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Chapter 11
“The Little Daughter-in-Law Handles Everything!
“…Huh?”
“I heard your body condition was in terrible shape. The physician even rushed over, and Lady Polina came as well. It was quite a commotion.”
“Lady Polina?”
Angela Polina. She was the Windritche family’s exclusive mage—and the one who had first discovered my talent in the past.
‘Setting aside the physician… why was Angela Polina here?’
As I thought blankly, I suddenly realized something—unstable mana was still leaking out of my body.
My body was still too small and young to fully contain my mana. While I had been unconscious, it must have moved on its own without control.
Maybe Angela had noticed my talent.
‘That would be troublesome…’
If I had been leaking mana from the start, that would be one thing. But if they found out that I, who had been living in the countryside, was consciously controlling mana…?
While I was thinking worriedly, I tried to clench my fist—then felt something in my hand.
‘What is this?’
I slowly looked down.
Killian was holding my hand.
“Uh, hey… my hand…”
When I spoke awkwardly, he seemed to finally notice and quickly let go.
He panicked so much that he started stammering.
“N-No, this is—I didn’t do anything weird to you while you were sleeping or anything!”
The more he tried to explain, the more suspicious it sounded, but I decided not to point it out.
“You were just… how should I put it…”
Me? What about me?
But I couldn’t hear the rest of Killian’s words because the door opened and Ricardo uncle walked in.
Come to think of it, only Killian had been by my side.
I wanted to ask why he, who had been wary of me earlier, was here—but before I could, the uncle spoke.
“How are you feeling?”
I suddenly sat up and raised both arms proudly, like I was showing off my muscles.
“I’m perfectly fine.”
Seeing him narrow his eyes, I emphasized again.
“Really. I don’t hurt anywhere. If you want, I can even jump around for you.”
“No, that’s enough.”
Frightened that I might actually try jumping on the bed, he quickly stopped me.
Then, as if he really was Killian’s father, he pressed my forehead and pushed me back down.
“You still have a slight fever. Still, it’s much better than before, so that’s good.”
“How long did I sleep?”
“You didn’t sleep. You fainted.”
“That’s basically the same thing.”
“It’s not the same thing… forget it. About 3 hours and 20 minutes.”
“Three hours? That long?”
“Yes. That long.”
He looked me up and down.
“The chef said he adjusted your meals carefully, so why are you still as thin as a stick?”
“A stick…”
“If you ate three meals a day plus snacks for a week, you should’ve grown and gained weight, shouldn’t you?”
“Goodness, Your Grace. You can’t expect children to grow like sprouts.”
The voice that answered wasn’t mine or Killian’s.
I turned toward the door.
A woman with flaming red hair stood there.
Angela Polina.
“But Killian grew a lot at this age, day by day.”
“That’s because he’s the young lord. The Windritche family is known for its strong build. This little lady, on the other hand, seems naturally small. Isn’t that right?”
With the sound of heels, Angela walked closer to the bed, smiling softly. The mole under her right eye made her even more attractive.
“W-well… my father was quite tall…”
But considering I had been slightly small even among my peers despite Windritche’s support in the past, it was probably just my natural build.
“How is your body?”
“I’m fine. I wasn’t even that sick to begin with…”
“I’m glad. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up for a long time. I have so many questions. I’m glad you woke up earlier than I expected.”
“Uh, well…”
“Oh, I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Angela Polina. We’ve met a few times before, haven’t we? Unlike the duke, I’m a mage.”
Her bright red lips curved into a refreshing smile.
“Have you ever seen a mage before?”
“No.”
I answered without hesitation. It was true—I had never seen a mage at this age.
But Angela didn’t seem satisfied.
“Hm… then you’ve never learned magic either.”
I slowly nodded.
I could already guess where this was going, so I quickly searched for excuses.
‘I wish she’d just ignore it, but since she came all the way here, that’s unlikely.’
As expected, Angela asked the question I wanted to avoid.
“Then how did the little lady use magic?”
“Magic?”
Ricardo frowned slightly.
“The kid used magic? When?”
“To be precise, she didn’t cast magic. She can manipulate mana.”
The duke nodded slightly, signaling her to continue.
“Yesterday, I couldn’t find any magical talent in her. Her internal mana was extremely low. Ah, you know what internal mana is, right?”
Ricardo nodded.
“But earlier, when she lost consciousness, uncontrolled mana was leaking out. A huge amount—enough to fill this room. I’m sure you felt it too, Your Grace.”
“I thought you were casting magic.”
“Not at all. I would never waste mana like that.”
“So what’s the conclusion?”
“If she was born with this much mana, there’s no way I wouldn’t have noticed when I first met her. That means she was perfectly controlling it all along.”
“Then?”
“Because she fainted, the mana lost control and started running wild. That means she already knows how to sense and control mana. I don’t know if she can actually cast magic yet, though.”
I felt Ricardo’s unreadable gaze and gave an awkward smile.
“But if she has never even met a mage, let alone learned magic, where did she learn this?”
Angela’s eyes sparkled as she looked at me.
She wasn’t interrogating me. She was genuinely curious.
Either way, that didn’t make things easier.
“Little one, I’m really curious. Can you tell me how you did it?”
“Uh… well…”
What should I say?
Even a genius wouldn’t easily learn to perfectly control internal mana on their own.
In fact, geniuses usually had too much mana, making control even harder.
Even I hadn’t properly controlled mine before entering the academy in my past life.
Mages were obsessive researchers. If they saw something interesting, they had to study it.
Angela Polina probably wanted to research me immediately—or learn my method.
But I couldn’t exactly say I had reached a high level in my past life and returned with those memories intact.
And any half-baked excuse would be instantly exposed.
So I found the answer with the lowest chance of being refuted.
“Well…”
I looked into Angela’s eager eyes and winked.
“Isn’t it just because I’m a genius?”
