Chapter 4.
With my hands confidently placed on my waist, I let out a spirited snort.
At that, the Duke of Bastion, who had looked dazed like he’d been hit on the back of the head, let out a low chuckle.
‘Whoa, he looks even better when he smiles.’
Just as I was admiring the sight of that icy-handsome face softening a little, a short knock sounded—just like when the butler had entered. Simultaneously, the duke’s smile disappeared from his face.
He was back to being the cold and composed Duke Bastion as he said,
“Come in.”
“Excuse me.”
Maids in perfectly neat uniforms and impeccable manners pushed in a trolley.
In the blink of an eye, they set the table, laid a yellow blanket and indoor slippers on the sofa, tossed logs into the fireplace, and vanished like the wind.
Was that… just an afterimage I saw?
Still gaping, I heard the duke speak.
“Eat. Warm yourself up.”
“Ah, thank you, but…”
I hesitated and carefully asked,
“Like you said, I probably won’t catch a cold even after falling into icy water.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t feel cold.”
“Guilty.”
“What?”
“You’re guilty, Duke.”
If you go this far and still don’t accept me in the end? Life sentence for you.
Shaking my head in disbelief, I sat on the sofa across from him.
‘Is he the very embodiment of “everything but affection”?’
With a dramatic sigh, I looked down at the food laid out on the plate.
The theme of this overly cute meal could be summed up in one phrase:
“Children’s Amusement Park Set.”
Sure, I’m technically a child right now, but this would make the 22-year-old woman inside me cringe a little.
I picked up the fork and hesitated, then carefully began eating around the omelet, making sure the little flag stuck in it didn’t fall over.
“……Gasp!”
What the—this doesn’t taste like some amusement park food at all!
The fluffy eggs were filled with aromatic mushrooms, finely chopped vegetables, cheese, and a rich, creamy sauce that melted together perfectly.
I couldn’t help but bounce my short legs and shout toward the duke:
“This is really good, Father-in-law candidate!”
“Fa… what did you say?”
“Father-in-law candidate.”
You called me a daughter-in-law candidate first, remember?
I made sure he heard me clearly. The duke let out a scoff, his expression hovering somewhere between disbelief and amusement.
Regardless of his reaction, I was too busy protecting the flag and devouring the omelet.
Ahem, it’s not that I’m acting all giddy because I’m a kid or anything. It’s just—well, he put effort into this, so I should appreciate it.
…Okay, hand over heart, I’ll admit it—I didn’t get to eat things like this much when I was little, so I was a bit excited.
“I don’t have fond memories of amusement parks though…”
Eep!
Something touched my bare foot.
Startled, I glanced down to find the duke’s hand wrapping around my cold foot—when had he gotten so close?
“I told you to keep warm.”
He sounded slightly annoyed, as if it had been bothering him this whole time. Then, he slipped one of the yellow indoor slippers onto my foot.
“Small, as expected.”
Murmuring to himself, he put the other slipper on my other foot and then unfolded the thick blanket and draped it clumsily over my shoulders.
The gesture was more rough than tender, but that somehow made it even more ticklish, and I found myself turning my gaze away.
“W-Well, I am only nine years old.”
“Franz isn’t this small.”
“Franz…?”
Who’s that? I feel like I’ve heard that name before.
I tilted my head in confusion, and the duke let out a chuckle.
“You say you’re different, yet you don’t even know the name.”
“Huh?”
“He’s my second son.”
Still holding the fork in my mouth, I belatedly clapped my hands.
Ohh, that’s the name of his second son!
Right. The Duke of Bastion had two sons.
So the second son is also nine.
I took the fork out of my mouth and muttered seriously,
“We’re the same age… So, he’s my candidate for brother-in-law.”
“Brother-in-law?”
Yes, brother-in-law.
Grinning, I thumped my little fist against my chest.
“Because I plan to become your eldest daughter-in-law, Father-in-law candidate!”
Give me the eldest son!
* * *
So did the Duke of Bastion obediently hand over his eldest son? Of course not.
After laughing at me for a good while, he promptly kicked me out.
To a spare maid’s room in the semi-basement of the mansion.
‘That was way too much emotional whiplash, Duke of Darkness…’
Of course, I was an uninvited guest, so I was grateful just to be fed and given a place to sleep.
But still—he hugged me! He worried I’d be cold! He even personally put slippers on my feet!
He acted like one of those doting fathers from romance novels, making me believe he was about to pave a flowery life path for me…
Then just left me gulping down metaphorical kimchi soup by the gallon. Truly, an unforgivable sin.
“Ugh.”
That night, after all the mansion’s lights had gone out, and after being scrubbed squeaky clean by the maid sisters, I tossed and turned on a small but decently soft bed.
