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IBP 42
After the banquet ended.
I curled up in my bed and let out a big yawn.
"Chomp."
I took a nap like that, and as I woke up making smacking sounds with my mouth, I heard the voices of many servants through the gap in the open door.
"I heard Grand Duke Rivera stopped all his battles and came to the Duke's residence?"
"He's supposed to be a terrifying person..."
"Then, you know, is Lady Coco really going to be adopted into the Ardos family now?"
"I don't know, maybe Grand Duke Rivera will take her? It seems like he wants to take her to the North."
Absolutely not!
A puff of air blasted out of my nose.
My hind legs popped out from under the bed covers.
"Hey, did you see? That she imprinted with a tiger spirit beast."
I didn't imprint with it.
"So that's how Lady Coco saved Grand Prince Rivera, right?"
That's only half true.
"Isn't this a supernatural ability that goes beyond even having a holy stigma?"
"What on earth is Lady Coco's ability?"
"Oh my, oh my, oh my."
...I had a feeling some weird rumors were spreading.
"Since the Grand Prince and Lady Coco are so close, there's talk that the Grand Duke might take her."
"My goodness... At this rate, could she even become the Grand Prince's consort?"
"They really can't say anything when it comes to a five-year-old baby."
Since it wasn't about Big Sister, I didn't exactly understand what they meant.
But I knew one thing for sure.
'I am absolutely not leaving Big Sister's side!'
Just then, Agent Jack, who had been preening his wings by my window, spoke up.
"This is bad."
"...Why?"
"If the rumors have reached this level among the maids, then the rumors about Lady Coco must have spread incredibly far throughout the Duke's residence by now."
...Incredibly far?
* * *
Naturally, the news reached Chloe as well.
"Coco is going to Grand Duke Rivera?"
"Yes?"
"..."
"I-It is said that nothing has been decided yet. However, I heard that Grand Duke Caligo desires it quite strongly."
"Since she possesses a spirit beast, Father wouldn't easily allow her to be disowned."
"Well, the matter of adoption is something that must be discussed with the Council of Elders and the mistress of the house..."
...Ah, Lucrezia Ardos.
As for Coco, she had the sin of crushing Theresia.
Therefore, Lucrezia would undoubtedly try everything to have Coco disowned.
"Thus, some say it would be a good thing for Lady Coco. If it's proven that she isn't a <blessed child> and she is disowned, wouldn't it be better to be treated as a benefactor by the House of Rivera than to stay in this family...?"
"...Is that so?"
"Yes, well... After all, she would still be living as a noble."
Listening to the maid's words, Chloe had no choice but to admit it.
She didn't know if Grand Duke Rivera was a good person.
But he didn't look down on Coco for being a commoner, nor did he overvalue her for being a blessed child.
'...Yes, he would treat her well.'
Though he once possessed great prestige.
More so than a useless dark mage.
However.
For some reason, the thought of that little brat leaving made her feel irritable.
'Why am I thinking this? I've never even been nice to her.'
Yet, that child kept approaching her.
Warmly, kindly, and affectionately.
'So, it makes sense that she would fit in better with kind people.'
...Thinking that, she whispered softly.
"I see."
"Yes, but, My Lady... your expression looks grim."
At the words of the courageous maid, Chloe's face stiffened further.
Chloe silently shook her head and turned away.
"It is no problem."
* * *
'Is she really going to the Grand Duchy?'
Chloe thought as she watched the little one munching away on a sweet potato with a wide-open mouth.
Coco had visited her annex today as well, as if it were her own home.
Chloe looked down at Coco, hiding her complicated emotions.
'I've never been nice to her, so it's better if she goes.'
If Coco were gone, there would be no more annoying occurrences.
Her space, which had been silent before anyone arrived, would become silent again.
She liked that silence.
It wouldn't matter.
Chloe stared silently at Coco. Then, Coco looked up and spoke.
"Why do you keep looking?"
"...Just because."
Coco spoke, biting her lip firmly as if making a great decision.
"The sweet potato is mine. B-But, do you want some, Lady Chloe?"
"You eat plenty."
"Okay! Oh, right. Today, too, I left the window wide open!"
If Coco were to leave for the House of Rivera...
She wouldn't be able to see that face longing for praise.
She wouldn't be able to hear that voice chattering away, mixing informal and formal speech.
"Eat a lot."
But, she never had her in the first place.
So it didn't really matter.
However, Coco tilted her head and looked at Chloe.
