Published at 18th of November 2020 07:38:36 PM
Chapter 44: 44
As I inclined my head, Boone became sullen .
Why did he get depressed again? I jabbed at the strawberries with a fork, wondering what to do with this devil .
When I put a lot of whipped cream in my mouth, I was entranced with the flavourful combination of sour & sweet, and the delicate taste .
‘I don’t think I’ll get tired of this . ’
When I put the last remaining strawberry in my mouth with a lament, the door opened .
It was Isaac .
“Let’s go see the presents!”
Presents?
Henry, who followed in, said, “Don’t be surprised,”
As he tenderly wiped the whipped cream off my mouth .
“What pwesent?”
When I asked him, Isaac giggled .
I felt strangely uneasy .
I stared between both of them as I went along to see the present .
Returning gift?… It can’t be .
Children’s Day is over, so toys won’t be it .
My birthday is still far away .
So what present were they talking about?
After I arrived at my destination, I wasn’t feeling anxious for nothing .
In front of the duke, numerous vassals stood with their heads bowed .
“Kill us, little miss!”
“Save us, little miss!”
One side cried out for the punishment of death while the other side begged for help .
I turned my eyes and stared at the Duke, Henry, and Isaac .
The Duke looked at me with a look in his eyes as if he liked what was going on, and Isaac looked proud .
“What is this…?”
“These are the people who previously tried to make the duke adopt Cattlea Waltson . ”
Upon hearing Isaac proudly answer, I looked at them again .
Some had cuts and bruises . Most of them were fine, but if they were pressured any more than this then they would probably faint .
“So, this… . ”
As I murmured, Isaac said, “Ah,” and grinned .
“How many of you are missing? That’s right, exactly three missing, two in the torture chamber, and one for the whole castle too see every month as an example . ”
I expected to see the day when these people would eventually pay the price for their actions
But I never wanted something like this .
“Dyuke, and Henly, Isyac . ”
Three people looked at me as I muttered their names .
“Yes . ”
“Should I have just cut everyone’s throat?”
At Isaac’s words, their faces became even more pale .
“No!”
I said while grimacing .
“I’ll hwate you if you kwill them . ” (I’ll hate you if you kill them)
The three people whom those words were addressed to were astonished .
***
“I don’t want twis, I don’t want gwift . Tell them to gwo home!” (I don’t want this, I don’t want gifts . Tell them to go home!)
As of a beacon of light had shined upon them, the punished vassals were profoundly moved by Leblaine’s word trying immobilize the duke and the brothers .
Two days ago, after Leblaine was sent to the church, the people in the Dubbled were devastated .
All those involved in the Cattlea Walston case were brought to the castle .
“Your-, Your Excellency . Why were we brought here?”
As someone finally managed to speak out loud but with a shudder, Henry smiled sweetly and looked at them .
“You have done a crime punishable by death . ”
“It, It’s ridiculous! We just couldn’t see the child of fate controlling the Dubbleds! So, we would rather have a blood relative, Cattlea—!”
They dared to say that because they thought the Dubbleds wouldn’t dare to touch them .
All of them were descendants of prestigious families with jurisdiction, who had long served for the Dubbleds, so they could not be easily touched .
“AGGHH—!”
… . . They thought he wouldn’t touch them .
Until one of the elder’s wrists was cut off .
Theodore Dubbled had led the family for five years . Only then did the vassals become accustomed to peace .
They forgot that, that man was a wicked one who slaughtered his brothers and brought down his mighty ancestor .
“Your head will be rolling down from a hill soon . ”
When the duke spoke languidly, the vassals, with pale complexions, plunged their heads onto the floor at once .
And this was how the current situation came to be .
The duke and the brothers had been doing all sorts of things to them for several days . They were putting all sorts of offences on their heads .
[Embezzlement of funds]
It was only three francs .
[Receiving bribery at the shopping centre . ]
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The owner of the flower shop gave them a piece of tulip flower each .
Those were the ridiculously minor crimes, but it was enough to make the vassals shudder .
It was so trivial that they had forgotten about it, but it meant that the Duke knew everything that no one else knew about .
In other words, all the vassals were in the duke’s sight .
He deliberately listed minor crimes . I wondered if they had no choice but to die like this . But,…
“But kid, they‘ve treated you badly . ”
When Isaac said so, Leblaine answered firmly .
“Ywo can’t kwill people because of that . ” (You can’t kill people because of that)
Next to him, Henry also persuaded me .
“You have to pull out the bad roots . That’s how it works, Leblaine . ”
“A pewson is not a thing . ” (A person is not a thing)
The Duke stretched out his hand, calling out “Blaine . ”
“No . ”
“Why?”
