SMFLS 09

Because of the bombshell announcement Sertisha had made at the succession ceremony and Hicaros’s rampage that had turned the temple upside down, the banquet scheduled to take place after the ceremony had been hastily postponed.

Two days passed just like that.

In the meantime, many things had changed.

First, she no longer saw the future in her dreams.

Thanks to that, Sertisha’s emotional state had stabilized considerably. She had even regained enough composure to casually dismiss the protests of the collateral relatives and retainers who came to complain day after day.

Second, Sertisha was now officially the head of the family.

Her word was law, and as long as she stubbornly refused to yield, the elders had no choice but to return empty-handed every time.

Furthermore, the fact that she was a poor little girl who had lost her grandfather at such a young age served as an excellent shield. Sertisha made no qualms about using even that fact to her advantage, behaving as stubbornly as she pleased.

Of course, her young age was an excellent weapon for Sertisha. But for Rix, the chief steward who had to deal with all the aftermath whenever she wielded that weapon, it was practically a disaster.

In just two days, Rix had become a shadow of his former self. He swallowed a sigh as he watched the young sea otter who had been camped out in Grand Duke Hicaros’s room ever since the succession ceremony.

That was the third and final change.

Sertisha had started coming and going from Grand Duke Hicaros’s room as though it were her own home.

On the day of the succession ceremony, Grand Duke Hicaros had playfully called Sertisha his “future daughter-in-law.”

The problem, however, was that Sertisha had taken those words far too seriously.

Determined to become the perfect daughter-in-law, Sertisha had even tracked down a book titled The Dignity of a Daughter-in-Law and started reading it. In the end, Grand Duke Hicaros caught her with the book.

The moment he confiscated it, declaring that it was inappropriate reading material for a child, Sertisha burst into tears. At a loss for what to do, Grand Duke Hicaros took her to his room and tried to comfort her.

It was after that day that Sertisha began treating Grand Duke Hicaros’s room like her own.

Rix swallowed a deep sigh and repeated the words he had already said dozens of times today.

“Head of the family. Marquis Rodelin is once again requesting an audience.”

Sertisha looked up at Rix, who had aged terribly over the past few days, and furrowed her brow in irritation.

She was already so busy she could barely stand it!

“Ugh! He’s not a jellyfish, so why does he keep buzzing around! Just tell him to go away! Tisha is busy preparing to be your daughter-in-law, Uncle!”

For the past few days, Sertisha had been glued to Grand Duke Hicaros’s side, devoting herself to her “daughter-in-law training.”

As a result, she was once again sprawled across the soft bed in the middle of Grand Duke Hicaros’s room, working on her homework: Draw Ten Pictures of Jellyfish.

“Why?”

Rix looked at Sertisha, who raised only her head while hugging a doll, and continued cautiously.

“This time, Marquis Rodelin is refusing to leave the front of the eastern wing.”

Silence fell for a moment.

Sertisha’s ears perked up before an irritated voice burst out.

“What! Why has that jellyfish crawled all the way here?!”

Her tiny, shell-sized fist slammed down onto the bed.

“Just tell him to go away! Tisha is busy with her daughter-in-law training! Uncle told Tisha to draw ten pictures of jellyfish!”

Pardon…? Daughter-in-law training… and jellyfish pictures…?

Rix’s mouth twitched for a moment, but he forced himself to maintain a composed expression and bowed his head.

“Phew… Understood, Head of the family.”

After Rix withdrew, Sertisha was left alone in the room. Grand Duke Hicaros was away for the moment.

Sertisha carefully opened Crendia, which hung around her neck. In the very center of its interior was a single white pearl, with several neatly arranged, round indentations of the same size above, below, and on either side of it.

Sertisha touched the white pearl with her fingertip.

The pearl began to hum and vibrate faintly. Soon, it glowed softly and shimmered with all five colors.

“Iren, come out, come out!”

“Yaaawn… Why? I was sleeping so well.”

At Sertisha’s call, Iren appeared, blinking slowly like a lizard that had just woken up.

He yawned widely several times before flopping down on the soft bed.

“Hey! You said you’d been sleeping for hundreds of years! Why do you keep sleeping even now?! You said you’d help Tisha!”

“Come on~ Do you know how beneficial sleeping is? Even someone as tiny as a dried fish like you can grow and grow if you sleep a lot, until you’re as big as a whale.”

