How to Replace Dad 46
The captain of the imperial guard rushed toward the middle-aged nobles.
No, to be precise, it was toward my biological father.
He shouted at the guard captain as if to show off his father.
“How dare you block the Andres family’s carriage!”
“Because it’s an imperial order, according to procedure…”
The guard captain said, looking flustered.
It seemed like an inexperienced rookie who didn’t know what he was doing had blocked the Andres carriage.
“Shut up!”
The captain shouted at the subordinate and turned to my father.
“I’m sorry for making you wait. Please board the carriage. The guards will safely escort you to the residence.”
He said with a fawning tone.
Then he waved his hand at the guards.
The guards quickly moved toward the other nobles.
Of course, guards approached us too.
He said to my dad.
“Take off your jacket and raise both hands. There will be a body search.”
I immediately furrowed my brows.
The intensity of the search was excessive.
In winter, having people take off jackets and grope in front of others—this isn’t how nobles are searched.
Most importantly, we had never been to the grand salon.
Since we weren’t on the guest list for the grand salon, there was no need for such a search.
‘Yet they commit such rudeness. It must be to show off in front of my father’s side nobles.’
This is an overly strict search.
But not searching us means we’re being treated as if we’re important.
So it means we’re being used as a means for the guards to impress the powerful.
I looked at them coldly and said.
“Touch not my father’s body.”
“…!”
“…!!”
The guards flinched.
The captain furrowed his brows.
The nobles from my father’s side also turned to look at me at the word “father.”
Of course, my father did too.
The captain said, exasperated.
“You didn’t hear that we’re searching for an assassin under imperial order.”
“Then we must investigate all guests at the grand salon.”
“Considering the possibility that an uninvited assassin has sneaked into the grand salon…!”
“It’s unlikely, but even if so, there’s no reason for my father, who arrived at this area from the opposite side of the grand salon, to be searched. We firmly refuse the body search.”
“Are you defying the imperial order!”
“If you’re using the authority of the imperial palace for the search!”
I raised my voice.
People looked at me with surprised faces.
I said without avoiding the captain’s hardened gaze.
“Even the great dukes won’t be able to avoid the same search as us.”
Can great dukes defy the imperial order?
If they do, the great dukes on my father’s side will do the same.
If doing it together, it’s an unavoidable thing due to the imperial order.
But doing it only on our side would be a humiliation due to insufficient authority.
The people waiting with us for the search immediately agreed.
“Of course.”
“Yes. Even great dukes are subject to fair laws under the imperial order.”
“Such a bold statement. What kind of young lady is this?”
“You don’t know? It’s Yustea from the Andres family… no, I mean Yustea.”
“Oh, I see, the clever child as rumored.”
The great dukes frowned.
The atmosphere had become subtle, which was embarrassing.
The captain looked perplexed.
“Ah, no, this is… um, so…”
They were afraid to search the great dukes.
But if not, it would be defying the imperial order.
He was at a loss, so the guards also looked confused.
At that moment.
“You can’t defy the imperial order.”
It was a word from my father’s mouth.
When he took off his jacket, the great dukes flinched and looked at him.
“No… w-what…”
“Obey the imperial order as well.”
The great dukes looked perplexed at my father’s words.
But when my father glanced at them, they reluctantly took off their jackets.
I nodded to my dad.
“I’ll hold the jacket.”
“Okay.”
Everyone prepared for the search.
The guards moved hesitantly.
The captain looked at them with a pale face.
* * *
After the male search ended, the female search team arrived.
While Yustea was being searched, Antonio whispered to Aslan.
“Do great dukes usually submit to body searches so willingly?”
I thought they would flip out because they’re so arrogant and can’t do it.
Surprisingly, it’s common sense.
After the search, the great dukes boarded the carriage.
He looked at the great dukes boarding the carriage after the search.
“The moment the captain extracted the word ‘imperial order’ from his mouth, they had no other choice.”
The incident of the failed assassination attempt on the foreign prince.
It shows the poor state of the empire’s security.
The emperor must have been furious.
In this situation, defying the imperial order in front of so many people?
It was throwing the imperial family’s dignity into the gutter.
After the body search, Yustea quickly approached Aslan.
“You waited long, right? Please board the carriage.”
“Okay.”
Aslan gently stroked Yustea’s head with a soft expression.
