How to Protect My Sub Male Lead Dad

“…I can’t cure her with my skills…”

“…the vials in the Young Lady’s room were…”

My whole body felt as heavy as soaked cotton.

Sound were echoing in my ears.

‘Where am I? What is everyone doing?’

“I’ll pay you any amount of money, but cure Hanelope.”

I heard Hart’s voice clearly through my dazed consciousness.

It sounded unexpectedly restless and agitated.

I was worried about him.

“Dad…”

I struggled to open my eyes and reached out my tiny hand. It was strange to see my white hand tinged with pink. At that moment, Hart’s large and cold hand warmly held my hand that was burning with heat.

“Are you awake?”

“Did I sleep much?“

I asked, rubbing my eyes with my other hand. Hart breathed a sigh of relief.

“A lot. I thought you’d never wake up.”

“I’m a sleepyhead.”

I started to sit up, but Hart stopped me.

“Your body is not fully recovered yet. Stay lying down.”

“I’m fine. I’m perfectly fine.”

I forced a smile and said.

The physician who had been in the room since earlier asked, “Miss, has this ever happened to you before?”

“No. I’ve never been sick.”

“Have you ever had sudden chest pains, or difficulty in breathing?”

“No. I’m fine now!”, I said, smiling broadly.

The physician shook his head.

‘It’s strange to see a patient perfectly fine when they shouldn’t be.’

I should be rolling around in pain.

The physician asked a few more questions and left the room.

Unable to sit up any longer, I flopped down on the bed.

“Hanelope!”

Startled, Hart tried to call the physician again, but I grabbed his hand.

“No. Don’t call him.”

“If you’re scared of receiving treatment, don’t worry. I’ll ask them not to make you feel pain. I’ll ask them not to give you any medicine that hurts. 

“That’s not it…”

I glanced round my room. Sherry and the maids were looking at me with concern.

I smirked at them and mouthed something only Dad could see.

“I’m fine.”

Hart leaned over and whispered to me.

“If you’re pretending to be a grown-up because you’re embarrassed, you don’t have to.”

“I just want to be alone with Dad.”

I whispered to him in a childish voice.

Hart paused, then turned to the maids.

“Everyone out.”

Hart and I were alone in the room.

It was time to tell him the truth.

“Dad, I have a confession to make.”

“What is it?”

Hart asked with a serious face.

I carefully chose my words, chewing on each one.

“Actually, I have a secret.”

Hart’s eyes narrowed as he listened. They were the eyes of someone who had already grasped what the secret was.

“You knew you were sick.”

I couldn’t hide it anymore.

I nodded.

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

Hart asked, barely holding back the emotions that were welling up.

‘Was he angry?’

Of course, he was.

He must have finally thought of me as a good-for-nothing child. We had just started to get along well. And now, to only find out that I carried such a terrible hereditary disease.

‘I was going to turn into a hassle and burden.’

But I have to tell the truth.

‘Asta showed me what happens when you lie.’

I clasped my hands together tightly.

The first thing I need to do is apologize.

“I was wrong, and I won’t hide bad things again. Please forgive me.”

I rubbed my tiny hands together.

Hart said nothing.

His face was stiff, the eyes cold.

‘He must be furious.’

Hart’s reaction hurt more than my body.

I bit my lower lip in a moment of fear and nervousness.

“Stop!”

Hart grabbed my fumbling hand.

My hand fit snugly in his large one, with a large room to spare.

Hart gave me a pained look.

“Why are you apologizing? Why is your illness a ‘bad thing’?”

“Because it’s bothersome for Dad to take care of a sick. And this is a difficult illness to cure.”

“What?”

Hart’s eyes widened.

I stammered an excuse.

“B-but it’s okay! Mom has researched many treatment methods! If I can just gather the ingredients, I can make the medicine myself. So, it’ll be fine, and you won’t have to worry… “

“It’s not okay.”

Hart’s voice turned hoarse.

“You don’t need to make medicine or anything like that.”

I froze, startled.

“I- I’m going to die if I don’t take my medicine!”

“Die..?”

Hart’s face turned white, as if he hadn’t realized it was so serious.

I had never seen him with so many mixed emotions.

“Th-the ingredients are all in the greenhouse! If I just get the unripe berry, I can take care of the rest.”

“…….”

“I won’t bother you anymore! I’ll do many useful things. I’ll help you a lot, Dad. So please, don’t abandon me. Please!”

“…….”

“I don’t want to die yet…”

Hart closed his eyes tightly. Then he suddenly wrapped his arms around me.

“?!”

“If you had such an illness, you should have told me. How long have you been enduring it alone…”

Hart’s voice trembled.

“…Dad?”

“How do you make the medicine? What do you need to make it? Tell me everything, and I’ll save you.”

“…….”

“Don’t worry, you’re not going to die.”

Hart patted me on the back.

To comfort me, to reassure me.

But Hart’s hands were shaking. His trembling, and the sound of his rapidly beating heart, made my heart sink.

‘He’s worried about me.’

As a father to his daughter.

He’s genuinely trying to save me.

‘I’m ashamed to admit that I misunderstood his genuine heart’

‘Dad…’

I bit my lip tightly and whispered to him.

