~Chapter 25~
“Investigate Count Siddew.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Check his power again too. Find out where he’s been recently, who he’s met, who he’s talked to — everything. Even his family.”
“Even his family, Your Grace?”
“Yes.”
Clover had told him what Lucky said — that the strange thing they’d seen might have been “born from malice.”
But as far as Khalid knew, no one could harm another person using just malice. That kind of power didn’t exist. So, he needed to look deeper into it.
“Yes, understood. In that case, we can handle the Siddew family together with the Demper family. It’s a shame — the Siddews have been loyal for generations.”
“It seems only the previous generations were worth keeping. Both the Demper and Siddew families started falling apart when their useless children took over.”
Not that Khalid was particularly sad about it. There were plenty of other capable families to replace them.
Then—
“Ah, Duke Khalid.”
Teniron pulled out a single letter from a pile of documents stacked high. The envelope shimmered faintly in gold.
“What’s that?”
“A letter from the Imperial Palace. I should’ve delivered it earlier, but with everything happening with the Young Lady, I didn’t want to disturb you.”
He handed it over. The envelope was sealed with golden wax, stamped with the Imperial insignia that proved it came from the palace.
“From the Imperial Palace?”
Khalid frowned slightly and broke the seal, then started reading.
***
To Duke Khalid Claudian.
When you live in the palace, you hear all kinds of things quickly.
From what happens in the far corners of the Empire, to who spilled coffee on whose dress in the capital — every rumor finds its way to me.
And recently, I heard something interesting.
That you decided to keep your youngest daughter in the Claudian mansion.
They say she looks exactly like Elicia.
Even her power resembles Elicia’s.
So naturally, I became curious.
As you know, Elicia and I were quite close.
So I’d very much like to meet the little girl who resembles her so much.
Please bring her to me — the sooner, the better.
P.S. This letter wasn’t sent through anyone inside your household, so don’t go blaming the wrong people.
***
“This is from Her Majesty, the Empress Dowager.”
Khalid muttered quietly after finishing the letter.
The Empress Dowager — the Emperor’s mother, first wife of the late Emperor, and the most respected elder in the Empire.
Her name: Anernia Soren Rosipheron.
She had been one of Elicia’s closest friends, and one of the very few people who knew Elicia’s true identity. She’d even helped her adapt to high society.
So it wasn’t strange that she wanted to meet Clover, the child who looked just like Elicia.
“What’s the letter about?” Teniron asked.
“Her Majesty wishes to meet Clover.”
“The Young Lady?”
“Yes.”
Khalid was sure the Empress Dowager wouldn’t harm Clover. She adored Elicia and had always treated the Claudian family kindly.
But the Emperor…?
Would he still think well of the Claudians?
Khalid thought for a while, then set the letter down.
“I’ll hold off on replying for now. I’ll decide later whether or not to take Clover to the palace. Her opinion matters too.”
The golden letter was placed back on the pile of papers.
***
“Found it?”
Wearing shorts “so she wouldn’t mind getting dirty,” Clover stared with bright eyes at the half-formed little spirit floating in the air.
It spun in place, wobbling like jelly.
[Found it!]
“You did?!”
[You understood that?]
Of course!
Clover grinned proudly. After all, she was the one who made it.
The half-made spirit bobbed along ahead of her, leading the way.
Its first job was simple — to find the place where a crystal core should form.
The “seed of the crystal” that carried the land’s energy was usually located at the spot where the soil’s nutrients flowed the most strongly.
So the spot this spirit had found… must be that place.
After wobbling around for a while, the spirit suddenly stopped.
“…”
Clover walked over and crouched down, looking at the place it was pointing.
“Really here?”
[You doubt me?]
Clover glanced toward the old fountain she had blown up earlier.
“…Daddy said he’d fix that.”
He hadn’t yet. Only the dangerous bits of rubble had been cleared — the fountain was still a wreck.
She stared at the broken puppy statue whose head had flown off in the explosion.
‘Ugh… I feel guilty.’
Her conscience hurt.
But still — work was work.
Clover clapped her cheeks lightly and focused.
She sat down right where the spirit pointed and placed her small hands on the ground.
Immediately, she could faintly feel the flow of the garden’s energy being drawn toward that spot.
‘So this is really it.’
The spot for the crystal seed. Looked like her half-made spirit did a decent job after all.
Carefully, Clover used her power to form a small, round seed in her palms.
It wasn’t like the seed she made with Daddy’s heart — or the kind she used to make spirits.
This was just… a plain seed.
But a seed is something mysterious.
“You can’t tell what flower will bloom until it blooms,
and you can’t tell what seed it is until it sprouts.”
Lucky had said that once.
‘You never know what’ll grow until it grows.’
Smiling at the memory, Clover dug a tiny hole with her finger and tucked the seed inside.
It was a blank seed — no one, not even Clover, knew what it would become.
But maybe, just maybe, it could serve as a vessel to gather the garden’s scattered energy together again.
And if it did, it would become a new crystal core.
“Lucky, do you think it’ll work?”
[I think so. That should be enough to collect the scattered power and bring it together again.]
“Yay, that’s good.”
Clover dusted off her hands, stood up, and looked around.
From afar, Belze smiled and waved, thinking she was done.
But Clover quickly looked away.
Because—
‘I still have something left to do.’
She wasn’t finished yet.
Now that she’d helped the land a little, it was time to—
Clover pulled out another seed — the one she’d made from her father’s heart.
The seed of love.
Now, she needed to find the sunniest, happiest spot in the garden to plant it.
‘You have to grow well, okay?’
Until now, every seed Clover had planted had withered before sprouting. She didn’t want that to happen again.
So, with Lucky’s help, she spent thirty minutes looking for the perfect spot.
They finally chose a sunny patch visible right from Clover’s room window — a space the gardener had left empty to plant something later.
When she asked, the gardener happily agreed and even promised to put a little fence around it.
Overjoyed, Clover planted the seed, then asked Belze to bring her a watering can. She watered it carefully, patted the soil gently, and even sang a song.
“Grow, grow, grow up strong~”
And somehow, singing that made her really believe something amazing would sprout from that seed.
“Hehe.”
Feeling proud after finishing all her work, Clover smiled brightly.
***
From afar, Arwin watched Clover, who was running around busily with a tiny trowel.
He squinted and measured her size between his thumb and finger.
From this distance, she looked like a little pea rolling around.
‘No… maybe more like a dirty potato.’
So that’s why she was wearing shorts — lately, every time she went outside, she’d come back completely covered in dirt, like she’d rolled around in the mud.
Pea or potato, it didn’t matter — either way, she was small and adorable.
‘What’s she planting?’
Arwin narrowed his eyes to watch her more closely, not wanting to miss a single movement.
He needed to remember everything, so he could tell Mom later.
‘Yeah. I’ll tell Mom.’
About how cute their youngest little Clover was —
how she looked like a tiny pea, or maybe a muddy potato, running around the garden.
When Mom woke up again, she’d need to hear about all the precious little moments she’d missed.
As Clover’s light-green hair fluttered softly in the breeze, Arwin tilted his head.
‘Mom… I miss you.’
