The Baby Villain Dreams of Conquering the World

Chapter 88

Episode 88

Despite the considerable distance, Atanas, who heard her perfectly, lifted his head and cast his gaze toward Flora's room.

He grinned, and perhaps because of his eye patch, it added a fiercer edge compared to the others beside him.

But knowing it was a happier smile than anyone else's, Flora smiled back and waved her hand vigorously.

'With many mercenaries joining the guild and the business sailing smoothly, Lucifer won't have to go out personally to earn money, right?'

Since the guild only accepted suitable commissions and offered various preferential conditions, including safety, many mercenaries wanted to join.

The gold mine and magic stone businesses were always doing well, so there were no issues.

Even the newly developed Shalias bracelet, no, the 'Lur Bracelet' named after Lucifer, was selling like hotcakes, so the era of profit for all businesses had arrived.

'Now we just need to rake in the money.'

In just a few years, the Lucifer Ducal House would become immensely wealthy.

And Flora would spend that money proudly, enjoying the leisure befitting a Ducal House while simultaneously taking the lead in world conquest.

'Just you wait.'

She would surely achieve her revenge against the other Ducal Houses and the Imperial Family who had killed her.

'To do that, I must also become stronger.'

Today would be the moment she took the first step toward becoming truly Lucifer-like.

"Dad! I want to learn swordsmanship too!"

At her confident shout, she could see astonishment flicker across Atanas's face.

Flora found something amusing and giggled, waving her hand.

It was a peaceful day, a day when a new change came to Lucifer.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · · · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

On a certain summer day with warm sunshine.

Clang, clang.

The fierce sound of clashing swords echoed over the training grounds.

"Isn't it truly amazing?"

"Wow, how can someone not even an adult yet parry the Duke's sword like that......"

"No matter how many times I see it, I can only marvel."

The Lucifer knights, watching a sparring match rarely seen outside, enthusiastically voiced their admiration.

Not just them, but Flora, who was also at the training grounds for practice today, couldn't take her eyes off the two sparring.

"Oppa will lose again today."

"But he's parrying so well?"

At Flora's brief assessment, Daphne, who was watching beside her, asked.

"Dad is going easy on him."

Unlike Benio, who was swinging his sword desperately, Atanas's movements were incredibly relaxed.

'This is the difference with just regular swords, not the Holy Sword... If they fought with the Holy Sword, he'd lose even more miserably.'

Having finished her training earlier today, Flora, as always, rested her chin on her hands, observing the sparring intently, trying to gauge the trajectory of the swords and the amount of force behind them.

A moment later, as the sword fell from Benio's hand, Atanas's sword touched his neck.

"I've lost."

Following his ragged breath came a swift surrender, and Atanas sheathed his sword.

"Daphna, towel."

As the spar ended, Flora got up and held out her hand to the side. When two soft, prepared towels were placed in her hand, Flora strode into the training grounds without hesitation.

By now, two and a half years had passed since Flora came to Lucifer, and it had been a little less than a year and a half since she started learning swordsmanship in a Lucifer-like manner.

In that time, Benio's skills had also improved by leaps and bounds, and from some point on, he had begun sparring regularly with Atanas.

"Even if the spar is over, I told you not to come in like this."

Despite being on one knee, panting roughly, Benio, in his role as the older brother, didn't hold back from scolding Flora as she ran dododo and arrived in front of the two.

Flora wrapped a towel around Benio's neck, then wiggled her fingers toward Atanas.

As if waiting for it, Atanas bent his waist, and a small, capable hand, though she had grown a bit, wiped the sweat from his forehead.

'No, he looks perfectly clean no matter where you look, so why does he always ask to be wiped?'

He thought it was strange to have his small, lovely daughter and sister do this, but since it was a rule created because of her, he couldn't overturn it now.

Though it had the grand name of a 'rule,' its origin was nothing special.

Feeling proud of the two who worked hard, Flora started bringing towels herself one day. Seeing her wiping Benio, who was sweating so much, Atanas had said this:

〈Flora, don't you think it's unfair that Benio gets the reward when I'm the one who won the spar?〉

So she wiped Atanas's forehead, which didn't have a single drop of sweat, and from then on, wiping with a towel became the prize for the spar winner.

'Acting childish as he approaches forty.'

Flora was now seven years old, and Benio was seventeen, so Atanas had aged accordingly, yet why did he look even more handsome than a few years ago?

'I heard letters occasionally come from noble ladies......'

If true, that was truly a great development for Lucifer.

'My house, once treated as traitors and living in impoverished misery, is now a popular noble family. It's a story you can't hear without tears.'

