How to Replace Dad 22
They laughed heartily and said.
“Wise choice. Ah, now that I think about it, I recognize that face. Aren’t you the granddaughter of Duke Valboa?”
The platinum-haired girl answered with a shy face.
“Yes. I am Ayabel of the Valboa Viscountcy.”
“So, that’s why Duke Valboa cherishes his granddaughter so much.”
All the vassals could guess why they had sent the granddaughter of Duke Valboa as a substitute.
‘He must be aiming for the crown princess.’
As evidence, Ayabel’s cheeks flushed red as she glanced at Luciarno.
When Ayabel gave a signal, the substitutes began to move the teacups.
Ain placed a teacup in front of him and looked at the substitute girl with a bored expression.
‘Even pretending to be mad didn’t work.’
Even the mad prince was desperate to be entangled somehow.
There were guys who deliberately fell on the road several times a day.
Compared to that…
‘What the hell is this kid doing?’
Yustea.
The kid who had helped the two princes’ alliance in the military camp.
He didn’t want to come as a substitute because he was willing to make a dangerous deal with Luciarno-hyung.
He thought he wanted to be noticed by the Esgard family.
Thinking that, he drank the tea.
But…
“…!”
Ain was startled and stared at the teacup.
Not only that.
The eyes of the vassals who drank the tea widened as if they would pop out.
At the moment they took the tea, a rich aroma hit the nasal cavity.
Some strong teas are unpleasant like drinking perfume, but this tea wasn’t like that.
It was deep yet soft.
The vassals almost opened their mouths wide, forgetting their manners.
‘Not only the aroma, but the taste…!’
Strong tea is usually bitter.
But it wasn’t bitter at all, and instead, a subtle sweetness and umami were felt.
One of the vassals looked at Ayabel.
“Is this Moonlight tea?”
“…Is there a problem?”
Ayabel asked with an anxious face.
The vassal waved his hand quickly.
“It’s not that there’s a problem. I’m asking because commoners drink tea like this, and it’s so excellent.”
“Is it a quality issue? Or is it the way the tea is brewed?”
The vassals looked at Ayabel with interest.
Ayabel was surprised and glanced at Yustea and said.
“Probably the quality was good, and I brewed the tea with care…”
“Really? How did you brew the tea?”
“That’s…”
“I want to hear the secret of the tea I’ve drunk all my life. It’s the best taste.”
Ayabel broke out in cold sweat.
The substitutes were at a loss, mumbling.
The vassals looked at Ayabel strangely for not opening her mouth.
At that moment, Luciarno spoke.
“The one who prepared the tea is different.”
“Eh?”
The vassal asked what that meant.
Luciarno put down the teacup and looked at Yustea.
“You are the one who prepared the Moonlight tea.”
The gazes of the people focused on Yustea at once.
Yustea bowed his head slightly.
“Yes.”
The vassal asked with a puzzled expression.
“I’ve never seen you before. Who are you?”
“I am Yustea of San Miguel.”
Yustea?!
‘So, the one who was expelled from the Andres family…?’
The vassals next to Yustea, who looked at him with a surprised face, were poked by another vassal.
The reason Yustea became a substitute was because of Luciarno’s breath in front of him.
He couldn’t mention the flaws of that kid in front of Luciarno.
The vassals returned to the original topic.
“If it’s such an excellent tea, the royal warrant should have been given, and noblemen should already be enjoying it. But why hasn’t it been reported?”
“Because the processing method was not properly reported.”
“Processing method. Explain in detail.”
“Up to now, Moonlight has been processed like regular black tea. It goes through the stages of rolling, oxidizing, fermenting, and drying.”
“So?”
“But to properly enjoy Moonlight tea, the oxidizing process must be excluded.”
Oxidizing is rubbing the tea leaves to oxidize them.
In this process, the tea leaves break and cells are destroyed.
“If the oxidizing is skipped, it looks like this.”
Yustea placed the teapot in the center of the table and opened the lid.
“Oh…”
“Amazing…”
In the teapot, round petals spread out like a full moon.
It was a beautiful sight.
“Indeed, Moonlight. It lives up to its name.”
“It’s not just the shape. The raw material of Moonlight tea, the full moon flower, spreads the bitterness of the flower petals to the surroundings as it is rubbed more.”
“Even with that, it has such a taste?”
“There is another important part.”
“If it’s important…”
“To properly enjoy Moonlight tea, it must be soaked in ice water for a long time so that the shape of the petals is not damaged, and then carefully kneaded.”
Luciarno looked at Yustea’s hand.
