/
Before we knew it, the carriage arrived at the villa. When my mom realized that my dad had monopolized me alone, she ran towards me, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Dear. How could you be so mean?”
“I’m sorry, Dear. Our daughter is just so cute.”
“You will ride in the carriage with me when we return home. Clara as well. There are a lot of things for women to talk about.”
My mom stealthily continued her scolding and my dad just accepted it.
If I can survive the upcoming crisis and become an adult, I want to meet someone like my father.
Anyone can tell we are mother and daughter. We have a lot in common in terms of personality.
Mom, who had said everything that she wanted to, made eye contact with me and then straightened my hunched shoulders.
“Ciel is my daughter, so she will do well in any situation.”
Although my mom’s confidence is unfounded, outward appearance begets credibility, so it comes across as plausible when she says something.
Indeed, as expected of the most beautiful woman on the continent, my mom pays no attention to the Emperor. She controls my dad, who is essentially the most powerful person in the world, with just a single word.
She’s the only one, aside from me, who can wield the power of the archmage Christopher Valentine at will.
A lot of thoughts swirl around in my head when I see Dad, who loves Mom excessively.
Just what is ‘love’?
Theo realized his feelings early on and everything is going pretty smoothly now. That said, Alex’s love line has become completely twisted since I intervened.
He doesn’t seem to love my older sister, but he can’t live on his own forever, so I’m sure he’ll end up seeing another woman at some point
.
If he manages to take revenge on the Imperial Princess and secure his position as crown prince, I wonder what kind of person he’ll meet and fall in love with afterwards?
I can’t just ignore it, saying that it’s someone else’s business, because of the guilt I feel over breaking Alex’s romance flag for the sake of Clara’s happiness. [1]
I do have some morals. No matter how selfish I am, I’m not shameless enough to just watch Alex become unhappy because of me.
If asked, it would be hard to deny that I have some selfish motivation. Whenever I look at Alex, who is exactly my type, my heart pounds furiously.
No, hold on. I shouldn’t forget that my head could be chopped off with one wrong move. In the original novel, Ciel liked Alex so much that she went crazy and became a villainess.
I can’t get too excited. We’re just friends right now. It’s just that I can’t leave my friend alone. Mumbling those words, I scribbled Alex’s name over and over on a piece of paper.
* * *
“All right. Let’s give it a go.”
The most important thing to do in a moment of crisis is to make a bolt for it and run away, so I’ve decided to learn flight magic first.
My dad and I looked around for places to practice magic. The beautiful natural environment, without a single inhabited village in sight, put me at ease.
I don’t have to worry about anyone getting hurt here, so I can unleash my full power.
The open sky and the green forest
 flying around in my dad’s arms was more fun than I thought it would be. After actually experiencing it firsthand, I got a sense of how to use my magic power.
“Then, Ciel. Would you like to try flying with your own power now?”
“Okay, Dad.”
It’s much easier to envision how to fly now that I’ve experienced it. Above the center of a lake that was so deep that the lakebed couldn’t be seen, my dad slowly withdrew the magic power that was keeping me afloat in the air.
“Do your best, Ciel.”
When I started to fall, rather than the feeling of slowing my descent, I imagined flying up into the sky as I infused magic power into Laevateinn, which I was holding.
Oh, this isn’t it. As my dad’s magic power decreased, my body began to drop more and more.
I need to slowly rise up again, but I can’t. Please!
“Aaaahhhhhh!”
As soon as my dad’s magic power faded away, I plummeted endlessly towards the ground.
“Ciel!”
I was gripped with fear at the sharp feeling of the air whipping by. Will this time be a failure too? But I don’t want to give up like this.
As I swung Laevateinn, which was full of my magic power, down with all of my strength, a huge gust of wind sliced through the air.
Birds that had been resting in the forest flew away as a giant wave swept across the calm lake.
“What is thisssssssssss?!”
My body was flung upwards by the rebounding wind. I was finally able to float after repeatedly rising and falling numerous times. I had almost fallen into the lake.
I honestly thought I was on the verge of . I was sweating profusely. Dad flashed me a bright smile.
“We’ll have to keep practicing while I’m here.”
My dad was delighted, but I couldn’t bring myself to smile in front of him. I’ve come close to crashing down before, but isn’t this the same as purposefully throwing a baby off of a cliff?
‘I’m pretty sure Dad wouldn’t have been able to save me if I had actually fallen.’
I guess if it’s a challenge that I can deal with on my own, I’ll need to use my own power to overcome it.
No matter how much he loves me, if I just wrap myself up in his love I won’t be able to grow. I thought my dad was just a fool, but he’s secretly pretty capable when he needs to be.
