Taming the Tyrant Papa! (Or So I Thought)

Approximately five hours had passed since then.

“With that, this meeting is adjourned. Well done, everyone. Iris, Father must attend training now, so return straight to your chambers.”

“Yes, Father. Do not worry. I am all grown up now!”

Calian stroked my head before leaving the conference room.

The moment he was gone, the ministers all let out a collective sigh.

“Lady Iris, you saved us! Thank you so much!”

The elderly minister’s eyes glistened with tears as he bowed deeply to me.

My head turned naturally toward the old minister. With a gaze so full of murderous intent it looked ready to snap his neck at any moment.

“How dare a lowly mouth like yours speak so freely to me?”

No no no no no! That wasn’t me at all! It came out completely against my will! It felt exactly like something straight out of The Tyrant’s Handbook.

To clear up the misunderstanding, I took a step toward the ministers.

“H-Hiiik! P-Please forgive us!”

The ministers scrambled to bow even lower, practically slamming their foreheads to the floor.

Watching them, I froze completely. Inside, I kept repeating Calm down, everyone as I opened my mouth.

But what came out was…

How on earth does the skill interpret my thoughts to spit out something like that… I eventually gave up trying to figure it out.

“Haa… Every bone in my body aches.”

Safely back in my room, I plopped down on the bed.

Come to think of it, the reward was a status window, right?

“Open the status window.”

I had secretly hoped for something like an awakened hunter’s status window, but this was a completely new format I’d never seen before.

And every useful function is locked anyway.

“What a completely useless status window.”

I sighed while staring at it, trying to catch my breath, when a knock sounded at the door.

“Your Highness, it is time for dinner.”

It must have been a maid. Well, this was an empire after all. Of course ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠there would be maids to spare.

My stomach was rumbling too, so I opened the door to eat.

The moment I did, I couldn’t hide my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bewilderment.

…Huh?

I had definitely only heard one maid’s voice from outside.

But now…

What is this ridiculous number?

Maids lined up on either side of the doorway, all bowing their heads in perfect unison.

When I stared at them with a blank face, the woman who appeared to be the head maid spoke.

“His Majesty requested we treat Your Highness with the utmost care today, so we prepared accordingly.”

The empire’s scale was insane.

“Not bad at all.”

I walked down the path the servants had created for me and soon arrived at the dining room where Calian waited.

Thanks to them, I got here without getting lost.

Without the maids, I definitely would have wandered for a while.

“Iris, you’re here. How did you like Father’s gift?”

Calian must have washed after training; he was dressed neatly.

“It was truly wonderful!”

The only person Tyrant’s Majesty didn’t affect. The one person I could speak my true feelings to and talk comfortably with.

At the same time, he was also the most exhausting person to be around. We were roughly the same mental age, so casual speech kept trying to slip out, and I had to constantly remember to act like a daughter. It was stressful.

I sat down across from Calian. The distance between us was about five meters.

The five-meter-long table was packed with so much food it looked like it might collapse. Every dish was different.

“I heard you haven’t eaten anything since the meeting. I told the cooks to put in extra effort for my daughter who performed so admirably today. Eat as much as you like.”

The catch was that he hadn’t cooked it himself, but whatever.

“Thank you for the meal!”

Who cares about the details!

I was thoroughly enjoying the pleasant dinner when—

“Your Highness, allow me to pour your drink.”

“Mm, go ahead.”

The maid filled my glass with grape juice to the brim.

Just as she was withdrawing the bottle, she accidentally slammed the bottle’s mouth against my glass.

With a loud crash, the glass shattered and grape juice spilled all over the dress I’d been wearing all day.

“I-I’m so sorry!”

The maid kept bowing and apologizing frantically.

“Iris! Are you alright?”

Calian jumped up from his meal and rushed over. In exactly two leaps.

He gently wiped the spilled juice with a handkerchief, then turned his gaze to the maid who had made the mistake.

Calian glared at her with murderous eyes and a face flushed red with rage, as if he wanted to kill her on the spot.

“Do you understand what you have just done?”

“I-I’m sorry…! P-Please show mercy…”

“Silence. I have no desire to look at your disgusting face.”

Having said that, Calian pulled a small dagger from his coat and handed it to the maid.

