Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: It Seems Honey Bread Is an Unprecedented Genius
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It was just as they had expected.
The Duchess of Lukela was fondly recalling Sien’s bright, sparkling eyes that hadn’t avoided her gaze.
Yes, she had been quite adorable.
Just as the duchess shrugged her shoulders and took a sip of her rooibos tea, the young lady who had obliviously brought up the topic spoke up out of nowhere.
“Our family’s children lack affection between relatives, don’t they? They’re all rather cold and distant.”
The Mirmod family’s children had to develop their abilities from a young age.
Because they never knew who might try to kill them.
Naturally, they lacked the cuteness or charm expected of children.
“Ahem, yes.”
“But Lady Honey Bread... no, Lady Sien must be full of affection toward Lord Mathias and the lady mother, right?”
The Duchess of Lukela cleared her throat with a loud cough.
“Isn’t just breathing affection enough?”
“I-Is that so?”
It was right then, as the ladies tensed up and stiffened.
The door slid open smoothly, and the duchess’s head maid appeared.
“Ma’am.”
“What is it?”
The Duchess of Lukela shot her maid a prickly look.
Something seemed to be looming behind her, and the duchess narrowed her eyes.
“I told you not to disturb us.”
No one could interrupt the ladies’ tea time.
With the sole exception of “visits from tiny children.”
Of course, up until now, not a single bold child had ever knocked on the duchess’s private chamber door.
“Ah, well...”
From behind the head maid’s calm dress, a tiny black bob peeked out.
“Lady Sien has requested a private audience.”
“...What?”
The moment the duchess repeated in surprise, Sien’s beaming face appeared inside the tea room.
Pressing down hard on her cheeks that looked ready to burst with her hands, Sien shouted loudly.
“Gwanny! I’m hewe!”
“...Honey Bread?”
“Yesh!”
At Sien’s overflowing cuteness, the corners of the Duchess of Lukela’s mouth shot up to the heavens.
Sien quickly ran over to the table and bowed deeply at the waist.
“Hello!”
As small as the teacups they were holding.
At the little child’s resounding greeting, the expressions of the three ladies—excluding the duchess—melted into gooey softness.
***
The ladies’ tea time was hurriedly wrapped up.
However, the duchess seemed as cold and distant as if she were displeased at having her rest interrupted.
So why had she granted my private audience request?
‘Still, I finally get to have a one-on-one with Grandma!’
She was the best information source among the people I knew so far: the Duchess of Lukela.
‘I can’t meet with an information guild on my own yet... Right now, the info she can give me is what I need most!’
I had resolved to pry information out of her, but something felt off.
“Get on my lap right now.”
“Y-Yes?”
The duchess tilted her head and commanded with a stern expression.
‘Why on her lap...?’
I couldn’t dare defy the duchess’s wishes, so I hopped onto her lap quick as could be, but something was weird.
It was hard to have a proper conversation.
‘Why make me sit on her lap?’
Since we were facing the same direction, I couldn’t read her expression.
‘This is tricky.’
But the Duchess of Lukela’s voice remained consistently dry.
After some casual small talk, she finally provided one key piece of information.
“There will be a major family event coming up soon. Around three months from now, I’d say.”
An event. I needed to dig deeper.
“Th-That’s... The maids said scary uncles come a lot during the event...”
“Ah, yes. Our family’s heir can be anyone—direct line, collateral, or even an adoptee—so a bunch of opportunistic challengers show up for the position. But most of them are small fry.”
“Small fry?”
“That’s right. Everyone except about three from our family is small fry, you see.”
The duchess was explaining the family’s power structure in a nonchalant tone.
I cautiously opened my mouth to ask.
“So... those three are the scary uncles?”
“Three of them, obviously. Axel, Delphia, and... ma—no. Ahem, ah, one of them, that fairly dangerous bastard Axel, says he’s wrapping up the war and coming back. What a pain.”
Axel wasn’t just “fairly” dangerous—he was the most dangerous.
I froze solid and let out a mewling whimper like a cat.
“Ee...”
“It’s a monster war, and he says he’ll end it in a month? Arrogant doesn’t even cover it—he’s lost his mind.”
The Mirmod family members went monster hunting to temper their belligerence. They politely called it a “monster war.”
‘Monsters love shiny things and collect all sorts of magic tools, so treasures often show up on monster war battlefields.’
That’s why Mirmods including Axel participated in monster wars to claim the items monsters carried. But once you stirred up the monsters, retreating easily wasn’t an option. It always took at least a year.
Yet Axel Mirmod had declared he’d end the war in one month.
Could I stabilize this family in one month?
The gripping news made my body start to tremble.
“...I-I see.”
“That Axel bastard is trash.”
Perhaps misreading my rigid stiffness, Grandma added curtly.
“Ah, sorry. You’re just a child, so my words must scare you.”
‘Even so, Axel won’t fully take over the family until he returns from the war. There’s still a chance—still!’
Noticing my anxiety, Grandma furrowed her brows.
“Don’t worry. Mathias will handle everything. If you die, it’ll be your dad’s fault.”
I gazed at Grandma with pale eyes as she so casually mentioned death.
‘I don’t wanna die!’
Thinking of my dad’s endlessly harmless, quivering gaze made my heart ache.
If I left it to Dad, it’d end in a total massacre for sure. I couldn’t trust my innocent dad. I could only trust myself!
‘What should I do now?’
The only ways to effectively stop Axel were to crush him with raw power or eliminate him politically.
‘Axel... he uses black magic, so maybe white magic or holy power?’
I clenched my fist seriously.
Oblivious to my turmoil, Grandma murmured casually in my ear.
“By the way, you’ll be bored for a while. The dean’s position is vacant.”
