How to Protect My Sub Male Lead Dad

The carriage in which I secretly boarded stopped at Count Appel’s and picked up Asta.

Then, after travelling for a while to another place, it stopped.

I heard three people get off, and then I got off, too.

I saw a ramshackle house in front of me.

I’d never been here before, but I knew it was Tarov’s illegal auction house.

Tarov is an underdeveloped suburb of the Imperial capital.

I hid my body behind the carriage and looked around.

I could see Hart and Asta talking right in front and Maxim stood alone, at a little distance from them.

“Alright.”

I sidled up to Maxim and nudged his leg.

He wiggled his leg, as if annoyed.

Tap!

Tap, tap, tap!

“Ah, what the hell!”

Maxim looked down in annoyance and suddenly clamped his hand over his mouth.

His bull-like eyes reflected my wide grin.

“Mister, how are you doing?”

I waved cheerfully, and Maxim looked like he was about to faint.

“Y-Young Lady, why, ah, h-how, are you crazy!”

I felt a little sorry for him, but I couldn’t help it.

I needed Maxim’s cooperation for this plan.

“H-How did you get here?”

“I came here by riding!”

I pointed innocently to the luggage compartment, and Maxim put his hand to his forehead.

“You can’t do that, Young Lady. You’ll get in trouble.”

“But it’s not safe for him to wander around this late at night. I have to protect my Dad.”

“How can you protect him when you only have such little fingers? No, you must go back. If the Prince finds out, it will be a disaster.”

I slipped into Maxim’s big, long cloak.

“If we do it like this, I won’t get caught, right?”

“Ah. No. I’m losing it…”

“Humm? Losing what?”

I tugged at the cloak and shook my head in confusion.

“Anyway, I’m going to protect dad, this place is too dangerous.”

“Do you know where we are?”

Where? It’s an illegal auction house!

There’s a hidden auction house in the basement of that abandoned house.

Asta has come here for the ‘Sealing Stone’, as per Prache’s oracle.

Sealing stones were pieces of stone that were said to seal demons.

‘Prache is collecting them.’

Due to the ominous aura of demons, there was always danger where the sealing stones were located. So Asta had brought Hart as a shield.

‘She always brings Hart to dangerous places!’

This is why I can’t leave him alone.

‘I must get Asta away from him as soon as possible.’

“Young Lady should go home. You shouldn’t be here.”

Maxim snapped, pulling away from me.

I stuck out my lips.

“Are you going to make Hanelope an unfilial child?”

“Is dying the way to become filial?”

“But my dad…”

I glanced in Hart’s direction with lingering.

He was too busy talking to Asta to pay attention to me.

I felt a little lonely.

Maxim’s expression softened at the sight of me.

“Do you like His Highness that much?”

Maxim asked, and I nodded quickly.

“Yes! He’s my favourite father in the world.”

Then Maxim’s expression changed, and he muttered to himself.

“His Highness has finally found someone. Who not only receives but also gives.”

“What?”

“Nothing. My Lady, you should go home.”

“Phew. I got it.”

As I obediently walked away, Maxim gave me a puzzled look.

But it didn’t take long for that look to turn to disbelief.

“But how am I going to get back? On foot? That’s a lot of work~”

“What? Well, that’s….”

“Never mind. Hanelope will go….”

As I strode off into the darkness, Maxim came running after me in a panic.

“Miss, you’ll be in danger!”

“You are the one who told me to go, Maxim.”

I stuck out my lips and spoke, and Maxim’s face was tinged with a sense of defeat.

Seizing the opportunity, I slipped back under Maxim’s cloak again.

 

***

 

Hart and Asta put on masks they received at the entrance and went down to the underground.

Despite the desolate appearance, the underground auction was bustling with people.

It wasn’t just people. There were also small demons, magical items, and artifacts of unknown origin that would be put up for auction, and even slaves.

“They’re trading slaves here too.”

Hart felt sick to his stomach.

‘But where is Maxim?’

Maxim was good at hiding his body and guarding himself.

But despite that, he seemed to have an unusually strong presence.

‘He must be somewhere. I don’t need to worry, since he’s someone who appears right away if I needed him.’

But why do I keep feeling uneasy?

Even after they sat down, Hart couldn’t concentrate.

Asta, who was uncomfortable seeing him like that, opened her mouth.

“How is that child doing these days?”

“That child? Are you talking about Hanelope?”

“Yes.”

“My daughter is doing well.”

Hearing Hart casually address Hanelope as ‘my daughter’ Asta bit her lip.

“Good to hear. But is that child really yours?”

“What do you mean?”

Hart asked right away.

“It’s better to make things clear, especially in cases like this. We don’t even know how Laura survived alone.”

“If you’re pondering on those things, I don’t care about it.”

“But I’m worried. The Prince, who has never raised a child, was entrusted with that child all of a sudden.”

“It’s okay. The maids look after the child.”

“But it’s different when family takes care of them.”

Hart looked at Asta sitting in the next seat.

He had a serious face, as if Hart was willing to listen to anything she had to say.

