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Chapter – 19
“I’ve been waiting for you for sooo long, Your Grace! And this young lady here is—”
“Menroni, four years old. I’m the young lady.”
“…Young… lady?”
The woman echoed the word in a puzzled voice.
But only for a moment.
“It’s an honor that you greeted me first, my lady! I am Shaloa, the owner of this boutique. Now, come right in, both of you. Hohoho.”
With her lively voice, Shaloa guided us inside.
This place was—
“A clothing store.”
And not just any clothing store—an enormous one.
Clothes of every color filled the entire building.
It looked as if someone had gathered all the clothes in the world and shoved them in here.
“I heard you don’t have anything to wear.”
“…Me?”
“Yes. Marshmallow, you.”
“But no. I have lots of clothes.”
It was true.
I hadn’t even been at the duke’s estate for that long, yet my wardrobe was already stuffed full.
It was the first time in my life I’d ever owned so many clothes.
“That can’t be. The maids keep whining about it. They said you only have ready-made clothing, so there’s nothing proper to dress you in.”
Ah.
Now that I thought about it, Eina had been making a weird face every time she tried dressing me.
“The sleeves are a little long… and the waist is loose. Tsk, this won’t do. I’ll stake my life on it and go negotiate.”
Maybe today’s outing was the result of that negotiation?
“But you don’t hafta buy too many… I’ll growww….”
“Marshmallow.”
“Yes?”
“Young ladies wear tailor-made clothes. It’s an imperial… something-something law.”
Gasp.
If that’s the case, then the story changes.
‘I’m a young lady, so I must follow the young lady laws.’
With a solemn expression, I declared:
“Buy clothes. Pleath buy. Young lady custom clothes!”
“Excellent. You’re a truly admirable young lady.”
The duke chuckled softly.
I nodded hard.
“Yesh. Menroni iz great young lady.”
Watching quietly, Shaloa stepped in at the perfect timing.
“Well then, shall we begin over here? I have sooo many beautiful outfits that would suit my lady perfectly!”
Still held in the duke’s arms, I burned with enthusiasm for browsing clothes.
However, that enthusiasm lasted a grand total of… two minutes.
“How about this? It would look lovely with my lady’s fair skin.”
“Buy it.”
“Hoho! Ah, this one is adorable as well. This ribbon here is the highlight—”
“That too. Buy.”
“Kekeke! And this color—”
“Pack it.”
“Kyaaaahaha!”
…Could this really be called “browsing”?
He was just buying everything the moment she showed it to us.
I had no chance to voice an opinion.
Eventually, even those meaningless exchanges disappeared.
Staring blankly at Shaloa’s suggestions, the duke said—
“From here to the end over there—just buy everything.”
The classic line you only hear in novels: ‘Everything from here to there.’
Shaloa froze with her mouth covered in both hands… then burst into applause.
“Truly… truly, truly! What an impeccable choice! He has appeared—the greatest father of this era! Magnificent!”
Looking rather pleased with himself, the duke casually pointed at the opposite wall.
“Pack all of that as well.”
Clap, clap, clap!
Shaloa’s applause grew even louder.
‘…Ugh. My mind is getting dizzy.’
I felt faint from witnessing such an intense level of spending for the first time in my life.
“We’ll send the clothes to the duke’s estate without delay. Please come again!”
Receiving Shaloa’s passionate send-off, we left the boutique.
Still in the duke’s arms, I let out a deep sigh.
“Menroni will growww fast, so no need to buy sooo many….”
“If you grow, we’ll just buy more. You need at least that much to avoid being mocked as a poorly dressed young lady.”
Wait, that was the minimum required not to be mocked?
The path of a young lady was long and rough indeed.
“Now, where should we go next? Do you want anything?”
“…No. Nothing. Truly nothing!”
“My, my. Our Marshmallow has so little desire. And here she has a very rich father now.”
What an incredibly straightforward thing to say.
I laughed awkwardly and sniffed my nose.
‘It’s not that I have no desire… I’m just overwhelmed by that mountain of clothing.’
I was still awkwardly laughing when—
Roll, roll, roll—thud.
Something rolled quickly and stopped at the duke’s feet.
I widened my eyes and looked down.
That was…
“A tomato?”
A bright red tomato had rolled in.
And it wasn’t alone.
Behind the first tomato were a dozen more rolling furiously toward us.
“Tomatoes rolling on the street? Well, that’s a sight.”
The duke clicked his fingers lightly.
Tap.
Instantly, all the tomatoes froze mid-roll.
“W-wooow!”
A spontaneous gasp escaped me.
“What the— Duke, that your powerrr?!”
“That’s right. My Authority. I caught their shadows with the power of darkness.”
He caught their shadows with darkness?
What.
That was…
‘…so cool?!’
The power of darkness was seriously cool.
Meanwhile, my own Authority was… fixing broken things like plink plonk.
‘And he used it so naturally, too…’
Normally, using an Authority caused light or a magic crest to appear.
But when the duke used it, there was no trace of such effects.
Come to think of it…
‘I’ve heard that the more skilled someone is, the less obvious their Authority becomes.’
But this level of natural was insane.
‘No wonder he’s called a historical genius.’
Once again, I felt just how lucky I was that he decided to take me in.
With someone this amazing calling himself my father, surviving in this world suddenly seemed very doable.
‘…I’ll be the best daughter ever.’
I’ll stick to him forever!
With newfound determination, I looked up at the duke.
“…What’s with those eyes?”
“B-because! Your power… sooo cool!”
Half genuine admiration, half calculated flattery.
A small daily effort to remain by his side forever.
“Menroni never seen somethin’ sooo cool! Like—pow pow! And the tomatoes—roll roll—”
…Smack.
I trailed off and shut my mouth.
The duke’s gaze felt strange.
His lips were pressed shut, not even showing his usual polite smile.
‘…Did I mess up?’
Was I too dramatic?
Did it sound fake?
Should I have praised him more seriously?
At that moment—
Whoooosh!
The still tomatoes floated into the air.
And not only that—
“Wah?”
They spun in circles midair, pausing and spinning again.
My god.
What kind of chaotic tomato show was this?
“Wow, Mom! Look! The tomatoes are flying!”
“What are you… Huh? They really are flying. Why are they flying?”
Even passersby stopped to stare.
I also stared in blank amazement when—
“Well, Marshmallow?”
“Yesh?”
“This is even cooler than before, right?”
Blink, blink.
Was he… showing off to me?
Because I said his power was cool?
That was the only answer.
…If that was the case, then my response was obvious.
“Yesh! Sho cool!”
“How cool?”
How cool…?
Caught off guard by the specific question, I blinked rapidly.
But only for a moment.
I stretched my arms as wide as I could, making the biggest circle I could manage.
“Thiiiis much! Like thiiiiiis big?”
“Only that much?”
Ah. Not enough.
Then…
“…Everything ‘cept this teeny tiny part?”
Only then did the duke look satisfied.
Phew.
‘Being a daughter is exhausting.’
Right then—
From the direction the tomatoes had come, we heard hurried footsteps—tap, tap, tap.
