MDRH 14

Chapter 14

Startled.

“She did it… she lied.”

Yes, she had lied about her age.

Lucilea asked in a much softer voice than usual,

“About my age… why?”

“There’s no way to prove that you’re seven. Everyone in the village said something different.”

Elbadin added that some said seven, others said eight, and yet others said six.

Lucilea unconsciously swallowed dryly before answering,

“That must be true. Those people didn’t really care about me.”

So it was only natural that her age had been confused.

Hmm, Elbadin pondered for a moment, then spoke again.

“More importantly…”

“Yes?”

“You’re under a spell. Do you know anything about it?”

“…What?”

Lucilea’s eyes widened.

‘How did he know?’

Could someone of his skill sense something like that?

Elbadin was right.

In fact, there was indeed a spell on Lucilea’s body.

She didn’t know the exact name, but it was certainly a spell that altered her appearance.

‘Grandmother used to say my brown hair and eyes looked like cocoa with milk.’

Yet the reflection Lucilea saw in the mirror was different.

Hair the soft pink of peaches, and eyes a striking blue like the pure sky — nothing close to the brown cocoa her grandmother mentioned.

For a long time, she had been confused by how different her appearance seemed to others.

‘I couldn’t even ask the villagers.’

They might have accused her of some witchcraft if she did.

‘Or maybe they never listened to me at all.’

Time passed, and her memories returned.

Once her memories came back, everything began to make sense naturally.

In the original story, Lucilea had gone missing as a child, so it made sense that she had been placed under a spell.

Naturally, the original story didn’t reveal who cast the spell on her.

It’s a well-worn story now, but the novel was not very kind to the villains’ perspectives.

Still, Lucilea could make an educated guess.

‘For whatever reason, whoever cast a spell on me probably wanted to hide the fact that I am part of the Grand Ducal family.’

Perhaps it was her mother who had given birth to her…

But that was only speculation.

‘I’ll figure that part out later.’

For now, the priority was to navigate the present moment calmly.

Lucilea blinked innocently and looked at Elbadin.

“You’re saying I’m under a spell?”

“You didn’t know?”

Lucilea nodded.

“No, not at all.”

Elbadin looked at her for a moment, then nodded toward Riat, who was standing by the door.

The office door opened, and someone entered.

The person appeared to be around Elbadin’s age, wearing a neat wizard’s robe, but their facial features were strikingly beautiful.

Their sky-blue hair with a silver tint was slightly tousled, and their golden eyes shone with childlike innocence.

“Have you arrived, Lord Noah?”

“Yes. It’s been a while, Riat.”

He looked a little exasperated, loosened his robe, and handed it to Riat while greeting them.

‘Noah…?’

In that instant, Mei’s words came to mind:

“The necklace you chose today will have protective magic personally cast on it by the Grand Ducal family’s top wizard, Lord Noah Ladebian.”

Right. That wizard who was supposed to place protective magic on the necklace Lucilea chose — that was Noah.

So, this was him? Lucilea’s curious eyes studied him closely.

Noah walked over to the sofa, muttering:

“Ah, I’m tired. Why all the rush to come straight here before even unpacking?”

Lucilea raised an eyebrow at his complaints toward the Grand Duke.

‘Is this really okay?’

He appeared roughly the same age as Elbadin, yet Elbadin was the head of the Grand Ducal family.

Lucilea found it odd that a wizard employed by the Grand Ducal family would speak to the head like that.

Noah strolled over and plopped down deliberately beside Lucilea among the many empty seats.

“The sun will rise tomorrow; we can do it then. Still impatient as ever, huh?”

Elbadin responded indifferently.

“The sooner it’s confirmed, the better.”

“Yeah, fair enough.”

Noah nodded, then turned to Lucilea beside him.

“So you’re the kid from the letter.”

“Huh?”

Lucilea, confused, looked at Elbadin, who introduced him:

“This is Noah Ladebian, a wizard of the Grand Ducal family. He’ll also be your teacher in magic.”

