It was as they expected.

The Duchess Lucella was pleased, recalling Sien’s bright eyes that didn’t avoid her gaze.

Yes, she had been quite adorable.

Just as she took a sip of rooibos tea with a shrug of her shoulders, a young lady who was particularly tactless chimed in out of nowhere.

“The children in our family lack affection between family members, don’t they? They’re quite distant from each other.”

The children of the Mirmode family had to develop their abilities from a young age.

Because they never knew who might try to kill them.

So naturally, they tended to lack the cuteness and aegyo typical of young children.

“Ahem, that’s right.”

“But Miss Honey Bun… I mean, Miss Sien must show a lot of aegyo to Master Matthias and the Duchess, right?”

Duchess Lucella cleared her throat.

“Just her breathing is aegyo, isn’t it?”

“Is, is that so?”

Just as the ladies were stiffening with tension, it happened.

The door slid open, and Duchess Lucella’s chief maid appeared.

“Um, My Lady.”

“What is it?”

Duchess Lucella looked at the maid with an irritated expression.

Something seemed to be lurking behind her, and the Duchess narrowed her eyes.

“I told you not to disturb us.”

No one was allowed to interrupt the ladies’ tea time.

With only one exception – ‘visits from small children’.

Of course, until now, not a single child had dared to knock on the door of the Duchess’s private room.

“Ah, well…”

Beyond the composed dress worn by the chief maid, a small chestnut-like head peeked out.

“Miss Sien has requested a private audience.”

“…What?”

Just as the Duchess questioned, Sien’s smiling face appeared inside the tea time venue.

Pressing her puffy cheeks with both hands, Sien shouted loudly.

“Gwandma! I’m hewe!”

“…Honey Bun?”

“Yes!”

Duchess Lucella’s lips ascended to the heavens at the sight of Sien full of aegyo.

Sien quickly ran to the table and gave a deep bow.

“Hello!”

A tiny child as small as the teacups they were holding.

The expressions of the three ladies, except for the Duchess, melted at the little one’s loud greeting.

***

The ladies’ tea time was hastily concluded.

However, the Duchess was so cold and indifferent that one might wonder if she was displeased at having her rest time interrupted.

Then why did she accept my request for a private audience?

‘But finally, I can have a one-on-one with Grandmother!’

So far, Duchess Lucella is the best source of information among the people I know.

‘I can’t meet with an information guild separately yet… Right now, I need the information the Duchess can provide the most!’

I was determined to dig out information, but something felt strange.

“Sit on my lap right now.”

“Huh?”

The Duchess ordered with a stern expression, tilting her head.

‘Why on her lap…?’

I quickly sat on her lap, unable to dare go against the Duchess’s opinion, but something felt odd.

It was difficult to have a proper conversation.

‘Why is she telling me to sit on her lap?’

Since we were facing the same direction, I couldn’t see her expression.

‘This is troublesome.’

However, Duchess Lucella maintained a consistently dry voice.

After asking a few simple personal questions, she finally provided one important piece of information.

“There will be a big event in the family soon. In about three months, I’d say.”

An event? I should probe further.

“Umm… The maids say that lots of scary uncles come during events…”

“Ah, yes. Since anyone can become the heir of our family, whether direct line or branch family, or even adopted, there will be upstarts coming to challenge for the heir position. But most of them are small fry.”

“Small fry?”

“Yes. Even in our family, except for about three people, they’re all small fry.”

The Duchess was speaking in a casual tone about the family’s power structure.

I carefully opened my mouth to ask.

“Then… are those three scary uncles?”

“Those three, well. It’s obvious. Axel, Delphia, and Ma… No. Ahem, ah, among them, quite a dangerous fellow, Axel, said he’d return after finishing the war. It’s an annoying matter.”

Axel wasn’t just ‘quite’ dangerous, he was the ‘most’ dangerous.

I froze and made a whimpering sound like a cat.

