LSBVF ~ 03

Chapter ~ 03

Clover’s talking four-leaf clover.

‘Lucky’ had told her.

Daddy hadn’t abandoned her.

He had simply left her here because he had his reasons.

After many nights had passed, and the sun had risen countless times—

Daddy would definitely come to find her.

[So don’t worry, little squirt.]

Clover believed those words.

But…

Just how many more nights had to pass?

How many more times did the sun have to rise?

Clover was starting to truly miss Daddy.

A daddy she had never seen even once since she was born.

But reality was—

She was currently being carried away like a goose, dangling from Count Dempfer’s hand.

Count Dempfer lifted Clover up and strode toward her room.

Then she placed Clover down on the sunken mattress and said,

“Don’t act however you please!”

She continued, huffing angrily,

“Don’t go running outside whenever you feel like it. Understand?”

“…….”

“Answer me! Do you understand?!”

“Yesh…….”

Clover nodded while hugging the bundle of parchment tightly.

“Tsk.”

Only then did Count Dempfer withdraw her sharp gaze.

She pressed a hand against her forehead and thought,

‘Honestly, what an ill-mannered little brat…….’

Clover was not allowed to go outside recklessly.

‘At least not looking like this.’

Count Dempfer was also a ‘power user,’ just like the Duke of Cloudian.

The Dempfer family’s divine power was water.

She was a power user who could manipulate water.

That was why numerous channels carrying large amounts of water ran throughout the Dempfer estate.

There was a reason the mansion had been built that way.

Inside a place where water was flowing, no one could interfere with Count Dempfer’s ‘divine power.’

In other words, as long as they were inside the water-filled estate—

‘Even the mighty Cloudians cannot spy on what happens inside this mansion.’

Clover was practically a blemish on the Cloudian family.

So no one would care if she was treated carelessly.

After all, it was practically the same as having abandoned her here.

Count Dempfer considered the money being sent for Clover’s upbringing nothing more than an obligation.

But no matter how defective the child was, she was still a ‘Cloudian.’

So there was no harm in being cautious.

If she accidentally gave them something they could use against her, she would be the one in trouble.

That was why she prevented the scruffy-looking Clover from going out into the garden.

But Clover kept sneaking into the garden whenever she could avoid being seen.

All for the sake of practicing that trivial, worthless power of hers!

Having reached that thought, Count Dempfer glared at Clover.

‘Eek.’

Startled, Clover nervously averted her gaze.

Count Dempfer looked displeased at the huge bundle of parchment Clover was clutching.

Then—

“What’s this?”

She reached out and snatched the parchment from Clover’s arms.

“Eek!”

Again.

She took it again!

‘She took it again!’

Clover’s mouth fell slightly open after the parchment was suddenly stolen from her.

These two were exactly alike in the way they behaved!

First Louis, and now the Count had stolen her ‘diary.’

Clover stared at her in confusion.

“Th-this is nothing…….”

“If it’s nothing, why are you holding it so preciously?”

She narrowed her eyes and looked at the parchment.

It was densely covered with something written in a child’s handwriting.

Count Dempfer looked at Clover.

“Did you write this?”

“N-no……?”

Clover subtly looked away.

A brief silence followed.

“I suppose so.”

Having lost interest in Clover’s answer, Count Dempfer handed the parchment back to her.

“…….”

“There’s no way you can already write.”

Clover was only four years old.

She was old enough to know how to read, but not old enough to properly write.

So Count Dempfer believed Clover’s answer without giving it much thought.

And she handed the parchment back.

But then—

That evil demon Auntie! Auntie is stealing the money Daddy sent me.

“……Wait.”

For a brief moment, the Count read what was written on the parchment and immediately snatched it back.

“Ah!”

“……?”

She brought the parchment right up to her face and began deciphering the crooked handwriting.

It detailed exactly how Clover had figured out that her aunt wasn’t spending the money on her.

“!”

Startled, the Count continued reading Clover’s diary.

The contents beneath that were even more outrageous.

They were filled with insults about Count Dempfer herself.

The handwriting Louis had been unable to understand—

Count Dempfer somehow managed to decipher it.

Slowly, she raised her head.

