How to Replace Dad 79
I rolled my eyes and said, “Speaking of which, Benjamin, why are you here at Andres?”
“I came to play.”
“Play?”
“Hui suggested we go somewhere, so I recommended Andres. Igis would probably like it too.”
“…Because I’m here.”
‘Yeah, I came here to see me in the first place.’
So from the beginning, they wanted to go out to shoot arrows or something.
“That’s right, I’m the ultimate weapon they have—the Goddess of Eternal Night… meaning, the being who can purify ancient curses.”
‘I might get locked up there.’
But I couldn’t attack them.
Benjamin was the son of the Marquis from one of the Seven Great Houses, even if he was from the Old Empire Reconstruction Society.
Without evidence, attacking and subduing him would be hard to handle later.
Then…
“My old colleagues from work told me not to fall for such words and follow them.”
“What?”
“They said they’d introduce me to a friend, took me somewhere, put their hand on a woman’s shoulder and said ‘Meet my sister-in-law’ or something like that.”
‘Let’s change the subject and escape.’
Benjamin let out a hollow laugh.
“Is my image to you, Miss, seriously that of a scoundrel?”
“It’s not that serious.”
“…”
“They said they’d introduce me to a friend, sat on the opposite side and said ‘The one who introduced me is me’ or something.”
“Hmm, that’s something I might do.”
“Yeah.”
They were chatting about the worst introduction stories where my older sisters gave long speeches in front of me.
And while doing so, they subtly passed by Benjamin.
Yuis silently followed me.
Just as we were about to leave the alley entrance.
Benjamin turned to me.
“I’ll let that slide for now. You’ve been working hard.”
Yuis flinched.
I stopped walking too.
Benjamin smiled faintly.
“But I can’t give you too many chances, so you’ll have to decide soon.”
“…”
“We either go together with you or completely exclude you.”
“…”
“I hope it’s the former.”
With that said, Benjamin strode out of the back alley faster than me.
Yuis said with a stiff face.
“That…”
“Yeah, he revealed it.”
That they are what kind of force.
Of course, he probably doesn’t think I know about the Old Empire Reconstruction Society.
But he’ll find out soon.
If Stella succeeds in joining.
Then they’ll go all out to eliminate me.
Yuis whispered.
“So we have no choice but to take it.”
“No way. They’re too dangerous.”
If it weren’t for the Goddess of Eternal Night and the ancient curses they have, I would have gladly allied with them.
I was thinking of taking it before Stella, right?
But since they’re collecting ancient curses, they’ve become people I have to avoid at all costs.
“Their goal isn’t to plant the flag of the Old Empire on this land.”
The ancient curse <Amgyeong> my dad received is very minor.
The Goddess of Eternal Night has even more terrifying curses than that.
Especially ones that could wipe out an entire continent in one go.
And until we break the Goddess of Eternal Night, we don’t know what kind of curse it is.
‘Releasing such curses into the world?’
It would almost certainly cause the people who could tame it to disappear too.
So the purpose is…
“Extermination of humanity.”
“…Insane.”
“There are people who want to achieve that by offering all of humanity as sacrifices. And in my opinion, that’s…”
“That’s…?”
“<Reversal>.”
They want to reverse time and go back to the era when the Old Empire existed.
Yuis said with a disgusted face.
“What the hell are these crazy people.”
“Yeah, so we must never ally with them.”
I blinked.
‘Status Window.’
Name: Yustea Esagott Kuarlon
Class: Saint
Characteristics: Purification, Healing, Status Window (Activated), Insight (80% (View More))
MP: 55/58
‘Huh?’
MP increased.
The percentage of Insight also increased a lot.
There was no change before entering the contaminated area, why?
‘Well, that’s good.’
I wanted to see the Insight.
Just as I tilted my head in confusion.
“Igis asked.”
This is a restaurant.
Benjamin, Hui, Igis, and Onel came with me.
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Lie. I don’t like it.”
