Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Patriarch's Intervention
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My dad was usually subtly playful, brimming with boyish charm even as the father of three kids.
‘He’s probably putting in effort to bond quickly with Nana and Dietrich too.’
Even accounting for that, he still came across as unusually casual for the firstborn heir of a great noble house.
He mingled effortlessly with knights from commoner backgrounds, after all.
And he’d even fallen in love with Mom, who was a commoner herself, and married her.
But in front of Uncle, every word he uttered seemed to freeze the air like thin ice.
A faint crack rippled across Uncle’s smiling face for a moment, but he quickly composed himself and beckoned to the attendant standing behind him with a flick of his hand.
“Open it.”
The tone was utterly cold, nothing like the one he used when speaking with Dad.
So this must be his true nature, huh?
The attendant, following Uncle’s order, cradled the box carefully and lifted the lid.
Then he let out a sharp yelp and dropped it right there.
“S-Sorry, Young Duke!”
Uncle didn’t even glance at the attendant groveling on the floor before him.
He simply stared silently down at the contents of the fallen box, his face chillingly impassive as he turned to Dad.
Without a trace of amusement, Uncle’s features looked sharp and prickly.
“What is this, Brother?”
“Someone tried to kill my daughter and my disciple. It’s been a while, so I figured we should at least let them see each other’s faces.”
If that’s what’s inside the box, then...
I hadn’t even intended to peek inside, but Dietrich and Florian yanked me backward in unison.
And they were just kids themselves. So sweet it hurt.
“I’m curious why you’d gift me the head of such a vile criminal, of all people.”
“It’s absurd. For someone raised in the main house to dare target a direct line of the ducal family.”
Uncle’s lips twisted.
He no longer bothered hiding the icy chill in his voice.
“Are you suspecting me?”
“You’ve grown a bit wiser since your days under main house tutelage, at least.”
Anger began to flicker across Uncle’s face as he absorbed Dad’s insult, delivered as casually as breathing.
A subtle contempt laced his expression too.
“Even if you are my brother, you can’t hurl such insults at me, the heir to the Northern Duchy. Can you bear the consequences?”
“Bear the consequences.”
Dad cut him off curtly and stared at Uncle with a blank expression.
“That’s what I should be asking you. There are plenty of living witnesses, so you can’t sharpen your claws like this just yet, Dominic.”
The terse shout from an elderly man halted the murderous exchange between the brothers.
“How dare you cause a scene before me!”
The very air shifted.
All eyes and attention, locked on the brothers’ sharp standoff, pivoted at once toward the old man—like a massive ocean current.
An irresistible flow.
At its end stood an elderly man in pitch-black formal attire, his white hair slicked back impeccably with pomade.
His mere presence froze countless people in place.
‘That’s the lord of the North.’
I knew it the instant I saw him.
Behind the old man stood the Northern retainers in black formal wear that clashed with the banquet hall’s splendor, silent and arrayed.
Figuring out they were Grandfather’s personal guard was simple.
‘The ceremonial grandpa who entered ahead of us was standing right at the front.’
And with utmost deference, no less.
His demeanor alone made it crystal clear who truly ruled this place.
Grandfather strode forward arrogantly, not sparing us three kids behind Dad so much as a glance.
“No one causes a ruckus in my house.”
His aura was enough to drop most people to their knees on the spot, but apparently, Dad wasn’t most people.
He scoffed outright.
“What will you do about it? Whether it’s the ducal seat or whatever, I couldn’t care less—I’m the family black sheep.”
The mockery dripped openly from his words.
“So you finally know your place.”
Grandfather looked down at him as if such barbs were mere tickles.
What a character.
How could they be so alike?
Dad and Grandfather resembled each other so strikingly—in build, face, even their ferocious presence—that no one could doubt they were father and son.
Their refusal to yield was identical too!
What if something happens to Dad like this?
Sensing my fidgeting, Florian tapped the back of my hand with his finger.
Our eyes met, and he whispered low.
“I’ll help.”
How could you?
I shot him a skeptical look, and Florian released my hand, stepping forward a few paces.
Right between Grandfather and Dad.
His shoulders were stiff with tension amid the overflowing menace—a place no one would dare step into by mistake.
“Pleased to meet you, Duke Kalenberg.”
Grandfather’s gaze, aimed at Dad, snapped to Florian like a cold blade.
Even a tough kid would’ve burst into tears under that stare, but Florian held firm.
What a kid.
Then again, he wouldn’t have survived this long otherwise.
“I’m the Imperial First Prince, Florian Hildebrandt.”
The prince’s sudden appearance shifted the atmosphere around him in an instant.
Even as the unwanted prince, Florian was still the emperor’s eldest son.
His presence demanded attention anywhere.
So that’s what he meant by helping.
The heavy silence that had pinned Dad under Grandfather’s pressure shattered, murmurs rising here and there.
“Welcome, Prince.”
The only one unmoved, radiating arrogance, was Grandfather.
He was the ruler of the North, after all.
He wouldn’t bow easily even if the emperor himself showed up, let alone the first prince.
“You didn’t come to celebrate my heir’s birthday. What brings you here?”
…Does Grandfather actually dislike Uncle too?
Well, whether it’s just his rotten personality or actual dislike for Uncle, watching Uncle’s face crumple beside him was entertaining enough.
While I ogled Uncle’s expression, Florian calmly continued.
“His Majesty praised Sir Leopoldt’s achievements and appointed him as my tutor.”
Grandfather’s eyebrow arched sharply.
“I’ll be under his care at the Northern Ducal Residence for the time being, so I came to pay my respects.”
His piercing gaze whipped toward Dad.
As if demanding confirmation of Florian’s words, but Dad just shrugged with an infuriatingly serene expression.
The old man’s lips twisted.
So that’s where Dad and Uncle picked up that sneer—from Grandfather’s genes.
“Why impose on my house when you have your own?”
“My house burned down.”
…It’s true, but saying it so bluntly makes Grandfather look provoked and you sound so shameless?
A normal old man would’ve popped a vein by now, but our grandfather was different.
He didn’t twitch an eyebrow.
“If you want to play lapdog for the emperor, do it alone. Don’t drag my family into it.”
Dad’s side ignited instead.
The hatred blazing in his golden eyes was the same I’d seen when the coachman and Yasmin mocked Mom’s death at the jewel shop.
“Surely your great family knows what they dared do to me.”
Grandfather and Dad’s gazes clashed icily.
Last time Dad had eyes like that, the coachman died right in front of me.
It hadn’t taken long for a sturdy man to shrivel into a pathetic corpse.
Remembering it made my heart pound.
The area was swarming with Grandfather’s knights and nobles.
If Dad unleashed Divine Grace on Grandfather here, no matter how strong Dad was...
I desperately reached out and gripped Dad’s fingertip.
“Daddy.”
Dad glanced down at me briefly, clenched his jaw hard, and tamped down his emotions. Then, with a far calmer expression than before, he gripped my hand firmly in return.
Grandfather’s gaze, watching Dad, slowly turned toward me.