Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Clash of Divine Graces
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It was an elegant landing, like that of a feline predator, but Marquis Schleman, who had dropped right in front of the menacing northern knight, clearly didn't see it that way.
"You lot—mere commoner knights—dare, dare to threaten me, a vassal of the southern ducal house?!"
He tried to bellow with as much dignity as possible, but his voice was thick with ragged breaths, betraying his fear.
The knight who had landed in front of him was Gilla.
Gilla casually flicked the blood from his sword onto the ground and took a step toward the marquis.
"Would we ever? We're simply trying to swat away the annoying fly buzzing around you, my lord."
"G-Get back! Get back, I said!"
As Gilla threateningly swung his sword and closed in, Marquis Schleman recoiled in horror.
Why pick a fight in the first place if you're just going to cower like that?
All the knights who followed my dad were commoner-born.
Did he think they wouldn't dare fight back even after the insults?
But something felt off about that...
"Looks like a fly stuck here too?"
The moment Gilla bared his fangs and raised his sword, a crunching sound tore through the air as hail-like chunks of ice plummeted from the sky.
Boom! Boom! Boom—!
Where Gilla had stood just moments ago, shards of ice embedded themselves into the ground.
Gilla twisted his body with fluid grace, narrowly dodging the falling ice, but the relentless hail pursued him without end.
It's Divine Grace!
There was no way my dad would attack Gilla.
Which meant...?
I turned my head to look, and there it was—a bluish glow enveloping my uncle's body.
Was the heir to the northern ducal house seriously using his Divine Grace to attack a northern knight right now?
Seeing his attacks miss, my uncle amped up his power even more.
That looks dangerous...!
As if he'd been waiting, a azure light coiled around my dad's hand too.
Krunch!
Water surged from the ground like a serpent, opening its maw to swallow the hail my uncle unleashed.
The sound of the lake's frozen surface shattering filled the monster dismantling yard.
My uncle knew my dad had intervened, yet he didn't let up in the slightest.
Instead, he glared arrogantly at my dad, twisting his lips into a sneer. His Divine Grace shifted direction, now targeting my dad instead of Gilla.
"You want to go, Dominic?"
"Protecting our honored guest is my duty."
With his response, razor-sharp ice spears crafted by my uncle surged toward my dad.
Water rose around my dad, instantly warping the ice's trajectory.
My dad's arm tightened around me protectively.
"Calling those who insult knights' honor 'honored guests'? You've always had a bit of a thick skull."
"Calling lowly commoners 'knights'? Aren't you being a tad too generous?"
My uncle's gaze landed on me.
The faint smirk he'd been wearing deepened.
"If it were me, I'd start with that half-breed little commoner slut you're cradling..."
Up until then, my dad's Divine Grace had focused solely on defense against my uncle's strikes, but it changed in an instant.
A vortex of water laced with blade-like ice began to swell massively.
Shwoooo—!
As if their struggle until now had been mere child's play, my dad's Divine Grace devoured my uncle's in one gulp and charged like a raging dragon.
"Damn it!"
Crack! A fissure spiderwebbed across the ice shield my uncle hastily erected before him.
It shattered into fragments, and my uncle's body was flung far back by the water's force.
He tumbled onto the hard ground, coughing up blood.
"S-Stop! Stop this at once!"
Marquis Schleman leaped in front of my dad's Divine Grace, which had been poised to choke off my uncle's airway, arms spread wide.
The Divine Grace, hovering perilously at his throat, withdrew just in time.
"Step aside."
"You plan to kill the ducal heir right here? You're mad! Utterly deranged! Sir Dominic is His Grace Kalenberg's successor and soon to be Duke Petergen's son-in-law!"
"And?"
"A-And?! You're impossible to reason with!"
My dad spoke coldly but quelled the glow of Divine Grace around him.
With Marquis Schleman's support, my uncle barely managed to stand.
Through his drenched, disheveled bangs hanging like a ghost's, his eyes blazed with resentment.
What gall. Doesn't he remember starting the fight?
"I'll lodge a formal complaint with His Grace about this! And we'll renegotiate the contract terms too!"
So that's it.
The reason the marquis had come all this way to insult our northern knights.
He wanted an excuse to tilt the contract more in the south's favor.
Even after Grandpa had already cut him so much slack.
I quickly pieced the situation together.
Sure, Marquis Schleman had insulted our knights, but he was a proper marquis, while ours were just commoner knights.
On top of that, there was clear evidence of my dad attacking the successor, my uncle.
If this goes on, Dad will take all the blame.
Not on my watch.
Grandpa had entrusted Dad with this crucial mission; I couldn't let it get botched like this.
Did Uncle plan for even this?
My uncle's desire to sabotage the tasks Grandpa assigned Dad, combined with the marquis's greed for a few more coins.
If those two had schemed together...?
Still cradled in my dad's arms, I clutched my belly.
"D-Daddy...!"
Tears, pour out!
Luckily, crying wasn't hard.
A child's body was always primed to burst into tears amid such scary chaos.
Dad's expression shifted as he saw me writhing and shedding fat tears.
His face, which hadn't even flinched when Uncle's Divine Grace had swelled so menacingly, went pale in an instant.
Dad reached out and touched my forehead.
"Ella, what's wrong? No fever. Are you hurt?"
"My tummy... it hurts... hurts so much..."
Marquis Schleman, who had been gearing up for a full confrontation, flushed red and started protesting.
"See here, Sir Leopoldt! We're in the middle of—"
"Waaah! My tummy huuuurts!"
As if on cue, I wailed even louder.
My near-sobbing cries echoed through the monster dismantling yard.
Right now, there was no need to trade barbs with the likes of Marquis Schleman.
The longer we argued, the more we'd play into his trap.
I wasn't about to let that happen.
Let's see him shout louder than a four-year-old's howls.
"Call a physician at once!"
"Right away, Captain!"
I felt bad for startling Dad, but I had my reasons too.
I couldn't just sit idle while they tried to attack him.
Dad glared at the marquis and my uncle, still holding me tight.
He wouldn't hurt me, but his killing intent prickled my skin all the same.
The marquis's face drained of color under that direct stare.
"If anything happens to my daughter, you'd best abandon any thoughts of leaving the north unscathed."
"A-Are you threatening me? Mind your manners, Sir Leopoldt!"
"You think it'll end with just a threat?"
Marquis Schleman, who'd been yelling, slunk behind my tall, slender uncle—who was about twice his size.
With his warning delivered, Dad turned and strode away without a backward glance.
"Just hang on a bit. The physician will be here soon."
I looked up at him, jaw clenched so tight his muscles bulged, and silently apologized.
Sorry, Daddy...!
Even after reaching my room, I had to keep clutching my perfectly fine belly and squirming for several more minutes.
Soon enough, the physician arrived, summoned by the knights' clamor.
Dad never took his eyes off me, not for a second, while the physician examined me and ran his tests.
"She was at the beshar dismantling site. Could that be it?"
"Doesn't seem like poisoning..."
"Speak plainly."
Cold sweat beaded on the physician's forehead under Dad's intimidating aura.
The elderly doctor swabbed my tongue with various reagents multiple times.
But none showed a positive reaction for poison.
Of course not.
My stomach wasn't actually hurting.
As the physician failed to pinpoint the issue, Dad's demeanor grew fiercer by the moment.
"I-It doesn't seem like poison. Probably something she ate. Little miss, what did you have today?"
At the question I'd been waiting for, I bit the inside of my cheek hard to keep from grinning.