The Baby Sprout Who Bloomed in the Villain Duke’s Family - Chapter 18

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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 18
Once Kalid, Demian, Arwin, and Clover had all taken their seats in turn, steaming platters of freshly prepared food were laid before them.
Soft, mild dishes were placed mostly in front of Clover. There was also white bread, baked plain without any topping, that was fluffy and tender—positioned directly before her as well.
‘Father said he wanted to do something.’
Did he mean to do it after the meal? Or was the meal itself what ‘Father wanted to do’?
While Kalid cut a large piece of meat into smaller portions and set them before her, Clover kept her gaze fixed on her father, watching him intently.
“You can eat.”
Kalid speared a piece of meat on his fork and brought it to Clover’s lips. She opened her mouth like a baby bird and took the morsel with a soft pop.
Munch, munch.
Though the piece was small, she had to chew it for a long time. Her mouth was completely full of meat.
‘Amazing taste!’
The meat Belze had brought to her room was delicious too, but the meat Father fed her tasted just a little bit better.
What kind of magic had Father worked on this meat? Or was it simply that her mood was so good everything tasted better? Either way, it didn’t matter.
“Is it good?”
“Yes, really good.”
Clover answered with a bright smile. Kalid slipped another piece of meat straight into her mouth.
“From now on, I’ll have the cook prepare something delicious for you every single day.”
“Wait, just meat!?”
“No, vegetables too.”
“Ugh.”
She hated vegetables.
The moment Clover’s mouth opened in despair, Kalid—quick to seize the opportunity—slipped a small carrot piece straight into her open mouth.
“Oh…….”
“Wow…….”
Demian and Arwin, marveling at Kalid’s brilliant display of Parenting Skill, stood mesmerized, watching the scene unfold.
Both brothers had once fallen for the same trick themselves, thinking they were eating meat when it was actually vegetables. As the memory of those days came flooding back, Arwin gazed at Kalid and Clover with a touch of nostalgia in his eyes and spoke.
“Father, you’re quite the con artist…….”
“Arwin, stop talking and eat.”
“Yes, sir.”
While Arwin and Kalid exchanged words, Clover tilted her head, sensing something oddly off.
The thing she was chewing didn’t quite taste like meat, though some of the meat flavor lingered in her mouth from the pieces still there.
But subtly mixed in between was something that didn’t taste good. Pondering deeply, Clover turned to Lucky and asked.
“Lucky, am I eating meat right now?”
[…….]
“Something tastes suspicious.”
But Lucky did not answer.
For growing children, eating a balanced diet was important.
In the end, Clover couldn’t quite figure out what was in her mouth and swallowed it down along with the meat without proper thought.
Then another carrot, hidden beneath the meat, came sliding in along with the next piece. Clover tilted her head in confusion again and chewed diligently.
After this repeated about ten times, the meal came to an end. Kalid, having fed Clover while also cleaning his own plate thoroughly, glanced at his two sons’ plates.
Demian and Arwin had eaten less than usual. Both brothers had been too distracted watching their baby sister like a fledgling to pay proper attention to their food.
‘Still.’
Neither of them had eaten too little, though. Kalid thought this was a fine meal by any measure.
A fine meal—the first time Clover had shared food with her family.
“I wish the eldest had been here too,” Demian said, gesturing toward the empty seat where Sone should have sat.
Kalid glanced briefly at that empty place.
“Yes, I wish so too.”
It would have been good if Sone were here. She had an unexpected fondness for small, cute things, so she would surely have doted on her youngest sister.
But Sone was currently in her examination period at the Academy and couldn’t come. He had sent a letter, so once her tests were finished, she would arrive on her own.
Kalid dismissed thoughts of his well-raised eldest daughter in three seconds flat, wiped Clover’s mouth clean, and lifted the child into his arms again.
“Did you enjoy your meal?”
“Yes, I’m so full.”
My belly is completely stuffed right now.