The hand was completely red.
It might be like a statue.
Other vassals and even Ain were looking at Yustea’s hand.
“After handling it carefully so that the aroma doesn’t escape, dry it again to get the current taste.”
The vassals smiled gently.
“You worked hard.”
“Is it too much effort for the people of the northern border who are looking down on the commoners? So, there’s no need to be rewarded.”
A satisfied smile appeared on the vassals’ faces.
“You are not only talented but also deep-thinking.”
“It’s fortunate to have a smart kid as a substitute.”
The laughter was kind.
The eyes looking at Yustea were very affectionate.
“But why didn’t you explain that you prepared the tea?”
Ayabel’s hand trembled.
The substitute girl opened her mouth in panic.
“T-that…”
“I didn’t ask you.”
Ain glanced at the girl, and the girl’s face turned pale.
The vassal nodded and asked Yustea.
“What happened?”
“The role division was like that.”
“You must have been upset.”
“It’s not like that. Having separate roles is to minimize mistakes in serving the princes.”
“Haha, your bowl is wide too.”
No one in this place didn’t know that the substitutes had sidelined Yustea.
The vassals thought it was admirable that they took the credit but still surrounded the substitutes.
Of course…
‘Adults give points for such mature attitudes.’
It was a trap.
“Compared to that, you are disappointing.”
One of the vassals looked at the substitutes with cold eyes.
The substitutes’ faces turned dark.
Ain smiled and looked at Luciarno.
He was an interesting kid.
He took the vassals’ breath away in an instant.
***
As they returned to the mansion, the substitutes were sniffling.
“Viscount Kubas was disappointed. I don’t know…”
“What should I do…”
They had expressions as if the world had collapsed.
But I was puzzled inside.
‘He wasn’t scolded enough to cry like that.’
When working, there were many times more frightening scoldings than that.
He heard shouting, and searched for this guy and that guy.
When riding the tuna boat, he got double-edged curses as a basic. He got hit about twelve times a day.
‘Nobles don’t get scolded like this often.’
Everyone returned to the substitute mansion the same way.
The dining atmosphere was stiff.
…They were all glaring at me.
“Hmm. The gaze is sharp.”
Just as I was thinking that.
Someone placed a plate with food on the empty table.
It was in front of me.
“You are completely a public enemy.”
A tall girl with curly red hair.
“I am Astia of Sintes. My father is Viscount Sintes.”
“Ah, I am…”
“Miss Junko, right?”
“I am Yustea of San Miguel.”
“You didn’t know. You are being called Miss Junko.”
Astia said that and placed a sheet of paper on the table.
Upon closer look, it was the duty roster of the substitutes.
In the form, my name was there too.
And my job was…
Junko, junko, junko, and junko. Again junko.
It was assigned to a perfect junko that never faces the princes.
Even the work of maids was added to my share.
“It’s a duty roster rewritten right after returning from serving tea. It seems I was hated a lot.”
“Is that so. But is it okay to be here?”
Sitting in front of me who is hated and eating lunch?
Astia said cheerfully when she saw my face.
“I’m an only child too.”
I tilted my head.
It was too much for an only child like that.
Astia’s name was included in the ‘jobs that can be entangled with princes’ that the substitutes coveted.
“You don’t seem to be a natural only child.”
“You’re sharp.”
“Hmm. Indeed, Astia was outmaneuvering the majority alone.”
I scooped up the potage with a spoon and said.
“Viscount Sintes is one of the three great nobles, right? There’s no way he would sideline the only daughter of such a person.”
Even Ayabel in the same room as me was like that.
Ayabel was also the granddaughter of one of the three great nobles.
Because of that, she had strong say among the substitutes.
But she couldn’t sideline the daughter of Viscount Sintes, who is the most trusted by the Duke among the three great nobles.
Astia glanced at me.
“Can I change the duty roster?”
“…?”
“Don’t be surprised like that. There’s nothing you want. Since the duty roster became advantageous to my side, I benefited from the sidelining. I hate that kind of thing.”
“…?”
“There’s nothing I want. Why are you looking at me with such a puzzled expression…”
“I like junko?”
Rather, it was advantageous to my side.
If I stick with the princes, I can’t approach the Duke secretly.
“…It’s good to prepare the places where the princes go in advance, right?”
“I like that especially!”
If I get angry like that, maybe I can see the Duke.
Astia looked at me with a dumbfounded face.
I smiled wryly.
***
With that, I immediately started working.
The purpose was to explore the castle, but I also worked hard on the assigned tasks.
Check if there are potholes on the road where carriages pass.
