Chapter 1 - Chapter 1

Translator: Nox

Chapter 1Chapter 1

I Will Save My Father

I Will Save My Father Chapter 1

Prologue

The Count Family of Trabel, the wealthiest house in the Heysel Empire.

It was the day the second son, who had run away from home, returned after six years with his young daughter in tow.

The front of the palace-like mansion was crowded with people gathered to meet the pair, but there was no celebratory atmosphere to be found.

Amidst the cold, stifling silence, the loud, terrified cries of a young child pierced the air.

It was the sound of me crying.

‘I’m scared…!’

The golden eyes of the Trabel Family Head—eyes said to be blessed with the gift of wealth—were fixed on me.

It felt as if a predator was looming atop a massive cliff. It was an aura far too overwhelming for a seven-year-old to bear.

At first, I burst into tears out of sheer terror, but—.

—Berry, you must be careful of your relatives. Trabel is a den of beasts, all eyeing the position of successor.

The reason I was trembling now wasn’t because of my grandfather.

—Lady Berry! News has come that Lord Raytan… fell in battle…….

Strange scenes were pouring into my mind like a torrential rain.

—Dad, you said a Grand Master wouldn’t die on such a small battlefield. There’s someone who caused your death, isn’t there? …I’ll find out the truth.

Seven years old, ten, sixteen, …….

They were all me, yet they were memories I didn’t recognize.

My head throbbed. I prided myself on not crying when I was in pain, but this was different. I had never felt this much fear and dread before.

As those golden eyes looked down at me, a cold light flickered within them.

“A spineless thing. She’ll never amount to anything great.”

Having finished his evaluation of me, my grandfather turned away without hesitation and entered the mansion. Tightening his grip, Dad squeezed the hand he held.

The relatives remaining on the wide entrance stairs snickered as they watched me wail.

“Pathetic. Is that really a Trabel? All that noise, she sounds like a frog.”

“A frog? Then we’ll only have to see her until autumn. She’ll be crawling into a hole come winter.”

“You can tell she was raised without a mother. Raytan, that pathetic fellow, couldn’t have raised a child properly on his own. Didn’t they even have a nanny? To cry like that without a shred of shame…”

“Sister, try to understand. They say the kid lived her life thinking she was a commoner.”

“Ugh. Hati. Did you hear what Father said? A commoner.”

Though they exuded an air of contempt, the wariness laced in their eyes wasn’t entirely hidden.

To them, we were new competitors. Every person here bearing the name Trabel was a candidate for the next head of the family.

And.

‘They’re here.’

My eldest uncle, my aunt, my second uncle, their spouses, and their children. Among them—.

‘The person who killed my dad…!’

My eyes burned. I looked at them through my blurred vision.

The distorted silhouettes seemed to waver, whispering to me. Run away, Berry Quartz. Otherwise, we’ll devour you.

As the memories continued to surface, one scene flashed vividly, leaving a strong impression.

My grandfather’s study, an open safe, and my twenty-four-year-old self standing before it.

—…Found it. The letter the accomplice sent to the culprit.

—You shouldn’t read other people’s letters so recklessly, Berry Quartz.

‘Who?!’

My older self flinched in surprise. I flinched as well, as if I had become that older version of myself.

At that moment, the deluge of memories stopped. My twenty-four-year-old self died, pierced by an unknown man’s sword.

I felt no physical pain, but just witnessing my own death made me feel as if I were suffocating.

I gasped for air, and Dad hurriedly grabbed me.

“Berry!”

I blinked, and tears fell in heavy drops. A man’s features came into sharp focus.

Sharp blue eyes. Eyes filled with anxiety and worry—my father’s eyes.

A reality where Dad was alive. And I was seven years old.

Realizing that simple truth, all the tension left my body in a wave of relief.

I grabbed Dad’s arm with trembling hands.

“D-Dad.”

“Berry, it’s okay. Can you take a deep breath? Hmm? Can you follow Dad?”

