Chapter – 05Ā
Becoming the Cutest!
The nursery where I spent my days had one major weakness.
Its soundproofing was simply too good.
No matter how loudly I cried, neither my parents nor the other servants could hear me.
Normally, that level of soundproofing would have been a tremendous advantage.
It kept outside noise from disturbing the child, allowing a baby to rest peacefully.
That was its intended purpose.
But because of that same soundproofing, no one outside knew that Millicent routinely ignored my crying.
However…
Things were different outside the room.
While crying at the top of my lungs, I used my mana to knock over the flower vase sitting just outside the nursery door.
I figured that if someone heard such a loud crash, at least one or two servants would come to investigate.
The fact that my parents were the ones who arrived…
Was pure luck.
“What exactly do you think you’re doing?”
At Mother’s trembling voice…
Millicent’s shoulders jerked violently.
Slowly…
She turned around.
Standing there were my parents.
Their faces had gone completely pale.
They had entrusted their beloved daughter to a nanny, painfully convincing themselves that a noble child needed to grow independent.
Only to witness that nanny screaming “Shut up! Shut up!” at their little girl.
(Maybe I went a little too far…)
I couldn’t deny it.
But if I wanted to teach this nanny a proper lesson…
It had to be this dramatic.
As I thought that…
A strange, sinister sensation reached my fingertips.
Something dark spread across the floor.
It crept over the walls.
Then covered the ceiling.
“I’m asking you what you’re doing.”
“…Answer me.”
It was Mother’s mana.
“M-My Lady…”
Near the doorway…
Two maids collapsed where they stood.
Beyond them, even the footmen turned pale, frozen in fear.
“Eek…!”
Millicent’s knees nearly gave out as well.
But Mother’s magic wouldn’t allow it.
The dark mana coiled around Millicent’s body like countless serpents.
Watching carefully…
I immediately understood what it was.
(…Shadows!)
Mother controlled shadows with her magic.
Those shadows slowly…
Relentlessly…
Wrapped around Millicent’s body…
Tightening little by little.
“Ah…!”
Millicent’s feet lifted from the floor.
Her entire body trembled in terror.
“Answer me.”
Mother stepped closer.
Each step caused the shadows to tighten further.
Finally…
They reached Millicent’s throat.
“ANSWER ME!”
The air itself trembled.
Millicent had gone completely rigid.
Her face was filled with utter despair.
But thenā
“Baa… buh!”
The moment she looked at me…
That expression appeared once again.
That smug…
Condescending grin.
“Is… is this really wise?”
“What do you mean?”
“It was His Majesty the King who assigned me here.”
“Wouldn’t this be insulting His Majesty himself?”
(So that’s how it was…)
I’d overheard that Millicent was a widowed noblewoman from a count’s family.
I’d always found it strange that she dared treat the daughter of a duke this way.
This society was extremely strict about social rank.
But if the king himself stood behind her…
That explained her confidence.
(Even so… she went far beyond the line.)
She had borrowed the tiger’s authority…
Only to challenge a lion.
(But Mother and Father aren’t the type to back down over something like that.)
And I was absolutely right.
“So what?”
Mother’s icy reply made Millicent visibly flinch.
“If… if I report this to His Majesty…”
“Oh, yes.”
“My brother may very well scold me for it.”
“…And?”
Mother’s mana surged once more.
Another maid fainted on the spot.
“What misunderstanding are you under?”
“W-What?”
“Even if you were the King himself…”
“I would do exactly the same thing.”
“Because…”
“You hurt my daughter!”
The shadows tightened.
Harder.
Harder.
“Ggh…!”
Millicent clawed desperately at her throat.
At this rate…
She would suffocate.
Even I thought Mother had gone too far.
Just as I was about to panic…
Father moved.
“That’s enough.”
He gently placed a hand on Mother’s shoulder.
She pouted slightly…
Then relaxed.
At once, the shadows dissolved into nothing.
Freed, Millicent collapsed onto the floor.
“Haa… haa…”
Gasping for breath…
She hugged herself and burst into tears.
“H-How terrifying!”
“You were born into the royal family, blessed with holy Light Magic…”
“And yet you wield such sinister Shadow Magic!”
“You even tried to murder your own nanny!”
