The Baby Sprout Who Bloomed in the Villain Duke’s Family - Chapter 29

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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 29
“Oh, h-hello……”
Clover gathered her courage to greet them, then peeked timidly into the room.
Inside stood a kind-looking elderly woman, several handmaidens in their livery, and Kalid.
“Clover, come here.”
Kalid extended his hand. Clover glanced nervously at the people around her, then scurried over to take it.
Squeeze.
She held tight to her father’s hand.
So many scary people in this room.
I’m nervous.
Clover rolled her eyes up at her father. He reached over and stroked her hair gently.
Then he spoke silently, moving only his lips.
‘It’s all right.’
Seeing that, Clover felt her fear begin to ease just a little.
Moments before, her heart had been pounding with fright. Now it was merely anxious.
“Clover, you should make your greeting. This is the Empress Dowager.”
At Kalid’s words, Clover summoned her courage again and looked at the Empress Dowager, then back at Kalid, then at the Empress Dowager once more.
‘What should I say?’
She’d said hello when she came in.
Maybe it was too quiet and she didn’t hear? Is that why she’s asking again?
As Clover hesitated, Lucky appeared in her mind.
[Say: “Hello, I am Clover Claudian. I am four years old this year.”]
“Huh?”
[Just say it like that.]
Ah!
Clover stumbled through the words Lucky had just given her.
“H-hello. I’m Clover Claudian, and I’m four years old this year.”
Speaking carefully and bravely, Clover stole a glance at the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager waited for Clover to finish speaking, then smiled warmly.
“Yes, so you’re Clover. Come, sit up here with me.”
“…….”
“There’s delicious cake here too. I asked for it to be prepared just for you.”
“Yay!”
The moment Clover heard the word “cake,” she bolted toward the chair.
Kalid followed immediately and scooped her up by the armpits, lifting her small body effortlessly.
He set her down in the chair beside the Empress Dowager. The seat hadn’t been built for a child, so Clover’s feet dangled in the air.
But several cushions had been placed underneath to raise her height, so she didn’t sink below the table.
“Cake!”
“Let me serve you some.”
The Empress Dowager smiled tenderly and cut a generous slice of Whipped Cream Cake, setting it before Clover. Then she placed a fork in the child’s hand.
“Eat up.”
“Can I really eat it?”
“Of course.”
Clover glanced at her father. Kalid nodded, giving his permission.
‘I’m allowed to eat.’
Clover carefully cut a small bite with her fork and brought it to her mouth.
The soft whipped cream melted on her tongue and vanished. The cake was the same. Clover’s eyes widened after that first bite.
“Does it taste good?”
“……so yummy.”
“Mm?”
“It’s so, so delicious…….”
Clover looked up at the Empress Dowager with eyes glistening with joy. A radiant glow seemed to shine from behind her.
Someone who gives you good things is a good person!
“I’m glad. There’s plenty, so eat as much as you’d like.”
“Yay!”
Clover munched happily on her cake. Meanwhile, Kalid sat beside her and instructed an attendant to bring out his gift.
“It’s precious leather that arrived recently.”
“You needn’t have brought anything.”
“It’s only proper. One cannot visit Your Majesty empty-handed.”
“Your Majes—what?”
“……I misspoke. I apologize. When you’re raising a child, sometimes…….”
Kalid apologized quickly. It was unlike him to make such an error, and yet here he was.
She waved a hand as though it didn’t trouble her. But then—
“Se-sacred object…….”
Clover, who had been sitting quietly beside the Empress Dowager eating cake, suddenly set down her fork as her appetite vanished.
“Sacred object, little one?”
Anernia asked gently, her voice warm with curiosity. Clover answered in a voice barely audible as an ant’s footstep.
“Sha-cred thing, ‘pose give to…….”
Not to give wasn’t proper.
Clover’s fingers fidgeted together. While Anernia worked to decipher the four-year-old’s speech, Kalid, understanding what she meant, instructed an attendant to fetch ‘that thing.’
