Chapter 32

For now, one thing was certain.

No matter what, I was going to punish the Lilith marquis’s family somehow.

Honestly, this could all be resolved easily if I just told duke mister about my conversation with Lucas.

The problem is that Lucas still doesn’t want anyone to know.

“Hmm. What should I do?”

I couldn’t go around blabbing something he told only me after we promised to keep it secret.

But if this wasn’t resolved, it really felt like Lucas wouldn’t attend the heir selection trial.

Maybe if I persuade him a little more, Lucas will agree to participate?

Shake, shake—

I thought about it, then shook my head.

It wouldn’t be right to push someone who had only just confessed his wounds.

Roll—

I turned over in bed.

Then suddenly, something crossed my mind.

Hm?

Wouldn’t it be enough if the heir selection trial itself got postponed until Lucas calmed down?

A pretty good idea came to me.

The next day.

“Mister.”

“What.”

“Please include me among the heir candidates too.”

Inside the peaceful office.

I blinked my eyes pitifully, looking deeply hurt.

“...I’m part of the direct line too, so why won’t you include me as an heir candidate?”

“That’s because the heir selection trial requires a power...”

“Is it because I’m adopted?”

“Pffft—”

Calypse sprayed out the coffee he had been drinking.

I’m sorry, Father.

Looks like I need to become a slightly fire-attributed filial daughter this time.

***

That afternoon.

Because of Aisha’s statement, the Kreutz family secretly held a small meeting.

W-What in the world happened...?

Exactly my thoughts.

The attendants hurried in one after another, but the moment they saw Calypse’s face, every single one of them avoided eye contact.

The head of the ducal family looked ready to wage war.

Tap. Tap.

Each time his long, straight fingers struck the table, the attendants’ hearts sank with a clunk.

Once everyone was seated—

“You all...”

Duke Calypse finally spoke heavily.

“What would you think if a mere five-year-old said she wanted to participate in the Kreutz family’s heir selection trial?”

“......?”

At the duke’s question, the attendants exchanged sidelong glances and stayed silent for a long moment.

“Well... if another power holder besides Young Master Tex has appeared, we would welcome it wholeheartedly...”

“No.”

The duke answered seriously.

“I’m asking what you think about a powerless little child asking to join the candidate trial because she wants to contribute to the Kreutz family.”

One attendant cautiously opened his mouth.

“Well, if she’s powerless, then naturally becoming an heir candidate would be...”

“I was short-sighted.”

“...Pardon?”

The attendants’ eyes widened at the sudden self-reproach.

Ignoring their reactions, Calypse sighed and pressed a hand against his forehead.

“I thought I was treating her equally, but that child still thinks of herself as adopted.”

Wait a second.

This.

Drrrk.

The attendants’ eyes slowly rolled toward one another.

“She says things like that, but it feels like she’s actually trying to buy time until Lucas opens his heart.”

...This isn’t really a meeting.

“Officially, only power holders from the direct line and branch line can become heirs... but since this is the first powerless child in the history of the Kreutz family, I’m worried she’ll be hurt if we deny her candidate status.”

...His Grace is just venting to us, isn’t he?

“She must never think something like, Maybe I’m not truly part of the direct line after all.”

At this point, the answer had already been decided.

If she’s five years old... he’s talking about Lady Aisha, right?

That appears to be the case.

The attendants exchanged glances like nervous meerkats.

A powerless member of the direct line becoming an heir candidate? It certainly was unprecedented.

But a branch-line member becoming an heir candidate had also never happened before. Neither had adopting a commoner child into the direct line of the Kreutz family.

And under these circumstances, Aisha trying to buy time for the emotionally wounded Lucas—

It’s not a bad idea.

If Lucas was ultimately going to become the head of the family anyway, then temporarily placing someone from the same direct line in the candidate position instead of a branch-line candidate wasn’t a terrible option.

But could a young lady born a commoner really defeat a power holder?

You say it.

Tap.

No, you say it.

Tap.

I spoke during the last monster subjugation. You say it.

But what if the young lady loses?

That was what they wanted to ask.

But the moment they met Calypse’s blazing eyes, their mouths snapped shut.

In the end, while they silently pushed the responsibility onto one another—

“So she’s protesting because she dislikes being an adopted member of the direct line?”

