Translator: Nox

Chapter 14

I Will Save My Father

I Will Save My Father, Episode 15

Episode 15

The direct descendants never visited Pebble House.

The reason was simple.

They felt that getting too close would bring them bad luck.

It was a superstitious notion—that the aura of the lowest rank would rub off on them and affect their performance—but it also showed just how desperate everyone was regarding the succession rankings.

‘But why are they all the way out here?’

I was tucked behind a cedar tree, peering through the branches and leaves at the other side.

I could hear the sound of giggles and conversation.

“If she cries again this time, Grandfather will kick her out, right?”

“Father said so. He said the frog got in trouble with Grandfather yesterday and cried again. Trabel doesn’t need a crybaby who wails like that.”

Two children who looked exactly alike were standing there. They were the fraternal twins of my second uncle: Hati and Mati. They were nine years old this year.

With their curly blonde hair and angelic features, they looked precious, but in reality, they were devils.

• Teacher! The lowest-ranked one dropped her textbook in the pond!

• Really? That textbook was bought with the money my father earned. Since Uncle Raytan is incompetent and can’t make any money!

• Go pick it up. If you have any shame, you wouldn’t dare ask for a new one.

Suddenly, memories of my other life flashed back to me.

Most of the bullying I endured during lessons was the work of these two and my aunt’s ten-year-old son, Calips.

‘Calips ignored the other me entirely once he entered the Academy, but the twins were desperate to pick fights even after they became adults. …Just how much did they torment her for the other me to still loathe them so much even as a grown-up!’

I can’t let them look down on me.

My wild instincts were telling me so.

“And Hati, they say the frog got in trouble for trying to steal Grandfather’s candy. She has to be punished for stealing.”

Mati, the boy of the pair, swung the sack he was holding back and forth.

‘…Is “the frog” referring to me?’

Come to think of it, these two had mocked me when they saw me crying on my first day at Trabel, hadn’t they?

“Pathetic. Is that really a Trabel? She’s noisy, just like a frog.”

“A frog? Then we’ll only see her until autumn. She’ll crawl into a pit once winter comes.”

I watched the sack in Mati’s hand. It was the kind with a drawstring top that hunters used to catch birds or small animals.

It seemed they’d had a servant catch something like a bird. Seeing the sack twitch, was it still alive? Are they planning to throw that at me?

‘Hmm.’

I narrowed my eyes and lowered my body. The twins were too busy talking to realize I was right next to them.

Target spotted ahead. Commencing attack.

“Let’s just throw it quickly. It’s gross.”

“When the frog comes this way. When on earth is she coming? I saw her coming out earlier… Argh!!”

“Kyaah! What, what, what’s wrong?!”

“My leg…! Something bit my leg!”

The twins’ faces turned pale in an instant as they screamed.

That’s what you get for trying to do something bad. I only grabbed him with my hand, though.

“Ribbit, ribbit.”

“…….”

Hati and Mati looked down toward me. I poked only my face out from between the trunks of the two cedar trees and gave them a wide grin.

“Looking for the frog?”

“Kyaaaah!”

“W-what the—!”

The twins fled the scene with faces as white as if they’d seen a ghost.

Thud. The sack Mati had dropped from his hand hit the ground.

“Hmph. That was nothing.”

Cowards.

I crawled the rest of the way out from between the trees and brushed off my hands. To think I have to take lessons with them starting tomorrow. I sighed.

“What were they trying to throw?”

It was just as I leaned over to pick up the wriggling sack. A hand reached it before mine. It was Theon.

“Don’t touch it.”

“Oh? Theon. Is training with Dad over?”

Theon nodded and silently looked back. It was the direction the twins had fled.

His black eyes, staring down the empty path, darkened for a moment before returning to their usual light when he looked back at me.

“I’ll take care of this.”

“What is it?”

“A bullfrog.”

Thump, thump. Reacting to the sudden movement, something inside the sack Theon held thrashed violently.

My stomach turned.

I looked around Theon and asked, “Didn’t Dad come with you? How was the first lesson? Dad’s a great teacher, isn’t he?”

I expected him to gush about the lesson with sparkling eyes again, but Theon spoke with his usual expressionless face, now tinged with worry.

“Training ended early.”

“Why?”

“The Countess sent someone saying she had something to say to Master.”

---

Shhhhhhh—.

In front of the Trabel Main House stood a massive fountain.

Drawing from a strange vein of water flowing beneath the earth, the fountain never ran dry, even during the severest droughts.

“The water is so refreshing. Isn’t it a magnificent sight, no matter when you see it?”

