A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 125

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 125: What the Child Seeks
“Governess Sevine will face punishment shortly. To lay hands on Daive—such insolence is utterly unforgivable.”
Count Alton’s eyes, ordinarily warm and brimming with laughter, now gleamed with an icy chill for the first time.
“Moreover, the sum she’s been embezzling all this while is staggering. Misappropriation alone will earn her a severe sentence.”
She had been siphoning off nearly all the monthly allowance designated for Daive, squandering it as she pleased.
With that money, she had bribed other servants to meticulously conceal every transgression she had committed.
“All the servants under Daive will face punishment as well.”
“Well done. Your efforts are appreciated.”
Duke Escra gave a light nod upon hearing Count Alton’s report. Yet his expression seemed decidedly uncomfortable.
“Must you stare at me like that?”
And with good reason—someone had been boring holes into him with an unwavering, silent glare since moments ago.
“Do you understand whose fault this is?”
Camilla fixed Duke Escra with a gaze that mingled contempt and exasperation, her stare positively lethal.
“What did I do? I’ve done nothing.”
“That’s precisely the problem!”
That woman, Sevine, had been able to run rampant here without consequence largely because Duke Escra bore the greatest responsibility.
He had entrusted everything concerning Daive to her and paid no attention whatsoever.
The child, placed in separate quarters for the sake of studies, had grown increasingly isolated, and that place had become her perfect kingdom.
Indeed, one must never judge by appearances alone. To think she committed such cruelties behind that virtuous face!
“What about those bruises on the child’s arms? How can you claim it’s not your responsibility after seeing them?”
“You’re speaking informally to me—”
“That’s not important right now!”
“…No, it isn’t.”
Duke Escra cast a pleading glance toward Count Alton, but the latter merely smiled awkwardly and looked away.
“At the very least….”
Camilla paused briefly, then released a short sigh.
She was acutely aware that she was far more agitated than usual. But she could not help it.
She understood too well.
She knew better than anyone what it felt like for a child to realize they were unloved by their parents.
The sensation of every door connecting to the world being sealed shut.
“I only wish you could be a true father to Daive.”
With those words, Camilla rose from her seat.
Tap.
As she departed, silence settled over the study.
“Your sister certainly does care for you, doesn’t she?”
It was Count Alton who broke the quiet.
“Who does she take after, storming off like that?”
Duke Escra gazed at the space where Camilla had vanished, his brow furrowed in consternation.
Recalling how she had pointed at him and shouted mere moments before, he shook his head slowly.
“She’s the spitting image of Kaise.”
“What?”
“You saw her slap her, didn’t you? None of the people around us even dared to step in. Her presence was just so….”
Duke Escra and Count Alton had also witnessed it—Camilla striking Sevine’s cheek without mercy.
The two men, who happened to be passing near the Library, spotted Camilla rushing off somewhere and, curious about what was happening, quickly pursued her.
They heard everything Sevine was saying and saw her raising her hand to strike.
They had been about to intervene immediately, but Camilla had been faster than them. After that, she didn’t give them a single opening to step in.
‘A person very close to that child.’
‘What?’
‘Think about it carefully. Who could I be?’
With those words, as she left taking Daive with her, the two men could only stand there in stunned silence.
“It seems Lord Daive is being acknowledged as a younger sibling, doesn’t it?”
Count Alton’s expression grew warm with what appeared to be genuine emotion at her actions.
However, when he glanced at Duke Escra, he clicked his tongue in disapproval.
“Yet someone still remains on that side…it seems.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? I said it doesn’t matter.”
“Then should I also call you that from now on-”
“Have I been too lenient with you lately?”
“Haha.”
“….”
“…I shall return to work.”
Avoiding Duke Escra’s increasingly frigid gaze, Count Alton hurried back to his post.
* * *
[I’m so sorry. Sob….]
I found Sharua, the ghost who had remained hidden all day, in the very Garden where I had first spoken with her.
[I really… I really think I’m foolish.]
Upon discovering her sitting on a bench and crying, I said nothing.
What more could I say to someone already tormenting herself enough?
[I truly believed it was for the child’s sake. Sevine, she always said it that way.]
‘That couldn’t be further from the truth.’
From my perspective, Sharua was feeling it too.
That Sevine’s behavior was abnormal. That her tyranny had long since crossed the line.
When she first spoke of Sevine, her expression had been filled with anxiety.
Though she called her a friend, her most trusted person, her eyes kept wavering and her voice trembled ever so slightly.
‘That woman who screamed at her child that you killed her mother.’
Sharua wasn’t foolish enough to believe such a woman’s words were right.
She had simply been brainwashing herself.
