The Baby Sprout Who Bloomed in the Villain Duke’s Family - Chapter 85

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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 85
“Ah, ah no…”
“Your brother needs to rest, so off with you now. Go play with your other brothers, or else… go play with Nia.”
As Peson lifted Clover into the air, the boy’s summoned creature swam behind him with a bewildered expression, its tail thrashing as if to protest.
The dolphin’s tail was now nearly frayed and tattered.
Clover felt the urge to cry welling up inside her. Yet she did not.
Clover was a spirited child, after all. Even when cast out, she wouldn’t cry—she’d find another way.
‘So don’t cry!’
[This fool doesn’t even realize I’m trying to help!!]
Lucky bounded about frantically, but Peson could not possibly hear the creature’s voice.
Peson yanked the door open and spoke.
“Now, off you go. Go and play with Nia and—”
“…”
At that moment, catching sight of the figure standing beyond the threshold, Peson’s eyes widened in surprise.
Clover’s older sister, Sone, stood just outside the door, both hands tucked into her trouser pockets.
She, standing a little taller than Peson, looked at each of them in turn.
“…Sone?”
Peson called to her in a strained voice, his gaze fixed on her with the look of someone brimming with unspoken questions.
How long had she been standing there?
Had she heard everything that passed between them inside the room?
If Sone had heard their entire exchange, the situation would become difficult.
Just as the boy was left reeling by her sudden appearance—
‘Ooh!’
Clover’s eyes widened at the sight of Sone, though for an entirely different reason than Peson’s.
Big sister!
Had her sister heard the conversation from inside the room?
‘I hope she did.’
Then her sister could solve this for her.
‘Then Clover could manage it without any effort.’
As she gazed hopefully between Sone and Peson—
‘Hmm?’
Clover noticed something strange at Peson’s chest, right where he held her.
What was this?
It looked exactly like a small seed.
Yet unlike ordinary seeds, it was a deeply unpleasant, ominous black.
What had been invisible moments before now gleamed with a sinister black light, embedded near Peson’s heart.
Staring at it blankly, Clover reached out without thinking and touched the thing lodged at Peson’s chest.
[…Little one, can you feel it?]
‘I can feel it…’
She could feel it.
With the right touch, it seemed as though it might come free.
And yet.
‘It feels wrong…’
Was this the reason for the unease she’d felt sitting beside Peson?
Her small hand shrank back as if from something it shouldn’t touch.
But somehow she knew this couldn’t be left as it was.
“Does something hurt?”
Sone asked Peson the question from above Clover’s head.
Peson, caught off guard, was about to answer when—
Pop.
The seed lodged near Peson’s heart came free in Clover’s hand.
Clutching the seed, Clover remained nestled in Peson’s embrace, staring up at him with a dazed expression.
And in that instant—
“Gasp—!”
Peson’s pupils contracted sharply, his eyes blown wide with shock.
Stagger.
For a moment the boy’s body lurched, losing its center of balance.
The strength drained from his arms. Alarmed by Peson’s sudden distress, Clover looked up at him, the seed clutched tight in her hand.
“P-Peson…!”
“Peson!”
Sone quickly caught Clover in one arm to keep her from falling, then helped steady Peson.
“Peson, are you all right?”
“Ah, ugh……! Ow!”
Peson clutched at his chest, gasping in pain—the very spot where Clover had pulled out the seed just moments before.
Cold sweat streamed down the boy’s forehead, and as Peson’s mouth hung open in agony, Sone and Clover’s eyes widened in alarm, realizing something had gone terribly wrong.
“Brother……?”
“Someone! Is anyone there? Go fetch Duke Abe and summon a physician!”
As Sone’s voice rang out into the corridor, the servants who had been waiting outside at Peson’s instruction moved swiftly into action.
Clover, who had been cradled in Sone’s arms, stared blankly at Peson for a moment, then pulled free and hurried toward him.
“Ah, uh…….”
What do I do? What do I do?
Is he hurt because of me?
‘Because I pulled it out……?’
Clover’s face drained of color. The small hands she had wrapped around Peson trembled violently.
“H-how do I put it back…….”
How can I put it back? How?
Clover stared down at the black seed still cradled in her palm.
It pulsed in her hand with an ominous glow, beating like a heart, like a pulse throbbing in time with life itself.
A strong instinct told her that putting it back would be wrong—terribly wrong.
But.
‘He’s hurt because of this…….’
Clover’s mind spun into chaos. She couldn’t think, couldn’t decide what to do. Her vision whitened at the edges.
Tears gathered in her wide eyes, and Lucky, startled, pressed his small form against her cheek and spoke.
[Clover, calm down!]
“Uh……?”
[Don’t put it back! It had to come out anyway—keep it!]
Lucky’s voice rang sharp and clear in Clover’s ear.
That was when it happened.
“We’ll move him to the bed!”
“Has Duke Abe been informed?”
“Another servant is fetching him now!”
Servants and attendants rushed between Peson and Clover, lifting the gasping boy’s body from the ground.
“Clover, come here.”
Sone pulled her into an embrace, keeping her out of the way of the bustling servants. Clover fit snugly against her side.
“Sister, Peson…….”
“We’ve called for a physician. He’ll be fine. You go to your room.”
Sone spoke in a steady voice. In an instant, the entire Claudian Residence erupted into chaos at the news of Peson’s collapse.
“But, sister…….”
“Clover, I’ll come back soon. Stay with Nia, understand?”
Sone hurried Clover to the room where Nia lay asleep.
And before Clover could even speak of the seed, Sone rushed away.
Clover was left alone, her face drained of color, gripping the seed tightly in her fist.
***
“Peson has collapsed?”
Jiteaia, who had been speaking with Kalid, furrowed her brow and asked again.
A servant who had rushed over nodded, her face glistening with sweat.
“Yes, Duke. We’ve taken him to his room and called for a physician. A physician from the Capital City is on the way—he should arrive shortly.”
“Why on earth would he suddenly…….”
Jiteaia’s expression grew troubled.
Before the Foundation Festival began, she had brought the children here to give them a brief time together.
And now he had collapsed inside the Claudian Residence?
If Kalid Claudian had not been her closest friend, Jiteaia might have suspected him in that moment.
A powerful Authority Bearer, a high-ranking noble in the Empire—there were always enemies circling such people.
But Kalid was not the sort to do such a thing. That meant Peson had truly fallen ill and collapsed.
‘Peson?’
Peson was robust—she had never known him to catch so much as a cold. The same was true of his sister Neinia, and their mother Jiteaia herself.
For him to collapse so suddenly! Alarmed, Jiteaia turned at once toward the room where Peson lay, Kalid at her side.
Arwin and Demian, who had heard the news, were already lingering outside the door.
“Duke!”

