Ch#227
A Very Strong Kid is Looking for Dad Chapter 227
A liquid tinged with pale yellow swayed before Tia's eyes.
The pungent smell of strong liquor made Tia almost wrinkle her nose instinctively, but she held it back tightly.
"Well, I mean, uh?"
The noble who offered the drink, David, glanced toward the Emperor.
Only after confirming that the Emperor was conversing with other nobles did he speak with evident relief.
"I respect mercenaries!"
The onlookers flinched.
David urged the glass toward Tia again as if it didn't matter to him.
"No, shouldn't achievements worthy of respect be respected? Just earlier, Marquis Wavebrill said the same. That this one made a great contribution at the Clock Tower mana stone, hahaha!"
"Well, yeah... that's true."
"How fiercely must you have flown across the battlefield for even the strict Duke Valentis to look at you that way?"
Tia rolled her eyes.
'It's not like that...?'
She had grown close to Valentis long ago.
They first met at Weapon Earth, and since coming to the Imperial Capital, they had steadily kept in touch.
And recently, now that they knew each other as grandfather and granddaughter, their bond was unbreakable.
But David, unaware of this, sent another admiring gaze.
"I'm jealous! So jealous! I trained to become a knight myself, but I kept dropping the sword hilt every day, so I gave up!"
He patted Tia's shoulder as if treating a close peer of the same age.
But with Tia's small frame, she nearly tumbled off the chair.
"Whoa!"
As David panicked, Tia quickly steadied herself.
She was about to say it was fine, that it didn't hurt at all.
"Hey, why do you keep hitting someone else's kid, no, someone else's leader?!"
"Look here. The leader has weak shoulders. I'd appreciate it if you refrained from hitting."
Veil and Basto shot up from their seats in fury.
Veil glared openly, while Basto seemed to try using polite speech, but his tone was utterly off.
But the most serious was Tesetan.
Tia casually glanced at her dad and was startled, her eyes widening in shock.
Her dad was glaring at David as if he were a battlefield monster.
"V-Vice-leader, calm down! Calm down!"
Only when Tia shouted did Tesetan's gaze shift back to her.
He, who had been pressing his lips tight, spoke to David in a low voice.
"Keep your hands still when you talk."
David quickly withdrew his hand.
"S-Sorry. It's just a bad habit. I know, but I can't seem to fix it..."
As if trying to lighten the mood, Soleio sub-marquis interjected.
"Come on, isn't it too much to treat someone who claims to have taken hundreds or thousands of monster necks on the battlefield like this?"
The members' gazes turned to Soleio sub-marquis.
The sub-marquis continued shrewdly.
"I thought the Commander King would be quite manly and rough."
He snatched the strong liquor glass from David and placed it in Tia's hand with a 'here, here.'
Then he raised his own glass high toward the sky first.
"How long are you going to dodge?! Let's toast to our safe return from the Central Continent!"
Tia swallowed hard, holding the glass.
Another wave of intense liquor scent wafted from the strong brew.
Her instincts warned her of its barbaric, adult nature.
'If I drink this, Tia will become an incredible drunkard...!'
But curiosity bubbled up inside her chest.
'Dad. Tia wants to try a little alcohol too!'
'...My daughter is at it again? You'll drink when you're older.'
'Just a taste! Grandma drinks, and auntie does too, why not Tia! Waaah!'
'No.'
Her dad, and all the other adults.
'Uncle Basto, is wine tasty?'
'Yeah. It washes away the stale fatigue from a siege.'
'Is wine like grape juice?'
'The sweet kinds are similar.'
'Then, can Tia have just a sip...?'
'No.'
For some reason, no one compromised on alcohol.
'Is booze that amazing?!'
Tia had to swallow her frustration and injustice alone each time.
'But now?'
Tia glanced around stealthily.
Now seemed like the perfect time to fulfill her long-held wish.
Tia slowly brought the glass to her lips.
That was the moment.
"Oh, no, that won't do."
Someone gently took the glass from Tia's hand.
Tia looked up at the person, her eyes widening.
David and Soleio sub-marquis across from her were equally shocked.
"Isn't that Her Highness the Imperial Princess!"
"Greetings to Her Highness the Imperial Princess!"
Standing beside them was Ardiana, beautifully attired, looking down at Tia.
"D-Du, no, Pres...!"
Tia clamped her mouth shut mid-shout.
Princess.
Or Association President?
She was at a loss for how to address Ardiana.
And was she okay? How did she return from the Clock Tower?
She had heard she was badly poisoned by magic, was that all better now?
Questions she couldn't voice piled up, making the child fidget her lips.
Meanwhile, Ardiana turned to the two nobles with a smile.
"My dear friend, the Commander King, is currently abstaining from alcohol."
She downed the glass she had taken from Tia without batting an eye.
"No! That strong stuff!"
"In one go...?"
David and Soleio sub-marquis exchanged glances.
They hesitantly raised their glasses following Ardiana.
But a 52-degree liquor couldn't be easy.
David grimaced horribly while drinking and coughed as if choking.
Soleio sub-marquis hid his half-full glass behind his back with a pained face.
Ardiana turned to Tia.
"Didn't you write in your letter? That one drink turns to two, two to ten, so you've decided to abstain."
Tia blinked in bewilderment.
But she soon understood Ardiana's intention.
'The princess is protecting Tia.'
As the Commander King, Tia was famously known as a heavy drinker.
It all stemmed from frequenting Flint Cove taverns.
'If they find out now that I can't drink, it'll be a disaster!'
Tia nodded awkwardly.
"Y-Yes, Tia wrote in the letter..."
But the child soon fell silent.
She suddenly felt a strange gaze from somewhere.
Turning toward it, she saw someone glaring murderously this way.
Tia tilted her head.
'Pides?'
As if witnessing something that shouldn't be here.
The man sharply glaring at Ardiana was the empire's prince.
Precisely, the one people called the crown prince.
Then Ardiana shifted her gaze to Tesetan behind Tia.
"The young master is here too. Thank you for tending my injury last time."
David and Soleio sub-marquis looked puzzled.
"Injury?"
"Last time?"
Publicly, Ardiana was a royal known for rarely leaving the palace.
Because her role as Frost Association president was top secret.
"Ah, you wouldn't know."
Ardiana turned around.
Tia couldn't tear her eyes from the dress brushing her fingertips.
The elegant updo of her long hair seemed to sparkle.
"I've kept silent until now, but actually, I participated in the recent siege."
The banquet hall fell silent.
David, blinking, spoke up.
"Pardon? Siege? What siege..."
"I am the president of the Frost Association."
"Ardiana!"
Someone pushed through the crowd urgently.
Pides glared at Ardiana murderously and roughly seized her wrist.
"What are you doing right now! What the-!"
The Emperor's tongue-clicking 'tsk' echoed clearly from afar.
To the composed Ardiana, Pides opened his mouth in outrage.
"What are you saying! As if you could...!"
"Now they must know, brother."
"What?"
"Everyone is curious. Why the empire's Imperial Princess is included in this expedition."
"You-!"
"Some say it's because a major expedition requires a royal escort, others that more exchange between the imperial family and the church is needed. But that's not it, is it?"
As Ardiana shook off Pides' hand, Tesetan naturally stepped forward in front of her.
Ardiana's blue eyes blazed.
"No one else can do it but me, right?"
It was a gaze serene like a frozen lake, yet as firm and honest as her trampled dignity.
"I oversaw all national missions in the empire until now. I assigned the appropriate mercenary corps to each."
"......"
"It's something you couldn't do, brother. But I can, so that's why, isn't it?"