Chapter 71
I carried the potted plant, placed it on Father’s desk.
Father smirked, lifting the corners of his mouth.
“Where did you learn to decorate a pot with stones?”
“Issa pot gawdenews gib me. I put sone. Is pwetty.” (It’s a pot given by the gardeners. I put stone. It’s pretty.)
I presented the pocket with stones in front of Father, lifting it with both hands.
Look at this! These stones are reinforcement stones!
‘There must be someone who notices the existence of these reinforcement stones.’
Approaching Enzo, I handed him the reinforcement stone.
“This thwe pweeeettiest sone ebew.” (This is the preeettiest stone ever.)
“Thank you, young miss.”
Enzo received the stone with both hands, smiling.
Suddenly, I exclaimed, “Ah!” and swayed.
In an instant, my body floated.
It was Enzo’s blessing, <Telekinesis>.
“Are you alright?”
“Kyaaah!”
I screamed in delight.
I flew up to the ceiling due to Enzo’s uncontrolled blessing.
“Young miss!”
“Young miss…!”
The subordinates were shocked.
“Enzo!”
Father, who had quickly risen, shouted.
Enzo looked contemplative. The blessing, <Telekinesis>, was not properly controlled.
After a while, Enzo managed to lower me cautiously.
Then, Father lifted me gently.
“Are you okay?”
“Ywes! Is fun!”
I raised my hands to my cheeks joyfully.
Since riding Mosco’s shoulders, I had enjoyed high places, so no one found it strange.
Father kept a close eye on me.
Then, I glanced at Enzo.
He was staring at the stone I gave him with a firm expression.
‘Did you feel the thrill of your blessing’s amplification?’
Then, you should explain it to Father instead of me.
I secretly tugged up one corner of my mouth into a smirk.
***
In the afternoon, subordinates and officials of the jurisdiction surrounded me.
It’s because Enzo realized that his blessing had intensified due to the stone I gave him.
He informed Father about it, and an investigation immediately began on the stone.
The investigation revealed something remarkable.
“This is the legendary reinforcement stone.”
One of the managers, with a trembling voice, asked me,
“Where did this stone come from?”
“My fwen has a pwetty fuwnish. Is fwom thewe.” (My friend has a pretty furnace. It’s from there.)
“A furnace?”
“Uh-huh. An owd fuwnish.” (Uh-huh. An old furnace.)
Then I handed the pouch with a lot more reinforcement stones to Father.
The officials swallowed hard as they saw the hefty pouch.
Father, after opening the pocket, narrowed his eyes.
“If it’s that friend, it must be the one who visited the castle last time.”
“Ywes!”
Enzo looked at Father.
“Would he have known it was a reinforcement stone?”
“Unless he’s a fool, he wouldn’t have given away a reinforcement stone for free.”
“I never dreamed that a stone in a furnace was a reinforcement stone.”
The officials crowded around Father.
Then, like a zombie horde, they mumbled ─
“Fortification funds…”
“Replacing the knight order…”
“Funds for flood recovery…”
─ and muttered various suggestions.
Father, with a stern face, raised the pocket.
“All of this belongs to Erylotte.”
“What?! How can the young miss even know just how precious…!”
“If you take one away because you think she can’t use it properly, you’ll only take two next time.”
Father, you’re so cool!
I looked at Father with sparkling eyes.
Meeting my gaze, Father said,
“Erylotte, that’s a very precious item. If you want to exchange it for money, I’ll help you. If you want to keep it, hand over the warehouse with the protective barrier.”
I pretended to contemplate,
“Hmm…”
Then, I sneakily glanced at Father.
“I wanna do sumthin ewse.”
“Anything is fine. It’s yours, so go ahead and tell me.”
I cheerfully shouted,
“I wanna gib to Gwanfathew!”
Though he said that anything was fine, Father’s pupils shook violently at my request.
***
The Duke’s castle.
Viscount Debussy reported on the information collected from the imperial capital.
“Marquis Boucherz’s movements are excessive.”
“He’s planning an attack openly.”
“If he attacks openly, it would be better. Isn’t that what you desire, Your Grace?”
If he openly attacks, cutting his throat is the solution.
But if he acts annoyingly, without stepping forward, it would give their side no reason to push him away.
“Imperial Consort Othellia has a troublesome older brother.”
Officially, House Astra had joined hands with the imperial consort.
So, under normal circumstances, there was no reason for Marquis Boucherz to cause trouble, given that the Astra Duchy was officially on the imperial consort’s faction.
But it’s obvious why Boucherz was causing trouble like this.
“He wants to become the leader among the noble allies of the Imperial Consort’s faction.”
That greed of his.
That alone caused Boucherz to bring discord to the balance.
‘I bet it means he doesn’t want to share power once his nephew becomes the emperor.’
─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───
T/N: Thank you sooo much for the kofi again, Msteleo! (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)
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