When he revealed his honest inner thoughts, he seemed to be at a loss for words and rubbed his face dry.

“……”

‘He’s not saying it’s completely impossible. The atmosphere seems pretty good?’

I decided to push playfully and asked.

“About the mine. It’s not like we absolutely have to contract with the Imperial Palace, right?”

Ambassador Heinrich muttered with a dejected expression.

“They say a close associate of the Crown Prince stole our principality’s technology, so contracting with the Imperial Palace… It’s a matter of pride.”

The contract with the Imperial Palace had effectively fallen through. But a conflicted attitude was evident on his face.

That’s understandable, as from the principality’s perspective, the Imperial Palace would be the best business partner. Moreover, the Grand Prince would also have been expecting to contract with the Empire’s Crown Prince.

‘But he must be conflicted. This is the moment I’m waiting for! We absolutely need that mana stone!’

We needed the Mikel mine to make our family more prosperous and increase the number of magicians among Father’s close associates. I held his arm tightly and asked gently as if coaxing him.

“Then how about contracting that mana stone with Sien Trading Company of House Mirmod?”

For a moment, confusion filled Ambassador Heinrich’s eyes. With a half-dazed look, he asked back.

“…Pardon? If it’s Sien Trading Company.”

“House Mirmod may not be the Imperial Family, but it has that much power in the Empire. Sien Trading Company is as solid as Yoter Trading Company!”

‘Judging by his expression, if I say a bit more, it seems he might be persuaded!’

It was what I was going to say before being dragged to the courtroom, but I should finish saying this.

“Um, hmm! Can I appeal a little more?”

“Yes, yes…”

I smiled playfully and pulled out the contract from my pocket.

“I also saved the older brothers and sisters of Scheraf Trading Company! I felt bad seeing them protest. I helped them prove in court that their technology was stolen.”

Then I quietly handed him the contract and winked slightly.

Looking at the contract, he mumbled as if dumbfounded.

“Uh, excuse me, but your age…”

I smiled brightly and spread both palms wide open to show all ten fingers.

“Ten years old!”

It was when Ambassador Heinrich was blinking with a speechless expression. The door to the reception room opened.

“…Sien, let’s go now.”

Wait a minute.

Did Father hear everything I said?

I blinked my eyes. And then, Ambassador Heinrich said.

“…I’ll sort out the Mikel mine matter and contact you soon. I need to talk with the Grand Prince as well.”

That’s when Father took my hand and said to Ambassador Heinrich.

“Collaborate with Mirmod.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s a matter His Majesty the Emperor has approved.”

I opened my eyes wide.

‘What? Did Father make a deal with the Emperor?’

Of course, the Crown Prince had committed a huge rudeness against Mirmod, but I didn’t expect Father to bring back the Mikel mine.

Our Father’s negotiation skills were improving day by day.

[This is the timeline separator]

When Sien was marveling at Matthias’s negotiation skills, Matthias was also pondering the future of his smart daughter.

After returning to the Mirmod mansion from the Imperial Palace, Matthias gathered his close associates and declared.

It was when everyone was waiting tensely for Matthias’s orders, as it was right after he had a heated argument with the Crown Prince.

He said with a calm expression.

“It seems our daughter has the ability to read the future. How should we educate geniuses early? Should we send her to study abroad?”

Seeing the doting aspect of Matthias, his close associates wore expressions of not quite adapting.

However, there are always those who crave power among them.

One associate with a vicious scratch on his face quickly spoke up.

“Rather than studying abroad, how about the academy?”

“…The academy?”

“Yes. I heard that noble children usually socialize at the academy!”

Matthias’s eyes narrowed.

As the associate receiving his murderous gaze hunched his shoulders and watched cautiously, Matthias opened his mouth carefully.

“Are there many good children at the academy?”

“…Pardon?”

Stunned for a moment by the words ‘good children’ coming from the mouth of the vicious Matthias. The associate, full of desire to impress him, nodded his head quickly and replied.

“Yes! There must be many good children! She will surely make many ordinary friends and form friendships with good children! It’s better than staying in Mirmod!”

“I see.”

Matthias Mirmod knew well about the Crown Prince’s pettiness.

