It's Overwhelmingly Convenient That the Female Lead Has Darkened - Chapter 52

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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 darkened heroine was overwhelmingly easier to handle.
#52
As Daisy stepped out of the Dormitory’s main hall with a light tread, someone called after her in a distinctly slurred accent.
It was a young attendant—short and squat, wrapped in a grey cloak.
Having just come rushing over, the plump-cheeked attendant, whose baby fat hadn’t yet melted away, flushed pink with exertion and spoke again.
“Miss Sablehart, is that right?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
It sounded like they’d said “Miss Sablehart” with some mumbling, so Daisy nodded along.
She still couldn’t quite tear her eyes away from the attendant.
Every time she encountered a situation like this, Daisy found herself doubting whether this really was the world from inside the book.
No attendant like this had ever appeared in the original work.
When Daisy received letters, the novel only said, in passing, that “a letter had been received.”
Never once had it bothered to explain who delivered it or how.
Could details never described in the book truly manifest themselves so vividly?
As Daisy pondered this, the young attendant thrust something toward her.
It was a letter, stamped with a red seal marked “URGENT” in the center.
“It’s an urgent commission for Miss Sablehart from the capital.”
“A commission?”
Had Daisy received anything like an urgent commission at this point in time?
As Daisy took the letter with a bewildered expression, the attendant bowed quickly and turned to leave.
Or rather, took flight.
Daisy stared blankly at the small, plump grey wings attached to the back of the young attendant, who launched himself with a whoosh and fluttered down the corridor.
The grey wings, tinged with a faint bluish light, stirred a vague sense of familiarity.
It looked just like……
“A pigeon.”
She thought the words had slipped out without her meaning to speak them, but they’d come from someone else’s mouth.
When she turned her head, Monica Raoli was regarding the attendant’s retreating form with an impassive expression.
“It’s a pigeon.”
“Is it… some kind of beastfolk?”
“No, it’s just a pigeon.”
“……”
“Apparently it spent a hundred days in a cave without seeing light, eating mugwort and garlic.”
A woman transformed into a bear?
“I’m joking.”
“If you’re going to joke, could you at least smile while doing it?”
“It learned Transformation Magic from a dragon.”
“So seriously, smile when you tell jokes.”
“This isn’t a joke.”
“……”
“Long ago, a dragon who owed a great debt to a pigeon taught it the art of Transformation Magic and how to speak like a human.”
“Dragons… exist in this world?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Never mind. Forget it.”
Monica, who’d been regarding Daisy strangely, pointed at the letter and asked.
“What’s that, anyway?”
“No idea.”
She couldn’t begin to guess who’d sent it.
She was certain she hadn’t received an urgent commission at this point in the story.
Avoiding the curious gaze of Monica, Daisy broke the wax seal and unfolded the letter.
The contents were brief.
“What is it? Who sent it?”
But it was more than enough to drag Daisy’s soaring spirits crashing down into the mud.
“Damn it.”
‘When Spring Break begins, return to Edelgard Hall without delay.’
What would come, had come.
* * *
This world clearly refused to let Daisy Sablehart have a moment of happiness.
The sender of the letter was unmistakable.
Upon discovering the emblem in the red wax seal—a lily crossed with a sword—that she’d torn away without thinking, Daisy pressed her fingers to her throbbing temple.
It was a mark that no intermediary had touched: Count Sablehart had sent it himself.
Daisy stared at the letter again, her face gone pale.
Spring Break.
A short week of freedom between the end of foundational courses and course registration.
In the original story, Daisy always spent Spring Break at the Academy.
The reason was simple.
The Count had never once summoned her home.
He was the sort of man who would sooner process another document than look upon Daisy’s face.
Though one might have felt slighted, the original Daisy—who longed for family—welcomed even this.
The Sablehart Mansion was so distant that even a carriage driven through the night required a full two days to reach it.
Of course, a teleportation portal would be much faster.
But such convenience was not afforded to Daisy.
Two days going, two days returning.
Four days trapped in the Mansion tip-toeing about, plus four days locked in a carriage—even by her standards, it was madness.
And this letter was now ordering her to do exactly that.