Of course, it all started thanks to Flora, but it was the capable adults gathered around Atanas: Isaac, Xenophia, and others who ran the businesses and continuously expanded the North's influence and scale.

"Still, you put about 3% more strength into your swings compared to last month. It seems your skills have improved quite a bit in a short time."

"You said it increased by 1% last month, so it definitely increased a lot."

Though still lacking, Benio seemed pleased that his skills were progressing, nodding with a satisfied expression.

'They're like monsters.'

She didn't want to say it outright, but the physical abilities of the Lucifers were truly monstrous, to put it mildly.

'Will I become that strong too?'

She was only seven years old now; there was too much time left until adulthood, and she almost sighed inwardly.

After she had asked out of spite when she'd become an adult and heard Atanas's awkward lie that she'd grow quickly after a few hundred nights of sleep, she couldn't even sigh anymore.

The only consolation was that while the miracle of her body growing quickly didn't happen, her tongue did grow quickly.

As soon as she felt her slurred pronunciation improving over time, she worked hard for a whole year.

'I was secretly afraid the lisp might last a lifetime.'

Fortunately, as if rewarding her efforts, perfecting her pronunciation wasn't that difficult.

"Flora's skills have improved a lot too."

"Of course. You know how hard I work."

Placing her hands on her hips and lifting her chin proudly, Atanas stroked the child's head with a pleased expression.

Throwing a tantrum at just five years old, no, almost six, saying she wanted to learn swordsmanship must have been effective, as Atanas thought about it for a week and finally allowed her to start learning swordsmanship when she turned six.

〈Basil learns from Dad too, so why can't I!〉

That final statement, delivered with pretend tears on the seventh day, seemed to have been the decisive blow.

After that, she started training immediately, but it was less impressive than she thought.

Because, contrary to Flora's heart, the child's body was too young.

She went for walks to build stamina, ran a little during those walks, and as she grew older, she did these activities near the training grounds.

Starting from the correct posture for holding a wooden sword, she was now doing the most basic training, like downward strikes, but seeing the number of strikes increase from yesterday to today, and from today to tomorrow, it was clear Flora was also growing every day.

"Shall we have lunch together as a family today?"

At Atanas's question, Flora nodded vigorously, and Benio also agreed, saying he had no plans for later.

Although he had quit being a mercenary, Atanas was practically the representative of the mercenaries.

And not just that.

He led many thriving businesses, so he was a busy man who probably found sleeping a waste of time.

'Of course, it's all thanks to me!'

The heavenly luck following Flora, her excellent discernment, and her passion for the goal of world conquest had become major factors in wonderfully transforming the North, so no one could argue with that.

Anyway, amidst all that, he never skipped training, so he really wasn't like a normal human.

'Anyway, he's our dad, and he's amazing.'

She usually got angry, insisting she was a big seven-year-old when treated like a child, but it was still comfortable to be held by Atanas or Benio.

As Flora naturally spread her arms, Atanas went to pick her up familiarly. But no, the moment he tried, Benio, who had been waiting for an opening, snatched Flora up.

"It seems you can't beat me in the speed department. If you're this slow, you'll lose to me in swordsmanship next time too."

Saying this cheekily, he ran off wadada. Atanas blinked.

"Oh my. I've been had."

Contrary to his words, his face showed no surprise at all.

Because even though he fell behind, after just a few strides, he was already right on Benio's heels.

"You're going to get caught soon!"

"Even if I'm caught, I won't be caught easily. Hold on tight, Flora."

At Benio's words, Flora wrapped her arms familiarly around her brother's neck. Holding on tightly so as not to drop his sister, he also started increasing his speed.

The childish game of tag between the Lucifer men only ended when Zamila's scolding was heard upon discovering them.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · · · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

"Young Lady, you look happy again today. Did you enjoy having lunch and dinner with the Duke and Young Master that much?"

"Yes, of course!"

As Flora answered energetically, Elena familiarly combed the child's hair and changed her into pajamas.

"You're so lovely too. Don't stay up too late like last week."

Mentioning last week when she was caught staying up until dawn reading an interesting book, Flora answered without hesitation.

"I understand!"

"Anyway, you give good answers."

Elena gave Flora a goodnight kiss on the forehead and left the room.

Humming, Flora got down from the bed and headed to the desk.

"Hmm, hmm."

Indeed, Flora's mood these days was sky-high.

Unlike when she first came to Lucifer, the castle's atmosphere had softened, and it had transformed from a place that flaunted its poverty into a proper ducal castle.

Thanks to the increased number of employees, the castle had regained its vitality, and with the increase in wealth came natural mental ease, making Flora quite generous-hearted.

'But it feels like something is missing.'

It was really important, but when she tried to think of it, it didn't come to mind right away.