Hui glared at the food in the bowl with an unhappy face.
Speaking of which, Hui’s mother tongue is Pyeonje.
Pyeonje is the country with the most flourishing culinary culture on the continent.
Originally, this world has much lower culinary culture than Earth, but Pyeonje has all kinds of seasonings.
The soy sauce and pepper I use are also from Pyeonje.
“This place has nothing to eat except dessert.”
Hmm, dessert culture is quite good.
Nobles eat it with the tea they drink two or three times a day.
“You should eat it. Otherwise you’ll collapse again.”
Benjamin said that, but Hui put down the utensils with a dissatisfied face.
Apparently, he’s collapsed quite a few times.
I lightly raised my hand.
Sahu quickly approached me.
“I want to order potato salad. Is that possible?”
“What would you refuse? Please tell me comfortably.”
“I want you to mash the egg and potato together, make the seasoning a bit strong, and add a lot of mayonnaise.”
“I’ll pass it to the kitchen.”
I took out three silver coins and handed them to the servant.
The servant’s face lit up.
One he quickly stuffed in his pocket, and with the other two, he rushed to the kitchen.
Two of them will go to the chef.
Not long after, the potato salad arrived.
As expected, a restaurant that serves nobles too.
There was mayonnaise.
I spread the potato salad on the soft bread I had brought earlier and placed it in front of Hui.
“If you’re okay, please eat.”
“What is this slop?”
“It shouldn’t be that bad, right?”
“…”
“…”
But Benjamin and Igis poked his sides from both sides.
Hui had no choice but to bite into the bread with potato salad.
And then…
“…”
His eyes widened.
“It’s delicious!”
Nobles don’t usually eat things like potatoes.
They think it’s a lowly commoner’s food.
So even if from Pyeonje, he’d probably never eaten potato salad bread like this.
When Hui ate happily, Benjamin and Igis showed interest too.
When they casually put their hands on the bread…
Thud—.
Hui glared with wide eyes, slapped their hands away, and lifted the entire bowl I gave him.
“The saint gave it to me.”
“Disgusting.”
“Disgusting…”
Benjamin and Igis narrowed their eyes and looked at Hui.
Hui ate without caring, like closing his eyes.
Apparently, his stomach had been hurting a lot since coming to the Avalon Empire.
I watched and smiled silently.
And just as I was about to focus on the meal again…
“How do you even know how to do that?”
Onel asked.
I looked up at Onel.
“It’s something kids do, spreading things on bread.”
“Creating something that matches the taste right away.”
“When the master asks for late-night food, you have to make it quickly with what’s available.”
“…”
“…”
Onel’s hand stopped.
“Did you work at a noble family too?”
“I was from a wealthy commoner family.”
“…Commoner?”
Now he looked at me with a completely furrowed brow.
Benjamin, Igis, and Hui also flinched and looked at me.
To those from even more outstanding noble families, it would sound like a different world.
Like serving a commoner.
‘But there are many people who live like that.’
The room fell silent.
The meal ended in that quiet atmosphere.
After leaving the room, Benjamin paid the bill.
Meanwhile, I had stayed far away from Onel, Hui, and Igis.
At that time, the chefs approached at a brisk pace.
One of them looked at me and furrowed his brows.
“…Yustea?”
I looked at him in surprise.
It was Sirago.
The person I worked with doing dishes at the restaurant.
Apparently, he was scouted because his cooking skills were outstanding even then.
He was wearing a different tie from the other chefs.
It probably meant head chef.
“What are you doing here? Did you catch a rich man?”
“…”
“…”
“…”
Onel, Hui, Igis all furrowed their brows and looked at Sirago.
Sirago doesn’t know my status well.
He’s a foreigner.
So he didn’t know I was a noble.
‘At that time, I had hidden my status from the beginning.’
“Are you still living irresponsibly? Abandoning your job and running away?”
I didn’t run away.
