How to Replace Dad Chapter 59
Aslan gripped Zavid's nape and lifted him up.
And in that state, he dragged him out into the corridor.
“Mother…! Mother!”
Zavid shouted desperately, causing the Duchess to rush over with a pale face.
“What are you doing? Let go! What are they doing?!”
She shouted sharply, but the soldiers didn't intervene.
Because the Duke who had followed them hadn't given any orders.
The Duchess yelled at the Duke.
“Are you watching this?! Zavid is your son!”
“Zavid is my son, so just stay quiet. He's being blackmailed by Aslan.”
He frowned as if what he was hearing was absurd.
At that moment, a servant in livery came running urgently.
“The Geumjo Incident Investigation Team has arrived.”
“…!”
The Duchess's face turned deathly white.
Zavid was also shocked and shouted.
“Why are they here…!”
Aslan was the one who answered.
“I gave them a seal to lure out the sorcerer.”
“W-what?”
Zavid stammered.
The Duchess, sensing something suspicious, glanced at Zavid.
“A seal?”
“That's, um…”
Zavid couldn't answer and fidgeted.
He wanted to tell the Duchess that the Geumjo Incident was his doing and beg for help.
But he couldn't bring himself to mention the seal.
If she knew, she would roll her eyes and scold him.
'Anyway, the sorcerer was supposed to be dealt with.'
In fact, he had ordered it to be dealt with.
And he had sent killers to make sure it was done.
'Since the killers reported like that…'
“Those who earn a living in the shadows find it easy to lie.”
Aslan said.
Zavid's eyes widened.
'No way, are they making false reports to buy time to escape…!'
The Duchess, feeling the tense atmosphere from the conversation, grabbed Aslan.
The arrogant look in her eyes was gone.
The Duchess, holding Aslan's arm with cold, stiff hands, said.
“Let go… let go and talk. Send back the investigation team. Okay?”
Aslan glanced at the Duchess.
But that was it.
He didn't stop walking.
Zavid, being dragged by Aslan's hand, screamed.
“Mother! Mother, please help!”
They had broken the barrier and brought in the Geumjo to the shopping district.
Using the sorcerer, no less.
They had committed all the crimes that the Imperial Palace and the Temple most feared.
If Aslan had perfect evidence, he would definitely stir up public opinion.
Then the Imperial Palace and the Temple would have no choice but to punish Zavid for the sake of their group's honor.
Of course, if the Esgard Duke intervened, it could be resolved.
'But he…'
The Esgard Duke had given Aslan no warning when he brought the investigation team to the mansion.
When they reached the stairs leading to the central government.
“I will renounce my succession!”
The Duchess screamed in a shrill voice.
Only then did Aslan stop walking.
“I will write a sworn oath with the Duke as witness.”
“…”
“So send back the investigation team. Let Zavid go…. Please.”
“…”
Zavid looked at the Duchess with disbelief.
“Mother, what nonsense are you saying…!”
Aslan stared quietly at the trembling Zavid.
And he threw Zavid onto the stairs.
Thud, clank, thud!
“Zavid!”
The Duchess ran screaming, seeing Zavid rolling down the stairs with a dull sound.
Aslan looked down at his hat and said.
“Write the sworn oath. If you want to wake up not in prison but in the hospital.”
The Duchess buried her face in her trembling hands.
***
The elderly administrator who had served the Duke for decades handed over the sworn oath written by the Duchess.
“It looks like the young Duke.”
Referring to Aslan.
The Duke checked the contents of the sworn oath and said.
“I wasn't that rough. There was blood in the killers' quarters.”
Exactly two of them were alive.
One of the two had gone mad, and the other was begging to be saved, as if to pull out his own intestines.
One could guess how cruel the massacre had been.
“Yustea, that kid doesn't know. He just sees his father as a kind person.”
The Duke, who had stamped the seal on the sworn oath, frowned.
“Compared to that, isn't my side kinder?”
“What kind of scary joke is that?”
“Do you think it's a joke?”
“The one who abandoned his own son today wouldn't say such a thing.”
The elderly administrator answered while receiving the documents.
If Zavid had been taken to prison today, he would at least have been maimed.
Zavid wouldn't have endured torture and would have confessed to all sorts of crimes.
Excluding the Geumjo Incident, there were plenty of crimes worthy of the death penalty.
The Duchess had given up her succession to prevent that, hadn't she?