Unable to do anything herself, she desperately wanted to believe in Sevine, in her words.
Because the moment she acknowledged that Sevine was abusing the child, it would become unbearable.
[Is Daive… all right?]
She looked up at me with glistening eyes, her shoulders still trembling with sobs.
I couldn’t bring myself to visit Daive all day because my heart ached with guilt, so I had no idea what state the child was in now. I was worried, but there was simply no way I could go.
“He’s been sleeping all day long.”
Since the child didn’t want to return to the Separate Residence where he normally stayed, I brought him to my own room instead.
He seemed to have been through so much. Throughout the entire day, he alternated between eating and sleeping, and each time he woke, he checked to see if I was beside him.
‘Could you be… my older sister?’
‘Why would you think that?’
‘Because of how Father and Count Alton acted, and what you said to the nanny… and… your eyes.’
Such a clever child.
Instead of answering, I simply smiled warmly at him. But that smile alone seemed to be answer enough for the child.
‘Sister.’
‘Yes.’
‘Hehe, sister!’
‘That’s right.’
Though it would have been easy to find it tiresome, I repeated the same answer over and over each time he called out to me.
I simply couldn’t turn away from a child trying so desperately to reopen the door to his heart that had been closed by the nanny.
And because it was endearing.
Each time he shyly smiled while calling me sister, I found myself responding again and again, captivated by how precious he looked.
Finally, when night fell and I confirmed the child had fallen into a deep sleep, I stepped outside.
[D-Daive!]
At that moment, Sharua suddenly rose to her feet. When I turned my head, Daive was walking toward where we stood.
‘His eyes lack focus.’
The child’s gaze was hazy. That symptom had returned again.
“I thought he’d be fine now that Sevine is gone…”
The child wandered restlessly throughout the Garden, looking this way and that.
But watching him, I suddenly recalled something he had said to me here before.
‘Mother loved watching the stars from here.’
‘Perhaps…’
Could it be that this is why the child keeps seeking out this place?
I turned my head to look at Sharua, who couldn’t hide her sorrowful expression.
“Sigh.”
I should prepare some medicine for chills in advance.
“Sharua.”
After letting out a short sigh, I called to her. As she turned her head toward me, I gestured lightly—a signal for her to come closer.
“Come inside.”
[Pardon?]
“Come inside. Into my body.”
[…!]
Watching her eyes grow wider and wider, I let out another short sigh. At this rate, I’m going to become a possession specialist.
“Come inside. It seems the child is looking for you, after all.”
* * *
Where am I?
Everything before my eyes blurs as if shrouded in mist. I walk and walk, yet no one surrounds me.
Have I been left alone again?
Cold, dark, and terrifying.
Why am I always alone? I hate this…
It hurts. My wrists hurt so much.
Is there no one here? Is there truly no one at all?
“Daive.”
Who?
Someone gently grasped my hand. Warmth transmitted through their cold, lifeless touch.
“My child.”
That warmth soon spread throughout my entire being. Only when I was held tightly in someone’s embrace did I understand.
“…I found you.”
What I had been searching for all this time.
“Daive.”
Sharua—no longer Camilla—felt her heart swell as she called the child’s name aloud for the first time.
“My child.”
The moment she held the child in her arms, her chest tightened again.
She had never held him like this before. She had never even stroked his head.
The child’s movements, which had been squirming in her embrace, gradually stilled.
Softly.
But soon after, the child slowly raised his arms and embraced her in return.
“…I found you.”
At those words, tears finally streamed down Sharua’s face.
* * *
“Daive.”
“Yes?”
“You don’t have to eat if you don’t want to.”
Watching the child silently choke down carrots yet again, Camilla finally spoke.
‘What on earth was that woman thinking?’
Now that I think about it, she must have made a special request to the kitchen staff… did she tell them the child liked carrots? Today too, his plate was overflowing with them.
I could see just how many ways there were to torment a child.
Did she feel some thrill watching the child obey without refusing her will?
Recalling Sevine’s pleased smile as she watched the child eat last time, Camilla cursed inwardly.
Damn her. I should have grabbed her by the hair and shaken her senseless!
“B-but you must learn to eat things you dislike…”
“Who said that? That woman?”
“…Yes.”
“It’s not entirely wrong, but you don’t have to force yourself like that.”
“Really?”
“Give them to the Duke.”
“Pardon?”
“Your father absolutely adores carrots, so take all of them.”
When the vegetables suddenly scattered toward him, Duke Escra fixed Camilla with a bewildered stare.
When did I ever say I liked carrots?
So what? You won’t eat them?
As Camilla’s gaze bore down on him with unmistakable intent, Duke Escra finally exhaled a short sigh and slid his plate toward the child.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————