What unbelievable hypocrisy.
After everything she’d done…
How could she say something like that?
“You shameless woman!”
At those words…
Two separate bursts of mana erupted simultaneously.
“Lillietta!?”
It was Father who cried out.
His own mana had flared in anger before he immediately suppressed it and turned toward me.
Inside my own body…
My mana was swelling uncontrollably alongside my rage.
(I won’t forgive you!)
Mother had always been so kind.
She hugged me.
She called me adorable.
And this woman…
Had dared call her shameless.
(I’ll never forgive you!!)
At that instantā
The mana overflowing from my body burst outward.
And…
It ignited.
Bright crimson flames erupted around me.
Growing hotter…
Changing shape…
Changing color.
“AAAAAH!!”
Within moments…
The flames transformed into a blue dragon.
The dragon lunged at Millicent.
Just like Mother’s shadows…
The fiery dragon wrapped itself around her body.
It burned her dress.
It scorched her hair.
“AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!”
Millicent’s hideous screams echoed through the room.
Yet the dragon showed no mercy.
Fortunately…
It lasted only a few seconds.
“Calm yourself, Lillietta.”
Father gently lifted me into his arms.
At the same time…
A sphere of water enveloped Millicent.
Father’s magic extinguished the blue dragon.
Gradually…
The mana surging inside me also settled down.
“Lillietta!”
Mother rushed over as well…
Pulling me tightly into her embrace.
Wrapped in the warmth of both my parents…
An overwhelming wave of drowsiness washed over me.
My consciousness slipped away.
Naturally…
Millicent was dismissed that very day.
Although…
Father still compensated her for the burned dress and singed hair.
“She will never work as a nanny again.”
Several days later…
After returning from the royal palace…
Father declared those words to Mother.
Hearing them…
Mother finally let out a relieved sigh.
Meanwhile…
I lay cozily asleep in her arms.
After Millicent’s dismissal…
No replacement nanny ever came.
Morning…
Afternoon…
Night…
I spent every moment with Mother.
(Perhaps that’s improper by noble standards…)
But this arrangement was obviously the best.
Separating a mother from her child had been wrong from the very beginning.
“…Lillietta truly surprised me.”
“Indeed.”
“To think a baby could use magic…”
“And not simple flames, either.”
“She actually shaped her mana into a completely different form.”
Father nodded.
“She probably copied your Shadow Magic after seeing it.”
“What incredible talent.”
Now that they mentioned it…
Back then I’d been so consumed by anger that I hadn’t thought clearly.
Perhaps I really had unconsciously imitated Mother’s spell.
(It’s less talent… and more that I’m mentally almost thirty.)
Unlike an ordinary infant…
I could observe.
Think.
Analyze.
That was probably why I had awakened magic so early.
“But magic is still too soon for you.”
Father gently touched my forehead.
Immediately…
I felt something like a thin membrane surround my stomach.
“That should prevent your mana from leaving your body.”
Apparently…
He had placed a seal on me to stop me from accidentally casting magic again.
Considering what had happened with the fire dragon…
He wasn’t wrong.
At the time…
I had possessed no control whatsoever.
(Looks like magic training is on hold.)
Disappointing…
But understandable.
“I’m sure you’ll become a mage who surpasses even me!”
Father lifted me high into the air.
Holding me beneath my arms…
He raised me overhead.
The sensation of floating made me instinctively giggle.
“Kya! Kya!”
As I laughed…
Both my parents smiled even more warmly.
“Lillietta.”
“Our precious, adorable Lillietta.”
Thump.
Warmth bloomed once again inside my chest.
The jewel within me grew brighter.
My maximum mana increased once more.
(The reason these two are disliked isn’t something I can solve overnight.)
Their behavior…
Their relationship with the royal family…
Mother’s Shadow Magic…
Everything was tangled together.
(But I refuse to let them spend their whole lives being hated!)
People like Millicent had no right to insult them.
(…I’ll do whatever I can.)
Even in this tiny body…
There were still things I could accomplish.
At the very least…
I could increase my mana.
That much was within my power.
(I’ll become the cutest girl imaginable…
Become the strongest mage…
And make Father and Mother happy!)
At three months old…
I finally found my goal in this new life.