At Kalid’s command, the attendant returned carrying a flowerpot—something Clover had prepared for this very day, a gift meant for the Empress Dowager.
“It seems my daughter has prepared something to offer you, Your Majesty.”
Kalid placed the flowerpot in Clover’s small hands.
“Go ahead. You can give it.”
An empty flowerpot.
A completely empty flowerpot with nothing planted in it.
Ordinarily, presenting such a thing to the Imperial Family would be treated as a grave insult, punished severely. The Imperial Family were the most exalted beings in this empire, and offering so modest a gift—even an expensive one—violated propriety and honor itself.
But Clover was four years old.
Had a child given it, the Empress Dowager would have treasured it, even if it were half a stale cookie. Kalid knew this.
So when he heard Clover had prepared a flowerpot, he thought, ‘The Empress Dowager will be delighted.’
She was the sort of woman who could never resist a child’s gift. And if it came from Clover, who looked so much like Elisia——
She would surely love anything. Kalid glanced sidelong at Anernia and saw her already gazing at Clover with anticipation bright in her eyes.
Then Clover, holding the flowerpot, hesitated for a moment before bowing her head low.
“Hmm?”
“Mm?”
Kalid and Anernia, along with all the attendants in the room, turned puzzled eyes toward Clover.
Then——
Flash!
A brief pale green light sparkled in Clover’s small hands.
It was Clover’s Authority.
Anernia’s eyes widened the moment she realized the child had activated her Authority. The attendants too watched with wide eyes as the small girl’s power manifested.
‘C-can do.’
Clover. Can give present.
As Clover used her Authority, a tiny sprout suddenly sprouted in the flowerpot that had been empty moments before.
It was a sprout as small and unremarkable as Clover herself.
Yet it was undeniably something Clover had conjured with her Authority.
Ordinarily, she would never have thought to offer a sprout created by her Authority as a gift.
Clover’s sprouts were defective, after all.
Poor, inadequate things that withered within three seconds of blooming.
But since that day, since she had created the Seed of Heart, Clover had changed somehow.
From the seeds that once bore nothing but death, fresh sprouts now grew abundantly, and the small buds conjured by her Authority no longer died at once—they grew, bit by bit.
So this sprout that had just bloomed in the flowerpot would likewise live and grow without wilting.
It was, quite simply, a perfect gift.
‘Phew.’
Against her worries, Clover had successfully used her Authority, and now she held out the flowerpot to the Empress Dowager.
“Your Majesty, this is what Clover—”
But then——
The sprout that Clover had just brought forth blackened and died, its delicate stem snapping off.
Hiss.
Snap.
“…….”
Startled by the sudden turn, Clover’s mouth fell open in shock.
The Empress Dowager was equally taken aback, as were the attendants beside her. Kalid too looked alarmed, his eyes immediately finding Clover.
Clover did not manage to hand the flowerpot to the Empress Dowager; her hands trembled violently as she held it.
“Little one?”
Wondering if the flowerpot was too heavy, Anernia bent down to examine Clover’s expression.
And then——
“U…….”
In Clover’s wide eyes, tears gathered and glistened.
***
Flustered, Anernia accepted the flowerpot and set it on the table, then scooped Clover up and settled her onto her lap.
‘You’re four years old now.’
Clover, who had just turned four, was so small and light that you’d believe her if she said she was three. It was almost miraculous to feel a heartbeat thrumming inside such a tiny frame.
And yet it seemed there was more than just a heart dwelling in that small body.
“I wanted to give you a gift. I really wanted to.”
Clover’s large eyes welled with tears, yet remarkably, they didn’t fall. They clung there, trembling.
She seemed on the verge of crying, tears suspended precariously, and yet she refused to cry—as if she simply didn’t want to. Anernia thought even this gesture resembled Elisia.
She brought the handkerchief to Clover’s eyes and gently pressed away the tears.
“You’re upset because you wanted to give a gift but couldn’t?”
When Anernia offered the handkerchief, Clover, supposing it was meant for blowing her nose, scrunched up her face and nodded firmly after letting out a soft sound.
A small whimper escaped her.

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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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