Rosette was pestered by Lucas all day after that. Lucas acted like someone desperate to pass on everything he knew to Rosette in a single day, and Rosette willingly followed him around.

She was only able to get away from Lucas after dinner.

“Sweet dreams.”

The maid who had changed her into her nightgown blew out the candle. Rosette, who had been lying quietly in bed, sat up as soon as she left.

‘I want to create a mana core…’

Both Duke Adrien and Celinne had said to take magic lessons after she became plump.

However, Rosette was in a hurry. It was because she didn’t know when or how Duke Dallas would target the Adrien family.

‘I might be able to prevent the carriage accident.’

But what came after was the problem.

Would Duke Dallas give up on Daniel? As far as Rosette knew, he wasn’t the type to do so. Rather, there was a high chance he would persistently target Daniel with even more determination.

If he targeted Daniel by other means, the chances of protecting him were low. So it was better to develop magical abilities before anything happened. To be able to counter the schemes of the Dallas family.

Rosette closed her eyes and focused on the mana flowing through her body. She gathered the slowly flowing mana in the area below her navel. At the same time, a warm sensation emanated from where the mana had gathered.

But that was it. The mana dispersed in less than 10 seconds. At the same time, Rosette started coughing violently from the shock.

Cough, cough, cough! Rosette, who had been covering her mouth while coughing, only sighed as she looked at her navel area after the coughing had completely stopped.

‘Is it still too difficult after all?’

Let’s hurry and become plump. Enough for her body to withstand mana.

Rosette went to bed, once again making this resolution.

[This is the timeline separator]

It was the night Rosette had fallen asleep.

“Father.”

Daniel sought out Duke Adrien who had just returned to the mansion. Duke Adrien asked as he handed over his outer garment to Sebastian.

“Did you pay your respects to His Highness the Prince well?”

“Yes.”

“Was there any trouble?”

“Nothing unusual happened.”

Joshua did say something meaningful, but it was ambiguous to call that ‘unusual’.

“By the way, about Rosette.”

“What about Rosette? Did something happen?”

“No. You don’t need to worry, nothing happened.”

Daniel shook his head and then brought up what he wanted to say.

“It’s just that her birthday is in a week, she said. Did you know?”

The Duke’s hands, which were unfastening his cufflinks, paused for a moment.

“This is the first I’m hearing of it.”

“I thought you might say that.”

Daniel continued.

“Anyway, because of that, everyone has become busy preparing for Rosette’s birthday party.”

“I thought the atmosphere in the mansion seemed strangely excited, so that was the reason.”

“Yes. But it seems Rosette hasn’t properly had a birthday party before. So I wanted to prepare something special for her, but I didn’t know how to go about it, so I came to ask for your opinion, Father.”

“A special birthday party…”

Duke Adrien fell into thought. If she had never had a birthday party before, it would be fine to throw a grand party that would leave nothing to be desired.

However, somehow that alone seemed insufficient. Rosette also didn’t seem like she would want just that.

After thinking for a moment, Duke Adrien smiled slightly.

“I have a good idea, Daniel.”

“What is it, Father?”

Duke Adrien smiled as he shared his opinion.

Daniel also smiled after hearing his opinion.

[This is the timeline separator]

A week had passed since Rosette came to the Adrien family. During the past week, Rosette hadn’t done anything special.

She just ate well, played well, and slept well.

This is not an exaggeration, those three things were really all she did. At night, she secretly tried to create a mana core, but failed every time. The more she failed, the more enthusiastically she ate breakfast.

But apart from that, people didn’t ask anything of her. Thanks to this, Rosette seriously pondered every morning.

‘Is it really okay like this?’

Whether it was true that she didn’t have to do anything for a while, Duke Adrien didn’t assign her a single teacher. Celinne also hadn’t come to see her since the first day.

Was it really okay like this? If she couldn’t prove her usefulness, wouldn’t she have no right to be here?

Once, perhaps because such thoughts showed on her face, Duke Adrien patted her head and said.

-Rest comfortably.

Adding that a child should grow up carefree like a child.

Ah, there was one requirement, though.

-By the way, from now on, you should eat a lot without leaving anything. Eat a lot and grow up quickly. Of course, except for shrimp.

But could that be called a requirement? Although she had doubts, Rosette diligently stuffed food into her mouth at every meal to live up to his expectations.

It wasn’t particularly difficult. The chef of the Adrien family was very skilled.

Thanks to this, Rosette’s cheeks became a little plumper in just a week. Although everyone didn’t show it, they were proud of Rosette’s changes.

And today. It was Rosette’s birthday, which had kept the Adrien Duke’s mansion busy for the past week.

“Squirt!”

Lucas barged into Rosette’s room at the crack of dawn. The maids tried to stop him, but it was useless.

