Chapter 29

‘The researchers definitely tipped them off.’

Otherwise, there’s no way they’d all work this hard to make my life difficult.

“Don’t you feel nice and refreshed now?”

I pouted while completely surrendering myself to the maid gently drying my hair with a towel.

I do feel refreshed.

Which somehow makes me even more annoyed!

If they hadn’t made me bathe, I could’ve gone straight to dreamland just like I was…

‘No, actually, this is better.’

At least washing up cleared my head.

Besides, while I was bathing, I managed to sort out my priorities.

The most important thing right now is…

‘Finding the person who wants Mom dead.’

Bertolt still isn’t interested in Mom, and I don’t know what could provoke him.

Besides, as long as the scroll keeps warning me, I just need to stop things whenever the side story is about to begin, just like before.

‘But this person is different.’

I can’t leave someone with direct killing intent toward Mom by her side.

Besides, that’s not the only reason.

Anyway, I’m going to find them!

I probably can’t eliminate them… but I’m definitely going to find them!

I clenched both fists tightly and steeled my resolve.

Then, right at that moment.

The voice I loved most reached my ears.

“Cece?”

“Mom!”

I beamed and turned toward her.

Though the maid immediately turned my head back so she could keep drying my hair.

“I’ll take over from here.”

Mom walked over, accepted the towel, and stood behind me.

I grinned from ear to ear, happily kicking my feet.

“Why are you so late?”

“I stayed to take care of Grandma so she wouldn’t get any sicker. Did you wait long for me?”

“…Of course I did!”

Well, I wasn’t waiting the whole time.

But I was thinking about you a lot…!

“What about Dad?”

I asked again, shivering every time Mom’s hands touched my head.

Mom’s hands really are the best.

Not those careful little touches.

Her firm hands that practically give you a scalp massage…

“Dad said he’s going to talk with Uncle a little longer.”

“Ugh.”

So he went to see Bertolt again.

I complained without thinking.

Why does Dad like Bertolt so much?

Is this the power of history between people?

“Mom, Mom.”

I reached behind me, grabbed the hem of her clothes, and spoke.

“You have to live a really, really long time.”

Mom has to spend way more years with Daddy Harzen than Bertolt has.

That’s the only way to even things out.

Down with Bertolt!

“Hm?”

Mom blinked in surprise.

Then she burst into laughter.

“Our little princess. What suddenly made you so concerned about Mommy’s health?”

Because I saw spoilers about your future…

“Don’t worry, Cece.”

Mom hugged me from behind and whispered gently.

“Mommy’s going to stay healthy and live longer than anyone else with my precious daughter.”

Then she pinched my cheek with two fingers, stretching it before letting go.

I rubbed my tingling cheek and giggled.

You know something, Mom?

Your hands are super spicy…

“More importantly, I’m much more worried about my daughter’s health.”

“Hm?”

“What did the doctor say? What caused your coughing? Are you sick?”

“Oh!”

Mom only knows I went to see the physician.

I let out a small gasp and answered right away.

“He said I couldn’t be healthier.”

Certified sturdy kid.

Officially approved as an extremely healthy child by the doctor!

“Then why were you coughing so much?”

Mom still looked deeply worried.

I suddenly inhaled sharply.

‘Is this it?’

“Actually…”

This is the perfect chance to tell Mom about the Sneeze Powder.

‘Wait.’

I stopped just before the words left my mouth.

But how am I supposed to explain that I made Sneeze Powder?

She’ll eventually find out I made Sparkle Powder in the laboratory.

‘But Sparkle Powder and Sneeze Powder aren’t on the same level.’

Sure, all I did was mix together the prepared ingredients and let them dry.

Still, I can’t exactly say I accidentally made Sneeze Powder while pretending to play house.

‘More importantly, Mom knows what ingredients Sneeze Powder requires.’

I can’t say I accidentally created it after mixing together all those incredibly rare materials.

Besides, Mom knows I don’t have any knowledge in this field at all.

I’d confidently planned to sprinkle it on Mom and Dad without thinking too much.

But now that it’s time to explain…

‘I have no idea what to say!’

Faced with this unexpected dilemma, my eyes darted all over the place.

Should I lie and say I stole it from Daddy Kyle’s lab along with the invisibility cloak?

But what if they confiscate it?

As far as I know, the effects of Sneeze Powder disappear after a few weeks.

What if they take it away, I miss my chance, and I can’t stop Bertolt’s scheme later?

Should I just blurt out, ‘This is all a novel, and I was one of the readers!’

Mom’s a transmigrator too, so she’d understand right away.

‘But then I’d have to explain why I insisted on following Mom.’

She’d find out I had an ulterior motive for coming with them.

And if I explained why…

‘I’d die!’

I remembered the scroll that appeared on my birthday and shuddered.

Respiratory distress and death.

No thanks…

‘What am I supposed to do?’

Maybe I’d been thinking too hard all day.

My brain feels frozen again.

I need sugar…

“It’s…”

Unable to tell the truth once again, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“The air.”

“The air?”

“The air’s bad. There’s lots and lots of dust.”

To everyone who works so hard cleaning the empress palace every day.

I’m really sorry.

That’s honestly the only excuse I could think of.

“Is the air quality in the imperial capital that bad…?”

Fortunately, Mom didn’t seem suspicious.

She simply rubbed my nose while mumbling to herself.

I instinctively twisted my head from side to side to dodge her fingers and quietly sighed in relief.

Sorry, Mom.

I went through all the trouble of making Sneeze Powder, but I still couldn’t think of a good way to explain it to you…

‘Anyway, change of plans.’

When Daddy Kyle gets here, I’ll somehow talk him into putting this on Mom.

Daddy Kyle will definitely listen to me.

‘Until then, I’ll just have to protect Mom myself.’

I still need to figure out exactly how.

But anyway, now that it’s come to this, the first thing I need to do is…

* * *

The next morning.

Early in the morning, Logan Anderson, one of the Emperor’s aides, was briskly carrying out the task he’d been assigned.

If someone asked what that task was…

<Excuse me, Mister.>

It was either the tiny request of a little girl who barely reached his waist.

Or an indirect order from the Emperor himself, who had been watching from behind.

<I’m really, really, really sorry, but could you please give this to the older brothers and sisters from the research lab that I met yesterday?>

A task too trivial to refuse.

Yet too dangerous to ignore.

<You have to be the one to deliver it, Mister!>

So Logan had no choice but to accept the paper the bright-eyed child held out to him.

‘I couldn’t have refused from the beginning.’

Recalling everything that had happened over the past few days, Logan let out a sigh.