhead.

Just as holy tools could be made with blue spinel, magic tools could be crafted from mana stones due to their high mana conductivity.

The clearer the color, the more powerful the force it could hold, and the garden's mana stone was a vivid purple—plus, it was enormous.

'When I flee, I should snag one of those. Bet it'd sell for a fortune.'

With that thought, I picked some flowers from the garden.

'Gonna make a bouquet for my Lea.'

Lea preferred wildflowers that grew naturally over ones cultivated by human hands.

So I searched for tiny wildflowers the gardeners hadn't spotted yet.

As I walked along, scrutinizing the ground like always, I ended up bumping into someone because I was too focused on the flowers.

'Ow!'

"Kyaa!"

The person I bumped into screamed and plopped down.

'A kid?'

She looked to be about twelve or thirteen.

She wore a wide-brimmed bonnet and a dress with a full skirt—clearly expensive at a glance.

She couldn't have been one of the castle squires running errands.

'Ah, better help her up first.'

I reached out my hand, but she slapped it away, scowled, then stood up on her own and glared at me.

"What are you doing?"

"Huh?"

"You should apologize."

I nodded obediently and said,

"Sorry. Then let's both say sorry."

"What?"

"We both couldn't see, so it's the same."

Just then, as she scowled in disbelief—

"Kid!"

Ishak's voice rang out.

"Where around here are you..."

The girl muttered as she rummaged through a rosebush with her hand. Spotting me through a gap, her eyes lit up.

Ishak grabbed the garden balustrade and vaulted over the bushes with a whoosh.

"There you are."

I eyed the crystal orb in the girl's hand and frowned.

"Ishak, tracking me again?"

After the Jacob incident, I'd been given a tracking magic tool.

This ridiculously expensive device didn't just pinpoint current location—it tracked movement paths and allowed emergency calls too.

"Aw, you're mad?"

"You track me all the time. Annoying."

Henri and Ishak used it to hunt me down constantly.

Henri at least kept it to a frequency I could tolerate, but Ishak never changed.

She grinned and thrust her face close.

I used to jolt every time that handsome face got too near, but now it was just burdensome.

"If you knew what snack I prepared today, you wouldn't be mad."

"...What?"

"French toast."

"Why tell me now!"

I welcomed her with open arms right away.

French toast—soaked bread in well-beaten eggs, fried, slathered with honey and butter—was my absolute favorite snack.

But the chefs burned with misplaced passion, saying, "We can't serve commoner food to Little One," so I rarely got it.

"Oh my, it's Little One."

A childish voice came from the side.

"I didn't recognize you and failed to greet you properly."

Ishak's face twisted in a scowl.

"What are you doing here?"

"It's been a while."

The girl I'd bumped into gave a shy smile and bowed her head. Then she looked at me.

"I'm Cattleya Willston. Eighth cousins with the young masters."

"Eighth cousins?"

"Yes. Sorry if I startled you earlier. Your simple attire threw me off—I didn't recognize you."

My outfit was pretty plain, yeah.

After scratching my finger on dress decorations last time, the Duke had gone wide-eyed furious.

Ishak had shredded the clothes, yelling that they'd hurt me, and Henri had sweetly smiled at my clothing servant: "If you consider the family prestige for my clothes from now on, I'll skin you and make an outfit out of it."

After that, I only wore comfy clothes.

Of course, the fabric was the finest available, but with zero decorations, it looked plain.

Plus, I'd been squatting in the dirt, so I was covered in dust and looked shabby.

The girl took both my hands in hers and said,

"Please forgive me."

Her eyes curved softly as she continued.

"We'll be living together in the castle from now on. I don't want things to be awkward between us."

Living together in the castle?

Ishak and I exchanged wide-eyed glances.

***

I went with Ishak to the room where Henri was and learned about Cattleya.

She was twelve, but remarkably mature for her age.

She rattled off complex words effortlessly and was incredibly smart—good enough to enter the genius academy right after Henri and Ishak.

Plus, she had divine power, which was extremely rare in the Duvered line. It was quite strong too, so she was receiving training at the temple.

Ishak skewered a strawberry with his fork and passed it to me, his expression sullen.

"Why drag out bloodline education again, something they never bothered with before."

I glanced at Henri.

Bloodline education was the system where the family head gathered and managed all Duvered blood relatives to control the house.

It was the institution that forced the Duke to hand over his three sons to his predecessor.

In other words, the trigger for Henri's trauma, so I was cautious.

But Henri replied nonchalantly.

"It was a voluntary request from the Willstons."

"They're crazy? Side branches always trembled in fear that the family head would steal their kids."

"Who knows. But it's to our benefit. Just educating the Willston lady for a few weeks lets us rein in the other side branches."

"Why?"

"They're scared he might go full-on with bloodline education like the predecessor did."

"So the Willstons are deliberately earning resentment from the other houses? Why?"

At Ishak's question, Henri glanced at me and changed the subject with a suddenly sweet tone.

"We should head to the banquet hall soon, but is your tummy already full?"

Snack belly and dinner belly were separate things.

I replied with a solemn face, "It's fine."

The young masters chuckled.

"Then let's go."

I took the young masters' hands and headed to the banquet hall.

A Duvered banquet wasn't your average meal. It was practically an exchange among the top brass.

As we entered, the nobles I'd seen at the grand conference were seated.

When the family head's children appeared, they all rose, placed hands over their hearts, and bowed their heads.

"Greetings to the house's treasures."

"Greetings to the house's treasures."

A bit tense at the powerhouses' courteous greetings, I followed the young masters casually to our seats.

As we sat on the left of the head table, Cattleya across from us beamed.

'She's here too.'

At that moment, the Duke arrived.

Another round of polite greetings followed.

The Duke took his seat, and the meal began.

While the adults dove into their weighty talk, I focused on eating.

'Beef... so good.'

What did the Duvereds do to their meat? It melted in my mouth the instant it hit my tongue.

I'd never tasted anything like it, even back before my regression when the Empress Dowager fussed over me, biting and cooing.

That was when—

"Ah...!"

Everyone chatting turned their attention to Cattleya at her voice.

"My apologies. I was startled..."

Baroness Willston, her mother, asked, "What happened?" But Cattleya stood without replying.

She came over to me and wiped my face with a napkin.

"There, all good."

Caught off guard by the sudden vigorous wiping, my face puffed up like a steamed bun as I blinked up at her.

'I wasn't messy at all?'

I'd been careful since it was a banquet.

But the adults, absorbed in talk, hadn't noticed, and Cattleya smiled as if I'd done something praiseworthy.

"I was watching Little One eat so cutely, but I just couldn't stand it anymore..."

Cattleya giggled and returned to her seat.

Then she glanced at the Duke and shyly placed some meat on his plate.

"It's delicious, Your Grace."

The vassals chuckled heartily once more, praising her kindness.