The Baby Villain Dreams of Conquering the World

Chapter 42

Episode 42

Having finished her thoughts, Flora lifted her head and gave Athanas an order to leave.

"Okay, now Dad go work!"

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She seemed to have calmed down, but strangely, she looked even more pouty.

Elena hurriedly brought Flora's favorite apples, but she only picked at them, showing an unusual demeanor.

"Young Lady, you need to eat snacks to grow tall too."

At the coaxing voice, she reluctantly took a few bites, but it seemed today just wasn't a day for appetite.

Flora pushed the entire bowl of apples over to Basilian.

Then, covering her cheeks with her small hands, she fell into deep anguish.

'This is bad. I've adapted too well to Lucifer.'

She was determined to suck the Lucifers dry, even their sweet marrow, but somehow it felt like her own marrow was being sucked out instead.

'Should I create some distance?'

What if I don't look at them or get close?

Flora imagined herself jumping into Athanas's arms upon seeing his sullen face and was startled.

'Goodness... Is my heart already leaning?'

For what reason was she giving her heart to the Lucifers so easily?

'It's not because my heart is weak. I still dislike the Lucifers.'

After pondering deeply, Flora quickly reached a conclusion.

'Right, it's all because the Lucifers are worse off than the other heroes.'

Since the other ducal houses and the Imperial Family keep pressuring Lucifer, this house is poor, and seeing the Lucifers' pitiable state compared to other heroes' descendants makes her keep worrying about them.

'And at the center of this is the Imperial Family.'

Having identified the most important cause, Flora lifted her head sharply and shouted the words she had been holding back.

"I won't leave the Imperial Family alone!"

"...So even after being scolded, your thoughts haven't changed?"

Basilian, who had been watching Flora while eating an apple, asked in a disbelieving tone.

"My goal is to overthrow the Imperial Family!"

"...Is that even possible?"

Basilian's worried-not-worried comment continued, but it wasn't important to Flora.

Sensing her unwavering determination, Basilian sighed and placed a small piece of cut apple into Flora's mouth.

Having identified the cause and set a new goal, Flora felt refreshed and accepted the apple.

"It's delicious. More."

"Don't you have hands?"

"What can I do if it tastes better when Basi gives it to me?"

It was just a comment Flora made because she wanted to eat comfortably, but at the words that she needed him, Basilian's heart fluttered.

At the same time, he inwardly sighed with relief.

'It was good to hide it after all.'

Feeling not displeased, Basilian chuckled softly and diligently delivered apples to Flora's mouth.

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The cold winter passed, as did the sunny spring, and before they knew it, summer had arrived. Flora had already been five years old for over half a year.

As always, another peaceful lunchtime arrived today.

During the family meal time, Flora hadn't been able to focus properly on her meal for several days.

'How can I overcome this obstacle?'

Even though she boldly shouted about overthrowing the Imperial Family, no ideas had come to her for days.

If the Imperial Family doesn't permit the guild, there's no way to make money, and then Lucifer's main businesses might be blocked, forcing them to live even poorer next year.

To make matters worse, amidst this turmoil, today's meal featured the worst menu.

Flora glared intently at the broccoli in the soup placed before her.

'This tastes bad.'

She sneakily lifted her head and saw grilled fish with broccoli on top, steak, salad, etc. Broccoli was lightly sprinkled on every menu item.

Even if she wanted to skip the main dishes and just eat the soup, it wasn't smooth sailing.

'It's too big.'

Even though it was just a small piece in the soup, she didn't want to put this unappetizing green vegetable in her mouth.

At the orphanage, they didn't give Flora broccoli, saying she didn't need to eat things she disliked, but the ducal residence was mindful of the diet for Flora and Benio, who were in their growth spurts.

In other words, it meant picky eating wasn't allowed.

It was also unacceptable to her, unaware that at the orphanage, they had only finely chopped broccoli into Flora's food.

'But Elena was stubborn.'

She would never forget the gentle voice urging her to try eating a little bit at a time, saying picky eating wasn't good.

As Flora glared at the broccoli and then looked up, she immediately met Elena's eyes.

Elena was whispering "Fighting!" with her fists tightly clenched, which was utterly unhelpful.

