Translator: Nox

Chapter 11

I Will Save My Father

I Will Save My Father, Chapter 12

At my question about whether Dad would become his master, Theon’s eyes filled with anticipation.

“A master, huh? I’ve never taken a disciple before.”

Dad took a bite of cake and pretended to be deep in thought. From my vantage point, I could see the back of Theon’s anxious head and Dad’s nonchalant profile.

I knew that expression of Dad’s well. It was a face without a single worry. He had already decided to take Theon as his disciple.

‘Dad… Theon is only ten years old…’

Grandmother Marshal used to say that Dad had a natural talent for playing hard to get—that his unintentional actions often left people on edge.

Apparently, that’s why quite a few adults had approached him, eyeing the position of my mother.

“……”

Hooked by my father’s natural talent, Theon waited fretfully for an answer.

Dad glanced at Theon, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

“If you don’t mind a retired Grand Master, I’ll take you as my disciple. In exchange, you have to stay by Berry’s side and make sure she doesn’t get into any big trouble. That’s the condition.”

“…Yes!”

He just openly called it surveillance…

Regardless, it was the moment my father became the master of the future Crown Prince. I offered my congratulations to the overjoyed Theon.

“That’s great!”

“Yeah…!”

Ugh. So bright. Theon’s eyes were brimming with life as he looked back at me.

Had he been looking at my dad with those eyes this whole time?

‘I…!’

I couldn’t help but feel envious. I had exhausted myself today—throwing out bait for Anne, walking all the way to the West Gate, getting scolded by Grandpa, and even having to explain myself to Dad—all just to get close to Theon!

‘Wait.’

Then, a startling realization hit me.

If I had just let Dad meet Theon first and then had him introduce me, wouldn’t Theon’s favor have followed naturally?

“…Why did I…”

Frozen in shock, I sat there with my fork mid-air.

In my pocket, I still had that pebble I’d get in trouble for losing. Meanwhile, a clean strawberry without a single fork mark was carefully placed onto the plate I held in one hand.

Theon had given me the strawberry from his own slice of cake.

“Huh? Aren’t you going to eat it, Theon?”

“I have these.”

Theon pointed to his plate. The two strawberries Dad and I had given him were still there.

Since he didn’t have an aversion to cake, he couldn’t possibly dislike strawberries. He must be the type to save the best for last.

I, on the other hand, was the type to eat it immediately.

Hehe. I stabbed the strawberry Theon gave me with my fork.

“I’ll enjoy it!”

The strawberry, coated in whipped cream, was tart and sweet.

---

Early that evening.

I was in my room alone, writing a reflection paper. Hearing a commotion on the first floor, I headed down to the lobby.

Sherry had returned from the main house, accompanied by a cart overflowing with groceries.

“The head butler allocated us more ingredients! Sugar, butter, and flour too!”

Sherry, who had left with her sleeves rolled up, complaining that the discrimination in food distribution was too severe, finally looked satisfied.

It must have been a victory achieved by pestering the head butler for at least four hours. I gave Sherry a round of admiring applause.

“Is there any snack you’d like to eat? I’ll make it for you.”

“Wow. Cookies! Sherry, could you make some for my friend too? His name is Theon, and he’ll be staying here starting today.”

“I heard. A disciple for Master Raytan.”

Sherry gave a wide grin.

As the daughter of Dad’s wet nurse, Sherry had known him since childhood. Perhaps that was why the fact that Dad had taken a disciple seemed quite intriguing to her.

“Of course I should make some for your friend. Where are Master Raytan and your friend?”

“Dad went to the training grounds to meet Rex, and Theon went to the knights’ quarters to get his things.”

“Total Vice Commander Rex? Seeing as you call him ‘Uncle,’ it seems Investigator Berryberry has been showing off her skills again.”

Sherry even hummed a tune. She seemed to be savoring the joy of her victory in the war against the head butler.

“Sherry, did you see Anne?”

“Anne?”

“She said Grandmother called her to the main house.”

“…Hmm, I haven’t heard anything. I’ll look into it.”

Was there a strange pause just now? However, Sherry acted as if nothing was wrong and began moving the spoils from the cart into the kitchen with the other maids.

Watching the maids walk away while excitedly discussing what to bake, I suddenly remembered something.

‘Ah, the candy!’

Come to think of it, I had spoils of my own!

I hurried up to my room and came back down clutching the candy jar Grandpa had given me. I planned to share the candy with the maids.

I walked toward the kitchen on the first floor and was about to knock on the closed door.

“Sherry, what do you mean by that? Anne is going to be punished?”

I flinched.

A startled voice drifted out from the kitchen. I stopped my hand mid-knock.

Anne is being punished?

‘Why?’

The wooden door was poor at blocking sound, so I could hear the conversation inside quite well. I pressed my ear to the door and focused on the dialogue.

Sherry spoke.

“They say the Countess’s pearl earrings were found in Anne’s house. You know, the house where she lives with her younger sibling.”

The house where she lived with her sibling.

She was referring to the servants’ residential area located between the outer and inner walls of the Travel estate.

Then, the voices of the other maids followed.

“The pearl earrings? The ones that caused such a stir when they went missing a few days ago?”

“Why were those found in Anne’s house?”

“Oh my, what in the world? I think I know. Anne worked in the main house for a short while. Everyone was so distracted the day Master Raytan arrived, so back then…”

The voices of the maids, cautiously speculating on what had happened to Anne, grew quieter. I pressed my ear even closer to the door.

The day Dad and I arrived…

“What are you doing here?”

Gah!