I was quietly fired because the boss threatened my status.
Apparently, the boss told people I ran away.
After all, he probably wanted to keep the story of the expelled eldest daughter of Andres working at his restaurant from leaking out.
“Do you know how much trouble I went through looking for people because of you for days?”
“…”
“…”
“Anyway, people like you should all be sent to coal mines for mental education…”
He was saying that when the servant who was calculating hurriedly came out.
And he rushed over pale-faced and pulled the head chef.
“Stop…”
“Ah, right. Where is the saint?”
“She’s right here.”
“What?”
“That person.”
Sahu said urgently, and Sirago burst out laughing.
“You have to say something that makes sense. How could that be…”
That moment.
Knock knock knock knock!
The Andres knights rushed into the room.
The restaurant instantly became chaos.
As I turned around in confusion, Onel was rolling a call button in his hand.
He must have called them.
That wasn’t the end.
“Kneel.”
The knights roughly pressed Sirago down.
Sirago, panicked, stuttered.
“W-what, why, why…!”
“Dull-witted and stupid people always react the same.”
“Y-yes?”
“Even when your neck is about to be cut, you don’t know what you touched.”
Sahu lay flat and crawled to me.
“Saint, please save me. Saint…!”
Only after seeing that did Sirago’s face turn white.
After all, how could the worker who was bossing around suddenly become the saint?
Onel said coldly.
“Blasphemy. Teach manners to that stupid head.”
I sighed.
“Enough.”
“You…”
“Even if you knew my status, it would still be blasphemy. Not knowing is just stupidity.”
“Stupidity is also a crime.”
“So just treat it as stupidity.”
Above all, the other chefs and servants are innocent.
Benjamin shrugged.
“Then shall we go, Yustea.”
“Of course…”
Even Igis said so, and I followed them.
Outside the restaurant, Benjamin said.
“The weather is getting cold. Let’s move in our carriage.”
“Th…”
Just as I was about to speak.
Onel who came out of the restaurant grabbed my wrist.
I was pulled by him.
And pushed into Onel’s carriage.
“Start.”
Onel opened the driver’s seat and said.
I quickly stopped him.
“Don’t start.”
“Start.”
“What are you doing? I’ll take my own carriage…”
“Don’t act up and just stay quiet!”
Onel shouted harshly.
I looked at him with an incredulous expression.
“Why are you angry?”
“I’m irritated. Because of you.”
“…”
“…”
“Why do you keep making people nervous!”
“…”
“…”
The carriage started moving.
I let out a dumbfounded laugh.
What did I do to cause this ruckus?
“Explain the reason. Or drop me off.”
“…”
“…”
This time, it was him who was quiet.
I opened the carriage door.
Onel flinched and grabbed my hand.
“Are you going crazy wanting to die?”
“You’re the one who said you want me to die.”
“…”
“…”
“Just die. That would make your heart feel better, Yustea.”
“But why suddenly like this.”
“…”
“…”
“Do you still see me as the idiot brother who doesn’t know what to do with one word from you?”
“…Then what?”
“What?”
I looked at him with a dumbfounded expression.
“Admit that you’re also at fault.”
“You…”
“I was angry. Because I got angry when I saw you.”
“…”
“…”
“I didn’t want to see you begging for love.”
“…”
“…”
Onel’s expression was strange.
It looked like he was glaring at me, and also like he was venting resentment.
“So you’re also at fault. You made me remember the stupid me who was waiting for my mother.”
“…So?”
“Admit that you passed me by. You can be angry.”
“…”
“…”
“But you didn’t say anything either.”
“…”
“…”
“You said you were worried about me, that you were nursing me when I was sick, that you didn’t give up on me even after pushing me away!”
“…”
“…”
If you had said that, our relationship would have been different.
Onel looked at me with a hardened face.
I quietly stared into his eyes.
The carriage became quiet.
After a while, I slowly opened my mouth.
“This is crazy, right?”