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Doted Villainess

Chapter 207 – A knight’s heart

Fourteenth Arc – Twelfth chapter

Aquasteed had just finished his work, but when he looked out the window, he saw that the sun was about to set.

It was later than he expected, so he decided to hurry to Keith’s castle.

Before he could leave though, he met up with Levy, who was holding a basket filled with cooking ingredients.

“I was planning on making dinner for you and your family at the forest castle today. If your majesty is fine with it, then I would like to accompany you there.” Levy told Aquasteed.

“Dinner? Alright. We can go together.” Aquasteed replied.

“Very well. I am ready as soon as you are.” Levy said.

Immediately after that, Elliot started making the necessary arrangements, quickly storing out each batch of paperwork on the appropriate shelves.

But then, he noticed that Levy was staring hard at him, “Uhn… Is something the matter?” Elliot asked.

“… Not really. I just thought that it was about time we left.” Levy replied.

“About time, huh…?” Elliot felt a bit pressured by how Levy was hurrying him.

Aquasteed shrugged his shoulders at that, “Don’t trouble Elliot, Levy. He is just doing his job.”

“That is quite important, of course. I apologize for my discourtesy.” Levy gave a small bow.

At this moment, Aquasteed and Elliot wondered about how was Olivia able to handle Levy, who was by her side all the time.

******

<Ohoh? So you want to become a knight, princess?> The Grimoire asked Luciarose.

“That’s right! Very cool, isn’t it? I will protect, mother, father, Luca and Rio too!” Luciarose exclaimed.

<You may be young, but your heart is certainly in the right place.> The Grimoire said.

Luciarose was talking to Grimoire while Tiararose, Stirio, Stiluca and Keith relaxed and drank tea.

Luciarose seemed to really like the fact that Grimoire could fly. A small while ago she even said, ‘I wish I could fly too.’ with a faint hint of enviousness in her voice.

<What kind of knight do you want to be?> The Grimoire asked.

“What kind?” Luciarose tilted her head at the question. She had always wanted to be a knight, but she didn’t quite understand what this question meant, “Mmmmm…”

<Do you not know much about knights? Usually, one would become a knight to receive a salary that allows one to keep on living, but a princess would not need this kind of thing.> Grimoire said.

Luciarose doesn’t know much about how the kingdom’s finances are handled, but the money that she uses comes directly from the country itself.

Since Luciarose is too young, Tiararose is currently the one who handles purchasing anything that Luciarose might need.

Grimoire then decided to try clarifying things to Luciarose, as she was showing visible confusion, <One of the most important things to a knight, would be to swear allegiance to someone. To dedicate your life to protect and serve that person.

<Other than that, if you want to protect your country from enemies, then it might be possible to you too. After all, you’re a princess, and as such, part of the royal family. Swearing your allegiance to the country itself and protecting it would be a valid way of going about it.>

“The country?” Luciarose asked.

<Indeed. The country includes your family, who you love very much, princess.> Grimoire replied.

“My family too…” Luciarose blinked her eyes a few times and lowered her head in thought. She wondered about what kind of knight she wanted to be.

Eventually, she muttered, “I want to be knight who can protect everyone…”

Though then she started wondering about what ‘everyone’ meant.

Obviously that included Tiararose, Aquasteed, Stiluca and Stirio, as they were her precious family, but that was not all.

She also wanted to protect her grandparents; then there were Philiane, Elliot, their childrem; but there was also Tarmo, who often protected her; Akari, who often came to visit; the chefs who often made delicious meals; the maids who played with Luciarose.

She tried counting it, but the fingers in her hands weren’t enough for it. Even if she used her toes, she still didn’t have enough.

So, Luciarose, with renewed determination, raised her head and exclaimed, “I want to protect everyone!”

<Then why not become a knight who fights evil?> Grimoire asked.

“Evil?” Luciarose asked back.

<You won’t need to have a master, and you’ll be able to proudly protect all your loved ones.> Grimoire replied.

“My loved ones…” Luciarose thought for a small bit, then nodded. She was going to become a knight who defeats all bad guys and protects her country and her loved ones, “I’ll fight evil!”

<That’s the spirit, princess!> The Grimoire cheered Luciarose on as she clenched her fist.

At this moment, Aquasteed, Elliot and Levy had just arrived, so Aquasteed tilted his head and wondered what was going on.

“Aqua, thank you for your hard work.” Tiararose said to Aquasteed.

“I’m glad to be here, Tiara… But what is getting Lucia so excited?” Aquasteed asked Tiararose.

“She seems to be talking about what kind of knight she wants to be.” Tiararose said, then further explained that Luciarose seemed to have become good friends with the Grimoire.

“I see…” Aquasteed muttered. He had thought that the Grimoire had a calm and indifferent personality, but it seemed to have a surprisingly hot-blooded side to it.

And then, Aquasteed remembered that as Grimoire is a history book, it surely knew a lot about knights, so its conversation with Luciarose would most likely be a long one.

“Oh, you’re finally here.” Keith said to Aquasteed.

