A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 233

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The adults who had been watching with indifferent expressions suddenly glanced at her. Sena, too, found herself unable to tear her gaze away from the Young Girl.
“What are you—!”
Father, who had been about to shout, faltered upon seeing the visitor’s appearance.
Luxurious clothing and shoes, a doll-like visage—at first glance, she was unmistakably extraordinary.
Recognizing her as nobility, Father muttered a quiet curse. Then, uncharacteristically, he spoke in a voice that seemed to swallow his anger down with great effort.
“Just ignore her and go.”
“I said let go of my hair!”
But the girl showed no intention of backing down, crying out once more at Father, who still gripped her by the hair.
“You—! Damn it!”
Father, who had been alternating his gaze between me and the Young Girl, finally released his grip roughly.
“Damn. What rotten luck.”
With a spiteful spit, Father glared harshly at the small shoe that had just struck his head, then turned and left.
The gathered crowd, realizing the situation had ended, quickly dispersed and vanished.
A soft rustling sound.
“…?”
Even after Father had gone, a neatly folded handkerchief was extended toward me, still sitting on the ground.
It was that person from moments before.
“You’re bleeding on your face.”
She brought the handkerchief to my cheek, where blood was trickling from a scrape, as though I’d been dragged along the street.
“Does it hurt?”
I shook my head slightly in response. A wound this minor couldn’t possibly hurt.
But at my reaction, the Young Girl’s face twisted in pain instead.
The child, who had been biting her lip repeatedly, finally opened her mouth again after a long moment.
“Don’t hold it in.”
“…”
“Otherwise, you’ll really become used to it.”
Like me.
The rest was spoken so softly it was barely audible, but that’s what it seemed she was saying.
“Camilla! What are you doing over there?”
Flinch!
At the voice calling from a distance, she trembled visibly enough for anyone to notice and quickly turned around.
A boy who appeared to be in his mid-teens was watching them with his brow deeply furrowed.
“R-Ravi Older Brother, it’s nothing.”
The Young Girl answered hastily and looked at me in silence for a moment.
As though she had more to say, her lips moved slightly, but ultimately she let out a faint sigh and, instead of speaking, gently patted my head.
“Camilla!”
“I-I’m coming!”
And so the Young Girl departed.
“…”
I gazed blankly at the handkerchief she had given me for a moment, then slowly raised my hand to touch my own hair.
A faint warmth emanated from the cold, hard ground beneath her feet.
“…Camilla.”
The child quietly repeated the name she had just heard.
* * *
“She’s a girl.”
Though it had been five years, the moment Sena laid eyes on Camilla, she recognized her immediately.
Her beauty remained unchanged from childhood. And those distinctive crimson eyes of hers—how could anyone fail to recognize them?
[Do not draw near to that woman!]
And a great voice suddenly pierced through her mind.
Unlike its usual seductive whisper, urgency dripped from every syllable.
The content had changed too. Rather than repeating the same promises of power as it always did…
[Do not stay with that woman. You will not gain power. The one who gained power before lost everything because of her!]
‘The one who gained power before?’
I couldn’t understand a word of it.
[I shall grant you the power to dominate the world. Find the sacred relic. Then all humanity will fall beneath your feet—]
‘A sacred relic?’
What on earth was that?
Sena exhaled a short breath. Ever since meeting Camilla, the voice had grown unbearably louder, and my head was beginning to throb.
[Power! I shall give you the power to take revenge on those who trampled you—]
“Sister!”
As the voice droned on with its tiresome repetition, Rio approached with a slightly excited expression, and I furrowed my brow.
“Sister! Can you talk?”
The child’s eyes sparkled brilliantly, likely from what he’d heard from Camilla.
“…Yes.”
“Wow!”
As I watched Rio’s mouth open wide, my gaze quietly drifted toward Camilla standing behind the child.
‘You… don’t remember me?’
The events at the Haunted House came flooding back.
Camilla had worn a slightly troubled expression at my question, then gently stroked my head with a warm hand.
‘Did we meet before?’
‘…Yes.’
‘I’m sorry. I couldn’t remember as much as you did.’
