She's Not Our Daughter! Ch 16

The Contract and the Agreement

Finally, the three doctors from the Hippo Kingdom—Hentel, Lanya, and Kilo—sat across from Sierra and Cassius in the drawing room.

Hentel pushed a paternity test chart across the table and whispered.

[Hentel] "The paternity test consists of three stages."

He glanced at the fragile Sierra. Her pale complexion gave her the look of a sick patient.

[Hentel] "Please check this guide first."

Sierra nodded quietly at them.

[The paternity test is divided into Stage 1, Stage 2, and Stage 3. Each stage requires one month.]

This meant it demanded exactly three months.

She turned to the next page of the detailed chart guide.

[Stage 1: Magic Wave Test]

She nodded inwardly. It represented a smart method. Blood relatives frequently shared matching magic waves. Exceptions existed, of course......

How will they test the waves? A potion?

She flipped to the next page.

[Stage 2: Trait Test]

What exactly constituted a trait test? Scholarly curiosity sparked within her. She turned the page.

[Stage 3 proceeds in secret. The details remain undisclosed until the completion of Stage 2.]

[The test advances to the next stage only upon a 'Match' finding. A 'Mismatch' finding confirms the subject is not the biological child.]

Sierra cheered inwardly at Stage 1. The magic waves of Sierra, Hanael, and Cassius guaranteed a 100 percent mismatch.

I thought it would take three months, but I can escape in one month!

Assuming Cassius accepted the results without argument, she bit her lip tightly to hold back her laughter and faced him.

[Sierra] "I read it al—no...…"

[Cassius] "......Sierra."

[Sierra] "I have finished reading, Your Grace."

She knew perfectly well she operated as a commoner who must use formal language with Cassius in public settings. She only used formal speech for that reason.

However, this fact struck him differently.

Cassius recognized Sierra had drawn a line between them. His face hardened and turned cold. He spoke quietly.

[Cassius] "......Right, I will read it as well."

He read the guide with an elegant posture.

Meanwhile, the doctors from the Hippo Kingdom glanced at Sierra while checking the charts.

First, Hentel, who held zero interest in gossip, observed Sierra to evaluate her health.

Her skin is ivory, and her eyes show no jaundice. She eats well and stays healthy, yet she trembles like a sick patient. Confusing. Fascinating.

Lanya also studied Sierra, biting her lip.

A commoner taking a paternity test. A predictable story. Does she fear getting kicked out, or does she suffer from a broken heart?

Guilt swirled in a corner of Lanya's heart.

Kilo stared blankly at the refreshments.

Eating these tea snacks will wake me up.

Sierra's fragile voice shattered their thoughts. She handed the chart entirely to Cassius, met the doctors' gazes, and asked quietly.

[Sierra] "Do you use Mullein leaves for the magic wave test?"

Young sprouts from the Mullein tree famously helped strengthen magical power. Sierra understood another fact: crushing Mullein leaves finely and applying them to the fingertips revealed the faint magic waves of a human, much like a magic circle.

She spoke in a casual tone, but her words carried heavy weight. Hentel stroked his beard and replied.

[Hentel] "......I didn't write down which leaf we use."

He quickly regained his composure. If Sierra majored in medicine or pharmacy at the Academy, she possessed this information naturally. Using Mullein leaves for magic wave tests stood as standard theory.

[Hentel] "You are correct, Lady Sierra."

Sierra nodded and spoke with more force.

[Sierra] "If you use a potion for the test, you mix Mullein leaves with olives and add Halanya roots, correct?"

Hentel raised an eyebrow. She hit the mark flawlessly.

Even in the Imperial Palace, the Halanya leaf generally served as a supplementary drug for magic wave tests. However, the leaves contained many impurities. Through various clinical trials, they discovered the roots offered significantly higher purity than the leaves.

The Halanya root represented their ultimate secret......!

[Hentel] "It is a secret."

His desperate attempt to protect his trade secret shattered like glass due to his overwhelming shock.

[Hentel] "Is that true? No, how do you know this? Did we advertise it?"

[Sierra] "No, I never saw any advertisement. I conducted magic wave tests in my rural village. I ran my own experiments back then."

Following her sister's advice to stop hiding her abilities, Sierra held nothing back. She displayed her knowledge freely.

[Kilo] "Oh...…"

[Lanya] "Y-yes, that is correct......"

Lanya and Kilo exchanged surprised glances. She shrugged first and looked away.

Hippo Kingdom supremacy still lingered in Lanya's heart. It made complete sense; the Hippo Kingdom's medical skills outshone all others. The same logic applied to their pharmacy.

[Sierra] "I am glad I guessed correctly."

Sierra placed her hands on the table and laughed. Kilo froze with a bewildered expression. The fragile Sierra's laugh resembled a blooming flower.

