Translator: Nox

Chapter 25

I Will Save My Father

I Will Save My Father, Episode 26

Episode 26

10. The Illiterate and Their Subordinates

As soon as I saw the backs of the twins’ heads as they hid in the auction house, the details of the pearl earring theft I’d read in Head Butler Servair’s journal flashed through my mind like lightning.

The twins had taken their grandmother’s earrings from the main house because they thought they were pretty, only to have them snatched away by a crow.

Uncle Yosel tried to fix the situation by having fake earrings made to sneak back into place, but Grandma found out they were missing before he could, and the whole thing blew up.

The auction proceeded thanks to Aunt Marian’s meddling, and Uncle Yosel won the bid.

It seemed like the matter would end there, but then the real pearl earrings were discovered in a crow’s nest in the hunting grounds, revealing that the ones sold at the auction were fakes.

The journal didn’t explicitly say so, but my father must have been put in a difficult position because of his involvement with Anne.

‘That’s why I planned to stop Anne from coming and then drop a note from the second floor saying the pearl earrings were fakes, but…’

Just moments ago.

I left my original seat and walked toward the section where the twins were. The door connecting to the hallway was wide open.

How careless. Though I was grateful to be spared the effort of opening the door myself.

Hehe. Stepping inside, I peeked through the curtains shielding the seating area. I saw the twins lying flat on the floor, peering over the railing into the hall.

“Bidder number 17, 20 million Kona!”

The auction was in full swing on the first floor.

Uncle Yosel was holding up his numbered paddle to win the pearl earrings, and the twins were watching him anxiously.

“Mati, what if Dad doesn’t win the bid?”

“Don’t say that. Dad promised he’d definitely get them.”

“If they find out those are fake, we’re in big trouble, right? I don’t want to go to Pebble House.”

“Ugh, me neither. That’s where the losers live. I shouldn’t have taken Grandma’s earrings. I should’ve just asked Dad to buy me something like that. If only that crow hadn’t taken them…”

Oh?

It seemed they were secretly watching because they were worried the fake earrings would be discovered.

I couldn’t just let those last words slide. I crept up behind the twins.

Even as I approached, they were too preoccupied with spying on the first floor to notice.

“Ribbit, ribbit.”

“…!!”

The twins slowly turned around, their mouths hanging open in such shock they couldn’t even scream.

As a civilized person who knows how to give a proper greeting, I smiled and waved at the relatives I hadn’t seen in half a day.

“Hi there. Hati, Mati.”

“…You, you…”

“Why… are you here?”

“Are those fake earrings? Did you guys lose Grandma’s earrings to a crow?”

A chilly silence fell.

At my words, the twins scrambled to their feet, each grabbing one of my arms and dragging me behind the curtains.

Threatening others was the twins’ specialty.

However, I had no intention of losing to them, and just as I was looking for an opening to strike first—

“…Please, let it go.”

“Huh?”

Mati, who had locked eyes with me, slowly loosened his grip on my arm as if he were frightened. He spoke hesitantly.

Then, he and Hati began to beg me to ignore what I’d just heard, so I made them a proposal.

“…Sold to bidder number 4! The Shushubia Archipelago pearl earrings for 1.2 billion!”

Aunt Marian, the target of my revenge, had fallen for my father’s trap and lost 1.2 billion Kona.

[Marian! Buying that for 1.2 billion—!]

The auction for the pearl earrings was over, but Acom was still so delighted he was clutching the railing and laughing at my aunt.

Hmm, Aunt Marian is pitiful, so should I let her off the hook this time?

Because rather than revealing those earrings are fakes—

“Hati, Mati. You said you’d do anything if I kept your secret, right?”

I thought it would be more fun to gain two new subordinates.

I grinned.

When I spoke, the twins recoiled in horror.

“…Eek.”

“Ugh…”

I never thought those blond heads could look so adorable.

I smiled sweetly at the twins, who were now holding pens over paper spread on the floor.

“Write down what I say, okay?”

---

There was a legend passed down through generations of the Wolf Clan.

It said that a spirit of a black wolf in human form guarded the forest.

It was just as Anne had resolved to die and turned toward the person approaching from behind.

Anne was startled twice in an instant. Once by the fact that it was a young boy rather than a knight, and again by the thought that he might be the forest guardian spirit.

“…”

His black hair was tousled by the wind. He stared at her with vivid black eyes.

Bathed in the moonlight, the boy didn’t seem real. She had never seen such a beautiful boy.

Soon, however, she realized he was neither a spirit nor a wolf, but a human.

“You’re Anne, right? I followed you from the main house.”

“Ah, yes. But I—”

“Not this way. Follow me.”

