Chapter 87

“This is the first time anything like this has happened in the Kreutz family, so I can’t say for certain.”

“......”

Unfortunately, he answered with his usual ruthless objectivity.

My horrified body froze solid.

So, translated into plain language, Knox is saying I lost my ability because I missed out on early childhood education, right?

Thud—

Utterly devastated, I collapsed to the floor.

“Please don’t lose heart. I’ll go to the library and look for books on the subject first.”

Knox offered that dry consolation as he watched me.

For someone trying to comfort me, though, he looked rather pleased. He had probably found a new topic to research.

Calypse looked down at my crumpled form and added his support to Knox’s words.

“Do that. Aisha, Knox will investigate, so don’t be too disappointed. And even if your power of ice never manifests, you are still...”

“Were you about to comfort me with the obvious line that I’m still your daughter?”

“......”

Father fell silent for a moment, then nodded.

“Yes.”

Haaah—

I let out a deep sigh.

That wasn’t the problem. It was more like... I felt as though something that had always been rightfully mine had been taken away.

“I’m going back to my room.”

“Ask Mai for some dessert. Something sweet might make you feel better.”

“All right.”

Forcing my limp legs to cooperate, I bowed to Father and left the reception room.

Trudge, trudge.

As I walked down the corridor, I searched through my memories of the original novel.

Was there any useful information in it?

I was deep in thought when—

“Lady Aisha!”

Someone called to me from the opposite end of the corridor and hurried over.

“Mai?”

I had been concentrating so hard on the original novel that I barely noticed Mai until she appeared directly in front of me.

For some reason, she was dressed to go out.

“I heard from Knox that something happened to upset you.”

“Huh? Y-yes... I suppose it did...”

“Then would you like to go into town with me and visit a dessert shop?”

“Huh?”

Could she possibly have dressed like that because of me?

My eyes widened like a rabbit’s. As though she had read my mind, Mai smiled calmly and explained.

“It will help clear your head. And the people of the ducal territory will be delighted to see you. Ever since the newspaper published the news about you, the residents have been curious about their young lady.”

Perk.

My ears reacted on their own when she said people were curious about me.

But—

“...There’s a problem I need to solve.”

I still had not found a way to use my power. I could not keep playing around.

My mood sank again, and I stuck out my innocent lips in a pout.

Mai looked puzzled for a moment. Then she bent her knees until our eyes were level and continued in a calm voice.

“Lady Aisha, when you’re faced with a problem that’s difficult to solve, sometimes it’s best to empty your mind completely. That allows the answer to rise naturally into your thoughts.”

“Ooh... I-is that so...?”

Ah. This is bad...

“Yes. Why don’t we ask His Grace for permission and leave at once?”

“Ooh...”

This really isn’t the time to play...

That was what I thought.

Yet when I came to my senses, I was holding Mai’s hand and asking Father for permission.

And when Calypse saw my sagging expression—

“Since you’re going anyway, feed her until that shriveled little face plumps up again.”

He readily agreed and handed Mai a heavy pouch of gold coins.

***

A little while later—

Sluuuurp—

“Ha! Now that’s the stuff!”

After sucking warm cocoa through my straw, I opened my mouth wide in bliss.

Warm cocoa in the nose-numbing cold of the north. This was happiness. This was proper social welfare!

“If you were going to enjoy yourself this much, why did you look so miserable earlier?”

Mai laughed as she wiped the corners of my mouth with a handkerchief.

This place, filled with Mai’s warm touch and delicious cocoa, was Ferrerorosha, the most popular dessert shop in the city of Duke Kreutz’s territory.

It was especially famous for its outdoor café, where customers could enjoy the frigid northern air, and the tables outside were crowded with people drinking warm beverages.

I was currently drinking the shop’s most popular item: rabbit cocoa.

As the sweet chocolate entered my mouth, my troubled heart seemed to settle a little.

“Well, the thing is...”

Sitting on a tall chair, I swung my short legs and sipped my cocoa.

Then I leaned closer and whispered so only Mai could hear.

“It was revealed that I’m Father’s biological daughter, right? But my power of ice still hasn’t manifested.”

“Ah. Come to think of it, that means you should be a power holder.”

Mai’s eyes widened.

Clearly, she had never given it much thought either.

“Perhaps it’s simply manifesting a little late. Why don’t you wait patiently? You’ve also been through a major ordeal recently, so you should continue resting.”

After considering it briefly, she gave that cheerful answer.

Isn’t this supposed to be a world where everyone makes an enormous fuss because power holders are so rare?

Calypse, Knox, and now even Mai. Why was no one reacting strongly?

I had even worried that if I told them my power had not manifested, they might start questioning whether I was really his biological child and demand some sort of paternity test.

And now she was telling me to rest and wait again.

“I’ve already rested for a whole month.”

“The more rest you get, the better. Especially for a child your age.”

Sip.

Mai took an elegant drink of tea and smiled.

At my age in my former life, I would already have been attending an English-language kindergarten...

This was making me anxious.

I raised my eyebrows and worked my lips uneasily.

In both my former life and this one, I had been crushed under schoolwork and spy training. I had never truly rested.

Because whenever I stopped, even for a moment, everyone else left me behind.

No matter how desperately I reached for those ahead of me, the distance only widened by however much I had already fallen behind.

That frightened me.

I was terrified that I would eventually be abandoned.

So I ran and ran without stopping.

But people in this world aren’t like that. How should I put it? They seem very lenient with children.

Was it because they had no concept of schools or private academies?

No, that could not be it. Lucas and Kyle were both studying diligently, so why was I the only one they refused to teach?

Besides, after resting for an entire month, shouldn’t someone be nagging me to do something by now?

Perhaps they were not particularly lenient with children.

Perhaps they were excessively lenient with me.

“Hmm...”

Then I tilted my head in the opposite direction.

Or am I wrong? Is telling a five-year-old to study actually the stranger option?

“Lady Aisha, what are you thinking about?”

“...That’s what I’d like to ask myself...”

“Pardon?”

Complicated, distracting thoughts drifted around inside my head.

I let out a long sigh and muttered,

“This is the kind of difficult question I need to ask my buddy Socrates...”

“...Your buddy who?”

I was still spouting nonsense when—

Crash—

“N-no! Please don’t!”

The rough sound of someone falling was followed by a young child’s scream. Startled, the people sitting around the outdoor café began rising from their seats one after another.

I leaped up as well and turned toward the sound.

“Lady Aisha, please stay back.”

One of the escort knights waiting nearby rushed over and shielded me behind his back.

That was definitely a child screaming.

Scurry.

Hidden behind the knight in an instant, I poked out only my head and stared into the alley.

The sound had come from a butcher shop farther inside.

The butcher shop’s door flew open, and a man who appeared to be the owner began shouting at the top of his lungs.

“Knights! There’s a monster in here! Take it away!”

“D-don’t... Please don’t... Our Bibi isn’t a m-monster...!”

A little boy was swept weakly out behind him like a fallen leaf. Crying, he clung to the man’s ankle as he was dragged along the ground.

...What is going on?

At a glance, the boy seemed about my age.

His brown hair was greasy and matted, as though it had not been washed in a long time. His face was drenched in tears, and his short, sturdy legs were about the same length as mine as the man dragged him along.

“...Mai?”

“Yes. I’ll go and see what’s happening.”

Something about the situation felt wrong.

When I signaled to Mai with my eyes, she seemed to share my suspicion. After asking the escort knight to look after me, she approached them herself.

“Oh, a knight! Over here!”

But when the man saw Mai, he spotted us standing behind her and his face lit up.