The Baby Sprout Who Bloomed in the Villain Duke’s Family - Chapter 13

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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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Episode 13
I want to do whatever I can.
I’ve always been that way, and I want to stay that way.
Clover plunged both hands into the clear water. The fountain was bitterly cold, perhaps because the sun had set.
Yet it was so transparent that under the moonlight and Lucky’s glow, everything inside the fountain became perfectly visible.
Clover had climbed to the highest point of the two-tiered fountain.
A fall from here would hurt badly.
Thinking that made her heart race. To a four-year-old, this height was nearly equivalent to standing atop a five-story building.
But pounding louder than fear was something else entirely—the thrill that ‘I can do something with my own hands.’

The cat spoke with absolute finality.
“What about Father?”

Only you, Clover. Only you can do this.
Clover remembered how Father had searched so hard to find that treasure for her.
If she could find it and bring it to him, how happy would he be? With that thought, neither the height of the fountain nor the pitch-black night frightened her anymore.
And then.
Gleam.
Something glimmered in the fountain. It shone with a light as bright as Lucky himself. Among the flowing water, only that object stood out, sharp and clear.
As if calling to Clover.
Clover reached for it as if entranced.
Splash.
Her small hand plunged into the water again. The thing that had been glimmering was suddenly in her grasp. Slowly, carefully, Clover drew it out.
It was a ring.
The most beautiful ring in the world, set with a gleaming jewel.
The ring’s brilliant, lovely form reflected in Clover’s round eyes like a shadow cast by water.
“I found it…….”
Clover clutched the ring in her hand, muttering in wonder.
“The treasure of Claudian. The real thing.”
She didn’t need to be told. She knew without a doubt that this ring was the ‘treasure’ the Lion of the North Wind had spoken of.
It was the most beautiful and the most brilliant thing she had ever seen in her life.
She’d thought Lucky’s radiance was unmatched, but standing beside this ring, even Lucky’s golden glow seemed to pale and dim.
[So this is…….]
But before Lucky could finish speaking.
Rumble, crack!
Dark storm clouds gathered directly above Clover’s head as she sat atop the fountain.

Rain began to pour, and then a fierce wind swept in. Startled, Lucky and the cat bounded to Clover’s side.
“Lucky, what is this……?”
Bewildered, Clover gripped the ring tightly in both hands and looked up at Lucky.
Rumble, bang!
Lightning flashed from above, and in an instant a wind and rain of such violent intensity that it could knock a person flying and uproot trees came rushing down upon them.
It was the power of the storm itself.
The ring was supposed to nullify the storm, so why was its power overwhelming them? Before Clover, Lucky, and the Lion of the North Wind could finish the thought—
[Clover!]

Lucky and the Lion of the North Wind cried out at the same moment, their voices shrill with alarm.
But Clover was sitting on the fountain’s second tier.
And she was just a small child who couldn’t climb down on her own.
So where was she supposed to flee?
“L-Lucky!”
Rumble.
Crack!
***
In the middle of the garden, the Storm Authority exploded.
Frightened servants of Claudian woke and rushed out into the garden.
Kalid, Demian, and Arwin did the same.
Only four people could wield the Storm Authority: Kalid, Sone, Demian, and Arwin.
Among them, only Kalid and Sone could manifest its full power.
But why would the Storm Authority suddenly explode in the middle of the garden like this? And without warning, no less?
“Has Sone returned?”
“No, the Head of Household has not yet come back.”
“Then what on earth—!”
Kalid bolted toward the garden in alarm, and the servants of Claudian rushed after him in a tumble.
And what they saw was.
“What in the name of—”
The Fountain of Claudian, which the first Head of Household had built for the husband she loved.
The grand fountain, symbol of the estate and pride of the house, lay in ruins, ravaged by the Storm Authority.
And.
“…Clover?”
Clover stood beside it, caked in earth, staring blankly at Kalid.
“Oh, oh dear.”
“Miss…!”
The startled servants caught sight of Clover and crept cautiously forward.
Kalid approached her in a daze, his eyes fixed on the child.
Had Clover summoned the Storm Authority?
Impossible. Clover had no such power—and Kalid Claudian knew that better than anyone.
Then what was that power just now?
Kalid regarded his small daughter with confusion in his gaze. Clover, standing in his shadow, seemed even tinier. Moreover, she bore visible wounds across her body, as though she had truly been caught in the Storm Authority’s wake.
Clover, filthy with earth, looked up at Kalid and tears began to stream down her face.
“…!”
“A-Appa…”
Clover fought back her tears and crawled toward Kalid on all fours.
“Dad, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
“Clover.”
“I-I’m sorry I caused an a-accident, I didn’t m-mean to, I didn’t mean to…”
Rain continued to pour from the storm clouds still lingering overhead, soaking the small girl’s face.
Mud, rainwater, and tears mingled and streamed endlessly down Clover’s round cheeks.
“I just wanted to h-help. I only w-wanted to…”
But before she could crawl much further, Clover collapsed and burst into sobs where she fell.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry. Sniff—Dad…”
She had wanted to help Kalid.
He was doing everything he could to allow her to stay at Claudian.
She had wanted to help him find the Treasure and remain in this place. It was nothing more than that.
If she had known it would bring about such disaster, she would never have done it.
Destroying the fountain, waking everyone from their sleep.
…If she had known she would do something worthy of hatred.
Because of this one Ring, she might be hated by the father she had only just found. From that place, fear began to crawl like ants up her small body.
Clover could only weep helplessly.
“No, Clover. You did nothing wrong. Are you hurt? Come here, let me see.”
Kalid extended his hand carefully toward the frightened child. She trembled violently and continued to cry, as though she would shed tears as plentiful as the rain now pouring down.
“I’m sorry, please don’t send me back to Demian…please…”
“I won’t send you away. Come, let me look at your wounds.”
“D-Dad…”
Clover, sobbing as though she might lose her breath from fear, finally looked up and met Kalid’s eyes.
“That’s right. Come closer, Clover. Come to Dad.”
At Kalid’s desperate call, the Lion of the North Wind, who had been crouching behind Clover like a criminal all this time, lifted his head to regard his master.
And Lucky, Clover’s summoned companion, a Four-leaf Clover, hovered ceaselessly around the small girl’s hand, gleaming as though pointing at something.
But Kalid’s gaze did not waver from Clover for even a moment.
Right now, only his daughter’s safety mattered to him. Nothing else in the world held any importance.
And yet.
For Clover, there was something more important than her own safety. She rubbed away the scrape on her cheek and reached out her hand toward Kalid, her eyes still brimming with tears.
Kalid moved toward her at once, as though she had given him permission. Then he looked at what lay in her palm.
“…What is this?”
Clover was holding something in her small hand.
Looking closely, it was a Ring set with a blue sapphire, its edges studded densely with diamonds.
He could not have mistaken it. For four years, it was the Ring that Kalid had searched for desperately.
Before Kalid could even recover from his shock, Clover pressed the Ring into his hand with her small fingers and spoke.
“I found this, Daddy.”
“…Clover.”
“I—couldn’t you just… not send me away? Please, I—I’m begging you……”
Clover pressed the Ring into Kalid’s palm—the one that had lost its luster, no longer gleaming—and pleaded with him.

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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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