“I do not consider empty words an apology. If you are truly sorry, then take this dagger and commit seppuku right here.”

“P-Please… I lost my husband and must raise my children alone. Have pity on me…”

“You talk too much. If you cannot do it yourself, I shall assist you.”

Just before Calian’s dagger plunged into the maid’s abdomen—

“F-Father! I’m perfectly fine!”

The dagger stopped mere millimeters from the maid’s stomach.

Calian soon sheathed the blade and put it away.

“If not for Iris, your life would have ended here. You should thank ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her.”

The maid’s legs gave out and she collapsed to the floor.

Then she began trembling and crying.

“Th-Thank you… Thank you so much…”

“Did I not just say I have no desire to look at your disgusting face?”

After bowing one last time, the maid fled the dining room.

Once he confirmed she was gone, Calian hurried back to me.

“Iris, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”

He was the picture of a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠loving father worried for his daughter.

I think I need to say something at least once.

That he showed no mercy to anyone but me. It was Calian’s only flaw right now.

“Your Majesty, could you not treat others the way you treat me? Are you not the father of all citizens in the great empire of Barshain?”

It was advice given not as a spoiled daughter, but as the legitimate heir.

Calian’s eyes shook violently.

“…My daughter must have been very startled. Father is sorry.”

“It’s not that. I simply threw a little tantrum because I wanted everyone to know how kind you can be.”

I gently pinched both of Calian’s cheeks, which looked deep in thought.

“Shall we continue our meal?”

“…Yes, let’s.”

After that, Calian and I chatted peacefully and finished our dinner.

“Haa… What a hectic day.”

If I had been even a little slower, that maid would no longer be of this world.

If someone dies right in front of me, I might actually get trauma!

My head throbbed so badly I changed into comfortable clothes and flopped onto the bed.

Father, if we wash this dress it should still be wearable. Can’t I just keep wearing it?

Grape juice is very difficult to remove completely. Father will buy you a new dress instead!

But I really liked this one…

And so my very first dress in this life met its end.

As drowsiness from a full stomach crept in and my eyelids grew heavy—

It was strange. This time I really hadn’t done anything…

Could it be?

Was Calian actually trying to reform after hearing what I said earlier?

I took a deep breath.

To think that one person’s determination could move fate.

“So you were even more of a person than I thought…”

Well, the present and future mattered more than the past.

Although it wasn’t in the novel, my ending would probably be either getting my head chopped off by guillotine or going into exile.

After all, besides me and Calian, there’s no one else to inherit Barshain.

“That aside… what exactly are these points?”

When something doesn’t make sense, opening the status window usually solves it.

“Open the status window.”

The moment I opened it, a rock-shattering sound effect rang out, followed by a grand unlocking animation that celebrated the shop icon.

I tapped the shop icon.

There were bound to be things I’d need to survive from now on.

The shop really had all sorts of items.

The Author’s Setting Collection, The Hero’s Chronicle of Rebuilding the Empire – Chapter 1, and so on.

Individual chapters that let me read content after the prologue, and even a setting book that revealed essential main and supporting characters the author had planned.

I desperately wanted the setting collection, but…

“Th-The price is far too high…”

The Author’s Setting Collection cost a whopping 100,000 PT. With only 1,000 PT, it was nowhere near enough.

Swallowing my tears, I looked for something I could actually afford.

I was a deep-sea exploration agent. Someone who found forgotten relics.

After scrolling through countless items, I finally found something that piqued my curiosity.

“How intriguing.”

The merit of possibly getting an expensive item for a cheap price was more than enough.

The odds… Holy crap?!

The chance of getting an item worth 10,000 PT or more was less than 10%.

But my gut was screaming at me.

I won’t regret this. Just press it already.

Hmm… Yesterday’s memory flashed through my mind, but I decided to trust my instincts one more time today.

“Yesss…!”

To the sound of a painfully cheesy jingle, a box began dancing.

Right after, with the sound of fireworks, the box dropped into my hands.

“Ahem! If you give me something useless, I won’t let it slide.”

I untied the pink ribbon on the box.

I expected dramatic lighting and tense sound effects from inside the box, but—

“You really went all out on unnecessary details.”

None of that happened.

In the deflating atmosphere, I opened the box without hesitation.

“Huh…? What in the world is this?”