How to Replace Dad 44
I sat there, mumbling to myself.
“Are you... okay?”
“As you see.”
“Thank goodness...”
Only then did the strength drain from my body.
Letting out a sigh, the vice-master helped me up.
I flinched, and he frowned.
“Are you hurt?”
“Ah...”
At that moment, I was at a loss for words.
Outside the door, Antonio's subordinates said,
“You fell in the hallway!”
“It was really loud!”
It seemed the subordinates had followed after seeing it.
I hadn't realized they were following because my mind was blank.
I said with an embarrassed expression,
“I was running...”
“Because there was an urgent matter?”
“I thought something had happened to the lord. I heard that the council president and his wife had secretly left the mansion, so I thought they were intruders...”
“What?”
“Those expelled Valboa family uses poison, right? I thought they might have attacked the lord with poison in their hands...”
“So you ran here in a panic like this? Even while in disarray?”
I fiddled with my hands.
'I acted like an idiot.'
I should have assessed the situation properly and moved.
But I must have looked useless in an emergency.
The vice-master was staring at me gently.
“I-I’m sorry...”
As I said that and tried to step back, the vice-master strode towards me.
He picked me up in his arms.
I was startled and froze.
He told the vice-master,
“Lock them in the dungeon.”
“Yes.”
With that, the vice-master carried me as he walked down the hallway.
People walking down the hallway looked at us with surprised eyes.
The vassals stretched their necks to see what was happening.
The servants hurriedly lowered their heads, but the maids peeked at the vice-master with blushing faces.
And the subordinates...
“What?”
“Eh?”
“D-Duke...?”
They looked as if they had heard the world had turned upside down.
Of course, since the vice-master wasn't the type to carry anyone.
I was also wondering what this was.
“I can walk...”
“You seem to have a problem with your legs.”
“What?”
“You fell like that when we rescued the old man from Esgard Castle too.”
“Ah... I guess I tensed up when startled. It's not like I have a problem normally. If there's something to entrust, I can handle it well...”
“That wasn't the meaning.”
'Then why?'
I was curious, but there was no time to ask.
It was because we had arrived at my room by the time he finished speaking.
The quick-witted steward opened the door as we passed the hallway to my room.
The vice-master set me down on the bed.
He even covered me with the blanket.
I held the edge of the blanket and looked at him.
“Lord, the council president is...”
“Don’t worry. I did it on purpose.”
“What?”
“I needed to give a proper example to one of them.”
So that's it.
He deliberately provoked the council president.
To aim at his life.
So that he would be definitely expelled, and the vassals would calm down.
'What a surprising person.'
My face brightened as I said,
“So you were always staying inside the castle on purpose to use the secret passage.”
“I needed to identify the secret passage for the castle's security.”
“Wow.”
I clapped my hands in delight.
It was really a foolish thing to try to protect the vice-master.
Aslan Esgard, the vice-master of Irregular, becomes one of the empire's pillars by rising to the duke's position without my help.
In the game, he was expressed as becoming the duke and 'completed'.
This man, called by epithets like 'God's arrow', 'concentrate of talent', has a mind forged with shining talent and a twisted growth story.
He finally cuts the fate.
I said with a grin,
“I'm sorry for worrying you unnecessarily.”
“Boo.”
“...What?”
I froze.
'Did I make him upset?'
It felt like my heart dropped.
My reflection in his transparent crimson eyes was me frozen.
I was scared.
When my biological father got angry, it was scary.
Even if I knelt in front of his room for three days and nights, he wouldn't look at me.
In the end, he abandoned me.
I immediately kicked off the blanket and got out of bed.
And quickly bent my knees and rubbed my hands.
“I didn't not believe in the vice-master... It's not because I think I'm better than the vice-master... So, I just... I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry...”
At the moment I was pleading, the vice-master pulled me close.
“I'm angry because you apologized!”
“...”
“You tried so desperately, why apologize? Why always act like you're the criminal!”
“...”
“Then... then what should I do...?”
“What?”
“Even if I try... I can't stay by your side... No matter how hard I try... My efforts make the other person uncomfortable... I'm like that, but since I'm with the vice-master... So I have to apologize...”
“...”
“I'm sorry. But I want to be here... Because I have to protect mom... And... and... because it's warm...”
My whole body was trembling.
My teeth chattered as if the cold had invaded my body.
“It's too warm here... I'm sorry. I'm sorry...”
My body, out of control, eventually let out tears.
'Stop. Don't cry.'
No matter how hard I tried, the tears that burst out couldn't be stopped.
If I cried, he would hate me more.
Everyone did that.
I bit my soft flesh in my mouth to not make a sound.
At that moment,
He pulled me into his arms.
“!”
When I opened my eyes in surprise, he said,
“Stop...”
“...”
“I didn't mean to make you say that...”
“...”
“I'm sorry. I'm sorry...”
“Ugh...”
The muscles that were tightly tense relaxed.
I leaned against him and cried loudly.
* * *
Aslan remembers the moment he first saw Yustea.
He hadn't failed to avoid the child running out of the bushes.
He couldn't avoid it.
“Dad─!”
Her face shouting that was too earnest.
Like himself in desperation to survive.
On impulse, he took Yustea.
And the child he brought...
“I secretly made them. ...Sausages.”
It was strange.
She knew how to do many things, and she was persistent.
He hadn't seen Yustea sleeping the whole way to San Miguel.
When she had a chance to rest, she would adjust her torn clothes, prepare meals...
The chattering was strange, so Lorenzo tolerated her staying in the castle.
