7

In the room, I stretched my arms and legs out on the large, plush bed.

“This feels so good.”

I felt like I was floating on a cloud. This was the first time in my life I had experienced such a soft bed.

“I’ve made it.”

Even though my time is limited, it feels like I’ve achieved something. I looked around and rolled up my sleeves.

The ancient symbol on my left arm was still unchanged. Before, this symbol had covered my entire body.

‘First, I need to write a letter to that mad scientist.’

The mad scientist is an eccentric individual who was abandoned by his parents as a child and raised among monsters.

Perhaps because of that, he had a great interest in unknown creatures.

‘I need to write down some information and send it.’

If I do that, he’ll probably be tempted.

This doesn’t need much thought. However, even if I manage to sway him, I still have the problem of money.

I need to support the research costs, but I don’t have a single penny.

The most urgent issue is money.

“I guess I’ll need to target this.”

Stealing ideas.

Of course, I don’t mean stealing ideas from good people.

What I plan to steal are the ideas of the mad scientist who conducted experiments on me.

“That guy, despite his unpleasant personality, has made quite a few inventions.”

Research requires a lot of money.

That means the mad scientist also had to create and develop worthwhile inventions to conduct significant research.

He even attended conferences while conducting human experiments behind the scenes.

And I am well-acquainted with all of his inventions and developments.

The worst of them was the Chimera made for combat purposes.

“Hm, at a time like this… he must be working on that.”

Let’s get started.

I could vividly imagine the face of the mad scientist screaming in pain after all his inventions were stolen.

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

At the sound of the knock, the door opened.

I was startled and quickly adjusted my sleeves before standing up.

Immediately, Shakol Aubrey entered.

“Father?”

“Yes.”

He entered gracefully, carrying a tray and handed it to me.

Chocolate and candy, along with pancakes piled high with whipped cream and lavish decorations, filled the tray in front of me.

Just looking at it made my mouth feel sweet.

“This is for you.”

“What is this?”

“…I found it.”

Found it?

Tonight?

Tonight, when I’ve already brushed my teeth and cleaned up?!

There were so many things I wanted to say.

No, actually, there were so many that I almost ran out of words.

Besides, ‘found it’ clearly didn’t fit.

From the steam rising off the pancakes to the coolness of the pudding, everything showed that this had just been made.

“How do you feel?”

“It’s fine…?”

The soft and cozy blanket made it hard to feel anything but good.

“I see.”

Hmm, that response seemed a bit dull.

When I looked toward the slightly open door with a puzzled expression, Mary was smiling with a somewhat awkward look on her face.

As our eyes met, Mary made a gesture with her fingers, mimicking horns on top of her head.

‘Ah…’

Could it be?

Because I was upset earlier?

‘Tsundere….’

Huh? What word was I actually thinking of? I scratched my head in confusion.

The feeling was odd.

‘Since Mary and Gold are watching, I should probably act like a proper daughter.’

Hugging the tray full of sweet treats that seemed out of place for the night, I beamed with a big smile.

“Thank you, Father! These are all my favorite things!”

“……”

Seeing my wide smile, Duke Aubrey looked down at me with a somewhat stiff expression.

I carefully set the tray on the bedside table, then quickly ran over and hugged Duke Aubrey’s leg.

Duke Aubrey’s body tensed even more.

“Father is the best!”

Wow, why is this guy acting like this?

Like an amateur.

The servants outside are watching too, so I should match the tone perfectly here.

“Well, I’m really happy that someone as wonderful as you is my father.”

At that moment, I saw it.

Duke Aubrey, who had been stiff, suddenly widened his eyes a bit and his lips twitched.

Seeing this, I thought.

‘…Ah.’

This man might not be able to handle praise as well as I thought.

“Indeed.”

Quickly becoming proud, he nodded his head.

I smiled even more brightly.

“You’re the best, Father!”

“I know.”

“You’re a genius, Father!”

“I know that too.”

Yes, he must know.

Despite his answers dripping with arrogance, I kept smiling cheerfully.

That night, the room was filled with a sweet aroma.

***

’Hmm, first things first, I need to bring up the business with Duke Aubrey.’

Since I couldn’t throw away the food he brought last night and ended up eating too many sweets, I was wide awake all night with my adrenaline pumping, and I eventually realized…

With my current abilities, stealing his inventions is out of the question.

Even though I know, there are many barriers preventing me from bringing it to reality.

Moreover, I’ve only just arrived here, and if I start giving commands to the servants as if I’m already familiar with them, they might think something is off.

What I want to steal is a new way of utilizing magic stones.

Basically, a single magic stone can only have one attribute. This means that if you infuse the power of fire into a magic stone, it becomes a fire magic stone.

However, with a little manipulation, you can create a magic stone with two effects.

For example, a fire magic stone can be used to emit fire or warm objects.

But if you melt down a completed fire magic stone and a completed water magic stone and combine them, you get a magic stone that produces hot, flowing water.

This is called a ‘combination magic stone.’

The mad scientist who made a fortune with these magic stones began seriously recruiting people for experiments.

‘Ah, first I need to win some favor with Duke Aubrey.’

To do that, I should do what I do best.

I quickly got up and left the room. Since I had received food yesterday, it would be nice to cook something in return.

“I really am a genius.”

As I tried to avoid a servant coming toward me, I ended up bumping into a maid coming from the opposite direction.

My frail body fell to the floor.

“Ugh….”

I groaned from the pain of falling, while I heard laughter from above.

“Oh dear, are you okay? You should have been more careful while walking~”

“Hey, you should be looking ahead instead of down.”

“Pff, that’s true. Lucky you, I’d also like to spend a few years in an orphanage and then become a noble.”

“This smell of an orphanage, and we’re supposed to serve someone like you? It seems like the Duke Aubrey’s family reputation has fallen. Recently, there was an offer from another family for recruitment, maybe we should go there~”

The continuous laughter of the servants made me feel even worse.

‘No matter where you go, no matter how luxurious the place is, there is always this kind of suffering.’

I couldn’t see the difference between the orphanage and here.

The annoying pain seemed to disappear in an instant.

‘Do they think I’m going to cry?’

No, this kind of suffering really doesn’t feel like an itch.

Of course, the fact that it doesn’t feel like an itch doesn’t mean I have to endure it.

I dusted myself off and stood up with a bright smile.

It seemed that my cheerful expression surprised the laughing servants.

They don’t know that the orphanage I came from was far more brutal than this.

“That hurts.”

“It was a mistake, I already apologized, didn’t I?”

“Do I smell?”

As I asked with the same cheerful expression, the servants’ brows slightly furrowed.

“Well, I can’t exactly say no.”

One of the three servants replied gruffly.

“In that case, I’ll pass that on to my father.”

“…What?”

“Oh, and I’ll also tell him that you received a recruitment offer from another family and left because you didn’t want to serve someone who grew up as an orphan.”

Hearing my seemingly clueless words, their expressions shifted slightly.

“If you say things like that, they might think you’re lying. And the Duke might end up disliking you.”

“Yes, that’s true. After all, it’s your own fault for not paying attention.”

“A truly noble aristocrat wouldn’t fall. If you say you fell, they might think you’re a fake daughter.”

They were trying to comfort me with a condescending tone.

And they were trying to comfort someone like me who had been through it all.

This method of speaking was similar to the way that mad scientist used to talk.

A way of talking that made everything seem like it was my fault, and it made me angry just to hear it.

“Heh.”

“…Yes?”

“Do you think I’m a fool?”

I wiped the cheerful expression off my face and asked in a flat, emotionless tone.