'Why on earth do people eat this tasteless thing?'

She was poking the broccoli with her spoon when a voice called her from beside her.

"Don't you have an appetite, Flora?"

"Huh? No."

Not wanting to hear a scolding about being picky, she quickly made an excuse, but...

Huh? Something about the way Athanas was looking at her seemed unusual.

"...Right, I thought you seemed to have no appetite lately."

'Huh? Did I usually act like that?'

Recalling recent meal times, she remembered days when she couldn't focus properly on eating because she was busy planning how to overthrow the Imperial Family.

To begin with, Flora preferred snacks over proper meals, and getting the Imperial Family's permission was the priority, so she was squeezing out ideas by carving up her limited time.

But why is he looking at me with such a sorry expression?

Unlike the puzzled Flora, Athanas had been concerned about his daughter, who seemed listless ever since the letter from the Imperial Palace arrived.

Clearly, her hopes being dashed had hurt her feelings and made her lose her liveliness.

Of course, in reality, Flora was vigorously shouting about overthrowing the Imperial Family where Athanas couldn't see, and since Elena was careful with her words, he had no way of knowing.

He was just worried about his daughter, who seemed down.

Like father, like son; Benio was also looking at Flora with a pitying gaze.

"Father is right. No matter how upset you are, you need to eat properly. You're small, so you need to eat more and grow strong."

Flora was flustered by the two bears' concerned gazes when a brilliant idea suddenly struck her.

'Should I just leave it like this?'

Since he mentioned first that she seemed to have no appetite, he probably wouldn't say much if she left it.

It was no different from receiving a reward for tirelessly squeezing out ideas to overthrow the Imperial Family.

Just as Flora was about to naturally put down her spoon.

Someone knocked roughly on the dining room door, and with a shout asking to enter, the door burst open.

"Your Grace the Duke!"

The rude guest was Athanas's only aide, Isaac.

"Isaac? What's the matter so suddenly?"

He had run so fast that, unlike his usual neat appearance, he was disheveled enough for his monocle to be askew.

His chest heaved roughly as he caught his breath; it seemed he had run from quite a distance.

In his hand was a letter envelope embossed with gold foil; that letter was probably the reason for his haste.

Flora was about to put down her spoon with a bored expression when Isaac shouted in an excited voice.

"The permit has arrived from the Imperial Family!"

"Is that true?"

At the unexpected news, Athanas also widened his eyes and sprang up from his seat.

"Yes! The official document that came with this letter included the guild plan application forms!"

Athanas took the letter Isaac offered and immediately tore it open.

He stared at the letter for a long time, as if forgetting to breathe, then let out a deep sigh he had been holding.

"It's true. What a relief."

"Even though we said the northern businesses were blocked, they pretended not to hear... I wonder what happened. It's not some trick, is it? They're not planning to completely ruin the north with this opportunity, are they?"

At Isaac's anxious muttering, Athanas quietly replied.

"They must have changed their mind after the letter I sent back."

"Huh? When? What did you send?"

"I said I was so happy to have found my daughter and thanked them for their help with information, etc. I said my recent joy is reading fairy tales to my daughter before bed."

"And the Imperial Family changed their mind just because of that?"

"I also mentioned that a book I read recently left a deep impression. Was it the one with the mouse and the cat?"

At those words, silence fell among those who realized which fairy tale it was.

Flora was the same.

'It's the story where the mouse, constantly bullied by the cat, finally can't take it anymore, bites the cat, becomes the new boss, and dominates the alley.'

A cornered mouse will bite a cat, in short, it means if you keep cornering us like this, we might also come out fighting...

'So this Lucifer knows how to threaten rebellion too?'

It seems he isn't just all gentle bear.

'That's all good, but why did it have to arrive at this exact moment?'

She was about to get up from the table immediately to escape the broccoli, but the timing had become awkward.

"What a relief, Flora. Father sent several letters because you were upset, and it seems that's why the permit came down."

At Benio's words, along with his, the gazes of everyone in the dining room turned toward her.

"R, really?"

Flora stammered, flustered by the sudden attention, and Benio smiled slightly and nodded.

"Yes, it seems you're the lucky charm."

"R, reeeally?"