The Youngest Daughter Of The Great Wizard Of The Famous Swordsmanship [EN]: Chapter 26

26. Melody Oser (3)

November 26, 2023

“Melody!”

Joseph, finally freed from prison, stumbled as he ran.

He lost his footing and nearly fell several times. Overjoyed to see her brother after so long, Melody hugged him tightly and began to cry.

“Melody, *sniff*, Melody.”

“Brother?”

Melody, holding Joseph’s neck tightly, started crying along with him.

“Brother, why are you crying?”

“It’s just… I’m so happy to see our Melody after so long.”

“I’m so happy to see you too, Brother!”

Joseph then held Melody by her shoulders and began to scan her up and down.

“Are you hurt anywhere? Did those strange men scare you?”

“I’m not hurt! The strange men were scary, but I was okay!”

Melody, unaware of her brother’s worried heart, answered brightly.

“That’s good, really good…”

Joseph began to sob again. Duke Adrian gestured, and maids separated Melody from Joseph.

“Now, miss. Shall we go have some snacks together?”

“Really? Are there lots of tasty things?”

“Of course.”

“But what about Brother?”

“Brother will be there soon too. Go ahead and start eating.”

“Okay. I’ll go first, Brother!”

Melody waved to Joseph and left the room with the maids.

Duke Adrian quietly explained to Joseph, who was still shedding tears.

“Don’t worry too much. As Melody said, she was doing quite well.”

“But how…? She was clearly taken hostage.”

“Melody seems to have quite a talent for magic. They probably intended to raise her as a mage and use her. That’s likely why they kept Melody alive even now that things have gone awry.”

Joseph blinked, unable to understand the words, then belatedly grasped the situation and clenched his fists tightly.

“They were trying to use our Melody after me. And I didn’t even know it…!”

“Still, it’s fortunate. Thanks to that, Melody was able to stay safe.”

“…”

“As I said before, Melody will stay with our Adrian family. If you do well, I plan to sponsor Melody and raise her as a mage. Celine has already agreed to teach Melody.”

Magic was not something anyone could learn, especially commoners. Therefore, even those with talent sometimes couldn’t learn magic properly and wasted their potential.

But to take lessons directly from a mage of the Adrian family, of all people? This was an honor for the family.

Joseph, who had been feeling dazed, soon understood the Duke’s meaning and prostrated himself at his feet.

“Thank you, Duke. Thank you so much.”

“This time too, give your thanks to Rosette. It was her choice.”

“The young lady…”

Joseph jumped up.

“May I go see the young lady?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you. Then I will come back later to express my gratitude again.”

Joseph, still slightly unsteady, hurried inside. Duke Adrian watched him go, then headed to his office.

He intended to wrap up all the remaining matters now.

* * *

Melody’s eyes widened at the sight of the elaborate snacks she had never seen before.

“Can I really eat this?”

Joan smiled and replied.

“Of course.”

Still hesitant, Melody was given a checkered cookie by Rosette, who was sitting across from her.

It was what Lucas had done for her once when she hesitated before a grand breakfast.

After hesitating, Melody put the cookie in her mouth, and her eyes lit up. Rosette carefully asked.

“Is it good?”

“Uh-huh.”

With that as a start, Melody eagerly began to eat the snacks. Rosette, nibbling on snacks along with her, mustered her courage and continued the introductions.

“How old are you?”

“Me? Eight years old! How about you?”

“I’m eight years old too.”

“We’re friends then?”

“Friends?”

Rosette blinked blankly.

“We’re the same age, so we’re friends. Why? Do you not like it?”

It wasn’t that she didn’t like it. It was just that the expression ‘friend’ felt a little unfamiliar.

Of course, she had friends her age when she lived in the orphanage.

But the word ‘friend’ used to refer to the children she was close to then, and the word ‘friend’ referring to Melody and herself, somehow felt a little different.

‘Not bad.’

Rather, she could say she felt good. Rosette felt a slight bubbling in her chest and wiggled her feet.

“We’re both going to learn magic from Celine, so let’s get along.”

“Okay!”

Joan, who had been listening to the two children’s chatter, hesitated for a moment.

Strictly speaking, Rosette, a member of the Duke’s family, and Melody, a commoner, could not be friends.

However, since Rosette liked it, she decided to leave it for now.

‘If Melody becomes a mage later, she might receive a knighthood or noble title, so it would be really nice if she became friends with the young lady.’

That’s what she was thinking.

At that moment, a calm knock was heard, and Joseph Oser entered.

“Brother!”

Melody jumped off the sofa and ran to him. Joseph lifted Melody up.

“Brother, try this! It’s super delicious!”

