Epilogue

I had the next day off. Lord Glen had told me to take it easy in my room, but unfortunately, that was impossible. Since it had been announced publicly that I’d become a national research fellow, and was adopted into the Sargent Margraviate, I’d been stuck under a deluge of letters and messengers. Most of the people just wanted to meet me, at least once. What should I do? Since I didn’t know, I left it all to Gina and Martha. Gina chased away the messengers, while Martha quickly sorted through the letters. I was so glad they were there for me. After a while of this, Martha suddenly stopped completely.

“Lady Chelsea, you should read this letter,” she told me, handing me one from Margravine Sargent... My new adopted mother.

Opening it, I saw that it was an invitation for tea today, since she’d be leaving the capital tomorrow. Though we’d met, we hadn’t had a chance to talk properly yet. If she was leaving tomorrow, I wouldn’t have another chance to see her for a long while.

“I’d like to have tea with Mother.”

“Let’s get you ready, then,” Gina replied to my murmur with a smile.

At the third bell in the afternoon, I went to visit the Margravine in the guest house she was staying at. Inside, both Mother and Brother Marx were waiting for me.

“Thank you very much for inviting me.”

“I’m so sorry for calling for you so suddenly,” my adoptive mother said with an apologetic smile. “My husband was actually the first to think of inviting you over to see, but he was called away suddenly.”

“Mother, I think it would be best to sit before starting to chat...”

“That’s right! We’ve got some delicious sweets here!” she said, taking my hand to lead me to a seat near the balcony. The seat prepared for me had a cushion on it, and the table itself was laden with tea and pound cake filled with dried fruit. The room that my adoptive parents were staying in was to the west side of the royal palace, and you could see the five-story Research Institute and the Spirit Tree from the window.

“Fufu, it’s not often you get to see such a big Spirit Tree,” giggled Mother when she noticed me paying more attention to it than the sweets. The tree swayed, as if it had heard her. I could just imagine Ele reclining arrogantly in his kitten form.

“I invited you over today because I wanted to hear about how you usually spend your days.”

“How I usually spend my days...?”

“Yes, like what you do every day at the Research Institute!” Mother’s eyes were sparkling as she replied.

“In the mornings, I have a tea party with Lord Glen to increase my mana pool,” I answered, thinking about what I usually do in a day.

Mother suddenly froze. Oh, that’s right. Since it’s only recently been discovered that eating yummy food increases your mana pool, she must not know. I explained it to her, and got a head tilt in response.

“I’m surprised to learn that eating delicious food has anything to do with your mana pool... But just moving away from that for a second, by ‘Lord Glen,’ you mean His Highness Prince Glenarnold, correct?”

“Yes. I didn’t know until just a bit ago, but Lord Glen is the King’s younger brother.”

She nodded when I explained. Smiled brightly again, she asked, “And what do you do in the afternoons?”

“In the afternoon, I create different seeds with Lord Glen and Lord Tris.”

Mother froze again. “W-Wait just a second, please,” she said, putting a hand to her mouth as if she was thinking.

“Mother... The ‘Lord Tris’ Chelsea speaks of is Tristano Forium, the son of Marquis Forium who has three Skills,” Brother added, only for Mother’s eyes to widen in shock.

“Lord Tris is the son of a Marquis!? I didn’t know that...” I was similarly shocked. With his usual demeanor, I never would have guessed!

“So you’re surrounded by many different people, hm? And what do you mean by creating seeds?”

“My Skill is being able to make whatever seed I wish for, so we test to see what I can create. Since I was able to make seeds I’d seen and ones I saw in books, I made a Spirit Tree seed to see if I could make any phantasmic seeds...”

“Waaait! Please, wait!” Mother stopped me, using a louder voice than last time. When I tilted my head in confusion, I saw Brother give me a small shake of the head as he broke out into a cold sweat. Oh, was I not supposed to mention the Spirit Tree thing to anyone?

Coughing lightly to clear her throat, Mother looked closely at me. “...Do you mean that you were the one to plant such a big, imposing Spirit Tree?”

I could hear the Spirit Tree shaking in the distance.

“T-That’s a secret!” I said, putting a finger to my lips.

Mother blinked a few times before breaking into a smile. “I haven’t seen that gesture in a while. You looked just like your mother, Sophia.”

I froze up for a moment hearing that. After a few seconds, I asked, “What kind of person was my Mother?”

“I shouldn’t be the one telling you...” she mumbled.

She’s someone you can’t talk about!?

“You should ask your grandparents about Sophia.”

“I see...”

Seeing my disappointment, Mother broke out into another grin. “Which means you need to come to the Margraviate with us!”

“Eh?”

“Now that that’s been decided, Marx! Make arrangements!”