It wasn’t only Aslan who was looking at the Andres duke.
The Andres duke was also looking at Aslan inside the carriage.
...Yustea with Aslan too.
The great dukes inside the carriage said in a nervous tone.
“What kind of situation is this? We had to take off our coats for the search.”
“It’s not the fault of that stupid captain. Why did he bring up the imperial order there…”
Then one of the great dukes sighed and said.
“He lured out the imperial order.”
“Eh?”
“That kid, without waiting for the captain to arrive, was already checking the guards.”
The easiest way to check a person’s character is to observe their surroundings.
The guards immediately lowered their eyes when they saw the captain.
They were extremely authoritative.
“Deliberately cutting off words and refusing the body search. The captain must have had his pride hurt.”
“Huh…”
“Moreover, the argument was cut off. If that’s the case, we have no choice but to use other authorities to suppress them.”
The imperial order—an authority that no one from the empire can cross.
“Why would you search us so thoroughly?”
“Is it because of the man with us? Didn’t you call him ‘father’?”
That kid said.
“Touch not my father’s body.”
The great dukes who recalled those words groaned.
The word “father” came out of Yustea’s mouth again.
“She’s definitely adopted, right? No, how did you even think of adopting such a child…”
“But even I would be envious. How precious… if the Empress Dowager called her the empire’s greatest lady.”
While saying that, the great duke flinched and looked at the Andres duke.
The duke was quietly looking out the window.
Outside the window, Yustea was smiling at Aslan.
* * *
We arrived at the house where we left Mom.
The aunt who saw me came running.
“Is it Yustea? Why no contact… no, what is this appearance…”
Originally, she only wore old, worn-out clothes.
But now in a neat dress, the aunt looked very surprised.
“I entrusted myself to a good person.”
“Really? Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“Amazing luck.”
The aunt glanced at Dad and Antonio.
Then patted my shoulder and said.
“Come in. I need to see your mom.”
“Okay.”
I quickly entered the house.
Mom was still quietly with her eyes closed.
Dad asked.
“Is this your mother?”
The tone was somehow subtle.
Because she’s not similar at all.
“Yes. She’s not similar to me at all, right?”
“It doesn’t seem so.”
I opened my eyes wide and looked at Dad.
I’ve heard many times that she looks like Dad, but never that she looks like Mom.
“Really?”
“The atmosphere is similar. The nose too.”
“Really? The nose?”
I smiled brightly.
Antonio smiled wryly.
“You like that?”
“Because I like Mom.”
“She must be a good person.”
“…”
I quietly turned my eyes away.
Antonio looked puzzled.
“Why?”
“People call their moms like that.”
“What?”
“Trash that doesn’t even get bitten by dogs.”
“…?!”
Antonio flinched and looked at me.
“You said in the adoption daughter test that girls respect their mothers!”
“That’s because the girls couldn’t see their mothers up close…”
During the time Mom was running the upper class, the reporters were very kind.
...Because Mom made it that way.
With money.
“The Iron-Blood Empress was a nickname written by reporters who were watching.”
People who knew Mom all called her bitch, witch, villain, or trash.
“...Amazing.”
“Instead, her business acumen was great.”
Everyone did that.
If Mom hadn’t collapsed after just two weeks in Andres, I would have lived luxuriously.
Without regard for means and methods.
“Um, I agree.”
Antonio let out a “Wow…” sound.
I awkwardly smiled.
Feeling embarrassed, I found something else to do.
I borrowed a basin and towel from the aunt to wipe Mom’s body.
At the moment I was about to wet the towel and wipe Mom’s body.
From the place my hand touched, a hazy light gathered.
“...Eh?”
It seemed no one else saw it, as no one reacted.
But I clearly saw it.
“This is the reaction that appears when purifying.”
Purifying?
Why?
The illness couldn’t be purified.
If it could, I would have purified the members who caught a cold just by touching them.
“But what purification… is it poison?”
I hurriedly checked Mom’s body.
I shouted when I confirmed Mom’s body.
“Auntie!”
“Eh, eh?”
The aunt who was bringing a tray with a teacup flinched.
It was because she was the first time seeing me shout so sharply.
Dad and Antonio also looked surprised.
But I looked at the aunt.
“What did you give Mom to eat?”
“Give? I wouldn’t do such a thing…”
“Liar. This is the trace of poison!”