“In my opinion, Aslan's wandering outside like this doesn't seem to be because he voluntarily became bait.”
To target Zavid.
If not, he wouldn't have gone to the shopping district for the unnecessary merchant union drinking party.
“What if you find out now? You've aged a lot too.”
“Anyway. You guessed and didn't do anything for Zavid?”
“Zavid is too stupid. You shouldn't give a knife to a stupid guy. He stabs himself with the tip of the knife.”
The Duke wiped the ink from his seal and continued.
“There are points where humans can't back down. Like a child to a parent.”
He had brought it upon himself.
The way he judged others and the way he drove them was foolish.
He couldn't pass on the succession to such a guy.
“Do you really think the Duchess will give up her succession?”
“How could that person do that?”
The sworn oath was now just a declaration that they wouldn't fight in the open.
In the shadows, various illegal acts would run rampant.
To target each other's lives.
And the shadows were the Irregular's domain.
'In the open, Zavid's forces are superior, so I'll pull him into my domain.'
“…Useful.”
The Duke's mouth curved up in satisfaction.
***
Night.
Esgard Second Residence.
I was walking anxiously around the room, glancing at the door.
'It's about time…'
At that moment, a knock sounded.
I quickly opened the door, and two people appeared.
Dad and Yuis.
“Yuis!”
The person I had been anxiously waiting for wasn't Dad but Yuis.
When I rushed to Yuis, Dad's eyebrows twitched.
I quickly extended my hand to Yuis.
“Is it the letter from Prince Luciarno?”
“I brought it.”
Then Dad frowned.
“Prince Luciarno?”
“Yes. Before going to Quaron, I wanted to see Mom. I asked Prince Luciarno to come see Mom.”
I said while reading the letter with a bright face.
Only after saying that did Dad's expression soften.
“Yeah. I have to go see him.”
“Can I go now?”
“Go with Yuis.”
“Yes.”
I was about to walk down the corridor smiling brightly when I stopped.
And looked back at Dad.
“Oh, right.”
Dad looked at me as if wondering what was wrong, so I bent my waist.
“I’ve returned, Dad.”
“…”
“I forgot to greet you.”
Dad smiled with a gentle face and stroked my hair.
“Welcome back.”
“Yes.”
After answering, I moved a bit away from Dad with Yuis.
“Dad is really kind. He's an incredibly good person, right?”
“That good person died how many people today….”
Thud.
Unexpectedly, the clock hanging on the wall fell.
'Was that clock bent like that?'
Thinking that, I looked at Yuis.
“What did you say?”
“…I didn't say anything.”
“You did.”
“Let's be quiet. Do you want to see me bent over too?”
“…?”
Yuis's face looked a bit pale.
I tilted my head.
***
The meeting place with Luciarno was the brewery.
A place that supplies alcohol to the Imperial Palace.
The servant who came from the Imperial Palace hid us between the oak barrels and headed somewhere.
And the destination was….
'The Imperial Palace?'
Even the Holy Tower.
The building destroyed in the previous saint verification incident hadn't been properly repaired yet.
Yuis whispered to me.
“It seems they tried to secretly bring us into the Imperial Palace.”
“That's the look of it.”
We followed the servant into the Holy Tower.
He felt around one of the stairs connecting the 3rd and 4th floors.
And when we went up to the rooftop….
“…!”
There was a door we hadn't seen before.
When we entered the door, a strangely shaped path appeared.
There were a huge number of rooms.
The servant guided us to the most secret path among them.
We went deep in and entered a certain room.
When I and Yuis saw the inside of the room, we were startled.
There was a huge tree, so large that even three strong men couldn't embrace it.
Moreover, the leaves sparkled with an eerie light.
Mom was lying on the bed placed under the tree.
Luciarno, who had been looking at the tree, felt our presence and turned to look at me.
I said to Luciarno with a surprised face.
“This is the World Tree of the Temple, right?”
“The World Tree of the Imperial Palace.”
“What….”
“The founding emperor and the first pope divided two seeds of the World Tree and planted them in their respective domains.”
“Then why isn't the Imperial Palace's World Tree public?”
“The Imperial Palace's World Tree has been sick since it sprouted.”
Luciarno touched the leaves of the tree.
Then the leaves became a mass of light and scattered.
“It couldn't be made public because it would be seen as a royal family abandoned by the gods.”
“Is it a secret passed only to the royal family?”
“Even His Majesty doesn't know about this place. I found it when I was young.”
He picked up an old book.
