The Baby Sprout Who Bloomed in the Villain Duke’s Family - Chapter 73

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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 73
If Authority had been used on such a scale, word would naturally reach the Emperor’s ears.
The Duke Claudian couldn’t hide or cover up something like this.
And once the Emperor learned how much the boy’s Authority had grown…
“Oh, what do I do.”
Pluto, picturing Oueron’s face, murmured with a sickly pallor draining the color from his cheeks.
Clover stood uncertainly beside him before reaching out to take Pluto’s hand.
Clover was confused in her own way as well.
Pluto and Kalid were staring at the withered Garden as though wrestling with some terrible thought.
But Clover, ignorant of imperial affairs and adult matters and Pluto’s circumstances, couldn’t fathom why the two of them gazed at the Garden with such troubled expressions.
‘What should I do…….’
Still, she could feel keenly enough that Pluto and Kalid were in distress.
Their unease transmitted itself entirely to Clover, and she too found her heart growing uneasy in turn.
Clover, who had been watching Pluto grow ashen and rigid, drifted slightly closer to Kalid.
“Papa.”
“Mm?”
“Couldn’t the Garden be tended again?”
Clover tilted her head as she asked.
Kalid paused in thought for a moment, then reached out and stroked her hair.
“Of course it could. If we tend it again, it’ll grow beautiful once more.”
“But Your Highness looks so worried…….”
“He must be upset. He’s spent his whole life trying to prevent things like this from happening.”
“Mm…….”
“Besides, Gardens take time to restore and recover, so it won’t happen right away…….”
Concern etched itself across Kalid’s face as he spoke.
Clover stood between Kalid and Pluto, gazing out at the blackened, lifeless Garden.
“Huh?”
In the distance, Pluto’s Summoned Creature, Kal, approached with a dejected bearing.
“Kal……!”
Delighted, Clover stepped forward and stroked Kal’s head.
But Kal merely lay down with drooping posture, ears and tail hanging limp, eyes pressed tightly shut.
He looked just like a puppy who’d done something wrong.
“Oh, dear.”
Clover patted Kal gently, mimicking the tone of an adult.
That was when Kal spoke to Clover.

This was the first time Pluto’s Summoned Creature had spoken directly to Clover.
Until now, the other Summoned Creatures had spoken to her often enough, but Kal had never addressed her before.
Clover glanced toward Pluto in mild surprise, but seeing no particular reaction from him, it seemed the Summoned Creature had seized a moment when his connection to his master’s heart had wavered.
“Real trouble?”

Kal whimpered.

Kal spoke through trembling vocals.
Clover, reeling from shock, ran back through what Kal had just said.
‘A dead man…….’
So that was it.
Why Pluto’s face had gone deathly pale, why Papa’s expression had turned strained.
The act of killing everything in the Garden.
If word of it reached the Emperor, Pluto would die.
Clover looked around.
The Garden surrounding the Annex Building was entirely dead. At this scale, even if word didn’t leak from inside, the Emperor would eventually learn of it.
[The little prince is in trouble too…….]
Lucky drifted about cheerfully, speaking.
[At this scale, the Emperor will definitely hear about it without fail.]
Listening to Lucky and Kal, Clover thought quietly, then asked Pluto in a voice so small it wouldn’t reach his ears.
“Then, if the Garden comes back to life, wouldn’t he hear about it?”

“Your Highness wouldn’t be in trouble then……?”

Kalid jerked upright, his voice sharp with question.
Clover didn’t answer. Instead, she dropped to the bare earth and pressed both palms flat against the dry soil.
“……?”
“Clover?”
When Clover suddenly crouched on the ground, Pluto and Kalid turned toward her with puzzled expressions.
But instead of answering them, Clover focused entirely on the tips of her own fingers.
‘Use my Authority.’
She concentrated and reached for her Power.
Then.
“……It’s there!”
Deep beneath the surface.
She felt it—the Crystal Seed still remained in that distant place, still alive.
From the Crystal Seed, which was as much the heart of this land as anything could be, a pulse still beat.
Which meant everything could revive.
Which meant this land’s life had not ended.
As an Authority Bearer, Clover could sense this instinctively, without anyone telling her.
Lucky, understanding what Clover was thinking, hopped up and down excitedly.
[Clover, little one! For that, you’ll need to show me your incomplete Spirit!]
Cultivating this land was the role of the Spirit Clover had created.
So if she borrowed the power of both the Crystal Seed and her incomplete Spirit, she might be able to restore it, however imperfectly.
In theory, at least, it was flawless.
After a moment’s thought, Clover looked up at Lucky and asked.
“Lucky…….”
[Ugh…….]
“Can you do it?”
[……Of course. Who do you think I am?]
The Garden in this vicinity belonged to the Spirit Clover had created.
Which meant it belonged to Clover, essentially.
And besides, Clover’s seedling no longer wilted easily, no longer collapsed in an instant.
With Lucky’s strength added to the mix, it might well be possible.
And even if it wilted again, like before.
‘I have to try.’
If she didn’t, Pluto’s life would be in danger.
How could she simply stand aside and watch?
Sensing Clover’s resolve, Lucky let out a long sigh and perched gently on the back of her hand.
[Fine, fine. Do as you wish…….]
“Spirit!”
At Clover’s call, the ‘incomplete’ Spirit that had been hiding somewhere crept out and materialized before her eyes, hovering gently.
“You doing okay?”
The Spirit too seemed weakened by Pluto’s Authority, smaller than when Clover had first seen it.
But the way it kept moving sluggishly showed that it still had strength left.
“…….”
Kalid’s eyes widened in disbelief.
‘What is that?’
When Clover crouched and reached out her hand, something strange appeared.
It resembled a formless Summoned Creature created by a fledgling Authority Bearer, or perhaps a pale green droplet of water.
Yet it clearly followed Clover. It seemed to belong to her, bound to her.
‘But what on earth is it…….’
He’d never seen anything like it before in his life.
And it seemed Pluto was no different—the young prince couldn’t tear his eyes from Clover’s fingertips.
Squelch, squelch.
As the green mass moved, Clover’s Summoned Creature fluttered in response.
And then came the moment.
Shaaaa.
A ribbon of warmth enveloped Kalid’s body.
It swept through the surroundings slowly and steadily, just as Pluto’s Authority had done moments before.
But there was one difference from Pluto’s Power.
‘This is…….’
This was Clover’s Authority.
The Authority that made seedlings sprout, that made flowers bloom.
It spread outward in all directions with the gentlest of touches.
Like the warm breeze of a spring day, or a mother’s lullaby.
With the softest grace, it unfurled slowly across the Garden, enveloping everything in its path.
And that was the moment.
“……!”
The ‘mass’ that had been spinning at Clover’s fingertips split from one into two, then from two into four.
Kalid couldn’t begin to understand what was happening.
Yet it was unmistakable—Clover was displaying something extraordinary.
***
From one to two.
From two to four.
In an instant, Clover’s four Spirits soared across the Garden, breathing life back into the dead earth.
Shoots sprouted from the blackened ground; trees long withered began to take root once more.
It was Clover’s Authority at work, yes, but the true power came from the ‘Seeds’ she had planted long ago.
A Crystal Seed—a seed that gathers and stores all the nourishment of the earth.
So long as it remains, the land awakens again, and new growth rises forth.
What Clover had done was simply draw forth what lay dormant there and release it back into the world.
Of course, even this exacted a toll on her small, four-year-old body.
“I did it……!”
Clover murmured with a radiant smile.
But in that moment.
Trickle.
A thin stream of scarlet blood ran from the child’s nose.

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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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