Your Grace, It Was a Mistake! - Chapter 36

When we returned to the Grand Ducal residence after shopping, an unexpected person was waiting.

“Cassian? Why are you here?”

“Can’t I be here?”

“?”

I gave the brat a flick on the forehead for speaking so bluntly to his elder sister.

Thwack!

“Ow! What was that for!”

“Where did this kid learn to speak to his sister like that?”

I was about to lecture him as usual when I realized the Great Duchess and the Grand Duke were watching. I paused and gave them an embarrassed giggle.

Cassian muttered under his breath, “Look at her playing innocent.” I gave him one more flick.

Thwack!

The snap of my wrist was a work of art. Phew, my forehead flicking skills have truly been refined by the necessity of taming this insolent younger brother! Cassian glared at me as if he were dying of injustice.

What are you going to do about it, kid?

I snorted and asked him, “Why are you hanging around here?”

“I came here to train, okay?”

Answering petulantly as always, Cassian stole a glance at the Grand Duke. The Grand Duke, who had stepped up beside me, was watching Cassian with a relaxed smile.

“So? Have you decided to receive training from me?”

“I just want to confirm where my skills currently stand.”

“Hoh; you must be confident in your abilities, then?”

Was it just my imagination, or did the look in the Grand Duke’s eyes as he watched Cassian seem a bit dangerous? I looked back and forth between them with anxious eyes.

‘Cassian; I think you just walked into hell on your own two feet.’

About twenty minutes later, I was able to confirm that my intuition was correct.

“Is that all?”

“Ugh!”

“With only this much;”

“Kh!”

“Can you really protect your sister? Young Count Lewis.”

Calling it training was a generous stretch; Cassian was being unilaterally pummeled by the Grand Duke. He was definitely going to have bruises everywhere.

‘You dummy;’

Why would you even try to go up against him? Before the duel started, Cassian had provocatively challenged him.

‘I need to confirm it myself. Whether Your Grace is truly someone capable of protecting my sister.’

Naturally, the Grand Duke wasn’t the type to be intimidated by such a trivial provocation. If anything, he seemed to enjoy it, accepting the challenge only to;

“Agh, ow!”

“Can’t even dodge that? Brother in law.”

“Don’t call me brother in law; Ack!”

He was rolling Cassian back and forth across the training ground.

‘I almost feel a little sorry for him;’

Even if Cassian brought this disaster upon himself, I sipped the iced tea a servant brought me while watching him suffer. Mmm, is this hibiscus? The scent is lovely.

“Guh;”

“Your skills are abysmal, brother in law.”

Finally, Cassian slumped to the ground in complete surrender. The Grand Duke called him “brother in law” once more, as if teasing him. Cassian didn’t even seem to have the energy left to protest the title.

Tsk, tsk.

I clicked my tongue and stood up. Since he was surely bruised, I figured I should apply some ointment.

“Cassian;”

Just as I was about to call him;

“Oh? What’s going on here?”

Looking toward the voice, I saw the Great Duchess standing at the entrance of the training grounds.

‘She said she’d come after finishing some urgent business.’

But she wasn’t alone. Standing behind her was the Former Grand Duke. He stood there quietly, looking somewhat like a large dog following its owner. When our eyes met, he gave a gentle smile.

‘His smiling face is a carbon copy of the Grand Duke’s.’

Though the Former Grand Duke had a much milder impression, I bowed politely, feeling a bit shy.

“Lennox, how could you bully Vivian’s brother like this?”

“We were just dueling.”

“Dueling, my foot; anyone can see you were beating him up without mercy.”

After scolding the Grand Duke to take it easy, the Great Duchess approached Cassian. Cassian flinched but quickly scrambled to his feet and stood straight. He offered a formal greeting to the Great Duchess, and to the Former Grand Duke as well.

The Great Duchess looked Cassian over as he stood there awkwardly, eyes darting about.

“Hmm; you’re going to have bruises. This actually worked out well.”

“?”

Why was having bruises a good thing? Both Cassian and I looked at her with confusion. She turned to me and flashed a bright smile.

