How to Protect My Sub Male Lead Dad

Even if I can’t do anything to Asta now, I’d still like to give Philen a punch!

I smiled in remorse.

“But, Hanelope.”

Hart suddenly called out to me in a low voice.

I was stunned to hear the low, deep voice, so different from the one he used when he was teasing me or berating me.

‘Did he catch something was wrong after all?’

When I turned to face him nervously, he said coldly.

“It’s not called a ‘fatigue antidote’, it’s a ‘fatigue rejuvenator’.”

“Huh?”

“You think you’re smart, but don’t even know that?”

D-Did you have to say it at this point?

It was so ridiculous that my voice cracked.

“Th-that’s the same thing!”

“It’s not the same thing, kid.”

Hart didn’t bother to hide that he felt pathetic seeing me confuse it.

‘You’re going to humiliate me in public like this?’

I scowled and pouted my lips.

I heard Philen mutter something under his breath.

“How can a kid who can’t tell the difference between ‘fatigue antidote’ and ‘fatigue rejuvanator’ make an antidote… Maybe she just got lucky this time…”

Hasn’t he still come to his senses? I’m gonna have to teach him a good lesson!

“Chop his head off!”

At my shout, Philen’s face crumpled into a scowl.

“What? You spoiled brat!”

“I made a deal with you earlier! If the Saint wakes up, you’ll have to cut your head!”

“Haa, for some argument…”

Philen sneered in disbelief.

It was then.

“Chop it off.”

When Hart said it coldly, Philen was lost in thought.

”P-Prince Hart, to go along with the words of a child…”

“I agree with you. There’s a price to pay.”

Even Patrick took my side.

’What’s going on?’

Patrick was a friendly person on the surface, but in fact, he was not interested in anything other than what he cared about.

When I glanced, Patrick winked at me.

‘What?’

I quickly shunned my gaze away.

Philen looked at Asta as if to ask for help. Asta, who noticed the desperate gaze, said,

“I don’t know what happened, but it’s not good to be swayed by children’s words. I thought the Princes agreed to forgive Philen?”

“Forgiveness is forgiveness, and promise is a promise.”

But there was no chance. Hart was adamant.

Patrick, who seemed to be shaken by Asta’s words, also twinkled his eyes as if he came to his senses when he met my eyes with expectations.

He smiled amusedly and pretended to slit his throat with his fingers.

“If you can’t give an antidote, give your head.”

Philen screamed with a horrified look.

 

***

 

Click.

The parlour door opened, and three men entered. They looked rather relieved after disposing of Philen.

It’s a different from what I expected.

The men seemed to regret not being able to stay with Asta longer. But it was necessary to let her rest.

“I’m baffled that Asta wasn’t poisoned. My brother and I had a hell of a time trying to find an antidote.”

“Well, that’s a good thing, anyway. If it really was poison that caused her to collapse in front of me, I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself.”

“In the future, I’ll advise the Saint to reduce the dosage of sleeping pills and take it easy.”

Behind them as they chatted, something not more than waist-high moved like rolling.

It was me.

Even though no one held me, I followed calmly with my small feet.

’In other words, it’s called acting like a sticky leech.’

”Where are you, Prince?”

As soon as I entered the drawing room, I looked for Hart like a magnet.

He didn’t respond, even though I was stuck next to him.

’I didn’t care. He looks better when he’s silent!’

It’s better to keep your mouth shut! Because when you open it, you only say what makes me want to smack you!

Cupping my cheeks, I enjoyed Hart’s beauty.

’How can men have eyelashes this long? The nose bridge is really high, and he has such a sharp jawline! Hehehe…’

“Oh, my!”

I heard a strange sound somewhere.

Patrick was looking at me incredulously.

“She’s smart, but her taste is unique.”

“She’s definitely bright. But how can she be so intelligent to find something that even top physicians couldn’t detect!”

Fortunately, Hansen seemed to be in favor of me. At first, I felt like he didn’t like me.

But I’ve been feeling it for a while, but that man’s smile is so intimidating.

‘If you didn’t have that big smile on your face, I wouldn’t hate you either…’

Tragically, Hansen smiled back at me.

I said, avoiding his gaze, “Yeah. Hanelope is smart. I’m a natural, but I study hard.”

At my comment, Hansen laughed even harder, as if he thought it was cute. I even heard the servants whisper under their breaths in the parlour, “She’s so cute.”

‘Patrick is laughing at me this time, isn’t he?’

“…….”

