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Chapter 6
She must want to save her father with that power.
Looking at Lilia, a pang struck a corner of Marit’s heart.
“Kind Lady Lilia, it will surely turn out that way. Now, shall we begin getting you ready?”
As Lilia nodded, Marit instructed the newly joined maid, Yupi, to bring washing water.
Thanks to the two of them, Lilia finished dressing in no time and stood before the mirror.
With her hair tied in pigtails with white ribbons and wearing a bright yellow dress with a large bow on the waist, Lilia was the very definition of a small, plump chick.
Even to her own eyes, she looked quite adorable.
Cheeks soft as marshmallow dough. Two large eyes sparkling clearly like peridot. A tiny stature and frame barely reaching past an adult’s shins.
Come to think of it, the symbolic hair color of Robert was black, paired with red eyes.
Did I take after my mom?
“Oh my, how pretty. You’ve become a little chick princess.”
As Lilia just stood there beaming softly, Marit adjusted the shape of the ribbon on Lilia’s waist to make it look nice and said,
“I’ll go fetch your breakfast right away. You must be hungry, right?”
When Lilia nodded, Yupi hurriedly ran toward the kitchen.
A simple breakfast was set across the table.
Hot clam chowder with a smooth blend of clams and cream sauce, fluffy scrambled eggs, and warm, savory milk.
Taking a big spoonful and eating it, Lilia’s eyes grew wider and wider.
“It’s so delicious. So much so that I want to thank the chef.”
“I’ll pass those words along. The chef will be delighted, too.”
Yupi, wiping the corners of Lilia’s mouth with a napkin, slyly added,
“My Lady, if you go eat at the main castle’s dining hall later, you’ll probably faint.”
“The main castle dining hall?”
“Yes. They say that chef’s skills are the best in the Duke’s castle.”
“…Hmph, can they really make it even more delicious than this?”
Taking another spoonful, Lilia’s cheeks puffed up round and full.
“Yes, they say it tastes like heaven.”
“Huh? But I’m in heaven right now, too!”
Lilia pointed to the inside of her mouth and offered a grin.
Watching Lilia’s adorable display, Yupi let out a smothered squeal, trying to hold something back.
The place where Lilia currently resided was the East Wing, where the youngest successor children stayed.
After taking the aptitude test, successor children received new rooms and privileges according to their results.
Children who manifested even a single magical attribute lived in the South Wing, which had superior facilities, and those with even greater abilities received even better treatment.
Naturally recognizing each other’s hierarchy according to ability from a young age and learning how to survive—that was Robert’s method of education.
Aunt Velita’s son, Cedric, was receiving his education at his mother’s side, so Lilia was the only child left in the East Wing. Even the collateral branch children living in the main castle had all manifested magic.
In the original work, Lilia failed to manifest magic and remained in the East Wing all along.
This time, I’m definitely going up.
Her cousins Clara and Eugene, who were on the floor above, had also moved rooms a short while ago.
Before leaving, Clara had strutted past Lilia smugly.
“I’m going to manifest two magical attributes like Brother Conrad, or a higher-tier attribute like Father. If I do, they say I’ll get special privileges like a private palace to stay in and a personal carriage. They even said I can eat whatever I want at the main castle’s dining hall.”
Before taking the test, Clara had been brimming with excitement.
If she had received a private palace, she would have come to brag about it already, so it seemed she hadn’t manifested any particularly incredible attribute.
By the way, if she managed to get the healing key Tiana had held, could she fool everyone into thinking she had manifested the light attribute?
Light was evaluated as a highly useful and versatile magic even among higher-tier attributes.
Since darkness was the opposite of light, she could at least pretend to stand up to Osdell.
Even to monitor and keep him in check, Lilia planned to obtain the healing key during the aptitude test no matter what.
To achieve that, she had studied at the library, dug up information, and made plenty of preparations in advance.
Strength gathered naturally in Lilia’s tiny, maple-leaf-like hand.
“My Lady, it’s time for the commuting carriage to arrive. Ah, this is a gift to cheer for you to pass your test.”