“Uh…”

“Saying he’ll end a demon war in a month, he’s not just arrogant, he’s gone completely mad.”

The people of the Mirmode family often went hunting demons to curb their belligerence. This was politely referred to as the ‘demon war’.

‘Demons like shiny things too, and they collect all sorts of magic items, so treasures often appear on demon battlefields.’

That’s why Axel and other Mirmodes would participate in demon wars to retrieve items possessed by demons. But once you stirred up the demons, it wasn’t easy to retreat. So it usually took at least a year.

But now Axel Mirmode had declared he would end the war in just a month.

Could I pacify this family in a month?

My body began to tremble at the nerve-wracking news.

“…I, I see.”

“That bastard Axel is trash.”

Grandmother added briefly, probably noticing how I had stiffened.

“Ah, I’m sorry. You’re a child, so my expression must have scared you.”

‘Still, Axel won’t start fully pacifying the family until after he returns from war. There’s still, still a chance!’

Perhaps sensing my anxiety, Grandmother furrowed her brow.

“Don’t worry. Matthias will take care of everything. If you die, that would be your father’s fault too.”

I looked at Grandmother, who so easily spoke of death, with a pale gaze.

‘I don’t want to die!’

My heart ached as I recalled my father’s infinitely harmless and trembling gaze.

If our father takes care of things, it’s certain to end in total annihilation. I can’t trust our naive father. I can only trust myself!

‘Now what should I do?’

The only effective ways to stop Axel were to crush him with power or remove him politically.

‘Since Axel uses… black magic. Should I use white magic or holy power?’

I clenched my fist seriously.

Unaware of my complex feelings, Grandmother murmured casually in my ear.

“By the way, you’ll be bored for a while. The position of Education Director is vacant.”

I opened my eyes wide. No education for a while means I’ll have free time.

“Oh, that’s okay!”

“…Why? You’re unlike a child.”

“Because I’ll keep coming to visit Gwandma!”

“Is that so?”

Since we were facing the same direction in Grandmother’s arms, I couldn’t see her expression, but her voice was icy cold, as if saying, ‘You dare to visit me?’

So I bit my lip, as if taking a gamble.

To make the Duchess my ally and inherit her power, this was the only way.

I carefully brought up the main point.

“Yes! Um, I told the maids about Gwandma…”

‘Sorry, maid sisters.’

Actually, it’s a lie.

“…You talked about me?”

“Yes.”

“Wh-wh-what did you say?”

“Girls, I have a Gwandma I love most in the world…”

Bulge.

At some point, the veins in Grandmother’s hand gripping the table began to bulge.

The kind of veins you’d only see on muscular maid sisters.

But I endured the fear and continued speaking shyly, subtly twisting my body.

“…and?”

“Gwandma is so cool, I want to be strong like Gwandma…”

I sincerely wanted to be as strong as the Duchess.

With Axel returning in a month, if I was weak, my father would be helplessly devoured. I needed to build up a lot of strength before then.

Unaware of my thoughts, Grandmother muttered in a choked voice.

“…I am.”

“Yes.”

Grandmother stuttered in a trembling voice, out of the blue.

“C-cool… you say?”

She was probably staring at me as if trying to dissect my little head.

Sitting on Grandmother’s tense thigh muscles, I struggled to continue speaking.

“…Yes! To become as awesome as Gwandma…”

“To, to become.”

“What should I do? I heard there are super strong artifacts too… And something called white magic, opposite of black magic…”

Duchess Lucella clenched her fist.

I raised my trembling face slightly, looking up and winking.

But Grandmother’s face was terribly distorted…

…Just as I thought I had failed and was glancing around nervously, Grandmother opened her trembling lips and spoke.

“I too had a time like you. When I yearned to become strong. You remind me of myself back then.”

Though she seemed to be speaking positively, it was strangely chilling.

Grandmother opened her mouth as if to punctuate her words.

“This won’t do.”

It was a big problem for negative words to come out.

Was it a failure? Unpleasant thoughts began to creep in.

