She's Not Our Daughter!

Chapter 38 – What Do You Mean, A Proposal?

Before stepping out the door, Sierra paused. Come to think of it, instead of going out right away, she should make a discernment potion first and send a letter to Abel.

‘First, I need to make a potion that could detect the traces of someone’s past.’

Each person had their own mana wavelength, especially so when it came to Amil since she’s an archmage. Because Amil was aware of this as well, she was adept at covering her traces, but Sierra had known her since birth, so she would definitely notice traces of her sister’s mana wavelength no matter how faint.

Now that she had decided to look for her sister, she was confident that everything might get solved easily. Sierra clenched her fist and assured herself.

“First of all, make the potion. Then, I’ll spray it around to look for your traces.”

‘Should I add a spoonful of violets and sugar, along with other formulations?’

Being a pharmaceutical genius, Sierra’s quickly flitted through a catalogue of potions and ingredients in her mind. She hummed as she thought of violets, sugar and Potena roots as she opened the door to the huge medicinal warehouse next to her room.

Inhaling the sharp scent of herbs in the warehouse, Sierra smiled and spoke to herself.

“Thank you, Cassius.”

Potena roots were difficult to come by and very expensive. When Sierra was a pharmacist in the rural village, she couldn’t get ahold of any Potena roots so she could make better potions. However, Sierra now had Cassius as a strong backer, who even built this inventory for her.

‘Thank you, for making everything easier, Cassius. It’s a bit ironic, but…’

She sat at her work table with the Potena roots, sugar and violets in her hands, then proceeded to make the potion by carefully measuring and mixing the right ratio. After she was done formulating it, she sighed deeply.

‘I’m almost done with the reagent for testing.’

Now, it was time to write to Abel. She grabbed a piece of paper and a quill, then wrote down in an aggressive cursive lettering.

「 Abel, you don’t even have to catch her. Just find my sister’s approximate location. From now on, I’ll find her myself. You can come back to the Duke’s estate, too, so we can kill… so we can find her together. 」

After she was done writing the letter, she called a small messenger bird and tied the note to its leg. The ribbon used to tie the letter was red. Sierra patted the bird, recalling where Abel was now. But as though the bird was incensed, it flew away seemingly with a pout.

“Bye-bye, birdy.”

Sierra suddenly thought about what the Godmother and Cassius were doing while she had examined the paternity test.

‘I guess I’ll have to say I’ll be out for a while…?’

Cassius would definitely be against it. As a last option, Sierra could always just bring him along with her.

 

* * * 

Sierra didn’t come out of her work station until hours later, and she only noticed the time when Hanael, who had finished taking a shower after playing hide and seek with maids, peeked through the door.

“It was very, very fun!”

“Right, I’m sure it was.”

Sierra liked having the time to formulate her potions very much, but she looked at Hanael with a big smile and embraced the child.

“Hanael, should we go to bed now?”

“Yeah… Hanael is tired…”

With Hanael still in her arms, Sierra walked to the bedroom, but as she glanced at the doorway, she froze.

There were maids lined up in front of her with their shoulders tense. No matter how dense Sierra was sometimes, the maids’ expressions right now were far too suspicious. Their smiles were so big, stretching up to their ears like a clown, seeming as though they were straining themselves.

‘W-What’s with that look…’

They already smiled at Sierra usually, but this time it was just too much. Sierra stared at them with a curious look. Meanwhile, Hanael plopped down and ran to the door.

Without a chance to catch Hanael as she ran away quickly, the maid asked Sierra with an awkward smile, her eye slightly twitching.

“That, well… Would you like a late-night snack?”

“N-No thank you.”

The head maid took one step forward, and Sierra tried to step back, but there was a wall behind her. Sierra looked at the head maid who was more than a head taller than her and thought carefully.

‘What’s this… Why does it feel like I’m being cornered…?’

As she contemplated, the head maid mumbled with a low voice, a light smile still on her face.

“Miss Sierra, I think there will be good news soon.”

“What good news? What are you talking about?”

The head maid, as though she was selling illegal substances, dropped her voice to a hush.

“I’m not sure if the Miss will believe it, but I think the Duke is preparing a proposal.”

“…Huuuh?”

“This is extremely fortunate. Right, Miss?”

Sierra was dumbfounded, but the head maid continued to look at her with a gleam in her eyes.

‘Propose?! How ridiculous!’

Cold sweat dropped like bullets. Rubbing her strained eyes that were tired because she made potions all day, Sierra muttered softly.

“So then…”

“It’s a secret. Okay?”

Was she for real?

Towards a commoner—no, towards a semi-noble. A Duke was going to propose to a semi-noble?

