I Am the Heiress of the Villain Family - Chapter 15
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“Wow, long live overspending.”
I smiled happily as I looked at the bundles of herbs that filled my room. The smell of herbs permeated the room.
Sniff sniff. They smell so good.
This is why people flex! Just looking at them enriches my heart.
I sniffed the bundles for a long time, then rolled up my sleeves.
“Okay, let’s get to work!”
The work that began late in the afternoon and the preparations for the next day were only finished by dawn. I had fallen asleep buried in the pile of herbs, and when I woke up, it was already past 10 o’clock.
I hurried downstairs and knocked on the Duke’s study, and he let me in right away.
“Good morning, Duke!”
The Duke, who was sitting on the sofa handling work, barely glanced in my direction and only nodded his head slightly.
Since it was already a familiar reaction, I quickly sat down opposite him. Today’s breakfast was already laid out on the table.
When I almost finished the broccoli cheese risotto, the Duke asked in passing.
“What did you do yesterday?”
“I just played alone in my room.”
“While grazing on grass?”
Hiik! How did you know?
When I opened my eyes wide, the Duke clicked his tongue.
“It’s strange not to notice the overwhelming smell of herbs.”
I was nervous that he might scold me for starting work without permission in his own home, but the Duke didn’t say anything. Still feeling guilty, I quickly offered an explanation.
“Actually, yesterday, the princess and the prince had a sparring match, and it seems the princess got a bit injured.”
“Arnin? Why, did her shoulder look uncomfortable?”
“Yes. The attending physician also gave her a treatment.”
The Duke let out a deep sigh. His half-down blue eyes were filled with faint worry and concern.
“Anyway, she’s foolish. Who does she take after…”
He seemed to know well about his daughter’s injury.
Wanting to ease the Duke’s worries, I quickly continued.
“That’s why I’m going to visit the princess today.”
“That child hates showing her weakness to others.”
“Well, that may be true for the Duke and the prince, but… I’m just an outsider.”
“…An outsider.”
The Duke gave me a look that demanded explanation.
I said forcefully.
“I thought that if she sees me as someone who doesn’t need to be recognized or have their pride upheld, it might be a bit different.”
It was like Werner mistook me for a maid and handed me a chocolate cookie.
The Duke looked at me with a subtle expression. After a brief pause, he nodded.
“That makes sense.”
“Right? Since it’s our first meeting, I wanted to bring a gift. Although it’s nothing special!”
I took a small gift box wrapped nicely with a blue ribbon out of my pocket and showed it to him.
The Duke’s eyes narrowed with interest.
“So you made that all day yesterday?”
“Yes! I made exactly 200.”
200? The Duke muttered as if it was absurd. She made a lot, huh.
However, by my standards, even 200 wasn’t enough. Since it was a one-time effort, I wanted to make as many as possible, but my stamina and time couldn’t keep up.
The Duke suddenly asked me, who was making a regretful expression.
“Are you going to give all 200 to Arnin?”
“Yes! I’ll give them all to the princess!”
Of course. I have to get points!
“Ah… is that so?”
But somehow the Duke seemed uncomfortable. He lowered his gaze back to the documents and muttered to himself.
“It must be nice for Arnin, getting so many gifts.”
“Wow, that would be really nice…!”
Please, this bribe should work!
But somehow the Duke’s expression was getting colder and colder.
I quickly shut my mouth and checked his expression.
‘Did he get upset because I only brought gifts for the princess?’
Even so, as the duke and her father, I didn’t think he would be so petty. Fortunately, I had one more gift prepared for such situations.
“Um, Duke. Actually, this is…”
I quietly handed him a small pouch. I put some tea leaves that I had specially mixed inside.
“Here, use this to steep in warm water while you stay up all night. It will help you focus better.”
The Duke’s lips slightly parted as he took the pouch from me.
“What is this? A fatigue recovery medicine?”
“No, caffeine.”
“….”
“It’s an ultra-stimulant! Forget about coffee or black tea with just 100 milligrams of caffeine. It can get done in a day, which usually takes a week…”
“Get out.”
I was kicked out of the study before I could even finish my brilliant sales pitch.
It was a secret weapon, though…
I shouted out the words I couldn’t finish through the crack in the door.
