Chapter 45: Chapter 45

TL:Zimming, Editor:Sasha

Viscount Roman secretly summoned the vassals for a meeting.

“We have to bring Theodore Dubbled down, and kill the child of fate for the sake of the Dubbled family’s future!”

However, Roman’s words did not appeal to the vassals.

“Is that necessary?”

“What?”

“I’d rather see it as a good thing. We now at least have a leash on the duke.”

“She’s a fake! And a commoner!”

“Well, that’s also a rumor.”

A vassal who said so smiled, and looked at others.

“Did you not witness the kindness of our little miss last time?”

“It was amazing.”

“The increase in her divine powers has also been confirmed. Apparently, the people from the church are overjoyed.”

“Even among those who are able to wield divine power to experience an increase in them is very rare.”

The vassals, who had previously stated that they would never acknowledge Leblaine as a member of the Dubbled family, changed their minds and heaped all kinds of praises on her.

“No one is as lovely and generous as her.”

“No matter how small a child is, they can always distinguish between evil and good. It is clear that she’s an angel that has descended from heaven for she saved us, even though we made her go through all those things.”

“These people…!!! Get a hold of yourself. The little girl is not a child of fate, but a demon who has disillusioned the Duke!”

The other vassal shouted, “Oho!”

“You’re talking too much!”

“Your life was saved by the little miss, you should be a little grateful!”

The vassals worked together and drove Roman out of the room.

***

After dinner, the Duke summoned me to the office.

As I stood in front of him I stared at him with an oblivious expression on my face.

I had no idea why he called me for this time.

“Leblaine.”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you give me a flower ring?”

“What?”

When I looked at him, he pointed to Henry and Isaac, who were smiling brightly.

They stretched their hands out all day and kept staring at it saying, “Love in the Flower language” and “Leblaine’s love” and finally, that fell into the duke’s ears.

I pointed at the duke’s index finger.

“Dyuke there’s a ring hewe.” (Duke, there’s a ring here.)

I said while pointing to Dubbled’s seal on his index finger.

immediately he removed the ring and threw it at Nos.

“No, there’s no more ring.”

Was it fine to throw it like that…?

It was an amazing sight because in the past, Duke Vallua held the seal almost like it was his honor.

‘It’s too late to find a violet.’

I was wondering what to do and found a yellow tulip stuck in a vase.

I took it and made a flower ring for him.

The tulip had a thick stem, I couldn’t tie it into a ring, so I changed it to a bracelet.

“Fwinished.”

After completing the flower bracelet and putting the seal on Nos’s hand, I sighed.

The Duke glanced gently at the flower bracelet I had made.

‘What if he doesn’t like it after trying it on?’

I don’t know if it resembles a flower ring made of small flowers, but such a large bracelet looked a bit burdensome.

The Duke looked at the brothers. Then he raised his arm.

“Mine is bigger.”

‘Stop it!’

“That’s twice bigger than yours.”

‘Stop it.’

“Isn’t mine prettier?”

‘Stop that mouth!’

I got second-hand embarrassment from watching his actions.

I panicked and looked at Henry, Isaac, and the others

Lea and the maids looked envious, squeezing their handkerchiefs, and Isaac was angry.

“But I got it first.”

As the child went on, the corners of the duke’s mouth went up. Isaac was angry and didn’t know what to do.

But Henry was quiet.

‘As expected, Henry is the most normal one here.’

Fortunately, Henry smiled brightly and looked at the duke the Duke.

“Yellow flower means love in vain.”

“….what?”

“The meaning of purple violets in the flower language is love.”

Henry stared at the ring with a gentle gaze while the duke’s gaze hardened.

Following that Isaac gave a bright smile, alternately looking at my purple violet flower ring and the duke’s yellow flower bracelet.

“Aha, vain love.”

After I saw the Duke glaring at it with a cold gaze, I tried my best to appease him.

“Bwaine doesn’t understwand flower language.” (Blaine doesn’t understand flower language)

“…..”

“I’m going to make flowew ring tommowow. Two!”

The Duke’s expression softened only after I promised to make two of them.

I sat on the duke’s lap and sighed.

Strange.

Why does it feel like I’m raising children?

The Duke gave me a glass of orange juice.

“Drink it.”

He said with a friendly voice.

While I was drinking juice, the Duke fixed my messy hair.

“Are you sick? You’re sweating.”

“No.”

It’s because I was trying to maintain Boone’s form all this while.

The first time Boone appeared, I thought it was going to be hard, yet it was bearable because I had the Etwal with me always hanging around my neck.

“Your Excellency!”

Viscount Dubos rushed into the room.

“What’s the matter?”

