Chapter 70

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 70

Chapter Title: Veronica's Secret

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Billy trembled violently as he stared down at his own body. There were some burns, but otherwise, he was fine.

"How... how... without an activation phrase...!"

Mages and priests needed time to chant in order to unleash their power. The activation phrase was the signal that the chant was complete.

Everyone in the empire knew I possessed divine power. Even so, the reason Billy had charged at me recklessly was probably because there was no activation phrase—he must have thought I hadn't finished my chant.

He'd planned to strike me down before I was ready.

In fact, most mages and priests who died at the hands of knights did so because they hadn't had enough time to chant.

As Billy shuddered in place, I swung my arm through the air with a whoosh.

The garden tree branches stretched out toward him with another whoosh and began smacking his rear and cheeks.

"Gaaah!"

Startled, Billy flailed about and bolted out of the garden.

I crossed my arms and arched an eyebrow.

That's right—go spread the word throughout the capital that I possess power like this.

That way, the capital's powerhouses would take notice of me.

I was steadily preparing to face the empire's power players.

"Whoa."

The children, who had poked their heads out from behind the bushes, let out gasps of awe.

"Amazing..."

"She's so strong..."

I turned to look at them.

Sorry about that, kids.

If the adults had followed the pointless social custom of arriving fashionably late and instead come early to inspect the party venue themselves, they would have known Billy had come in Duke Duvered's young master's place.

Then the children wouldn't have had such an unpleasant experience because of him.

Above all, I felt terrible for the little girl he'd been tormenting.

I approached her.

"Are you okay?"

"......"

She stared at me blankly.

Only after I extended my hand did her face flush bright red, and she hesitantly took it.

"I-I'm fine..."

Her voice was tiny, and she seemed utterly flustered—she must have been really shaken.

I looked at her with a worried expression.

"Would you like to rest inside?"

"I-Inside? You mean the main residence where Little One lives every day?"

"Yes."

The girl's face lit up.

I asked Nos to handle tidying up the party atmosphere and led her to my room.

She clasped her hands at her chest and looked around my drawing room.

"Wow..."

I pushed the warm chamomile tea Lea had brought toward her.

"This should help you calm down a bit. Oh, right—I still haven't heard your name."

"Veronica! Veronica!"

She suddenly grabbed the table and shouted, startling me.

As I blinked at her, Veronica shyly sank back onto the sofa.

"Viscount Dubos is my..."

Viscount Dubos had two sons, neither married, so she was probably a relative.

"...niece."

As expected, I nodded.

"Ah, so Lady Veronica is Viscount Dubos's niece..."

"No, no."

She waved her hands frantically.

"Viscount Dubos is my nephew."

"...Pardon?"

"I'm the head of House Dubos."

Well, it was possible if Viscount Dubos's father had a very late child, but head of the house?

The head of House Dubos was indeed a woman. But her moniker was the Witch of the West, who had joined the previous generation in monster subjugation campaigns.

"I heard the head of House Dubos was an eighty-year-old woman..."

"Yes! She's eighty-seven this year."

Veronica blushed and mumbled.

"I was tempted to tear that brat limb from limb and spill his guts when he laid hands on this young body of mine. Thanks to Little One stopping me, I avoided murder."

"......"

"It's a relief I didn't have to kill a mere infant at my age."

I swallowed dryly as I watched her express her shy gratitude.

No wonder I didn't see her at the central table.

The lady of House Dubos Viscountcy should have been at the central table, of course.

She went, "Oh, right!" and pulled out a few sheets of paper.

"Drew brought these from the estate—extracted from the image crystal. Oh, Drew is Viscount Dubos's name, by the way. Anyway, they're so cute, I always keep them close."

More surprising was extracting scenes from an image crystal?

It was astonishing magic.

No, wait—why did the photo look like this?

It was a picture of me with my mouth wide open, stuffing cake inside.

"Everyone's so scared of me... I thought Little One might treat me kindly... And sure enough, you did just as I hoped. I'm so happy."

I swallowed dryly again as Veronica beamed and seized my hand.

After wrapping up the tea party, that evening.

As I lounged in the drawing room in my pajamas after a bath, Henri spoke up.

"Lady Veronica was at your party?"

I nodded while sipping water.

"Yeah."

Ishak, who had been slouched crookedly on the sofa, clicked his tongue.

"He kept pestering Viscount Dubos for an invitation, and he actually went."

"Did you brothers know Lady Veronica?"

Henri dried my hair with a towel as he replied.

"She created the opportunity for us to ally with the Magic Tower. She's a former Tower Master."

"But she looks so young."

"Apparently, a research failure in her youth left her stuck looking like that."

"The other elders must be jealous."