Calypse completely misunderstood the situation, and his eyes slowly widened.

“N-No, not at all! We were simply admiring the young lady’s generous and magnanimous heart!”

“Exactly! We were so impressed we were practically flapping around like fish!”

“Ah. So that’s why you were flapping.”

Only then did Calypse smile in satisfaction.

After the meeting ended—

Once even the servants cleaning up afterward had left, only Calypse and Knox remained inside the meeting room.

Without much thought, Knox organized the reports and asked,

“But will the young lady really be alright? Her opponent is a power holder.”

One concern simply led to another.

Even if Aisha became an heir candidate, the issue still wouldn’t truly be resolved.

“...The odds are slim.”

Just as Calypse’s gaze darkened while rubbing his tired face—

“I’m definitely gonna win—!”

Cheep, cheep.

A chick-like voice chirped from directly overhead.

“......?”

“?”

Filled with sudden dread, the two men slowly lifted their heads toward the ceiling.

“I’m a former spy and current member of the direct line of the Kreutz family! You won’t find specs like these anywhere else, Father!”

Aisha was hanging from the enormous chandelier while making a V sign with her fingers.

Calypse nearly had a heart attack.

“You little brat, what are you doing up there?! It’s dangerous!”

“Father, if you’re going to raise a golden seed anyway, you have to raise it strong.”

“Forget the ‘Father’ nonsense and get down here right now!”

“Then are you putting me in the heir candidate lineup?”

“Get down first.”

“You’re putting me in, right?”

“Yes. I’ll put you in, so hurry down.”

“Hup—!”

The instant her tiny body landed lightly on the floor—

“Gweh?!”

“Got you, you little rascal.”

A massive hand snatched Aisha straight up.

“You don’t even need to participate, so why are you trying to? Did Lucas tell you something?”

“N-No, he didn’t say anythi— gwaah!”

Meanwhile, Lucas, who had secretly witnessed the horrifying scene through the back door, quietly closed it and fled.

Only after shutting his bedroom door did his pounding heartbeat finally begin to calm.

“...Aisha. Don’t tell me you’re entering the trial because of me?”

Lucas crawled back under his blanket and stared blankly into space, lost in thought.

She even kept her promise and didn’t tell anyone about me.

As a young lord of the direct line of the Kreutz family, he swore he would repay this debt someday.

Hmph.

But as Lucas clenched his fist and furrowed his thick brows, his expression darkened.

What was he supposed to do about the heir selection trial?

Truthfully, he had always intended to become the heir.

Everything still felt unfamiliar and uncomfortable right now, but if he’d only been given a little more time, he would have proudly taken the test.

But—

“...I never meant to make Dandelion struggle in my place.”

His regretful voice echoed quietly through the room.

“Do you wanna sleep with me tonight?”

He had thought she was just an easygoing kid who listened well to his worries.

But while sleeping beside him—

While he’d fallen into a peaceful sleep without nightmares because she was there—

You were lying there worrying about whether you should take the heir selection trial instead of me, Aisha?

“...I’m three years older than her.”

Lucas glared bitterly at the innocent floorboards before kicking a nearby cushion away.

“You’re a complete failure as an older brother.”

If he refused to attend the heir selection trial, what would happen to Dandelion?

Dandelion was strong.

Even though she was tiny, she had risked herself to save him.

And with hands as small as maple leaves, she possessed poison-needle techniques capable of knocking out grown men.

But—

“Her opponent is a power holder.”

Knox’s calm words refused to leave his ears.

Lucas stared silently at his palm.

The moment he merely became conscious of it, white frost spread across his fingertips and sharp icicles formed.

He knew better than anyone how enormous the gap was between a power holder and an ordinary person.

Just like how he had been unable to even stretch a hand beyond the bars for five years—yet escaped instantly the moment his restraints were removed.

“...If Dandelion gets hurt because of this...”

Crack—

Before he could even finish imagining it, his body reacted first.

The ice crystals forming in his hand shattered apart.

A little while later.

After agonizing over it for a long time, Lucas finally pulled something from the inner pocket of his jacket.

It was a slave trade contract.

***

Several days later.

A carriage engraved with the image of a mountain goat slid to a stop before the Kreutz estate.

“Tex. Just do what you always do.”

“Yes, Father.”

At last.

Today was the day of the heir selection trial.