Chapter 92

I overdid it with the adopted daughter role 092

"Really, that's too much! I'm angry."

For a moment, my spine tingled.

I thought a ghost had jumped out in the empty room.

It would be better if it were a ghost; if it were an assassin, it would be even more terrifying.

Of course, this place is the Winter Castle, and if an assassin were to infiltrate, they would be cut in half by my father, Heron.

Anyway, when a voice came from nowhere, all sorts of thoughts filled my mind.

'But...

it was a voice I had heard many times before.

The voice was coming from under the bed.

Viola only lowered her head to look under the bed.

Under the bed, a small boy was crawling in.

The small boy's name was PongPong, a newly born water spirit, and also the spirit Viola had contracted with.

'Huh?'

It was unusual for him to be under the bed, but his expression was even more unusual.

"Do you want to cry?"

"Who, who said I was crying!"

Clear tears fell from the large eyes of the water spirit PongPong.

PongPong seemed very aggrieved and upset, speaking without much thought.

"I'm not crying. I'm not bad.

The bad one is Viola, I'm great."

“...”

Viola could understand why PongPong was acting this way.

When she made the contract with PongPong, she had said:

"Shall we water the pretty flowers together?"

But due to being busy, she couldn't summon PongPong. PongPong hadn't even seen the flower beds in the duchy, let alone watered them.

"Right. I was bad."

"You definitely promised me. Why didn't you keep your promise?"

"I'll keep it now."

Looking at his expression, with tears streaming down like chicken droppings, it seemed he was really aggrieved.

"Liar. You promised last time too."

"I'm keeping my promise now."

"It took 10 years."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for making you wait for 10 years. The great PongPong has a broad heart, so can you forgive me now?"

PongPong finally looked at Viola.

He grumbled and crawled out from under the bed, pretending to give in.

"I'm great, so I'll forgive you."

Then he rolled his eyes and looked at the vase.

His eyes widened.

"Is that marguerite?"

"Yeah. It's like my talisman."

"It's beautiful."

PongPong couldn't hide his excitement.

"Let's go water the flowers!"

***

Viola was extremely tired.

It had been a grueling journey from the Barony of Farah to here.

Moreover, she had poured an enormous amount of mental energy into slapping Hera's cheek.

She felt completely drained, as if she could collapse at any moment.

However, seeing PongPong, who was trying to hide his excitement, made her feel as if her fatigue had flown away.

'How cute.'

Is watering flowers really that exciting?

'Seeing this, I really feel sorry for the original PongPong.'

For a spirit so rich in emotion and with clear desires.

The villainess Heidi in the original story turned PongPong into a blood spirit, bringing misfortune wherever she went.

She was the worst of the worst, using him only for her own benefit.

"Are we going this way? I can feel the power of artificially processed mana."

PongPong frowned slightly.

It was said that spirits instinctively felt averse to magic or magical engineering.

Spirits used the natural forces directly, while magic was a force that humans artificially arranged and forced to use from the natural forces.

"Yeah. If we pass through this door, we'll reach the flower bed."

"Why go through such trouble? You could just make a flower bed in the field."

"The land in the Winter Castle is too barren."

"Barren? Why?"

"It's connected to a place where snow blows. That place is said to have a force that sucks the life out of everything."

"But I don't feel anything like that?"

"Vellatura is protecting the entire place with a giant magic circle."

PongPong nodded as if he understood.

"The Vellatura. They're quite great, though not as great as me."

Viola burst out laughing.

It felt like playing with a young nephew.

They passed through the 'Door of Secrets' and entered the marguerite flower bed.

'Wow.'

Viola was also amazed inside.

Endless marguerite flowers stretched out before her.

'Amazing.'

The flower bed was filled with marguerites.

A world of white and yellow spread across the green field.

PongPong muttered as if he were enchanted by something.

"Lush dark green, fresh white."

He took a deep breath.

Whoosh!

"Soft fragrance."

PongPong was overjoyed, like a child who had finally met something he had longed for.

"Beautiful yellow."

He hummed a little tune.

Viola just watched PongPong, her contracted spirit, with a warm gaze.

"I'm going to water them."

"Yeah. The flowers will like it."

"I'll give them clean, delicious, and refreshing water."

PongPong's body turned into foam and disappeared.

Then the foam turned into a giant water droplet and floated up into the sky.

The giant water droplet that PongPong had become flew around, sprinkling rain everywhere.

PongPong hummed a strange little tune while sprinkling the rain.

"Grow, grow. It's a gift from the great PongPong."

He seemed to have forgotten his dislike for the name PongPong.

The marguerite flower bed was so vast that he couldn't water all of it at once.

"This body is great, but the marguerites sure do like water."

PongPong returned to his human form, panting and wiping the sweat from his forehead.

He tried to hide his exhaustion, which made him look both cute and funny.

"You don't have to pretend to be so tough."

"I am tough."

"Your breathing is heavy, though?"

"It's not heavy."

Despite his claim, he was panting heavily, but Viola let it go.

But then,

a voice was heard.

"Master?"

***

Tundra often visited the marguerite flower bed.

For some reason, he felt at ease when he came to the marguerite flower bed.

When he missed Viola, he would enter the marguerite flower bed and meditate.

For some reason, he felt as if he could sense Viola's scent surrounded by the marguerite flowers.

'I heard she came to the duchy.'

However, Viola seemed very busy and didn't meet Tundra.

'She must be busy.'

When Viola returned, Tundra's loneliness grew even more.

Tundra didn't deny that he was lonely.

'It's a natural feeling for a pet dog.'

It's natural for a pet dog to miss its owner.

To want to meet the owner, to see the owner's eyes, and to wait for the owner's touch.

A pet dog behavior expert he had talked to several times recently also said so.

'Let's meditate.'

Acknowledging his loneliness, he decided to immerse himself in meditation.

Often, he would lose track of time while meditating and spend many nights there.

While meditating, he heard a humming sound from somewhere.

Lush dark green, fresh white.

Soft fragrance.

Beautiful yellow.

Although he couldn't hear the words clearly due to his meditation, his concentration was disrupted.

'Who at this hour?'

Then Tundra snapped back to his senses.

'Master's scent!'

He could smell Viola's scent.

He sniffed like a dog.

He was certain.

'It's Master's scent.'

It was the scent of the mana Viola possessed.

His heart started beating wildly.

He didn't have a tail, but he felt as if his tail was wagging wildly.

Another strange thought came to him.

'What's a propeller?'

It was the same as last time.

He felt as if his buttocks were wagging like a propeller.

Although he still didn't know what a propeller was, he was completely awake from his meditation.

He heard Viola's voice.

"Yeah. The flowers will like it."

It was much warmer than usual.

He heard Viola's voice again.

"You don't have to pretend to be so tough."

"Your breathing is heavy, though?"

Without realizing it, Tundra jumped to his feet.

"Master?"

He saw Viola's face.

Viola looked happy somehow.

'Ah...'

Seeing that, his heart warmed up for no reason.

'I'm happy too.'

A rich sense of fulfillment welled up from deep within his chest.

"Tundra? What are you doing here?"

"I was meditating. For some reason, I can focus better when I'm in the marguerite flower bed."

Tundra couldn't take his eyes off Viola.

At this moment, his mind was filled with Viola.

It felt as if Viola was the whole world.

Tundra said,

"Thank you for coming back."

His eyes were filled with tears of joy.