Red rashes on Mom’s body.
It looked like bedsores common to unconscious patients, but there were dark spots like freckles spread around.
This is the trace of Sasa poison.
“What… what am I saying…”
The aunt panicked and stepped back.
Antonio immediately slammed the door shut and stood in front of it.
Dad looked at the aunt with a cold face.
The aunt said in panic.
“Ah, no, why would I give poison to your mom. I nursed her with my own money, and what slander…”
Then Dad said.
“I am the lord of the Esgard estate in Quaron.”
“W-what?”
The aunt, surprised by the more impressive status than expected, dropped the tray from her hand.
“If I have harmed your daughter’s mother, it won’t end with just me.”
“Ah, no, I… I…”
The aunt looked at me in panic.
But I was also frozen.
I couldn’t let anything related to Mom slide.
The aunt hurriedly made excuses.
“I only swapped the medicine!”
“Medicine?”
“Y-yes. A person I met at the market gave me medicine. I nursed the unconscious husband for a long time, and he died this year. He said the medicine I bought was useless and gave it to me…”
The aunt frantically took out a syringe from the drawer.
“T-this medicine. See, it’s clearly marked with a doctor’s mark and sealed?”
“…”
“I’m sorry I intercepted the medicine fee you gave, but I had no intention of harming your mother. It’s true!”
“…”
I squeezed the syringe hard.
With a cracking sound, the syringe bottle broke.
Before the liquid touched my hand, a hazy light rose.
The Sasa poison was inside this syringe.
Antonio jumped back in surprise.
“You, young lady…”
Even with that, I had no time to answer.
I had noticed the culprit.
The doctor’s mark stamped on the bottom of the syringe.
A medical center under the Andres family.
And the person managing this medical center now...
“Emma, Stella’s mother.”
That woman who was my father’s first love.
* * *
We returned to the second lodge in Esgard.
Mom was with us too.
Dad had kindly told me first to take Mom.
I laid Mom on the second floor and came down to the living room.
Yuis was already there in the living room.
“I had a montage made of the woman who gave the syringe to my subordinate.”
When I checked the montage he handed over, the culprit became even clearer.
The woman in the montage was Emma’s personal maid.
I put down the montage and said.
“Dad, I have something to do. I’ll try not to trouble you, so…”
“It’s okay to trouble.”
Dad stroked my head.
“Do whatever you want and come back.”
“Okay…”
I held Dad’s collar tightly.
“I was trying to forget the grudge.”
I thought it was just following the game story.
Anyway, let’s forget this and live like that, I thought.
“But the moment I touched Mom, I crossed the line.”
* * *
To welcome the New Year’s celebration, nobles from across the empire came to the capital.
Among them was the wife of the Andres duke, Esmeralda.
When she entered the Andres residence, Emma hurriedly approached.
“Oh, you’re here, Mother.”
“O’Neill (Andres’ eldest son) and Stella.”
When I asked about the whereabouts of the grandchildren, Emma’s expression became awkward.
“U-um, they are hunting with young nobles…”
“You went hunting without even greeting me who came up.”
“Since young nobles are all gathered, I couldn’t help but miss out…”
“Is it because you were watching the eyes of the Andres blood relatives?”
Emma flinched and shrank her shoulders.
“S-sorry…”
Emma was at a loss, so the wife of the previous duke frowned and said.
“Lunch.”
“It’s done. Perfectly.”
Emma’s expression brightened.
Today’s lunch was a day she was very looking forward to.
“Finally, you’ll introduce me to the in-laws.”
Finally becoming a noble, I will be pinned as a new duke’s wife.
The time with the previous duke’s wife was uncomfortable, but I could endure it thinking about lunch.
One by one, the in-laws started arriving.
The duke also returned home.
Receiving the duke’s jacket, Emma said with an excited face.
“How is my outfit? Will it look okay to the in-laws?”
Just as she was saying that.
The outside was noisy.
The steward rushed toward the duke.
“Master!”
“What is it?”
“There’s a person who wants to see the young madam.”
Emma frowned.
“Coming without making an appointment, what rudeness is that. Send them away immediately.”
“But the person who came…”
“Who is it!”
Before lunch, the noise was not welcome.
When Emma frowned, the steward said.
“It’s Yustea.”
What?