“Ah…”

Lucilea looked at the wizard again. He smiled mischievously.

“Let’s do well, kid.”

“Lucilea. Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Noah cheerfully examined her, then asked Elbadin:

“Should I release it now?”

“First, identify the spell.”

“That’s easy.”

Huh? What kind of conversation was this?

Between Elbadin and Noah, an ominous exchange took place.

As expected, Noah reached out his hand toward Lucilea.

“Give me your hand, kid.”

Lucilea instinctively hid both hands behind her back.

“W-Why do you want my hand?”

“To see what kind of magic is on you and to break it.”

“…Wha—?!”

Lucilea panicked and looked at Elbadin.

“My lord!”

But Elbadin silently observed them, as if their conversation had already ended.

‘What should I do?!’

Lucilea didn’t know much about magic in this fantasy world.

Even when reading romance fantasy novels, she would skip over magic and focus on the romance.

Naturally, she didn’t understand much about the spell on her body either.

But instinctively, she knew that if the spell were broken, her true identity might be exposed.

‘I have to stop it somehow.’

But how?

‘I don’t have the power to escape from here…’

Yet she couldn’t just keep resisting.

‘They’ll suspect me.’

Yes, given the Grand Duke’s nature, he might expel her immediately.

‘Then… would it be better to reveal my identity than be thrown out…?’

Sigh… she really didn’t want that.

Her desire to hide her identity wasn’t just because she disliked her father.

‘If my identity is revealed now, Serdian is more likely to be expelled from the Grand Ducal family.’

In the original story, Serdian was expelled from the Grand Ducal family.

Lucilea was superficially responsible, but the real power behind it was someone else.

‘The collateral branches and retainers of the Grand Ducal family.’

Once it was revealed that Lucilea was Elbadin’s biological child, they used her to expel Serdian.

For seven long years, they tormented Serdian until an accident occurred.

Elbadin drank poison and fell into a coma.

Serdian was blamed for it.

‘It was obviously false… but no one defended Serdian.’

Thus, Serdian was expelled, accused of trying to kill the man he respected and loved.

Fortunately, Elbadin recovered.

But he didn’t prevent Serdian from being expelled.

Serdian probably felt abandoned by Elbadin from that moment.

‘That’s probably when Serdian first had an assassin assigned.’

Assaulted constantly by assassins, Serdian eventually suffered life-threatening injuries.

‘Cynthia. The only one who saved the male protagonist in that crisis.’

The heroine, Cynthia, appeared and saved Serdian’s life.

When he regained consciousness, what did he think?

‘Since he set me as the first target for revenge, he must have nurtured a grudge against me.’

That grudge extended to everyone connected to the Grand Ducal family after dealing with Lucilea.

A shiver ran down her neck, as if Serdian’s sword had grazed her.

Lucilea took a deep breath and held her hands, hidden behind her back, tightly.

“Y-You’re not supposed to give your hands to strangers!”

“Hmm? Isn’t it okay if I follow?”

“Same difference.”

“Huh? Look at this kid. Didn’t you hear the Grand Duke’s explanation? I’ll be your teacher from now on, so I’m not a stranger, right?”

“…Ugh.”

She had no answer. Actually, telling him not to give her hands to strangers was just a stalling tactic.

It seemed that tactic had failed.

What to do? While Lucilea worried…

“Fine. You don’t need to give your hand.”

“R-Really?!”

Lucilea’s voice brightened as she lifted her head.

Then, poke! Noah tapped her forehead with one finger.

“Huh?”

“That’s enough.”

“Huh?!”

Lucilea tried to pull her head back, but her body wouldn’t move.

“Ah, moving will hurt. Stay still. It’ll be over soon.”

“No… I can’t…”

“Can’t what? You can’t survive in the Grand Ducal Mansion with this weird magic on you. I’m saving you, so later you should thank me… huh?”

At that moment, Noah’s teasing smile suddenly froze.