Black-Haired Dad Isn’t Something You Reap - Chapter 160

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 160. Side Story: Revenge Is My Strength (1)
Hisperon was dead. Absurdly, ridiculously dead. I had forced him to live, and yet he died from nothing more than a sword wound.
You told me to feed you! How could you leave me like this so irresponsibly!
“Your Highness, we must move. There may be pursuers.”
“H-hiccup, we’re just going to leave Hisperon here?”
“We buried him in a sunny place. We will absolutely return to retrieve him later.”
I wiped my tears and looked at the subordinates Hisperon had left me. Excluding the bastard who stabbed Hisperon and fled, there were five of us in total.
“Aren’t you going to run away?”
“Now that things have come to this, we should see it through together.”
“We owe everything to Lord Hisperon.”
“You are like the final legacy he left behind, Your Highness.”
“I see…”
Since one of them had already betrayed us, I couldn’t trust them completely. But like Hisperon’s subordinates said, I had no choice but to continue south. To plan for the future. To take revenge on Astiages.
I had to survive. Only then could I do anything. Without me, I could never avenge Hisperon’s wrongs.
The forced march southward continued. Fleeing from pursuers meant we couldn’t wash for days on end, barely managing to splash water on ourselves. Some days we couldn’t find food, and all six of us went hungry together.
We had enough money to rot away, yet we couldn’t find a comfortable place to rest, couldn’t wear decent clothes, and couldn’t even afford cheap food.
When we arrived in Ljubljana, we looked almost like vagabonds. But we had finally escaped the Northern Kingdom’s territory. Ljubljana was territory I could call my own. The moment we crossed the Ljubljana border, we cheered three times and embraced each other.
We had finally arrived. We barely survived. After reaching a nearby city with my companions, the first thing we did was wash ourselves with cold water from the nearby river and scrub our remaining decent clothes clean. We were about to go to the bank, and if we showed up reeking like beggars, we’d be turned away at the door.
We trembled as we dried our clothes by the campfire. The sight was so ridiculous that we laughed for a long time.
“Wouldn’t it be better if Your Highness didn’t go yourself? Creating a new identity with my face and withdrawing money from the bank…”
“The information brokers of Ljubljana and Media said the owner is a young man in his thirties. It would be strange for me to appear.”
“What if I take the money and run?”
“Then I’ll assume my reputation doesn’t extend that far.”
“Your Highness… your reputation is not lacking…”
“Just do what I tell you to do!”
Perhaps because they were Hisperon’s subordinates, they were just as stubborn as he was! I hurried to the bank and demanded they withdraw money while I pretended to be a nouveau riche. Rupert, the most senior of Hisperon’s subordinates and the oldest among the men, reluctantly peeled me away and entered the bank.
Not long after, he came running out with a deathly pale face.
“H-how much money is there?!”
“Hmm? Under this name, about thirty percent of my total wealth?”
“That’s only thirty percent?!”
“What? How much is there then?”
When the other companions murmured with interest, Rupert gathered the young men and women close and whispered about a portion of my wealth.
“Gasp!”
“With that money, couldn’t you buy an entire fiefdom?”
“Not just a fiefdom—you could buy a small nation outright?”
“And that’s only thirty percent?”
“Insane, absolutely insane. Your Highness is the most insane of all.”
The young men and women who had been chattering among themselves suddenly rushed toward me and began ruffling my hair wildly.
“Oh my, you ridiculous fool of an Emperor’s Son.”
“Hey, isn’t that insulting the Imperial Family?”
“Now that I’m no longer the Emperor’s Son.”
“Do you want to die, seriously?!”
“My goodness! How admirable, truly admirable.”
“Remarkable, Your Highness, truly.”
My colleagues, who had taken turns patting my head, whispered among themselves before letting out a series of heavy sighs.
“What will you do now, Your Highness? Will you perhaps found a nation?”
“Huh? I don’t have detailed plans yet.”
“No contingency plan whatsoever.”
“Whatever you do, we will follow to the end.”
“We’ve already abandoned our nation anyway, so let’s see where this takes us.”
