Black-Haired Dad Isn’t Something You Reap - Chapter 21

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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 21. If You’re Not Going to Date a Hundred Lovers, Don’t Go Around Calling Yourself a Ruffian (9)
I-It’s the Chief Chamberlain!
The moment Madam Listo appeared and spoke sharply, Choco and Prisoner froze. Overcome with relief that someone had come to mediate, I burst into tears and ran toward her. The Chief Chamberlain lifted me into her arms and wiped away my tears.
“Your Highness is still so young! It’s only natural to be startled!”
That’s right, Grandmother! Tell me more!
I was absolutely terrified!
As I wept even harder from the sorrow of it all, Madam Listo forced both Prisoner and Choco to their knees and spoke in an angry tone.
“Ende, this has been your problem since childhood! You lack any awareness of how extraordinary you are! How many people have been hurt by that thoughtlessness…!”
Huh? Since childhood?
“Grandmother, did you meet Prisoner when he was little?”
I asked while sniffling back tears and snot, and the Chief Chamberlain deflected the question. Then she stuffed a pastry into my mouth and sat me down in a chair. She’d also discovered that problematic book.
“Playing around with a book that doesn’t even make sense!”
Madam Listo grabbed that emotional development book from the table and threw it at Prisoner’s head. He didn’t even dodge it—the book hit him squarely, and he responded in a solemn tone.
“It’s a misunderstanding, Grandmother. That book was written by a trustworthy author.”
“Then why is Your Highness crying?”
“Well….”
“….”
“Indeed?”
As if this wasn’t the first or second time, the Chief Chamberlain expertly kicked Prisoner aside.
Hmm… These two really do seem incredibly close.
“What’s your relationship?”
“We have no relationship whatsoever. More importantly, have you informed Your Highness about the coronation schedule, Your Majesty?”
“No.”
“You made time to meet with Her Highness, yet what have you been doing all this while?”
“Playing house.”
“I should have killed you then.”
“How disrespectful.”
“Shall I cut off your head instead?”
“Pisha told me not to kill you.”
“I never knew Your Majesty was someone who could listen to others.”
“I’ve grown and matured into adulthood.”
“That mouth of yours is wide open indeed.”
The Chief Chamberlain really does let loose in private. Making the Emperor kneel and ordering tea for the attendants is something even my Aunt couldn’t pull off—she’s truly remarkable.
I took a moment to reconsider the power structure of this Imperial Family, and ate my pastry quietly.
“The schedule is urgent, but the dispatch of an envoy from Astiages was already planned. We must execute Helbatro today and complete the coronation ceremony tomorrow to receive the delegation. Your Highness must of course be present as well.”
“Noooo, I don’t wanna.”
“To grant legitimacy to Your Majesty, who lacks proper foundation, there’s no choice. Wasn’t it you who called upon the court historians to make biased records?”
“I’m still young, no state affairs.”
“I see. By the way, the envoy from Astiages is said to be that Hisperon.”
“…Huh?”
Hisperon? Did you just say Hisperon? That boy hero Hisperon?
The one who took the field at merely fourteen years old and achieved his first victory, then at fifteen suppressed the rebellion in the east, and continued advancing eastward to expand the territory?
The one whose mother was of lowborn status, so he never received the name of Astiages nor the Imperial Family’s recognition, yet devoted himself entirely to the nation, and breathed his last on the battlefield at the tender age of twenty?
“Huh?! Wait! Hisperon! Really?! That Hisperon?”
“Yes. The lowborn whom Your Majesty favors so dearly, who knows nothing but war.”
“Not lowborn! Hisperon is a boy hero!”
“Yes, yes, of course.”
Wait. Since I’m five years old, how old is Hisperon? Fifteen? Sixteen?
Either way, that boy hero is alive right now!
Insane… the world! The day I would actually meet Hisperon in person!
“Stop dwelling on such things!”
“Calm yourself. That lowborn arrives in two days.”
“Not lowborn!”
This old woman is driving me absolutely mad!
Hisperon isn’t someone for whom status matters! Can just anyone lead an overwhelmingly outnumbered force on their first campaign and return alive through cunning stratagems?
No human could do such a thing! That’s something only possible if the gods themselves were guiding him!
And this old woman speaks carelessly without even understanding!
But I couldn’t curse her out freely. If an envoy from another nation was coming, the old woman would be the one managing the schedule.
The Emperor had said her name was too difficult to pronounce, so they just called her Chief Chamberlain, but Madam Listo’s official title was ‘Director of the Imperial Palace Personnel Office and Administrative Responsibility.’
Everyone residing in the Imperial Palace fell under the old woman’s management. Since foreign envoys stayed in the guest quarters of the Outer Palace, she would naturally be handling the schedule.
So I had no choice but to beg the old woman to arrange a time for me to meet the boy hero.
“Please, please let me meet him! It’s my lifelong dream!”
“If you attend your lessons without skipping and study diligently, I will arrange it for you.”
“That’s a completely different matter!”
“Then you won’t be meeting him. There’s nothing I can do about that.”
“No! Please! Please let me see him! Grandmother, among all the grandmothers I know, you’re the prettiest! Your wrinkles are pretty! Your temperament is—well, compared to that woman, you’re practically perfect! You can do this!”
“Your flattery is truly pathetic. An Emperor who cannot tell a decent lie cannot become great.”
“I’m not becoming Emperor!”
I don’t need to bear such responsibility. Once I restore Kisomalos to his position as a higher deity, I’ll spend the rest of my life in leisure!
‘Let me see if I’ll ever attend state affairs again after getting IV fluids!’
As I grabbed the Chief Chamberlain’s skirt hem and stomped my feet, begging to meet Hisperon, the old woman pressed her head as if it ached.
That’s when Prisoner raised his hand while on his knees.
“Wait. I also have experience leading troops at fifteen. Why don’t you admire me instead of that guy?”
“Your Majesty lost that battle and was captured, requiring the late Emperor to pay a fortune to ransom you.”
“The result isn’t what matters. The process is. I fought brilliantly.”
“If Helbatro’s mother hadn’t erased the records, you would still be mocked as the hiker Ende.”
“The boy can make mistakes too.”
“Don’t talk to me. I don’t want to speak with you.”
The Chief Chamberlain trembled with disgust at Prisoner and notified me that if I successfully completed the coronation ceremony and received the envoy, she would arrange for me to meet Hisperon.
Since it wasn’t a definite promise, all I could do was curse.
“Damn old hag!”
“Indeed. An old, foul-tempered, ugly, smelly grandmother of a woman.”
When I cursed, she said nothing, but the moment Prisoner opened his mouth, Madam Listo grabbed the book she’d thrown earlier and struck the bear-like man with a resounding thwack.
The grandmother, whom I thought I’d never see again, shuddered at the sight of me and warned me not to linger in the Princess Palace, as there would surely be much unpleasant talk following the Emperor’s execution.
“No. I’m going to watch too.”
“…You’re a cruel woman.”
Why did she keep calling me cruel?
I didn’t know what sweet memories she shared with the Emperor, but to me, he was nothing but garbage from birth to death! Don’t speak if you’ve never walked in my shoes!
As I spoke with such vehemence, Prisoner took my side and lifted me into his arms.
“That’s right, grandmother. Don’t speak if you’ve never been paid to befriend a man like that.”
“It’s because you say such pointless things that Helbatro went astray!”
Wait, Prisoner. Have you ever been paid to be friends with my father?
Besides, did the Emperor even have friends? I don’t have any either? That doesn’t make sense!
“Don’t argue. The Emperor had friends.”
“It was work done for money. In this world, money makes everything possible.”
“No. I don’t want money or anything else.”
“True. I had no other choice back then either. If I could have avoided meeting him forever, I would have.”
“Right.”
“Yeah.”
Perhaps because we cursed Helbatro, whom the Chief Chamberlain had raised with her own hands, she flipped the entire table and stormed out huffily.
Prisoner and I, seeing her sorrowful retreating figure, felt a pang of remorse. So after a moment of reflection, we made plans to meet at the Execution Ground.

