How to Protect My Sub Male Lead Dad

‘Worthless!’

Stupid Philen bet his hair and even lost to a child.

The good news was that the child’s ‘head’ actually meant ‘hair’.

Had it not been for the child’s innocence, he would have indeed had my head chopped off by the cruel Princes.

‘But who is she?’

Fluffy, milky cheeks smeared with a rosy flush. As if it had been smeared with light strawberry jam. Small limbs. Seeing it feels like she just got rid of newborn sized clothing. Tiny pink lips, but said what she had to. And fine blond hair like Hart’s, and sweet pink eyes that I remembered seeing somewhere.

The image of the child clinging to Hart’s side, unwilling to be separated, stuck in her mind like a thorn.

If it weren’t for her sudden appearance, this perfect plan wouldn’t have gone awry.

Asta’s face went stiff.

‘There’s something ominous about this child. I must send her away.’

 

***

 

Hart didn’t accept me.

He neither accepted me as his daughter, nor let me stay at the mansion.

‘Even if he didn’t take me in. He should have at least kept me around, right?’

I was expecting to be put to bed for the night.

‘But he sent away as soon as I had breakfast, saying it was time to go home.’

A servant relayed it. I didn’t even get to see Hart’s face. This was the moment I again realized that the genre of this novel was not childcare.

What awaits me instead is-

“Come on, let’s go home. You naughty little troublemaker.”

‘How the hell are Aunt Judy and Uncle Sandy in front of me?’

After being kicked out of the mansion, I was greeted by two grumpy faces. Aunt Judy stopped Sandy from putting his hands on me right away.

It was because the mansion’s servants had come to greet.

“I thought you’d be staying a few more days.”

“I know. She’s so sweet and gentle. I thought I could take care of her for a few more days.”

“But a child is better off with his family…”

The employees felt sorry to let me go. They neglected me at first, but they had changed overnight.

‘It’s all thanks to this kid’s efforts.’

While I was making Asta’s nutrients, I also made several other medicines.

Eczema pills, cough medicines, joint hurting pills, and more. They were all for the chronic conditions of the manor’s employees.

“Kitchen sister, if you apply this, your hands won’t hurt.”

“Coughing aunty, try this. I won’t be having a cough anymore.”

“Uncle, if you put this on your knees, they won’t hurt. You don’t have to suffer longer.”

With time to spare after treating Asta, I wandered around the mansion, showering the servants with pills.

They were all stronger and faster acting than commercial drugs.

‘These were my mum’s inventions.’

Overnight, the servants’ liking for me increased dramatically.

“Goodbye. I’m going to miss you.”

I said politely as they presented me with a basket of sweets.

My clumsy imitation of the greeting I’d seen during my day at the mansion made them laugh out loud, thinking it was adorable.

Upset, uncle Sandy grabbed me by the arm.

“Let’s go. You’re wasting our time.”

When I stumbled, the employees screamed in surprise and stared at Uncle Sandy.

But they couldn’t stop me from being dragged away.

‘Because it was their master’s command to let me go.’

I was bitter.

‘Even though I tried this hard, I guess it wasn’t enough to change my future.’

But I changed Brantley’s future. Brantley was exonerated and kept his status as the heir.

It was the only comforting fact.

While I was being dragged, I looked back. I could see the window of the mansion room where Hart would be.

‘Let me at least see your face before I go.’

In truth, I wanted to cling to him, begging him not to let me go.

‘But he’d dislike me even more if I did.’

Adults hate clinging children. I was like that in my previous life.

“Mum, I don’t want to go, please let me live with you. Please don’t send me away.”

“Why are you acting like a baby? Mom and Dad have already made up their minds.”

“Mom, I’m…!”

“Don’t talk to me anymore! Let’s make our life easier, okay?”

I thought I had put it all behind me.

Just thinking about it made my heart break.

I didn’t want Hart to feel the same way.

‘But I won’t give up here. I’ll come back. Just wait. I’ll be happy, and I’ll make Hart happy, because that’s what my mum wanted.

I waved towards the window of Hart’s room.

“Bye, Prince. See you later!”

 

***

 

Hart stood by the window and watched Hanelope wave.

The child was dragged away, but kept looking back to the room where Hart was supposed to be.

Hart’s brow narrowed.

‘If she’s going to act like this, why did she want to leave?’

He remembered the child’s words.

“It’s for Prince Hart.”

“You saved Hanelope, so I like you.”

And yet she went back.

‘I thought you liked me.’

Hart felt a pang of emptiness.

‘If she had insisted on going back, maybe…’

“Your Highness, are you still looking out the window?”

Asta asked, reclining on the bed and sipping her medicinal tea.

