The Baby Sprout Who Bloomed in the Villain Duke’s Family - Chapter 48

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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 48
***
The perpetrator of the Empress Dowager Assassination Incident was revealed not long after the crime occurred.
The Imperial Household’s investigation team, moving with brisk efficiency, questioned everyone who had touched the Empress Dowager’s teacup that day and arrested Hestia.
“Kneel!”
The full account of the incident was as follows.
An unknown assailant had bribed a maidservant to assassinate the Empress Dowager, and that maidservant—Hestia—had laced the Empress Dowager’s tea with a poison that caused Divine Power to run wild.
For a crime that had felled the Empress Dowager and thrown the entire palace into chaos, even implicating Clover Claudian, the circumstances proved surprisingly simple.
“So what you’re telling me is that this maid attempted to murder my mother… is that correct?”
Auron spoke slowly, watching Hestia kneeling before him with her hands bound.
Hestia kept her gaze fixed on the ground, her entire body trembling like leaves in a gale.
‘How… how did it come to this?’
Hestia’s eyes darted wildly, pupils rolling in panic.
‘He said it was definitely safe… he said it was definitely harmless……!’
A poison that would slowly, over a long time, destroy her body.
The Empress Dowager had supposedly been taking it for years already.
The person who had given her these orders told her that before Hestia, another maidservant had been responsible for this task, and after Hestia, yet another would take her place.
And so the responsibility would pass from maidservant to maidservant in turn.
In other words, it meant the maidservants of the Empress Dowager’s Palace were playing a deadly game with the Empress Dowager’s life.
Hestia had believed this.
And she had believed that once her own role was finished, she could pass her responsibility and her guilt on to the next maidservant.
But then.
‘What are you saying? After examining Her Majesty the Empress Dowager, we found no evidence of sustained poisoning whatsoever.’
‘What? What do you mean? That’s impossible……!’
When the Imperial Household’s investigators thoroughly searched the Empress Dowager’s Palace, it was determined that Hestia alone had laced the poison in the Empress Dowager’s tea.
Hestia had been deceived.
She had sold both her future and her life for mere handful of gold coins.
‘This can’t be real…….’
Hestia had met him two months ago.
He had known that her house was collapsing, that she desperately needed money.
And he had shown her the exact sum she required and told her all she needed to do was slip it into the Empress Dowager’s tea.
Looking back now, she should never have believed anything that man said.
His insistence that the poison must be added on a day when Clover Claudian was present struck her now as distinctly suspicious.
But why hadn’t she seen through it then?
Hestia deeply regretted her own foolishness, yet there was no way to undo spilled water.
She lifted her head and looked at Auron with desperate urgency.
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty! I truly did not know! I only did as I was told!”
“Do you believe you can evade responsibility by claiming you merely followed orders?”
Auron laughed softly.
“I… I…….”
“If you commit a crime, you must bear its consequences. You cannot shift that burden onto another. The moment it left your hands, it became your responsibility.”
He regarded Hestia.
“You attempted to murder the Empress Dowager of Rosipheron. You made her drink poison and stood idle while it ravaged her body.”
“Ah… ahhhhh…….”
“Your house will be exterminated because of your crime, and your family will die with their heads mounted on the City Wall for your recklessness.”
“Your… Your Majesty!”
“What possessed you to commit such an act? Stupidity…? Or did the Imperial House of Rosipheron seem easy prey to you?”
Life-Consuming Flames blazed violently around Auron’s body.
It was the powerful Divine Power of Emperor Auron, who ruled this empire.
A fearsome flame that could drain the very essence of life with merely a brush against it.
“You will die. That fact will not change.”
“Ah… ahhhhhhh…….”
“However, I might be willing to spare your family. But first, you’ll need to answer my questions.”
Hestia looked up at Auron, her face streaked with tears.
Auron Feroi Rosipheron, the radiant sun of the empire wreathed in flames, gazed down at the maidservant and asked.
“Who gave you that poison?”
“……!”
“Do you remember what he looked like?”
Hestia shook her head.
“I… I don’t know.”
“Really?”
“Yes, truly, I don’t know. It was too dark, I couldn’t see who—! But there were pine needles on the back of his hand…….”
That was the moment.
Whoosh!
Auron’s flames consumed Hestia’s body.
“!”
She didn’t even have time to scream before turning to blackened charcoal in an instant.
Though dead, her mouth hung slightly open, as if she still wanted to finish what she’d been saying in her final moment.
His adjutant watched the charred remains of Hestia and spoke.
“You might have heard her out before setting her alight.”
“She said she didn’t see—I haven’t the mercy or magnanimity to spare something useless.”
And yet, did he really need to incinerate her before she could finish speaking?
Regardless, Auron gave the corpse of Hestia, now nothing but ash and smoke, a casual kick.
“What house does this belong to?”
“A viscount family called Froland, sir.”
“Confiscate all their assets to the crown treasury. Hang the immediate family on the City Wall as a warning.”
With that, Auron’s expression turned bored, and he turned to leave.
The adjutant stared at the blackened corpse for a moment before answering, a step too late.
“……Yes, sir.”
I shall see it done.
***
“This is so…….”
Clover twisted bashfully in front of the lush Jasmine blossoms.
“You made this? From Father’s seed?”
“The Heart Seed.”
“Yes.”
Clover nodded.
“Grew it real hard for Papa.”
At the mention of having “grown it so hard,” something unfinished peeked its head out from behind Clover’s back.
“Huh? What——?”
[Oh, no! Get back inside!]
Lucky called out, and the unfinished thing startled, fidgeting in place.
Squirm-squirm.
“……What is that?”
Sone pointed at the “pale-green lump” fidgeting behind Clover.
“Eek!”
It mustn’t be discovered.
‘Why is it out?’
Clover waved quickly, whisking the pale-green lump far away.
Then she looked up at Sone with an innocent expression.
“Wh-what?”
“There was something there just now…….”
“M-maybe you were just seeing things……?”
Clover twisted again, though for a different reason this time.
Sone narrowed her eyes with an “Hmm,” then graciously let it slide.
‘Phew.’
That was close.
Even though she’d said there should be no secrets from family, Lucky had insisted that what she’d made—the Spirit—had to stay hidden for now.
‘But something feels wrong about this.’
Now that she’d made a secret, her heart ached a little.
As Clover glanced at Sone and Kalid, Kalid reached out and stroked her head.
“Thank you, Clover.”
“……Mm.”
“You’ve done something remarkable—it’s as large and beautiful as the one we saw at the Imperial Palace.”
Clover rose on her tiptoes like a cat, nuzzling her head against his hand.
“Mm, amazing.”
“Yes, truly amazing.”
“Papa, so can I give this to you as a birthday present?”
“……What?”
At Clover’s sudden question, Kalid’s hand stilled, mid-stroke through the child’s soft hair.
‘Why did you stop?’
Missing the touch of his hand, she felt a pang of want.
Clover smacked her lips and looked up at Kalid.
“In a little while, Father’s birthday is coming, and Belze said…….”
“…….”
“On birthdays, you give presents. Louis got presents that big…….”
So Father should have received a gift too.
Clover wanted to give Kalid a present.
‘But.’
Why did Father and the others have that expression on their faces?
Clover tilted her head, puzzled.

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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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