Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Proof of Paternity
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“Mister?”
I have to get along with this man in this life. I know.
Still, I couldn't hold back my temper, so I said it anyway.
But, while unintentional, it seemed to have elicited an effective response from him.
The man, who had been watching me for a while, slowly rose to his feet.
‘Wow, he’s really tall.’
He was as tall as Heuk Bihu and Heuk Birang. Though he seemed thin, perhaps from not eating well.
His long hair fluttered in the wind.
“I asked who you are.”
His tone had hardened. I rolled my eyes. Well, I'd already made one provocative remark.
It was about time I told the truth.
“Youw daughtew!”
“……What?”
His handsome eyebrows rose slightly.
He had a confused expression.
The man seemed to ponder slowly before speaking.
“I… don’t have a daughter.”
Oh. I’d expected as much, but to hear such a disowning remark right from the start… what an astonishing father.
‘Well, I understand.’
He must have erased everything from his memory.
‘It’s basically Alzheimer’s.’
That was it.
My father's illness was that he couldn't remember anything.
Not his parents, siblings, or friends.
Not his wife.
Not his daughter.
In my first and second lives, I didn't know about my father's illness. More accurately, I never had the chance to find out.
In my third life, I ignored my father out of spite, but as I chased down information, I learned what illness he suffered from.
It was a disease similar to Alzheimer's, where memories degenerate and one often becomes dazed.
“It doesn't matter that you don't remember.”
I spoke clearly, with the pronunciation I had practiced countless times. I didn't want to seem like a baby.
“If you had me, take wesponsibiwity.”
“...'Responsibility,' you mean.”
So he can understand baby talk? He passes.
With a cool gaze, I assessed my father's condition. He had definitely forgotten me, and he'd said he'd forgotten my mother too.
“……Right. They did say I was married.”
On top of being a disowning father, he's a zero-point husband. My late mother must be glaring down at him from heaven.
“Haaah……”
The man let out a languid sigh.
He was handsome enough to be in a photoshoot, but he stirred no emotion in me.
He was just the father who abandoned me and a patient suffering from a terrible disease.
“How bothersome.”
The listless voice lasted only a moment before the man lifted his head.
“Let's just say that's the case.”
His eyes, redder than my eldest uncle's, seemed to hold a dark light.
“……But how can I believe you based on your word alone?”
My body floated into the air.
I wasn't surprised.
‘He’s a wind wielder.’
It wasn't as if I'd come completely unprepared. I had fragmented knowledge about my father from my past lives.
And…….
Before coming here, I met with Heuk Birang and we talked.
‘Your dad's ability? Why are you asking me?’
‘Your dad's ability? Why are you asking me?’
‘Because I've nevew seen it befowe!’
‘Because I've nevew seen it befowe!’
‘What? ……How have you been living alone all this time? Does that even make sense? Hey.’
‘What? ……How have you been living alone all this time? Does that even make sense? Hey.’
My younger uncle looked shocked by my words, but…
‘Jeez, is this really the time to ask that?! Wow, what a headache. Why are you asking me and not my older brother?’
‘Jeez, is this really the time to ask that?! Wow, what a headache. Why are you asking me and not my older brother?’
For one, my eldest uncle had gone into seclusion, saying he wasn't completely in a safe period yet.
‘I find him a bit uncomfortable.’
The way he kept bringing up my dad gave me a premonition that some uncomfortable topic would come up.
My younger uncle, who's reasonably clueless and has a low interest in me, is a much better option.
When I said I'd just leave if he wasn't going to tell me, Heuk Birang finally shared a few things.
‘Your dad, he controls the wind. And… he's ridiculously strong. As strong as my oldest brother, maybe? No, I think he might have been even stronger.’
‘Your dad, he controls the wind. And… he's ridiculously strong. As strong as my oldest brother, maybe? No, I think he might have been even stronger.’
He also told me things I already knew, like how he had forgotten me and my mother.
‘He probably knows the fact that he was married, right? He just can't remember it.’
‘He probably knows the fact that he was married, right? He just can't remember it.’
‘Tell me about his iwness.’
‘Tell me about his iwness.’
‘That's…….’
‘That's…….’
For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to say more about my father's illness. He just messed up his hair and told me to ‘go see for myself.’
Well, I already had a rough idea, so I didn't press him further.
