How to Protect My Sub Male Lead Dad

“Ahahaha! I didn’t know this was so effective!”

Yenna smiled brightly and caressed the goblet in her hand.

Asta’s eyes widened at the sight of it.

‘Isn’t that the goblet of oracles?’

It was the same size as the one Asta had the priests steal from the temple. The chalice was flickering with blue flames. The very same flames that had just reduced the Count of Appel to ashes.

Furthermore, Prache had informed Yenna about her whereabouts through the oracle.

“Ugh…”

A terrified groan came from behind Yenna’s back. It was from Duke Eisen and Archbishop Liang, who had come with her. Their faces were pale, seeing the horror.

“How could such tremendous power be…”

“Did it really come from the Saint”

Even though they saw it with their own eyes, they were still in disbelief, filled with fear.

Yenna laughed nonchalantly, as if she was amused.

“I didn’t know it would really work. But the Count and Countess almost ruined everything. I only told them to distract that woman, but they couldn’t even do that properly. It’s better for them to become ashes. At least I can use their remains.”

With that, Yenna strode over to Asta, and slapped her across the cheek.

Slap!

Asta’s head tilted from the impact.

“So you’re Asta Appel, huh? The one who lied about being a saint and was sentenced to death? Then just die already! Do you have any idea how much trouble I’ve been through to get here because of you?”

Yenna scowled, looking down on her.

Asta had a flashback to before the regression.

“Count Appel, no. I think father thinks of me as his real daughter. Don’t worry, Asta. I’ve told him to be nice to you, too.”

“Why is it my fault that your fiancé likes me? He’s fed up with you because you’re always jealous and suspecting him. As your sister, it breaks my heart every time.”

Beneath the affectionate tone hid a sneer. The humiliation she couldn’t forget, even in death.

That’s why Asta felt strange.

‘This isn’t the Yenna I knew.’

The Yenna from her past life knew how to hide her true intentions. But now, she was openly mocking Asta.

Her hypocritical tone had become more caustic.

The only thing that was similar was the fact that she still looked down on Asta.

Yenna suddenly doused Asta’s doubts, “Stop bothering people you fake! Give up the position of the saint you stole and perish in hell.”

Yenna’s mockery touched Asta’s deepest wounds.

Asta lost her reasoning and screamed as if in a seizure, “Fake? You’re the fake one! I only tried to protect what you stole! Stop stealing from me! That’s why God chose me!”

“Ah, ‘God,’ you say..”

Yenna interjected with a smirk.

“That ‘God’ that traded your soul to?”

Asta’s face, which was bright red with anger, went blank.

“W-what?”

“Didn’t you sell your soul to turn the time back?”

“How could you know..!”

“So what! You can’t do a thing you’re ordered to. On top of that, you lost a sacred relic. Prache doesn’t need someone useless like you.”

‘The holy relic? The Viridescent Sword?’

Marquis Fork was the only one who knew that Asta had stolen the holy object. But he was already dead. The Pope suspected Asta of being the culprit, but he had no proof.

‘Did the Pope tell Yenna, or Prache?’

Prache was more likely the culprit rather than the old locked away Pope. After all, it was Prache who had brought Yenna to this world in the first place.

“Did Prache really abandon me?”

For something so trivial? Suddenly, I remembered that Prache had tried to kill Hanelope just because she stole the relics.

‘Why would he try to kill someone for touching the relics?’

Yenna whispered to a confused Asta, “It’s time to die.”

A damp, eerie laugh soaked Asta’s ears. A chill ran down her spine.

‘This is not the Yenna I knew.’

A moment of foreboding struck Asta.

“Asta!”

An angry shout came from somewhere with a wave of stomps. Asta shifted her gaze towards the sound. Knights were entering the deserted port. Hart and the Emperor were leading them.

“How can the Imperial knights be here..!”

“D*mn it!”

Asta hurriedly boarded the boat.

The Emperor and Hart chased after her without hesitation.

But Yenna stopped them in their tracks, “It’s dangerous!”

The Emperor frowned at the woman’s sudden appearance. Even Duke Eisen and Archbishop Liang were present.

