The Baby Sprout Who Bloomed in the Villain Duke’s Family - Chapter 70

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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 70
‘What, what on earth?’
Deibon stared at the small child before him with startled eyes.
Pale green hair, dark eyes.
The girl standing there was unmistakably Clover, the youngest of the Claudian Mansion—the one the Duke had brought back not long ago.
‘But why is she here?’
What was a young noblewoman doing hiding under a prince’s bed?
As Deibon’s gaze darted between Pluto and Clover in bewilderment, Clover darted out and seized Pluto’s hand firmly.
Then she spun her head around and glared at Deibon.
Faced with the reproachful gaze of a four-year-old child, Deibon stared back at Clover with an expression of utter bafflement.
***
He’s mean.
I knew it would be like this.
Clover, listening quietly from beneath the bed, fought back tears that threatened to spill.
‘Why is he saying such things?’
If he didn’t want to do it, they shouldn’t make him do it.
No one at the Claudian Mansion forced anyone to do something they didn’t want to.
Not with her, not with Pluto.
So why had that man suddenly come and pushed him to do something he refused?
Clover hated it when anyone said cruel things to Pluto.
She knew what harsh words did—she’d heard them before.
They made a child shrink into themselves, stopped them from being honest, and filled them with sorrow.
The Pluto she had come to know was a boy who wanted nothing more than to be true to his heart.
And because of that man—
The thought drove her forward. She could no longer stay hidden beneath the bed.
Clover crawled out from under the bed and bolted upright.
“Palace guest, you’re mean!”
But the moment Clover rushed out with her protest, she froze.
‘Hic—malice….’
It was malice—something she hadn’t felt in a long time.
She could see it coiled and tangled in Deibon’s heart.
[Ugh, I knew it! What a terrible man.]
Yet was that malice not directed at her?
It did not touch her directly.
But Clover, who still remembered the last time, could not help her alarm.
Still, she did not flee. She held fast to Pluto’s hand.
Through the thick leather gloves, Pluto’s warm body heat seeped into her palm.
“Bad mister, what’re you doing?”
“…Miss Claudian? Why are you coming out from under the bed?”
“Why’re you making him do something he doesn’t wanna do? You’re a bad person.”
The moment Clover finished speaking, the malice in Deibon’s heart writhed.
Clover, watching it unfold, felt her own body recoil in sympathy.
Yet Clover stood firm.
“You made him do it even though he didn’t wanna.”
“…Miss, this is a Trial conducted by the Imperial Family. It’s not something strange….”
“And you got mean too, to someone who’s hurting.”
As Clover pressed her point relentlessly, Deibon’s eyes widened in bewilderment.
There was nothing strange about what he’d asked. It was what Pluto did regularly at the Imperial Palace.
Recording how much that terrible Authority had grown was an absolutely vital task.
Without it, there was no way to know when it might begin to harm someone.
‘But this little girl doesn’t understand anything!’
Interfering with the Imperial Family’s Trial! Though Deibon held only a lowly post at the Palace, at this very moment he was a guest sent to the Claudian Mansion by the Emperor’s own command.
For an instant, he felt as though he held high rank, or nobility, and thus the small girl and the abandoned prince seemed beneath his notice.
When a mere four-year-old child began to obstruct his work and answer him back at every turn, disdain for Pluto mingled with bewilderment, and Deibon’s heart began to seethe.
“Miss, you don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“?”
“This is a Trial that any Authority Bearer with a powerful Authority must endure by nature! Don’t you realize that standing in the way like this is actually disrespecting the Prince himself?”
He fixed Clover with a sharp, cutting stare.
‘There’s no one else in this room anyway.’
Just two small children—one six, one four.
And Deibon, from years of experience, knew exactly how to wriggle free even when confronted by children.
If the guardian simply wasn’t listening, you just had to claim the child was lying.
Then the guardian would have no choice but to doubt their own son or daughter, whose judgment was still so underdeveloped.
Besides, he’d come as the Emperor’s envoy. So the Claudian Duke wouldn’t be able to punish him unless he witnessed this scene firsthand.