“I don’t want anyone to know about my sickness.”

“….Why?”

“Because my illness will become a weakness for Dad! Let’s keep it a secret!”

Hart’s jaw tightened. He pulled away from me, who had been hanging on his shoulder to whisper, and met my eyes. His red eyes, always so cold, were sad as they held mine.

“It’s a parent’s job to worry and protect. You’re not meant to protect me.”

As soon as I heard his words, I heard my mum’s voice in my head.

“Hanelope, I will protect you, even if it costs my life.”

Dad loves me.

He loves me, just like Mum did!

‘I thought I’d never find someone who thought of me like this again after Mum left.’

Hart was there.

‘This person, he really is my dad.’

My dad.

My heart was pounding in my chest, and it was hard to hide my emotions.

I couldn’t help but let out a sob, “Hnggg……”

“Daddy!”

Embarrassed, but unable to hide my feelings, I threw myself into Dad’s arms. He wrapped his arms around me as if I were the most precious thing in the world.

My heart didn’t seem to hurt anymore.

I revealed everything about the genetic disease in the Koch family to Hart, no, to my dad. I told him about the incomplete drug I had been working on in the lab, he set up for me.

“Did Laura also die of the same disease?”

Dad looked very sad when he found out how Mum had died.

“Dad, it’s okay. She was happy to meet you.”

“…….”

“She said you were the coolest, nicest, sweetest person in the world.”

I hoped that Dad wouldn’t have any regrets.

Mom was truly happy because of meeting Dad. And as soon as Dad learned the truth, he began procuring ingredients for the medicine to treat the genetic disease.

He even built a new greenhouse to grow them. He also bought all the remaining Morning Glory berries in the market.

‘But I couldn’t find any unripe berry.’

There were only dried, shrivelled, poor-quality ones.

But there was a ray of hope.

I would have to wait until summer, when they would start importing it, to get the fresh ones. Fortunately, summer was just around the corner.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get you some unripe Morning Glory berries soon enough.”

While waiting for summer, I often collapsed and lost consciousness, but I wasn’t worried.

Because Dad was there.

 

***

 

The Great Temple was quiet in the afternoon.

Normally, it should have been the busiest time. There was no one approaching as Saint Asta passed through the central courtyard.

They only gathered and whispered to each other.

“I heard His Majesty prohibited the Saint from entering the palace.”

“Is it true that she harboured a grudge and conspired against Duke Moltke due to a disagreement?”

“It’s fortunate that it ended with the banishment, since she touched His Majesty’s most cherished younger sister.”

“My goodness, how could she do such a thing after all those years of being a Saint…”

“Well, she had a haughty personality before becoming a Saint. People’s true nature doesn’t change.”

Asta gritted her teeth.

She was furious that she was cast aside by the Emperor because of that useless little child Hart had picked up.

‘Who the hell spread this rumour about me?’

She couldn’t find the source of the rumour.

In the past, the stigma would have been Hart’s to bear. But now that he was gone, it was all Asta’s.

‘It’s also strange that the Duke and Duchess of Moltke gave the mine to the Emperor, something that never happened before the regression. Where did things start to go wrong? Why did the future change?’

Suddenly, a child’s face appeared, blinking her pink candy like eyes.

“Hart’s daughter, the child who was educated by Duchess Moltke -Hanelope von Reinhardt.”

A child who didn’t exist before the regression.

She was at the centre of all this.

‘It was only after her arrival that Hart changed. What if she influenced the Duchess of Moltke to give the mine away?’

It was a ridiculous speculation, even for me. She was a child, barely seven years old. A child still with baby fat. But there was no other explanation for the situation apart from Hanelope’s existence.

“If it weren’t for that annoying little brat…!

Asta’s anger was mounting.

It was ridiculous that she had to exert herself to remove that little child, and yet she was the one who ended up getting hurt.

She felt ashamed and humiliated that the child was standing in her way.

“Should I ask God Prache to help me?”

Contrary to his image of mercy, the God in question was very calculating.

Prache would demand more than he would bestow.

Besides, even the oracle hadn’t come down since I had failed to get the item from the illegal auction house.

“Damn it! What can I do?”

Asta muttered nervously as she entered the Archbishop’s office.

There was Asta’s father, Count Appel present.

“Father?”

When Count Appel realized Asta had arrived, he looked at her with disapproval.

Instead, Archbishop Liang greeted Asta.

“Saint, how are you doing? Count Appel came to visit me and we were just talking.”

“What are you discussing?”

Asta asked warily, and Count Appel blurted out.

“It’s about a business our family has been working on with the Imperial family, and ever since you were banned from the imperial palace, it’s been in danger of being cancelled!”

“Why didn’t you just talk to me? There’s no need for you to come all the way here…..”

“Why do I need to talk to you, someone who has been dismissed by the Emperor?”

Even though she was his daughter, Asta was a Saint.

Nevertheless, Count Appel was rude.

‘He’s always thought of nothing but using me.’

 

Notes:

• This has been my favourite chapter to translate so far. The readers already know both Hanelope and Hart are affection deprived people. They have their own traumas to overcome. And we finally see our Hanelope breaking her invisible wall.