How to Protect My Sub Male Lead Dad

Sherry, who had gone on vacation, appeared battered and bruised, supported by her younger brother.

As soon as she saw Hart, she cried out, “My Lady has been taken by Asta! She will kill her, please save My Lady!”

How did Hanelope, who was in the mansion, get there?

But there was no time to puzzle over the question. Rescuing Hanelope was the top priority.

The Emperor and Hart did everything in their power to rescue her.

Emperor sent soldiers to the cathedral. Officially, it was to protect the temple, but in reality, it was for surveillance.

As soldiers surrounded the building, Archbishop Liang, trembling with fear, rushed to the Emperor, “The Great Temple has nothing to do with Asta! We have been betrayed too!”

The Emperor did not listen to his excuses and sent him away.

But Archbishop Liang kept coming back for several days. So the Emperor thought it was the Archbishop again. But it was the Pope who came.

“Your Majesty, what is troubling you?”

The Emperor and Hart looked at the Pope with suspicion.

The Pope, frail and rarely leaving his chambers, hadn’t fulfilled his duties and spent most of his time confined. But no one cared about the feeble Pope’s actions. So, the Pope’s visit this time was highly unusual.

“Your Holiness, what brings you here?”

The Emperor asked directly as there was no time to waste.

The Pope, sensing his intention, spoke kindly, “I’ll get straight to the point. I came here wondering if I could be of assistance to you.”

Hart bit his lip, “What nonsense..”

Normally, he wouldn’t bother to listen and would have just dismissed him. But now, he was eager to grasp at any straw. The Emperor felt the same.

But trusting someone from the temple was risky.

“Could the powerless Pope be working for Asta?”

As suspicions towards him lingered, the Pope smiled wistfully.

“I understand if you don’t trust me. But would an old man, who could die anytime, deceive you for his own gain? I simply wish to do something good before I pass and hope for salvation for my soul.”

“How will the Pope save my granddaughter?”

The Emperor asked, his expression demanding an answer.

“We have someone who can help.”

The Pope whispered to the young priest beside him, “Bring her in.”

Soon, the priest reappeared with a young woman.

Black hair, black eyes. Fine facial features with a small mole under her left eye. Her appearance was alien, yet all the more attractive for it.

She looked around with curiosity, “Is this where the Emperor works? Wow! This is real gold?”

“Yes, Miss Yenna.”

The Pope called her by name.

The woman, who had been casually touching the decors, only then noticed the Emperor and Hart.

Her eyes widened as she looked at Hart, who was not hiding his wariness.

Suddenly, she quieted down and whispered to the Pope, “Who is that man?”

“He’s the First Prince of the Berg Empire.”

“He’s so d*mn handsome…”

“Ahem! Ahem!”

The Pope coughed dryly and covered the woman’s mouth.

She pouted in annoyance.

Hart’s brow furrowed at the ridiculous sight, “What is the meaning of all this?”

“I apologize. Miss Yenna finds this ‘world’ quite unfamiliar. Please excuse her behavior.”

The Pope bowed his head in apology.

Hart’s brow furrowed further, “She finds this ‘world’ unfamiliar? Is this woman from another world?”

Hart asked sharply, and the Pope nodded, “Yes. This is Yenna, a ‘real saint’ from the ‘other world’.”

“!”

“Yenna will save Princess Hanelope, and help you.”

 

***

I woke up to the rattling sound of the carriage.

As I opened my eyes, it was a dusky dawn. The carriage was heading towards the Stofen Harbor briskly.

I blinked, trying to adjust to the dark, blurry vision. As my vision began to clear, I saw a priest asleep next to me.

This young priest, belonging to the lower clergy, was always here to monitor me.

He was a strange man, who kept his responses minimal and sincere. But when I spoke to him, he would get flustered.

‘Thanks to him, I didn’t get bored on the journey here.’

I had only asked him, “How did you become a priest?” and now I knew his family connections, his childhood memories, and even his first love.

‘He’s really a chatterbox.’

Of course, it took a lot to make him open up.

Next to him, a burly priest snored.

He always carried food in his pockets, and even if I secretly took some, he wouldn’t say anything.

‘Since a few days ago, it seems like he intentionally puts cookies I like in his pockets. Am I mistaken?’

The priest currently driving the carriage even loosened the rope secretly when my bound wrists hurt because of Asta.

‘This journey hasn’t been as difficult as I thought it would be.’

Initially, they were quite cold.

‘I’m a hostage, after all.’

But as I initiated conversations and showed genuine interest, they slowly warmed up.

“Stop complaining! What do you, with your high status, know about me?”

“Well, um, do you really want to talk to me? Are you that bored?”

“Why would someone as esteemed as the Lady take an interest in us? Well, not that I mind…”

I noticed their attitudes changing gradually.