✦ ✦ ✦
A gag was fastened in Helbatro Mayuna Kisomalos’s mouth. They said it was to prevent him from screaming, but he likely felt no pain at all.
At Madam Listo’s earnest request, a lethal dose of anesthetic had already been injected, and I heard he’d also swallowed the hallucinogenic drug he normally took.
My father would depart from this world seeing wavering illusions, as if dreaming, even as flames licked at his feet.
Those who would remember fear and chill watching Helbatro die would be the invited guests.
Thanks to bearing the name Kisomalos, Helbatro was spared public execution. Those gathered here, as if attending a funeral, were those who had seized the throne and those who had remained silent when Prisoner occupied the Imperial Palace.
Since the coronation ceremony was tomorrow anyway, they had to come to the Imperial Palace, and calling them a day early to witness the execution was a kind of demonstration.
The Emperor said to handle it as I saw fit, but Prisoner had come up with a truly vicious scheme.
By personally showing what kind of man had usurped the throne, the nobles and other dignitaries would surely have much to contemplate regarding their future conduct.
“Hah….”
Yes, he burned well.
It was a gruesome sight, but I felt no urge to look away. No pity stirred in me either. Only the thought that someone who would have gone eventually simply went a bit sooner.
Since we shared only filthy memories, knowing I would never see him again felt utterly refreshing.
I watched the execution to its end, then turned my steps back toward the Princess Palace.
My Aunt and the Chief Chamberlain offered the pointless suggestion of sleeping together, but I cheerfully refused and slept alone under my blanket.

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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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