Meanwhile, Luciel toured the castle with Rose. The nice dinning hall and the grand music hall were all worth seeing, but there was another place that Luciel wanted to go the most.
She was always imprisoned in a glass vault, looking at the newspaper that the count had read and discarded several times until it was worn out. That’s how much she was thirsty for reading.
It was the only thing that gave Luciel peace in the small glass vault.
Luciel looked up at Rose and gently shook the hem of her skirt.
“Rose, can I go to the library?”
“Did you enjoy the storybook you read yesterday? Good, let’s borrow a lot!”
Luciel nodded her head towards Rose, who was more excited than herself.
A portrait of an unknown beauty was hung at the entrance to the library. Turns out, there were no portraits of the Bellstein family anywhere in the castle.
‘I wonder who she is….’
As time goes by, I’ll find it out gradually
Luciel, who returned to her room after borrowing many books from the library, took out the books she had inserted into the pile of fairy tales. These were books about magic, such as I’Mana Breathing Method], [Beginners in Magical Science), and
[Understanding Magic] . Luciel had never formally learned magic. She had strong mana, but it was only used to craft jewels and in the past she thought that it was all she could do.
…… Creating jewelry was just the beginning.’
Luciel’s jewel contained not only mana, but also the power of elemental magic.
It was because of the research conducted by the Mage Erika that was sponsored under the direction of the Crown Prince.
She was the first to discover that the jewels made by Luciel contained mana.
When that fact was revealed, the Crown Prince sent Erica to study crafting and synthesizing Luciel’s jewels into weapons. Then Erika eventually concluded that she could make a magic weapon using the gems.
The research that started like that led to the Prince’s Magic Sword Project.
For numerous studies and experiments, Luciel had to create a high pedigree jewel to restore the mana from the sword. Those hellish days were painful, but Luciel was able to embrace a new hope.
‘The magical power hidden in the jewel, if I unravel that secret, I might be able to learn magic too.’
Since only the gems were extracted from her, the contents of the research could not be known, but now Luciel would be able to find out for sure.
She breathed calmly and slowly felt her mana. She was obviously strong and a lot at that, but she didn’t know how to use it. What is clear is that in addition to making jewelry, this great mana will help.
‘If only I could.
If awakened to make jewelry once more, I wanted to be strong enough to protect myself. I wanted to make the endless power of jewelry mine, not others.
I’m not going to lose it anymore. To no one.
Luciel’s small heart was pounding continuously. It was not vet time to awake and while waiting for that day, Luciel picked up a book.
‘First, let’s learn how to breathe mana.’
The first chapter started with the basic breathing techniques. As shown in the book, Luciel took a deep breath and felt the mana flowing through her body.
Her chest slowly inflated, and the energy of mana resembling a tickling wind ran up from her fingertips and toes. The most active mana gathering place was the heart.
“…… Oh.”
Is it because she was in a hurry or nervous? Not being able to hold on to the gathered mana, it quickly dispersed. There was obviously a lot of mana, but her small body didn’t seem to be able to capture it all yet,
Luciel took a deep breath and repeated.
‘Let’s start again.
When I looked at the book again, it was written to breathe with a comfortable mind and posture. The book even kindly advised you to think of something pleasant if you have difficulty concentrating.
Something good.
Luciel recalled some of her recent experiences.
“Milk tea, strawberry parfait, bed, socks, hyacinth, and the Duke’s people.
After finishing her thoughts, a soft smile was drawn on her lips. The mana that filled her heart bit by bit began to move.
“Phew.”
She sat on the chair for a moment and took a deep breath. Maybe it was because she put a lot of concentration into it. Two hours had already passed. Her stamina was exhausted, but her body became lighter and her head cleared. It was a change that meant that the magical power circling inside Luciel’s body became sharper.
I looked it up and found this in the book.
The stronger the mana, the more pure and transparent it will be. When the mana is transparent, it’s movements are also lighter and smoother. It means that the more you train this breathing, the more you can freely flow your mana. /
I didn’t expect to get anything from the first practice, but it was an unexpected discovery.
“Great. I’ll have to practice this every now and then.”
Luciel clenched a fist the size of a chestnut and made a promise.
After that, she got up early every morning and made a habit of practicing the mana breathing technique, Thanks to that, she was getting used to mana little by
little.
After doing the Mana Breathing method, she became somewhat drowsy, so she took a nap. Stretching herself like a cat, Luciel and Rose went out to get some sunshine and see the castle.