"Not really."

Ishak leaned deeply into the sofa backrest.

"People fear what's different from themselves. In Duvered, at least someone will talk to her and get a response, but elsewhere, they treat her like a monster and flee in terror just at the sight of her."

That explained why she was so thrilled that I treated her kindly.

Hm. As I hummed thoughtfully, Henri said, "By the way."

"Penac's second son caused a scene at the party."

"What?!"

Ishak shot to his feet.

"Why are you only mentioning it now?!"

"Leblain handled him completely, so sit back down and don't make a fuss."

Ishak grumbled, but Henri casually picked up a nail clipper with an unconcerned expression.

He was about to clip my nails when...

"It's my turn this time."

Daddy, who had been sitting in the drawing room with us, fixed Henri with dark, sunken eyes.

Henri, who had been slyly reaching for my nails, silently clicked his tongue.

They fought so much over clipping my nails that a few years ago, we'd set an order: Lea, Ishak, Henri, then Daddy.

"Two years ago, Father stole my turn."

Back then, Henri and Ishak were at the academy, eagerly anticipating their vacation nail-clipping sessions with me.

But Daddy had clipped them the moment they grew even a little, so by the time they returned to the estate, there was nothing left to clip.

Henri thought he'd lost his turn because he stayed in the capital, so he studied like mad and graduated that year.

"We don't look back on the past."

Daddy declared sternly, scooping me up and settling me beside him.

He took my hand and gently lifted the nail clipper.

Daddy always clipped my nails by the tiniest amount.

Lea was thrilled at how much there was to clip, but I never knew what to say watching Daddy tremble as he clipped them, terrified of hurting me.

"You stole my turn last time too."

As Ishak chimed in, the "Leblain Nail Clipper Wars" erupted once more.

Argh, not again...!

I looked around at them in panic. The attendants swallowed nervously, desperately hoping their master would win.

The servants of whoever lost the nail clipper wars suffered for days afterward.

The head attendants of each man gazed at me with teary eyes, so I sighed inwardly and pressed my hands firmly to my lap.

"If you keep fighting, no one gets to clip them."

At my words, all three shut their mouths in shocked silence.

"We weren't fighting!"

"Exactly, Leblain."

"It's my turn today."

I narrowed my eyes and asked, "You won't fight?"

All three nodded vigorously.

"Good. Then Daddy clips the right index, middle, and ring fingers. Big Brother does the left index, middle, and ring. Little Brother gets the rest."

As I pointed intently, "Here, here," they meekly lined up on the sofa in order.

And soon, they were trembling with focus as they clipped away.

At that moment, in the Penac estate.

Billy yelled at his father, grumbling all the while.

"That crazy girl really tried to kill me!"

"How many times are you going to repeat the same thing?"

"Are you just going to let this slide? I nearly died! That commoner orphan girl..."

Count Penac swallowed a sigh.

He wasn't unangered.

When his youngest son had fled home in terror, rage had boiled within him.

But what could he do against the child Duke Duvered cherished so dearly?

Ever since the Duke declared at the last council meeting, "My daughter is the cutest in the world," no one dared step on Leblain Duvered's shadow.

But letting it go entirely would damage our prestige.

He rolled a walnut in his palm, lost in thought.

Just then, the countess entered with tea and tea treats, smiling gently.

"What are you so worried about?"

"We picked a fight with a girl and lost—people will point fingers at us."

"To me, it seems rather cute."

"What?"

"The Child of Destiny stepped up to protect vassal families she'd never met before, right?"

As she chuckled, the count asked.

"You think there's another reason?"

"Children express interest in strange ways sometimes. And our son—isn't he exceptionally handsome?"

At that, Billy's eyes widened.

Come to think of it, that might be it.

Yelling at her that much over some unrelated girl—it was odd.

Was she jealous because she likes me and saw another girl with me?

Count Penac eyed his son skeptically.

"Well... her eyes did sparkle when she looked at me."

"Really?"

"She even got between me and that other girl."

"Well, well. So she is interested in you..."

The count rubbed his chin, his lips twisting into a smirk.

In that case, this isn't a loss of face—it's striking gold.

An adopted duke's daughter, no less.

The Child of Destiny to boot.

Not a bad match for a daughter-in-law.

If he could sweet-talk her into taking control of Duvered, they could ride their influence straight into the empire's top echelons.

"Go meet that girl again."

"What?! No way! Why would I see the girl who beat me up...!"

"Don't be an idiot. Marry her, and all of Duvered's prestige is yours."

"I don't want to marry some violent girl!"

"After marriage, just take concubines to your taste."

Billy hummed thoughtfully.

Well, if she likes me that much...

There was no reason not to meet her.