Priscilla, the first wife of Count Travel, turned away from the large window of her favorite tea room, which overlooked the garden and the fountain.

“It is the blessing of the Lord granted to Trabel.”

Into her view stepped a handsome man with wheat-colored hair sitting on the sofa.

He had a fierce impression, but he possessed a natural grace that made everything he did look refined. He had an innate charm that drew people in—so much so that she occasionally felt a pang of regret that he wasn’t her own flesh and blood.

“A blessing, indeed.”

Raytan remained seated with one leg crossed, his gaze fixed out the window.

Priscilla sat on the single-seater sofa to his right and asked, “Have you been well? I haven’t heard a word from you in six years, so I didn’t know how you were faring.”

“My apologies. I was busy raising a child.”

“I understand. Haven’t I raised quite a few children myself? These days, even Yosel is pestering me to look after his children.”

The Countess’s hands were wrinkled but elegant as she spoke. She wore precious ornaments that were never meant to touch water.

Clack. Raytan set down the teacup he was holding and looked at her.

Priscilla had briefly shown her face when Raytan first arrived, only to return to the Main House on the pretext of a headache. She had needed time alone to suppress the anger rising within her at her stepson’s return.

Raytan wasn’t the type of son to go out of his way to visit her either, so this was the first time the two of them had spoken since his return to Trabel.

Priscilla always felt uncomfortable when she met Raytan’s blue eyes. A slight sense of displeasure always followed.

A swordsmanship genius who had reached the rank of Grand Master.

‘The second son would be the most likely candidate, wouldn’t he?’

Many had once seen the boy as a potential successor to the family head.

Though it had been a long time since such talk vanished due to his consistent dead-last ranking….

‘A man changes when he has a child.’

The Countess was concerned about Raytan returning as a father.

Lest he threaten her own children’s positions as heirs—.

“You said to take collective responsibility. If that is what you wish, I shall do so. As you suggested, I will put my items up for the charity auction you are hosting.”

“I am sorry. What is a mere pair of pearl earrings? But what can be done? If we let the theft of a master’s belongings slide, the order of the household will not be maintained.”

“It is fine.”

Once the business was concluded, Raytan rose with a brief farewell. Priscilla smiled inwardly at his back as he left the tea room.

That boy is pathetic, even after becoming a father.

Click.

Outside the tea room, Raytan’s blue eyes darkened. The charity auction was a trap.

‘What should I do?’

Raytan pondered as he walked down the hallway. He had several options.

He could become the scoundrel of Trabel and ruin their plans, overturn them, or pay them back in kind….

“How many more years do you think your daughter will live?”

Or endure it.

If Berry’s illness could only be cured here, he could not leave this land.

But this was a land where any sprout that offended the eye was trampled.

The carriage accident he suffered thirteen years ago, and his older brother’s death seven years ago, were related to that.

He had to ensure Berry lived outside the reach of these beasts.

“Excuse me, Young Master.”

“…….”

“Young Master…?”

Deep in thought, Raytan turned around at the voice calling him.

It was Servair, the head butler of the Main House.

“Do you have business with me?”

“Well, you see….”

Servair looked around as if to check that no one was there.

He knew Raytan hadn’t left his meeting with the Countess on good terms, but there was something he had to ask regardless.

“Regarding the Inksa stocks the young lady mentioned….”

He had asked Baron Mont again and confirmed for himself that there were no problems with Inksa. Nevertheless, he suffered from nightmares every night.

The story he had heard during his first meeting with that young lady would not leave his mind.

That was why he had let Sherry fleece him for ingredients yesterday. Normally, he wouldn’t have given them up even if she’d nagged him all day.

“Inksa?”

“Yes, yes…! The young lady said it was something she’d overheard somewhere….”

What would a seven-year-old know? Young Master Raytan had been away until recently.

Therefore, there was a high possibility that the source of that information was Young Master Raytan himself. It was laughable to ask someone with a ‘minus touch’ for investment advice, but his house and entire fortune were at stake—.

“Stop beating around the bush and just say what you want to say.”

“Should I sell them?”

Servair was nearly in tears. Having a middle-aged man beg him was something Raytan was used to from his days on the battlefield, so he didn’t feel even a shred of pity.

Inksa stocks. How should he know?

“Sell them.”

“…Yes!”

At Raytan’s words, Servair’s face brightened instantly. He looked as if he had received a divine revelation. He quickly changed his expression with a dry cough as if embarrassed, though.

Witnessing that momentary shift, Raytan gave a short shake of his head and left Servair behind.