The boy’s hand was resting on the hilt of his sword. He was merely touching it out of habit, but Anne had no way of knowing that. The possibility that the sword might cut her down filled her mind.

‘So I followed him, but…’

Anne looked at the boy’s back as he walked ahead.

Though she followed him, relieved for now that she was alive, her mind was a mess of confusion.

‘Is there a knight this young in Travel?’

Since he wore a sword at his hip, perhaps he was an apprentice knight. He looked to be of noble birth. Maybe he was a young lord who had come for the charity auction.

But where was this young lord taking her? This direction led to the main gate.

Unable to withstand the tension and anxiety any longer, Anne called out to him.

“Um, young master!”

“…”

“I don’t know how much you know about my situation, but I have somewhere I must go…! Could I at least know our destination? Where are you going?”

At her urgent question, the boy stopped and turned around. He spoke to the trembling Anne.

“Moonflower Inn.”

Anne gasped at the answer. If it was the Moonflower Inn, wasn’t that the place written on the note? How did this young lord know about the inn where Jeffrey was staying?

Could it be?

“Did the God Aubaut send you, young master?”

Anne clasped her hands together, her voice thick with emotion. Her eyes were filled with the kind of reverence one might have for a holy being.

What a strange person. Theon took a small step back and spoke to Anne.

“My master told me to go to the inn.”

---

That night.

After the auction ended, Raytan returned to Pebble House as if nothing had happened.

Berry, who had arrived first, greeted him nonchalantly, and Theon, pretending he’d been away for training, arrived around the same time as Raytan.

“Did you enjoy the auction, Master Raytan?”

“No. I’ve come back empty-handed.”

Raytan raised both hands, playing along with Berry’s roleplay.

“Oh? Daddy didn’t buy anything?”

“I stepped aside. It seemed your aunt wanted it very badly.”

Those words would have sent Marian into a fit.

“Daddy has no greed at all.”

Raytan patted his daughter’s head as she looked on with pity. His eyes met Theon’s as the boy approached.

When Theon nodded, a corner of Raytan’s mouth lifted. It was a sign that the maid had been delivered to the place he’d specified.

“Now, you children should head up and sleep. It’s late.”

“What about you, Daddy? Are you going out again?”

“I have some work to do. Don’t forget to brush your teeth and wash your face. Sherry.”

“Yes, I’ll make sure she does.”

“…Fine.”

Sherry giggled, and Berry answered with a sulk.

“You too, Theon.”

“Yes, sir.”

After seeing to Theon as well, Raytan left Pebble House shortly after.

It was because he had something to discuss with the Countess, Priscilla.

‘…It’s best to stay out of sight.’

It hadn’t been long since the auction guests had departed. The Count’s estate was bustling with servants cleaning up and knights patrolling the perimeter.

Raytan chose a path where no one was present and headed for the main house. In the distance, he could see Sapphire House and Emerald House brightly lit.

He could easily imagine Marian throwing a tantrum and Yosel pacing anxiously in their respective villas.

‘Serves them right.’

Raytan scoffed.

They were the ones who had carelessly exposed their throats to him when he had intended to merely watch this round.

To live with beasts, one must occasionally become a threat to them. He had to warn them that he was not someone to be trampled upon easily.

“Raytan, it’s not always good to just show your teeth. Sometimes you have to take a hand you don’t want to hold.”

“Hold the hands of those beasts? I’d rather hold the hand of a corpse on a battlefield.”

“Haha. A corpse has no power. Travel has power. If there’s something you want to protect, you must know how to use that power.”

Raytan had begun to take Brown’s old words seriously only after Berry met her father.

Simply hiding his strength to avoid being targeted was not enough. To protect Berry, he needed more definitive means.

Even if that meant holding a hand he didn’t want to touch. Raytan had to accept that he could no longer live like he did six years ago.

Well, what was so bad about holding a beast’s hand?

‘Berry’s safety is the top priority.’

Regardless, the fact that he was acting like a father was something Brown would have laughed at until he cried if he could see him now.

Before long, he reached the second-floor hallway of the main house.

Raytan’s facial muscles, which had softened while thinking of Brown, hardened as he faced the firmly closed door.

Raytan stared at the door with sunken blue eyes before raising his hand to knock.

“Come in.”

A lady’s voice drifted from inside.

When he opened the door, he saw Priscilla sitting on a sofa. Dressed in indoor attire and sipping warm tea, she smiled slightly as she watched Raytan enter.

It was a completely different attitude from Marian, who was likely fuming in Sapphire House.

“Did things go as you wished?”

Raytan smiled at the beast who had betrayed his daughter.

“It is all thanks to you, Mother.”