How to Protect My Sub Male Lead Dad

“What?”

I gasped, as if I’d been hit in the head.

“Don’t think that bribing me will make it easier. I don’t teach subpar students, even if it’s a request from Hart.”

“Oh, no, I didn’t…. It’s really my favorite…. The nanny told me to secretly drink this.”

Duchess Moltke snorted.

Then she stared at me sharply, as if sizing me up.

“I don’t want to know about that. What I’m curious about is what’s inside your little head. I wonder if you really resemble your birth mother, as Hart said.”

“…….”

“Because if you don’t even resemble her, then you’re truly worthless.”

She seems to be really planning to test me properly.

I studied as hard as I could for this day. I hope the question come from the topics I know.

Duchess Moltke opened a thick book.

‘Wow! The thickness was intimidating.’

But when Hanelope looked inside, she was pleasantly surprised.

‘It was a picture of morning glory!’

Of course, the intricate writing next to it was hard to read. As I grunted, Duchess Moltke sighed.

“The Franca language is a basic requirement for royalty, though I’m not sure if you qualify as a royal.”

Franca!

It had been mentioned casually in the original.

‘This was the ancestral language we are currently using.’

It has been transformed so much that it can be said that it’s different from the current language.

As a result, it is rarely spoken.

‘The royal family purposefully learned to speak Franca to differentiate themselves from others.’

Duchess Moltke began to spell it out for me in a curt tone.

She was not kind to me, but she was not acting in a crude manner either.

It was clear and coherent.

‘Even so, it was hard for a child to understand everything at once.’

“You understood, right?”

Duchess Moltke asked coldly.

‘If you say I didn’t, she might throw me out of the window.

Before I could answer, she pointed to the open page.

“Interpret it.”

What?

I was puzzled.

‘Are you expecting me to read after knowing a few spelling rules?’

I was taught somewhat skillfully, but it was only surface-level knowledge. Even though I think like an adult, this was still challenging for me!

My pink eyes flicked to the illustration of a flower and shook like an earthquake.

“Can you do it?”

Duchess Moltke urged, her voice chilly.

‘If I honestly reply that I can’t, I’ll be doomed.’

If I was to win the Emperor over, I would need the Duchess Moltke’s trust.

She was the only link between Hart and the Emperor.

‘But the Duchess will soon be killed by Asta’s plot.’

To stop it, I had to make her believe my words and act on them.

I could feel my mouth getting dry.

‘Ah! Speaking of which, this illustration…’

It looked like an academic illustration of the morning glory flower.

I was tired of reading them.

Even though my mum was starving herself, she used to buy books containing information about the morning glory berries.

She wanted to find a cure for my genetic disease.

‘It was hard to get accurate information because the flower doesn’t grow in this country.’

Most of the books had a similar layout. The illustration was printed in between, and its descriptions would be written on the side.

The number of paragraphs and lines were also identical.

‘Perhaps several authors copied the same material.’

Because it was difficult to obtain information about the morning glory flowers in this land.

‘Then, the one at the top would be the name of the flower, and below it would be the family, place of origin, flowering season, and so on.’

I had already memorized the content too well from reading it so many times.

When I realized that, suddenly it seemed like I could read Franca.

As I compared the known interpretation and the characters, the spelling and principles I had learned earlier quickly reassembled in my mind.

‘There’s no way I expected…’

“The name: Morning Glory Flower. Family: Convolvulaceae. Place of origin: East Continent…”

I read on coolly.

Duchess Moltke’s eyes widened.

“Wait, stop.”

She flipped the page quickly.

There was a description of another plant.

“Read this one.”

“Name: Tulip, Family is Liliaceae. Mostly found in southern Ariel. And….”

I tried to answer using my previous knowledge and some assumptions, trying to guess from the floral illustrations.

Then Duchess Moltke spoke up sharply.

“Wrong, it’s Norielle.”

I felt my blood run cold.

‘What do I do?’

“I’m sorry, but if you give me one more chance, I’ll study hard and not make a mistake.”

I looked up at Duchess Moltke pleadingly, unsure of what to do.

But as expected, her face was full of surprise.

“Ariel and Norielle. The two words are very similar in Fracan. You were almost right.”

Duchess Moltke glanced over.

“How did you interpret it? I mean, literal reading is one thing, but how did you know words you don’t even know the meaning of? Who taught you?”

Again, I couldn’t let the topic go.

I hesitated, then answered truthfully.

