Chapter 58
“What about his condition.”
“It seems that he will be able to move when he wakes up.”
After playing chess with the Emperor.
As Isilis slowly tilted her head, staring at someone, Duke Bell walked through the shadows.
He let slip underneath.
A piece presumed to be a necklace for communication was horribly broken on the table.
The necklace was a secret project.
She promised to appoint him, who was the Empress’ Imperial Family’s guardian, as the grand magician belonging to the Imperial Family.
A grand magician belonging to the Imperial Family.
If that happened, he would have two voting rights that could be exercised at the regular meeting of the Imperial Family.
It meant being on the very same level as Cassis.
“…It was frustrating that the communication necklace broke this time.”
Duke Bell’s delusions were shattered when the Empress opened her mouth.
“That’s right.”
“This time, it would be nice to cast black magic on something that doesn’t break.”
“Your Imperial Majesty. That necklace was made by a craftsman with dwarven blood, being refined 7 times. But such a tough thing…”
“Sian.”
The Empress gave an answer without hesitation.
“I will cast black magic on Sian. Then there will be no interruption of communication.”
Isilis’s duty was to hasten the story of his heroism in the execution of Vallois.
At least not before she’s killed by the Duke.
However, seeing such a precarious little child, she also felt that she was still far away.
Hmm.
Or should she kill him?
“…By the way.”
“Yes?”
“The pillars of the trial hall looked a little weak…”
Vallois will also come to the trial.
“I’m going to have to work on some pillars.”
After organizing his thoughts for a long time, Isilis leaned over and stared at Sian, who was lying down.
“People who come to the court shouldn’t get hurt, right?”
At her grim smile, Duke Bell gulped.
***
Vallois Castle has enjoyed unprecedented peace over the past five years.
Somehow, Dad was working hard on the role of the head of the household, as if the old congestion had gone away after going out.
‘Is he more of a party person than I expected?’
Is it because of that?
Aides and servants, who are greatly affected by the mood of the householder, have also become stable.
The beginning was business.
The business, which had been suspended due to Dad’s absence, began to resume.
“Your Grace. In this Twining’s transportation business…”
“Please look at this too, Your Grace. These are some documents about the Grace Coal Mine business that you gave permission the other day.”
Valolis was a family famous for swordsmanship in the first place, but Dad ran amok and made dozens of conquests.
If the land you own increases, business will naturally arise in it.
Anyway, everything was good.
It seemed like it would be all right if I learned the tracking technique and progressed with the bird searching for the regressor.
But.
“Hey, Dust, you woke up?”
“My sister. Playing in class again today…”
The day I was munching on Dad’s tasteless sandwich.
Kai and Bian, who had brought breakfast, looked at Dad and their expressions went cold.
It was the same with Cassis who stiffened at the sight of the twins.
I glanced at my older brothers and Dad, who were awkward.
Then I put down the sandwich I was eating and shouted.
“Voila! Dad’s here!”
Whooshㅡ
Midwinter came to my bedroom, colder than the north.
“…”
Dad opened his rabbit eyes as if he was frightened.
He has a lot to say, yet he’s like an old man who doesn’t know what to say.
But my brothers were different.
“Hey, I’ll leave this.”
“Come to us when you have time. Sister.”
They didn’t seem to have anything to say at first.
With a darkened gaze, Kai put the fresh cream cake he had brought on top of the chest of drawers and left.
It was the same with Bian, who smiled.
There was a sharp knife in his smile.
‘Come to think of it, in my previous life, we had a really bad relationship with Dad.’
Even though I became close with Dad through the regression buff.
Now, when this is the first episode of their lives, the older brothers must be terribly resentful of their father.
At the place where the older brothers left, there was only an awkward silence.
I was bewildered and flustered for no reason, so I was glancing at Dad.
“Billie.”
“Hm?”
“Your older brothers aren’t mad at you.”
“Yep. I know.”
“I know?”
Dad laughed at my affirmative answer as if it was absurd.
But of course, laughing won’t make you laugh.
He was silent for a while.
Was he having a lot of thoughts?
He was playing with my cheeks with his thick, long fingers.
“Daddy did a lot of things wrong. So I’m going to study hard.”
“About what?”
“Anything.”
There was no further explanation.
He left only those meaningful words and went back to his office.
And after a few days.
“Isn’t that guy dragging a strange woman?! Has he already forgotten our mom?!”
Dad’s mysterious promise was revealed while we were playing in the garden.
***
“So we’re going to secretly watch like this?”
“Not only did he damage Vallois, he brought an outsider, who isn’t Mom, to our castle as well?! I can’t forgive him! Dust. You too, right?”
“…I’m uncomfortable.”
Uncomfortable.
Uncomfortable.
Uncomfortable.
Tinnitus rang as soundless complaints crashed here and there in the narrow passage.
We were crawling through the aisles.
It was a small air circulation passage in the ceiling connecting the second and third floors of the castle.
Kai’s plan was as follows.
“Just hang in there. If we crawl through the aisle, we will overhear the conversation between the woman and the family head.”
