“Hmm ♪, hmm ♪, hmm ♪”

After leaving the room Rina was resting in, Clara skipped to her room, while humming happily to herself. Although it took her a moment to recover from the initial surprise, caused by Rina's ambiguous words, she was very pleased that the younger girl would be her personal maid from now on.

“Oh my~ Clara, my dear... you seem to be in a good mood.”

“Ah, yes greetings Mother. I actually am!”

The person who just talked to Clara, was her mother, Lauren Dragonherz. Looking at her it seemed clear why Clara was already over 140cm tall at the age of ten, because Lauren's height was well over 170cm, which was quite unusual for women. Like Clara, or rather the other way round, Lauren had blonde, waist-length, curly hair. It was obvious to those around them, that Clara adored her mother and thus wanted to copy her appearance. Even though Lauren was already in her mid-twenties, due to her youthful look, if both of them stood side by side, one couldn't be sure whether they were sisters or mother and daughter.

“Does that mean that Eric has decided to drop his idea of the engagement?”

“Mother, I don't know anyone with that name. Who is that?” Unfortunately, Clara's good mood was ruined when her mother mentioned her father.

“Haaaah, Clara, dear, you shouldn't be too hard on him... well, enough about that. So? Why are you in such a good mood?”

The girl's face frowned at that question. “Mother, you mean 'Why 'were' you in such a good mood?', don't you?”

“Haaah.” Lauren sighed loudly again. “Let's go with that. So?”

“Do you remember the red-haired girl I mentioned yesterday? I asked her to be my personal maid and she accepted!” Clara smiled brightly, forgetting that she was supposed to be in sour mood moments ago.

“Have you already talked to Eric about this ?”

“...” Now the young girl suddenly remembered her sour mood again. “No.”

“Dear... you can't just decide such things without your father, didn't I teach you that?” Lauren looked sternly at her daughter, who flinched slightly.

“B-but he doesn't think about my wishes at all. In the end, he will just ignore them.”

“Clara! You will go to your father's office and talk to him about this matter!” This time her facial expression was much more severe than before. In the past, every time she looked at her daughter like that, Clara would become obedient. This time, however, to her surprise, Clara didn't follow her order at all. She just stood there motionlessly and looked at the ground.

Seeing for the first time, that her usual approach to her princess' stubbornness wasn't working, Lauren crouched down, so that she and Clara were at the same eye level. Then she put her hands on her daughter's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “Dear... Let's go to your father's office and tell him about your wish. I will accompany you. If your reasoning is right, he will undoubtedly grant your wish. And if he doesn't, then I'll help you to convince him, is that okay?”

After thinking for a bit, Clara looked up at her mother and nodded. Then they both walked towards Eric's office.

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'Knock* *Knock*

“Enter.”

Hearing Eric's voice, mother and daughter opened the door and entered the office.

Upon seeing them, Eric's face morphed into a wide smile. “Oh, welcome both of you. It's unusual for you to come here together!” He walked over to his wife and gave her a light peck on her lips. Then, when he moved to hug his daughter, he was met with a cold shoulder.

“Hmpf...” The girl in question turned her grumpy face away, showing her father, that she was still mad at him.

“Oh, my~... Clara, is this how you treat someone from whom you want a favour?”

“...”

“Ah, it's fine, Lauren. I probably deserve it for forcing my will on her.” The head of the family walked back to the chair behind his word desk and sat down. “So? Even though I say I deserved it... If this is about the engagement, I won't change my mind.”

Only after a few seconds of hesitation, Clara finally faced her father and spoke up. “What is your plan with Rina?”

“Hmm? Rina?” Eric was slightly confused at first but soon started to connect the dots. “Ahh... you mean that commoner girl.”

Clara nodded.

“First of all, do you know what that girl is capable of? Arland has told me about it. He saw that girl forming black magic circles... she can use Dark magic.”

Clara clenched her fists at those words. She already suspected that Rina could use Dark magic. After all, she had seen it in front of her eyes. A large black magic circle had appeared under the feet of the men, who were about to attack her. Not even that. The seal had even pulled those men to the ground, something she had never heard that magic could do.

From that moment on, Clara knew that Rina was someone special who could cast very powerful magic. But that was exactly why, she had hidden Rina's magic affinity from her father, hoping that neither Arland nor the rest of her guards, who were present at that time had noticed it. But unfortunately, they did. They even reported it to her father.

“That fact alone makes that girl special. But not only that... according to Arland, she even touched the demon-spawning cloud while staying sane and completely dispersed it. I have never heard that such a feat is possible”

“But Rina said, she doesn't know how she did it!”

“Even so! With the current situation, all nobles would be eager to get their hands on her.” Eric quickly countered Clara's words and continued, “I will offer that girl to Duke Lumiére in exchange for him accepting our engagement proposal.”

“You mean your proposal!” Clara glared at her father with teary eyes.

“That decision is final! I will not accept any disagreement!”

Clara was aware, that her father wanted to connect with the powerful Ducal Lumiére family. The reason for this was that the Lumiére family had built up a considerable private army in the years since King Thor's abdication. In the entire Valkyria Kingdom, they were the most famous for collecting commoners with magical talents... to train and use as pawns in the demon invasion. Thus, their survival chance was considered to be among the highest.

So, for several months, her father had been begging them to accept his proposal of engagement between Clara and Lumière's first-born son. Fortunately for Clara, they had always refused, seeing no reason to do otherwise. But things might change in the future. It does not take a genius to predict Eric's next steps. Of course, now that he had a child with a powerful Dark magic affinity in his hands, he would propose the engagement once more. This time, with said child, Rina, on the negotiation table, the Lumières would surely accept.

Thinking about this, Clara felt tears welling up in her eyes, as that would be the worst possible outcome for her. After all, she did neither want to marry into the Lumiére family, which she hated to the core nor did she want to give away the girl she was so fond of. Seeing no way to persuade her father, she turned to her mother for help, who just shook her head in silence. This only meant that Clara had to come up with a solution on her own, one that would produce the best results for her.

So, for herself and the girl with the red hair and bright, red eyes, she suppressed her tears, clenched her fist even tighter and racked up her brain to think of a way to convince her father to abandon his initial plans and to accept Rina as her servant. After all, didn't she promise Rina that she would protect her? Who knows, what the Lumiéres, who were also known for their perverted and sadistic nature, would do to a cute girl like Rina?

Clara closed her eyes and took a deep breath to think.

Seeing this, Eric felt proud of his little girl's growth, as he had expected her to throw a tantrum. Now his daughter was trying to calm herself down to think of convincing arguments. But unfortunately, he had made his decision. He had to protect his family, especially his daughter, even if he would be scorned by them in the end. Nevertheless, he waited patiently until his daughter finished thinking.

After a while, when she had probably found a way to persuade him, she opened her eyes and looked at him.

Even Eric, a seasoned noble and politician (all nobles could be seen as politicians), who was very used to the social antics and tricks of aristocrats, couldn't help but shudder under Clara's gaze. The charisma and pressure she emitted, was not something a normal ten-year-old girl could do.

At that time, he couldn't possibly know, that he just witnessed the first baby steps of a being, who would be feared and avoided by the enemies, and admired and loved by the allies as 'The Voice' later on.