Marit, returning after clearing the tableware, held out a pure white, fluffy knitted bag she had made herself onto Lilia’s back. It was a bag shaped like a pure white bear, resembling the snow bears said to inhabit deep within Robert’s snow-capped mountains. The belly area was quite large, so it looked like it could fit a lot inside.
Attached to the opening of the bag was a tiny bear plushie with pink fur. In Robert, there was a tradition of gifting a bear plushie to a child taking a test as a passing charm.
The ribbon tied around the plushie’s neck was also green, symbolizing good luck.
Typically, it was something a mother made for her child.
Gently stroking the plushie attached to the bag with her index finger, Lilia’s eyes grew wide.
“Ah…”
She hadn’t expected this at all. It was a gift so cute and full of devotion.
“It’s so pretty. I’m so moved, Marit.”
Lilia kissed Marit on the cheek and booped the bear plushie’s nose.
She liked its indifferent, round eyes, nose, and mouth.
Could this be how it felt to take the CSAT college entrance exam?
With a fluttering and nervous heart, Lilia slung the bag over her shoulders once more and waved her hand.
“Have a safe trip.”
“Yeah!”
Stepping outside the East Wing, a large carriage was already waiting.
Inside, a black-haired girl with her chin held high could be seen, along with a boy on the opposite seat leaning back with his eyes closed and his arms folded behind his head.
It was Clara and Eugene.
“…”
Slightly knitting her eyebrows, Clara spoke.
“What’s this, Lilia? Don’t tell me you’re going to take the aptitude test today?”
“Yeah. Could you move over a bit?”
Though the carriage was spacious, the two of them had taken over the seats, leaving nowhere to sit. In particular, Clara’s dress was spread out like a fan.
“Sorry, Lilia. The hem of my dress is a little creased, so I need to lay it flat to smooth it out. Go sit over there.”
“…”
It had been a while since she last faced such childish bullying. Then again, Clara was still a child. She was only two years older than Lilia, which meant she was just an eight-year-old kid.
“Sister, I saw the maids ironing, and they said to smooth out wrinkles, you have to pat them out firmly to flatten them.”
Lilia smiled brightly and smoothly slipped off her shoes.
Clasping her shoes in both hands, she stepped forward to firmly pat down Clara’s dress. At that, Clara pulled back her skirts in absolute horror.
“Hey, are you crazy?!”
Clara yelled in shock, but Lilia sat down as if nothing had happened.
“Thanks for sharing.”
And she didn’t forget to offer a bright, cheerful smile.
At that moment, Eugene—who had been sitting quietly—snapped open his ruby-like red eyes out of nowhere and let out a chuckle.
Uncharacteristic of a young boy, a beauty mark nestled beside his eye gave off a peculiar aura.
Eugene was the only son of her second uncle, Benjamin. Since he was the same age as Adrian, his current age was nine.
This was her first time seeing Eugene’s face since recalling her past life.
“Hi.”
“Yeah, hi…”
“I felt it before, but you really are tiny.”
Wait a second.
If he was a captivating beauty with a mole beside his eye named Eugene, he overlapped with a character from the original novel!
“Am I…?”
“Yeah, you look like the ones in my mother’s display cabinet.”
“…What’s that?”
Eugene, who had been scanning Lilia for a long while with sparkling eyes, smiled sweetly.
“There are ones blowing trumpets with wings attached.”
…Are you perhaps talking about baby angel ornaments?
This boy would later become a renowned figure in the underworld with terrifying intelligence-gathering capabilities, a natural gift for speech, and talent.
Eugene Carnel.
He was a future ally to Adrian after he became emperor, and one of the sub-male leads harboring an unrequited crush on Tiana.
She recalled his position as one of the sub-male leads.
The underworld boss who owned an information guild!
Sweeping past while fluttering the hem of his black coat before disappearing like the wind, he had sent countless red roses to the female lead, earning the support of quite a few readers.
He was also an Eternal awakener like Adrian, though his awakening was mentioned as having stopped at the first stage.
His ability was none other than Swiftness and Invisibility.
A figure tailored perfectly for infiltration and digging up information.
Which means he’s a talent who would be ideal to make into my ally! It’d be great to get close to him while he’s still young.
