Chapter 05
Late afternoon.
The eldest son of the House of Hyderic and Vale’s first son, who had returned to the castle a day early.
Just as Justian was getting out of the carriage and heading to his room.
“Hm?”
In front of him, a girl he had never seen before was walking with her cheeks puffed full.
Silver hair that reached her waist, and violet eyes that could be glimpsed.
And with some kind of plant on her shoulder that looked like an accessory or something, she was walking in a way that was impossible not to notice.
“Butler Taylor?”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“Who’s that? Looking at her eye color, she seems like a relative.”
Justian tilted his chin, pointing at the small girl walking away.
The only time children entered the Hyderic main castle was when the Duke’s friends or family associates came and went.
And he had memorized the names, faces, and ages of all the children his age.
But nowhere in that information was there a child with silver hair and violet eyes.
Especially not a hamster-like girl with her cheeks stuffed full and chewing away.
“I don’t know the details either.”
“You don’t know?”
“Yes. She seems to be the daughter of a guest who came to see the lord, or perhaps a collateral relative. As you know, the main castle is so large that it takes some time for news from the central keep to reach this side.”
That was true. With a reasonable explanation, Justian nodded and turned his gaze again. In the meantime, the girl had disappeared toward the west side of the castle.
Since she went west, she’s probably a collateral relative. The west side usually had quarters prepared for guests or collateral relatives to stay temporarily.
Losing interest, Justian turned around.
“Father?”
“He is currently in the sunroom.”
“Still busy with the food shortage?”
“What would a mere butler know? However, I did hear that a solution to the food shortage seems to have been found through trade with the Lebdon Kingdom’s merchant guild.”
At Butler Taylor’s words, Justian nodded briefly.
It had already been three years since the drought began. The first drought started when he was nine, and three years had passed since then.
Unlike what he had thought would be resolved quickly, the prolonged situation was the biggest headache for the lords based in the south.
“Butler Lukeman.”
That was when Justian, thinking such thoughts and walking briskly, entered the corridor leading to the sunroom.
He spotted Lukeman walking from the opposite direction and approached with a smile. Justian, standing before the sunlit window, had skin that shone translucently, and his golden hair and golden eyes sparkled beautifully.
“It’s been a while, Young Master. You’ve grown even more. Congratulations.”
“Thank you. More importantly, is Father inside?”
“He is currently meeting with someone from the Senate. If it’s not urgent, perhaps you could come back after dinner?”
“He must be very busy with the food shortage.”
Justian sighed quietly and closed his lips. If only he could handle natural element magic, he could have relieved his father’s worries.
Unfortunately, natural element magic wasn’t something one could use just by learning the formulas.
The ability to communicate with the natural worldāreceptivityāwas essential. Those lacking it could not cast a single spell, no matter how much high-grade mana stones or enormous formulas they had.
And Justian had almost none of that receptivity.
“Still, it seems a solution has been found, so you can look forward to good news soon.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Ah, more importantly, there’s something I wanted to tell youā”
“Young Master!!”
Just as Lukeman was smiling and looking at him, cautiously opening his mouthā
A voice from behind made Lukeman turn around. A boy who appeared to be a page for the knights was approaching quickly.
“Commander Hector is looking for you.”
“Ah, come to think of it, I haven’t seen my master yet. Head Butler. What were you going to say?”
“It’s nothing. Please go ahead first. Ah, come to think of it, I haven’t seen His Highness the Prince…”
“Edric is sleeping in the attic. He likes it there, you know.”
“Ah, that’s right. I forgot about that place. Understood. Then, I’ll deliver refreshments to His Highness later.”
“Please do. He’s been suffering from insomnia lately and hasn’t been able to sleep at all. Well then.”
Justian bowed his head politely and turned to follow the page.
Lukeman watched Justian, who had grown up so upright, with pride and affection.
“But I wonder if I’ll have any reason to meet Preldin’s daughter?”
Since she was staying in the west, it seemed unlikely they would meet, and there was no reason they shouldn’t.
However, he was worried she might commit a mistake by being rude to that person.
Even though it wasn’t confirmed yet, if she was recognized as Preldin’s daughter, that girl would be Justian’s great-grandmother.