“Our Melody was having snacks?”

“Yes!”

“But Brother has something to say to the young lady, so shall we go down for a bit?”

“Okay!”

Joseph put Melody down and approached Rosette, kneeling on one knee.

“Thank you, young lady. Thanks to you, I was able to save Melody.”

“That’s because you changed your mind.”

“Even so, if it weren’t for you, the Duke would not have been safe, nor would we have found Melody.”

“…”

Joseph placed his right fist on his left chest with the etiquette of a knight.

Strictly speaking, Joseph, still an apprentice knight, could not perform this action, but Rosette watched him without question.

“I have not yet received a knighthood, so I cannot make a knight’s oath. But I can promise you this much. From now on, I will live for the young lady.”

“For me?”

“Yes. My life is only for the young lady. If I formally receive a knighthood, I will make a knight’s oath to you.”

He watched Rosette’s expression, who was silent.

“Will you accept it?”

Melody, who had been watching, slowly approached and knelt in front of Rosette, following her brother.

Rosette looked at the two pairs of blue eyes looking at her and nodded.

“Okay.”

“Thank you, young lady!”

“Thank you!”

The three looked at each other and smiled brightly.

The three did not yet know that it would only take a year until Joseph Oser formally made a knight’s oath to Rosette.

* * *

“There’s no connection. Is this really all there is?”

Duke Adrian put down the report and pressed his temples. His aide bowed with a look of apology.

“I tried my best to find out… I’m sorry.”

Viscount Shane, who orchestrated this incident, was someone who had been dissatisfied with the proposal Duke Adrian had submitted to the Emperor six months ago.

Perhaps he thought that if Duke Adrian was gone, the proposal would pass, and he seemed to have planned to eliminate him.

This was the superficial reason revealed so far.

However, few people believed that fact.

Duke Adrian was certain that there was someone behind Viscount Shane. So, he mobilized the Adrian family’s intelligence to uncover the person behind Viscount Shane.

But nothing was revealed.

“Viscount Shane is not the type of person to plan so meticulously. The Shane family planted two spies in Adrian with their intelligence? That’s ridiculous.”

“I will investigate further.”

After the aide left, Duke Adrian opened his closed eyes.

He pondered the words his eldest son, Daniel, had said a little while ago.

-Father, actually, Rose has been saying strange things for a while now.

-What did she say?

-She told me to be careful when riding in a carriage.

-A carriage?

-Yes. As a result, it was Father who had the carriage accident, but I can’t just ignore Rose’s words, so I’m telling you.

Daniel went on to say this as well.

-Also, His Highness Joshua said something similar….

-His Highness the Prince too?

-Yes. He told me to be careful of a carriage accident. To be exact, His Highness Joshua spoke first, but the timing is similar.

Joshua and Rosette told him to be careful of carriages around the same time, and specifically pointed out Daniel.

It was definitely a strange thing.

So, after parting with Daniel, Duke Adrian met Joseph Oser, just in case, and asked.

-Is it possible that they were targeting not only me but also Daniel?

However, Joseph’s answer was ‘no.’ He said without hesitation that the unnamed opponent was specifically targeting Duke Adrian.

Although the target was different, the carriage accident clearly happened.

Duke Adrian could not simply overlook this point. He tapped the desk with his finger and got up to meet his beloved youngest daughter.

* * *

When Duke Adrian visited Rosette’s room, she was still talking with Melody.

“Rose.”

Melody, who had been chattering well in front of Rosette, stiffened.

“Miss Melody, shall we go see your brother?”

Quick-witted Joan took Melody outside.

Only Rosette and Duke Adrian remained in the room.

‘What is he going to say?’

Rosette was a little nervous seeing the Duke’s face, which was subtly different from usual.

Clearly everything had ended well, but the Duke still seemed to have something to say.

As expected, the Duke, sitting across from her, asked indirectly.

“Rose, I heard you said something to Daniel before.”

“What do you mean?”

She seemed to know, but she pretended not to know for now.

“I heard you told Daniel to be careful when riding in a carriage.”

She knew that the day would come when she would receive such a question. Rosette calmly gave the answer she had prepared in advance.

“I heard a lot about carriage accidents when I was in the village. That’s why.”

“Why did you only say that to Daniel? Weren’t you worried about Father, Isabel, or Lucas?”

Rosette shook her head.

“I was worried.”

“Then why?”

“Isabel and Lucas don’t ride carriages often. So I wasn’t too worried.”

“Then what about Father?”

The Duke, asking that, seemed a little sad.

“Father…!”

Rosette hesitated, then spread her arms wide and smiled brightly.

“Father is the strongest Sword Master in the world!”

So there was no need to worry.