Chapter 21
‘I’m so excited!’
I’ve had a lot of accidents with adults these days, so I’ve been hungry all the time.
“Hmph, I didn’t leave it for you. Just….It’s just that I don’t really like sweets.”
“Isyac, I enjoyed the sugaw byead you gawe me the othew day.” (Isaac, I enjoyed the sugar bread you gave me the other day.)
“I, I won’t like you even if you compliment me!”
His ear reddened as he rushed into the study room. Henry only glanced at me before heading for the door without saying much.
I went in tow to the study room where they were sitting. I sat down and scrutinised Henry from head to toe.
‘I don’t think there’s any aftereffects.’
I took a bite of the cake, and my mouth let out an unintentional gasp.
What is this flavour?
‘It’s so delicious!’
It was different from all the cake I had eaten so far.
The refreshing whip cream that didn’t feel too overpowering or buttery when put in one’s mouth.
The cake was very moist and fluffy with velvet-like chocolate inside it.
The perfect cake melted gently in my mouth as soon as it touched the tongue.
‘They say the patissier from the west wing owns the hands of God. It’s not just a rumor after all.’
I was really impressed by the taste of the cake. This was the first time I’ve ever tasted the cake from the west wing. I usually frequent the east hall, where the VIPs usually stayed.
With both of my hands encasing my cheeks, I said, “Wow, wow!”
Isaac smiled when he saw me.
“Is it that delicious?”
‘When I was a beggar, I’ve starved for more than five days. To soothe the hunger, I would imagine myself eating a delicious chocolate cake.’
The taste was full of warmth that it reminded me of my previous life where I suffered through countless hard times.
“Thwank you so much….” (Thank you so much….)
“No, you don’t have to thank me that much.”
Isaac was rather embarrassed and rolled his eyes as a reply.
“Would you like to eat the chocolate cake tomorrow morning as well?”
“You’we the best!” (You’re the best!)
“I’ll give it to you in the evening, too.”
“You’we so cool!” (You’re so cool!)
“Oh, I can’t help it. I’ll give it to you the day after tomorrow too.”
“You’we the gweatest!” (You’re the greatest!)
Isaac grinned from my empty praises.
From the sidelines, Henry stared at us as if we’re a pair of clowns.
***
Henry and Isaac continued with their homework, as I painted quietly beside them.
At dusk the maids came to the study room to look for me, but when they saw me with the siblings, they simply smiled and went back.
I was just trying to spend some time with my siblings.
Without us realizing, the bright day was replaced by the night sky.
‘Sleepy….’
Isaac is dozing off too….
I pinched my cheek to wake myself from the drowsiness.
“Go to sleep if you’re sleepy.”
Henry said with his eyes fixed on the book.
I wish I could go, but I couldn’t leave Henry alone in the castle with Teramore.
“It’s owkay. Not sleepy.” (It’s okay. Not sleepy.)
“You’re lying.”
“….I’ll go wash my face.”
I jumped off the chair, then whispered to Isaac, who was dozing off.
I left the study only after I saw Isaac nodding his head with lethargy.
‘I’m so sleepy’
My body seemed to be protesting for a quick rest.
I dragged my body to the washroom with a grumble, but before I could go in a rough hand dragged me away from the entrance.
‘Ahh!’
‘Teramore!’
Before I could react, Teramore had dragged me into a dim room near the washroom. He closed the door, then turned slowly towards me. Teramore’s mouth curled up into a wicked sneer as his eyes set on me.
“Why? You thought I’d only go after Henry?”
“I’m not like Henly, if you touch me, it’ll be weveald.” (I’m not like Henry, if you touch me, it’ll be revealed.)
“You don’t need your hands to make people suffer.”
Teramore took something out of his pocket.
Blue Spinel!
That’s a special instrument used as a sacred tool to extract divine power. The clearer the color, the more extraction can be done.
Of course, Blue Spinel is considered a precious treasure in the market, but none of the divine power’s wielders have the same line of thought.
Extracting divine power would drive the wielder crazy, or in the worst case, they might die.
A normal child like me would lose my mind even with any Spinel.
‘I rather die and reborn once more, than getting tortured with that Spinel.’
Teramore approached me, muttering in a low voice.
“It’s 30 years. Things that I’ve been working on for 30 years have collapsed. Just because of a four year old kid!”
Madness began to cloud his eyes.
In the evening, the vassals moved out of the study unexpectedly, and they seemed to have been kicked out of their teacher’s seat.
“Don’t come or I’ll scweam.” (Don’t come or I’ll scream.)
“Try it. Let’s see if a person will come faster or you will lose your divine power first.”
Out of sudden, the door opened. We turned our heads and saw Henry’s figure run in.
