Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Because I Love You
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I tilted my head, staring intently at the Captain and Ted.
But none of them answered. With a puzzled expression, I said it once more to them.
“Why, did everyone already know that rumor?”
That was when it happened. From behind me, Deadri sis muttered in a grim voice.
“There’s no way we wouldn’t know that rumor.”
“……What?”
At those words, I swallowed hard and looked at Deadri sis.
Had the day finally come to discern the truth of Dad’s rumor? What if our dad really was an evil villain just like the rumor said?
As all sorts of thoughts swirled in my head, Bench sis chuckled softly and said.
“Is there anyone in the Mirmod family without such an infamous reputation?”
Bench sis laughed “euhaha” and stomped her foot once.
The candlestick on the table fell to the floor. I stared blankly at the sight, then moved my lips.
“……Sis. You look so cool, like a huge elephant.”
Deadri sis’s eyes seemed to tremble slightly…… but I didn’t see it clearly, so I wasn’t sure.
I placed the napkin neatly around my neck onto my lap and then eagerly scooped up my food.
Deadri sis, Bench sis, the Captain, Ted—they all seemed to be just looking at me. As I ate diligently, I lifted my head and said.
“Why are you all making those faces?”
“Haha…….”
“Ted, do you have something to say?”
“……No, I don’t. You’re right, milady. Lord Mathias is…….”
He gazed at me quietly, then opened his mouth in a gentle tone.
“He treats you well, Lady Sien. He’s a better father than anyone else.”
Everyone present nodded in agreement, as if there were no objections.
It was a stark contrast to their attitudes when I’d mentioned earlier, “There’s a rumor that our dad is a scary tiger!”
I tilted my head, then parted my lips again.
“Yeah, our dad has always been amazing!”
For some strange reason, a shiver ran down my spine, but I tried hard not to pay it any mind.
***
That evening.
Ted and the Captain sat facing each other.
After the Captain had aggressively told Ted, “I have something to say,” they had commandeered an empty parlor in the mansion and begun their private talk.
“What’s going on?”
At Ted’s thoughtful question, the Captain bristled both his lips and eyebrows.
As the slightly flustered Ted was about to press him again on what was wrong.
The Captain’s expression crumpled in distress.
“No matter how much Lord Mathias insisted we not speak of it, shouldn’t he have given us at least a hint? Honestly, at first I didn’t think anything of it, but now that I’ve grown fond of Sien, I feel guilty.”
“……You mean the rumors about Lord Mathias are true? That he’s a murderer who’s walked a path stained in blood—and we should tell that to Sien?”
The Captain’s eyes sparkled.
“Yes! Exactly! Everyone knows about Lord Mathias, but his own daughter Sien doesn’t. There’s a limit to treating someone like a fool! As a holy knight, you value the truth, right, Uncle? How about we tell Sien? Even just a little.”
The Captain was ranting so passionately that my ears were starting to ring.
However, Ted was in no position to respond to his fervor. He shook his head with a deflated smile.
“Hmm. I don’t recommend it. For starters, Lord Mathias specifically begged us not to say anything.”
The Captain’s face fell in a pout.
The Captain, too, had once been afraid of Mathias, who had ordered his silence as a child, and he thought it was fine to play ignorant for the sake of Sien’s happiness.
If anything, he had viewed the claim that Mathias was a good man as a “white lie” for Sien’s sake.
But as he entered his teens, layers of guilt began to build up in his heart.
He started thinking it was wrong for everyone to bow to Mathias’s power and deceive Sien. That arrow turned back on Ted, who was an adult deceiving her just the same.
“……Were you a holy knight or what—bowing to power? At least you knew from the start that this lie was wrong!”
At Ted’s words, betrayal flickered in the Captain’s eyes. He seemed to see the whole thing as a deception of Sien.
“You’re just another lackey of power, Uncle.”
When Ted fell silent, the Captain quickly concluded that everyone around Sien was cowed by Mathias’s authority and couldn’t say a word to her.
“We can’t hide it forever. Not even Mathias Mirmod. And does it make sense that only Sien doesn’t know about Lord Mathias?”
Ted, who had been quiet, suddenly spoke up.
“Captain, do you think the truth is always the top priority?”
“Of course! Knowing the truth is the most important thing!”
Ted smiled softly as he looked at the Captain.
This hot-blooded young man seemed to have been bothered all along by having to lie to Sien, who had saved him.