Of course, it couldn’t be this easy to butter up the Duchess, thoughts of defeat also invaded my mind.

As I was frantically thinking about how to deal with her from now on, that’s when it happened.

A voice full of fighting spirit reached my ears, which were full of disappointment.

“Shall I tell you how to become like me, Honey Bun?”

I looked at Grandmother with sparkling eyes.

How, how can I become like Grandmother?

‘But Honey Bun?’

It felt strange to be called Honey Bun in such a serious situation. But intending to listen carefully, I perked up my ears.

“I’ll teach you myself.”

“…Yes?”

“Don’t be too happy. I’m not doing this because of your request.”

Grandmother continued coldly.

“This is all because the Education Director died mysteriously, so there’s no one to teach you for a while. Also, since there’s no successor for the Education Director, all the educators are uneasy… It would be best if I teach you. Don’t you think?”

It really seemed like an unavoidable situation.

But there was a possibility that the Duchess might come to dislike me because of taking on this unavoidable task.

Worried about the future, I carefully continued speaking.

“Um, it’s okay even if you don’t-”

“Tut-tut.”

“…?”

“I’m the only one who can educate you.”

She was adamant. And listening carefully to the tone of her voice, it didn’t seem like she extremely disliked it.

If so, this was actually good for me.

‘The Duchess is someone who had her prime. Though she’s fallen now, she still has some standing in high society, and might have some power to slightly restrain Axel.’

I saw hope that I could survive.

Duchess Lucella was knowledgeable in many fields, but especially as a high-ranking magician, she knew how to freely use magic potions and poisons.

Several decades ago, the Kid’s Ten-Ten growth potion she made for children had spread throughout the empire and was officially used.

Not only that, there were rumors that she possessed a great many offensive artifacts. Of course, there were counterarguments. If the Duchess had so many offensive artifacts, how could she have given up the family’s real power so easily?

Still, she was much stronger than a powerless child like me.

Feeling my survival chances had increased, I smiled brightly and said,

“Wow, thank you!”

Grandmother, who had been staring down at my round eyes, brought one hand to her mouth, coughed, and muttered.

“Ahem, ahem. Yes, Bun.”

Not knowing what ‘Bun’ meant, I blinked and tilted my head.

‘Who on earth are Honey Bun and Bun?’

As I looked at her with a puzzled expression, the Duchess averted her gaze and replied coldly.

“Now go. Come again tomorrow.”

“Yes. I love you, Gwandma!”

I quickly kissed Grandmother’s hand resting on the table, then scurried outside.

‘Now I can become strong too!’

Looking down at my hands while standing in front of the door, I clenched and unclenched my fists.

I already felt stronger.

‘Hee, how exciting.’

As I was jumping for joy in my heart, I realized I had more to say before leaving and turned my body slightly.

“Oh, by the way, Gwandma…”

When I turned my head, Duchess Lucella’s face was bright red.

She looked like a runaway train.

Moreover, she was carefully caressing the back of her hand, but when I turned my head, she seemed startled.

She spoke again with a cold expression.

“What is it?”

Despite her cold expression, her face was still red. That was a bit questionable, but having something I needed to get, I pretended not to notice and opened my mouth.

“Can you teach my fwiend too?”

I raised the corners of my mouth to show my upper and lower teeth clearly.

It looked extremely awkward, but… Grandmother nodded curtly.

Still, since she agreed to teach, I was satisfied with that for today.

I bowed my head deeply, showing my round head.

“I’ll send word to you again on the day of education.”

Thinking it shouldn’t be too late, I smiled brightly and narrowed my eyes.

“Yes! I want to see Gwandma as soon as possible!”

Grandmother frowned at me.

“As soon as possible, you say. Then today, no, today might be burdensome.”

‘Of course! About a week later…’

“Let’s start right away tomorrow.”

‘…What?’

“I’ll prepare.”

Grandmother spoke solemnly and coldly.

I ended up nodding in a daze.