Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Is the Coachman Dead?
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The man, shriveled up like old snakeskin, no longer even groaned.
He was the employee from the main family who'd been rude to me while carrying Yasmin on his back, but until just moments ago, he'd been alive and brought me here in the carriage.
'Such a person, like this......'
Hiccup.
In this place where everyone held their breath in fear, my oblivious hiccup rang out especially loud and clear.
'Oh no!'
I tried to hold my breath somehow, but the hiccups refused to subside.
Perhaps because I was so terrified, my adult reasoning slowly clouded over.
At a time like this, I needed to keep my wits about me.
Dad's gaze slowly settled on me.
"A, uh......"
Reflexively, I wanted to spin around and flee, but my whole body had gone rigid and refused to move.
Death was my trauma.
What I'd gained from my own death and the butler's accident.
Dad's eyes met mine, losing their dull sheen as they twisted, like he was suppressing something deep inside.
Scary.
No.
I don't want to die again......!
"You......"
A moment of silence passed.
Dad's gaze persistently scanned every inch of my face.
Gazing at my pink hair like it was something distant, Dad slowly stepped toward me.
The frozen ground around the ice blades shattered under his military boots with a glassy crunch.
"Hello, Lucy's daughter."
At his greeting, as Dad reached out toward me, I couldn't hold back the terror and burst into tears.
I scrambled backward, and his hand froze in midair.
"Hweeeeng! Pwease don't kiww me! I'm a good giwl!"
I shouldn't cry.
No one likes the sound of a child crying.
And someone who could kill without lifting a finger was even less likely to.
I knew that in my head, but the sobs wouldn't stop.
So instead of forcing the tears to halt, I decided to beg for all I was worth.
"Hic! Pwease, save me! Save, hic, save me!"
Anyway, I'm your daughter, right?
You wouldn't kill me too? Right?
Did bawling my eyes out, snot streaming, hands clutching my head over my face actually work?
Dad's halted hand slowly withdrew.
I seized the moment and backed up until my back hit the wall, widening the gap between us.
Belatedly, men in military uniforms like Dad's charged into the jewelry store.
They nimbly vaulted the unmelted ice blades jammed messily at the entrance, then blanched at the sight of me crying so hard I was on the verge of toppling over backward.
One of them glanced between me and Dad, squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them wide.
"Captain, is that little Lady Lucy......?"
"Yes. Probably my daughter."
"Oh dear, Captain! How could you make your daughter cry!"
The man rushed toward me and dropped to his knees.
"It's all right, miss. I'm Walter, your father's adjutant. You must have had quite the scare."
The man who introduced himself as Walter was enormous—nearly as tall as a doorframe—with a rugged, intimidating face.
But after what I'd seen of Dad, such details barely registered.
I wailed and nestled straight into the arm he extended. Walter gently patted my back.
I clung to his collar like it was a lifeline, and bit by bit, my trembling eased.
As the tension drained away, my legs shook even from within his embrace.
"Mariella."
But it was only for a moment. Dad called my name flatly, and my body locked up again.
Feeling every muscle pull taut, I turned toward him. Our eyes met, and I reflexively gulped before burying my face in Walter's chest.
'......Scary.'
As I shoved my head into Walter's chest like a frightened pheasant, a faint, hollow chuckle escaped from Dad's direction.
"Time to head back."
"What about that one over there......?"
"Take them all. They might come in handy."
Still scary!
The whole ride home in the carriage, I stayed cradled in Walter's arms.
When we were nearly there, I cautiously lifted my head and locked eyes with Dad, who had been watching me.
I flinched on instinct, but Dad didn't chide me.
He simply gazed in silence.
'He looks kind of sad?'
Dad held my gaze for a beat before turning to peer out the window first.
As the fear ebbed and my adult mind cleared, a flicker of curiosity about him began to stir.
The carriage pulled up to the house just as dusk was falling.
Unlike when I'd left, arriving in a pitch-black military carriage made the mansion staff gape.
Dad's sudden return at the head of a contingent of knights startled them most of all.
"W-Welcome home, Master. We never expected you three days ahead of schedule......"
Dad didn't spare a glance for the butler, who had bowed low first and deepest.
At Dad's nod, the knights who'd dismounted hauled out the ashen-faced Yasmin and dumped her before the butler like refuse.
Along with the coachman's corpse, shrunken like a dried fruit.
A thick silence blanketed the mansion.
"Stray rats have gotten into my house."
Dad spoke, tilting his head side to side like he was bone-tired, and the hush grew even heavier.
The butler strained his facial muscles into a forced smile.
"Pleased to meet you, Master. I was sent from the main family on the Duke's orders......"
"The old man's hounds, daring to......"
A crackling sound rang out, and the ground flash-froze.
Blue-glowing ice shards crept up the butler's polished shoes.
To evade the terrifyingly swift freeze, the butler twisted away with uncanny reflexes.
The moment he stomped down to shatter the pursuing ice and leap clear—
"You're nimble. Had some knight training, have you?"
The butler's head snapped toward Dad, who had posed the question.
Panic flickered across his face for an instant, and the pale blue glow pounced, clamping his ankle and freezing solid.
'Knight training?'
I'd thought he was in good shape, but knight-level?
I wanted to ask why someone like that was playing butler, but he pivoted faster.
Erasing the look of distress, he spoke calmly despite his face paling from the cold.
"Nothing to brag about in front of Sir Leopoldt. As expected of such potent Divine Grace."
Divine Grace?
It was a new term to me, but there was no time to dwell—the butler grimaced through a strained smile.
"But killing me with that power would land you in hot water. Declaring open defiance to the family head, are you?"
"I've been branded a traitor plenty before."
Dozens of ice blades materialized in the air, all trained on the butler's throat.
Dad smiled faintly, as if it were all a game.
Watching Dad treat rebellion against Grandpa like no big deal left the butler—mere moments from ice piercing his skin—in a panic.
He rolled his eyes frantically, dropped the fake smile, and shouted desperately.
"Think of Lady Lucy!"
Lady Lucy...... that's Mom's name.
From Dad to Walter to this butler—they'd all invoked Mom's name today.
"Lady Lucy's remains lie in the family mausoleum! Defy the Duke, and who knows what becomes of them...... You know that much, right?"
This bastard!
Dad's face went utterly blank. I thrashed free of Walter's arms.
Mentioning Mom was Dad's sore spot.
'But we can't kill the butler.'
Not yet!
With a sound like shattering glass, the ice shards encasing the butler shifted form.
"Aaaah!"
When something that sharp lodges in a person's arm like that, ugh......
Dad's expression stayed wooden through the butler's long, gruesome scream.
No, even I wanted to scream at him to just kill the butler already.
'But no all-out war with Grandpa.'
If Dad clashed with him, his kids—me and Dietrich—would be treated as extensions of Dad, dooming our positions.
I stealthily latched onto Dad's pinky finger.
An ice-cold hand.
I could roughly sense the depth of his rage.
Part of me wanted to hurl myself into his arms and play cute, but that was beyond me.
Just standing before him made my legs quake; holding my ground was my limit.
"A......"
I swallowed the sound whole and barely forced my mouth open.
"Don't kiww the butwer pwease."
Locking eyes with those golden irises, the killing intent not fully reined in, my knees nearly iced over.