For a reason she didn’t even like.
‘All of this will be reported to Count Sablehart.’
He must have sent this letter the moment he received that report.
To reprimand Daisy, who had brought shame upon the family name in her very first semester at the Academy.
Not that mere reprimand seemed likely.
Whenever Daisy misbehaved, Count Sablehart had always administered punishment through his butler.
For an offense grave enough to warrant a letter written in his own hand, the penalty might well exceed a skipped dinner or withheld allowance.
‘But I can’t exactly refuse, can I?’
Daisy raked her fingers through her hair roughly.
To earn a decent living after leaving the Empire, she had to graduate from the Academy.
And to graduate from this unconscionably expensive Academy, she needed the Count’s financial support, whether she liked it or not.
And to keep receiving that support……
‘I have to at least pretend to obey him.’
“Fine. I’m going. I’m going.”
Daisy crumpled the letter in her hand, muttering to herself.
At least she could take comfort in one thing: even if she went home now, her life wouldn’t be in danger.
That wouldn’t happen until after graduation.
But the problem was, to get to the Mansion, she’d have to……
“Miss Sablehart, tell me of plants useful when one is lost in the Misty Marshland.”
At the sudden sound of her name, Daisy’s head snapped up, and she answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“Twilight Herb, Starkrank, and Tapo.”
You really did study herbology hard, Daisy.
How does the answer come out so readily?
As Daisy marveled at her own knowledge, the Herbology Professor, delighted by her answer, leaned forward with bright, round eyes.
“Can you explain that as well?”
“Twilight Herb emits light in darkness and can serve as a lantern. Starkrank has tough stems that can be used as rope. And Tapo, when placed in the nose, blocks the foul odor of the marshland.”
“Splendid! Absolutely splendid!”
The Herbology Professor clapped enthusiastically, then posed another question.
“Then why didn’t you mention Luminous Grass, which emits an even brighter light?”
“If one had visited the Alpine Region at 2,000 meters elevation before entering the marshland, it might be viable.”
“Exactly! Luminous Grass grows in the Alpine Region. That was a truly excellent answer, Miss Sablehart. I’ll award ten points to the Bear’s Labyrinth. And soon, come by my study for a cup of red bean tea—no, actually, you said that was too early. But too late isn’t good either. I won’t have someone else snatching you away like last time. Won’t have it, won’t have… But I will. Once Spring Break ends and the schedule comes out, then… yes, that would be best……”
The Herbology Professor’s murmuring trailed off in its usual rambling fashion.
Daisy, lightly dismissing his incomprehensible muttering, reaffirmed her resolve.
She would somehow stay at the Academy and continue studying herbology—for the professor’s sake if nothing else.
To do that……
* * *
“Monica Raoli. I need money.”
Monica responded to Daisy’s words with admiration.
“So you’ve finally abandoned all pretense of nobility as a Count’s daughter.”
“I never had any to begin with.”
“That’s something to be proud of.”
Daisy thrust her thumb upward.
“That was sarcasm.”
Daisy lowered her thumb again.
“But why do you suddenly need money?”
“Since I’m going home anyway, I might as well travel in comfort.”
“Just take a Warp, then.”
“No, I’m not taking a Warp.”
Setting aside the fact that I couldn’t even if I wanted to, arriving early just means having to endure all those insufferable faces longer than necessary.
“How much would it cost to rent a Carriage with decent comfort for four days?”
“A Carriage with decent comfort, you say……”
“Something nicer than a cargo wagon.”
“A cargo wagon?!”
Monica blinked at the surprisingly modest standard, then considered for a moment before speaking.
“Well, renting an entire Carriage would probably run about 3 Gold per day, wouldn’t it?”
Daisy spoke with grim determination.
“Monica Raoli, I need a job worth 12 Gold.”
……
Faced with the Count’s daughter’s resolve to earn money through honest labor, Monica fell silent for a moment.
Then she reached into her pocket and withdrew the small notebook she always carried, speaking as she did.
“Hmm, 12 Gold, then……”
Flip, flip.
Monica flipped through the densely written pages without hesitation until she stopped at one entry.
“As it happens, I have just the Commission for you.”

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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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