LSBVF ~ 02

Chapter ~ 02

Bang!

Just then, someone opened Clover’s bedroom door without permission and barged inside.

Clover quickly climbed onto the bed and pulled the blanket over herself.

Then she whipped her head around and looked at the person who had entered.

“What are you doing?”

The person who had opened the door was her nasty cousin, Louis.

He was Count Dempfer’s only son, and he enjoyed bullying Clover.

And aside from Louis, no one else opened Clover’s door by barging in like this.

‘Oh, come on…….’

Clover let out a tiny sigh, pulled the blanket all the way over her head, and said,

“I’m westing.”

“Resting? You were doing something just a moment ago! I heard all that rustling!”

……His ears are really good.

Clover flinched, but she tightly gripped the blanket so that Louis wouldn’t notice.

Step.

In the meantime, Clover could feel Louis approaching the bed where she was lying.

His footsteps grew louder and louder.

“Hey.”

So did that annoying voice.

Cower.

The closer Louis came, the more Clover squirmed inside the blanket, trying to get farther away from him.

Clover hated Louis.

Because Louis bullied her every day.

He had obviously come to bully her again today, so she didn’t want to deal with him.

But then—

“Huh? What’s this?”

Louis had apparently found something, because Clover heard him rummaging around.

When Louis’s attention shifted from her to something else, Clover let out a relieved sigh.

Rustle.

‘Rustle?’

Clover suddenly realized that there was only one thing in this room that could possibly be making that sound.

She shot upright.

“Louis!”

Clover shouted and turned toward him.

Sure enough, Louis was pulling the diary Clover had written from underneath the bed.

“What’s this filthy piece of paper? What did you write here?”

“No! Give it!”

Clover reached out after Louis snatched her diary away.

She absolutely could not let him take that.

She needed it so she could ask Daddy to punish Louis and Aunt!

Bad Louis!

“Did you write ‘idiot’ here? You wrote it so crooked that I can’t even read it.”

Fortunately, Louis couldn’t properly decipher Clover’s handwriting.

“Tch. At least write so people can actually read it.”

Louis mocked her, unable to make out the crooked letters Clover had painstakingly written.

That was fortunate.

But with the diary still in Louis’s hands, Clover couldn’t relax.

“Give it back! It’s mine!”

“No. Why should I?”

“Mean! Why did you take it?”

“Is it wrong for me to take it?”

He grinned.

“Everything in this mansion belongs to me anyway.”

“…….”

“The clothes you’re wearing, this piece of paper—everything belongs to me. Mother said that everything in this mansion will eventually belong to me because I’m going to inherit the family.”

‘Louis is so annoying…….’

Clover subtly glared at the smug Louis.

Fortunately, Louis didn’t notice.

Instead, he walked toward the window.

Then Clover’s eyes widened when she realized what he was planning by going over there.

“Louis!”

“That means I’m allowed to take it.”

With a mischievous grin, Louis threw Clover’s diary out through the small window.

Flutter.

Countless sheets of parchment fluttered through the air and flew outside the window.

“I can do this, too.”

“……!”

Clover’s diary.

Her diary, the one she had carefully collected page by page, scattered in every direction like fallen leaves blown away by the wind.

Clover had lost nearly half of the diary she had worked so hard to write.

She collapsed onto the floor.

“No…….”

It was her precious diary.

She couldn’t let anyone take it.

And the fact that it might be discovered was an even bigger problem.

Clover had written in that diary about how Count Dempfer had been pocketing the money meant for her upbringing.

Of course, ‘Lucky’ had told her about it.

Lucky had explained that stealing the money meant for Clover’s care was just as wicked as stealing the cupcakes that were supposed to be given to her as snacks.

So Clover had immediately written that down in her diary, too.

But what if Count Dempfer actually read it?

Clover’s face turned pale.

No one liked reading a piece of paper covered in insults about themselves.

And no one liked the person who had written those insults, either.

Considering how nasty and foul-tempered Count Dempfer was, there was no doubt that he would become absolutely furious if he discovered Clover’s ‘diary.’

[That rotten bastard!]

The four-leaf clover raged furiously.

But Clover didn’t have time to be angry at Louis.