“Vivian, you should try healing him.”

“The spirit you contracted with, Undine, not only controls water and ice but can also heal and purify.”

I see. I took her words to heart and nodded.

“It might not feel real yet, but being able to heal and purify with a spirit is a massive deal.”

“Is it?”

“Of course. There are barely ten spirit summoners in the entire world who can do that.”

“?”

Excuse me?

‘W, Wait a second.’ Does that mean I’m one of those ten?

‘No way;’ While I was lost in disbelief, the Grand Duke poked my cheek. I considered biting that annoying finger but decided against it. Just you wait, Grand Duke.

“It’s best to train spirit arts step by step. Since Cassian’s injuries aren’t severe, why don’t we start with basic healing?”

The Great Duchess clapped her hands and spoke energetically. “Alright, let’s begin!”

And so, I started my training with healing. When I called Undine’s name, the water droplet shaped spirit popped out of the ring as usual. The rabbit ears were there, too.

‘This brat; it’s surprisingly stubborn.’

I had asked if we could maybe skip the rabbit ears, but Undine usually just ignored me. Even now, it fluttered those ears as if showing off, and it was so annoying I could die. It was definitely doing this on purpose.

“Have you become closer with your spirit?”

“Pardon? Oh, yes; well;”

It definitely calls me “Master,” but it’s a strange relationship where I feel like I’m the one being played. Regardless, it was an undeniable fact that Undine liked me.

‘I don’t know why, though.’ I still didn’t quite understand. Why did it choose me? Even when I asked, Undine would just reply, “Because I like Master.”

“The intimacy between the summoner and the spirit is very important in spirit arts. The higher the intimacy, the more advanced powers the summoner can borrow from the spirit.”

Hoh; I nodded at the interesting explanation.

“To use the spirit’s power, you first have to visualize the image you want in your head.”

“The image I want;”

“Imagine Cassian’s bruises being completely healed.”

Cassian sat alone in the chair in front of me. I carefully examined the bruises on his arms, shoulders, ribs, and back.

“.”

Hmm;

‘Grand Duke;’ You really did a thorough job of beating him up. Cassian, who had been utterly defeated without even putting up a fight, had a very dejected face.

‘Anyway, to heal his bruises;’ I closed my eyes and imagined the bruises on Cassian’s body vanishing. The Great Duchess’s calm voice drifted over.

“Image; next is ‘language.’ The summoner must command the spirit aloud. After that, as I said, it depends on the intimacy.”

‘Commanding aloud;’ After organizing the command in my head, I spoke softly. “Undine, heal all of Cassian’s bruises.”

At that moment, I felt power draining from deep within my body. I flinched and opened my eyes. Undine, who had been floating in front of me, turned into a whirlpool and surrounded Cassian.

“Whoa, what, what is this?!” Cassian shouted. He was completely obscured by the water vortex. Soon, a bright light spread through the area.

I squinted for a moment at the brilliance, and then the shrinking whirlpool popped back into a water droplet shape.

‘Could it be!’ I held a moment of hope, but as expected, rabbit ears sprouted from the droplet.

‘Hmph;’ Undine landed lightly on my palm and folded its ears back and forth as if asking, “Did I do good?” I ignored it and glared at Undine before looking at Cassian.

Amazingly, all of Cassian’s bruises were gone.

‘Wow, did I actually succeed?’

“Oh, my goodness!”

The Great Duchess suddenly hugged me. Startled, Undine hopped into the air.

“To succeed on your first try! That’s incredible, Vivian!”

“Is, is it?”

“Yes, even I failed when I first tried spirit arts. You and Undine must have a very high level of intimacy.”

I was thrilled to be praised by her, but high intimacy with Undine?

‘Really? I don’t know about that;’ Undine was currently hopping around on top of Cassian’s head. Cassian, busy checking his healed body, didn’t even seem to realize Undine was there.

“Impressive, Vivian. Though I knew you’d succeed.”

“Yes, truly remarkable.”

