Chapter 17 …
“The Daughter of the Villainous Heir!”
“!”
At that moment, the shop assistants—who had been huddled nervously in the corner—shuddered.
Why on earth had that infamous troublemaker come to a doll shop? What did he mean by “cleaning everything out”? Was he planning to destroy the entire store?
While the terrified employees hesitated to approach Leo, one of them finally gathered the courage and stepped forward.
“W-would you like some help?”
Krobi glanced at the employee once, then turned back to Leo.
“So, what will you be buying? If we buy one of each type, Erusha will probably be very happy!”
“Buy… this?”
“You’re not going to buy them?”
Come to think of it… why did I even come here?
The image of the trash dolls in Erusha’s room kept lingering in Leo’s mind, and he had simply walked into the doll shop when it happened to catch his eye. Now that he had confirmed there were perfectly normal dolls here, there was no reason to look further.
Leo picked up the doll he had set down again. It was a girl doll with purple eyes and purple hair, resembling Erusha. As he stared at it, a memory suddenly surfaced.
—
“Ersha, heart hurts. Grandpa keep bowing head. ‘I’m sorry at White Auction,’ he keep saying and curling up.”
“Ersha sad too.”
—
“No, why is that kid even sad?”
The more he thought about it, the more displeased he felt.
That inexplicable emotion made his grip tighten around the doll. The shop assistants watching this covered their mouths in shock. A doll worth the price of a carriage was being crushed in the hands of that troublemaker.
Leo quickly turned away.
“Let’s go.”
“Huh? We’re leaving? Didn’t you come to buy an Erusha doll?” Krobi looked between Leo’s back and the purple-eyed doll he had been fiddling with, then hurriedly chased after him.
—
Something’s suspicious.
I wandered around a garden, deep in thought.
I was convinced that Limerick Bray was deliberately neglecting my lessons. Why? Was he even really a tutor?
I also recalled Father’s displeased expression when he assigned me a teacher. If it were Leo, he might have hired a fraud and passed them off as a tutor.
“Hm… I wonder when Evot will arrive?”
As I thought that, I hopped around stepping only on the red bricks embedded in the ground. Hop on one foot—then hop again!
I had already asked Evot to investigate Limerick, so I would know something once she returned.
“Still, this place is nice.”
I looked up and scanned the garden. High stone walls surrounded it on all sides, making it a place where I could spend time freely without being seen.
The original Erusha was supposedly afraid of leaving her room, but I was too restless to stay cooped up like that.
If no one came looking for me for a few days, I decided I might claim this garden as my secret space.
“I still don’t want to run into the Shablinn people.”
Unless that idiot father became somewhat normal, meeting the Shablinn family—my relatives—would bring more harm than benefit.
As I continued hopping, a low, eerie voice reached my ears.
“…W-why is that brat here.”
“?”
I flinched as if struck by lightning and turned around.
There, unbelievably, stood the Shablinn Duke and Nocturne.
“Gr-grandfather?”
Shurman’s eyes flashed with terrifying intensity.
“I told you not to let that mangnani brat appear before me again.”
“Mangnani…?”
“Exactly. The blood of Leonardo… never changes.”
“!”
My mouth fell open and refused to close. I had done nothing—just appeared—and yet I was already being scolded and given some humiliating nickname.
The grandfather glared at me once more, then abruptly turned away. Watching his back, I felt time itself stop.
Even after good news had arrived from the Colson Count family, the Duke’s dissatisfaction with Leo had not diminished in the slightest.
At this rate, being exiled and dying like in the original story would only be a matter of time.
Then Nocturne, who had been silently observing me, approached.
In a cold, mechanical voice, he said,
“This is a place the Duke often uses when he wishes to be alone in contemplation.”
“Is that so?”
“That is correct. All members of the Shablinn Duke’s household avoid this area intentionally. It seems he is displeased that you have intruded.”
“Erusha didn’t know…”
“……”
Nocturne looked down at me quietly. His gaze seemed to say, “Of course you didn’t know.”
There was not a trace of sympathy or kindness toward a child.
I looked back up at him.
He was, to me, essentially a hidden antagonist—someone who looked down on Leonardo more than anyone else and likely wanted to remove him from the heir position.
I wondered if Nocturne would change his mind if Leo kept improving… but seeing him now, that seemed unlikely.
Maybe Nocturne was the one who killed Leo in the original story?
There were many strange points about the so-called “accident” carriage crash that killed us right after being expelled from the duke’s family.
However, since Leo’s death was not an important event in the original story, no explanation was ever given.
The most important thing was that there were many enemies within the family. Not just Nocturne. I needed to be cautious of all of them.
Still, caution aside, it was only natural to extract whatever I could use from them.
What could I gain from Nocturne, who was clearly hostile toward Leo and me?
As I was thinking, an idea suddenly struck me.
I clasped my hands together with a pitiful expression and teared up.
“I don’t want to be kicked out…”
“Hm.”
“How can Erusha be recognized by Grandpa?”
If I asked Nocturne something like this, he would likely give me the most impossible answer imaginable.
And that—was exactly the answer I needed.
To gain Grandpa’s recognition, I had to accomplish something impossible. Only then would he understand my value to the family. Nocturne would surely give me the most absurd, impossible task in the world.
Something truly impossible… something miraculous.
“Hm.”
Nocturne rested his hand on his chin, deep in thought. He didn’t look very pleased, but he was at least genuinely considering it.
I stared up at him with wide, expectant eyes, waiting.
Finally, Nocturne slowly spoke.
“Well… unless the young lady enters something like the Sogenius Academy, I can’t think of anything.”
“Sogeni…?”
I tilted my head.
“Sogenius Academy,” he repeated with a faint, mocking smile. “A school so elite that only ten people in the entire empire are admitted each year. The Duke’s wish is for at least one of his direct descendants to enter Sogenius Academy. Though I suppose you wouldn’t know that.”
“….”
He looked at me again with a subtly mocking gaze.
“Unfortunately, the Shablinn Duke’s family has never produced a Sogenius Academy student. To fulfill that dream, young Master Oscar is currently studying relentlessly.”
“I see…”
I blinked my large eyes blankly—but inside, I was ecstatic.
Sogenius Academy…!
Why hadn’t I thought of that before? It was the empire’s most prestigious academy for geniuses. There was no substitute for it.
Oscar would be admitted about five years from now. His efforts to enter the academy were entirely for the Duke’s wish.
But when the acceptance letter arrived, Shurman would already be unconscious. He would die without ever knowing that one of his descendants had finally been accepted into the prestigious academy.