Even if a sea otter grew, it could never become a whale.

But six-year-old baby Tisha, brimming with dreams and hope, had no way of knowing that.

Sertisha’s eyes sparkled as she asked earnestly, “Really?!”

Then she could swallow those nasty jellyfish in one bite!

Uncle Whale had such a huge mouth!

It was a delightful thought, even just to imagine it.

When Sertisha’s eyes grew as round as saucers, Iren’s conscience began to prick at him.

Uh… well… even if a sea otter grew, it would still be smaller than a sea turtle…

Ah, whatever! Babies were supposed to dream big!

Deciding not to correct her, Iren silently cheered on the baby sea otter’s dream and changed the subject.

“So, why did you call me?”

“Hm? Oh! That’s right! You see, there’s a little problem.”

“A problem?”

“Mm… There are tons of jellyfish who refuse to acknowledge my guardian. And the most powerful jellyfish among them is Marquis Rodelin. He’s my eldest maternal uncle.”

After being passed over in favor of Sertisha’s mother, who had been the heir, her eldest maternal uncle had become a marquis. Among the collateral relatives and retainers, he was the one with the greatest influence.

Elder Hallis had to remain neutral, so in a way, Marquis Rodelin was practically the second-most powerful person in the Ritea family.

“But that’s okay, because Grand Duke Uncle agreed to become Tisha’s guardian.”

Neither the collateral relatives nor the retainers could prevent her from choosing a guardian.

As long as Sertisha was the head of the family, there was simply no way to stop her decision.

The problem was that Sertisha was the head of the great noble house of Ritea.

“Tisha has to go to the West, where Grand Duke Uncle lives. And I have to go to Hersen Academy to find his son.”

An orphaned fiancé could move into their future in-laws’ household and receive protection until reaching adulthood.

Furthermore, once Sertisha turned seven, she would have to enroll in Hersen Academy, an academy that only beastmen were allowed to attend.

Which meant…

The Ritea family would be left vacant in the meantime.

The moment Sertisha left the family estate, it was obvious who would seize control of the Ritea family.

The family’s de facto second-in-command.

The man who held sway over the collateral relatives and retainers.

Marquis Rodelin.

Sertisha’s eldest maternal uncle.

“I can’t entrust the family to my eldest maternal uncle. He’ll definitely gobble up Tisha’s position little by little.”

That was precisely why he kept showing up at her doorstep, wearing it down with his constant visits.

If he couldn’t become Sertisha’s guardian, then his next-best plan was to take control of the family’s inner workings and seize real power.

Sertisha wasn’t hiding away in the Grand Duke’s room for no reason.

But she still had no alternative way to keep them in check.

Delphina, her prospective aide, was still far too young. All of her grandfather’s people had retired after the funeral and were now spending the rest of their lives in peace.

There wasn’t a single person by her side whom she could confidently trust with such a responsibility.

If her grandfather were still alive—or if she herself had been just a little cleverer—perhaps this situation would never have arisen.

Thinking of her grandfather made her eyes sting, but she stubbornly held back her tears.

Until now, Sertisha had grown up in complete comfort under her grandfather’s protection.

She had been given the title of heir but had done nothing at all. Instead, she had lived a peaceful life, cared for like an ordinary little child.

So from now on, things had to change.

Sertisha was no longer a child who needed to be protected.

She was the head of this great noble house.

“I need to find someone on Tisha’s side who can keep my eldest maternal uncle in check.”

“Huh? Don’t you already have Hica… Hicaros-something Grand Duke?”

“Grand Duke Uncle belongs to another family. Even though he’s my guardian, he can’t stay in the Ritea family forever.”

Hicaros was the ruler of the West.

He was not someone who could remain in the Ritea family indefinitely.

Hicaros’s role was to protect Sertisha until she reached adulthood, not to take responsibility for the stability of the Ritea family as well.

He could handle some matters on Sertisha’s behalf, but there were clear limits to how directly he could manage the internal affairs of the Ritea family.

That was why she needed someone.

Someone who wasn’t an outsider, but who understood the inner workings of the Ritea family.

Someone who could become Sertisha’s hands and shield.

And Sertisha knew better than anyone who would be best suited for that position.

Her eldest maternal uncle’s twin sister.

Ponir Ir Ritea, the Saintess of the Temple of the Five-Colored Waves.

She absolutely had to meet her eldest maternal aunt, who had secluded herself inside the temple.