My eyes widened. No lessons for a bit—time on my hands!
“Th-That’s okay!”
“...Why? You’re not like a normal child.”
“‘Cause I wanna keep visiting Gwanny!”
“Is that so?”
Since we were facing the same way in her lap, I couldn’t see her face, but her voice sounded ice-cold, like “You, dare visit me?”
So I bit my lip like I was gambling.
To win the duchess to my side and inherit her power, this was the only way.
I cautiously brought up the main topic.
“Yes! Th-the maids were talking about Gwanny...”
‘Sorry, maid sisters.’
It was a total lie.
“...You talked about me?”
“Yup.”
“W-What, what, what did you say?”
“‘Hey, I have a Gwanny who’s the bestest in the whole world...’”
Her grip on the desk suddenly bulged with veins.
The kind you’d see on buff maid sisters.
But swallowing my fear, I subtly twisted my body and shyly continued.
“...in the whole world?’”
“Gwanny’s so cool, I wanna be as stwong as Gwanny...”
Wanting to be as strong as the duchess was totally sincere.
Axel would return in a month, and if I was weak, my dad would get devoured without a fight. I needed to build strength beforehand.
Unaware of my thoughts, Grandma muttered in a husky voice.
“...Me.”
“Yup.”
In a trembling voice, Grandma stuttered out of the blue.
“C-Cool... did you say?”
She was probably staring like she wanted to dissect my little head.
Perched on her rigidly tense thigh muscles, I struggled to continue.
“...Yup! To be as super cool as Gwanny...”
“To b-become.”
“How do I do it? They said there’s artifacts that make you super stwong... Like white magic, opposite of black magic, or...”
The Duchess of Lukela clenched her fist.
I looked up timidly with a quivering face and winked.
But Grandma’s face was horribly distorted...
...Did I fail? As I was sneakily gauging her reaction, Grandma opened her trembling lips.
“I had times like yours too. When I desperately wanted to grow strong. You remind me of that version of myself.”
It sounded positive, but it gave me chills for some reason.
Grandma punctuated her words.
“No, this won’t do.”
A negative response—disaster.
Failure? Defeatist thoughts crept in.
Of course sweet-talking the duchess wouldn’t be this easy, defeat loomed in my mind.
As I racked my brain on how to handle her from now on.
A voice brimming with resolve rang in my disappointed ears.
“Want me to tell you how to become like me, Honey Bread?”
My eyes sparkled as I looked at Grandma.
How, how do I become like Grandma?
‘But Honey Bread?’
Calling me that in a serious moment felt off. Still, I perked up my ears to listen.
“I’ll teach you myself.”
“...Y-Yes?”
“Don’t get too thrilled. It’s not really because of your request.”
Grandma continued coldly.
“It’s because the dean died mysteriously, so there’s no one to teach you for a while. Plus, with no successor dean, all the instructors are in chaos... So it’s best if I teach you. Right?”
It seemed truly unavoidable.
But taking on this unavoidable task might make the duchess dislike me.
Worried about the future, I cautiously continued.
“Um, even if not, it’s f-”
“Ahem.”
“...?”
“Only I can educate you.”
She was firm. And listening closely to her tone, she didn’t seem all that unwilling.
That made it good for me.
‘The duchess was at her peak once. She’s fallen now, but she still has some standing in high society and might have enough power to check Axel a bit.’
Hope for survival glimmered.
The Duchess of Lukela was knowledgeable in many fields, but especially as a high-ranking mage, she could freely wield potions and poisons.
Decades ago, her growth potion for kids, Kids Tenten, had spread across the empire and was officially in use.
And that was just the start.
Rumors swirled that she owned many offensive artifacts. Of course, there were counterarguments: if she had that many, would she have handed over family power so easily?
Still, she was way stronger than a powerless kid like me.
Feeling my survival odds rise, I beamed brightly.
“Wow, thank you!”
Grandma, staring down at my round eyes, brought a hand to her mouth, coughed, and muttered.
“Ahem, ahem. Yes, Breadie.”
Not knowing what Breadie meant, I blinked and tilted my head.
‘Who’re Honey Bread and Breadie?’
As I gazed at her puzzled, the duchess averted her eyes and replied coldly.
“Go on out now. Come again tomorrow.”
“Okay. I wuv Gwanny!”
I hopped onto the table, pecked the back of her hand, and scampered outside.
‘Now I can become strong too!’
Standing at the door, looking down at my hands, I clenched and unclenched my fists.
I already felt stronger.
‘Hee, exciting.’
As my heart jumped for joy inside, I suddenly remembered I had more to say before leaving and turned slightly.
“Ah, one more thing, Gwanny...”
When I turned my head, the Duchess of Lukela’s face was beet red.
Like a runaway train.
She was even gently caressing the back of her hand, but startled when I turned.
She reverted to a cold expression.
“What?”
Unlike her cold face, her cheeks were still flushed. It puzzled me a bit, but with things to gain, I pretended not to notice and spoke.
“Will you teach my fwiend too?”
I pulled my lips wide to show my top and bottom teeth nicely.
It looked ridiculously awkward... but Grandma nodded curtly.
Since she agreed to teach, I’d be satisfied for today.
I bowed deeply enough to show my round head.
“On the day of the lessons, I’ll send word to you again.”
Worried about staying too late, I smiled brightly and crinkled my eyes.
“Yes! Wanna see Gwanny as soon as possible!”
Grandma frowned at me.
“As soon as possible, huh. Then today—no, today might be too much.”
‘Of course! About a week from now...’
“Let’s start tomorrow.”
‘...Pardon?’
“I’ll prepare.”
Grandma said sternly and coldly.
I nodded dazedly.