Someone spoke to me from right behind in a calm voice. Startled, I spun around to find Theon standing there.

It seemed he had already finished packing his personal belongings from the knights’ quarters.

I gave an awkward smile and mouthed to Theon.

‘Y-you’re here?’

Theon nodded. Then, his gaze shifted between me and the wooden kitchen door where the conversation was leaking out.

I don’t know what he imagined, but Theon whispered to me with a serious face.

“You shouldn’t get into trouble.”

“Shh. I’m not. I was just debating whether it was okay to go in while the adults were talking.”

“……”

Theon didn’t say anything more, but there was no trust in the look he gave me.

Of course, I was in a position where I was undeniably eavesdropping, so there wasn’t much room for excuses…

In the kitchen, the worrying over Anne and the speculation about her punishment continued. It seemed I had heard everything I needed to.

“Let’s go somewhere else. The older sisters seem to be discussing something important.”

I took Theon’s hand and led him away from the kitchen hallway.

‘The culprit of the pearl earring incident is Anne?’

Gosh. I’m lacking information.

Judging by my experiences so far, it was impossible to know every detail of the future through my other memories.

‘The reason I remember the personal details of the Travel family members is that there was a time when my other self, around age twenty, investigated every single record of the Travel family from the past thirteen years.’

There were two main types of unknown futures.

1. Things my other self didn’t experience.
2. Things my other self experienced but naturally forgot as time passed.

This incident fell into the former category. While I knew who the real culprit was based on what I’d read in Servair the head butler’s logs, I knew nothing of the underlying circumstances.

Furthermore, my other self had died at twenty-four. That meant she didn’t remember every little detail of what happened when she was seven.

‘There was something about it in the head butler’s logs… but I don’t know why Anne got involved.’

Once we were quite far from the kitchen, Theon stopped me. There wasn’t another soul around.

“Huh? Why?”

“What the maids were saying in the kitchen—does it have to do with a maid named Anne stealing pearl earrings?”

I hadn’t expected Theon to ask such a question, so I blinked and asked, “How do you know about that, Theon?”

“I heard it while I was moving my things from the quarters. That a maid who came to the training grounds stole the Countess’s earrings.”

I see. Since it was the knights’ quarters, news of a theft must have spread quickly. The information Theon heard might be more accurate than what Sherry heard at the main house.

“And? Was there anything else?”

At my question, Theon’s face turned grave.

“Apparently, someone ordered the maid to steal the earrings. And because they belong to the Countess, they might hold my Master jointly responsible. Miss Marian was the one who claimed that… Ah, joint responsibility means Master has to take the blame for the maid’s mistake—”

“Joint responsibility? They’re going to hold my dad responsible for Anne’s stealing?”

“Y-yes.”

I was dumbstruck by the absurdity. What kind of logic was it to demand compensation from our shop because someone got robbed at the shop next door!

“The pearl earrings went missing at the main house, Anne was working at the main house before she came to Pebble House, and my dad only arrived at Travel four days ago. Does joint responsibility even make sense, Theon?”

“……”

Theon shook his head with a dazed expression.

See? Even Theon thinks it makes no sense.

“Right? It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?”

It was even more absurd that the person claiming joint responsibility was Aunt Marian. Such a forced argument…

But it might actually work. Because Aunt Marian was second in the line of succession.

Phew. Eight years really need to pass quickly.

Being at the bottom of the ladder is sorrowful.

“Master will be in a difficult position.”

“Don’t worry, Theon.”

“Master must have a good plan, right? Since he’s a Grand Master?”

Theon’s face brightened. I replied just as brightly.

“He doesn’t.”

“…Huh?”

“My dad doesn’t care about trivial things like that!”

In fact, he’d probably think it’s for the best. Since it’s a good way to maintain his status at the bottom.

‘Still…’

It’s frustrating just to let them have their way, isn’t it?

Especially when the person who actually stole the pearl earrings is someone else entirely.

---

Marian, the eldest daughter of Count Travel, frowned as she watched the man enter her room.

Grey trousers with a striped pattern, a brightly colored pocket square, a jacket with flower embroidery, and large ruffled sleeves peeking out from the jacket.

They were all made of high-quality fabrics, but the look was excessively gaudy.

“What is that outfit? My eyes hurt.”

“Now, sister. This is the fashion currently trending in society. You have to keep up with the sense of the youth to sell clothes. Our boutique’s sales have already far exceeded the target for the first half of the year. At this rate, your annex will be mine in four years.”

“How long do you think it’ll take to get there by selling mere scraps of cloth?”

Marian glared at him. Yosel, the third son of Count Travel, plopped down on the sofa across from her and crossed his legs. He leaned back against the headrest for a moment before his impatient nature got the better of him, and he leaned forward toward Marian.

“It’ll be faster than that concubine’s brat taking over your annex. More importantly, have you heard? I heard that concubine’s brat visited the temple today. Is it easy for a Grand Master to return to service? It shouldn’t be, right?”

Yosel’s toes twitched anxiously as he muttered to himself.

Though decades had passed since the late Julia had been formally instated as the second wife, the children of the first wife still referred to her as a concubine.

“I wouldn’t know. Who knows what the Church is thinking?”

“Ah—I smell something fishy. For what other reason would Father find Raytan? I suspect there’s some deal with the Church…”

“Just wait, Yosel.”

“Why? Do you have some clever scheme?”

“It’s not exactly a clever scheme.”

Marian gave a thin smile. She fanned herself lightly with the fan in her hand and said, “Let’s just see how far a commoner desperate for money will go.”