Black-Haired Dad Isn’t Something You Reap - Chapter 148
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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 148. When Demons Emerge Between Incidents, Go on a Date (1)
“Execution?”
“That’s correct.”
“He’s not actually dead, is he?”
“Typically, execution means death.”
That couldn’t be right. Why would Nanakda die? I could understand if it were Hisperon, but I didn’t mean I wished Hisperon were dead.
“Now that I think about it, what about his letters? Surely they must have piled up while I was missing. Wouldn’t there be a message about fleeing somewhere?”
“His letters stopped coming a month after the Princess disappeared.”
“Why?”
“He was making a fuss about finding you together with Hisperon, and it seems he earned the Imperial Family’s displeasure.”
That was certainly a blunder. Even if the two of them were living together, they should have continued emphasizing their constant quarrels and poor relationship. The nation’s hero siding with the Fifth Prince was threatening to the other imperial successors, but it would have made the Emperor most uncomfortable.
To put it bluntly, if the people held a popularity vote to choose an emperor, Hisperon would immediately claim the throne. Of course, such a thing would never happen, so until now Hisperon had demonstrated his obedience only to the Emperor’s commands, showing he was my loyal dog.
But the incredibly popular Hisperon siding with the Fifth Prince instead of the Emperor? That would cause chaos. The people’s hearts would turn toward the Fifth Prince. The images of the higher-ranking imperial family members had already plummeted due to the succession dispute, and despite the Emperor’s integrity, people would begin saying the throne should pass to the Fifth Prince.
If it were just children squabbling and fighting among themselves, it would be different, but it would immediately threaten the Emperor, so he had no choice but to act. The most convenient way to separate the Fifth Prince and Hisperon was, naturally, to kill the Fifth Prince.
“Ugh, that old dog who won’t even bite!”
“What’s strange is that Hisperon apparently took Prince Nanakda’s corpse.”
“What?”
So Nanakda is actually alive, right? Maybe he consumed a poison that induces a comatose state, and if the antidote is administered in time, he could come back to life…
“What was the execution method? Poisoning?”
“It was beheading, apparently.”
“…”
“Many people witnessed his head falling.”
“Sigh…”
Can a head be reattached after it falls off? There must be some method, so Hisperon probably took him and fled? Maybe the head falling was all just a hallucination.
“Anyway, he’s alive. You should move forward with that assumption.”
I was also safe after being missing for half a year, so why not. And if Hisperon directed the operation, I can trust it.
“Strengthen patrols along the Northern Border, and please request protection for Nanakda and Hisperon from the Allied Nations as well. Any telegrams coming to the Imperial Palace—regardless of content—I’d like them reported to me first…”
“You’re commanding the Emperor like he’s your limbs.”
“Ah, it’s a request, a request! Is that better?!”
“Those Kisomalos are always like this.”
Father shook his head with a sigh. Father enjoys being swayed by Kisomalos, so what’s he complaining about.
“Should I track down Hisperon using the same method I used to pursue Pisha?”
“Huh? That cursing thing?”
Without being asked, Croa volunteered to curse for me. Surely this brat hasn’t forgotten the contract that prevents him from cursing within the Imperial Palace until he comes of age? He keeps trying to create exceptions.
“No. It’ll harm your body. Hisperon will be with him, so it won’t be an urgent situation like mine was.”
“It’s fine. The backlash means I’d just have to wear an eye patch for about another year. If it’s Pisha’s command, I’ll follow it gladly.”
Oh my, we’re allied nations, so we shouldn’t use words like command. I scolded Croa while not refusing outright. Then this sharp-eyed Little One asked Father for one more exception, and told me what I’d need for the curse.
“The curse requires an elephant’s foot and the target’s hair. We have spare elephant’s feet left over from when we bought them to find Pisha… and Pisha, you have Hisperon’s hair, don’t you?”
“Huh?”
Why would I have Hisperon’s hair? As I said with disgust that I didn’t have such a thing, Croa looked bewildered and spouted something strange.
“But Pisha likes Hisperon, doesn’t she?”
“That’s right. I hold him in great esteem.”
“Don’t people usually collect the hair of those they like?”