It was meant to make them drop their guard so I could escape, but thanks to it, I was receiving care to the point of feeling awkward.

Rustle.

Lost in thought, I was startled by a sound from the opposite side.

Asta was awake.

‘What is she doing?’

The sleepless girl was examining a handkerchief.

It was embroidered with the emblem of the Appel Viscounty, Asta’s family.

‘That’s the only birthday present her parents ever gave her, right?’

The Viscount and Viscountess Appel wanted a son, not a daughter. So when Asta was born, they were greatly disappointed.

Moreover, on the day Asta was born, suddenly, a part of the mansion’s wall collapsed, killing the Viscountess.

The Viscount thought of Asta as an ominous and unlucky child. So he entrusted her to a nanny and treated her as if she didn’t exist.

Asta’s birthday was also a forgotten day in the Appel family.

But on her twelfth birthday, when Asta cried out of loneliness, the Viscount threw her this handkerchief, telling her to stop crying.

‘Seeing the handkerchief, Asta’s tears dried up.

‘It might have been a hand-me-down for the Viscount, but it was a precious treasure for Asta.’

Asta cherished this handkerchief dearly.

‘It’s the only item she received from her parents.’

But on the day Asta argued with Yenna and cried, the Viscount snatched the handkerchief and threw it into the fireplace.

‘I thought she would hate the handkerchief by now, but it seems like she still values it even after reincarnation.’

What was the reason?

To the regressor Asta, her family was also a target for revenge. So shouldn’t she discard the handkerchief as well?

‘Does she still hold onto the lingering hope of being loved by her family?’

As I pondered, Asta, feeling my gaze, lifted her head.

She was irritated seeing me stare at her. I interrupted her before she could launch into another tirade, “That handkerchief, did you get it from your parents? It has the Appel family crest on it.”

“What? Why do you care?”

“It looks like a valuable item.”

“Don’t make assumptions you don’t know.”

Asta tucked the handkerchief. Normally, she would have thrown it away, but the way she held on to it showed that she still valued it.

Her words didn’t match her actions.

“Why would I like something related to Appels? They don’t deserve to be parents.”

Asta, speaking bitterly, suddenly looked lonely.

So, unknowingly, I said, “I understand. Just because someone has the title of a parent doesn’t mean they act like one.”

Asta flinched. But then she glared at me as if she wanted to kill me.

“You’re so arrogant! You think you know what you’re talking about when you’re the darling of the family. I’ll show you what it means!”

Asta raised her hand to slap me.

I didn’t close my eyes or dodge, but looked up at her through the corner of my eye, “My parents in my previous life didn’t love me either.”

Asta’s hand flinched in midair.

“…What?”

“They were always mad at me, even when I didn’t do anything wrong. It was her who bullied me, but I was always the one who was abandoned.”

“What nonsense are you talking…!”

“Even when I was wrongfully kicked out, my parents didn’t stand up for me. It was like they wanted me to disappear.”

“…….”

“And yet I was sad when my parents died. Isn’t that weird?”

Asta slowly lowered her hand, looking half in disbelief, half in fear.

“P-Previous life, what nonsense are you spouting? That can’t be true. Are you so scared because you’re about to die? Or is it just a child’s imagination?”

“You regressed, too.”

“!”

“You came back to get revenge on Yenna.”

Asta, who had frozen at the word ‘regression’, looked at me, unable to breathe at the mention of Yenna’s name.

After a long moment, she broke down and leaned back against the back of the carriage, trembling.

Then, still in shock, she muttered in a daze, “You were a witch after all. Something always seemed off about you. You didn’t seem like an ordinary kid.”

“Prache won’t help you, don’t listen to him.”

Asta smirked with a deranged look.

“I know. I know that Prache is selfish. But I have no choice but to rely on him even if he’s evil.”

“…….”

“If you had a previous life, you should know, right? The desire for revenge, the desire to live no matter what!”

“No,” I said with a stern face.

Asta flinched.

I stared straight at her, “I want to live too. But I think the past can’t be changed. Trying to change it will only twist it differently.”

“Are you talking about me now?” Asta scoffed, asking.

But she wasn’t furious. Instead, she seemed to mock herself.

“The past can’t be changed, but the future can.”

Asta turned her head away. As she didn’t want to hear anymore, and said, “If you want to live, keep your mouth shut, kid.”

She just seemed tired of talking.

Asta closed her eyes and leaned against the backrest.

‘Did she fall asleep?’

I averted my gaze from her.

But a moment later, just when I thought Asta was asleep, she suddenly whispered to me, “You don’t need to mourn the death of parents who abandoned you.”

I looked up in surprise, but Asta had closed her eyes again.