Then she glared at Clover.

“You…….”

This was unquestionably an accusation.

And it had been written by a four-year-old child.

“……Hic!”

Frightened by the Count’s terrifying expression, Clover began hiccupping.

The startled child covered her mouth with both hands.

But—

“Hic!”

Once the hiccups started, they showed no sign of stopping.

Count Dempfer glared at the hiccupping Clover before snatching every piece of ‘diary’ from the child’s arms.

“Hand them over!”

Then she began reading each one with fierce eyes.

Clover watched with her mouth covered and muttered,

“Clover is in big twouble…….”

[Oh dear, we’re in big trouble…….]

Fortunately, Count Dempfer didn’t hear her muttering.

But that didn’t make her anger subside.

“You ungrateful little brat!”

The Count shouted furiously.

Clover flinched and cautiously backed away.

“A-Auntie…….”

First, the Count confiscated every piece of Clover’s diary that was in her hands.

She had no choice but to confiscate them.

Because they contained a complete record of all the misdeeds she had committed!

‘What the hell?!’

She crumpled one of the parchments in her hand and demanded,

“Where on earth did you get the parchment and pen?!”

Clover wasn’t even old enough to attend lessons yet, so there was no way the servants would have provided them.

Clover slowly backed away as though trying to escape and answered,

“Auntie…….”

“Me?”

“……You gave them to me so I could draw pictures and play at home.”

[That’s right, that’s right! She gave them to you herself!]

Lucky chimed in.

At Clover’s answer, the Count’s face twisted.

Thinking about it, that did seem possible.

But that wasn’t what mattered right now.

“I don’t care. From now on, you are absolutely forbidden from using them.”

She growled.

“If I catch you writing even anything resembling words, you’ll be thrown out of this mansion! Understand?”

[What a nasty person! What a cheapskate! The little girl only wrote a few things about you, and you’re shouting at a tiny little child like that!]

Lucky was furious too.

But Clover couldn’t agree with Lucky right now.

Clover obediently nodded.

“Yes…….”

“Is anyone out there?!”

The Count shouted loudly.

Two maids who had been waiting outside hurriedly ran into the room.

Without even turning to look at them, the Count gave her orders.

“Search every corner of this room and find every pen and piece of parchment! Find them all and get rid of them!”

“Yes, yes, my lady!”

The maids answered.

“And Clover, starting today, you are not allowed to take even a single step outside your room.”

The Count spoke in a furious voice.

Clover let out a tiny gasp.

“……!”

“I’m going to lock the door, so you won’t be able to sneak out.”

“……!”

“Don’t do anything. Just stay quietly locked up in your room!”

She threw all the parchment down in front of Clover and strode out of the room.

Just then—

“My lady!”

Her aide hurriedly approached the fuming Count.

“My lady, a guest has arrived.”

A guest?

The enraged Count sharply asked,

“What guest?”

“Well, um…… the Duke of Cloudian…….”

At those words, the Count, who had been walking briskly, stopped dead.

She turned toward her aide.

“Who came……?”

“The Duke, my lady! He has arrived just now! We escorted him to the drawing room.”

At those words, Count Dempfer froze like a stone.

The Duke of Cloudian?

The man who hadn’t shown even the slightest sign of himself for the past four years?

Why?

Why had he come at this exact moment?

He was Clover’s father.

The man who had sent an enormous amount of money for the past four years, telling the Dempfer family to raise Clover.

But his daughter, Clover, was currently—

‘Right now…….’

She was locked up in the second-worst room in the Count’s estate, sniffling sadly.

‘This is bad!’

Right now, there wouldn’t even have been enough time to deal with the damned ‘accusation letters’ in Clover’s room.

Forget the sniffling little brat.

First, she had to get rid of all of those things.

Count Dempfer spoke, unable to hide her growing panic.

“I’ll go to the drawing room. You, right now, call two maids and two servants……”

Call them and send them to Clover’s room.

Then find that diary—or whatever the hell it was—and get rid of every last page.

The Count was just about to give that order when—

“There’s no need to go to the drawing room.”

A voice, cold as a blade of winter wind and fierce as the northern wind, echoed through the hallway.