Chapter 6: Meeting father 'dearest'

I swallowed down my saliva and walked out of Sage's room. I looked around and then walked towards the nearest servant.

"May you please tell Marquis Everflame that I would like a word with him?" I requested.

The servant looked down at me in shock. This reaction was to be expected, after all, Sage would never come out of her room without permission, and even so, would definitely never ask to speak with her father. Not to mention the way that I spoke had a more mature and refined aura than the naive and insecure Sage.

"Y-yes,"

The servant led me through a superfluous amount of hallways and corridors until we finally arrived at the destination, the marquis's office.

Knock Knock

"Enter," an impersonal voice, dripping with an undertone of authority, said.

The oversized doors opened, and the scent of ink and old books came rushing in my nasal cavity.

"Good day, marquis, please pardon the interruption."

I gently lifted the sides of my oversized shirt, and lowered my knees slightly, in an attempt to curtsy the best I could from memories of females curtsying in the otome game. While it was definitely extremely flawful, it was better than doing nothing. Also, Sage (luckily) hasn't taken any etiquette classes yet, and therefore, should be better than how he would have expected me to greet him.

Though his stern face hadn't moved a muscle, his eyes were brimming with shock and a hint of rage.

"What are you doing here? Had I not made it clear enough that you are to stay in your chambers?"

Small bits of sweat rolled down my face. I was infinitely grateful to the fact that the servant was right beside me, otherwise, I would definitely have been beaten up or something…

"I deeply apologize for breaking this rule, however something urgent happened that I believe is important to personally notify you. If you find my actions wrong, after I am done explaining, I shall accept punishment. I ask you, please listen to this request of mine."

He eyed me with suspicion for a few seconds, before opening his mouth,

'Uwah, thank the lords for my extreme mannerism habit, and all the medieval European literature I have read… if not for them, I probably wouldn't have been able to talk like this,'

"Fine,"

"Thank you very much. I think that my magic seal is broken, and also think that I have a unique magic." I paused for a moment, letting my words sink in.

He scoffed and then, with a slightly amused tone, asked "And why do you think this?"

I can't completely blame him for acting like that. Having unique magic is extremely rare, and hoped for. You have better luck winning a lottery, rather than gaining a unique power.

"Recently, when I was talking, I felt the flow of mana, and then for some reason, I changed what I was saying. I have never heard of something like this being done with regular magic"

While it is true that this has never been done with regular magic, everything else I said but that was a lie.

"I see, if I find that you are lying, and you do not have unique magic, you will be in great trouble. Now is the time to tell me the truth."

"I am telling the truth."

"Very well then, we shall see the results after an appraisal ceremony. I shall schedule it for tomorrow. Now go back to your room."

"Thank you very much for your ti-"

Grooowl~

"DING"

'Subject: OOF

From: God

Haha! That is too good! Ouch! That was loud!

XD

So close yet so far~'

'Ugh… once I get my hands on you...'

"-me, m-marquis", Embarrassment swarmed my head in the form of blood. I was pretty sure that I looked like a tomato.

'Great time, stomach, thanks a lot.' (please note the sarcasm)

I gently lifted the sides of my shirt and slightly bent my knees once again, to form my sorry excuse of a curtsy.

The marquis looked over at the servant.

"You have been feeding that, right?" he pointed it index finger towards me.

"O-of course my lord." the servant was sweating bullets, and something told me that it wasn't just because of the immense pressure the marquis was leaking out.

'Huh?'

"And just how much have you been feeding it? That growl didn't sound like something from a well-fed 'child', not to mention how skinny it is."

"A s-slice of bread… m-my lord…" his voice was so soft, that I swear, even a pin drop could be able to completely drown out the sound. To my amazement, it seemed that the marquis had heard.

"When that was born, what was my first order?" His authoritative voice was laced in an almost transparent undertone of fury.

"T-to keep her alive, my lord"

"Correct, it seems you still remember. I asked you to keep it alive, not half alive and half dead."

"I apologize… I shall t-talk to the head maid. T-This won't happen again..."

"Good, if it does, I may have to get some replacements. Now go. Feed that thing while you are at it. I could probably hear that beast of a stomach roar from a mile away. As a penalty, all servants in charge or related to this 'child' will be punished with 1 month without pay. You all will also have to compensate for the food that you have taken under the context of feeding the child. You shall pay double the amount tooken, who pays what can be worked out with those among you."

Not even a second after he finished, the servant, who's complexion was now as pale as snow, speed-walked out of the door, tugging me along.

'Eh?'

I was currently seated at a dining table with vegetable soup and bread, questioning what in the world was going on.

'So the marquis did not know…'

I slowly brought the spoon of lukewarm soup up to my lips. After slowly sipping it, I slightly widened my eyes in surprise.

'This is good!' 'the slight tart of the tomato, and the sweetness of the…'

~30 minutes of attempting to stuff my face while still using table manners later~

'Even food for a hated child is delicious here… being rich is awesome'

"Ding!"

'Subject: 0.0

From: God

The way you ate a lukewarm bowl of soup…

*look of pity*'

I ignored the message and turned my attention to the maid who was asking if I would like fifths.

"No thank you. Do you happen to know the time? Also, do you happen to know my age?"

"8:30 pm Lady Everflame. Also, you are 9 years old, why do you ask?"

"I see, then I am turning in for the night," I said. A 9-year-old needs around 10 - 11 hours of sleep, and tomorrow was quite the big day. In case you are wondering why the maid didn't look at me like I had 2 heads, that is because no one really regarded my birthday as special, nor told me my age, therefore, there was no reason for me to know my age.

"Y-yes Lady Everflame. Would you like some extra blankets?"

Nodding my head, I walked to my room. After the maid closed my door, I ran and jumped onto my bed before tucking myself in.

I let tucked away thoughts overtake my mind. Honestly, I didn't completely blame the marquis for his actions of abuse, even before I found out that he had expected me to have better treatment. It had said in the game that the marquis loved his company as if it was his child. In other words, when the spy had tried to harm his company, to him it was the same as her trying to harm his child. Although I knew what he was doing was not acceptable, there was some justification of why he acted like that. I probably wouldn't be able to bring myself to be kind to a child who's mother purposely attempted harmed my close family. The fact that he actually lets me live, and gives me such treatment, makes him a lot kinder than he seems to be.

The maid came in with a warm blanket that was as fluffy as a cloud looked. Slowly my thoughts morphed into dreams that would overtake me for the night.