“Thanks for playing with the kids, Keith.” Tiararose said.

“It was quite fun.” Keith laughed as he said that.

Aquasteed smiled, said, “I’m grateful for your help.” then sat down next to Tiararose.

Immediately after that, Tiararose started preparing some tea for Aquasteed. He had been working hard until now, so she wanted him to be able to relax a bit.

“Here, have some flower tea.” Tiararose told him.

“Thank you.” Aquasteed took the teacup and was about to drink it, but…

At this moment, Stiluca and Stirio, who had been on Keith’s lap until now, jumped onto Aquasteed’s lap.

Aquasteed was quite tired, but he stroked his sons head without minding it at all, “Were you good boys while playing?”

“Yes! And next time, we’ll be playing with the forest fairies too!” Stiluca said.

“It’s a promise!” Stirio said.

Stiluca and Stirio then started talking to Aquasteed about what they did today and happily told him about the promise to go out to play later.

Tiararose thought that it might be a good idea to let them go play in the forest tomorrow, since the twins seemed to be really excited about it.

But then, Levy suddenly came closer to her and, with a troubled voice, said, “I’m sorry to bother you, but I might need some help when making dinner today.”

“Ah, there are a lot of people, so I guess it will be hard for you to do it all by yourself.” Tiararose stood up and asked if there was anything she could help Levy with.

However, Levy’s request was not for helping with cooking, “You see, I can use the oven just fine, but I can’t get the stove to light up. It doesn’t seem to be functioning properly.” Levy explained.

“Oh, right. I made a stove, but never bothered with setting up the mechanism to start a fire, because it was too much trouble.” Keith chuckled, “I never thought I’d actually use it, after all.”

Since the kitchen was made only to let Tiararose bake sweets, the oven is the only part that functions properly.

“Do you need fire to cook dinner? Then leave it to me!” Luciarose confidently exclaimed, with the Grimoire flying right next to her.

“Lucia?” Tiararose was confused.

Tiararose was aware that Luciarose had a strong affinity to fire, but Luciarose had yet to practice magic much.

Sure, Luciarose was able to easily move stuffed animals around, so she had a good magical capability, but this was still quite different from starting a fire on her own… It’s not that Tiararose thought that Luciarose couldn’t do it, but this still worried Tiararose anyways.

Tiararose looked at Aquasteed and his expression showed about as much worry as hers, so he was probably thinking the same thing.

They nodded to each other, then tried going to Luciarose.

However, Luciarose was faster. She raised her arm and exclaimed, “Take a look at that! Grimoire, go to the fire page and help Levy!”

Tiarose gasped as she heard those words.

Then, Grimoire responded to Luciarose and started quickly flipping through its pages, until it stopped at a certain one. Its letters started glowing red, channeling the fire element.

“Lucia, stop!” Aquasteed exclaimed.

“Grimoire, don’t do anything reckless!” Keith exclaimed.

They were too late though, “Grant my wish, fire!” As Luciarose exclaimed that, the Grimoire let out a burst of fire. Its momentum was so strong that the fire even reached the ceiling.

And the one who was surprised the most by that, was none other than Luciarose, “H-hyaaa!” She crouched down and hugged herself.

However, if she stayed where she was, she’d be caught up in the flames and be burnt by it.

So, Tiararose panicked and tried running towards Luciarose, but Aquasteed stopped her by exclaiming, “Don’t do it!”

Tiararose stopped in her tracks when she heard Aquasteed’s words, as she saw that Aquasteed himself was already running towards Luciarose.

Aquasteed reached Luciarose, gently picked her up, and said, “It’s okay. It’s alright now…”

“F-f-f-father… U-uwaaa…” Luciarose started crying.

“You were scared… It’s okay though. Your father and mother are right here.” Aquasteed gently caressed her head as he said that.

Luciarose kept on sobbing and tightly hugged Aquasteed, but she seemed to be feeling relieved too.

“Goodness, what a tomboyish princess…” Keith scratched his head as he saw the scene, though he too was relieved that Luciarose was alright.

“Keith, Lucia is…” Tiararose started saying.

“Fine. The spell may have come out of Grimoire, but it was Lucia’s magical power that was being channeled there. She won’t be hurt by her own magic.” Keith explained.

“I see… I’m glad Lucia is safe.” Tiararose heaved a sigh of relief. Her body lost all of its strength, so she sat down on the spot.

It seemed like things were going to be alright now.

<Ugh… The princess has too much magical power… I can’t control the fire…!> Grimoire exclaimed.

“G-Grimo…!” Luciarose started trembling.

As Luciarose received power from the fire spirit, Salamander, she had incredibly high magical powers. It was too much for Grimoire to control, and now that it had channeled her magic once, it was now going haywire.

“Lucia!? Lucia…! I’ll help you now!” Tiararose immediately got up and tried running towards Luciarose again.

This time though, Tiararose was stopped by Keith, who pulled her arm.

Keith then said, “Luciarose, I give you the blessing of the Fairy King of the Forest.”