The first day at the Trabel estate.

“I’m… sorry.”

“Berry…?!”

I, the youngest granddaughter of Count Trabel, completely ruined my first impression in front of my grandfather and relatives and fainted.

What on earth are these memories?

The God Aubaut had said:

Four Holy Swords would save the human world.

Indeed, the Holy Swords had been active for three thousand years, choosing their masters from among swordsmen who reached a certain level.

And the four Grand Masters.

Owners of the Holy Swords, the pinnacle of Sword Masters, the holy knights of God who commanded everyone’s respect…….

“Holy?”

Servair, the head butler of the Trabel family, muttered as he looked at the bounty poster in his hand.

There was a portrait of a handsome man with a sharp gaze, alongside the staggering sum of one billion Kona.

It was Raytan Quartz Travel, a former Grand Master and the second son of Count Travel.

The poster had been distributed nationwide a month ago by the wealthy Count Travel, claiming he was searching for his runaway second son.

Befitting a former Grand Master, Raytan had remained perfectly hidden for six years, but no one could hold out forever against that kind of money.

Eventually, witnesses claiming to have seen him began to emerge one by one, and Raytan ended up returning home. That was just yesterday.

‘Can “Young Master” and “Holy” even exist in the same sentence?’

It didn’t seem like a description that fit someone whose mere gaze made people shrink back.

The head butler folded the poster neatly, tucked it into his coat, and looked up.

Above the black front door, an eagle statue—the symbol of Trabel—looked down at him.

Unlike the statues at the other annexes, which had jewels embedded in their eyes, this one had cold, gray eyes.

‘The annex resembles its master perfectly.’

The annex given to the lowest-ranking successor among the Count’s children, commonly known as “Pebble House.”

The head butler had come here under the orders of the eldest son to scout the place.

“Servair, as you know, Father does not spend money on useless things.”

One billion Kona. It was an amount that could buy three mansions in the capital.

Why would Count Travel offer such a fortune to find Raytan?

Especially when he had treated Raytan like a dead child for six years?

Trabel was a family that chose its successor based on performance. It was only natural that the direct descendants were on edge at the reappearance of a rival they thought had vanished.

“There’s no need for Raytan to join the succession battle now. Monitor every move Raytan and his daughter make. Find out why Father called him back.”

The head butler swallowed a sigh and opened the door to Pebble House.

Just then, maids were coming out into the lobby, chatting away.

“Lady Berry was so cute, wasn’t she?”

“Did you see? She furrowed those tiny little brows so seriously and asked, ‘…Sister, are you eighteen?’ Ah—I had the hardest time holding back from giving her a huge squeeze.”

One maid, her face flushed with excitement, hugged the laundry in her arms tightly. The maid walking beside her leaned in and asked warmly.

“Isn’t it amazing? How did she memorize all our names and ages? She’s so much smarter than others her age—.”

“Anne, what’s so amazing about that?”

A brown-haired maid walking behind them spoke up after hearing Anne.

“She just overheard Lord Raytan asking and repeated it right away. A seven-year-old is more than capable of that.”

“Oh, Sherry. You think I don’t know that?”

As a subtle tension flared between Anne and Sherry, the maid with the laundry stepped between them.

“But about Lady Berry. She’s even cuter when she hears an answer than when she asks a question. Whenever we tell her she’s right, she makes such a tearful face. I wonder why?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Eek!”

The maid, who had been mimicking the young lady’s tearful expression, shrieked at the unexpected voice of a middle-aged man. It was the head butler of the main house, a man famous for being impossible to talk to.

“H-Head Butler? How long have you been standing there?”

“I came to see Lord Raytan and the young lady. More importantly, what did you say the young lady did?”

At the head butler’s question, the maids glanced back at Sherry. It was because she was the most senior maid at Pebble House.

Under the gaze of the three, Sherry gave a nonchalant smile and spoke.

“You’ll see if you go up.”

