The Youngest Daughter of the Swordsmanship Family Turned Great Mage - Chapter 34

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“But I haven’t done anything yet.”

“You don’t have to do anything to be an excellent Adrian. You’re already a perfect Adrian just by existing.”

“Hmm.”

Rosette couldn’t understand what the duke meant.

The Duke of Dallas had said that for her to become a perfect Dallas, she needed to become stronger than anyone else.

But to be a perfect Adrian without doing anything?

Though she couldn’t understand, at least it didn’t seem like Duke Adrian was lying.

‘Besides, it seems like Dad cares for me.’

Gaining a bit of courage, she asked.

“Then aren’t you going to praise me?”

“Praise?”

“Yes. I worked hard.”

Duke Adrian quickly realized what she meant and gently pinched the child’s cheek.

“Of course I should. Well done, Rose.”

“Hehe.”

“But from now on, don’t overdo it and just follow what Lady Noyer tells you to do.”

“Yes.”

“Do you understand, Rose? No matter what anyone says, you are Rosette Adrian.”

Rosette Adrian. Rosette repeated the name in her mouth several times.

It seemed like there was a lot more to learn in a different sense from now on.

‘First, I should stop comparing my family to the Duke of Dallas’s family.’

Now I know. The Duke of Dallas’s family was full of bad people. But the Adrian family is different.

They’re all kind and warm.

So I’m going to live well without being bound by the past.

That day, for the first time, Rosette broke out of her past shell.

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“How can you be so beautiful?”

Joan fussed as she combed Rosette’s wet hair after she had just finished bathing.

Rosette’s cheeks, already warm from the bath, flushed even more. It was praise she had been hearing daily for over two months, but she still felt shy.

But something had changed. In the past, she would have said, ‘Don’t say that. I know I’m not pretty.’ But now, she just dangled her legs and listened to the compliment.

Joan was pleased with this change.

‘I don’t understand why she thought herself unattractive in the first place.’

If Rosette grew up like this, she could be counted as one of the top beauties in the empire. She was pretty in a different way from Isabelle.

Why was such a child always so intimidated? Even if that wasn’t the case, a child should always be confident.

So Joan and the maids praised Rosette every day. Thanks to that, Rosette gradually regained her confidence.

“Thank you.”

Rosette smiled shyly and looked in the mirror. In the mirror was a pink-haired girl whose cheeks had filled out quite a bit.

But there was one problem.

‘I don’t like it.’

She touched her pink hair with a face full of dissatisfaction.

The symbol of Adrian was platinum blonde hair. Although the eye color was a bit different, Duke Adrian and the other three siblings who inherited Adrian blood all had platinum blonde hair.

Only one person. Only the adopted Rosette had different pink hair.

In the past, Rosette didn’t like her hair color either. It was because of Elisha Dallas who often criticized her, saying the pink was dull.

But now it was different. Thanks to the praise from various people and her determination not to be bound by the past, Rosette had come to love her hair color.

However, for the past few days, she had been sad that she had a different color from her family members.

‘Of course, it’s natural since I’m not a real Adrian, but…’

If only she had been born with platinum blonde hair too. Then wouldn’t she have looked like part of the family to others?

Rosette, who would have been surprised if the other family members knew what she was thinking, quickly jumped off the chair. Then she ran off to find Celine.

Celine was in her research room. She brightened when she saw Rosette timidly peeking her head through the opened door.

“Young lady!”

“Elder sister Celine.”

“What brings you here so early in the morning? There’s still time before your lessons.”

Rosette hesitated before getting to the point.

“I want to change my hair color.”

“Hair color?”

Soon, Celine’s eyes widened in surprise.

“What do you mean you want to change your hair color?”

She quickly approached Rosette and held the child’s small hands, asking,

“Why did you suddenly think of that?”

“Huh?”

“Did someone say something?”

Rosette instinctively understood what Celine meant and shook her head.

“It’s not like that. Everyone said my hair color is pretty.”

Celine let out a small sigh of relief.

“Then why do you suddenly want to change your hair color? Did someone else’s hair color look prettier?”

“Umm.”

Wondering how to answer, Rosette decided to just tell the truth.

“Elder sister, I want to have the same hair color as elder brother and elder sister.”

“Ah.”

Celine understood immediately as well.

“Are you upset because you’re the only one with a different hair color?”

When Rosette silently nodded, Celine fell into deep thought.

‘What should I do about this.’

Of course, there was magic to change hair color. If desired, Celine could change her hair color right away. It wasn’t a particularly difficult magic, so Rosette could probably learn to do it well if taught.

The problem was that the other Adrians wouldn’t want that.

‘Especially if the duke finds out, he’ll be heartbroken.’