Yustea in the castle was consistent.
She tried to find something to do with everything.
Anything she touched became incredibly useful to Irregular.
“The little teacher taught me how to read!”
“Thanks to Yustea, we easily expelled the viscount of San Miguel.”
Not just inside the castle,
“I know this rune. This is a curse rune. It starts from the heart and spreads throughout the body. It's a very serious situation that it has spread to the wrist...”
She even found out the curse exorcism method that had been annoying.
Yustea was diligent.
She watched over him day and night.
“If you put ice behind a fan! ...No, it's really cool.”
“Do you know that eating a lot of candy makes you sleepy? It's called sugar spike, it's not good for the body, but it would be good to sleep a little now, so...”
“Ah, you're awake? Sorry. I was about to change the bandage...”
Carrying a backpack the size of her body, walking up countless stairs, sweating.
She kept checking if she was uncomfortable for herself.
Technically, Irregular only received help from her.
Yet, when the former teacher who was supposed to be her past mentor tried to kidnap her to get Irregular's information,
she said,
“Let go! I won't say anything!”
“I don't want to! Irregular are good people!”
Those were the words from her body covered in blood after jumping off a speeding carriage.
Even then, she begged.
“...I won't say...”
“...”
“From now on... I won't say anything about Irregular...”
“...”
“So... don't abandon me...”
“Why?”
He recalled why the child did that all day.
Antonio brought the answer.
“When I asked why, the vice-master answered the question. That's why.”
“...”
“The vice-master was happy that we told him to take care of himself, and we were happy to pick fruits for him sometimes.”
It was a foolish thing.
What was that anyway.
Even though she tried so hard, she kept checking.
Always apologizing and bowing with thanks, her back bent.
She didn't falter even in difficult missions.
She almost died going to meet the Esgard duke.
Yet she grinned after completing the mission.
That's why his gaze kept going.
'Is she getting hurt somewhere again.'
'Is she going to collapse from overdoing it?'
'Why does she keep apologizing after trying so hard.'
She was too foolish.
So foolish.
That's why...
“It's too warm here... I'm sorry. I'm sorry...”
He wanted to protect her.
Looking at the child who only knew how to love by bumping into her whole body, the child crying with her face soaked.
“Yustea, I don't know about parental love.”
“...”
“I can't guarantee that you'll be able to learn it properly in the future.”
“...”
“But if it's okay, if it's okay even with this inadequate person.”
“...”
“I really want to be your real father.”
Her large eyes filled with tears again.
The child who opened and closed her lips in confusion forced out her voice.
“Y-Yes...”
He swore that one word.
More earnestly than the day he wanted to go to Esgard with the teacher's corpse in front of him.
To protect this foolish child who was moved to tears for a lifetime.
* * *
Aslan quietly looked at Yustea, who had fallen asleep from crying until she was exhausted.
He hesitated and pulled up the blanket.
Is this the right thing to do.
Did I pull it up too much.
Isn't it too much.
She's not five, she's fifteen, so is it uncomfortable to be too worried.
Thinking about it, he frowned.
“...I should have raised a child.”
He sighed, adjusting the position so that the blanket's fabric didn't touch his chin.
He carefully closed the door and came out.
'Wasn't the sound of the door closing too loud.'
Will she wake up?
Is her hearing sharp?
Aslan frowned and put his ear to the door.
Since there was no rustling sound, she seemed to be sleeping well.
“...”
He put his hand on his waist and glared into the air.
After thinking for a while, he strode out of the room.
When he arrived at the office, the vice-master and Yuis, Antonio were approaching.
Vice-master Lorenzo said,
“Paletta is locked in the underground dungeon.”
Yuis also reported,
“I sent a letter demanding punishment rights with evidence to the Esgard main castle. A reply will come within four days.”
Antonio yawned widely.
“I also set up alert shifts for the subordinates. The vice-master ordered it. It says scared vassals might attack.”
The council president's incident was concluded like this.
At the moment of beheading, the vassals would calm down too.
The matter was resolved quickly.
“Now, if we just announce the vice-master's existence to the Esgard duke in the annual ceremony...”
“...Vice-master?”
Aslan had been silent all along, so the vice-master asked with a strange expression.
“Is there something wrong?”
“It's an emergency meeting. I'm contacting the elites by bringing in the hell gate.”
“...”
The vice-master's face hardened.
Even Yuis and Antonio looked surprised.
An emergency meeting.
It was a very rare occurrence for Aslan to summon an emergency meeting.
In Irregular's history, emergency meetings were only twice.
Both were matters that decided the fate of Irregular.
The vice-master signaled to Yuis.
Yuis immediately spread a barrier in Aslan's office and prepared the hell gate.
Antonio also prepared the curtains with a tense face for the meeting.
When the emergency call was made, the elites appeared from the hell gate.
The vice-master, Antonio, and Yuis sat around on the sofa, and Aslan took the top seat.
What is the matter?
Is it the imperial palace or the 7 families' intervention?
If you order the return, I will move immediately, Duke.
The vice-master, Antonio, and Yuis also looked at Aslan.
Aslan covered his chin with clasped hands and was concentrating.
It seemed like a huge matter even though he didn't know.
The vice-master said with a hardened face,
“Your order.”
Aslan slowly opened his mouth.
And what he said was...
“How should I raise a child?”
What?
At that moment, all the elites lost their words.
'What kind of nonsense is this.'
The first one to speak was one of the elites in the hell gate.
What?
Aslan answered with a serious face.
“Everyone, investigate the correct child-rearing method.”