It was only natural that she wouldn’t remember such a brief encounter.
But it didn’t matter.
‘It was still warm.’
The warmth of her hand stroking my head hadn’t changed one bit.
“Sister Sena, your voice is so pretty!”
“…What?”
Pretty? Father always told me to be quiet because he hated hearing it.
“Sister, do you know the song ‘Knock Knock Knock’?”
“Beans, beans, beans?”
“Yes! Let’s sing it together later! Puppy loves that song too! We’ll all sing it!”
Puppy?
As Sena turned her head, the black wolf lying beside Camilla glanced toward Rio.
The wolf, who had maintained steadfast silence, ultimately could not ignore the child’s earnest gaze. Soon after, a silent sigh escaped from the wolf’s mouth.
“Beans, beans, beans—we plant the beans!”
Tap, tap, tap.
As Rio hummed the little song, the black wolf subtly lifted its front paw and tapped the ground.
Watching Rio and Luna together, a faint smile crossed Camilla’s lips.
“….”
Sena observed the scene quietly.
Witnessing a sight so utterly foreign to her—something warm and comforting—felt strangely awkward.
‘But….’
I don’t hate it.
* * *
“So? That little brat is staying at House Sephira permanently?”
“Yeah.”
Camilla nodded at Ravi’s question.
Sena had only opened her mouth once. When asked about where she lived, she remained stubbornly silent.
Arsian and Duke Sefra showed little concern about it either. True to their natures, they seemed indifferent—as if to say: if you don’t want to speak, then don’t.
“You don’t seem to be planning to send her to the Orphanage?”
“Neither of them seems to be considering the Orphanage at all.”
“…Why on earth?”
Camilla answered with a shrug. She hadn’t told Ravi, but she had her suspicions.
‘Rio is so fond of being with Sena.’
Though Rio called her sister, she seemed to regard her simply as a friend.
“What did that little one do wrong? Why are you punishing her like this?”
Ravi clicked his tongue repeatedly, as if bewildered.
Like everyone else, he too could not fathom the situation of Sena remaining at House Sephira.
Camilla, feeling wronged at being perceived as some malevolent force deceiving an innocent child, hastily offered an explanation.
“Sena said she was fine with it.”
Camilla had asked her just to be sure.
She had told her that if she was unhappy about being forced to stay at House Sephira, she would look into other places for her.
‘Can I stay here?’
But Sena had said she wanted to continue living at House Sephira just as she was now.
‘I’ll do anything.’
Unlike Rio, who had been brought for adoption, Sena had been given only a temporary place to stay, so it was already a matter of concern.
“And she gets along well with Rio.”
In the end, after consulting with the people of House Sephira, they decided to entrust Sena with caring for Rio.
Since there were already those who looked after Rio, there wasn’t much for Sena to do. They had simply assigned her as Rio’s playmate.
With Duke Sefra and Arsian frequently absent due to matters concerning the remnants of the Eba Cult, Rio found himself often left alone in the sprawling mansion.
It was hardly an unfavorable arrangement for either of them that Sena remained by Rio’s side during these lonely stretches.
“By the way, Older Brother.”
“What?”
“What have you been so intently working on since earlier?”
“Why ask the obvious?”
Well, Ravi’s appearance—holed up in the Research Laboratory and absorbed in magical research—was hardly unfamiliar, but…
‘Today, though, there’s something about his concentration that feels different.’
Normally, even when he grumbled, he would glance up whenever I approached, yet today he hadn’t even turned his head.
“What are you doing with the mana stone?”
“Something good.”
At least he answered promptly, even as he continued etching something onto the mana stone with meticulous care.
“What kind of something good?”
Only then did he finally tear his gaze from the mana stone and look toward Camilla.
Ravi exhaled a brief sigh before carefully setting the mana stone down on the workbench.
“Once this is complete, the number of people suffering from illness will drop dramatically.”
“What are you talking about?”
Fewer people suffering from illness? Older Brother isn’t even a Healer—what could he possibly do?
Ravi’s lips curved into a smile more confident than any Camilla had witnessed before as he regarded her bewilderment.

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