“So what should I do?”

“That child must have relatives. It would be best to find them and let the child grow up among family.”

“Unfortunately, Laura was an orphan.”

“Then, how about finding a good place…! I happen to know a convent that takes care of illegitimate children. It would be a good place to…”

“Asta.”

Hart called her in a very low voice.

His voice was like the bottom of the deep sea, and Asta was startled.

“Hanelope is my child. I should take care of her myself. Whether she’s illegitimate or not, it doesn’t matter to me.”

“Your Highness, please don’t misunderstand. I just wanted to help you…”

“I didn’t misunderstand at all. And…”

Hart looked up at Asta with a piercing gaze.

“This is the last time I’m helping you.”

“Pardon?”

“Now that I have a child of my own, I can’t afford to do anything dangerous. If I can help in any other way, I will, but please leave this type of work to someone else.”

Asta looked at Hart in disbelief.

“Your Highness, this is….”

“And another thing. I cannot help but think of my reputation as a father, and Hanelope hates to see me being criticized. So the last thing I need is for my reputation to be tarnished.”

“Your Highness, listen to me…”

Asta spoke up urgently.

“The auction will start now. Everyone please be seated!”

The booming voice came from the centre of the room.

The room grew eerily quiet.

Soon, the first item was brought up on the podium: A demon.

The leashed animal barked loudly. People shouted in excitement.

Hart and Asta were no longer in the mood for conversation. Asta bit her nails, unable to hide her nervousness.

‘Why the sudden change? It’s too fast.’

She had worked so hard to brainwash Hart.

And now he’s changed like this, just because a little bastard showed up.

‘After all, blood is blood.’

An illegitimate child of the woman who abandoned him.

‘I’d known this would happen, I should have just gotten rid of her.’

Asta regretted the mercy she had shown Laura in the past.

When Laura left Hart, and Hart kept wandering here and there.

Asta went in search of Laura, who had run away.

Hart thought Asta was there to bring her back, but the truth was different.

“Why are you hiding in such an easy-to-find place? You actually want Prince Hart to find you, don’t you?”

“What? It’s not like that!”

“Is it so? You’re pretending to be nice. But in your heart, you want Prince Hart to come back to you. You don’t care whether he’s abandoned by the Emperor or not, and thus stripped of his crown!”

“What, deprived of succession?”

“Are you pretending that you don’t know? He’s about to be dethroned as Prince, let alone being a Crown Prince, all because of you.”

“Then what am I- what am I supposed to do?”

“Go farther away. Where the Prince will never find you.”

Asta had gone to Laura to get rid of her.

What Asta overlooked was Laura already had Hanelope in her belly.

‘I should have killed her, she was just a nuisance.’

But variables can be eliminated.

The Duke of Eisen’s spy was doing his job.

Soon they would be able to handle Hanelope.

‘Another loss of a loved one will break Hart, and it will be easier to make him a slave to me again.’

Meanwhile, the first auction item was sold.

The next auction item was a person.

A chained boy was dragged up, his face cloudy.

“He’s an excellent slave we’ve trained. He’s quite strong, so he’ll do well in any job.”

As Hart listened to the auctioneer’s description, a dark look of disgust crossed his face.

Impatiently, he whispered to Asta.

“Asta, what did you say you were here to buy?”

“A red pendant. It’s  lost a memento of my late grandmother, and I heard it was going to be on display here.”

Asta said, not paying much attention to the boy.

“Can I buy it in your name? It’s too risky using my own.”

Even if it was a secret auction, anyone could find out the identity of the buyer here.

Potential customers and accomplices simply chose not to do so.

However, if the buyer was a “Saint,” the story would be different.

She’s a tasty prey to be uncovered at all costs.

That’s why Asta threw the Hart to the drooling mantis instead of herself.

“Ok.”

“Then I suppose there’s no problem with buying something else in addition to that.”

“What do you want to buy?”

Instead of answering, Hart raised his bidding paddle.

Many masked men raised their paddles, but no one could outbid Hart.

In the end, the slave boy was sold to Hart.

Asta was stunned.

“What are you going to do with a slave? You’re going to hire him to do the work.”

“I don’t want him to work. I want him as a witness.”

“Witness?”

“Because when I’m done with you, I’m going to raze this filthy auction house to the ground.”

Hart spat out coldly.

It was then that the man sitting behind him pulled out a suspicious-looking needle.

The masked man turned out to be an auction house employee.

His job was to stand between the bidders and weed out those, like Hart, who might be a danger to the auction house.

What he pulled out was a venomous needle.

The sting is only a mild prick, so Hart couldn’t think much of it, but within a day he would be coughing up black blood and dying.

The man was about to plunge the poisonous needle into Hart’s back.

A commotion erupted at the entrance to the auction house, and a group of men rushed in.

The panicked auctioneer stood in their way.

“There are no empty seats! If you want to bid, you’ll have to stand in the back.”

Then the man at the head of the crowd shouted.

“Shut up! We are the Capital Guard. We’re going to arrest everyone who participated in this illegal auction!”