The Baby Sprout Who Bloomed in the Villain Duke’s Family - Chapter 20

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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 20
To others, it might have been nothing. To Clover and Lucky, it was everything.
Clover had always done her best to bring forth many Sprouts—ever more of them.
Lucky had helped her with dedication.
But no matter how much they practiced, two remained their limit. That was partly Clover’s fault, and partly the fault of the Demper Household.
Clover’s Power was the Sprouting Power—a Sprout that bloomed when her heart was warm.
But in the Demper Household, no one had ever given her such warmth. How could she bring forth Sprouts at all?
That was why Clover had hoped a little when she came to Claudian.
Perhaps she might be able to bring forth more Sprouts than she had before.
But four?
[Wonderful! Wonderful, little one! I’m so proud I could burst—our Clover! Yippee-yippee-yippee!]
“Waaahhh……!”
Clover’s eyes went wide as saucers, so shocked they looked ready to pop right out of her head.
Carefully, carefully, Clover plucked one of the bloomed Sprouts free.
Puff.
A handful of soil and the delicate, newly sprouted seedling fit snugly into her small hands.
Clover lifted the Sprout to eye level and stared at it, letting out gasps of wonder—”Hiya-ya! Fuwa-ah!”
“Clover did it…… She really did…….”
A complete genius.
Clover must be an absolute genius.
Not just going from two to three—she’d jumped straight to four.
This was truly a magnificent, wonderful leap forward.
That was when Arwin reached out and tapped Clover’s Sprout, speaking up.
“Huh? Did you actually do this with your Power?”
“Looks like my little sister really did use her Power.”
Arwin and Demian exchanged remarks while gazing at Clover’s “tiny” Sprout.
Just as Clover was about to respond to her brothers,
“Mmm, Clover’s…….”
A breeze blew past, and her precious Sprout swayed precariously in the wind. Seeing this, alarm flashed across Clover’s face.
‘Oh no, it can’t wilt already!’
Having brought forth four was one thing. Keeping them from wilting was quite another.
In fact, Clover had another problem beyond her inability to create more than two Sprouts until now.
The real issue was that all the Sprouts she created withered almost immediately.
“No, wait! I didn’t get to show off yet…… I need to show someone!”
Quickly, quickly.
Clover stretched out her arms and held the Sprout up for Arwin and Demian to see.
“Ta-da!”
“Wow! That’s really impressive—so tiny.”
“Yeah, it takes after you.”
Arwin and Demian each offered their “praise” in turn.
Good, she’d shown them.
‘So next it should be…….’
Clover’s head swiveled around as she looked toward Kallid.
Kallid was rising to his feet in the distance. When Clover saw him, she broke into a broad smile.
“Daddy!”
Before the Sprout in her hands could wilt and die, she scampered toward Kallid as fast as her legs could carry her.
“Clover, you’ll fall.”
“Daddy, Daddy. Look at this.”
Running faster than anyone else, Clover thrust the soil and Sprout she’d been cradling in her dirty little hands right under Kallid’s nose.
“This, Clover did it. Clover can make four now……!”
Perhaps even the Count of Demper, who had been unkind to Clover all this time, might stop being unkind if he learned she could bring forth four Sprouts.
He might even regret how he’d treated her! As she thought this, Clover’s mood soared and she bounced with delight.
“It’s totally amazing, totally amazing……!”
Thump-thump, thump-thump—Clover’s heart hammered in her chest as she bounded forward, eager for praise.
But.
‘……Huh?’
Huh?
What if Lucky was wrong? What if four really wasn’t that impressive?
What if Daddy, like that awful woman, looked at Clover’s Power and felt only disappointment?
‘Wait…… disappointment…….’
Clover’s small hands had gone cold—she hadn’t thought it through that far.
The tremor in her palms made the Sprout quiver faintly. Clover could no longer meet Kallid’s eyes and let her gaze fall away.
But then.
“Clover, you did wonderfully. I’m so proud of you.”
Kallid’s large, warm hand settled gently on top of Clover’s small head.
“…Mm.”
Clover slowly lifted her gaze to look up at Kallid.