It wasn’t just because platinum blonde looked pretty, but because she felt left out and wanted to change. If Duke Adrian, who cherished Rosette like his own child, found out, he would be devastated.

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After sending Rosette back to her room, Celine immediately went to see Duke Adrian.

“What brings you here so early in the morning?”

“It’s about the young lady, sir.”

Duke Adrian, who had been busily processing documents, put his quill pen in the inkwell and looked up. As he gestured, Celine approached the desk even closer.

Duke Adrian asked with a serious face.

“Did something happen to Rose?”

“No, nothing happened.”

“Then what is it? If you’ve come to find me like this, something must have happened.”

Celine’s lips moved without speaking immediately. How on earth should she convey to the duke what Rosette had just said?

After pondering for a moment, she finally opened her mouth at Duke Adrian’s repeated urging.

“Actually, the young lady came to see me earlier. She asked if there was magic to change hair color.”

“Hair color?”

“Yes.”

Duke Adrian’s expression became even more serious.

“Did she say she doesn’t like her pink hair?”

He had heard stories from Joan and other maids over the past few months. That Rosette horribly disliked her appearance.

At first, Duke Adrian didn’t believe it.

However, after hearing some of Rosette’s comments and seeing her behavior, he realized that Joan’s words were true.

The child especially didn’t like her pink hair. It was strange. There wasn’t particularly a trend of disliking pink hair in the empire.

Why on earth did Rosette dislike her appearance so much?

Wondering if she had heard bad things about her appearance at the orphanage, he looked into it, but there was no such indication.

In particular, Jane, the child Rosette adored, left the answer, “Rose? Everyone loved Rose! She’s cute, isn’t she? I was always envious of Rose’s pink hair!”

“No, it’s not like that. She seemed to like it when everyone said her hair color was pretty.”

“Then?”

“But seeing as she said she wanted to have the same hair color as the young masters and Lady Isabelle, it seems to be an issue of belonging. After all, she’s the only one in the Adrian family with a different hair color.”

This was a completely unexpected story.

“If it’s not because she dislikes her pink hair, but simply because she doesn’t want to feel left out.”

Duke Adrian smiled meaningfully.

“Then we just need to make her feel like she belongs, don’t we?”

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Rosette looked at the mirror glumly. She had just heard from Celine, “I can’t teach you that kind of magic.”

Moreover, Celine, who was usually soft on Rosette, was quite firm. So Rosette couldn’t bring herself to ask again, “Can’t you teach me anyway? Please!”

“Young lady, what’s making you so sad?”

“It’s nothing…”

She couldn’t tell the truth. For some reason she couldn’t understand, she felt that if Joan heard her say, “I don’t like my hair color, so I want to be platinum blonde too,” she would be sad.

Joan, who couldn’t even imagine Rosette’s circumstances, whispered, “Why would our beautiful young lady be sad?” as she carefully brushed her hair.

It was when Joan finished brushing and tied Rosette’s hair into two pigtails. Sebastian, the head butler of the mansion, came to find her.

“Young lady, I’ve come to escort you. Shall we go for dinner?”

Rosette tilted her head.

“Where’s elder brother Lucas?”

Usually, it was Lucas who came to fetch her for meal times. He would often burst into the room shouting, “Little one! Let’s go eat!”

“Young Master Lucas has already gone to the dining room and is waiting.”

“Is that so? Alright.”

Rosette thought nothing of it and hopped off the chair. Thanks to her diligent physical training with Lucas every morning, jumping like this was now easy for her.

Rosette followed Sebastian to the dining room with quick steps. Each time she did, her high pigtails swayed back and forth.

However, there was no one in the dining room. Only plates and cutlery were left lonely on the table.

‘Why is no one here?’

Just as Rosette was blinking in confusion, Lucas burst out of the kitchen, shouting.

“Ta-da! Little one! Look at me!”

Rosette’s eyes widened as soon as she saw him, and then she burst into laughter.

“What is that!”

Lucas’s hair, which had been platinum blonde, was now dyed the same pink as Rosette’s.

Lucas, who had somehow already come right up to her, shook his hair and boasted.

“How is it, doesn’t pink hair suit me well too?”

“That… Pfft!”

Rosette tried to hold back her laughter by covering her mouth with both hands, but the laughter showed no signs of stopping.

“It… pft, suits you well.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie. It was just unfamiliar to see pink hair after always seeing platinum blonde, but objectively it suited him well.

“We all prepared this for you.”

“We?”

“Yes, we!”

Lucas clapped his hands as he looked at the puzzled Rosette. Then the other family members started coming out of the kitchen one after another.

Isabelle, Daniel, and even Duke Adrian.

The common point was that all three of them had pink hair instead of the platinum blonde that was the symbol of Adrian.