“Aren’t you lot even more unprepared than I am?”
I returned their criticism in kind, and my colleagues huddled together before returning with a notarized contract from the Bank. They swore a simplified oath of loyalty, placing their lives in my hands, and pressed their thumbprints firmly onto the document.
“You’re all stateless with no identity now—what good is this?”
“It’s the thought that counts, the thought.”
“We can create new identities. You have plenty of money, Your Highness.”
“That’s true enough, I suppose.”
We’d starved and struggled together through hardship, yet they were all genuinely reckless fools. I’d been freed from supporting Hisperon, only to find myself feeding five of the subordinates he’d left behind.
“First, let’s withdraw funds. Then buy a house. …We’ll need an enormous one, though.”
“Of course. I need a private bedroom and a wardrobe room.”
“I’d love to have a study.”
“Ah, my hobby is gardening.”
“Oh, so we can choose according to our preferences? I’d like a beautiful kitchen with the latest cooking equipment.”
“I’m not greedy. Just give me the largest room.”
Every single one of them was clearly insane, yet they were gritting their teeth and holding back. This is driving me mad. Hisperon dragged these lunatics around battlefields all this time? The fact that he deliberately mixed them into the rescue team suggested they must be elite.
Elite? What elite? Did that mean specialist lunatics?
In any case, we decided to withdraw funds quickly, and Rupert brought down approximately one billion Lakmas as our representative. He said the attaché case came as a complimentary gift, and everyone was thrilled with how stylish it was and how it resembled something from a spy novel. Hisperon’s subordinates were nothing but lunatics. Now they’d become my subordinates instead. I see. So all my subordinates are lunatics.
After that, we headed to the Capital of Ljubljana, and I wanted to hastily sign a contract for any house and rest, but the lunatics wouldn’t have it. They rejected properties for all sorts of reasons—the kitchen wasn’t pretty enough, the view wasn’t good—and we spent ten days doing nothing but viewing houses.
While homeless, we drifted between inns. All while carrying one billion Lakmas in a bag. No matter how confident they were in their abilities, they were all clearly mad.
“A garden overgrown with weeds has such potential for landscaping!”
“The view here is wonderful! Though we’ll have to wage war against insects in summer!”
“The chimney is in excellent condition. I can prepare more intense dishes.”
“I just need a large room.”
“We can convert this sunless room into a study. Though we’ll need to do some dehumidifying.”
Do as you please, do as you please. What authority did I have? I bought the house they chose and furnished it. Then I claimed one room as mine and locked myself away completely. Finally, I could have personal time.
“Phew….”
How long had it been since I’d experienced solitude? I’d endured so much in such a short time, and with those lunatics making noise, I felt like I was losing my mind. How could five people gather without a single one being free from nagging? Was this Hisperon’s preference? Since Hisperon himself was quiet, did he deliberately surround himself with chatty fools?
“Why is my life like this?”
I pulled the blanket over my head and lamented my fate. Didn’t I live an ordinary life in the Imperial Palace? When exactly did my life become so twisted?
“….”
I reflected on my life up to this point and carefully considered who was to blame. The sudden harsh turns in my otherwise uneventful life…what was the beginning of it all?
“So it was the Bandit incident after all? Was that the beginning?”
When Princess Vishnabel and I fell into the wormhole and encountered the Bandits. It was the first time in my life I’d experienced the threat of death. My first real crisis.
“The second one was….”
Being expelled from the Imperial Palace, I suppose? I wanted to earn my own dowry for marrying Princess Vishnabel, so I dabbled in various ventures. That earned me the hatred of my brothers. Though thanks to the expulsion, I managed to grow close to Hisperon, so maybe it turned out for the best after all.
“The third one was….”
The incident where my head was severed. Princess Vishnabel went missing, so Hisperon and I searched for her together, only to face misunderstandings and sabotage from all sides.
My head was cut off and reattached, I fled and hid, Hisperon died, and yet I kept running until I ended up here.
“Wait….”
My life has become this mess. Isn’t it all because of Princess Vishnabel?

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————