There stood Kallid, looking down at her with the warmest eyes in the world.
“You’re remarkable.”
Stroke, stroke.
Kallid’s hand brushed through Clover’s soft hair.
He said I was remarkable. Dad did.
Not worthless or insignificant.
Clover’s heart began to race again.
And in that moment, the withered Sprout in her hand came back to life a little.
Though it soon wilted and snapped off entirely.
But that wasn’t what mattered now.
“The aura….”
Clover stared up at Kallid, murmuring in a daze. That ‘aura’ was leaking from him again.
Now she could see the color too.
It was the same blue as Dad’s hair.
“Hmm?”
When Clover fixed him with that vacant stare, Kallid tilted his head in bewilderment. Was there something on her face?
Then.
Clover quickly crouched down, buried the Sprout in the soil again, dusted the dirt from her hands, and looked up at her father.
The aura drifted toward Clover slowly, inch by inch.
Like the small, delicate droplets she’d seen in Claudian, it didn’t seem to mean her any harm.
‘It’s happy to see me….’
It seemed to welcome her eagerly. The blue aura flickered in Clover’s round eyes.
[Little one, this…!]
It’s welcoming you, Clover.
Right now, even Lucky’s voice felt distant.
Clover cupped her grimy hands respectfully together, just as she had when the Storm Power gathered into her palms.
She rose up on her toes.
“Co-”
And reached those hands out toward the ‘aura’.
It would come toward Clover then.
She knew this without anyone teaching her.
It was something Clover had grasped all by herself, right here and now.
And so.
Whoosh.
The ‘blue aura’ that had billowed around Kallid like a cumulus cloud curled around his body like a ribbon of wind.
Then it gathered, perfectly round, into Clover’s hands.
In that instant.
Burst!
A bright chartreuse light exploded from Clover’s palms.
It was Clover’s Sprouting Power—
The strength of her ability flowing through her small frame.
Clover wondered.
Would a new Sprout bloom in her hands right now?
‘I really hope so.’
Clover watched ‘it’ with a racing heart.
When.
Pop!
The blue aura that had gathered in Clover’s hands vanished completely in an instant.
“Huh?”
A single small Seed appeared instead, tumbling down.
Blink, blink.
Clover stared at the Seed, then rubbed her eyes with her sleeve.
But the Seed remained—it didn’t disappear.
***
‘That’s not impressive at all!’
I thought something remarkable would appear, but it’s another Seed!
Clover had felt an enormous surge of power just moments before.
And she’d sensed something incredible was about to happen in her own hands.
But what appeared in her palm was just one blue Seed. Clover turned it over and over, bewildered.
Yet.
‘No, it’s really ordinary…….’
The conclusion was inescapable: it was truly an ordinary Seed. The kind Clover could produce by the dozen if she wanted to.
Her plan to give something spectacular to her father evaporated like soap bubbles.
“Disappointed…….”
Clover pouted her lip.
But then Kallid slipped his arm under hers and hoisted the child up effortlessly.
“You can nurture Sprouts into being.”
“Mmph…….”
“And you can create Seeds too.”
“Mm…….”
“My daughter is a genius.”
“But this one’s just ordinary, though.”
It isn’t anything remarkable, so why?
Yet Kallid seemed wholly unconcerned with such trifles; he cradled Clover and stroked her head.
“Anything you create is remarkable. There’s nothing ordinary about it.”
“Mmm.”
Dad, he’s really the best…….
He gets moved to tears by a little Seed, showers her with praise.
Like Lucky said—a perfect father.
Moved to her core by Kallid’s words, Clover squeezed the Seed tight. Then she pressed her head firmly against her father’s chest.
‘This is so good…….’
At that moment, Lucky—who had been watching Clover intently all along—finally spoke.
[Your father’s right.]
Clover lifted her head slightly and asked back.
“About what?”
A brief silence fell.
Why is he building suspense like this?
The instant doubt crept in.
[……The Seed you created isn’t ordinary at all. It’s an incredibly remarkable Seed!]
Golden radiance poured from Lucky’s form in waves. It was a sign that he was absolutely thrilled at this very moment.
Blink.
Clover blinked again.

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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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