In that case, it was time for Ted to step in and quell his guilt.
Ted quietly opened his mouth.
“Captain, let me say just one thing.”
“……Yes, go ahead.”
“Lord Mathias Mirmod doesn’t want to reveal his true identity to Lady Sien.”
“Of course!”
“Do you know why?”
The Captain, who had been ranting with veins bulging in his neck, soon wore a puzzled expression.
He didn’t even seem to grasp why Ted was asking him this.
“What does that matter?”
“Let me ask again, Ted. Do you know why Lord Mathias can’t confess to Lady Sien that he’s a murderer?”
“That’s…….”
As the speechless Captain stared, Ted spoke.
“People don’t want to show their ugly sides to the ones they love.”
Ted more than understood Mathias’s feelings.
He had someone he loved, after all.
But whether the Captain could fully grasp it was another matter.
‘If he can’t understand, then there’s nothing to be done.’
……That’s what he thought.
“…….”
The Captain bit his lip silently.
Ted, gazing straight at him, mustered his courage and continued.
“I…… don’t want to show my ugly side to my little brother Asid, either.”
Asid still kept her distance from him, but Ted was even glad of that fact.
He wanted to always be a good big brother to her.
As if understanding his heart, the Captain suddenly spoke.
“Hmm, my mom, too…….”
“……Huh?”
Ted had only a vague idea about the Captain’s “mom,” but he had at least noticed that she had been apart from the Captain for quite a long time.
‘An oddly similar situation to ours. Though Asid doesn’t think of me that way…….’
The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth. He quietly watched the Captain, lowering and raising his eyes.
But even after waiting a bit longer, the Captain didn’t continue.
His earlier hot-blooded vigor was gone; he kept fumbling for words and couldn’t speak. Ted felt this was the moment to maturely draw out the Captain’s voice.
“Yeah, your mom too?”
“My mom left because she didn’t want to show her ugly side to me. Because she loved me.”
Ted watched him quietly, then moved his lips.
He didn’t know exactly how to respond to such a heavy question about family.
But one thing was certain.
“Yeah. Because she loved you, she didn’t want to show you her ugly side. Lord Mathias feels the same, and so do I. So even knowing that someday it’ll all come out, right now we want to hold it back.”
At those words, the Captain’s stiff expression softened.
He understood everything.
“Ah…….”
Seeing the change in the Captain’s face, Ted smiled like a sigh. Then, the Captain spoke next.
“Then I get why Lord Mathias Mirmod is doing this. I wouldn’t want my mom to find out I was a little punk ruling the back alleys, either.”
Ted was briefly impressed by the Captain, who carried himself so maturely compared to his scrappy orphanage days when he’d looked like a country rat drenched in sweat.
“You’ve grown a lot.”
“Yeah, time has passed…….”
The Captain suddenly continued.
“Above all, it’s thanks to Sien Mirmod. If it weren’t for her, I’d still be resenting my mom.”
“……You say some pretty interesting things, don’t you.”
“Is that interesting?”
Ted nodded as he stared at the Captain’s baffled expression.
“Yeah, I’ve grown thanks to Lady Sien, too. My little brother as well.”
In that moment, a small bond blossomed between the Captain and Ted. They were among those saved by Sien.
Ted had found his sibling, Asid had unlocked her powers and survived thanks to Sien, and the Captain had gone from orphanage life to a good family—and even learned about his mother.
That’s how they had all gained new lives thanks to Sien.
Therefore…….
“Someday she’ll find out, but for now, let’s keep the secret, shall we?”
It had started as blackmail from Mathias Mirmod, but now it was about helping Sien avoid seeing the ugly side of the person they loved.
“……Yeah, well. Honestly, watching that little kid squirm to protect her dad is…….”
The Captain trailed off, but Ted could guess the rest. He added briefly.
“Cute, right.”
“Yeah, she’s cute.”
Yes, Sien was still cute.
They gazed at each other and smiled softly. It was a small change in their daily lives that wouldn’t exist without Sien.
Then, the Captain shattered the warm atmosphere.
“But hey.”
“Yeah?”
“How long can we keep it hidden?”
At that, Ted pondered deeply before speaking.
“……Probably about five years after she graduates from the Academy?”
Ted muttered to himself something like, “She’ll be busy managing the trading company and graduating from the Academy.”
And just as he said…… Sien became incredibly busy.