“It’s harmless to the body, Duke! It’s a recipe that Grandfather Herzen told me, and it’s incredibly effective, so try it when you’re crazy busy! But once a month! It’s bad for your stomach if you drink it too often!”
It would be ideal to give him a sedative for a short, deep sleep or a fatigue remedy, but unfortunately, I wasn’t experienced enough with herbs to provide something like that.
The recipe I knew wasn’t that diverse in the first place. So I tried the most useful thing I knew of, but the response was very cold.
“You troublemaker. Go away. Are you telling me to lock myself away and just work?”
I heard the Duke grumbling in annoyance, but the noise soon died down.
It was only then that I had a sudden realization. Could it be that he was actually expecting something like a fatigue remedy?
“I’m sorry. I’ll work harder and make it for you.”
I left the Duke’s study behind and walked quickly.
“Margaret, where is Princess Arnin now?”
“She’s been staying in the annex since yesterday. Should I bring you there?”
“Yes! Can you move this too?”
“Of course!”
This time, Margaret guided me to the annex where the princess was staying.
“Young Lady Arnin’s annex has been converted into a forge, from the basement to the first floor. On the days she returns to the main residence, she spends most of her time there.”
“Yees.”
That information was also mentioned in ‘Now We’re, Like Magic’.
Arnin would often send Niela on errands to get difficult materials, and Niela had to narrowly avoid the traps in the forge to bring the materials to her.
“You see that sky blue aura you saw yesterday? Just follow it.”
“Yees. Don’t worry. I’ll go alone from here.”
I answered cheerfully and cautiously entered the forge.
The reason I wanted to go to Arnin wasn’t just because she was someone I had to win over to my side.
I was curious about what kind of person Arnin Blasco was.
<Now We, Like Magic> didn’t go into detailed settings about the Blasco family members. It primarily focused on how harshly they treated Niella and the extent to which her body and mind were affected by their cruelty.
However, unless they are characters in a book expressed in a few lines of text or a few sheets of paper, only a very small part of them is revealed in the novel.
In the background of the novel, what are they like? Are they truly human waste, or are they villains with warmer hearts than expected?
‘Regardless of which side they fall on, is it the author’s intention to leave those details ambiguous?’
Is this really a novel, or is it another world that exists somewhere?
That was a very important question to me as well.
I want to know whether I, living as ‘Catyshia Ainsley,’ am a character created by someone else, bound to follow a predetermined plot. Understanding this will help me carve out my own path after navigating the immediate situation.
So in the end, it was all a build-up to living my life properly.
First, I need to quickly understand the main characters and uncover the secret of the rocket to get to the core of this world.
The Duke was as cold and hot-tempered as the rumors said, but he was much calmer and unexpectedly affectionate.
The Prince was quiet and arrogant, but he was very perceptive. Both were slightly different from what was described in the original.
Then, what about the princess?
Finding Arnin’s location was easy.
As Margaret said, it was because the faint sky-blue mana I saw at the training ground yesterday was still lingering in the air, not yet gathered.
I followed the occasional sword energy and went deeper into the forge. The princess’s forge was exactly as described in the novel.
‘That must be the eternal Isilad flame, and those are the hammer and grinding stone said to have been used by the legendary blacksmith Kayat.’
The flame that the spirit of fire breathed directly into was burning fiercely in the furnace.
Tools such as hammers, chisels, strings, and tongs, as well as unfinished weapons, filled both walls. A little deeper, there must have been a space for alchemy.
Arnin’s job was to refine the raw metals here and create new weapons by adding reinforcing materials.
I glanced inside the door.
Arnin was sitting on a low bench in front of the furnace where the flames were blazing hugely. She had her back turned to me.
She was massaging her right shoulder, and I could hear her teeth gnashing as if in pain.
It seemed that the pain had persisted even today, a day later. Judging by the lack of bandages, she likely hadn’t yet seen the doctor.
‘I knew this would happen. You’re the type that doesn’t show that you’re sick.’
She seems like the type to endure pain alone and ends up getting sick.
‘Excessive pride can become foolishness in the end.’
I first made sure she wasn’t holding a sword before I cautiously started moving. Just as Grandpa taught me, I muffled my footsteps and moved as lightly and swiftly as possible
I approached right behind Arnin and suddenly stuck my head next to her right arm.
“Sister, would you like to take this?”
Storyteller Rolipoly's Words
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