Hart looked up in surprise. He had forgotten her presence for a moment. As comfortable as Asta had been as a sister, it was the first time he’d ever forgotten her presence and became distracted.

“I thought it was weird that she said she was going to go back, after sticking around like a sore thumb the whole time.”

“Who… Ah, the girl?”

For a moment, Asta’s blue eyes turned icy.

But then she smiled brightly.

“I know. She’s so cute. I wish I could have stayed with her longer. But she said that she wanted to go back to her family.”

“Lady, did she really tell you that she wanted to leave?”

“Yes. She came to me early in the morning and asked. She missed her family.”

“But she told me they were bullying her and trying to sell her to slave traders.”

“We investigated, but there’s no evidence that the child’s guardian made a with slave merchants, was there? Kids exaggerate if they’re scolded a little, they even make up stories. After spending a day among strange adults, they forget about being scolded and start to miss their families.”

“You should have at least talked to me before sending her off. I could have at least said goodbye.”

“….Do you care about her?”

“No, I’m just saying that she owes me a favour, and I should honour it.”

Asta’s eyes narrowed.

It had been Asta’s decision to send the child.

Asta knew that Hart was weak against her. Asta’s will is Hart’s will. The manor’s servants followed Asta’s orders without question. Because Hart didn’t intervene.

‘Not once in all my life Hart ever rebelled against me…’

Today was different.

As soon as he heard Hanelope was leaving, he came straight to her.

Asta felt it instinctively.

If she let Hart go, he might hold back the child. So she stopped him.

“She can’t wait to leave. She’s probably upset about missing her family all night.”

“Then why don’t I just meet her once and say farewell…”

“The guardians have already come to collect the child, and besides, they are afraid of you. You had locked them up. The truth is, you don’t have a good image among the people, so just let them go.”

Hearing this, Hart went straight to the window.

When he saw Hanelope with her guardians, he shut up.

But even now, it was obvious that he couldn’t take his eyes off the child.

Asta said, “I’m sure she’ll be fine and they seem like nice people. It’s not easy to raise someone’s child like that when you’re not even their biological parents.”

Hart looked out the window again. The child was gone.

“But that kid…”

He closed his mouth.

‘I don’t think I need to tell you… that she’s Laura’s daughter.’

Asta did not like Laura.

She resented her for betraying Hart even more than he did.

‘She even went to visit Laura and tried to get him and Laura back together.’

But Laura insulted Asta and chased her away.

She didn’t want to see Hart.

After that, Laura left the capital and disappeared.

Phew.

His fists tightened as he remembered the hurt.

‘If you’re going to leave me behind, you could have at least lived a good life.’

Leaving a child alone.

Seeing her child grow up in other people’s hands, it was as if she had never had a husband.

‘What kind of scumbag is her father to leave her to raise a child alone?’

The child she had with him was named Hanelope.

‘It’s the name we promised to give our child in the future…’

I felt like my insides were burning.

Hart left the room and walked down the corridor without speaking for a while.

But no matter how long he walked, the sadness didn’t subside.

“Maxim.”

He called someone’s name in a low voice.

Then, in the distance, a man quickly approached him.

A bear of a man, with a murderous scar over his eye. A henchman in Hart’s entourage.

“Yes, My Lord.”

“Investigate the whereabouts of Laura Koch. The biological mother of the child who left the mansion today.”

“If you mean Laura Koch…”

“How she lived after she left me, why she didn’t show up when I was looking for her, and about the child. I want to know everything, without missing any details, just in case.. If she is alive and deceiving me again.”

“I understand, Your Highness.”

“And…”

Hart closed his eyes tightly, then opened them.

“Attach someone to the child. If anything happens, report it to me immediately.”

 

***

 

“Give it back!”

Uncle Sandy snatched the basket of sweets from her as soon as they left the mansion and entered the narrow alley.

“I-I don’t want to give it to you. It’s a gift!”

I stomped my feet, arms outstretched, not knowing what to do.

Then uncle Sandy raised his hands up in the air.

“You want to get in trouble again, huh?”

Terrified, I curled up like a ball with my hands over my head.

Meanwhile, aunt Judy’s eyes widened as she opened the basket.

“Oh my goodness! They’ve put a lot of expensive things in there. We’ll have to take it back and give it to my Burns.”

Burns was Sandy and Judy’s only son.

They’d just taken my food and given my sweets to the fat-cheeked Burns.

It felt like the sky was falling.

 

***

Notes:

• Just clearing this up, in case this comes up as confusing. In Korean ‘head’ & ‘hair’ have the same word. Maybe, during the bet Philen was more excited because he interpreted that Hanelope wanted his life and acted foolishly. But FL was aiming for his hair.