‘It couldn’t be.’

The Emperor had refused the Pope’s offer.

‘Helping to save Hanelope with the power of the “true saint”? A d*mned saint! I knew it was nonsense, so I drove them away.’

From then on, the rescue operation was conducted in complete secrecy.

They were especially careful not to let any information reach the ears of the temple.

‘But how did the woman reach here?’

The foreign saint looked up at him with an innocent expression on her face.

‘Did she really receive an oracle?’

And in her hand was a Goblet of Oracle, with a blue flame blazing.

Unlike the Emperor, Hart ignored Yenna and rushed back towards the ship. Suddenly, Yenna grabbed him around the waist and clung to him.

“Let go!”

Hart shouted. But Yenna shook her head vigorously, “No! The fake saint has cast dark magic near the ship! Don’t you see those piles of ashes over there?”

Yenna pointed to the towering piles of ashes.

“That was the Count and Countess of Appel just moments ago.”

“What?”

Everyone present was shocked by Yenna’s words.

Turning people into ashes in an instant. How strong is black magic?

“I have come all the way here to rescue the Princess after receiving an oracle from the god Prache,” said Yenna.

Unlike the confused knights, the Emperor and Hart knew about Yenna. The ‘real saint’ who received an oracle as soon as she woke up. Moreover, unlike ordinary goblets, hers burned with blue flames, the symbol of Prache.

Yenna looked at the piles of ashes, Duke Eisen, and Archbishop Liang in turn, “I brought the Count and Countess, to help the Princess. Even when I tried to stop them, they were caught by the black magic and reduced to ashes. I don’t want His Highness to end up the same.”

Yenna shook her head like an innocent child witnessing tragedy.

“I don’t mind dying if it means saving my daughter.”

Hart said firmly.

Yenna raised her eyebrows and looked at Hart, “There’s no point in going, Asta has already killed Princess Hanelope!”

Hart looked at Yenna with a murderous glare.

“If you keep talking nonsense, I won’t stay silent.”

Yenna pursed her lips and pointed to a smaller pile of ashes next to the one she had just pointed to.

It was the trace of Countess Appel. But Yenna said something entirely different.

“This is the Princess.”

“…….”

“The fake saint not only killed her own parents but also the child.”

The harbor fell into a terrifying silence.

Except for Duke Eisen and Archbishop Ryan, who remained silent out of fear, everyone doubted their ears, pondering Yenna’s words over and over.

But her words had only one meaning.

Hanelope was dead.

“Lies! It can’t be!”

Hart shouted, he turned pale as if all the blood had drained from his body.

What she said must be a lie! Hanelope could not have left him to die!

‘She must be on the ship. She must be safe and eagerly waiting for me.’

He had to see it with his own eyes.

Besides, Brantley was supposed to be in charge of the port of Arel. The woman hadn’t mentioned Brantley’s whereabouts.

”If Hanelope were in danger, Brantley wouldn’t have disappeared. She’s lying!’

Hart roughly shook off Yenna’s hold and ran for the ship.

Swish!

At that moment, a blue light passed by swiftly next to Hart, like a defense barrier enveloping the entire ship.

As a result, Hart was thrown off the ship.

“Your Highness, don’t worry. God will eliminate the wicked impostor and avenge us!”

Yenna shouted, clutching the Chalice of Oracle

The blue light came straight from the goblet.

Soon, the light transformed into the shape of a beast with long, sharp teeth.

“Krrung!”

With a ferocious roar, the blue beast leapt into the ship.

 

***

 

“Screech!”

A ghastly howl that seemed to tear through the air came from somewhere.

Hidden in the cabin, Hanelope and Brantley were startled and looked at each other.

Thud!

Just then, Asta rushed into the cabin.

Asta was bleeding profusely from her abdomen. Her clothes were tattered as if she had been scratched by something sharp.

Behind her, a blue-colored beast leapt in with a bang. It was huge, almost touching the ceiling. It’s long, sharp teeth and claws dripping with blood. And eyes that glowed within the dark.

The predator’s head moved, following Asta, who was fleeing.

And Asta happened to run into the hiding place of Hanelope and Brantley.