Chapter 239: It Was Winter (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 239: It Was Winter (7)
Violet probably intended to fluster me, but I figured I might as well just admit it.
After all, this contract was something Daisy wanted in the first place. Moreover, the title of "The Saintess’s Lover" wasn't harmful at all, so there was no loss on my part.
Well, I didn't expect to meet Daisy’s parents this early. But then again, hadn't we already promised to meet this winter anyway?
“…A Sword Master? Is he older than he looks?”
“They say strong people maintain their youthful appearance well.”
“I’m the same age as Daisy.”
“What? That means…”
“Yep. He’s a genius. He knows a bit of magic, too.”
“Oh my, oh my! And to think Daisy said she was learning the sword when she never cared for it before!”
Because of that, I could carry on the conversation with a straight face as if nothing were wrong.
Adam Smith.
The pride of the Leon Royal Family’s agents.
Thinking of Uncle Aeryun, who insisted he was our age despite his face, I figured this level of shamelessness was simply a requirement for the job.
“Please… please stop…”
Consequently, the burden of shame fell entirely on Daisy.
Though she managed to hide her flushed face, she couldn't hide her beet-red ears. She whispered in a tiny voice that sounded like a concentrated scream of despair.
“Wow! Daisy, you look like a ghost!”
“I’m going to curse you, Violet…”
“Hey, why me…?”
“You knew it would turn out like this!”
“I didn't know that man could be this shameless…”
Violet muttered in a hollow voice as she was being shaken by the collar by Daisy.
However, I didn't back down for a second.
“And your family… is a Count’s house?”
“Yes. However, I am mostly independent.”
“Independent?”
“Yes. I’ve been performing public duties for the Leon Royal Family since I was young, so I’ve lived in the royal capital longer than I have with my family.”
“Is that so?”
“Ah, for your information, I purchased my house with the salary I received from the royal family.”
“Oh…”
“And I own a few commercial buildings in the capital…”
“Ooh…!”
The moment he realized his opponent was Senior Loreliya, Daisy’s father accepted reality. After finishing his background check on me, he flashed a satisfied smile and extended his hand.
“Welcome, son-in-law.”
“Dad!”
I heard Daisy’s sharp protest, but I ignored it lightly.
“We aren't quite at that stage yet, but who knows what the future holds?”
As someone originally from a land of Eastern etiquette, it was impossible for me to refuse an elder’s handshake.
“What do you mean, ‘who knows what the future holds’?!”
“Was I really just a plaything to you…?”
“Do you really want to die?!”
Since she looked like she might actually kill me if I pushed further, I took a step back for now.
“Mother. This is how I live.”
I retreated and appealed to Daisy’s mother.
“Our girl wasn't usually like this…”
“Mom?!”
She promptly proved that Daisy had no allies here.
There is one good thing about just diving into things.
It eliminates the time spent on useless worrying.
You know how it goes, right?
When you open a delivery app without deciding what to eat, spend an hour agonizing over it, and end up just boiling some ramen. If you had just made the ramen or picked something at random the moment you opened the app, you would have gained an hour of your life back.
The way to avoid that regret is to either make the ramen without thinking or just order something random.
Of course, that’s not always the right answer.
Sometimes, right as you’re about to eat the ramen, you suddenly crave something else intensely. Or, the food you ordered at random turns out to be so bad you wonder if you should have even paid for it.
That’s just how regret works.
You can regret something because you thought too much.
But you can also regret something because you just dove in.
“So, son-in-law.”
“I told you, he’s not your son-in-law!”
“What part of our daughter caught your eye?”
“I was threatened with the feeling that I’d be buried if I didn't meet her…”
“So our daughter confessed first!”
“N-No! That’s not what I meant?!”
“You’re not denying it, dear…”
“E-Even you, Mom?!”
As a result of teasing Daisy, I ended up gaining more favor with her parents than expected.
And as a result…
“……”
“……”
“……”
“……”
The gazes of the RoFan male leads were not pleasant.
In particular, Prince Ellen’s expression was that of a man betrayed by a trusted friend.
Well, from Prince Ellen’s perspective, he was betrayed.
Feeling like the background music should be a song about a "Wrongful Encounter," I shifted my gaze.
“……?”
I locked eyes with a Magic Spammer who felt similar to the other RoFan male leads, yet somehow different.
…And who are you? I thought you gave up.
“To think such a major event occurred while I was being kidnapped.”
Then, proving why he was the most likely RoFan male lead candidate of the Academy arc, Esid let out a small cough and showed he had recovered from the shock.
“Who might you be…?”
“A friend of Daisy’s…”
“Ah.”
“My name is Esid Elleras.”
“Ah… Ah?”
At the mention of being Daisy’s friend, Daisy’s father naturally extended his hand, only to freeze mid-motion.
It seemed shaking hands was his signature greeting style, but his opponent was too high-profile.
Having failed to retract his frozen hand, Daisy’s father ended up greeting the Prince of the Empire.
“Hello, I am Daisy’s friend…”
“……?”
Starting with the Imperial Prince, then the Leon royalty, the Dale royalty, and even the future head of a merchant guild that had branches even in Daisy’s backwater territory…
“I am Asran.”
“Ah, yes.”