Following the Grand Duke, even the Former Grand Duke offered his praise. I replied with a small “Thank you,” feeling quite embarrassed.

“But when you used the power, didn’t it feel like something was being pulled out from inside you?”

“Gasp, yes, it did.”

When I answered the Great Duchess’s question in surprise, she nodded as if she’d expected it.

“A summoner consumes life force when borrowing a spirit’s power.”

“L, Life force?”

“Don’t worry, it’s not to a dangerous degree. Of course, it would be a problem if you overused the power.”

“I see;”

I suppose life force is like stamina. If you use too much, you’d just collapse.

“For example, if you were to cause a flood or make it rain for an entire week using that power;”

“If, if I use the power like that?”

“You’d die.”

“Gasp;”

Seeing me get scared, she reassured me, saying, “That won’t happen, so don’t worry.” That’s a relief, at least.

‘Spirit arts are more dangerous than I thought.’ Undine, who had drifted back to my side, was subtly watching my reaction. I poked its round body, tickling it. Undine shivered as if it were tickled.

‘But what did Undine look like when it contracted with the founder of the Glenn family?’ It couldn’t have looked this silly back then. That would be a bit disappointing. I decided to ask.

“Um, Great Duchess.”

“Yes?”

“What did Undine look like when it contracted with the founder of the Glenn family?”

“Ah, well;” She glanced at Undine and then looked at me.

I felt a sudden sense of unease.

“Well, back then; it didn’t look like this;”

“.”

“It is said it took the form of a very large and elegant bird.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Undine flew up and started spinning in circles in the air. It seemed to be saying “no.”

“It looks like it’s saying that’s not it;”

“.”

The Great Duchess glanced at the Former Grand Duke and then spoke with an air of surrender. “Actually, it wasn’t a large, elegant bird; it was a chick.”

“.”

“But it would be a bit embarrassing to record in the history books that the founder of the Grand Ducal house contracted with a spirit in the shape of a chick, wouldn’t it?”

Certainly.

‘It would be a laughingstock;’ The House of Glenn might have been called the “Chick Grand Ducal House.” I stared at Undine, making no effort to hide the disbelief on my face. Undine fluttered its rabbit ears as if asking, “What about it?”

There are so many other cool forms, so why does it insist on these cute ones? Even though it’s a high ranking spirit that must be over a thousand years old; is it just pretending to be cute? Undine was just spinning around by itself, looking perfectly happy.

As soon as his injuries were healed, Cassian went back to dueling the Grand Duke. He clearly lacked any learning ability. Naturally, Cassian was miserably defeated again and covered in bruises.

“Phew;”

I stood in front of Cassian and shook my head. When I looked at him with pity, he lowered his head in frustration. Oh, you dummy.

I healed his bruises like before and then placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. At my touch, Cassian flinched and slowly lifted his head. His bright green eyes were moist with tears. No matter how much he tried to act tough, he was still just a seventeen year old boy.

“Cassian, it can’t be helped that you lose to the Grand Duke. There’s a big age difference, for one.”

“.”

The Grand Duke is twenty five, you’re seventeen. I even held up my fingers to explain it kindly. “You’re wonderful enough. So don’t overdo it.”

“.”

Suddenly, tears welled up in Cassian’s eyes. Wait, what? Why are you crying? Cassian started sobbing, rambling about how he wanted to get strong quickly and how he didn’t want that guy to take his sister away.

I felt flustered as I tried to comfort him, glancing at the Grand Duke and the Former Grand Ducal couple. The Grand Duke looked somewhat displeased, while the Former Grand Duke and Great Duchess looked strangely entertained.

“Cassian, stop crying.”

After about ten minutes, he finally stopped. Honestly, I felt like I should feed him a lot of delicious desserts when we got home.

“Well, then;”

Just as I was about to pull Cassian up to head back, the entrance to the training grounds grew noisy. A servant rushed in, panting.

“G, guests have arrived!”

“Guests?”

As the Grand Duke frowned and asked, the servant answered with a pale face. “The, the; His Highness the Crown Prince is here!”

?

What? Who is here?

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