LSBVF ~ 09

Chapter ~ 09

[Yes.]

“But I heard he might not send me away either. You heard that too, Lucky, right?”

[Yes. I heard that too.]

Clover’s leaves had not brought Cerenio any good luck, but they allowed Clover to listen in on conversations from a distance.

And because Lucky, Clover’s summoned beast, was mentally connected to her, the sound was conveyed to him as well.

Having listened to the conversation between Khalid and Cerenio through the faint power remaining in the leaves, Clover covered her flushed cheeks with both hands.

“Wow, maybe I don’t have to go back after all…”

She had already completely forgotten the part about ‘looking into the possibility of hiring a nanny and having her stay at a villa.’

Clover smiled brightly.

“Okay, let’s go, Lucky.”

[Huh? Uh, where are we going?]

“Where else?”

Clover placed both hands firmly on her hips and declared,

“To find treasure, of course!”

If they found the treasure, Clover could stay here.

If she found the treasure, everything would be okay.

The thought process of a four-year-old was simple.

In fact, there was no reason for it to be any more complicated.

Because Clover was right.

However—

“…But where do we find it?”

While the servants were distracted, Clover had secretly slipped outside and plopped herself down in the middle of the lawn.

Plop.

Grass clung to her knees and palms.

Clover picked the blades of grass off one by one as she muttered,

“My legs huwt…”

[I told you to stay quietly in your room…]

“But I don’t wanna just sit around and wait.”

What if she waited and waited, but Daddy ultimately failed to find the treasure?

Then she would have to go back to Demper.

“I’ve already waited so long…”

And now she had to wait again?

Wait for an uncertain result and an unclear future?

‘No way.’

Clover was a capable little girl who could handle everything all by herself.

So that kind of thing simply did not fit with four-year-old Clover’s values.

Her pride would not allow her to sit around waiting for someone to spoon-feed her pudding.

But her legs hurt.

And that had nothing to do with her pride.

“I’m gonna rest for a little while.”

She would rest a bit, then start looking again.

Clover looked toward a bush covered in fresh green leaves.

Then her eyes widened when she noticed something.

“Huh? Nobody picked the flower here.”

She pointed at the pitch-black blossom and murmured.

A single, dark and filthy-looking flower was blooming there.

A faint unpleasant odor drifted from it.

There was only one flower right now, so the smell was bearable.

But if they bloomed in clusters, the stench would become impossible to ignore.

[…Indeed.]

The leaves and grass grew green and beautiful, but the flowers that bloomed among them were filthy and foul-smelling.

And it wasn’t just one or two types of flowers.

Every flower that existed on this continent was like that.

As a result, the people of the Empire considered giving someone a flower to be a tremendous insult, and nobles had their gardeners meticulously maintain their gardens so that not even a single flower could bloom.

Of course, if one went into fields or mountains, they could see flowers growing freely without being picked.

But this was a noble estate.

It was rare to see flowers blooming at a nobleman’s residence.

So this flower had probably bloomed because of some gardener’s mistake.

It would be picked soon.

“But I like flowers.”

However, Clover could barely smell the flower’s unpleasant odor.

And even flowers that everyone else considered ugly looked rather splendid to Clover.

So much so that she could not understand why anyone disliked them.

[Only trust what you see with your own eyes. You don’t need to believe anything else.]

Lucky had said that this was a special ability unique to Clover.

The ability to see what lies beneath the surface.

Hmm.

‘If Clover has so many abilities, why did Auntie hate her?’

As she pondered that question, Clover thought of Count Demper again.

She quickly shook her head from side to side.

‘Oh, I said I wasn’t going to think about that anymore, but I keep thinking about it.’

‘But now I really, really won’t think about it anymore.’

Clover even gave her cheek a little smack!

She rubbed her slightly reddened cheek and looked around.

Where should she search next?

Normally, if you wanted to find treasure, you needed a treasure map, right?

But Clover had neither a map nor a shovel to dig into the ground.

Besides, if she rummaged around the estate too much in the name of treasure hunting, people might dislike her again.

