Chapter 85

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 85

Chapter Title: I'm Just Daddy's Daughter

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My brothers approached me as if they'd been waiting.

"Are you okay?"

"How's your body?"

I nodded.

"I'm all better. Uncle was just messing around earlier. He said I'm fully recovered, even without medicine."

Ishak muttered darkly under his breath.

"Then I should've just killed him."

But then he saw me and clamped his mouth shut.

"Why?"

Henri gently took my hand.

"When you're better... let's eat together. We can have snacks in the garden, all of us."

He seemed apologetic for ignoring me while Mireyu was pretending to be the fourth.

"It's okay."

"......"

"......"

"You don't need to feel bad. You thought she was Little One. Of course you'd cherish your blood sister."

I forced a cheerful tone, and they both hung their heads.

'Aigoo, the mood...'

I changed the subject.

"Where's Yohan?"

"Interrogating the innkeepers in Father's place."

"What about Dad?"

"Work."

"Work?"

"He's always working. Aside from that quick visit this morning, he's been holed up in his office. Doesn't seem like this hit him as hard as we thought?"

Ishak glanced at Henri as he spoke, and Henri nodded.

"He's too thorough to buy it completely."

"Yeah, he's been digging into Mireyu's background."

They said that, but I clutched the bedsheet tightly.

Dad's personality meant he'd double- and triple-check even with proof Mireyu was the fourth. He wouldn't fully trust her until he was satisfied.

'But...'

Even so, how could it not hurt?

Dad never once snapped at Mireyu's excessive whining. It was all because of that faint hope: what if she really is Little One?

My brothers never truly lost their tempers at her tantrums either.

After five years living together, I knew exactly how terrifying they got when angry—how much they despised nuisances and crossed lines.

They put up with Mireyu because they saw Little One in her.

Once it came out she wasn't, Lord Javelin shut himself away. He didn't return to the capital or even scold Mireyu—he just lay there like a corpse, staring blankly at the sky all day.

No one showed it, but I knew. This whole mess had stung the family deep.

Nos watched Theodor pore over documents in the same position until the sun dipped low.

"Your Grace..."

"Leblain's condition."

"She opened her eyes today."

"Restore Taylor's status as promised. Keep the residence near the castle in case Leblain takes a turn."

"Yes."

Nos hesitated before continuing.

"You should rest now. You pulled an all-nighter yesterday too."

Theodor didn't respond. Nos sighed, gathered the papers, and left the office.

Only after the door clicked shut and all footsteps faded did Theodor look up.

The sun was setting.

A voice popped into his head unbidden. Theodor picked up his pen again, diving back into work. But once the memory slipped through, it crashed over him like a gale.

That mother-daughter duo was impossible to beat.

His daughter had him wrapped around her finger before she was even born. At Reset's "our daughter," he'd leap out of bed at dawn and drive the magic carriage across the country.

She'd kick excitedly at his brothers' rare touches—like beans in a drought—but go still the moment his hand landed.

It wasn't until past eight months that he felt her move. A bizarre emotion welled up. His throat tickled; something weighed on his chest. An utterly strange feeling.

His grip tightened on the pen.

Long-sealed memories battered him, shaking him to his core.

His senses sharpened to a razor's edge. He swept back his hair and rose—just as small footsteps pattered outside, then scampered away. Something was wedged in the window crack to the hall.

A tiny note.

The boldly pressed childish script summoned memories of Reset again.

Eyes widening, he peered out the window. A glimpse of fluffy light-brown hair at the corner.

"......"

He toyed with the note for a moment, then grabbed a memo sheet from his desk.

He slipped it into the window and ducked behind the wall. Footsteps pattered again.

Notes flew back and forth several times.

How did this child always know? She zeroed in on his deepest longing every time.

Theodor opened the door. Leblain flinched behind the corner.

As he approached, she peeked up slowly.

"......"

"......"

"......Why are you crying?"

The moment she saw him, tears welled in her big eyes.

"'Cause Daddy looks sad."

His gaze—parched as a desert wanderer's—locked onto her tear-filled pupils.

He knelt to meet her eyes and reached out tentatively. Leblain threw her arms around his neck.

Her small frame shivered faintly; sniffling echoed in his ear.

"Getting better turned you into a crybaby."

"Not a crybaby."

"Then what?"

"I'm just... just Daddy's daughter."

Theodor hugged her tight, burying his face in her tiny shoulder.

The thoughts that had tormented him so viciously finally ebbed away.

I bawled until my nose was bright red, then peered up at Dad.