Jiteaia didn’t wait for Arwin or Demian to respond—she stepped into the room and assessed Peson’s condition at once.
“Ah, nngh…….”
Peson lay groaning, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Cold sweat streamed continuously down his flushed face.
Worse, his Authority was hemorrhaging without end, and every vase in the room trembled violently.
The servants scrambled to clear them away. Jiteaia watched for a moment, then placed her hand against Peson’s forehead.
“His Authority’s unstable.”
She murmured the words half to herself.
“Has the physician not arrived yet?”
At Jiteaia’s murmur, Kalid urged the servants onward. They bowed their heads in shame and hurried out.
While they moved, Jiteaia carefully removed her son’s upper garment and examined his Authority more closely.
If her instinct was right, no physician could help with this.
Jiteaia—an Authority Bearer with the same Power as Peson, and his mother—placed her hand over his heart, and his Authority began to ripple slowly in response.
Yet only a fraction of it answered her call.
The rest raged through his body, indifferent to her summons.
And then.
“……What is this?”
Jiteaia’s eyes went blank as she discovered the marks scattered across his body—scars that looked split and fractured from within.
They were not wounds inflicted from outside.
Tears that had opened from within.
Traces of corruption festering from the inside out.
The young boy’s body was covered in such marks. Jiteaia’s pupils trembled as she realized it.
Since when had these been here?

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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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