“I don’t!”
Why would she have something like that? Collecting someone’s hair strand by strand just because she likes them? That’s either perverted, sexually deviant, or stalking! It’s definitely stalking!
“People like that are criminals! They should be locked up! Grrr! Pervert!”
“…!”
I thought I was making a perfectly reasonable argument, but suddenly Croa’s face went pale with shock. Father then scooped me up and moved me to a corner behind the tent, with Choco and Shirley following along.
“If you think about it for a moment, you’d understand the problem.”
“What Pisha did just now was wrong, Your Highness.”
“You need human hair as a curse material, don’t you? So what do you think she used to find you?”
Well, she must have used my hair, right? But wouldn’t there be a few strands of my hair lying around in my room? Maybe in the corners under the bed where it hasn’t been cleaned. Or still caught in my personal brush.
Again, I felt like I was making a reasonable point, but the others shook their heads and explained what had actually happened that day.
“She needed quite a substantial amount of hair.”
“When the prince brought it in bundles, honestly, it gave me chills.”
“It wasn’t just clumped together either—she’d carefully sorted it and even conditioned it? Was she planning to make a wig?”
Ah, if she was planning to make a wig, it would seem less creepy somehow. I struggled to try to understand Croa’s perspective. Was she preparing in advance just in case something like this happened? Or was she collecting it as curse material to resolve the resentment she’d been quietly accumulating against me over time?
No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t fully understand.
“No! Why would she collect someone else’s hair!”
“Honestly, I don’t understand it either.”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“What can we do? Pisha brought her here in the first place, so we’ll just have to appease Pisha.”
Shirley subtly claimed exclusive rights, saying that Bae-dong should have ended it with just herself. Hmm, but you’ve been marking territory with me since way back, and I don’t like that either.
“Since the uncomfortable feelings are equivalent, it should be fine, right?”
“No, what part of me is uncomfortable?!”
“The part where you keep claiming ownership of me and marking territory with your nails on the pillars of the Princess Palace.”
“Everyone does that!”
“No, they don’t.”
This time too, I looked to Father and Choco for validation. The Chiron family members, who all suffered from a disease where they’d die if they didn’t speak the truth, patted Shirley’s shoulder with pitying expressions.
“Only beasts do things like that. Normal people don’t.”
“Compared to Your Highness, Shirley is considerably less problematic, but still quite troublesome.”
“Me?!”
Shirley’s face also went pale. A lot of people are getting culture shock today.
“Anyway, saying such things to Little One, who even sacrificed her eyesight searching for the Princess, was too harsh.”
I only called her a perverted stalker with sexual deviance, right? The rest of those insults were just Father wanting to curse at Croa, weren’t they?!
“We’ll reserve the Botanical Garden. I’ll excuse Marshmallow from his lessons on the days Shirley has university classes, so go and comfort her well.”
The Botanical Garden would suit Croa well, and it would be nice to take a quiet walk there. If Croa holds a grudge, I’m scared, so I need to go and resolve it properly.
“But if we’re going to see plants anyway, wouldn’t it be better to go to the Greenhouse Strawberry Farm? It’s practical, and the strawberries are delicious.”
If the season were right, the strawberry farm would be better. When I offered this opinion out of self-interest, the Chiron family members, afflicted with the disease of dying if they didn’t speak the truth, gave me a serious look.
“A woman who takes a man dressed up nicely for a date to a strawberry farm deserves to die.”
“A fool like that has no right to date a man,” she said flatly.
Was taking a man to the Greenhouse Strawberry Farm really such a capital crime? Both of them glared at me so fiercely that I couldn’t muster a single objection, and I reluctantly agreed to the Botanical Garden date instead.
“I shall visit the Botanical Garden with Croa.”
“A wise decision.”
“I shall clear my schedule for that day as well.”
So Choco intended to come along with me. But this was supposed to be a date, wasn’t it? Surely she wouldn’t intrude on our time together? She’d keep her distance, naturally?
In any case, to help the devastated Croa recover, I found myself heading to the Botanical Garden. I brought a crowd of people along and informed Croa of the decision, but Little One still wore a dejected expression.
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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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