Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: An Earnest Promise
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I was bewildered.
*...Dad, why are you being so serious?*
Of course, it was a good thing.
*He said he'd listen to anything I say...*
The back of my neck tingled for no reason.
But there was also something absurd about it.
*About him saying he’d do whatever I asked.*
You already promised to do anything in exchange for me treating you one more time, didn't you?
Why are you acting like this is some new development?
I almost fell for it.
*What a shameless father!*
I slapped my dad’s shoulder a few times. A moment later, I had to clutch my hand.
"Ouch!"
"...Why did you have to hit me there? Do you enjoy torture?"
"Sheesh, who says thwings wike that!"
Annoyed, I pinched his cheek and pulled.
"I'm doing it because I'm mad! You awweady pwomised to wisten to evewything I say in exchange fow tweatment. Does that mean you wewen't going to befowe?!"
"That's not it."
Dad calmly let me pinch his cheek.
With his cheek stretched out, his words came out sounding like, "Thaat's nooot iit."
"My intentions haven't changed, then or now."
"Then what's diffewent!"
"My mindset."
Dad spoke, looking ridiculous with his cheek still offered to me.
It certainly undermined the seriousness of the moment.
"Before, I was your business partner. Your patient."
"..."
"Now, I'm a father trying to act the part."
He grinned, and I was suddenly annoyed by how cool he looked.
*Wait, was I really annoyed?*
It felt strange to be pretending I wasn't happy when I actually was.
No, that wasn't it.
*It's just that I've had so few good things happen to me that I don't know how to react.*
I was embarrassed.
Embarrassed that I didn't even know how to properly feel happy. It made me feel inadequate, and that, in turn, made me resentful.
"...Biyu?"
When I didn't answer, the smile slowly faded from his face.
"...Did I do something wrong?"
I knew.
At least in this situation, Dad hadn't done anything wrong.
He'd punished the one who insulted me.
He'd stopped when I asked him to.
He'd promised to be my sword until I acknowledged him, and to protect me more diligently from now on.
How could it be any better than this?
I knew that. I knew, and yet...
"*Hic, sniff, sob.* Go away..."
"...Are you hurt somewhere?"
"I said go away. I hate you, Daddy... I hate you."
He wouldn't understand why I'd suddenly burst into tears. Of course he wouldn't.
I didn't even understand it myself.
This was nothing to cry over.
But still.
I had lived each of my lives so earnestly...
And yet, all I had to show for it was my own inadequacy. It was infuriating, and it felt so unfair.
"I see I did do something wrong."
"Do you even know what you did wong?"
I sniffled, looking up at him.
My tear ducts must have broken; my vision was blurry as tears kept welling up.
*Damn it.* I'd lived just as hard in my past lives, but only now were things going so well. It made the past feel all the more unfair.
His hand hesitated for a moment before wiping away my tears.
But it was no use.
Fresh tears just kept coming.
"You don't have to wipe them."
I rubbed my eyes hard.
It was ridiculous how I cried even more just because someone was trying to comfort me.
Since when had I become so weak?
I bit my lip.
"Why... why did you only start remembering now...?"
"..."
"Why do you have to confuse me like this?"
I knew it was too late to be saying this now.
If I wanted to say something, I should have said it when he told me he remembered my birth.
Most importantly, I hadn't forgotten that he was only regaining his memories because I had started treating him.
"You don't have to act so devoted. I'll keep my pwomise wegawdwess."
But still, a fresh wave of resentment washed over me.
"I have no intention of bweaking it."
No matter how many people had betrayed me in the past, I had never broken a promise.
It was my last shred of pride.
Proof that I wasn't despicable or sinister like them.
"...It's not because of the promise."
"I won't wisten."
I said, my eyes brimming with tears. I tried to glare to stop them from falling, but it was useless.
It had been the same in my past lives.
Once I started crying after holding it in for so long, I couldn't stop until I'd cried my heart out.
I felt ridiculous.
I'd resolved to see him as nothing more than a business partner, and here I was, spilling my guts.
It was all because he'd suddenly gotten so gentle.
"I hate you. Why did you do this to me?"
"..."
"You had the choice... not to be wike that...!"
I wasn't him, so I couldn't know what it felt like to lose your memories and your sense of self.
So these were words spoken without understanding his situation. Even so, I had the right, didn't I?
After waiting for him for three lifetimes.
I had earned that right.
"Weally, it was too much."
If he was someone capable of being on my side like this.
Even if I hadn't come to him, couldn't he have come to me just once?
"I'm not going to acknowwedge you as my daddy... until you wemember evewything."
I knew.
I knew it wasn't something a physician should say.
As the one who had 'diagnosed' his illness, I already knew that it wouldn't happen—not before I managed to cure him completely, which would be right before I left this world.
So it was an unfair demand.
But he was my father.
He'd made me live long, lonely lives, so he could at least endure this much.
If, by some miracle, he managed to remember all on his own...
Then I would acknowledge him.
Even as tears streamed down my face, I glared at him stubbornly.
*Even after this, are you still not going to say something harsh?*
"The fact that I find you adorable even when you're crying and glaring at me must mean you're truly my daughter."
"..."
"I've remembered your birth. I'll try to recall the rest, step by step."
"..."
"But if I get sick in the process, you'll stay up all night nursing me again, so this time, I'll try to remember without getting sick."
His large hand patted my cheek. His thumb deftly wiped away a tear that was dangling from my chin.
"Being resented... to be honest, it's been a while since I've felt this bitter sting. I suppose that's only natural, isn't it?"
"You can't onwy have the good things."
"That's right."
Dad gave a small smile.
"My brother called me a son of a bitch of a father."
"He was right."
"Yes, he was."
He meekly agreed with my stubborn insults.
I felt like I was the only one spewing venom for no reason, and the fight drained out of me.
*What am I doing?*
I'm not a child.
*But when your body is this young, you can't help but be affected...*
I resolutely wiped away my tears.
"I'm sowwy. You shouldn't have to see me wike this."
I couldn't stop the tears, so I rubbed my eyes until the skin beneath them stung.
Then, he caught my hand. He used his sleeve to gently press against my eyes.
*Whoosh.*
A gentle breeze blew past, the cool air drying my tears.
"You must have been surprised. I started crying so suddenly."
I lowered my head, feeling dejected. To just pour out my resentment like a child.
I still have such a long way to go. What was I thinking?
"I'll undewstand if you ask why I'm acting wike this now."
"I have no right to say that. Nor do I want to. Your anger is justified."
It would be difficult to treat him right now in this state.
"Even though I was the one who sought you out when you wewe wiving just fine and stiwwed things up?"
"About that, I'm grateful. And let me correct one thing."
"..."
"I wasn't living 'just fine.'"
Only then did I raise my head and truly look at him.
"I had no memories. I was only annoyed by the people who constantly sought me out, yet I was always filled with a strange impatience, an irritating sense of listlessness."
"..."
"They say a person needs a purpose. You gave me one. I'm grateful for that."
He stroked his chin, his sincere eyes fixed on me.
They curved into the barest hint of a smile.
"You gave me the chance to remember you. So next, I hope you'll give me the chance to be your father."
I hesitated before speaking honestly.
"...Daddy, you must have been a good pewson in the past."
"Thank you."
After a moment's hesitation, he placed a hand on my head.
"I'll do my best to earn your acknowledgment now, too."