“…Well, I suppose I can watch for a day.”
The butler chuckled, shook his head, and dismissed his concern.
—
“I ate too much…”
I learned for the first time that eating too many sweets makes your stomach feel heavy. On my way back to my room, I kept accepting sweets from the maids and stuffing them in until my cheeks felt like they’d burst.
They squealed that it was cute, which made me puff up with pride and eat even more, and before I knew it, my mouth was full of sweets.
“I didn’t know I liked sweet things this much.”
The only sweet things I’d ever eaten before were barley berries or occasionally unrefined honey extracted from flowers.
But the refreshments I’d had since coming here were sweet and soft enough to make those things pale in comparison.
I wanted to eat them every day if possible.
“Pipi-!!”
I grinned at Manduk, who had climbed down from my shoulder and flopped onto the bed.
“Pipipipi–!”
It was so cute that I tickled its belly, and Manduk laughed with a sound. After playing with Manduk for a while, I rested my chin on the bed.
“Am I going to live here now?”
Actually, when I was told to leave, I’d worried a lot about where to go next. So when I heard I could live here, I was happy and relieved.
But now that I was actually told I’d be living here from now on, I missed the house where I’d slept and woken up with Dad until just a few days ago.
“Manduk. Do you think Dad is safe?”
Dad was a great mage. I don’t know much, but Uncle Gius said Dad was a famous archmage in the empire.
I didn’t think Dad, such an archmage, would have died, but I couldn forget the house swallowed by fire, and the soldiers rushing into it.
“I miss him…”
Thinking of Dad made me pout with sadness.
If I could settle down here quickly, I could treat my burns and find Dad too. And on top of that, I could find those bad men and take revenge!
“Pii-”
Manduk approached me, hugged my head, and quietly rubbed against me.
“Are you comforting me?”
“Piipi!”
“Thank you.”
I smiled and was about to move my fingers when I suddenly realized I’d been using too much magic, so I got up.
“Tonight, I’ll let you sleep in a flowerpot so you can rest comfortably. How about that?”
“Piipi!”
Seeing Manduk hop with joy, I grinned and rummaged through my backpack, then realized. I didn’t have a flowerpot.
“If I go out and ask to borrow one, will they give it to me?”
There was plenty of soil outside, so I could just scoop some up. After a moment’s thought, I got up and went outside.
I approached a maid who looked older than the others as she walked through the hallway, and tugged at her skirt.
“Hm? What’s the matter?”
“Do you have a flowerpot by any chance?”
“A flowerpot?”
I nodded, and the maid looked at me with surprised eyes, then smiled.
“Just a moment.”
She left me there and disappeared for a moment. When she returned, she was holding a flowerpot.
“Here you go. By any chance, do you need soil too?”
“Umm… I can dig some up myself.”
I bowed deeply and turned around to hurry away. Leaving behind the laughter that pierced my back, I went out through the west entrance and looked around.
There were flower beds landscaped with flowers and trees everywhere. I was just planning to scoop up a little soil from there.
‘It would be nice to ask for soil too, but…’
The soil Manduk needed was special. It wasn’t something I could just get from someone else.
“Here it is!”
I knelt in front of a flower bed I found after wandering around. As I spread my palm and touched the flower bed, I could feel the soil was alive, soaked with water. It was quite good quality soil.
This alone would be sufficient, but it still wasn’t enough.
What mandrakes need is purified soil. It had to be pure, flawless soil free of impurities.
Because such soil was very precious, mandrakes were an endangered species, rarely found anywhere.
“Now then…”
I smiled and clenched my fist, and a deep green energy gathered in my hand. After saturating my palm with that energy, I brought it over the flower bedā
“What are you doing right now?”
No, I tried to bring it over.
But before I could, a cold voice fell from behind me, and a sharp blade landed on my shoulder.
“To dare try to cast a curse on the Hyderic castle’s flower bed.”
…A curse?
It looks like that because of the color, but this isn’t a curse, it’s purification.
“Show me your face, you despicable witch.”
‘…Witch?!’
At the voice that dared to call me a witch, my face flushed red as I turned around.
There stood a boy with golden eyes, staring at me coldly.
