The Baby Sprout Who Bloomed in the Villain Duke’s Family - Chapter 125

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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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Chapter 125
‘Clover, Dad needs to go somewhere for a bit.’
‘Okay.’
‘Can you stay with the Duke while I’m gone?’
‘When will Dad be back?’
‘Very soon.’
‘Mm, okay, I’ll wait. But come back quick, Dad. Clover wants to go home.’
‘I will. I’ll be quick.’
With those words, Kalid boarded the ship at once—the very same vessel the children had been taken aboard not long before.
Watching Kalid climb onto that ship, both Clover and Pluto grew anxious, fidgeting with worry.
‘Dad’s being kidnapped?’
‘He got on the boat……!’
Seeing the children’s distress, Kalid climbed back down and patiently explained to them why he was boarding the ship.
He told them he was going of his own will, not being taken, and that he would defeat the bad people who had tried to take Clover and Pluto away before returning.
Only once the children understood fully did he set off across the sea. In the meantime, Ziteia wondered where she should look after them.
Ziteia sat the two children down and asked them a question.
“Would you like to go back to the Eibe Duke’s Mansion by ship?”
Though she was the children’s mother, she was decidedly less skilled at child-rearing than Kalid.
“We can wait there for Dad to come back?”
But Clover shook her head firmly.
“Duke, Clover wants to wait here for Dad.”
“But it’s cold here. Your father wouldn’t want you sitting in the cold.”
“But if we go to the mansion, it takes a long time to get home again.”
Clover burrowed her face deep into the wool blanket, leaving only her eyes visible as she spoke.
“Ah, I see…….”
Ziteia sighed.
“I want to go home quickly.”
“But?”
“But if we go to the mansion, that takes more time…….”
True enough—they’d been away from home for quite a while now, so it made sense she’d want to return.
In any case, her answer was clear: she didn’t want to go. Ziteia’s attempt to bring the children back to the Eibe Duke’s Mansion had failed.
“Find an inn nearby where we can rest with the children. Rent the whole place.”
“Yes, Duke.”
Instead, she moved quickly to search for an inn. Ziteia found the one Kalid had originally been planning to visit and gathered the children to take them there.
“So we’ll rest nearby until Dad arrives. That sounds good, doesn’t it?”
“Mm, yes.”
“I’ll let you know the moment he comes.”
It was just as Ziteia was about to lift Pluto and Clover into the carriage.
“Hm?”
Something crouched beside the carriage caught Clover’s eye.
What is that?
It was small, fluffy, and damp—soaked with moisture. When Clover squirmed, Ziteia set her down.
“Clover, what’s wrong?”
“Duke, just a moment.”
Clover hurried over and stared at the small bundle of fur crouching beside the carriage.
Then Lucky pressed against Clover’s cheek with a soft pat.
[Clover, that’s a Magical Beast.]
“A Magical Beast?”
[Yes, a Fullmoon Wolf!]
But for a Magical Beast, it was far too small.
It seemed to be only about the size of Clover herself.
“Is it dangerous?”
[I’m not sure—the demonic energy seems weak though…….]
At that moment, Ziteia quickly scooped Clover back up into her arms.
“Clover, it’s dangerous. This creature is a young Magical Beast.”
“Duke, why would a Magical Beast be here?”
“Ah, well…….”
Ziteia broke into a cold sweat, her expression troubled.
She had also heard about the kidnapping incident.
A pack of Fullmoon Wolves had attacked Kalid, and in the chaos, the abductors had taken the children.
Given Kalid’s nature, he would never have left those Fullmoon Wolves alive—they would all be dead.
And the surviving offspring had tracked human scent here to attack, it seemed.
But explaining that plainly to a child was impossible. That’s when Ziteia found herself in a bind.
“Yelp!”
The awakened Fullmoon Wolf cub charged at Clover to attack. Ziteia dodged nimbly enough to avoid being struck, but the creature kept snarling and glaring at them.
A magical beast, even a young one, was not without aggression.
A magical beast tainted by demonic energy would attack humans until its dying breath. So putting this cub down would be the right thing to do.
But not in front of the children.