Brother gave a huge sigh at Mother’s orders. “It would be impossible for her to leave tomorrow... But I’ll put the request in.”

“I guess there’s no helping that. But your capable big brother will manage somehow, so look forward to it, Chelsea!”

“O-Okay!” I said, falling right into her momentum.

＋＋＋

With all the might of a storm, my adoptive parents returned to the Sargent Margraviate. The Margraviate was on the border between our neighboring countries and the demonic forest in the middle of the continent. It took ten days to reach it by carriage. Because the demonic forest was famous for the monsters that overflowed from it, strong people in the Margraviate couldn’t leave it for long.

“I’d like to go there someday,” I told Lord Glen during one of our mana pool-growing tea parties, and got a gentle smile in response.

“You’ll probably... No, definitely, be going there soon.”

“Huh? Really?”

“It seems that miasma is leaking in from the neighboring countries. The only ones who can purify the miasma are Spirits, and only their contractors could utilize their power. Right now, you’re the only person contracted to a spirit.”

“I see...” I murmured, looking at the proof of my contract with Ele on my thumbnail as I nodded.

“I really don’t want to bring you that close to the demonic forest, though,” Lord Glen said, draining his teacup and setting it onto the table with a frown.

“If my going will mean that Ele can clear away the miasma, I’ll happily go. And the Sargent Margraviate is going to be my second home, so...!”

He gave me a surprised look hearing me reply so strongly, but soon went back to his usual soft, angelic smile. “You’ve changed a lot, Chelsea.”

“Really?” I knew I’d changed a bit, but had I really changed ‘a lot?’ When I tilted my head in thought, Lord Glen gave me a strong nod.

“The first time I saw you was back in the garden at the Eucharis manor.” Back at home, I’d been desperately doing as I was told to avoid getting whipped. “When I peeked inside the garden before we entered, I saw a little girl doing her best to weed the lawn. You were horribly thin, draped in rags, and your hair was cut into different lengths. I knew you had to have been abused.”

“Huh!?”

I thought he’d been talking about when he came out after Appraising Lady Margaret’s Skill, but I was wrong.

“I’d only gone along that day because the Appraiser that was scheduled to go was sick, but I’m so glad that I did.” He stood up, moving to the chair beside me. “You were terrified when I actually went to Appraise you.”

Back then, I’d been hiding in the bushes, only for Lord Glen to try to coax me out. But because I’d been told that I wasn’t to be seen by guests because it would dirty their eyes, I knew that I’d get an even worse whipping than usual, so I didn’t move. That’s right. I’ve always been terrified...

“But now you know that you don’t have anything to fear at the Royal Research Institute.”

“Yes. I was shocked to find out that no one would whip or hit me for mistakes like Lady Medisina always did.”

When I’d first bowed to Lord Tris, all he’d done was chide me for bowing as a noble girl. He didn’t hit me. When I’d woken up before dawn and tried to clean, Martha had worried and told me to go back to sleep. She didn’t get angry, even though it would have been a problem for her and Gina as my personal maids not to wake up before me.

“And you speak your mind now, too,” Lord Glen said, giving me a smile even gentler than usual.

I couldn’t remember when I started, but I’d stopped just wordlessly nodding and started speaking for myself. No one got angry at me for speaking. Far from that, they all listened to me, and even smiled.

“You’ve become more expressive, too, smiling when you’re happy or having fun.” He patted my head softly.

I’d never been allowed to smile back at home. I realized now that what I was taught was “discipline” was something very warped and wrong...

“It’s true... I’ve changed more than I realized,” I replied, nodding to him and giving my own gentle smile. It might have been a bit stiff since I wasn’t used to doing it, but I hoped I was smiling like he always did.

As I thought that, he froze, and covered his face with his hand. I could see that his ears were red.

“The ones who changed me were you, Lord Tris, Brother, Martha and Gina, and everyone else... It’s because everyone was nice, and treasured me. Thank you so much.”

At my words, the Spirit Tree sparkled, and Ele appeared in the lab in his kitten form.

«Aren’t you forgetting about me?» he said sulkily, ears turned back as he walked up to my feet.

“I haven’t forgotten about you. You soothe me,” I smiled, getting down from my chair to lift him up, and moving to the couch.

“...That smile isn’t fair.” I heard Lord Glen mumble something, and Martha nodded from her spot by the wall.

“Is something wrong?” I asked, tilting my head.

Still hiding his face, he cleared his throat and replied, “No, I was just thinking how modest you were.”

He walked over, sitting in his usual spot beside me on the sofa.

“I think I’m going to change even more.” I stroked Kitten Ele in my lap. His soft, fluffy fur felt nice.

“...And I’ll watch you do it.”

“Thank you. Please do!”

With that, we both smiled.