As that thought crystallized, Deibon’s confidence swelled, and his tone grew even more vicious.
“What’s your Authority, Lady Clover? Seedling?”
“……Mm.”
“Since you clearly possess such a useless, pathetic Authority, you probably don’t understand — but Authority Bearers with genuine power all go through this stage.”
“…….”
“Born with such a weak Authority, and having grown up elsewhere all this time — of course you’ve never seen anything like this before.”
He looked down at Clover with contempt, invoking the Claudian Duchess — who lay unconscious and would not wake.
“If the Duchess had been here, then perhaps you would understand me.”
It was as good as mocking Clover for growing up without a mother, for being ignorant.
Just as he had in the Imperial Palace.
Just as he had with Pluto — oppressed, despised — Deibon poured out his abuse, his bearing now swollen with triumph as he regarded both Clover and Pluto.
Pluto’s face had flushed so deeply it was impossible to tell whether it was fever or fury burning in his eyes as he glared at Deibon.
“What the hell do you think you’re—”
But what good would a glare do?
There was nothing Pluto could do anyway.
‘The Emperor is on my side.’
He would take Deibon’s part over the words of this pathetic little prince.
With that thought, Deibon’s shoulders rose higher and higher, and he preened.
And yet.
Something felt wrong.
Deibon’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Clover.
‘Why is this child……’
Not backing down, even after hearing all that?
Normally, when children heard such words, they wept, or fled in fear, or lost their nerve — that was the natural order.
He’d made countless children cry that way.
Yet Clover, far from losing her spirit or slinking away with a cowed expression, was looking up at Deibon with eyes even brighter and more alert than before.
“……Mister.”
Clover stepped forward, blocking Pluto who had begun to surge up, and spoke in a voice somewhat calmer than before.
“Mister, aren’t you in big trouble now?”
“What……?”
At Clover’s whisper, Deibon’s head snapped up instinctively, and he glanced around.
The room was empty.
And since they stood far from the door, there was no chance his voice had carried to the corridor.
So why would she say such a thing……?
Then.
Deibon’s eyes caught something in the corner of the bed, half-hidden beneath the blankets.
It was the Blue Cat that had bounded out alongside Clover just moments before.
A cat with soft, fluffy blue fur was puffing out its tail, swishing it lazily, fixing Deibon with a steady stare.
‘A blue cat……?’
The Claudian house’s Summoned Creatures were a lion, a bird, and a serpent.
As Deibon stared at the cat with bewildered eyes, lacking any information about it whatsoever, the moment stretched.
Creak.
The door behind him swung open.
“……?”
Someone stepped into the room.
Then came a voice Deibon could never have imagined hearing.
“Indeed.”
The master of the Claudian Mansion.
The killer of the North, whom even the Emperor occasionally approaches with caution.
“You really are in trouble now.”
The Claudian Duke spoke in a level, measured tone.
And that was the moment.
The blue cat lying in wait suddenly shifted shape, transforming into a massive lion.
Kalid and the North Wind Lion.
For an instant, the left eye of each being gleamed with the same light.
***
Kalid, who had been conversing briefly with his adjutant, showed a peculiar reaction—but only after meeting the ‘guest’ who had arrived from the Imperial Palace.
“So, sir…….”
“Wait.”
Kalid cut off Teniron’s words, pressing his left eye with one hand.
Then he fixed his gaze intently on something distant.
That simple gesture alone was enough for Teniron to understand that Kalid was seeing something through the North Wind Lion, and he fell silent.
It happened immediately after.
Up he rose.
Kalid stood and walked briskly toward the door.
Kalid Claudian’s pace was urgent. Teniron followed behind him with a bewildered expression.
“Sir, sir? Where are you going?”
But Kalid made no reply, only quickened his stride.
And this was where he arrived.
“How much contempt did some mere lackey show me…….”
Young Pluto stood glaring at Deibon, tears pooling in his eyes as if brimming with resentment.
And seeing Clover covered in dust, standing before him as a shield, Kalid let out a soft laugh.

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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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