“Since it’s raining today, it would be good to lay down mats. If the ground becomes muddy and potholes form, the carriage will splash.”
Check if there are branches that clothes can brush against on the planned walking route.
“Cut this part of the ivy fence that is protruding.”
Check if there are abnormalities in the monsters guarding the castle walls.
“Fix the chain of that griffin. The joints seem unstable.”
I delivered the problems to each part.
…I only delivered them.
No one moved willingly.
“About the Andres family…”
“Ah, that witch who tried to poison her half-brother.”
“Even after being expelled from the family, they walk around with a brazen face…”
Most reactions were like that.
Well, it was a familiar reaction, so it didn’t have much impact.
It just became a bit annoying.
I squatted in the camellia garden planned as the princes’ walking route and moved the stones.
Because I had told the gardeners, but they didn’t even pretend to listen.
‘Time is approaching for the walk, but I can’t just leave it.’
If I messed up and a stone got on the prince’s foot, it would all be my fault.
The substitutes who already hated me would try to throw me out at this point.
That was troublesome.
I squatted for a long time, and everyone who saw me put stones in the bags.
After wandering around the garden for a while…
“Huh?”
I stopped in front of the camellia tree.
“The condition is strange.”
The flowers and leaves were all wilting and scattered around.
Did it have pests?
No, rather, this is a symptom of illness.
‘Is the Esgard family managing the garden like this?’
A few stones could fall.
Even if they were stones, smaller than fingernails, and even if I moved them, strong winds would scatter them quickly.
But the trees themselves being wilting is different.
The gardener should be fired.
…And I was in trouble too.
“If I see such a tree when the princes are walking, it shouldn’t be. Shall I transplant it?”
“If I transplant a sick tree, it will die.”
“But if this tree is here, I will die…”
I was muttering to that point when I suddenly looked back.
A group of people was approaching me.
The man in front was elderly but had a tall stature and straight posture.
A sharply falling jawline.
Dark eyes with an indescribable momentum placed in horizontally long eye slits.
High nose bridge and elegant lips.
I had never seen such a handsome man as splendid as that at his age.
While thinking who it could be, I looked at the people behind.
The people following him were wearing the Esgard family’s black jacket uniforms… Black jackets?!
The symbol of high-ranking officials.
‘Being able to bring such people…?’
I dropped to my knees.
“I am Yustea of San Miguel, greeting the Duke’s father.”
It was the Duke.
***
The thought that crossed the elderly man’s mind upon realizing he was the Duke of Esgard was one.
‘The merit of becoming a substitute is enormous!’
On the first day I entered as a substitute, I immediately saw the Duke.
I had prepared to go through the housekeeper-vassal-Duke’s wife route to meet the Duke.
‘But he doesn’t look like the young master at all.’
Besides the fact that the rich are all surprisingly handsome, there was no common point.
If the young master had an impression that he would never give his side, the Duke had an impression that he would manipulate the people who came to his side with his fingertips.
While thinking that, I heard laughter above my head.
“The introduction was wrong.”
“Eh?”
“My mouse of Andres hiding in my estate. Isn’t that what you said?”
“…!”
The blood in my whole body seemed to freeze.
I canceled the words about no common points.
The intimidation that made the heart drop with a single word.
That intimidation was similar to each other.
“Raise your head.”
I swallowed dry saliva and slowly raised my head.
The Duke looked at me with a smiling face, staring sharply.
“You resemble your father.”
Every time the Duke spoke, my throat felt tight.
It was status, but the content was like that.
The Esgard and Andres families had a long history of bad relations.
Especially my biological father was seriously suppressing the Esgard family.
I swallowed dry saliva and said.
“It is true that I was abandoned by my father. I will never harm the Esgard family.”
“How can I believe that?”
“If you have proof you want, I will do anything.”
“Will you tell me if it’s a warehouse where Andres’ poison is stored? It would require risking my life…”
“Old address: Imperial 51st district 19-23. New address law notation: Batus B7 district 2311. Bellous coordinates: BA37-2-1…”
“Even if I know the coordinates, if security is strong…”
“11 elite soldiers are guarding it, and beyond the elite soldiers, I have built a strong security with holy barriers, magic barriers, and again holy barriers. The security code of the first holy barrier is RA21G1342…”
“It seems there are no particularly important items…”
“The treasures stored in the warehouse include Edel’s certificate of origin, Ma Yoon-gab, Camora diamond, and other holy relic-level magic tools, totaling 107 items…”
I rattled off the information I remembered from the game with wide eyes.
The Duke was silent for a moment.