Leblaine frowned, as she looked around the three restless people .
“I’m not gwoing to pway with Dyuke, Henly, and Isyac again . ”
“……!”
“……!”
“……!”
When they saw the three hard-headed men looking as if they had been hit by a bolt out of the blue, they were stunned .
“Ahh, Little miss… . ”
It was not wrong to say that she had given hope to all of them .
The little miss was so kind!
***
The people were released unharmed .
In front of the castle, the cries of their families for the fear that their children, husbands, and parents would die were heard .
“Honey, wife! I was so afraid!”
“Father, are you okay? Is your body aching? What a relief, your neck is intact!”
But Boone was dissatisfied .
[Why would you let them live when they deserved to die?]
‘It wasn’t severe enough a crime from them to pay with their deaths . ’
They didn’t abuse a child like Teramore nor force a woman like Urso .
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And most of all, I understood why they tried to drive me out .
Some people tried to get Cattlea to enter the Duke’s house, because there was definitely a position empty for Dubbled .
I am the child of fate, who was founded by the church, and it is very dangerous for me to take full control of the Dubbled .
Above all, Dubbled’s status would plummet if he was swayed by a commoner, with a fake title .
‘And if we had killed them all, the chairman would have stepped in . ’
The strongest chairman, Noanoke
[Who is he?]
‘Um to put it simply… a very scary person?’
The reason why the ancestors, who were famous for their tyranny, gave people to the Senate was not just because they were required to .
The bigger reason was that the chairman of the senate was Jean Marc Noanoke .
Noanoke had a strong bond with the nobles of the senate, and even the church gave priority to his words over the Dubbled’s direct descendant .
[Why does he have so much power?]
‘When it comes to the chairman, he’s not just a vassal . He’s number two in Dubbled’s hierarchy . ’
Moreover, in the near future, he would come to own more powerful connections .
‘But why is it so quiet these days?’
I should’ve stepped forward another time .
As soon as I was thinking about it, the brothers, who had been wary of me, came towards me .
“Kid, are you still mad… . ?”
“Leblaine do you want to go for a walk?”
Sitting on the sofa, I looked at them from the corner of my eye
They had become sullen .
“Next time, you won’t tweat people like that wight?”
The two of them visibly brightened .
“We won’t!”
“Yes . ”
I sighed and came down from the sofa .
“Let’s take a walk . ”
“Shall we go to the garden?”
“How about the greenhouse?”
I left the room with the brothers, who looked like they were wagging their invisible tail .
After a small debate, the three decided to take a walk in the garden .
It was because Isaac insisted strongly that there was a flower he wanted to show me .
Coming out into the garden, I was surprised .
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“Wow—!”
A few days ago, the flower bed, which had been empty, was full of flowers .
The wildflowers, primroses, and violets, were rarely seen flowers in a noble house’s flower bed . Most of them preferred flowers that were expensive and hand-sized, like Tulips .
But I preferred wild flowers more . Especially violets, they were my favorite flowers .
“Bwaine likes this flower!” (Blaine likes this flower!)
Isaac was elated .
“I told the gardener to plant it!”
“Twank you . ”
Henry smiled excitedly when he smelled the scent .
“Finally an idiot has done something commendable . ”
“I’m not an idiot . ”
“Yes, for today I’ll admit you’re not an idiot . But I don’t know about tomorrow . ”
The brothers started bickering again, so I pulled their sleeves .
When they squatted beside me, I gave them a flower ring .
As I expected both of them were surprised .
“Kid, how did you know how to do this?”
“I wearned it at the nuwsery . ” (I learned it at the nursery)
Isaac looked curious as to why the nursery taught her to make such flower rings .
While peeling off the tiny dried grass on the flower ring stem, I said .
“Nobles make their newborn babies wear rings . ”
“Yes . They are made to wear Ruby rings . ”
The rings meant that they needed to grow up healthily until the day the family seal could be worn by them .
“The commonew make flower rings and put them on theiw fingers . Children in the nursery don’t have mothers, so the kids there make it together and wear them . ”
“Why do commoners use flower rings?”
“Because it means twhey love you . ”
It means that even if you can’t give a child an expensive ruby ring like a nobleman, your love for a child is no different from a noble’s .
“So, the teacwes (teachers) teach us how to make flower ring-… huh?”
They didn’t even listen to me and stared at the flower ring I had made for them .
“If a flower ring means love,…”
“Because Leblaine gave us this…”
“We… . ”
Then, their faces turned red and they clasped the flower ring in their hands .