The Grand Duke’s Little Lady - Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Everyone in the house was busy from the morning because it was the day that the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess Monica would be visiting.
“Hurry up you slugs! We’ll be late in preparing the lunch feast!”
The head maid and butler raised their voices and nagged the workers.
Ariel took a spoonful of a somewhat burnt, cold grain porridge and put it in her mouth.
“Ugh.”
The food was always pretty bad but it seemed even worse today.
Probably because the kitchen is busy today.
‘But being hungry is scary.’
Ariel ignored the disgusting flavour and pushed another spoonful into her mouth and chewed.
Ariel’s existence in the Lucilleon family was a very iffy and an unconfortable thing.
Although her real status was that of a high Marquis’ daughter, but because she was not regarded as a daughter in the household, the people in the house treated her even worse than they treated maids.
‘Maids actually help to do work, but you can’t even make that annoying lady do any work.’
Ariel had heard the servants and maids say this multiple times.
They also often said it out loud on purpose for her to hear.
Every time she heard this, her small shoulders would shrink.
If the Marquis or his son got mad that the servants were treating Ariel this way things would be different.
But Ariel’s father and brother did not care at all, they actually frowned if anyone treated her well.
Because of this, the food and clothing given to Ariel, and the attic she lived in were all in a terrible state.
It was considered good if she received the leftover foods from the servants, and she often could not see any food way past mealtime.
Ariel finished the entire bowl of porridge and waited patiently for the house to become more busy.
She also didn’t forget to hide her eye-catching red hair with a bandana.
There usually weren’t young maids present in the house, but Ariel had heard that a few young servants and maids had been hired to do small tasks.
Because Ariel’s appearance was pretty worn out, if she walked by quietly with the bandana hiding her hair, they would think she was a maid and would not interfere.
Ariel waited until the maids were at their busiest time and took her small hands to the door.
She inhaled and imagined the route she would take in her head.
“Riplazma.”
When she cast the spell she could feel the mana moving inside her body.
She could also feel it taking a toll on her health.
Ariel got sucked up into the walls, and she was thrown back out into the air.
In a very rough, unkind way.
At last, Ariel was able to escape the locked attic.
She had succeeded after multiple trials risking her life.
After coming out, Ariel realized that she could not use magic anymore.
‘I didn’t even get out of the gate yet…….’
It was even harder to stand up straight. Even standing in a good posture and breathing was beginning to become difficult for her.
Her soft, white forehead began forming sweat drops.
A ten year old’s body was much weaker and easier to break than she had expected.
A piece of mana that had been pulled out by force violently went back through her bloodstream as if it was mad.
“Haa, heuk, haa…….”
Ariel grabbed onto her chest with her small hands and hurried her wobbling legs.
It was obvious she would faint if she used magic, so she had to walk her way out.
Once she got to the gate, the gatekeepers blocked her way.
“Where are you going?”
Ariel put her head down and mumbled that she was going on an errand as if she was a new maid.
There seemed to have been many maids going back and forth for errands, because the gatekeeper opened the small door for her with an annoyed expression.
Relieved that the gatekeeper didn’t recognize her, Ariel was about to step out.
“Hey, Jeff, Phew. There’s going to be two bags of raisins coming in in a little bit. Check properly before you let them in.”
The fat butler said as he came up to the gatekeeper.
“Yes, butler.”
“Huh, what’s with that maid? Why is she leaving at such a busy time?”
“She seems to be a maid they hired just for today in the kitchen. I let her out because she said she was on an errand.”
The butler did not take his eyes off of the girl even after the gatekeeper had explained.
“……Isn’t she a bit too small to be a maid? She looks seven years old at most. We don’t hire kids that young even if we’re lacking workforce. The youngest maid is thirteen.”
“Huh? Does that mean that child is an outsider?”
The other gatekeeper, Hue, shook his head at Jeff’s question.
“There’s no way. We checked everyone that came in today. There was no child like that. She must’ve been staying inside the house……”
“……!”
The fat butler’s eyes widened to the point they looked like they were going to rip at that moment.
He had finally realized who the girl was.
After coughing in shock, he yelled.
“She’s the lady of the household. Get her!”
The two gatekeepers, who had finally grasped the situation, began chasing the girl with the butler.
Ariel also began running immediately, but she couldn’t beat the speed of three adult males.
She was at a risk of getting caught after just a few steps.
‘No……!’
The butler’s hand, which had come near her, nearly got a hold of her but ended up s.n.a.t.c.hing her bandana away instead.