He pulled out the blanket Rosette was wrapped in and woke her up.

“Wake up, wake up!”

“Mmm…”

Rosette, who couldn’t properly open her eyes, suddenly opened them wide at the words that followed.

“Are you going to oversleep even on your birthday?”

Ah, that’s right! It was my birthday!

Clearly, when the Adrien mansion people first started preparing for the birthday party, Rosette felt no excitement. Everyone said that birthdays were special days, but it didn’t really resonate deep in her heart.

She was just happy because everyone else was happy while preparing for her birthday party.

But was it because she had been brainwashed, or rather educated, over the past week that birthdays were good days and deserved to be blessed?

Belatedly, Rosette started looking forward to her birthday. In fact, last night she was slightly too excited to sleep properly.

“I’m not oversleeping.”

As Rosette struggled to open her eyes that kept closing, still not fully awake, Lucas grabbed her hand.

“Come out quickly. We have somewhere to go.”

Rosette followed him in her pajamas, rubbing her eyes with one hand. The place Lucas headed to was the dining room.

“Don’t cry because you’re too happy.”

Lucas warned, or rather not warned, as he opened the dining room door. At the same time, various voices shouted in unison from inside.

“Happy birthday!”

“Happy birthday to you!”

The servant waiting in front of the door sprinkled flower petals over Rosette. Lucas also grabbed a handful of flower petals from a basket and sprinkled them on Rosette’s head.

Rosette, with her hair full of flower petals, looked around the dining room.

Unlike usual, the dining room was lavishly decorated. The table was full of dishes and desserts that Rosette liked.

In front of it, not only family members but also employees were smiling brightly towards her.

“Ah…”

She felt a warm sensation somewhere in her chest. It was a feeling she had never experienced before, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Rather, it felt good.

At that moment, Daniel and Isabel approached.

“Happy birthday, Rose.”

“Congratulations.”

Next, Duke Adrien walked over and patted Rosette’s head.

“Happy birthday. I hope today is filled with only happy things, Rose.”

Kind people and warm words. Rosette fully realized it only today.

I think I was really born well.

At the same time, transparent tears fell from her eyes.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Crybaby, crybaby!”

Lucas started teasing Rosette, whose eyes had turned bright red like a rabbit from crying so much. Daniel and Duke Adrien, who would have normally scolded him, just laughed without stopping him.

Rosette, her eyes still moist, took a big bite of the cake cut for her by the maid. The chocolate cake made with plenty of fresh strawberries was both tangy and sweet.

Lucas, watching her, snickered and handed over something he had hidden under the table. Something as long as Rosette’s arm was clumsily wrapped in red wrapping paper.

“What’s this?”

“A birthday present!”

“Can I really have it?”

“Of course!”

“Here, take mine too.”

This time, Isabel handed Rosette a box as small as her palm. Daniel also gave her a heavy gift.

Rosette, holding an armful of birthday presents, asked.

“Can I open these?”

“Of course. They’re your presents.”

She started carefully unwrapping the beautifully wrapped gifts one by one.

Daniel gave her a fairy tale book that she could color herself, and Isabel gave her a hair ornament she treasured. Lucas gifted her the wooden sword he used to play with when he was young.

Isabel chided him.

“What’s with a wooden sword for a child who needs to learn magic?”

Lucas snorted.

“Sister, what kind of family are we? We’re the Adrien Duke’s family that has produced capable knights for generations. Father is the most splendid Sword Master.”

“So?”

“Magic is good, but shouldn’t the squirt learn basic swordsmanship too?”

“Look at her arms. How could she learn swordsmanship with those arms?”

“There’s nothing she can’t learn!”

Rosette interjected.

“Um, I want to learn!”

Both of them turned their gazes to her simultaneously. Feeling a bit intimidated, Rosette continued in a slightly smaller voice.

“I want to learn too, the sword.”

It seemed good to learn simple self-defense skills as well as magic, since she had been adopted into the Adrien family.

“Is it not allowed?”

“Of course it’s allowed.”

Duke Adrien answered.

“However, let’s learn when you’ve grown a bit taller and gained some weight.”

“Yes.”

“Now that you’ve received all your birthday presents, it’s my turn.”

At Duke Adrien’s gesture, Sebastian brought a large box.

Duke Adrien opened the box on behalf of Rosette. Inside were a splendid party dress, shoes, and accessories to match the dress.

“Let’s have a party at lunch today wearing this. That’s my gift.”

“A party?”

Rosette blinked, not understanding.

“Isn’t this the party we’re having now?”

Lucas chuckled.

“How is this a party? This is just breakfast.”

If this was simply a meal, just how grand would the party be?

Towards the surprised Rosette, Daniel winked one eye.

“You can look forward to it, Rose. Father has prepared a really good gift.”

Along with meaningful words.