Chapter 28

I frowned slightly and asked again.

Instead of answering, Bertolt simply smiled.

The moment I saw that smile, a chill ran down my spine.

‘I don’t even need him to say it.’

There was only one answer.

Worthless.

“…No matter whose biological daughter I am, Daddy Harzen is still my dad, and I’m still his daughter.”

I repeated the same words I’d said in front of Grandpa before.

Still smiling, Bertolt looked past me into empty space.

“I suppose you could think that way. You, and Harzen as well.”

“…”

“Relationships and perception.”

Then he looked straight at me again, gently curling the corners of his lips.

“How fragile and meaningless they are.”

On the surface, his smile looked very similar to Daddy Harzen’s.

But there wasn’t a trace of Daddy Harzen’s warmth in his.

‘He’s nothing like Dad.’

I felt foolish for ever thinking they resembled each other, even for a moment.

“Of course, it’s still too early for a child like you to understand.”

Then he held out his hand toward me.

“Enough idle chatter. Let’s head over to the physician first.”

“No, it’s okay.”

I hugged my arms, now covered in goosebumps, and shook my head.

“I’m really not sick. There was just some dust in my nose earlier.”

“Hmm.”

Bertolt stared at the hand he’d offered me.

Then he lowered it and continued.

“If I don’t take you to the physician, Harzen will certainly have something to say to me.”

I tilted my head.

How strange.

For some reason, that sounded like he was worried about being disliked by Daddy Harzen.

Even though he’d just been talking about how relationships were meaningless.

“Mister, do you not want Dad to hate you?”

I carefully watched Bertolt’s expression as I asked.

“Hm?”

The moment he heard my question, he raised a brow as though he couldn’t understand it.

Then…

“Haha.”

His expression softened, and he let out a relaxed laugh.

“What an amusing question.”

I wasn’t trying to be amusing.

“But, my child.”

Bertolt smiled gently as he answered.

“That child could never hate me.”

His tone went beyond confidence.

It sounded as though he were simply stating an undeniable truth.

Genuinely impressed by his confidence, I asked again.

“Why do you think that?”

“It’s the same reason you love Harzen.”

He smiled lightly once more.

“In this imperial palace, no one cherished that child more than I did. Which means I’m also the person he trusts and treasures the most.”

I clicked my tongue inwardly after hearing his answer.

Wow.

He’s unbelievably arrogant.

What’s even more horrifying is that he’s right.

Daddy Harzen really did tell me that Bertolt was the person he trusted the most.

So what he said was true.

‘I still want to say he’s wrong.’

If only I had Daddy Kyle’s courage to say, “Yeah, that’s right. Right enough to get punched.”

“…What if that’s not true?”

I resisted as timidly as I could.

“What if Dad says there’s someone else he trusts and treasures the most now?”

“That could never happen, but…”

Bertolt frowned slightly.

Then he glanced at me and smiled crookedly.

He didn’t answer.

But I already knew.

The moment I saw his expression.

His eyes.

That smile.

I couldn’t help but know.

Even if something like that really happened, he’d make sure, by any means necessary, that he became that person again.

Even if it meant getting rid of someone.

* * *

“Whew…”

After that silent battle of nerves.

The moment I returned to my room, I buried my face in the bed.

“You shouldn’t lie down right away, Miss.”

“You need to wash up first…”

I could hear my maids anxiously calling from behind me, but…

‘I don’t care. I’m tired!’

I turned my head away and burrowed even deeper under the blanket.

Too much happened today.

I’m exhausted…

‘Ugh.’

Just talking to Bertolt had completely drained me.

Then I still had to go see the physician afterward.

I nearly drowned in an ocean of questions and examinations.

‘And that wasn’t even everything.’

I kicked my feet while thinking back over everything that had happened today.

I made Sneeze Powder during the day.

Then before my battle of wits with Bertolt, I met that strange boy and used my ability for the first time.

‘That boy…’

I slowly blinked as his image resurfaced.

That boy with those striking red eyes.

His features had been every bit as perfect as my dads’.

‘Who was he?’

Was he the one who froze everyone?

He looked about my age at most.

Yet he accomplished something even a great archmage couldn’t do easily?

‘And why was he collapsed in the imperial palace garden of all places?’

More importantly, what did everything he said even mean?

Can he really see the scroll just like I can?

And what was all that about us being destined to fall in love?

‘No, forget about that.’

I’m only seven.

Way too young to be thinking about love.

I shook my head from side to side.

Besides, that’s not what’s important right now.

The most important thing is Mom’s safety.

Second is Mom’s safety.

Third is Mom’s safety.

I straightened out my wandering thoughts and kept thinking.

‘Why did Bertolt decide to kill Mom?’

From everything I’d seen so far, he didn’t seem interested in her at all.

‘The reason has to be Daddy Harzen.’

No matter how much I thought about it, it didn’t seem like he’d do something like that simply because he wanted Daddy Harzen to be unhappy.

Although the side story almost started the moment Dad said he’d been happy lately.

‘There’s probably something more complicated going on.’

Think about it.

In the original side story, I wouldn’t have followed Mom and Dad.

That means Daddy Harzen would’ve spent his entire stay at the imperial palace being miserable.

A father and son relationship this broken wouldn’t magically fix itself.

‘If he’d decided to kill Mom around the time Dad was about to return home, it would make sense.’

But the side story originally started the moment Mom and Dad entered the audience chamber.

‘More precisely, right after Grandpa greeted them, just as he was about to say something.’

And somehow I managed to stop that from happening.

‘Which means the original Bertolt decided to kill Mom while they were meeting the Emperor.’

I rolled the thought around in my head before letting out a long sigh.

If I thought about it a little longer, I felt like I might figure it out.

‘Ugh, I don’t know!’

Maybe too much happened today.

It feels like my brain’s overloaded.

I can’t think anymore!

“I want something sweet…”

Maybe if I had something sugary, my brain would start working again.

I slowly lifted my head and cautiously looked at the maids standing nearby.

As though they’d been waiting for me to look at them, they immediately picked me up the moment our eyes met.

“Are you done resting now?”

“Then let’s go take a bath.”

“Huh?”

Wait, hold on. Time out!

“Can I please skip bathing just for today?”

Even though I got powder all over myself.

And sat on the grass.

I’m still pretty clean…

“No, you may not.”

But they were far too resolute to be defeated by my cuteness.

“Waaah!”

As my final act of resistance, I flailed my legs wildly while clinging to the maid.

Just ten more minutes!

No, five!

Just one minute…!

.

.

.

In the end, I was completely defeated by the power of adults and scrubbed clean from head to toe.

And I mean thoroughly.