The Baby Sprout Who Bloomed in the Villain Duke’s Family - Chapter 15

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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 15
Long ago, when the first patriarch of Claudian crafted a ring for her beloved husband,
she sought out the costliest and most luminous sapphire to form the ring’s body, then set the finest diamonds around it like a protective wall.
And into it, she breathed a fragment of Claudian’s Power.
The gentlest wisp of wind from the mightiest tempest, the smallest drop of rain, the most fleeting flicker of lightning.
Thus Claudian’s Power could not harm the one who wore that ring.
Because it was composed of the smallest, most delicate elements of the storm itself.
A ring woven from love, gathering all that was fragile and vulnerable.
That Power of Claudian, crossing centuries and ages, converged anew in Clover’s palm.
The Summoned Beast of Claudian’s direct bloodline, which had slumbered in Claudian’s Fountain transformed into water and rain,
its most precious and vulnerable strength pooled round and gleaming in Clover’s small hand.
Flash.
And from within it, a blue light erupted like lightning.
Clover stood cradled in Kalid’s arms, gazing down at her own palm in dazed wonder.
She could not fathom what was happening in her hand.
Yet the warmth spreading through her spoke clearly: this is not a power to harm you.
We do not mean to hurt you—we mean to cherish and protect you.
“Clover, I’ve never… never seen anything like…”
Clover murmured, bewildered.
But no one could answer her. They had all witnessed this for the first time, just as she had.
Yet what the Power meant to do now needed no words, no instruction from any teacher to understand.
The water and wind gathered in Clover’s palm began to spiral slowly leftward, then melted quietly into her skin.
Slowly, but unmistakably.
The protective Power of Claudian was being absorbed into four-year-old Clover’s body.
This, then, was Claudian’s Blessing.
The Blessing the first patriarch had once given to her beloved, and which—after long years had passed—Claudian’s ancestors and Kalid, Arwin, and Demian now offered together with unified hearts.
A blue emblem of Claudian blazed across Clover’s wrist.
Gleam.
And once more it flashed brilliantly before Clover’s eyes,
then faded, and the sky cleared wholly.
***
“This is truly a miracle.”
Sina, Claudian’s physician, said so while examining Clover’s condition.
Except for the scrapes the girl had sustained when caught in the wind during the first Power surge—tumbling this way and that—there was not a single fracture.
Moreover, even with Kalid at her side, she felt no pain, no nosebleed.
It was all thanks to Claudian’s Blessing. That Power was protecting Clover.
“How can such a thing even occur…?”
“So does that mean she can stay, or not, Sina?”
As Arwin pressed for an answer, Sina pushed her monocle up and replied,
“It appears she may remain here without any concern.”
That was when—
Clover, who had been tense all this time, melted into Kalid’s embrace and smiled softly.
“Thank goodness…”
She truly wanted to stay here.
The thought of being sent back to Demper House was worse than death, and being sent anywhere else was equally unbearable.
Long ago, Lucky had told her that a home was a place where one could be protected.
And this was Clover’s home. So she wanted to live here in Claudian, sheltered and safe. Forever.
‘And now I can.’
She need not fear being sent away, need not tremble anymore. That alone made Clover feel as though she might burst with joy.
“Father, we’re safe now, aren’t we?”
Clover looked up at Kalid.
“Yes, Clover.”
Kalid drew the small frame close, her fever-warm body heating his own.
“We are. You did well.”
“Mm-hm.”
At his praise, Clover’s face broke into a grin, her shoulders rising with pride.
“But Clover, I have a question.”
“Yes?”
“How did you know the ring was there in that Fountain?”
He had indeed seen records that the ring had been left behind in the Fountain,
So Kalid had searched through the fountain thoroughly, inch by inch.
But there was nothing—it never appeared.
Though he hadn’t turned the fountain upside down, he’d searched with such care that he hadn’t missed a single corner.
So how had Clover found what Kalid could not?
“Well…….”
Clover fidgeted with her fingers before speaking.
“The cat told me.”
“The cat?”
“The one that smells like Papa.”
At Kalid’s gesture, the North Wind Lion materialized beside him in an instant.
A massive body, a windswept mane. Enormous, threatening claws. The North Wind Lion appeared in his full magnificent form and glanced at Clover.
Then.

Soft steps.
He quietly shed that imposing presence and approached the child once more in the form of a cat she adored.
And touched her cheek gently with his paw, as if checking whether she was all right.
Demian and Arwin, watching this unfold, stood slack-jawed.
“What kind of act is that……?”
“Father, can a Summoned Beast put on an act?”
The North Wind Lion, who threatened anyone at Kalid’s side without exception and boasted of his majesty, had transformed into a mere cat and was now licking Clover’s cheek?
For Demian and Arwin, brothers who had wept countless times in childhood from his intimidation, it was nothing short of astonishing.
“Is this really the same cat?”
But Kalid, unlike Demian and Arwin, showed no agitation and pointed steadily at the ‘cat’ as he spoke.
“Yes, that’s right.”
At that, Clover beamed and threw her arms around the cat’s neck. But the Summoned Beast showed no sign of displeasure, burrowing happily into her embrace.
Clover stroked the creature’s soft fur freely as she continued.
“He woke me at dawn and told me, said he’d show me where the treasure was.”
“……He spoke to you?”
“Yes.”
Clover answered confidently.
Then a moment of silence fell.
“……You’re saying he really spoke?”
“……Yes, he did speak.”
Was she not supposed to talk about it?
Sensing the mood had grown serious, Clover cautiously gauged Kalid’s expression. She was worried she’d done something wrong.
But that wasn’t what had shocked Kalid.
Arwin murmured.
“The Summoned Beast spoke with someone else…….”
A Summoned Beast can only communicate with its master, the one who possesses the Power. And not through conversation, but through a meeting of minds.
That was only natural. A Summoned Beast was part of the Power its master possessed.
Which meant that speaking with someone else’s Summoned Beast was tantamount to interfering with that person’s Power.
In other words, the ability to converse with Summoned Beasts was far more dangerous than one might think.
Those with Powers, aside from Clover’s family, would not tolerate such interference in their abilities.
“No, you haven’t done anything wrong.”
Kalid suppressed his alarm and stroked the girl’s head as she nestled against him.
“But we do need to verify something. How many Summoned Beasts you can speak with.”
Reassured by Kalid’s words, Clover fidgeted with her fingers and then held up two.
“Just the cat and Lucky—I can talk to these two. I haven’t tried speaking with any other Summoned Beasts yet.”
“Even at the Demper House?”
“Yes, there I was too busy running away whenever I saw a Summoned Beast…….”
There was no point in talking to that bad aunt’s Summoned Beast, so she’d only ever run.
“And Lucky says being able to talk with Summoned Beasts is a secret.”
Clover said this while looking up at the golden four-leaf clover, who had watched over her in silence the entire time.
Then Demian, suddenly curious, blurted out a question.
“It’s a secret, but you’re telling us?”
“Yes.”
Clover nodded earnestly.
“You don’t have to keep secrets at home, Lucky told me that a long time ago.”
A place where you could live in comfort without secrets or rules—that was what a home was.
And now Clover had a home, so she could speak freely.
Clover smiled brightly as she spoke.
“I’m so happy to have a home…….”

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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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