Black-Haired Dad Isn’t Something You Reap - Chapter 12
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 12. With Effort, Even a Ruffian Can Become Something (5)
After breaking up sword fights the entire way, I arrived at the First Audience Hall—a place the blockhead hadn’t used since my mother died.
Stepping through the shattered doors, the interior was absolute chaos.
The walls were drenched in blood, the floor pooled with it. One corner of the audience hall held a mountain of Imperial Guard corpses, some charred black from what appeared to be explosive spirit stones.
“What in blazes!”
I couldn’t care less that you’ve got the blockhead crawling like a dog. But to brazenly sit upon the throne that holds five hundred years of Kisomalos Dynasty history?
Your audacity knows no bounds!
“P-Pisha!”
Whether the blockhead called for me or not, I ignored him and fixed my gaze upon the black-haired beast sitting on the throne. The creature had the nerve to acknowledge me with an arrogant smirk.
“It’s been a while. You’ve put on weight since then—seems you’ve been doing well.”
“This is a normal weight, you bastard!”
“…Where on earth did you pick up that manner of speech?”
“You brainless idiots! If anything happens to Pisha, I’ll slaughter every last one of you and then die myself!”
“Ah, so that woman is the source of the trouble.”
I’m the one dealing with headaches because of my aunt, so why are you sighing?
The bear-like man with a distant gaze kicked away the blockhead who was crawling toward me, then crossed his legs with elegant poise.
From that single blow, my biological father shed tears and retched up stomach acid, and I felt a mixture of slight pity and considerable satisfaction.
“Then, as promised, I shall abide by the Imperial Princess’s choice.”
“Pisha, Pisha! I’m your father! Your own blood! You’ll choose me, won’t you?”
No, explain the situation first before you start your nonsense, you lunatics.
“Explain first, then start your nonsense, you lunatics.”
“How on earth did Lorowi raise this child?”
“Pisha, Pisha. Don’t listen to that bastard! That one is… Ugh!”
“Since he’s in no state to explain, I shall do so.”
The arrogant creature sitting on the throne kicked the blockhead again, using him as a footrest.
It was satisfying, certainly, but thinking of the authority of the five-hundred-year Kisomalos Dynasty made my heart heavy. My feelings were complicated.
“I did as you suggested. If you choose the blockhead as your father, I shall take responsibility and end my life here. If you choose me, I shall protect you until you come of age.”
“The explanation is incomplete.”
“Ende tends to be that way. Allow me to finish the explanation.”
Choco’s explanation was this: the madman sitting on that throne was none other than Chiron, and he had voluntarily gone to the Political Detention Center before suddenly returning home, ranting that he would become the Imperial Princess’s father.
Furthermore, he stated that this very attack was carried out by the Chiron Duke’s House private soldiers with the resolve to see three generations destroyed, and he seemed on the verge of losing his mind entirely. Finally, he kindly explained to me that there was also a third option—choosing neither.
“If Ende dies, I shall take responsibility and self-destruct alongside the Emperor. There is also the option of having Lorowi take the throne independently.”
“That’s not happening. My aunt’s not smart enough for that, Pisha.”
“Right! Aunt can’t handle politics, Pisha!”
Please don’t step forward—it’s embarrassing.
Anyway, from Choco’s explanation, I came to realize something.
So this rough-looking fellow called Chiron was… well, that is to say.
“…A prisoner?”
“Then what did you think he was all this time?”
“Ah… he’s actually a real person?”
“…!”
No, back then you were just too bearlike, Prisoner.
I never imagined that shaving and cutting your hair would reveal such a human face underneath. And certainly not a handsome one at that.
Why, doesn’t first impression matter to people?
When I first saw you, you looked like a black grizzly bear—naturally I wouldn’t have expected someone like a gentleman to be hiding inside, would I?
“Prisoner, first impressions are everything. They say the moment people meet determines their entire future together.”
“Here we go again.”
“Don’t you see? Back then I called you a bear, so how could I not understand the limits of what someone could imagine? If you suddenly showed up with that pretty boy face in front of such a married woman, it would be a disaster.”
“Don’t forget that my cousin still has explosive potential.”