Although he had given him a grand humiliation, being someone with strong ambition and a sense of defeat, he might not give up attacking Mirmod.

Perhaps he might co-opt the elders of the family and pressure Mirmod from all sides, and target Sien again.

If so, it was time to prune both inside and outside the mansion.

“I realized something from this trial.”

“Wh-what might that be?”

“One is how smart our daughter is.”

The associate tried hard to manage his expression as if deflated and calmly exclaimed. His acting skills were improving day by day due to his superior’s daughter love.

“…Ah, indeed amazing! Haha! Wh-what’s the other one?”

“That we must stamp out from the root those who dare to bully our daughter.”

Matthias’s gaze became chilly.

In his hand was a document explaining the collusive relationship between the Council of Elders and the Crown Prince.

That document clearly proved the circumstances of the Council of Elders selling information about Sien’s movements to the Crown Prince and receiving bribes.

“We shouldn’t show the process of disposing of trash. It might be good to send our daughter to the academy for a while as well.”

Through this incident, Matthias firmly decided.

To send Sien to the academy for a while to show her the ordinary world, and in the meantime, to completely seize power within the family.

[This is the timeline separator]

After time had passed, inside the Mirmod mansion.

“Come here, Sien.”

I ended up being sat on Father’s lap before I knew it. Rolling my eyes as I sat on Father’s lap, Father quietly murmured.

“You must be curious about what I talked about with the Emperor.”

“……”

My mind was read like this. As I tightly grasped my small hands feeling tense, Father whispered in a subdued voice.

“I can’t hide everything, so I’ll tell you about the whole incident, Sien.”

“…Father?”

Father’s attitude was a bit strange. I grabbed my pink hair tightly and fell into thought. It felt like he was protecting me, as if telling a child to stay back…

‘It feels like he’s treating me as a partner. Is it because I brought up the partner talk first?’

As if my feeling wasn’t wrong, Father hugged my shoulders tightly and continued his next words carefully.

“Listen well, Sien. After finishing this trial, I told the Emperor about the Crown Prince’s misdeeds. The Crown Prince has greatly lost the Emperor’s trust.”

“…I see.”

Pretending not to be interested at all, I deliberately made my eyes like frozen pollack, then grabbed Father’s arm tightly and asked again.

“So what happened?”

“The Emperor wasn’t trusting the Crown Prince much to begin with… Duke Sebastian, the Emperor’s illegitimate child, is expected to come from the frontier.”

I opened my eyes with a flash.

‘Ah, Duke Sebastian is the Crown Prince’s political opponent and fated rival!’

The Duke was an illegitimate child born when the Emperor embraced another woman, and was on the opposing side of the Crown Prince.

Although he appears as a villain in the story, if the Crown Prince, the male protagonist in the novel, is such a petty and vile person, his personality might be different too.

Just like how the Mirmod family was described as a terribly evil family, but in fact, it’s full of warm people including Grandmother.

Father hesitated and then opened his mouth.

“Duke Sebastian is also Father’s friend.”

“Wow. Father’s friend! Introduce me later!”

I blinked and leaned my body on Father’s shoulder. However, instead of saying he would introduce me, Father quietly opened his mouth.

“Sien, Father’s not done talking yet?”

“Hmm? Is there more interesting stuff?”

I was starting to feel sleepy and even tired.

“Interesting stuff… Actually, Father is really curious.”

It was a strange tone. I rolled my eyes and asked Father.

“…Hmm?”

“How on earth did our baby know about the swan sculpture that was buried in the family warehouse.”

I flinched. Yes, in fact, I was in a hurry and revealed a lot of information I knew from the original work.

‘…It was unavoidable, but it’s natural for Father to be suspicious.’

I silently bowed my head and remained silent, but Father’s words continued.

“What you want, what kind of thoughts you’re living with. And…”

Father whispered lowly in my ear.

“What secret you’re hiding from me.”

At that moment, I flinched again.

The secret that I was reincarnated, the fact that I was actually a very wicked person. I was worried that Father might find out and become wary of me because of it.

So I quietly closed my eyes tightly and opened them again.

Yes, at times like this…

“Ah, Father is hiding things from Sien too!”