Just then, Cassius' heavy voice echoed.

[Cassius] "So, how does the test proceed?"

Kilo ignored the cold sweat running down his back and forced a cheerful laugh. His inner thoughts differed entirely.

Cassius blocked their conversation abruptly. Furthermore, his expression looked terrifying. Kilo concluded that Sierra lived entirely under Cassius' oppressive control.

It is obvious. He is the demon of the battlefield; how brutally does he treat her? She is so fragile. This is a tragic situation.

Lanya took the situation a step further. She clicked her tongue internally.

Generally, noble families requested paternity tests to question the bloodline of an illegitimate child.

The Duke surely suspected her of cheating and forced this paternity test, right?

Pity rose within Lanya as a fellow woman. She narrowed her eyes.

Duke Ideos is utterly cold. It must have taken immense courage for such a delicate woman to enter this ducal mansion. He completely ignored her feelings and shoved this paternity test in her face.

Her imagination ran wild as she studied Sierra's trembling shoulders and Cassius' blunt expression.

They shared a relationship, yet he demands a paternity test because he refuses to believe the child she brought is his! She doesn't look capable of lying!

Lanya bit her lip and glared toward Sierra.

Receiving the intense gaze, Sierra spoke carefully.

[Sierra] "Um...... Lady Lanya?"

Lanya sighed heavily and continued.

[Lanya] "First, Lady Sierra, please focus entirely on your health."

Health didn't constitute a strict requirement for the test. However, any doctor observing Sierra's drooping, fragile shoulders and her protective-instinct-triggering weakness would say the same thing.

[Sierra] "My health?"

[Lanya] "Yes. Starting today, eat a heavy meat-based diet."

[Sierra] "A meat-based diet......"

Sierra swayed her shoulders. Cassius reached out to wrap his arms securely around her shoulders, but carefully lowered his hands. He whispered in a low voice.

[Cassius] "I will manage her diet myself. Do you have anything else to say?"

Hentel shook his head.

[Hentel] "No, Your Grace. We will manufacture the potion immediately."

Lanya chimed in to control the situation.

[Lanya] "All the ingredients are ready."

Kilo shared Lanya's thoughts as he studied Cassius' cold expression.

The gossip magazines claimed Sierra received excellent treatment within the Duchy. They said she lived in absolute luxury. However, the real Sierra looked extremely weak and fully crushed under the Duke's dominance.

Well, people can manipulate magazine rumors at any time.

Kilo directed a pitiful gaze at Sierra. It represented a look of pure sympathy, understanding the immense difficulty of pleasing an oppressive, high-ranking noble who acted like a battlefield demon.

---

That night.

Hanael lay next to Sierra. She hesitated to mention the 'paternity test' to Hanael. She didn't know exactly how Hanael would understand it.

But Hanael is not a fool. She will find out eventually, so exactly when do I tell her?

She coughed softly and stroked Hanael's hair.

[Sierra] "Hanael, listen closely."

[Hanael] "Huh? I will never meet the bad mister again."

Sierra never asked her not to meet Cassius, yet Hanael pouted and chattered away. Sierra laughed softly and shook her head.

[Sierra] "No, not that."

While Sierra worried, Hanael, hovering on the edge of sleep, cracked her eyes open and spoke carefully.

[Hanael] "By the way...…"

[Sierra] "Yes?"

[Hanael] "......What do you like, Mommy?"

She gently bumped her forehead against Sierra's chest. It served as a sweet display of affection, much like a cat bumping its head.

Sierra spoke with absolute seriousness.

[Sierra] "Money."

[Hanael] "I knew it......!"

Hanael nodded.

[Sierra] "And patients I can cure."

[Hanael] "I see......"

Hanael rubbed the space under her nose and feigned ignorance.

She planned to tell the Grand Madam, who adored Sierra, everything her mother liked. The bad mister annoyed her, but the Grand Madam treated Hanael wonderfully and did nothing wrong. At least, not yet. If the old lady changed her attitude and bullied her Mommy, Hanael intended to beat her up.

Sierra's next question broke her endless train of thought.

[Sierra] "By the way, why do you ask?"

[Hanael] "Just because."

Sierra studied Hanael. She couldn't read the exact thoughts running through her tiny head.

However, she easily recognized that Hanael had developed an attachment to this ducal mansion. Therefore, Sierra decided to resume the education she had delayed.

[Sierra] "Listen, Hanael."

She had given up previously because Hanael burst into tears. But...... now the time had come to imprint the existence of her real mother, Amille, into her mind.

Cassius' misunderstanding will end soon! I can't let her call me Mom forever!

Sierra stared at Hanael with a resolute gaze.

I will educate her properly and firmly!

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