“Actually, I like morning glories.”

“Morning glories?”

“Yes. So I pretended to interpret from what I knew…..”

“But what about the tulip? Did you know about that flower?”

“I’ve never seen a tulip before. I just assumed it…..”

“Just assumption! You were making an educated guess based on what I told you, and your interpretation of the Morning Glory section was….”

Duchess Moltke smirked.

“You tried to trick me.”

“I did.”

“But a trick like this can be quite entertaining.”

Duchess Moltke glared at me.

My small hands were moist with nervousness.

“Good enough!”

Duchess Moltke said cynically.

My heart skipped a beat.

‘The Duchess of Moltke said ‘good enough’!

‘Good enough’ was her highest praise.

Touched, I looked up at her, my eyes sparkling.

“Thank you!”

“It’s burdensome. Don’t look at me like that.”

Duchess Moltke said, averting her eyes.

She shoved a new notebook at me.

“Then you have to study your Franca properly from now on.”

Properly from now on?!

She’s going to be my teacher!

I passed the test!

I felt like I could fly with joy.

 

***

 

‘Why isn’t she coming back?’, Lady Melanie thought nervously.

It was already two hours since the Duchess of Moltke had gone into the study with Hanerope.

‘I thought she’d leave the drawing room in a flash of anger, just what happened?’

She gave Hanerope a juice laced with sleeping pills.

If it had worked, she would have dozed off as soon as she sat down.

‘The Duchess of Moltke will have no mercy on you when she sees her like that….’

Lady Melanie looked at Hart, who sat on the sofa in the drawing room, sipping tea. He, too, had been waiting for the Duchess of Moltke, ever since his daughter had entered the study.

Hart had deliberately not shown his face in the study, believing that his presence would be a drag.

Yet Hart hadn’t shown any signs of annoyance, even though the wait could have been exhausting.

‘Does he really care about his illegitimate daughter?’

Of all the noblemen Lady Melanie had seen, none were like this.

‘Does she have an ulterior motive? Hanelope doesn’t seem particularly clever. Saving the Saint seems like a mere coincidence.’

Just then the door opened and the Duchess of Moltke entered.

Her face showed signs of fatigue.

Lady Melanie almost laughed out for a moment.

‘She must be unhappy with Hanerope, by the look on her face.’

“Duchess, how was the lesson? Did the Young Lady make any mistakes?”

Duchess Moltke ignored Lady Melanie and turned to her nephew.

“Hart, I thought I said you didn’t have to wait.”

Lady Melanie closed her mouth in embarrassment.

“How can I! When my aunt has come to look after my daughter.”

“That’s not what you’d expect from someone who claims to be busy when asked to accompany you to see the Emperor.”

The Duchess of Moltke’s words struck a chord with Hart.

Looking at her nephew, Duchess Moltke thought to herself.

‘He had been waiting for his little girl.’

She was intrigued.

It was strange that Hart would care so much about a blood relative.

For a time, after losing his lover, Hart was like an emotionless man.

Then he met Asta.

The thought made me sick to my stomach.

‘His feelings for Asta are not love. They were abnormal, and nothing good has happened to him since he met her.’

This was why Duchess Moltke was wary of Asta.

‘Perhaps this young one will serve my purpose.’

She was clever enough to be fun to teach.

‘Inwardly, I would have liked to have teach her more, but I suddenly felt dizzy and tired. So I had to stop.’

I could see Hanelope’s eyes glazed over with regret.

‘It’s peculiar how a child can study for hours and still want to do more.’

When the Duchess of Moltke fell silent, lost in thought, Hart spoke up nervously.

“How was your lesson?”

“Ordinary.”

The Duchess of Moltke let it out in a short burst. Her expression was uncharacteristically cold.

Lady Melanie’s face flushed with color.

‘She didn’t like it. My plan worked.’

Hart, on the other hand, was relieved. He knew his aunt’s temper well.

‘It’s a positive sign when she says ‘ordinary’.

To be honest, he was skeptical.

Even though Sofi had come at his request, she was the kind of person who could leave if she didn’t like something.

“Auntie, if you don’t mind, I’d like to invite you to dinner tonight.”

“You are kind, but I am suddenly tired and would like to return home early tonight.”

Duchess Moltke rose from her seat.

Hart went with her to see her off.

As soon as they were out of sight, Lady Melanie smiled wickedly.

‘How bad an impression Hanelope might have left to make the Duchess leave without dinner!’