Better than the plank-bed back at the temple, sure, but it still made me feel weirdly bitter.
All the other transmigrator sisters next door get easy contract marriages, so why not me!?
‘Maybe because I’m destined to marry the male lead…’
Let’s pause here.
At which exact point did I throw away “Lotus Blooming from the Mud”?
Actually, why did I even start reading it in the first place…
[“This is wild. There’s zero romance, and yet it’s the most romantic novel I’ve ever read. The author’s opened a new frontier in romance novels. One star.”]
Yeah, it was because of that perfectly structured review.
The kind of review that screams “publisher shenanigans,” and yet makes you curious anyway. Was it just me?
‘I just wanted to see how weird it was.’
If I’d known that curiosity would cost me precious hourly wages and lead to this situation, I’d have held back.
As someone who barely scraped by doing convenience store shifts even before becoming an adult, my one and only luxury was buying one physical book per month.
Sometimes even that was too much, but seeing them pile up in my tiny room made me feel a little rich inside.
My favorite genre? Romance fantasy that was far from real life. Since I couldn’t afford to buy the next volume right away, I preferred short or medium-length standalone stories over long series.
And lo and behold, the book in that review was a single-volume romance fantasy. Destiny!
So I bought it with a skip in my step, but…
“The author gave me a massive sweet potato. The kind that chokes you.”
As I mentioned before, “Lotus Blooming from the Mud” was a constant mess of emotional fumbling between the male and female leads.
And right in the middle was me—Saintess Asha.
The dead former wife of the Crown Prince and male lead, Mercedes.
A respected friend and fellow Saintess candidate to the female lead, Sophie.
I thought I’d just be a side character who added some backstory and tension before bowing out. But no, I was stuck between those two like a cursed anchor.
‘I was expecting weird in a fun way—not this sluggish, guilt-ridden love triangle.’
Still, I kept reading, thinking it had to get better… until one part utterly shattered my patience:
[The young Lord of House Bastion was dead.
At twenty-two years old, his sudden death was not exactly surprising.
For generations, direct descendants of the Bastion family had died young for unknown reasons.
Some said it was a family illness, a curse, or madness-induced suicide—no one knew for sure.
Either way, this latest death was just another fleeting headline in the Amanta Empire.
But to two people—Mercedes and Sophie—it meant something else…]
…
Yes. This part.
That “Thank you for enduring Mercedes and Sophie’s nonsense until now! Next chapter, we dive into the hidden story of the late Asha!” tone made me throw the book across the room.
‘Just marry each other already and be done with it!’
And that was only halfway through the single volume. When are they going to actually fall in love and kiss!? That’s why people read romance novels!
Even if I generously accept that they were still grieving and being respectful to a dead friend/wife…
Mercedes and Sophie’s entire narrative revolved around Asha.
Every time they saw something beautiful or sad, it reminded them of Asha. Even when they started to feel things for each other, they couldn’t stop thinking about Asha.
Asha this, Asha that—Asha, Asha, Asha!!
‘Ta-da. I became her.’
Maybe I shouldn’t have cursed so much. Now I feel guilty.
I should’ve at least treated the book with more care. I usually treasured my books, but I don’t know what came over me then.
Maybe it was because the ultimate “truth” that Mercedes and Sophie were desperately chasing was already revealed in the prologue, which made the rest feel like a drag.
[The Saintess Asha, who ascended to Crown Princess at fourteen after ‘Blooming,’ died due to her own runaway divine power.
A truth that would soon vanish beneath the deep waters of time—
Just like the mysterious deaths of the direct heirs of a certain ducal family with demon blood.
And the revelation that only the two opposing forces—light and dark, holy power and demonic energy—could save each other from tragedy…
This is a story of those full of courage and love, seeking the truth.]
I don’t know about courage, but the protagonists were certainly full of love for Asha.
Still, the one silver lining is that the prologue gave me the most important information:
The Bastion family—carriers of demonic blood, plagued by early deaths.
Only light and dark—holy and demonic powers—can save one another.
‘And I’ll “Bloom” at age fourteen.’
Blooming.
As the temple taught, it meant reaching enlightenment in Lumière’s will and the full blossoming of one’s holy power.
A milestone that signified one’s ascension to divine territory.
Even white-haired cardinals barely managed a few petals in their lifetime, yet a mere fourteen-year-old commoner girl from a backwater temple had bloomed in full.
‘A real sensation, no doubt. That’s how she became Crown Princess, too.’
Sigh. The genius of this body terrifies me.
Lying on my side, I turned to face the wall and shook my head.
But… even if staying close to demonic power might save me from dying early, what happens to the Blooming then?