‘Gotta pick them up, quick!’

She had to collect all of them before Evil Aunt saw them and went completely berserk!

Leaving Louis behind in the room, Clover flung open the door and dashed outside.

Tap-tap-tap!

She raced down the spiral staircase and quickly arrived in the garden.

It was the very garden that could be seen from Clover’s bedroom window.

So the diaries Louis had thrown out must have scattered somewhere around here.

“Quick, quick, find ’em……”

If Aunt saw them, Clover was dead!

Clover bent over and searched through the garden, picking up the diary pages one by one.

‘Found one!’

‘Here too!’

It was almost like a treasure hunt.

There was no prize for finding them, though……

‘At least I won’t get scolded.’

That alone was enough.

One page.

Then another.

At one point, a passing gardener even picked up a page for her.

“Are you looking for this?”

“Mm, thank you…….”

Clover hugged the parchment to her chest and nodded gratefully.

She collected the diary pages faster than she had expected.

Had she found them all?

She had never counted the pages while writing them, so she had no idea whether she had collected everything or not.

Just as Clover was running around the garden searching for her ‘diary’—

“Ah!”

One of the diary pages was caught in a tree!

What should she do?

‘Clover can’t climb.’

This tree was big and tall.

Even Louis had trouble climbing it.

There was no way Clover, who was much smaller and shorter than Louis, could climb up there.

Clover stomped her feet anxiously beneath the tree.

“Clover! You little brat, where are you again?”

Her aunt’s furious voice came from somewhere nearby.

[Gaaah! The villain has appeared!]

Lucky shouted.

‘Eek!’

Startled, Clover pressed herself tightly against the trunk of the tree.

She had to somehow climb up and get it!

Otherwise, that terrifying aunt was sure to scold her terribly again.

Just then—

Whoosh.

“……Hmm? A kitty?”

A blue cat appeared from somewhere.

It was a large, fluffy cat with long fur covering its head.

The cat was staring at Clover.

[Hmm?]

The cat silently watched Clover struggling beneath the tree.

Then it suddenly leaped effortlessly onto the tree.

And after climbing up, it grabbed the sheet of parchment Clover had been looking for in its mouth and brought it back down to her.

“You giving it to me……?”

The cat stared at Clover for a long time, as though answering yes.

Clover hurriedly wrapped both arms tightly around the cat’s neck.

“Thank you!”

Lucky, who had been watching the scene, muttered,

[This is probably a summoned beast…….]

But before Lucky could finish—

“Clover!”

Gasp.

The voices of her mischievous aunt and Louis could be heard again.

Clover hurriedly released the cat’s neck and said,

“I-I gotta go now.”

“…….”

“Thank you for helping me.”

Then she rolled up the parchment tightly so that its contents could not be seen.

“Clover…… So you were here!”

“Eek, Aunt!”

Just as Clover finished rolling up the parchment, Count Dempfer appeared at the perfect moment.

“You little brat! I told you not to go outside!”

She effortlessly picked Clover up.

Clover dangled helplessly from Count Dempfer’s hand.

“You’re grounded!”

“I didn’t come out because I wanted to…….”

“Don’t talk back!”

“Yes…….”

Furious, she carried Clover away with heavy footsteps.

Still dangling from Count Dempfer’s hand, Clover looked toward the spot where the ‘cat’ had been only moments ago.

But the cat that had helped Clover had already disappeared.

Had it been a guardian angel who had come to help her?

‘Thank you, kitty.’

After thanking the cat in her heart, Clover hugged the bundle of rolled-up parchment tightly once again.

August 2nd, weather sunny.

Aunt got angry again.

She told me not to tell Daddy.

That was what was written on the parchment the summoned beast had carried down from the tree.

There was no need to question whether the contents were true.

The owner of the diary, Clover, had been running around frantically collecting the pages with a pale face.

Which meant that everything written there must have really happened.

The tear stains scattered across the parchment were proof enough.

The Cloudian Duke, who had been watching the little girl pick up her diary and staring at the tear stains remaining in the corners of the parchment, spoke.

“……I should go to the Dempfer estate.”

His voice was dark and chilling, befitting his reputation as the Butcher of the North.