I rubbed his eye corners with the back of my hand. They were a bit red now—no longer corpse-like.

I liked that and giggled—

Grrrowl.

My stomach rumbled.

'Ugh.'

What a tactless tummy clock.

We'd just had such a tender moment!

"Time to eat."

"Lamb potage. The one from last time was so good."

"Right after getting out of bed?"

"Gotta eat meat to build strength!"

He let out a soft chuckle.

"I'll have them prepare a meal. Wait here."

"Yes!"

I beamed and hopped down from his lap. Waved goodbye, then left his office.

Next stop: the underground dungeon.

The guard who spotted me sounded flustered.

"What brings you here?"

"Gonna pop in real quick."

"But the orders are no visitors..."

"I'm not just anyone."

I never whined like this usually, so he looked thrown—but stepped aside.

Descending the stairs, the stench of blood hit hard.

The innkeeper couple lay passed out in one cell. Mireyu huddled in the one to the right.

I approached her.

Knees hugged tight, she was shivering. She looked up.

"Hi?"

"What do you want with me."

"Nuh-uh, wrong. 'What do you want with Mireyu?'"

"......"

She clamped her lips stubbornly.

She blamed me for getting exposed and ending up like this. Especially with alchemy killing her from inside—no fear left.

I smiled sweetly.

And—

BAM!!

I unleashed my power, blasting half the bars away.

Now Mireyu's eyes bulged, her face turning sickly yellow.

"You know, seems like you're confused. Dying isn't game over."

"Wh-what?"

"It's all about how you die."

I seized her throat in a flash.

"Now think hard and answer. Who fed you the info on Little One?"

"D-don't kn-know— Aaak!!"

The circuit flared on my hand. Her neck burned red-hot.

"Think. Then answer."

"Huuu..."

"Who sneaked you in here? Who gutted my family's hearts?"

"R-really don't know— Kyaaaak!!!"

Sparks flew from my grip. She jerked like she'd been electrocuted, went ashen, and wheezed raggedly.

After seeing Dad's eyes, I wanted zero mercy for her.

"Again. Who sneaked you in?"

"D-don't know identity, but wore an ultramarine jacket, and... aaa, can't remember well. Blindfold on... please...!"

"Never underestimate memory. Get desperate enough, it'll come. Want me to make you more desperate?"

I grinned, summoning the circuit again. She shrieked.

"W-wait... okay, okay... uh... Aah! Rash! Cross-shaped rash on the back of the hand—like an X but (十)!"

She racked her brain after that, but nothing more surfaced.

"Good. That's enough."

Her face lit up, thinking I'd let go.

But.

"Agh, kuaaaaak!!"

Mireyu convulsed in agony, then flopped lifelessly.

Familiar footsteps echoed behind me. The chief torturer, head of dungeon interrogations.

"Breaking your word? Said you'd let her die easy if she talked."

"Backstabbing's Dad's specialty. I'm his daughter."

He chuckled dryly.

"Now, time to snag that spy..."

That was when the door flew open.

Yohan, Henri, and Ishak stormed in.

Ishak dragged a familiar retainer by the collar.

"Sp-spare me! Mercy!!"

Ishak scowled at his groveling. Yohan slammed a kick into the man's gut.

Crunch!!

Bones snapped, innards ruptured. The retainer tumbled down the stairs.

"Leblain?"

Henri spotted me.

"Yup, hi."

"What're you doing here?"

"Just chatting with the chief... What about you brothers?"

"Father ordered us to catch the spy."

Ishak grumbled next.

"Gave us half a day."

I eyed the retainer.

Baron Sugawi. The guy who'd gone with Viscount Misesk to fetch Yohan.

'Even "advised" me to get along with Mireyu.'

Not advice—to cow me into silence around her.

'Jackpot anyway. No need to hunt spies.'

Brothers could squeeze him here.

I smirked inwardly as they descended. They stared at Mireyu twitching in soul-fleeing spasms.

"What? Who messed her up?"

I flinched at Ishak's words.

"Uh, well, see..."

I jabbed a finger at the chief.

"The chief! He went all rumble-boom-crash...!"

All three gazes locked on him.

"Mana? Kid handles it solid."

"No traces left. Doing this with bare minimum ain't 'solid'."

"He that skilled?"

Ishak, Henri, Yohan—one by one. The chief frowned, like why drag me into suspicion?

From behind the brothers, I mouthed furiously at him.

'Chief's dazzling! So cool! The best!'

At my desperate bootlicking, he eyed them awkwardly.

"Well, I'm pretty good."

And.