"Lady Chloe, your eyes are red like a rabbit's!"
"...It's because I couldn't sleep."
"No way. Lady Chloe isn't the type of person whose eyes turn red just because she can't sleep!"
Coco tilted her head back and forth.
As Chloe remained silent, unable to find an answer, Coco spoke again.
"By the way, they said it's tomorrow!"
"What is tomorrow?"
"Heehee. Tomorrow, the holy grail is arriving at the temple! Along with the priest!"
"Tomorrow..."
"Then tomorrow, I can really become Lady Chloe's sister!"
No one knew whether the holy stigma would appear or not.
'But given her known supernatural ability, the probability of a holy stigma appearing is low.'
Coco's performance had been quite significant.
It was reasonable for Coco to have expectations.
However, not many in the Ardos family believed Coco would avoid being disowned.
Because along with the holy grail, the mistress of the house, Lucrezia Ardos, would return.
Once she returned.
She would use every means possible to disown this small baby who had sent her own daughter to a convent.
*
“......So, you're saying you sent my daughter to a convent according to Grand Duke Rivera's words?”
While she was making moves to turn her daughter into the Saintess at the temple, she received word from Theresia.
“Mother, they give me food with stones in it at the convent. I only get to eat bread that is cold and hard. I can't live in a place like this!”
Those words were the last contact.
Lucrezia Ardos frowned.
Upon closer investigation, the place the Grand Duke had sent Theresia was a closed convent.
There, they had dared to force her daughter to clean a room filled with maggots.
Her daughter's beautiful pink hair had even been hacked off.
“My daughter, who is brimming with divine power, was shoved into a convent.”
Lucrezia Ardos.
The second wife of Duke Ardos and the current mistress of the Ardos household.
This was a bolt from the blue that occurred while she was meticulously building her network and influence to make her daughter the Saintess.
She looked at Pygmalion, a mid-ranking priest who had received her money.
Tucking gold coins into his robes, he smiled, revealing yellowed teeth.
“My lady, regarding the blessed child. Please do not worry too much.”
“Priest Pygmalion, but I am very worried. Could that adopted child possibly threaten our Theresia's position?”
However, Pygmalion remained confident, as if he had an ace up his sleeve.
“In any case, that child is not the blessed child.”
“......And your evidence?”
“In the past, I personally placed the holy grail in that child's hand. No holy stigma appeared, nor was there any sign of a supernatural ability; the eyes were empty. It was as if they weren't even a living person.”
“Was that so.”
“Yes. Furthermore, since the holy stigma has disappeared, there is absolutely no case where it reappears after a test. I swear it by God.”
The mid-ranking priest Pygmalion added with a smirk.
“Do not worry. There is no way that child will be adopted. Even if that child were the ‘real’ blessed child.”
Their gazes met in the middle.
“I, too, shall prepare here and return at the appropriate time.”
And so, the mid-ranking priest, Pygmalion.
He arrived at the Duke Ardos estate along with the holy grail used to identify the blessed child.
“Pygmalion, servant of God and priest, greets His Grace Duke Ardos and his direct lineage.”
A small secret room in the Ardos estate.
The priest, the Duke, and I sat around a round table.
A worn, antique cup was placed on the table.
The surface of the cup was engraved with a language that no one could decipher now.
While I was admiring the cup, imagining what words might be written on it, the priest spoke.
“This is the silver cup from which God is said to have drunk wine.”
“Oh.”
“They say that after the ritual to call upon God begins through the priest's mouth, if one holds this silver cup, the holy stigma will appear on the hand of the one who has received God's blessing.”
“Wow!”
Listening to Pygmalion's explanation, I looked at the holy grail with a fascinated expression.
Then, Pygmalion spoke to me with a kind look on his face.
“It is said that those with a very powerful blessing will show the holy stigma even if they touch the holy relic for just a moment.”
“.......”
“Would you like to try touching it once before tomorrow's ritual?”
Words that sounded like an act of generosity.
I nodded and asked.
“Sure, but what if the holy stigma appears if I touch the holy grail now?”
“Then, it would be proven immediately without even having to perform the ritual!”
Duke Ardos, sitting opposite me, answered with a hearty laugh.
“Then would the dissolution of my adoption be canceled immediately?”
“Of course!”
My eyes sparkled.
‘Then we can be sisters right now!’
As if lifting a paw, I abruptly shot my hand up.
“I want to hold it now!”
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