Throwing a tantrum and whining is the answer!

But at that moment, Father’s body stiffened.

‘Oh, that’s strange? It seems Father is hiding something from me too?’

I gave Father a suspicious look.

But right then, a burly-looking man presumed to be Father’s close associate opened our door and came in.

“Did, did you hear that news?”

Father’s arm hugging me tightly stiffened.

“…What, news do you mean?”

How strange indeed.

Father’s voice now was, well, like a villain who is extremely displeased at having his tea time with his only favorite person stolen. I looked at Father with great suspicion.

“…Hmm?”

I fixed my questioning gaze on him. Then the associate uncle also fixed his trembling gaze on us.

“You’ve he-heard that the Emperor has called the Duke back again, right?”

“Yes.”

A bored voice as if asking if he came here just to say such a thing. I was giggling feeling proud of Father’s villainous appearance when I paused.

No matter how I thought about it, it seemed Father had the villain mode overly ingrained.

“…Ahem.”

Father cleared his throat briefly and then spoke in a somewhat naive voice tone.

“Umm, so what’s the matter?”

Now he seems like the Father I knew…

I tilted my head and then leaned my small body on Father’s shoulder again.

“They say the Pope and Saint Melodia are departing on a pilgrimage on the Path of Light. The temple side being quiet is quite suspicious, do you think they’re up to something?”

A ‘Path of Light’ pilgrimage?

I opened my eyes wide and stiffened my body.

‘This is content that only appears near the end in the original ?’

I became curious why they were suddenly departing for the Path of Light like this.

At the end of the original , the Pope and Saint Melodia depart on a pilgrimage to the Path of Light. After completing the pilgrimage, Melodia returns to the Empire and marries the Crown Prince, and that was their happy ending.

‘The Path of Light was just a device to highlight the poignant romance between the two, but I don’t know exactly what happens there…’

For now, since the temple is Mirmod’s enemy, and the Crown Prince who becomes Melodia’s future husband has become my and Father’s enemy, it seemed important to find out what they might gain from the ‘Path of Light’.

‘Yes, the Imperial Palace will have fewer occasions to directly fight Mirmod for a while due to the power struggle between the Duke and the Crown Prince.’

The Crown Prince will become even quieter after taking a hit from this fake daughter commotion.

While I was seriously drawing the current political situation in my head, Father continued speaking.

“Let’s put the temple aside.”

“Yes.”

I perked up my ears. It was because I wanted to hear more of the juicy information brought by the kind but ugly-faced villain uncle. That’s when Father said.

“The unstable atmosphere within the family… No, wait.”

Father suddenly lifted me up.

“Sien,”

“Uh, yes?”

I stretched my mouth corners slightly, pretending to be as innocent and ignorant as possible. But Father smiled faintly and hugged me, opening the door.

“Sien should go to sleep now.”

‘This won’t do? I need to know a bit about how the family is doing too!’

I opened my eyes wide and grabbed Father’s sleeve tightly, whining.

“…But Sien wants to listen too!”

“Sien needs to sleep. When you wake up, Father will tell you an interesting story.”

And so I ended up drinking delicious milk with a warm fireplace in my room.

But I didn’t know then.

What future was waiting for me the next day…

[This is the timeline separator]

“Th-this isn’t right!”

I ended up half-screaming with my hands on my face.

“Sien has to go to the academy now too.”

“The Imperial Children’s Academy, this is absurd! I still have so much to do!”

I needed to find out why Melodia and the Pope left for the Path of Light so quickly, observe the family’s political situation, and try to instill more villainous thoughts in my gullible Father. But why…!

“There’s a lot to do. You have to go to and from school.”

“Father, managing Sien Trading Company…”

“The family’s accountant will take care of it for now.”

“Sigh…”

…This is a big problem. There was no room to back down.

I shook my head with my eyes wide open.

But Father…

“Sien should make many friends her age and do good things.”

…said that, and sent me away!

[This is the timeline separator]

At the same time, inside the Imperial Palace.

Saint Melodia, who was said to be departing for the ‘Path of Light’, the Crown Prince, and Princess Anesa were sitting face to face.