I really thought I was going to die. When we returned from the strenuous training session, Louis, who was really pissed, expressed his resentment to Dad.
“I want to train with Dad too!”
“Louis, it’s not too late to send you back to the capital.”
“You’re so unfair. You only like Ciel.”
Louis was openly envious of me because the results of my special training sessions were so impressive. Originally, it had just been about slowing the speed of my descent. But now, thanks to training with my Dad, I can float up to the floor my room is on if I put my mind to it.
“As expected, Miss is amazing.”
“I am kind of amazing.”
I was infinitely cheerful thanks to Meryl, who doesn’t doubt that I’m the best in the world. But it had been a long time since I’d last used my magic power properly, so I had become overwhelmed by fatigue.
“Madame asked if you’d like to eat with her after you got up. Would you like to wash up first?”
“Yeah! Louis, would you like to join me?”
“Are you crazy? Go away!”
Of course I was joking. Maybe because he’s just entering puberty, that fool Louis blushed bright red and ran away.
He’s such a cute guy. No matter how you look at it, Louise should have been born as my little brother. What a shame.
“And Clara?”
“She fell asleep while she was talking to Madame. Young Master Theo held her in his arms and moved her. Those two have a great relationship, don’t you think?”
She was always close to my side, so even Meryl was somewhat aware of Theo’s feelings.
Since everyone already knew they were unrelated anyway, in Meryl’s opinion, it seemed like Theo’s wish would be fulfilled in the not-too-distant future.
Even if I don’t say anything, they seem to be making progress. But the reactions of the people around them bother me.
“Does anyone bad-mouth Clara?”
“Of course not.”
She had a good reputation in high society and she even became the Crown Prince’s exclusive pharmacist, so everyone was impatient to try to make a connection with her.
“Even Madame Lisbon has been very respectful to Miss Clara since that last incident with Grand Duke Winterbaum.”
Yeah, as she should. I’m so proud. Even the people who treated Clara badly before said they wouldn’t be able to mess with her now, so I feel relieved.
When she saw me smiling wickedly, Meryl just laughed.
“I’m always happy that I can be by your side, Miss.”
“I like you too, Meryl.”
I was able to keep up with passing trends thanks to the ever-faithful Meryl, my exclusive maid.
Later on, I’ll need to find Meryl a truly great marriage partner. I organized the magic power circulating through my hands while Meryl washed my hair.
“Anyway, this is so annoying.”
“Pardon?”
“Drying my hair.”
As I looked at my long blonde hair, which resembled poured honey, I was suddenly struck by a brilliant idea.
Unfortunately, there is no concept of a hair dryer here, so I used the flight magic that I learned to create a gentle breeze to dry my hair.
The effect was amazing. Meryl, who had been prepared to work hard drying my hair with a towel, was full of glee as she fiddled with my hair, which had become dry in the blink of an eye.
“Oh my, your hair is already completely dry? Miss, what did you do?”
“I figured out the principles.”
Even with just the ability to handle the wind well, I can probably make a variety of useful items ranging from hair dryers to vacuum cleaners. The problem is, I’m not sure how to go about making them.
Moreover, when I told Meryl that I wanted to make magic tools, she drew a line in the sand, firmly opposing the idea.
“I’ve heard that enchantment magic is extremely dangerous. They say the mage could even get hurt if they fail.”
“But still
”
“Please don’t do anything dangerous. I know how great you are, Miss. But if there’s even the slightest chance you could get hurt, I might start crying.”
“Ah, Meryl
 You worry a lot.”
I comforted Meryl, who looked like she really was about to cry. Everything is still in the early idea phase, so let’s mull it over slowly.
It would be fine to think about this problem in the Imperial Palace since there won’t be anything else to do there anyway.
I left to eat dinner after washing up, but everyone seemed to be busy for some reason.
“What happened?”
“Marquis Baldr of the South is said to have passed away.”
“Marquis Baldr?”
Oh no. I’d heard that he was around the same age as my dad.
The Marquis seemed to be doing fine at the time Alex received his award. But it turned out that he had been drinking too much and his liver had deteriorated, so he at a young age.
A hasty was going to be held in the capital, so Dad hurriedly prepared to go back with Mom.
“It will probably take a few days. Theo, take good care of your younger siblings.”
My parents can rest easy as they leave since Theo, the oldest son, is reliable.
“Yes, Father. Please don’t worry and go.”
It’s quite far to the capital, so a teleport scroll can’t be used. Dad seemed determined to fly there while holding Mom.
I’ve got a good handle on the basics, but there’s still a lot more that I want to learn. Since my Dad left, I suddenly have nothing to do.
“Now what?”
“First, we should have dinner.”
Notes:
[1] In light novels a “flag” is a key event that often serves as a turning point for the plot