But my aloof favourite still had no reaction.

I tried to tell Hart that I was his daughter, but it didn’t seem to work because he wasn’t the doting type.

Even if he wasn’t attached to me by blood, I thought he would compliment me for being a useful job. I hoped to hear the words “Good job”.

‘Haah.. How am I going to turn this piece of wood into a human being?’

The days ahead were going to be bleak.

Anyway, it wasn’t a joke when I said I studied hard.

‘How much effort I put in!”

The only reason was to look & think like an adult. I was born an extra, and I knew that if I didn’t work hard, I would die.

Of course, knowledge doesn’t come free. I had to work for it to the point of tears.

‘I studied like crazy, right next to my mum.’

I memorized the ‘Pharmacy Aid’, which had been passed down from generation to generation in my mum’s family, the Kochs.

The problem was that this body was a child’s.

‘I would get tired quickly, my head wouldn’t think straight, and I wanted to play all the time.’

I can’t tell you how much I suffered because I wanted to play in the mud, not study. I would try to read a book, but the next thing I knew, a small, chubby hand was tearing up the paper and scribbling on it.

It was the limitations of a child.

“Well. She’s Laura Koch’s daughter, so isn’t natural for her to be smart?”

Patrick muttered, glancing across Hart.

It appalled me.

‘I can’t believe Patrick was bringing up Hart’s ex. How cruel!’

But what scared me more was Hart’s reaction.

He didn’t blink an eye.

“Children should not be prejudiced.”

“Prejudice?”

“Even worn out adults couldn’t escape the misconception of ‘poison’. Because the cookies were given by the Duke of Eisen, the Imperial physicians declared it as an attempted poisoning. But this child had no bias. She saw the symptoms as they were, and that’s how she recognized that Asta hadn’t been poisoned.”

“I’d call that insight, and I think I’d like to take her on as my apprentice, or better yet, my full-time student.”

Hansen looked at me with a gaping smile.

Oh, my gosh!

I bit my lip in exasperation.

I can’t. I have to cleanse my eyes, my eyes!

“What are you doing?”

Hart asked pointedly as I stared back at him.

I whispered, looking terrified.

“He has a scary face. He had been looking at Hanelope and it hurt my eyes, so I’m going to cleanse it with your face.”

“You were so good at talking back to me. Are you afraid of Hansen now?”

“Y-You are scared of me. That’s impossible. I’m so popular with the kids!”, Hansen approached me, trying to lure, denying reality.

“Don’t be scared. I’m a nice guy.”

A professor baiting a graduate student, he sounded like the devil himself,

Naturally, it backfired. I’ve never been so scared of a smiling old man in my life.

“Wahh...”

My cries made Hansen hang his head in despair.

As I rubbed my heated eyes with my knuckles, Hart tapped me on the shoulder.

“What is it? Why are you hitting me?”

I look up, stunned, and saw that he’s touching my shoulder with a strange expression on his face.

No, not a slap, more like a…

‘Is this a pat telling me not to cry? With such a rough touch?’

I was at a loss for words, and tears welled up in my eyes.

Hart withdrew his hand with a smug look on his face, as if he thought his consolation had worked.

“You’ve got unique tastes, to say the least. Kids are generally scared to death of Hart. ‘Normal’ kids like me better.”

Patrick said teasingly.

‘That’s because he’s my favourite!’

‘Not just a favourite, he’s my real dad and my lifeline.’

He’s someone I have to get close quickly, even if it means flattering him.

‘I need to get close to him so that he’ll let me live with him.’

Then I can create a cure for the genetic disease and also protect Hart.

‘He must have known that I was his daughter. But he hasn’t reacted to me at all, even though I’ve shown him that I’m quite useful.

Though I’m a bit bossy. As child I might get my tongue tied & stutter, confusing ‘fatigue rejuvenator’ for ‘fatigue antidote’!

‘I’ll be a good girl and put up with it.’

Hansen, who had been wiggling his fingers, said confidently.

“Child, can you give me some of that nourishment pills you gave to the saint?”

“Nutritional pills?”

“It seems to be very effective. I’ve been researching. So I’m feeling tired and sore lately.”

“Oh, come to think of it, I’ve been overworking myself, looking for antidotes. Would you mind giving me one too?”

Patrick joined Hansen.

Giving nutritional pills is easy. But….

“No!”

“I’ll give you any amount of money.”

I looked up at the only man in the room who didn’t seem interested in the nutrients.

“I’m going to give it to Prince Hart.”