“Let her go.”
Teramore looked at Henry with a sly smile.
“You know it is rude to interrupt people, right? I guess you are lacking in education lately.”
Henry clenched his eyes shut and rushed blindly towards Teramore’s direction.
Teramore, however, was unbothered as if Henry’s arrival was an insignificant change to his plan.
There was nothing to be afraid of because the genius couldn’t even fight off his trauma.
But he made a blunder, Henry’s purpose wasn’t to attack him.
The child instead reached out for the Blue Spinel and threw it into one of the furnitures’ narrow openings.
“You son of a bitch….!”
Out of anger, Teramore tried to hit Henry, but I hung tightly onto Teramore’s arms with all my weight.
“Don’t twouch Henly!” (Don’t touch Henry!)
He roughly threw me to the floor and raised his hand at Henry once more.
Then–
Boom—!!
The door burst open and a tremendous wave of mana rushed toward Teramore.
The mana knocked Teramore out to the floor, “Aggghhh!—“
His scream echoed through the room.
When I saw him, his arms were twisted to a horrifying angle.
I quickly turned my head away towards the door.
Dubbled was standing in front of the entrance. Coldness and anger was radiating off him.
“Si-sir”
The duke’s cold eyes swept over me and Henry, who was lying on the floor.
Teramore tried to get up and looked at the duke. He looked flustered, the duke coming to the room and putting an end to his plan, wasn’t part of his calculation.
‘Fool, do you think I would walk around alone after the event?’
I had expected that Teramore would plan some underhand tricks. So to counter whatever Teremore’s had in his hand, I had asked Isaac to call the Duke before I left the study!
I stayed in the study room until late at night, but it wasn’t just to protect Henry.
Turned out I was right, tonight Teramore really did act.
The Duke came in with Isyac, Nos, and the maids, including Leah, in tow.
Before I left, I had asked Isyac to call the Duke, nevertheless considering the possibility he wouldn’t come, I requested for the maids to come as well.
“What…….what is happening here….!”
Leah’s face darkened as she saw the situation in the room.
‘I’m glad you guys have a good timing.’
With this, no one would dare to lay their hands on Henry anymore.
“Si-sir, this…..so this….! Li-li-listen to me first please.”
Teramore begged, but the duke didn’t heed his plea.
Nos rubbed his brow off, a deep frown was spread across his forehead. The senate’s member mistreated a duke’s child. It was a major incident, if the news went out there would be a huge uproar.
‘In the worst case scenario, there would be civil war?’
There’s no way he could just let it pass.
Lea, my maids and Nos, glared at Teramore’s sprawling figure.
The duke walked with heavy steps toward Teramore.
Teramore tried to scoot back, while cradling his deformed, twisted arm. However, with no support he couldn’t get there and feel down instead, “Thud….!”
The dark red blood was constantly flowing, bursting out from his open wounds.
“Your, your excellency…, I, I, I’m not…. It’s all part of the education!”
The Duke trampled on his already mangled hand as Teramore looked up with an imploring face.
“Henry.”
“……”
“Tell me what happened.”
He seemed to have noticed that Teramore’s assault wasn’t only once or twice. Teramore’s hand that was going to hit Henry, was raised fixedly, out of habits.
Henry, who was clenching his trousers tightly, gulped.
Heavy silence followed for some time, but he kept his silence.
Only after the Duke once again called out his name, “Henry!”, did he open his mouth.
“It’s no big deal.”
“That’s for me to judge.”
The duke’s eyes were dark. His cold stare made everyone in the room shivered in fear.
Even I, the innocent bystander was afraid, the guilty Teramore was naturally terrified out of his wits.
“Yo-Your Excellency, you are mistaken. It’s a misunderstanding. Let me explain. So, this one,….!”
The duke twisted Teramore’s hand. Teramore painful screams could be heard throughout the residence.
Wha….
I stared unblinking with my jaw slacked open.
It’s the first time for me to see divine power’s judgement being used.
When I heard it, I thought it was a little scary, but the reality was far from what I had imagined.
It’s a lot of pressure, like a tight squeeze to the lungs.
If I hadn’t suffered from the Pope’s divine power in my past life, I would’ve been knocked out cold.’
Henry, who was getting paler, clenched his teeth. Then he said casually.
“It was just a slap in the face.”
“Little? It’s violence.”
Henry bited his lips and continues.
“It’s an opportunity to take on Teramore’s weaknesses. When I become an adult, I am going to use this information to my advantage.”
“….”
Only
“So it’s no big deal–“
The Duke strode and grabbed Henry’s wrist.
“Ugh!”
His wide sleeve slid down his slender arm, revealing a purple bruise.