If I eat even a little more, I might burst.
Yet Kalid, looking at Clover’s distended belly, spoke as if it still wasn’t enough.
“You’ll need to eat well from now on. You’re far too small. Your siblings were twice your size at your age.”
“Gasp, twice as big…….”
“Growing to 1.5 times your size will do. So you must eat well, Clover.”
“Yes, I’ll do my best. I’m going to work hard at everything.”
Just leave it to me, Clover nodded enthusiastically.
Kalid let out a short laugh, and Clover, who had been watching him intently, lowered her voice to ask softly.
“Papa.”
“Mm?”
“Is there nothing left that you want to do? Was eating with Clover what you wanted to do?”
Kalid answered without hesitation.
“Yes. I wanted to keep feeding you like this.”
Holding the child, feeding her meals.
Tucking her into sleep, reading her fairy tales.
These were things Kalid had longed for desperately every single day for the past four years, yet they had always seemed impossibly distant.
But now they were no longer far away. They rested in his arms. And she wore the most peaceful expression in the world.
Then Clover covered her mouth with her small hand.
“Oh! I always dreamed that Papa would feed me like this. Are we thinking the same thing, Papa and me……?”
Clover whispered softly.
“In my dreams, Papa feeds me such delicious food like this, and then, and then after that…….”
“After that?”
Clover glanced up at Kalid, hesitant. The habit of reading his moods from her time at Demper House had become so ingrained that she couldn’t speak easily.
Fortunately, Kalid waited for her patiently once more, and Clover was able to let slip the words that had been in her heart.
“Y-you say you love me…….”
……
“You say you missed me…….”
As Clover fumbled out the words, Demian and Arwin, who had been quietly waiting for what she would say next, could bear it no longer. They rushed over and clung to Kalid’s legs, wrapping their arms around Clover.
“No, I can’t stand it! I can’t hold back anymore! Clover, I’m telling you now! I missed you so much, my little sister!”
“I missed you too, Clover. I love you.”
At their words, Clover’s face brightened like a clear sky.
Kalid gazed at his two sons and his youngest daughter, who was beaming with joy, then stretched out his arms to embrace Demian and Arwin before whispering to them and Clover.
“I missed you, Clover.”
……!
“I love you.”
At Kalid’s words, Clover’s eyes widened.
And in that moment, Clover saw something miraculous.
It was something like a hazy wisp of smoke.
A faint and wondrous Ethereal Smoke drifting between Kalid, Demian, and Arwin.
***
The next day.
Kalid, who had fed her breakfast with his own hands, said he still had something he wanted to do and sent Clover off to get ready for an outing.
Belze dressed Clover in a flurry of excitement, changing her into one of the Children’s Dresses that had grown a size too large, then placed a Lace Bonnet snugly on her head.
But Clover, who would normally have bounced around with excitement, seemed unusually quiet for some reason.
“Miss, is something the matter?”
Belze, an elite maid whose intuition was so sharp she’d win gold in perception competitions, quickly sensed the shift in Clover’s mood and asked.
Clover shook her head.
“Nothing’s wrong.”
Nothing had happened to trouble her.
It was only that.
‘I keep thinking about it.’
[Thinking about what?] Lucky asked, slipping up beside her. Clover nodded, her cheeks tensed as she concentrated.
‘What could it be?’
When Papa and her brothers had embraced Clover, she had seen something like a rippling wisp of smoke around them.
That Ethereal Smoke had wavered near Kalid, Demian, and Arwin, seeming to call out to Clover. For just a moment, she had been captivated by it.
But that mysterious Ethereal Smoke had only flickered before Clover’s eyes for an instant before vanishing. So she still had no idea what it was.
“Hmm, what could it be…….”
Just as the child wore a thoughtful expression and grew absorbed in the puzzle, Belze suddenly scooped Clover up into her arms.
“Now then, little one. You’re all ready, so it’s time for your outing.”

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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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