In the first place, that wouldn’t be possible without ignoring the established hierarchy of nobles. If they weren’t talking about Duke Ideos, Sierra would have said this was all just nonsense.

But, after seeing Cassius’ behavior these past few weeks and realizing how he looked at her… It wasn’t so far-fetched…

Sierra couldn’t properly adapt to the atmosphere in this overprotective Ducal estate. There was still some time left before Abel’s reply, so there was only one thing that’s important for Sierra.

Going to Cassius Ideos right now and stopping his proposal.

Let’s do that first!

 

* * * 

“…I heard about it.”

Sierra was sitting opposite Cassius, and for five minutes before she spoke, there was a prolonged silence between them. What Cassius had in his hands was Sierra’s favorite cookie, but after he heard what she said, he answered.

“What about, Sierra?”

He didn’t understand what she said because she couldn’t say the embarrassing word ‘propose’ right away. His eyes became curious after she continued to hesitate.

Sighing deeply, Sierra bit her lip, then muttered quietly.

“I… I heard you’re p-p-proposing to me.”

“…I can’t let things stand like it is, so I thought this would be a good alternative.”

At that, Sierra said plainly, “A Duke should not marry a commoner. Even a semi-noble wouldn’t be suitable.”

“I don’t care.”

‘Then are you going to try and make me a noble? That’s not going to work either.’

Of course, this was supposed to be impossible, but knowing how Cassius had been acting so far, it might just be possible. But Sierra immediately rebuked him.

“…You know, even if you try to make me a noble, according to the law, you still can’t marry a commoner who was adopted by a noble.”

Hearing Sierra’s words, Cassius placed the cookie back on the table and took out a handkerchief to wipe his hands. Internally, Sierra was startled by the evident grace and elegance that only nobles exuded.

In many ways, she thought that this was enough to highlight that the differences between them were like heaven and earth.

While Sierra straightened her hair nervously, Cassius smirked and said in a low voice—

“No. I will abolish the law that says that people can only marry within the same class.”

Sierra was rendered speechless, her mouth wide open. Cassius was more drastic than she expected.

He gazed at her carefully, then lifted his hand to caress her forehead gently.

“If you want.”

“…”

“The only thing that matters is your consent, Sierra.”

“Um… I mean…”

It was just as the head maid said. Now that he was perfectly convinced that Hanael was his daughter, Cassius was like an unstoppable runaway locomotive.

He was even about to abolish a law just to propose.

She shouldn’t have come here.

‘This is getting out of hand.’

Sierra realized.

‘Because of the paternity test’s inherent legal binding, Hanael and I might not ever be able to leave the mansion.’

And at this rate, Hanael could be taken away. Even if it wasn’t Cassius’ intention, she could be taken away because of the Imperial law.

‘Godmother and Cassius are fond of me now, so they won’t take Hanael away from me, but…’

Due to the bizarre result of the paternity test, the chances of the situation blowing up would definitely inflate. Sierra decided to doubt the doctors’ skills for now.

‘Let’s just make sure for now that they’re not quacks.’

Sierra herself confirmed that there were no problems with the paternity test kit. But you never know.

First, she should re-check the doctors’ skills.

No matter how much she thought about it, even though they’re known doctors, she had no choice but to question their abilities in case they made any oversights with the paternity test. After that, she’d need to haul her sister here as her witness.

 

* * * 

Early morning the next day, the annex where the doctors were staying was in an uproar because of a surprise visit. Currently, Hentel was in a secluded room as he was reevaluating the results of the first stage’s results once more, and at the same time was preparing for the second stage.

And like Hentel, the twin doctors were busy at work as well. That morning, they were packing up their stethoscopes and other equipment into their doctors’ bags because they were on their way to treat Marchioness Andante Mails. They were especially summoned just to treat her.

If it weren’t for the unexpected visit at the annex, the busy doctors would have gone on their day as usual.

However, just as Kilo and Lanya were about to go out the door with their bags in hand…

They found Sierra standing there, wearing black clothes as though she were in mourning.

“I would like to see the patient as well.”

Kilo and Lanya looked at each other with startled faces. It was too much of a convenient timing because they were really just about to meet the Marchioness.

“…I’m afraid that’s not possible, Miss Sierra.”

“Don’t I deserve to see the patient, too? I’ve diagnosed her with the Amolta disease.”

Sierra’s confident attitude left Kilo and Lanya speechless.

“You’ll also need a pharmacist to assist you.”

“That’s…”

Lanya’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“Alright, you can come with us. But won’t you need to hide your identity?”

Sierra nodded.

‘Easy peasy.’

Sierra hid her eyes behind one hand.

“It won’t be hard to hide my identity if I do this.”

With her eyes covered, Kilo staggered on his feet. Her eyes were fired up with determination.