Penelope asked back, but Luciel looked at the adults and told the truth step by step.
“After I chose my clothes and was about to speak to someone, the Young Lady came and pushed me away She even looked at me with bad eyes, saying it didn’t suit me.”
At Luciel’s words, the atmosphere became even colder. To be precise, the Duke’s expression turned
cold.
“Madam Cavill. I hope you teach proper etiquette to your Young Lady. Luciel here is my daughter-in-law, the daughter-in-law of the Duke of Bellstein. That body will eventually become the Duchess of Bellstein.”
“……l-m-I’m sorry. Yo-Your Grace the Duke. Because the child is immature…..”
The Marquise bowed deeply.
“Mom, why are you like this?”
“Penelope, bow your head to his Grace the Duke!”
Because of her daughter who couldn’t distinguish between heaven and earth, the Marquise felt like she was going to die from frustration. She told the child that the family who used the crest of a Black dragon was Bellstein, one of the two Duchies of the Empire,
Penelope bowed her head to the Duke, dissatisfied because she could not win against the Marquise.
“I-I’m sorry.”
The Duke hurriedly approached the Marquise and Penelope. He grabbed Penelope’s shoulder and gently turned her in Luciel’s direction.
Penelope, startled by the Duke’s actions, raised her head. But when she realized that Luciel was in front of her, she became indignant.
“Apologize to my daughter-in-law, Young Lady.”
Although the Duke had a relaxed smile, he was exuding an energy that made oneself unable to disobey. Penelope’s lips moved as if twisted.
“So…Sorry.”
“Next time, don’t do that.”
‘It would be nice if this child changes, but wouldn’t it be difficult?’
Because human nature doesn’t change very easily
Penelope burst into tears as she was held in her mother’s arms. The Marquise patted her on the back to comfort her.
“There are many dresses, so let’s choose another one.”
Luciel stood still for a moment and looked at them with envy. She had heard her Sister’s voice in her dreams and talked to her, but she missed her mother, whom Luciel never saw. Like Penelope, she wanted to see her face, hug her mother to her heart’s content and be pampered rotten.
But she knew better than anyone that she couldn’t
The Duke, who was watching her, also noticed the child’s longing for her mother and asked.
“Luciel, are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“Don’t put up with something unfair. You don’t have to live as a good child. You can live a little mean. Because you’re such a nice kid……. Now respect yourself and live selfishly. That’s the Bellstein way.”
“Respect yourself and live selfishly.
‘It was difficult, but I really liked Bellstein’s way.
“Yes I will.”
The Duke glanced back and looked at Penelope and the Marquise.
“Then shall we kick out those noisy guests?”
Luciel burst out laughing at those words.
“I am well aware that Bellstein is notorious, so adding a little more won’t hurt.’
“Yes, but how?”
“Look at what I do.”
The Duke whispered in her ear and hugged Luciel higher. To Penelope and the Marquise, who were looking at her other clothes, he said.
“I’d rather you buy clothes at another store. My daughter-in-law owns this boutique, and there’s nothing to sell to the people of Maquis Cavill.”
Hearing this, Penelope almost lay down crying and wailing for a boutique to be bought for her. The embarrassed Marquise left with her child right away,
Then the shop became quiet. Luciel came out after changing into a white dress and stood in front of a mirror. The manager, Mrs. Marianne, was amazed.
“You are as pretty as if this dress was made to fit the Young Lady’s body. How can you be so cute?”
Luciel looked at her reflection in the mirror.
Maybe it was because the Duke gave her warm energy earlier? She was not unhappy even without a father or a mother. As he said, Luciel had other people by her side.
She laughed softly.
When she changed into the white dress, with white skin as light as snow, Luciel was dazzlingly and lovely like a baby snow deer who lived hiding in a mysterious snowfield. It looked like wings would sprout and she would disappear somewhere far away if someone touched her.
On the corner of the Duke’s lips, a smile appeared silently, like falling snow.
“It’s amazing.”
“What?”
“My daughter-in-law is very cute.”
“Luciel, would you like to go to the painter to draw a portrait first?”
When the Duke poured out unexpected words, Luciel’s head tilted.
It was a joke that was close to a silly comment, but Luciel didn’t seem to understand. That was fortunate. He smoothly hid his twitching lips with his hand.
