Thinking back to that day, I muttered blankly to myself.
“It would’ve been nice if Mother were still alive…”
If she were, I could have found some way to return all the pain she caused me.
“…Or could I?”
If she were truly still alive, would I really be able to hate her so purely?
The sense of betrayal and misery she left me with hasn’t faded—even now, even after regaining memories of my past life.
And yet, just as much as I resented her—maybe even more—I had loved her.
A storm of complicated feelings toward her, ones I’d long tried to suppress, began to churn.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.
“Yeah… Maybe it’s for the best that she’s gone. I don’t need anyone around to stir up my emotions anymore.”
Either way, I had no intention of letting this greenhouse—this place full of nothing but pain—remain untouched.
“Not until I’ve torn it down, brick by brick.”
I slowly looked around the space.
As I imagined replacing it with a grand gemstone vault of my own, the raging emotions settled.
“If I’m going to demolish it, I might as well make it mine.”
Just then, Robber, who had been standing silently behind me, spoke up.
“Lady Bellady, shall we begin placing the furniture in the greenhouse?”
“…For now, yes.”
It wasn’t time yet to claim Mother’s greenhouse for myself. That plan would have to wait.
I pointed toward the velvet-upholstered sofas scattered around the space.
“It’s getting warmer. Velvet in a greenhouse makes no sense. Replace them all with the new ones we ordered.”
“Yes, Lady Bellady! You heard her—move it!”
At Robber’s command, the attendants began replacing the old furniture with the new sofas and matching tables.
The work was in full swing when—
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
A shrill, youthful shout rang out through the greenhouse like a whip crack.
I turned around to see Meldor storming toward us, fire in his eyes, his outdoor excursion evidently over.
At least he didn’t pretend I didn’t exist anymore—he came right at me, his voice raised with fury.
“Are you insane?! Do you even know what this place is?! How dare you touch it!”
“Stop shouting. The seasons changed, so I’m simply swapping out the sofas to match.”
“Hah! So that ruckus going on throughout the mansion—that was all you too, wasn’t it?! You’ve completely lost it! Mother just died, and you’re doing this?!”
He shouted so furiously that he kicked one of the rattan sofas. Robber and the servants flinched and retreated.
Seeing that, Meldor shouted again.
“Robber! Whose side are you on?! You should’ve stopped her!”
“M-my Lord… I, uh…”
I stepped in front of Robber, blocking Meldor’s view of him.
“Seasonal decoration is a long-standing tradition of this house. It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with. Go do something useful.”
“How can I not care?! This is my family too! If a member of the family is acting like a brat, I’m obligated to fix it!”
That remark struck a nerve.
“A brat?”
“Exactly! As heir to the Alton Duchy, your behavior is disgraceful—I can’t just sit back and watch!”
He jabbed a finger at me, unable to hold back his temper.
“If Mother were still alive, you wouldn’t dare act like this! You think the whole world belongs to you now that she’s gone?! How can you call yourself her child and not feel ashamed?!”
The moment those words hit me, my hand moved on its own.
Whoosh—
I reached for his face, my hand stopping just inches from grabbing it.
“I can’t hurt him. Not yet…”
My rationality barely returned in time. I froze just before contact.
Yes, managing the household would naturally fall to me as the eldest daughter, but I hadn’t been officially granted full authority yet.
I couldn’t afford to give Father any excuse to keep it from me.
“And yet I still have to hold back after hearing that trash?”
Fighting back the burning rage, I stared directly into Meldor’s blue eyes.
My piercing gaze made him flinch slightly.
“Ugh! Are you trying to threaten me?!”
He seemed offended by his own momentary fear.
He batted away my hand and began mumbling something under his breath.
Faint traces of blue mana began swirling around his palms.
The moment I saw it, I knew what he was about to do.
“Magic.”
That little brat was planning to use magic on me again?
I didn’t bother hiding my crooked smile.
He must’ve really wanted to recreate that day.