Ziteia was about to send the children away and take action when—
“Wait, hold on.”
Clover wriggled free and jumped down to the ground with a soft thud.
“Clover?”
Clover looked up at Ziteia with those large, round eyes, then at the beast.
Within Clover’s coal-black pupils, a rippling darkness flickered and swirled.
It was a feeling Clover had grown quite familiar with now—the tremor of emotion before a Seed takes shape.
Of course, Clover now saw it as raw material for a Seed.
The child approached the beast step by careful step.
The red-eyed cub drooled and snapped as if it might lose all reason and lunge at Clover any moment, its stance a clear threat—it would tear the child to shreds if given half a chance.
Watching this, Lucky—who had been circling anxiously around Clover—perched gently on the child’s hand and spoke.
[Little one, do you really have to do this?]
“Mm-hmm…”
[Then be careful. Magical beasts can turn violent without warning.]
“Mm.”
Clover, gazing steadily at the beast, recalled what had happened at the beach.
When the scales were pulled out, the enormous magical beast had returned to its original form.
So if Clover extracted the Seed’s material from this young creature—
‘Will you come back, beast?’
Would it return to itself?
To what it once was?
…That would be nice.
Clover knew that once she climbed into the carriage, Ziteia would kill this cub.
She’d already guessed roughly why—a living magical beast would pose a threat to people in the area for years to come.
So she couldn’t stop her. Stopping her would be putting others in danger.
But if the beast became kind, like the fish she’d seen at the beach—
If it could become that way, wouldn’t there be no need to kill it?
There was even smoke rising nearby.
Clover carefully extended her hand toward the new Seed material—no, toward the wolf cub.
“I’ll be takin’ the liberty, ‘scuse me.”
And then she used her Authority.
[That’s “I beg your pardon,” is what you’re saying.]
Lucky added the correction.
***
The ship carrying Kalid docked at the island. Kalid leaped down from the deck in one bound.
The Claudian knights followed, dragging kidnapper after kidnapper off the vessel. Each had their mouth gagged to keep them silent.
“You said there’s a temple in the center of the island.”
“Commander, what should we do with them?”
“Bind them and bring them along. We may find a use for them.”
Kalid pulled on his Black Leather Gloves, muttering to himself. He’d never expected these gloves—which he carried to avoid soiling his hands—would prove useful in a place like this.
With Kalid at the lead, the Claudian knights pressed deep into the interior of the island.
Before long, a temple appeared, dominated by a marble statue carved in the shape of the World Tree.
The white marble temple gleamed cold and sharp beneath the moonlight. Kalid frowned as he regarded the marble structure.
They said it was a new religious sect—but did they have enough wealth to build a temple out of marble?
Marble wasn’t cheap. With this much marble going into construction, the expense would have been truly staggering.
Did the cult have that kind of money?
There was something else odd, too.
If an operation of this scale had been entrusted to someone, it would be normal for at least someone to come to greet them where the ship docked.
But no one had come. That meant one of two things.
Either they’d spotted Kalid from the beach, sensed his Authority, and fled—or they’d simply been holed up inside the temple the whole time, waiting.
In that moment, a figure appeared in the darkness: a priest of the Trina Cult, fleeing.
“Bingo.”
The lion of the north wind shot forward like lightning, tearing into the fleeing man. In an instant, terrified people scattered in all directions, running for their lives.
Kalid summoned a storm and issued commands to the knight commander.
“Leave one ship—the one we arrived on. Set fire to all the rest. Burn every tree in the forest if you must, so they can’t escape on rafts. Post three knights to guard our vessel.”
“As you command.”
The Claudian knights dispersed across the island in moments. Kalid hunted down every Trina Cult priest he could find and crushed them beneath his heel.
His eyes glinted with murderous ferocity.
Eyes that burned with a fierce golden light, sharp as descending lightning.
“Ah—ahhhhh!”
“The Temple’s been discovered! Everyone flee!”
“Kalid Claudian is here! Curse it all!”
Those who glimpsed that gaze fled like they’d seen a specter, but no human legs could outrun the wind.
The storm of Kalid Claudian, the northern butcher, swept across the entire island.

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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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