It was very reliable to see him encouraging the members like an action leader.
But in reality, there was only my brother’s butt crawling in front of me.
“Blergh.”
“What?”
“Nothing. By the way, when are you going to tell me about the tracking technique?”
I tried to ignore the unpleasant scene and changed the topic.
First round of regression.
I was worried about another regressor rather than Dad’s girlfriend.
“Sister. I said so when you were in class. You have to get used to Magi first.”
“Will I get used to it by crawling like this?”
“No. You get used to it while playing with your brothers. Even now, we’re releasing Magi bit by bit.”
I could feel Brother Bian crawling behind me and smiling kindly.
Although I was displeased, he wasn’t lying.
In fact, my older brothers had been playing with me for several days, secretly releasing Magi.
Kind of like stretching before exercise?
Because it’s to prevent my body from being paralyzed after experiencing Magi for the first time.
“Hey, geez. Everyone, stop and be quiet.”
It was then.
“Aaaakh!”
Kai suddenly stopped my body.
Colliding with his ass, I grimaced at him with a terrible feeling.
“So I told you to stop!”
It seemed that Kai felt the same way.
Fortunately, Bian, who was quick-witted, didn’t collide with me and kept an appropriate distance.
“Why, did you hear anything?”
“I felt like I could hear conversations below us.”
Kai, who became very serious, lowered his upper body and placed his ears on the ground.
Both of us followed him.
It was then that the fog cleared due to the mumbling noise.
“Now, the basis of parenting is love. Basically, you have to show love when dealing with your children. This is basic, you know.”
“…What is love, she said?”
Behind my back.
Bian’s windless laughter was heard.
“Could that guy be receiving parenting education?”
The three of us looked at each other in bewilderment.
For now, I decided to focus on the sound of the conversation.
“But dry affection is bound to cause problems. How should you proceed with the discipline of your beloved children? Shall we do a brief QnA?”
Judging by the businesslike tone, it was clear that the outsider was a parenting teacher.
A moment of silence passed.
There was no answer, but it seemed that Dad was nodding his head solemnly.
“First. What if your children have trouble with other nobles?”
“It can be solved with money and power.”
“Second. Rumors spread about their self-restraint in social circles. What attitude should the head of the family show at that time?”
“I can explode a bigger incident and bury it.”
“Third. You’re angry that your children married someone else instead of an arranged marriage.”
“I won’t do arranged marriages, and the man on the groom’s side will be buried.”
He added, growling.
“…Not even a woman.”
Cassis, having finished his words, closed her mouth as if feeling relieved.
The teacher had no answer.
She seemed at a loss for words at his wonderful, snuffed reply.
“I agree with him a little about that last sentence.”
“Yep, me too.”
“I know, right.”
For some reason, the older brothers who sympathized with Dad’s answer came to their senses belatedly and hesitated.
“But isn’t it really a typical example of a vicious noble?”
“There were some nobles who lived like that and were executed. Anyway, the strange woman was a teacher. That’s a relief.”
‘What’s a relief! The vicious nobles being executed could be our future, you bastards!’
Unlike my older brothers who were relieved by the strange woman’s true identity, I broke out in a cold sweat and was stunned.
I thought Dad was nice, wasn’t he?
He can’t fix his nature?
I was distraught, but Cassis was rather confident.
“The Vallois side will take care of that. I’m a noble, do I have to care?”
You have to, Dad!
If you don’t, you’ll be destroyed!
At that time.
“Anyway, I have another question.”
The passionate student’s attitude brought the teacher to her senses.
“What question is it?”
He hesitated.
“…Is there a way to deal with it when I, the father, do something wrong, other than what my children did wrong?”
The teacher and we all hesitated at the indifferent question.
Judging from how he asked in a curious tone from earlier, he didn’t seem to be interested when his children did something wrong in the first place.
It was then.
“…I want to go out.”
“Suddenly?”
Brother Kai’s movements were unusual.
A look of hurt grazed his face as if he had been hit in the back of the head.
“Kai. When we get back from here, Billie and I have to move together. Let’s listen to the end.”
Unlike Kai, Bian seemed curious about Dad’s attitude.
However, Kai turned his body towards me as if he was uncomfortable.
“…You can teleport.”
“I want to hear from Dad. Billie, what about you?”
As both eyes turned to me, I nodded my head in a daze.
“Mm. Me too.”
It was the majority rule.
“…Then I’m going to keep walking like this and pass through the other side.”
“We’ll go to you after we listen to everything.”
“…Yeah.”
It was time for Kai, who couldn’t refute my opinion and only pouted his lips, to take a step forward.
Crack.
“?”
The sound of something breaking was heard.
It was the moment when Kai’s pale face turned to us.
“Ah!”
Kai fell through the ceiling with the broken ground.
“Brother!”
“Kai, are you okay?!”
Blinking his bunny eyes, Kai had no answer for a while.
The fallen older brother was cradled right in Dad’s lap as he listened to the lesson.
