Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Dad Was Actually the Heir to a Villain Family
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I was sitting on top of our mud wall, surrounded by blooming flowers, waiting for Dad.
My fluffy white cheeks like fresh-baked white bread, my soft pigtails like a downy blanket, and my round chubby legs—all basking evenly in the sunlight—were making me feel great.
‘Dad said he’d bring meat! Meat!’
I wiggled my short, stubby limbs like toilet paper rolls and grinned excitedly.
‘Beef party today!’
Sitting on the wall with just my head peeking out, waiting for Dad, would bore anyone. Plus, even though I’d reincarnated and this was my second life, I’d gotten a penalty from God during reincarnation, leaving my body way more immature than other kids’.
They say a healthy body houses a healthy mind.
Not for me. In exchange for my reincarnation memories, I’d been born into an even younger, more immature body than normal.
Sadly, that immature body sometimes messed with my mature mind. Every now and then, my mentality synced up with my childish physical age.
Just like right now.
I clenched my round little fist and started to puff out my cheeks, then stopped short.
‘Gasp, that’s too babyish!’
I tried to self-censor, but for some reason today, my body wasn’t listening. The nice weather and breeze on my cheeks were making me sleepy.
‘I really feel like a baby. I’m sleepy, so I hope Dad hurries up.’
And on a day like today, it was just too hard for a baby to fight off drowsiness……
The sunlight was languid, the air crisp, my cheeks flushing pink—it was that kind of day. I nodded off atop the wall.
How many hours passed like that?
“Little one.”
I blinked my eyes open in a hurry and looked ahead.
“Huh?”
With my round eyes wide, I tilted my head. Knights armed with spears and swords had surrounded our house, the little mud wall, and me. I tilted my head again at their armor glinting in the light.
“No adults here?”
“Adults?”
“Yeah. The man who lives here. He’s not around?”
The man who lives here must mean my dad.
I instinctively sensed danger and lied.
“He went to work.”
“By any chance, is that man…… blue eyes, black hair? Around thirty…… or so?”
The knight spoke in a friendly tone.
His eyes were darting greedily, like con artists who’d scammed Dad’s money before. It gave me the creeps.
‘No matter how I think about it, they seem to be looking for Dad. Suspicious.’
My dad was the purest, kindest guy in the village……
A total pushover.
His heart was so soft he donated money to villagers under the guise of contributions, worked odd jobs without pay, and always laughed foolishly.
Thinking of my dad, who was as soft and steamed-bun-like all the way through, gave me a bad feeling.
‘Has Dad finally gotten swept up in something huge enough to bring scary knights running? Framed for someone else’s crime?’
Dad was smart, but too kind, always taking losses. He’d even stand surety for others sometimes.
Each time, I’d offer them a plump new potato from our yard, charm them with my cuteness, get them to cancel the surety. I was famous around here for being the cutest kid—if I pleaded with sparkling eyes, they’d melt like a soft-boiled egg in ramen, pat my head, and leave.
The question was whether my charm would work on these knights.
‘Will my cuteness work on these knights too?’
I puffed out my deflated, cream-puff cheeks huge again and said,
“Don’t know. No one like that here.”
Then I unleashed my ultimate sparkling eye-roll skill, looking up at them.
The knight’s lips stiffened at my gaze. Failure? I squinted, but he said,
“Y-You’re really cute.”
My cuteness worked everywhere under the sun, it seemed.
I smirked darkly inside and brazenly replied.
“I know!”
“Y-Yeah…… c-can I just hold your hand once……”
I shook my head at the knight uncle gaping like an idiot, slowly reaching out.
“No.”
The knight snapped to, shook his head repeatedly, then nudged the man beside him.
“What do we do now?”
“We got reports he’s definitely here. This is bad.”
“Should we pull back for now? Come back tomorrow?”
Pretending not to hear, I kicked my legs idly and thought.
‘Phew, at least Dad’s off the suspect list.’
The murmuring knights kept glancing at me…… but that wasn’t important!
I pouted, sparkling determination in my eyes.
‘Tonight, I’ll grill Dad on what happened. If it’s bad, we run away at night. No choice.’
There’s a reason the thirty-sixth stratagem—fleeing—is the best.
If dangerous guys show up, nighttime flight is the answer!
But right then, as I pursed my lips, pondering our future,
“Sien!”
……Oh no.
‘Isn’t that our idiot Dad’s voice? Why so soon? I need to shoo these knights away quick!’
I whipped my head toward the voice, eyes bulging. The knights followed suit.
“Sien! I got the meat……”
“Hmph. Shh!”
I sucked in a sharp breath. Shoo, shoo, I waved frantically.
But Dad ignored my emergency signal, squinting ahead. Then he bolted over fast.
The problem? Dad’s steps were swordmaster-quick.
He was gentle as can be, but his physical prowess was unmatched. All that farming had built massive pecs.
‘Dad charging in looks like he’s threatening the knights!’
Provoking knights was bad news.
Last time I nearly got pecked by that monster chicken, Dad went superhuman.
Today too.
Thinking I was in danger, resolve hardened in his innocent eyes.