“Hup!”
I quickly covered my mouth with my hand and looked at Choco.
So this was Prisoner’s cousin. No wonder she kept saying something about hierarchy while calling everyone “this bastard” and “that bastard.”
“I need to think about this now. Give me time.”
“Understood.”
“Pisha, what is there to think about! I am your father!”
Quiet down, blockhead.
As I made a thumping sound with my right foot toward Prisoner, the man nodded and kicked the blockhead again. The world fell silent except for the blockhead’s retching sounds.
“Hmm….”
So the scale of the invasion was small because this was a matter undertaken with the resolve to die.
To be blunt, this assault would bring Prisoner nothing but loss.
If the blockhead and I died, could he truly govern the Imperial Kingdom? The answer was no. Even calling it a Duke’s House, it didn’t possess military strength as solid as Lorowi’s, so civil war would merely break out across the Imperial Kingdom.
Prisoner had never raised his army out of desire for the throne.
Perhaps sixteen years after my death, but the current blockhead hadn’t reached the point of bankrupting the Imperial Kingdom’s finances, so there was insufficient justification for a coup.
‘If Prisoner survives this, won’t he become the primary target of those who would start a civil war?’
Branded as a traitor who destroyed the Kisomalos Dynasty itself.
I had even said that if I chose the blockhead, he would take his own life. In truth, Prisoner was the one currently in the most dire circumstances.
There was only one way for Chiron to survive this moment.
To gain my protection and receive the imperial throne through succession.
In other words, the man had stormed the Imperial Palace with only that single goal in mind.
This was giving me a headache. This bastard really was something else.
“Prisoner.”
“What.”
“You’re truly insane.”
“I hear that often.”
“Wait, let me think about this for a moment.”
I couldn’t fathom what was going on in his head, so I needed to have a proper conversation.
Making soft padding sounds with my slippers, I left the First Audience Hall first. Passing through the corridor and entering the Third Audience Hall, I quickly settled into the plush jade throne, straightened my posture, and made Prisoner kneel.
Though this Prisoner was somewhat unhinged and fierce, he certainly listened to my words well.
“Why are you doing this to me?”
“Why am I doing this?”
“No, think about it. If I say we should do this, you’ll do it.”
I explained to Prisoner the conclusion I’d reached after all this deliberation.
If this coup fails, it won’t end with just Chiron losing his life. Judging by my father the Emperor’s temperament, Choco will die too, and Prisoner’s nephew back in his hometown will die, and everyone involved in this affair will perish.
I laid out the argument that there was no need to walk such a dangerous path. Then this brat didn’t kneel as instructed and instead sat cross-legged on the floor, spouting something I’d heard many times before.
“I’ve returned to this place, going back through sixteen years of time. Will Your Highness the Princess believe me if I say that?”
“…!”
Prisoner, did you regress too?!
My inner turmoil must have shown on my face, because Prisoner laughed with an eerie expression.
He looks like a bear, but his intuition is positively ghostly!
“I figured as much. I heard that Chiron, the deity of our household, cooperated with Kisomalos in turning back time.”
“No, that’s not quite right, Prisoner.”
“Chiron fell from a mid-tier deity to a low-tier one. If he can’t close that gap over the next sixteen years, then I’ll have to bear the karmic debt, or so I’m told. If Chiron, who only shared a bit of divine power, is in this state, there’s no way Kisomalos himself came through unscathed.”
Wow, so that household’s deity was close with Lord Kisomalos? Advancing from low-tier to mid-tier is incredibly difficult—why would he just hand over that divine power like that?
I’m starting from zero, so it’s even more grueling for me.
“Surely Your Highness the Princess has an even greater debt. Did the deity tell you anything? What happens to you if you can’t repay it?”
“Um, uh….”
There’s no hiding it, is there. Besides, from my perspective, Lord Chiron is practically my benefactor, so I should be honest. To put it bluntly, Lord Kisomalos alone wasn’t enough, which is why Lord Chiron gave me such raw divine power.
“That, that day at Takkapo, repeating….”
“….”
Hey, why do you flinch like you’ve got something to hide whenever that name comes up?
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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