Even Asran—once the pride of the Empire as the future Sword Emperor and still treated like a divine being—passed by Daisy’s father as the "weakest" member of the lineup.
“……?”
After shaking hands with everyone, Daisy’s father stared blankly at his own hand.
He looked like he was doubting whether this was a dream, but unfortunately, his daughter was a RoFan female lead.
In other words, he was the father of a RoFan female lead.
Recalling what Violet had said, he didn't seem to appear much in the original story. But once he did appear, he was a character who could exert great influence over the daily life segments of the RoFan party.
…Simply put, it meant he was destined to witness the pathetic fumbling of the RoFan male leads.
They say that since a general on horseback is no ordinary man, it’s more effective to shoot the horse out from under him first.
In other words, to win a fight, it’s more effective to attack what the opponent relies on or values rather than targeting them directly.
To the RoFan male leads, who were being shut out of romance like Zhang Fei guarding Changban Bridge, Daisy’s parents were nothing short of a land of opportunity that might never come again.
Therefore.
“I have prepared the finest facilities.”
The first to step forward was Hedrick Ilias, who had gone from a likely candidate to almost the confirmed successor of the Ilias Merchant Guild. He tried to flex his wealth, but…
“We can’t leave people who have already experienced kidnapping in a high-risk terror zone. I have already prepared a place for the two of them to stay inside the Academy.”
“Tch.”
Unfortunately, the Academy was located in the Imperial Capital. Even the Ilias Merchant Guild, which operated on a continental scale, could not overcome the power of the Imperial Family within the capital.
“…Isn't the risk of terror the same here as it is at the Academy?”
“If it doesn't work here, he’s the type of bastard who’d take them to the Imperial Palace. Anyway, there’s nothing we can do here, so let’s just watch the kids fight.”
The Magic Spammer answered Prince Ellen’s innocent question with a cold assessment.
Seeing the bucket of popcorn in his arms, it was becoming increasingly clear that the Curse of RoFan was real.
“Son-in-law. I feel like I’m getting an ulcer.”
“I have stomach medicine here. And how long is this ‘son-in-law’ thing going to continue?”
“I think I’ll keep it up at least as long as I’m here.”
“Why?”
“Because if I call you ‘son-in-law’… those gentlemen over there direct their glares at you instead of me.”
As expected, Daisy’s father was quick-witted.
“Are you selling out your son-in-law?”
“I’ll die otherwise, so what can I do? Please save your father-in-law.”
He was whining, but the way his eyes twinkled was strangely familiar.
“Actually, is Vi—no, is Violet your biological daughter?”
This man was indeed burdened by the RoFan male leads, but he was also enjoying the fact that those same leads were desperate for his daughter.
“Violet has been visiting us every day since she was a child. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but now I think of her as my own daughter, so you’re not wrong.”
I didn't mean it in that sense; I meant it because their behavior was identical.
“So. What do you think?”
“What do you mean…?”
“I’m asking who you think is the biggest threat. You say you’re lovers now, but with so many rivals, don't you feel a sense of crisis?”
A sense of crisis.
To be honest, except for Prince Ellen, I wouldn't really mind losing her to any of them at any time, but…
“Tell me honestly.”
At Daisy’s father’s request for honesty, I briefly pictured the faces of the RoFan male leads.
“Can I really be honest?”
“Of course. I won’t tell anyone…”
“I have no confidence.”
“Well, considering the competition…”
“In losing.”
“……?”
To be perfectly honest, if I had to pick the strongest rival candidate right now, it would be the Magic Spammer. He was a guy who had been rejected so thoroughly his soul was shredded, to the point he was even escaping the Curse of RoFan.
To put it another way, the fumbling of the other RoFan male leads was so legendary that he was the strongest rival.
However.
“Haha… To think you’d be that confident…”
To someone who didn't know the genre of this world and had lived a normal life until being kidnapped, this was a difficult conversation to understand.
“You’ll find out within a week.”
With Daisy’s father’s intuition, it was a truth he would likely realize after just a week of living at the Academy.
#Daisy - I hate the world.
Lately, Daisy hated the world.
It had already been three days since her kidnapped parents were rescued.
She had been happy to see them for the first time since entering the Academy, but…
“Just go home already!”
“Dear. Our daughter is telling us to go home… and it hasn't even been that long since we were kidnapped…”
“It can’t be helped. She’s all grown up now, playing around with several men. We’re just parents who lack tact, barging in and getting in the way…”
“……”
Daisy made a tearful face and opened the window.
She wanted to threaten to jump right out, but…
“Daisy really has become strong. To think she can just jump down from the third floor now.”
“You heard it from Adam, too. Even those scary dark mages run away just at the mention of Daisy’s name.”
“When I first heard the news that our daughter became a Saintess, I was honestly flustered. But to think she’d become this strong…”
Seeing her parents merely marveling at her threat to jump from the third floor, Daisy went ahead and jumped.
“I want to die…”
Naturally, the current Daisy was a powerhouse who could survive a fall from a thirty-story Magic Tower, let alone the third floor, so she suffered no damage.
That only added to her sense of self-loathing. Daisy buried her face between her knees with a miserable expression, but then…
“Wait a minute.”
In that fleeting moment, she caught sight of the back of one of the culprits who had made her like this, and her eyes couldn't help but flash.