“There is a problem with the spinel mine that’s on the top of Celbon!”

“What is it?”

“The volcano suddenly erupted and the mine got buried under the lava.”

Viscount Dubos continued with a frown.

“Currently… we’re at war with the Kingdom of Kruger, and if we don’t get enough Spinel, we’re not going to win.”

Kruger was a nation renowned for its powerful army consisting of mages.

Since the mages covered for the Kruger knights from behind, the opponent must use spinel (a stone that can contain divine power) to build a defense line for a chance at a counter-attack.

‘This is what happened this year.’

But why were the Dubbleds prepared for the Kruger battle?

It should have been Duke Amity.

‘Did they give up on the right to be a commander because they didn’t have enough Spinel?’

Eventually, that spinel mine could not be recovered and the price of Spinel soared.

Even if it was expensive, it could have somehow been procured with the money the Dubbled family had, but the problem was nobody was able to secure enough amount that could be supplied to the battlefield.

‘After the Spinel mine was buried, the church became the main supplier of spinel.’

In the past, the church must have sent spinel to Duke Amity in advance to keep the Dubbleds in check.

As I recalled all those details, the Duke summoned the vassals at once.

***

The vassals shared their opinions for hours and hours, but there was only one answer.

To get help from the church that supplied the most spinel besides the Celbon spinel mine.

Viscount Dubos contacted the church.

As I was sitting on the duke’s lap, I observed the vassals waiting to talk with the church officials.

A familiar voice came from the magic stone that the magicians had set up. The one who greeted them was Adolf who was on bad terms with the Dubbleds.

[I’m sorry to hear about what happened, but we’re also in trouble because of poor supply and high demand for Spinel.]

On the surface, he looked troubled, but couldn’t hide ridicule from his eyes.

Viscount Dubos tried to contain his anger.

“His Majesty the Emperor himself has issued a war decree to Dubbled. Without Spinel, this war will kill all of our soldiers.”

[If you really want it, it’s not like there’s no other way.]

“What is it?”

Viscount Dubos’ face brightened.

[If His Excellency directly asks the Pope, how would the Merciful One reject the request?]

“What?”

The vassals’ faces all hardened.

I took a look at Adolf, who kept smiling gracefully.

‘Adolf’s always been a jerk.’

He regarded the Dubbled, who unlike other families was not afraid of the church, like a thorn.

By deliberately sending him for the negotiation the church was probably trying to catch the duke’s weakness.

He doesn’t want to give us spinel anyway, so it’s better to stop.

The Duke stared at the magic stone and tapped the table slowly.

“Nos.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“Take Leblaine. It’ll be too much for a kid to hear this.”

“I’m going to go awone, Nos, Dyuke.” (I’m going alone, Nos, Duke)

After saying that, I left the room quickly

I sent Nos back to the conference room and walked the hall all alone to get back to my room.

‘It’s weird.’

[What’s wrong, child?]

‘I feel like I’m forgetting something.’

I felt it was something about Spinel.

‘No matter how much I think about it, I can’t remember. What was it?’

It happened when I was turning around the corner while worrying about that.

Crash!

That I bumped into someone.

Sitting up, I rubbed my forehead and raised my head.

“Are you all right?”

When I saw the man who bumped into me, my eyes turned round from shock.

Though old, he had broad shoulders and a fine wrinkled face.

When he was young, he was probably a man who would have had a bunch of admirers.

‘He must be the rumored chairman of the senate.’

As he rubbed the dust off his shoulders, the chairman said.

“You must have been surprised.”

“…..”

“Come on, I’ll help you up.”

He helped me stand and stared straight at me.

His eyes were sharp, as if he was looking through me.

Since he was a powerful person not on friendly terms with me, I felt very tense.

I slowly raised my head to meet his gaze.

“You look as lovely as I have heard from the rumors.”

“Twank you?”

When I said thank you as if I was confused, the chairman’s eyebrows went up.

“Lord Noanoke!”

A familiar voice came from afar.

It was Roman himself, the elder who had tried to drive me away by influencing the vassals.

He frowned at me as he hesitated.

“What are you doing here? And what kind of tricks are you trying to do…!”

“Stop.”

At the words of the chairman, Roman clicked his tongue.

“Let’s go. The vassals are already discussing about the Spinel case.”

As Roman spoke, the chairman glanced at me,took a few steps and went his way.

Roman himself grumbled and followed after him.

“What was the child of fate doing here? Ever since she came here, all sorts of misfortunes have befallen the Dubbled.”

“If you make fun of her at the castle, your tongue will be pulled out.”

I looked at the two and murmured, “Ah!” in a small voice.

‘I remembered.’

Where I had heard about the Spinel story!