“Go ahead. It won’t work on me anyway. Don’t waste your mana.”
Last time, I’d been caught off guard and blocked it like an idiot—but now? Things were different.
I smirked, letting him see that I wasn’t planning to dodge.
“Hrrgh!”
Reading the challenge in my expression, Meldor clenched his jaw and began gathering mana in both hands this time.
As the swirling magic rapidly grew, I narrowed one eye.
“That flow… ice magic?”
It was Mother’s specialty—and far stronger than the little tantrum spells he’d thrown at me before.
If that hit me directly, I’d be bedridden for a week.
“Even if he’s angry, he’s seriously going to use that on me?”
Who the hell did he take after to be this rotten?
Just as I was about to stop him before he fired—
A thought struck me.
“Wait. I could use this… and get the greenhouse for myself.”
At that moment, Meldor fired the completed ice spell.
A blue beam of energy surged toward me at high speed.
“Alright, Meldor.”
If you want to recreate that memory so badly, I’ll play along—just this once.
I didn’t dodge.
Instead, I quickly channeled my own magic into my hand and struck the beam.
Just like I had back in the greenhouse that summer.
Shwoom—!
The spell’s direction shifted perfectly.
The blue light flew straight toward the greenhouse’s central crystal pillar—just as I’d intended—and struck the enchanted sapphire dead-on.
Seeing this unfold in real-time, Meldor screamed.
“No, stop!”
His voice broke as the sapphire began to freeze over.
The spell had been powerful to begin with—and with my added mana when redirecting it, the effect was even stronger.
The preservation-enchanted sapphire turned to ice, and the flowers that drew life from it began freezing over too.
“The f-flowers…!”
“Even the ground’s freezing over!”
The stunned servants and Robber gasped in horror.
Just like they said, the greenhouse was freezing—flowers, soil, everything.
Meldor grabbed his head and screamed in anguish.
“AAAAHHH! Why didn’t you dodge?! You could have!”
“Hmmm. I was just so startled… I ended up deflecting your attack without thinking.”
It wasn’t just Meldor who had improved at magic.
I, too, had grown far more skilled at controlling my mana.
Redirecting his spell was easy.
“I used to hold back because I didn’t want trouble, but there’s no need for that anymore.”
I casually opened and closed my completely unscathed hand and shrugged.
“So who told you to use such a powerful spell, huh?”
“Aaagh! You ruined Mother’s precious greenhouse!”
Meldor’s eyes rolled as he lunged at me.
I sidestepped lightly and flicked one of the frozen flowers with my finger.
It crumbled into glittering dust and scattered into the air.
“I didn’t ruin it—you did. And besides, this greenhouse is useless now, isn’t it?”
Too angry to listen, he kept swinging wildly at me.
I nimbly dodged each one, strangely satisfied.
And then, a voice like thunder boomed through the greenhouse.
“Meldor Alton!”
Meldor froze.
We both turned toward the entrance at once.
Standing there, with a stony expression, was Father.
“F-Father…”
Meldor immediately stepped back and stood at attention.
I casually brushed the dust off my skirt and looked up at him.
“You’re home, Father.”
“…What is the meaning of this?”
Father stepped deeper into the greenhouse, glancing around.
The sapphire and crystal pillar were completely frozen.
The flowers had turned to ice and scattered into frost.
Servants trembled in one corner, and the new sofas lay strewn about.
After silently observing the scene, he turned to us.
“Explain. What happened here? Why is the greenhouse in this state?”
I opened my mouth to answer—
“WAAAAAAH—!”
A sudden, wailing cry cut me off.
Startled, I turned to see who it was.
Meldor was bawling, tears streaming down his face.
“S-she was messing with Mother’s greenhouse without permission! I was just trying to stop her!”
Watching him sob, I was reminded of his age.
Twelve… Still just a child, huh.
As his cries continued, Father’s crimson eyes slowly turned to me.