She really didn’t want anyone to hate her again.

Clover was rubbing her aching legs and thinking hard when—

“Myaaaow…”

An unfamiliar cry came from somewhere.

And then—

Swish.

A large, white-and-blue mass appeared in front of Clover.

“Gasp! A kitty!”

It was the cat that had brought Clover’s diary to her when she was staying at the Demper estate.

It was also Khalid’s summoned beast, the one that had followed him when he came to the Demper estate.

Clover smiled brightly at the familiar sight and reached out her hands.

“Kitty, have you been well?”

“Myaow.”

Clover sprang to her feet and threw her arms around the cat.

The cat was twice the size of an ordinary one, and it affectionately rubbed its cheek against the back of Clover’s neck.

‘Wow… It smells cool.’

A refreshing scent like a cool breeze came from the cat’s body.

It was the sort of scent that made Clover feel sleepy for some reason when she hugged it.

Come to think of it, Daddy smelled similar.

‘The smell of wind.’

Maybe it smelled the same because it was Daddy’s summoned beast.

Besides, perhaps because summoned beasts were beings created from a part of their master’s power, Clover’s body did not hurt even when the cat came close to her.

[Looks like you can withstand power of this level.]

Lucky muttered.

Hearing that, Clover unconsciously fidgeted with the hand holding the summoned beast.

‘It would have been nice if Daddy only had this much power.’

Just enough power that Clover wouldn’t get hurt when he hugged her.

‘No. I shouldn’t think like that.’

Just because she wanted to live with Daddy, she couldn’t make him weaker…

Steeling her heart, Clover continued stroking the cat.

Then, as though she had finally remembered the treasure again, she turned to Lucky.

“Lucky, do you think Kitty knows too?”

[The place where the treasure is hidden?]

“Uh-huh.”

[Hmm… If this one knew, wouldn’t your daddy have found it already?]

Now that Lucky mentioned it, he was right.

There was no way this summoned beast would know something Khalid didn’t.

“That’s twue.”

And if the cat did know, it would have told Khalid where the treasure was.

Then Clover wouldn’t have to be struggling like this right now.

Hmph.

Disappointed, Clover played with the summoned beast’s fur.

And then—

An unfamiliar voice flowed into Clover’s mind.

It wasn’t Lucky’s voice.

Nor was it Clover’s own voice.

Clover had already confirmed that there was no one else nearby, so it wasn’t someone else speaking to her.

Then this was…

“You… you said that?”

Clover’s eyes widened.

The summoned beast, sitting there regally, calmly licked its front paw and looked at Clover.

Even as it did so, the summoned beast’s voice continued flowing endlessly into Clover’s mind.

“!”

<If you want to find it, I’ll tell you where it is.>

“So, where are they sending her?”

Damian Cloudian, the eldest son of House Cloudian, asked as he looked out the window.

Beyond the crystal-clear glass, something tiny and light green, like a little bean, could be seen busily moving around.

It was so small, and its color was so similar to that of a newly sprouted blade of grass, that it would disappear from sight if one merely relaxed their eyes a little.

Damian lightly tapped the glass with his finger.

“I don’t know yet. It seems Father is still thinking about it.”

Arwin Cloudian, the second son of House Cloudian, stood beside him with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall.

“Wherever they send her, they absolutely cannot send her anywhere near Demper.”

He muttered the words through gritted teeth as he watched the little light-green bean squirming about.

Clover Cloudian.

The youngest and only daughter of House Cloudian.

Their precious little sister, whom they would cherish even if they put her in their eyes.

The two brothers had only seen Clover once in their entire lives.

It had been shortly after her birth, when they watched her being wrapped in a cradle and loaded into a carriage.

That was the last time Damian and Arwin had seen her.

They had parted from their youngest sister without even being able to properly greet her.

‘Ah… ahh.’

She had smiled brightly despite barely being able to open her eyes.

At the time, Damian and Arwin had been only seven and six years old.

Yet they remembered the moment Clover left Cloudian with startling clarity.