A room decorated for the youngest granddaughter of Count Travel.

The man who had taken over the sofa instead of the room’s owner stared at the head butler.

“You want to see Berry?”

His blue eyes were long and sharp, but the gaze within them was as cutting as a cold winter wind.

Raytan Quartz Travel.

Even though he was just looking apathetically, it felt as though one’s heart was shrinking like a mouse before a snake.

“Before that, there’s something I want to ask.”

Raytan shifted his upper body slightly and rested his hands on his knees. A short exclamation of admiration lingered in the head butler’s mouth.

To be honest, if one looked past his uniquely menacing aura, he was an incredibly aristocratic, handsome man.

Add to that his perfectly styled wheat-colored hair, brown shoes polished until they shone without a speck of dust, and a suit that looked neat yet had detailed accents.

A handsome man with a body honed by swordsmanship and an innate sense of fashion. One couldn’t help but be impressed.

‘He was born into the wrong family.’

Raytan held a strange position in the Trabel family.

Though he had reached the highest peak in swordsmanship, he had a “minus touch” when it came to business.

If he had been born into a family of knights, he would have shone brilliantly, but unfortunately, Trabel was a family that had achieved greatness through the mineral industry and trade.

Thanks to that, Raytan’s performance hit rock bottom every day, and he always remained at the very bottom of the succession rankings.

‘If he had at least maintained his position as a Grand Master, he could have lived a life of luxury at the Temple forever. It’s no wonder people say such bad things.’

Since he had returned the Holy Sword to the Grand Temple six years ago for his “childcare retirement,” all that remained of Raytan’s reputation now was that of the “incompetent Trabel.”

“Servair.”

“Y-Yes.”

Startled, thinking his inner thoughts had been heard, the guilty head butler answered quickly.

“You’re forty-three this year, aren’t you?”

“That is correct.”

“You have a son, you work as the head butler at the main house, …what else was there?”

“Pardon…?”

The head butler was flustered by the sudden personal inquiry, but seeing those narrowed brows, he felt he had to say something.

“M-My gray hairs have increased.”

“How unfortunate.”

Raytan stood up and jerked his chin toward one side as if telling him to follow. A bed was not far away. And beneath a small mound in the blankets, something was wiggling.

…No way?

As the two reached the side of the bed, Raytan whipped the covers back.

“Say hello. This is Investigator Berry-Berry.”

With pink hair frizzed by static, a round head, and green eyes framed by long, thick lashes, a cute little girl who looked nothing like her father looked up at the head butler.

She reminded him of something.

A poodle? A Maltese?

Ah, a young Bichon.

“Servair?”

Blinking her clear green eyes, the young investigator asked the butler.

“Yes.”

“Are you forty-three years old this year?”

The head butler blinked at the déjà vu-like question. Raytan, with his arms crossed, gave a hint.

“Investigator Berry-Berry knows everything.”

“Ah, ah. I see.”

The head butler grasped the situation.

The young lady had been eavesdropping on his conversation with Lord Raytan from under the covers and was repeating it exactly?

It wasn’t difficult for him to play along with a child.

There were other young ladies and masters in the Trabel family besides Berry Quartz.

“The young investigator has incredible insight. I’m almost worried you’ll even guess how many children I have.”

The head butler wore a friendly smile. If he could win the favor of this tiny child, monitoring Pebble House would be much easier.

He knew exactly what would come next. That he had one child, and that at the main house—.

“Did you recently buy a large amount of stock in an ink company that’s about to go completely bust?”

“Baron Mont promised that would never fail……. What? How did you know I bought stock?”

“How else? She’s just repeating things she’s overheard somewhere.”

Raytan cut into the conversation, covering his daughter’s mouth.

“Servair, you should head out now.”

Dismissed, the head butler retreated without even a chance to shake off his uneasy feeling. Watching the head butler’s receding back, Berry made a miserable face.

‘Ugh. I was right about that too.’