Even if she just changed clothes, her image changed quickly, and I wanted her to try everything on, but now we can’t afford to do that. However, it is not bad to buy more clothes to commemorate coming to the capital. We were a Duchy and above all, Luciel needed a lot of clothes.
He looked around the hall and said.
“Now let’s go. We’ll need a few more carriages to pick up your clothes. Let’s load them on the way home.”
The store manager and the staff exchanged surprised glances at each other when the Duke said they would buy all the clothes.
The Imperial Polyche Academy was the most prestigious academy in the Empire.
It was full of children from royalty and noble families who flocked from all over the country to the extent that even a well-known genius from a province could, become an ordinary student if they came here,
Even among such geniuses, Kizef was a uniquely outstanding child.
He has a natural talent for magic, he can even use two elements and was excellent in black magic, which uses the power of the attribute of Darkness.
When it comes to black magic, there was no other who could be his second in the Academy, or perhaps even in the Empire.
Not only the children, but also the teachers feared and revered him.
‘The devil’s child.
I heard he has horns on his head.’
“He must have had killing practice in Bellstein.
No one could say anything in his face, but there were many words thrown at his back. Whenever he walked down the hallway, there were whispered words and scornful gazes.
<Monster
Kizef roughly ripped the paper, containing mocking words, off his personal locker. No other boy from the academy spoke to him.
It was because he was marked by a senior named Maximus. He was a swordsman, but he was a vicious senior who enjoyed tormenting children with his massive size.
Only a few female students, such as fans who fell in love with his overly beautiful appearance, lingered behind Kizef.
After organizing his bags with an expressionless face, Kizef headed out to the dormitory building. He could feel the presence of a dozen girls chasing him, but he let it go.
A black figure slipped out of the shadow under Kizef’s feet and giggled.
(I’m bored, is there anyone you want to kill? This place is full of annoying people.)
Kizef, who had been trudging along with empty eyes, became sharp for an instant.
The black figure stretched out and took on the form of a human. A boy with dark black hair and pale golden eyes put his hands on Kizef’s shoulders.
(Don’t you want it?]
“It’s noisy. Put your hands away.”
The boy took his hand away as Kizef shook his shoulder.
[My cute contractor, Kizef.]
Luciel remained calm by the Duke, feeling like she had crossed the whole world for some reason.
An unfamiliar scene of teenage boys and girls in the same clothes passing through the campus in groups of two and threes. It seemed she was seeing people far from her.
A middle-aged man in a neat suit greeted the Duke with a bright smile filled with hospitality and was talking about the new dormitory building and sponsorship.
Perhaps the Duke was giving a lot of support to the academy. Luciel followed from behind while the adults talked until they reached the building where the principal’s office was located.
“Your Grace, would you like to talk in more detail?”
“It would be better to do that separately after a while. First of all, I want to meet Kizef.”
The Duke didn’t seem to want to talk more. He had already donated large sums of money to the academy several times, and the new business the principal was talking about had a different name but the same core,
Families that could provide as much support as the Duke of Bellstein were rare in the empire, so the principal tried not to go against the Duke’s intentions.
“Ah, I see. I’ll call Young Master Kizef. Please wait a minute.”
The principal immediately called another staff member and told him to call Kizef. Soon the principal’s eyes turned to the little girl next to the Duke. She was very small and young, but her eyes shone brilliantly, as if studded with stars.
“To think that there was a young girl in the Duke’s family. You can send it to our Polyche academy later on…..”
The principal implicitly suggested it while looking at Luciel.
“…… If she wants it, that’s fine too.”
“Since you’re here, why don’t you take a tour?”
The Duke sent his gaze inquiring about Luciel’s intentions. He was willing to send Luciel to study abroad instead of to the academy if she wanted to
“…I’II think about it later. It’s enough to learn from Grandpa now…”
Luciel had no intention of going to the academy yet, but it’s another story if she goes together with Kizef.
The Duke glanced back at the principal and replied.
“That’s what the child says.”
The principal looked curious as to who the child was, but he did not pry.
After waiting for a few minutes in a separate drawing room next to the principal’s office, the door clicked open and a boy appeared.
There was no warmth in the golden hair that covered his forehead nor in his blood-red eyes. It was a noble and cold impression that resembles the Duke. However, he was much younger and coy.
There was a unique atmosphere in which it was difficult to easily talk to him, even though they were around the same age.
The moment Luciel saw Kizef, she felt her heart pound.