It looked like a diary.
“The founding emperor's diary?”
“Yeah. It was together in this space.”
That explains it.
It was a surprising thing.
'But it's sick?'
It seemed no less than the Temple's World Tree to me.
Because since I entered this space, I had been feeling an elevated mood.
Like the Temple's World Tree, there seemed to be something that amplified holiness.
I placed my hand on the trunk.
I was about to check if it was really sick.
It was the moment I pulled up a bit of mana.
Crash.
The door closed.
“…!”
“…?!”
It wasn't just the door of the space we were in.
Crash. Crash. Crash. Crash.
Even outside the door, the sound of doors closing was heard.
Eventually, with some sound like ku gu gu gu gu…, the body twisted.
It wasn't dizziness.
This space was rotating.
Luciarno and Yuis glanced around in surprise.
Yuis said.
“Let go of your hand. Something's wrong.”
“I want to, but… why…!”
It doesn't fall as if it's stuck to the hand.
Luciarno grabbed my hand stuck to the tree.
At that moment.
Pop!
A strong light covered us.
The light soon became some characters and spread out.
…Between Mom and me.
A strange voice pierced my ears.
A memory I hadn't had in my head popped up.
“It seems like it's cursed, Yustea.”
“What? (Did you evade taxes?)”
“No.”
“Did you hit another bad middle-aged man again? (Did you kick another bad middle-aged man again?)”
“That's not a big deal.”
“Quromon?”
“It's just that our daughter is a genius.”
Tilting my head, Mom pressed her forehead to mine.
“So sorry, baby.”
“No.”
“It doesn't reveal holiness. Forget everything related to the curse. Don't remember this moment.”
My young vision blurred.
Looking at me like that, Mom smiled bitterly.
And another memory.
It was the day I was driven out of Andres.
My eyes were swirling.
When I ran to Mom, who was drenched and clinging to me, Mom grabbed me roughly.
When I opened my eyes wide as if asking what was wrong, Mom grabbed my nape and pressed her forehead to mine.
“Mom, why….”
“Stay still, please!”
“…!”
“It doesn't reveal holiness. It doesn't reveal holiness. It doesn't reveal holiness. It doesn't reveal…!”
No matter how much I shouted, my eyes didn't blur like when I was young.
Mom fell down as is.
Guessing that the situation was serious, I grabbed Mom.
“Why? Why are you doing this? Huh?”
“I can't lose you. No. Yustea can't. I can't lose my daughter.”
A completely unfamiliar expression and voice.
Mom was completely broken.
The trembling hand that was clutching her collar suddenly lifted her head.
“If that's the case…. Yes, if that's the case.”
“Mom?”
Mom looked at me.
And she grabbed my face with both hands.
“Recall the game. Don't remember this moment. Can't guess the curse. Go to Aslan and be protected. Live. Live on….”
The view blurred again.
Mom, who was hugging my drooping body, whispered.
“…It will become happy.”
It was the day Mom fell.
At that moment, my body collapsed.
Luciarno quickly grabbed me.
“Yustea.”
“…It was a curse.”
“What?”
The reason Mom fell.
Mom didn't fall because she was shocked or because the world was so painful that she didn't want to open her eyes again.
It was the backlash of cursing me.
'Mom cursed me… so…'
Although I knew Mom was a strong person who would never give up on life, I unconsciously overrode my thoughts.
Because she had also been cursed.
I approached Mom with a trembling hand, separating from Luciarno.
Mom was sleeping quietly.
'She knew everything.'
All the games.
It was Mom's arrangement that I went to find Dad among the many game characters.
“What happened…?”
How huge the backlash of the curse was that the saint's purification or healing didn't work.
And how did I know about the 'game'?
***
Andres Residence.
The maids looked at the door with worried faces.
Stella hadn't left the room for days.
Even when food was brought, it didn't decrease at all.
“Shouldn't we go in and persuade the young lady somehow?”
“…She must be in a complicated mood. Don't worry about us and go back.”
When the maids were returning with dejected faces, light was leaking from inside the room.
Stella muttered.
“Status Window.”
Name: Stella Andres
Class: !error!
Features: Status Window (Active), Dialogue Window (Active), Healing (Active)
MP: 733/1000
“Strange. It was definitely active, but why did it fail verification? …What do you think?”
So I told you to raise Luciarno's favorability first. If it wasn't Luciarno, Yustea wouldn't have been able to enter the Holy Tower.