BDKHC 30

~Chapter 30~

How many times can you say “I hate you” in just a few short lines?

Mari Egbert, glaring at Esther with dagger eyes, clearly wasn’t friendly—but Esther hadn’t expected her to be this hostile.

‘…It’s black.’

Just solving Ernheart Egbert’s black exclamation mark problem had restored her magic drastically.

It had even fixed her speech.

Whatever else happened, she couldn’t give up on a black exclamation mark.

So, the conclusion was simple.

“Grandma!”

First, act clingy.

“Are you feeling okay?!”

Esther beamed like an innocent child who didn’t know anything.

‘She won’t spit on a cute face.’

Besides, lately she’d gotten plumper, with even fairer skin!

But her expectations were completely wrong.

“Who’s your grandmother? Tsk, no manners. Can’t you tell if I’m fine or not just by looking? And what are you wearing? You reek of poor upbringing. I don’t know how you seduced Ern into giving you the successor’s seat, but with me, that won’t work.”

Her words came rapid-fire without a pause, leaving Esther speechless.

‘I told you, I never seduced that grandpa.’

Not that there was anything to seduce.

“I don’t fall for cuteness.”

Your husband didn’t either—he fell for the idea of saving you.

‘Wait, so you do think I’m cute.’

Esther thought blankly.

“Even if you wore a pink lace dress, held cookies in both hands, nibbled them while sipping hot chocolate, and tilted your head—let’s see if I’d fall for it.”

“…”

What is this?

Are you telling me to do it or not?

The description was so detailed, it almost sounded like she was telling her to try it right now.

‘It’s… just my imagination, right?’

As Esther rolled her eyes, Mari spoke again.

“Since Ern already reported to the imperial family that you’re the successor, I can’t remove you right away, but in a year I’ll have the authority to change it—and I’ll strike your name out immediately.”

From behind, Esther could feel the people watching nodding along.

‘Not a single person here is on my side.’

But the satisfaction of crushing them all when she rose to the top would be that much sweeter.

“This is the Egbert family—how could we hand the succession to someone with tainted blood like yours?”

“Uh… hmm…”

Tainted…? I have origins.

If you want to be exact, Esther’s origins were from the demon race itself.

“Mother, please be reasonable. I don’t care if you remove her from the succession, but…”

Kaelos Egbert stepped in, but Esther quickly cut him off.

“Wow, what’s ‘origins’?”

“What?”

“What’s origins, Grandma?”

At her words, Mari’s face wrinkled in displeasure.

“It means pure blood. Not the kind of blood from someone whose background is unknown—”

“Wow! Then your grandmother’s grandmother’s grandmother’s grandmother’s grandmother’s grandmother all had pure blood too?!”

Of course not.

Over a thousand years ago, humans and many other races lived together.

From the very beginning of the world, no human had purely human blood.

Not even the most fanatically pure-blood families.

“Wow, amazing!”

“…”

Esther spread her arms wide in innocent admiration.

“I read in a book that in the past, the world was one, so demons and humans married, and even angels and devils got married!”

Esther hopped excitedly like a child.

“So your ancestors must have carefully kept the bloodline by marrying only chosen humans because they knew someone in the future would build a great family!”

As she spoke loudly, all eyes turned to her.

They looked shocked, but Esther ignored them.

If you wanted to trace origins, you had to go back to the beginning—and by that measure, no one was “pure.”

“…”
“…”
“…”

No one dared to speak.

The silence was heavy.

They all knew Mari Egbert was scary, and how much she loved and took pride in the family’s bloodline.

They themselves felt pride and superiority over their own bloodlines.

“Oh… right. You’re not supposed to mix with tainted blood, right? Then you shouldn’t hang out with Grandpa either…”

She herself had already broken the rules—forcing them on others was worse.

“Ah! Wait, Father! You shouldn’t talk to Grandma either! If you have tainted blood, you can’t talk to her… And since your father is Grandpa, you’ve got tainted blood too! Oh, and Uncle! That means none of us should talk to Grandma!”

Even Kaelos Egbert seemed at a loss for words at the sight of the little girl openly declaring everyone’s bloodline tainted and suggesting they ostracize Mari.

“…Enough.”

Uncharacteristically, Kaelos glanced at Mari Egbert and spoke quietly.

Esther blinked at his words.

Mari was glaring at her with sharp eyes.

Looking at the locked exclamation mark above her head, Esther froze.

‘Oh no, that’s right!’

What was I doing?!

I should’ve been acting cute to build closeness, not arguing with her.

I’m doomed.

Esther rolled her eyes nervously.

“Hehe… That’s not right, is it? We should all get along.”

She spoke with a lisp, but the mood didn’t soften.

If anything, the lock above the exclamation mark seemed darker. As she forced an awkward smile, a parchment appeared.

[She hates how you twist correct points into arguments. And changing your words midway? She thinks you have no backbone.]

Was this parchment developing its own personality? It had a knack for making people uncomfortable.

“…Hehe, Grandma’s the best.”

“Get out.”

“Yes! Grandma’s little Esther will leave now! I’ll come back tomorrow!”

Esther quickly waved and ran out of the drawing room. Outside, Shiphon and Denver were waiting.

“Young Miss!”

“Are you alright?”

At their words, Esther buried her face in her palm and sank to the floor.

‘…No.’

Embarrassing.

“Let’s go. Grandma’s furious.”

“…Your way of speaking…”

“It’s clear now. And you’re not using odd grammar anymore.”

Esther nodded.

“It just happened.”

Her head was now full of language knowledge—not just the imperial tongue, but she felt she could speak any language.

“A genius becoming even more of a genius!”

“…Ah, yes.”

Shiphon smiled awkwardly. He really couldn’t hide his expressions.

“And I have to go back to the library. I still haven’t figured out what that disease is.”

“About that… I’ve lived a long time, but I’ve never heard of such an illness. I even asked through the guild, but found nothing.”

“Yeah, but I’ve seen it in a book. It’s probably a very old disease—maybe it doesn’t even exist anymore.”

Still, if it was recorded in ancient texts, there was a good chance something remained.

‘I hope the book is here.’

If not, there might be trouble.

“You’re quite a strange person, Young Miss. You feel like someone who’s lived for centuries, not just five years.”

Denver’s words made Esther blink.

He’s sharper than I thought. But even to a subordinate, she couldn’t reveal she was a demon—let alone a former Demon King.

“If you’re neglected since you’re a baby, you end up like this.”

“Usually, neglected babies die.”

“…”

Can’t argue with that.

She glanced at him, then turned her head away.

Having Denver around made life easier, but his attempts to dig into her secrets were… uncomfortable.

“Let’s go to the library.”

“Yes, I’ll escort you.”

“I’ll go to the annex and get some snacks,” Shiphon said.

Esther was about to nod when a thought made her tilt her head.

‘Wait, I’m the successor now, right?’

Whether or not they replaced her in a year, as long as she was the successor, she had authority over the whole household.

Esther grinned mischievously.

“Yeah, but I’m the successor now. So I can take food from the main house’s kitchen.”

“…What?”

“And I can spend money freely. I’ll even raise your salaries.”

It’s not my money anyway—so why not?

It’s just a year of happiness. I should start projects and stash away plenty of side money.

A money-draining parasite? That’s the easiest thing in the world.

It’s what I’m best at.

A demon should act like a demon.

Now that I have power, I might as well use it openly.

“Yep, double salary!”

At her shameless abuse of power, Shiphon and Denver’s eyes went round.