‘Dad’s super fast!’
Amid the clustered knights, Dad dashed with a black bag stuffed with meat.
Rushing to protect me, the world’s kindest, one and only ally—my Dad.
“Who are you?”
Dad squinted sternly and asked gravely.
I let out a long sigh.
‘Why now, idiot Dad!’
These knights could be super scary. I was gonna fend them off with cuteness, but him showing up early meant I couldn’t save him.
But right then, as I was about to kick the knights away,
“Young Master Matthias Mirmod of House Mirmod the First. We’ve come with a message: your holiday is over. Return home.”
My kicking foot froze midair.
‘……Huh? What? Mirmod?’
House Mirmod.
The empire’s shadowy cancer, tangled in every scam, crime, and evil deed.
Built on all sorts of felonies, every member specialized in magic or swordsmanship, committing murder casually.
‘These knights must’ve mistaken him—their eyes are bad. Mirmod, scarier than a tiger?’
I clenched my chubby fists tight, shaking my head to deny it. No. Dad has nothing to do with “Mir” from Mirmod. So leave.
But right then.
Dad asked sternly, as if it were obvious.
“Return after my holiday?”
That instant, red bloomed on my pale cheeks.
His cool retort made him sound exactly like a real Mirmod young master. I blinked in panic.
***
……Shockingly, Dad really was that Mirmod heir.
After the knights left, our cozy rural mud house crumbled to dust.
And……
Dad and I were dragged to the weird, dangerous Mirmod ducal castle.
The castle looked awfully gloomy and eerie.
My little head struggled to process that Dad wasn’t just a simple country farmer.
Let me sort this out.
Turns out, Dad was House Mirmod’s firstborn young master. Exiled from the duchy for unspeakable reasons, but now the exile’s lifted or whatever.
‘The world’s kindest Dad from the Mirmod family? That’s the villain family from the novel. This is insane.’
This was inside the novel I’d half-read, [Melodia’s Life]. A tale of beautiful love between Crown Prince and Saintess Melodia, but with the prince as lead, political intrigue featured heavily.
The novel’s standout villains were the crown prince’s rivals, ‘House Mirmod’. Scams, evil deeds, violence, gambling—they used every dirty trick. The archetypal villain family everyone feared and shunned……
Plus, House Mirmod was in constant civil war, killing endlessly. For heirship, dukedom, powerful artifacts and holy relics—they murdered kin.
Daily news of deaths. And it wasn’t weird there.
Ultimately, wiped out by the crown prince—the villain family’s end.
The problem?
Dad’s name, ‘Matthias’, never appeared in the novel.
Meaning Dad was an extra who got offed without even showing up?
‘Sigh, someone as kind as Dad doesn’t mesh with a villain family. So why drag him back……?’
Too mismatched, maybe Dad retired to the countryside on his own. He wasn’t heir material. No stomach for succession wars—he’d step aside and cheer if someone else wanted it.
‘Did they drag him back to eliminate loose ends?’
Our cozy mud-wall home was already demolished.
We father and daughter were now homeless drifters.
If villains targeted Dad in this mess……
Emergency alarms blared in my head.
Like in the original, naive folks like us would get eaten alive if we sat around.
My pale cheeks drained white as I fretted.
‘Can Dad and I survive?’
Worries swarmed, killing my appetite and sleep.
Dad noticed my state sharp as ever.
“What’re you thinking, my girl?”
“Whew.”
I sighed big again, looking around.
This seemed like a meeting hall for the villain family—super creepy and scary.
‘Skulls rolling on the floor here and there. Must be my imagination. Definitely.’
Dad sat casually in a terrifying skull-patterned chair, plopped me on his lap, hugged me, patted my shoulders.
“It’s okay, sweetie. You’re tired, huh? We’ll talk quick and go nap.”
Dad chuckled foolishly, stroking my hair.
Survival’s the issue now. Entering this dangerous family, and he’s all smiles.
‘This is ridiculous!’
Suddenly stuck surviving with idiot Dad—it infuriated and saddened me. I’d been excited for crayfish today, pork tomorrow.
‘But no choice now.’
I slumped my shoulders, smacked Dad’s arm with my fists.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Yeah?”
Dad chuckled warmly, fiddling with my pigtails.
He’d braided them pretty this morning, but they loosened coming here—hurt my feelings.
I sighed long, leaning my tiny body against Dad’s flat chest.
“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you, Dad!”
This was a venomous pit. Villains could pop up anytime.
My chubby, sausage-plump arms trembled like aspen leaves, but oh well.
I glared at the air.
Curtains part, villain family member appears soon?
Then I had to protect Dad.
‘Scary monster villains, back off! I’ll protect my Dad!’
As I psyched myself up, Dad gripped me tighter and whispered.
“You don’t need to protect Dad, Sien.”
His voice held faint amusement.
“Dad’ll protect you, sweetie.”
His thick-muscled arms around me and scarred hands felt firm, but with his soft personality, not scary. My squishy chubby arms seemed more reliable?
I sighed deeply.
Our idiot Dad and my future…… really worried me……