The sky, which had been sprinkling with heavy rain, shone as clear as if it had never rained. The air adhering to the skin was clear and refreshing.
On the way from the East Building to the Main Building, I passed the courtyard. The garden was full of white hyacinths with flowers hanging like bats on flower stalks. It was a flower that made me feel good with it’s sweet scent.
Luciel went to the front of the hyacinth, squatted down, and looked at it for a long time. In the gentle spring breeze, the hyacinth swayed as if dancing.
“How can it be so pretty?”
Rose, who followed, leaned down and smiled softly.’
“It’s a hyacinth flower. They say that in flower language their meaning is of ‘joy of the heart’.”
Luciel carved the hyacinth and it’s flower language into her heart to remember them together.
“It’s so pretty, both the flower and the flower language.”
Her clear crimson eyes have treasured the white hyacinth for a long time. Rose, who watched the child, asked a gardener passing by for a bunch of hyacinth.
“Miss Luciel, this is a present.”
“It’s the first time I’ve ever received flowers from someone. Thank you, Rose.”
Luciel shoved her nose deep into the hyacinth. The sweet and warm scent enveloped her body.
She can feel so happy other than when she eats delicious food. She had no memory of going to see flowers because she was always confined somewhere in the past. If I hadn’t come back to the past, wouldn’t have known that there are such beautiful things in the world.
As Luciel smelled the flowers, she felt a new emotion Suddenly, I thought of two people in my head, Grandfather and the Duke.
”Do they two know that the hyacinth is blooming?! want to show them.’
“Rose, there is a place I want to stop by for a moment.”
Luciel, who left a note with hyacinth on the corner of the desk in the Duke’s office, came out with fast little steps.
Eva, who had been waiting for Luciel with Rose outside, was enchanted for a moment. She never thought that flowers would match her Master’s desk.
The landslide in the Lafayette Mountains passed, without a hitch. All the people of the neighboring land were evacuated and safe, and there was no major damage to the village or the walls thanks to the installation of shield sealing stones everywhere. Thanks to the well-prepared counterplan for the landslide, the support and trust of the local residents increased in the Duchy.
The Duke explained that all these preparations were made because of Luciel’s prediction. Thanks to this, among the vassals, Luciel had already been called “little madam countless times.
“She’s really special.”
“It is not enough to predict a landslide. It would be unthinkable for an average child to judge the facts by the sound of the ground collapsing on a rainy day.”
“That’s what I’m saying. None of us could have thought of that. We would have been beaten as is. I wonder what kind of person she is.”
“Rumors say she is very small and young.”
“Are you saying she’s a baby, not a girl”?
“Yes, they say she’s so small that she looks like she’s six years old.”
“No matter how smart she is, does he want to bring such a young child as his daughter-in-law?”
It was meaningless to discuss age in a marriage between nobles, but The Duke himself refused to discuss an engagement because he said the Young Master is still young. Viscount Berga thought it was surprising.
“Shh, His Excellency is coming.”
The Duke donned a blue cape and strode into the conference room. He soon turned his gaze to Viscount Berga and Viscount Rufus. It was because he had heard their talk a while ago.
“Are you going to meddle in my choice of a daughterin-law?”
“W-What? Oh no. No way, Sire.”
“My words just came out like that because she seemed too young to get married.”
The Duke, who had been quietly listening to Viscount Berga and Viscount Rufus, said.
“The child will be ten in a few months. Engagement is the natural next step, and there is no problem with marriage in the future.”
“Ah……Is that so.”
“By the way, shall we start the meeting? Looking at the agenda, six hours should be sufficient.”
As the Duke’s eyes moved, Lieutenant Ellington locked the door, and at the same time, the faces of the vassals turned gray. The Duke was notorious for not opening the door to the conference room until he had reached the desired conclusion.
The meeting that started like that lasted more than four hours and thirty minutes.
When everyone was getting tired of the non-stop meeting, the Duke raised his hand and declared a break. A sigh of relief erupted from everywhere.
In the meantime, he stopped by the office for a while and noticed that something very foreign had been placed in the corner of his desk.
“Who’s out there?….”
He narrowed his brow as he was about to call the cleaning attendant.
He picked up a bundle of hyacinths tied with a cute ribbon and sniffed his scent. A fragrant sweet smell wafted up.
[I will give you “joy of the heart’.
He looked at the clumsy writing on the memo several times, then folded it and hid it in the pocket of his jacket. It was also unknown to anyone that the corners of his lips had risen.