‘Ah!’
Her scarlet red hair was exposed from underneath the bandana.
“Miss, if the Marquis finds out you’ll be in deep trouble!”
The fat butler threatened as he panted.
But because Ariel knew what would happen if she stayed in the house, she was desperate.
‘Please…… Just this once……!’
She instinctively spit out a word once she was desperate.
“Dirshili!”
It was an attacking spell she had often used in the past.
Ariel shut her eyes.
She could hear the sound of the butler and the two gatekeepers falling after a flash of light.
‘It…… didn’t work properly.’
If the past Ariel had used this spell, it was a kind of magic spell that would’ve ripped the three men into thousands of pieces.
But perhaps it was because her body was young and weak, the spell she had chanted out merely knocked the men out.
They seemed to have fainted, since they weren’t following her anymore.
Ariel sighed in relief at the fact that she didn’t kill anyone.
But her legs gave out and her body fell forward.
“Heuk.”
Her body fell to the floor and she couldn’t move anymore. Her sight was stained with redness and blood rose up from the inside. It was so painful that it felt like her insides would flip.
It hurts. It hurts. It hurts so bad.
It seemed to be a side effect of using an offense magic. Feeling her consciousness disappear, Ariel gathered up the last bit of energy she had and thought of the Grand Duke’s house’s location.
“Ripla…….”
She remembered the past all of a sudden.
In the past when she had attacked the La Carte household and killed all the knights, the words that the wizard who teleported her had said.
‘We can’t go in using magic to the place we’re going right now because of the barrier. We’ll all put our powers together to open up the barrier, so you have to go in since you’re smallest.’
They hadn’t even told Ariel that they were going to the La Carte household back then.
Ah, they even have a barrier placed back then…….
“……Zma.”
When Ariel finished chanting the spell, her mana reacted to her desperateness and teleported her somewhere.
Still lying on the floor, Ariel looked at the building in front of her.
The building was unclear in her eyes because her entire face was full of tears from the pain.
Mom, mom, it hurts so bad.
A b.u.t.terfly shaped mana formed from her fingertips as she shrank her body in pain.
It was useless magic.
Please help me.
Ariel soon lost her consciousness after whispering this.
After she had lost her consciousness, the b.u.t.terfly flew to a certain window and set down there.
Someone’s hand came out of the open window and clenched the b.u.t.terfly mercilessly.
The weak b.u.t.terfly was swallowed up by the hand without any sounds.
* * *
When Ariel opened her eyes, it was already night time.
The little girl was shocked and looked around.
‘Where is this place?’
The place she had woken up in was unfamiliar.
She was on a soft bed with a thick, soft blanket instead of the hard floor she went to bed every day.
The bed and blanket were unfamiliar to her, because she was used to a poor functioning blanket.
The warm air despite it being winter was completely different from the cold and worn out attic Ariel had lived in.
‘Huh, it doesn’t hurt anymore……?’
Ariel thought of the unbearable pain she had experienced until she lost consciousness.
They weren’t wounds that could simply disappear through a snap.
Ariel tilted her small head in confusion. She lifted her head and looked around the dark room. It was an extremely large room compared to the attic she had lived in.
It was larger and fancier than the best guest room in the Marquis’ household.
The bed was so large that it could fit twelve girls the size of Ariel.
Ariel stretched her short arms in a yawn and crawled out of the bed with her knees.
Next to the bed were a pair of slippers that were the perfect size for her.
Ariel admired the fur slipper and reached her feet out.
Crash.
The window opened quite violently and someone jumped in through the window.
Startled, Ariel crawled back into bed.
The person who had jumped in through the window spoke, sitting on the window frame.
“You’re awake.”
Ariel barely stopped herself from hiccuping.
Wait…… was this the first floor?
A night of the full moon.
The bright moonlight behind the person on the window frame prevented their face from being seen.
But despite not being able to see his face, his presence was overwhelming.
She could feel the chills and electricity tingling her skin just by his voice.
A dangerous and beautiful vibe like the cold winter wind was coming from him.
His silhouette was that of a male. Short hair and a skinny body. A comfortable att.i.tude. The white curtain fluttered from the wind that came through the window.
A low voice came from between the fluttering curtains.
“This. Is it yours?”
Something was desperately flapping in the intruder’s hand.
Ariel recognized the b.u.t.terfly shaped mana in his hand right away.
END OF CHAPTER 5.