‘Ah, I don't know. Just go see for yourself. But do you really have to go alone? I can suck it up and go with you…….’
‘Ah, I don't know. Just go see for yourself. But do you really have to go alone? I can suck it up and go with you…….’
‘I'll be wight back!’
‘I'll be wight back!’
And now, here I was.
Held by the scruff of my neck, I floated in mid-air and stared at the man.
‘Wow, this is really high.’
If I fall, I'll have a fracture at the very least. I glanced to the man's side. There was a rather large pond there.
‘Is that water clean?’
I'd brought a water bottle just in case, but if it came down to it, I'd have to use that water for a diagnosis. The chances of it being clean were low.
“You're my daughter?”
His red eyes stared at me.
“You don't resemble me in the slightest, yet you have the audacity to say so.”
That's because I'm the spitting image of my mother.
Was it in my second life? I saw a portrait of my father. *Wow, we look nothing alike,* I had thought, feeling the exact same way.
“There have been countless others who've spouted the same nonsense. There were even a few recently. It seems being sick makes me look like a joke to them.”
A sneer was laced in his seemingly gentle, low voice.
“I don't care what your motive is for this fraud, or what other schemes you have for showing up here.”
The invisible pressure in the air made it slightly hard to breathe.
‘Wow, the pressure is no joke.’
I could even feel the wind beside me, whirring like blades.
But compared to the threats I'd faced in my previous lives…
‘This is still a piece of cake.’
“……I am not your father.”
*You're going to regret this.*
“Twash!”
“Do you want to be thrown into the pond?”
I thought he might react this way.
I instinctively pressed my trembling lips together, maintaining a smiling face.
Looking at the man who didn't even blink, I gave him a small grin.
“Should I pwove it?”
I was being held, but my hands were free.
“Hey, Daddy. I may not wook wike it, but I'm a physician and an apothecawy.”
“……I've lived long enough to hear all sorts of things. A little brat like you? Is this my mother's mockery?”
The man narrowed his eyes. As someone who wielded the wind, he could just drive me away like this.
I started to feel a little rushed. I'd have to stop with the light taunting and aggro-drawing here.
“I wasn't wying. I just have to pwove it, wight?”
I grabbed my bag and opened it.
I had considered several scenarios. The one where he didn't believe I was his daughter. And the one where he threatened me.
“It's not hawd to find out if we'we the same bwoodwine.”
“……”
“One dwop of bwood. Just give me that.”
“……”
“Isn't it stwange? Why wouwd I come all the way hewe just to shout that I'm youw daughtew? If I weally had a scheme, thewe awe wots and wots of othew ways!”
I glanced toward the main building to the west, then turned my head away.
“You think you were abandoned hewe, don't you?”
I saw his expression stiffen, ever so slightly.
The man who had been staring at me raised his hand. *Swish.* The wind grazed it, and blood trickled from his finger.
“What's next?”
Huh, why is he complying so calmly?
‘In my imagination, I thought he'd put up more of a fight.’
Though bewildered, I quickly held out the plate I had prepared.
“Hewe! Hewe! Touch it!”
And what about me? I saw the wind spinning like blades. Ah, there's that.
The moment I brought my hand to the wind.
“……What are you doing!”
My body was abruptly pushed back.
“Do you want your wrist sliced off? If you want to commit suicide, do it alone.”
I saw the man's face, a terrifying expression on it.
I smiled brightly.
“I got my bwood, too!”
I had to draw my blood too. And even if I got hurt, I could heal myself.
‘It's so convenient being able to heal my own wounds easily.’
Besides, if he was going to kill or hurt me, he would have done it already.
The man raised an eyebrow, looking dumbfounded.
Ignoring him, I dropped my blood onto the plate.
‘It's so great that they have something like a paternity test here, too.’
Moreover, due to the issue of illegitimate children in noble families, it was a surprisingly common reagent.
The key was whether my father remembered this or not…….
‘Seeing as he's not stopping me, I guess he has this much common sense?’
The herbal reagent I'd prepared beforehand quickly changed color.
“If it's bwack, we'we stwangews. If it's bwue, we'we the same bwoodwine.”
I held out the plate that had quickly changed color for the man to see and smiled.
“See? We'we the same bwoodwine, wight?”
We just don't look alike. We are father and daughter, Father.
Now, kindly accept it and receive my diagnosis. Shall we start taking some medicine from now on?